The Red Yin Poison Scorpion was ferocious and bloodthirsty by nature.
Its territorial instincts were incredibly strong. The vast Valley of the Dead was its kingdom, and it absolutely would not permit any living creature to set foot inside.
Much less a human who dared to spy on it while it was eating?
"ROAR!"
Its eight massive legs struck like eight long spears, stirring up a vicious gale. In a flash of cold light, they were right in front of Hong Yu. Fortunately, Hong Yu was prepared. He stopped and darted in a fluid motion, swiftly dodging the Red Yin Poison Scorpion's first exchange. He slid more than ten meters to the side, then abruptly kicked off the ground with his left foot, his body shooting back like an arrow.
The distance between Hong Yu and the Red Yin Poison Scorpion rapidly closed. When only five meters remained, Hong Yu suddenly unleashed his power.
With a SWISH, the long spear in his hand thrust out horizontally.
The killing power of a weapon like a long spear was concentrated at its tip. As Hong Yu thrust, he also twisted his wrist, causing the spear to spin. The refined steel tip instantly became a sharp gyroscope, landing on the Red Yin Poison Scorpion's side. SCREECH! Sparks flew as the spinning spearhead ground a gruesome scar into the scorpion's hard carapace.
"AWOOO!"
The Red Yin Poison Scorpion roared in fury, its two giant pincers sweeping across.
A Tier One Advanced Wild Beast was equivalent to a powerhouse at the Ninth Layer of the Essence Realm, and its strength was immense. This blow contained at least several thousand pounds of destructive force, enough to shatter mountains and split stones.
A WHOOSHING gale pressed down on Hong Yu, making it difficult for him to even move and causing his cheeks to sting.
Hong Yu shifted his hands, holding the long spear horizontally in front of him.
"BANG!"
The massive pincer slammed into the long spear, which instantly bent into an arc. The Red Yin Poison Scorpion's second attack fell, and two consecutive heavy blows snapped the long spear in two. Hong Yu was also sent flying backward. He slid a dozen or so meters before stopping himself. Glancing at his torn clothes over his abdomen, he couldn't help but spit. "Damn, this beast is ferocious."
"ROAR!"
Repelling Hong Yu only served to further incite the Red Yin Poison Scorpion's savagery. It charged forward again with heavy, thudding steps.
'This beast's strength is too great, and its defense is insane. A head-on clash is definitely not going to work.'
Hong Yu's eyes darted around, his mind racing.
He simply tossed aside the broken spear, planted his feet, and his downcast gaze suddenly sharpened. He slowly drew his arms to his waist, locking his eyes on the Red Yin Poison Scorpion's position. The moment it raised its pincers to strike again, Hong Yu launched his long-awaited attack. "Rising Dragon Fist!"
"HUMMM!"
The Rising Dragon Fist was an Advanced Martial Skill.
With the help of Shadow Martial, Hong Yu had already cultivated it to the Mastery Peak, just one step away from the Realm of Perfection. Now, as he unleashed it, its power was even more wild and violent than Hong Lin's had been that day. Faintly, the wind generated by the punch seemed to rumble, a deep roar emanating from his very fist.
The fierce wind from the punch converged on his fist. A fist of flesh and blood had instantly become a fist of solid steel.
Man and scorpion finally collided.
"Rising Dragon, tear through the sky! Annihilate!"
Hong Yu let out an explosive, thunderous roar.
His body leaped high into the air. In a spinning motion, he smashed his fist ruthlessly onto one of the Red Yin Poison Scorpion's massive pincers.
"AWOOO!"
The Red Yin Poison Scorpion let out a wretched scream.
Hong Yu's Rising Dragon Fist struck its giant pincer. The terrifying force, amplified by the power of an Advanced Martial Skill, forcibly flipped the Red Yin Poison Scorpion over. The thousand-pound body of the scorpion tumbled into the air. Hong Yu followed it up, positioning himself half a body length higher than the scorpion, and immediately followed with the Little Thunderbolt Palm.
The Palm Wind was sharp, carrying with it a RUMBLING thunderclap. The Little Thunderbolt Palm, at the Realm of Perfection, slammed into the Red Yin Poison Scorpion's exposed underbelly as it flipped through the air.
The Red Yin Poison Scorpion's ascent came to a sudden halt, and then it plummeted toward the ground like a cannonball.
"BANG!"
Its massive body crashed to the ground, creating a crater half a meter deep. The Red Yin Poison Scorpion let out a pained hiss.
Even with its hard carapace, its underbelly was still a weak spot!
The Red Yin Poison Scorpion was truly a Tier One Advanced Wild Beast, the overlord that had dominated the Valley of the Dead for years. The intense pain, far from making it fearful, only further ignited the creature's innate savagery and bloodlust. Its eight long, massive legs trembled as it stabilized itself, and the several blood-red eyes on its head glinted with a cold light, staring fixedly at Hong Yu.
'It's time!'
Hong Yu remained calm and composed, inwardly calculating the perfect moment.
From injuring and enraging the Red Yin Poison Scorpion with the Cloud-piercing Arrow to this very clash, everything had been part of Hong Yu's calculations.
He had done it all for this next step.
In truth, Hong Yu knew that even if he advanced to the Ninth Layer of the Essence Realm, it would be impossible for him to kill a vicious beast like the Red Yin Poison Scorpion. His real trump card was actually the three traps he had laid in advance. Seeing the Red Yin Poison Scorpion charge at him once more, Hong Yu smiled inwardly, spun around, and sprinted off to the side.
In that direction lay his first trap.
"AWOOO-ROAR!"
Normally, with the Red Yin Poison Scorpion's cunning nature, it would never have been fooled so easily. But being wounded by Hong Yu again and again had thoroughly enraged the violent Desolate Beast. At this moment, there was only one thought in the Red Yin Poison Scorpion's mind—kill Hong Yu.
And that played right into Hong Yu's hands!
'Come on, just a little closer.'
Hong Yu was ecstatic.
Everything was proceeding exactly as planned.
"ROAR!"
The Red Yin Poison Scorpion suddenly leaped high into the air, attempting to intercept Hong Yu directly.
"Hahaha, now's the time!"
Hong Yu abruptly halted, laughed loudly, and gathered a powerful force in his hands before slamming them onto the ground.
The Red Yin Poison Scorpion was now directly above his head.
In the nick of time, the vibrations from Hong Yu's palm striking the ground triggered a mechanism. With Hong Yu at the center, a full seven crossbows suddenly rose from the ground, all aimed at the Red Yin Poison Scorpion high in the air. Hong Yu slapped the ground again, and all seven crossbows fired simultaneously. The SWISH SWISH of arrows breaking the wind was endless.
Seven hard, azure-blue arrows, exuding a bone-chilling aura, instantly struck the Red Yin Poison Scorpion, which was unable to control its body freely in mid-air.
"AWOOO!"
The Red Yin Poison Scorpion shrieked mournfully.
The seven blue arrows struck the Red Yin Poison Scorpion at almost the same time, and a faint layer of icy blue spread across its body. This was precisely the first trap Hong Yu had gone to great lengths to prepare—the Frozen Trap.
The arrows fired by the seven crossbows were no ordinary projectiles; they were "Ice Arrows" refined from condensed Cold Spring Water. This water was so frigid that even an Early-stage Earth Soul Realm expert, if hit at close range, would face being sealed in ice if they didn't deal with it immediately.
"THUD!"
The now ice-blue Red Yin Poison Scorpion crashed heavily to the ground, sending a flurry of ice shards flying.
'As expected of a Desolate Beast, its body is truly powerful. Even seven arrows couldn't finish you off.' Watching the Red Yin Poison Scorpion shakily struggle back to its feet, Hong Yu was secretly amazed.
'Those Cold Spring Ice Arrows were no ordinary thing; each one cost me five thousand Gold Coins!'
'That was over thirty thousand Gold Coins just now, and it still didn't kill this beast.'
Fortunately, Hong Yu was well-prepared.
"SNAP!"
He pulled a Fire Stick from his robes and, with a flick of his finger, sent it landing not far in front of the Red Yin Poison Scorpion. A few warm sparks scattered from the Fire Stick. A SIZZLING sound suddenly erupted as a scorching wave of fire ignited on the ground. The raging sea of fire, like a flaming cage, immediately enveloped the Red Yin Poison Scorpion.
"AWOOO! AWOOO! AWOOO!"
The Red Yin Poison Scorpion was in agony, constantly shrieking and struggling.
However, its body was frozen by the cold spring arrows, and its movements were extremely sluggish. Moreover, these were no ordinary flames; this was Hong Yu's second meticulously prepared trap, the "Blazing Fire Trap." This was a pound of Earth Fire Yang Marrow he had spent a full fifty thousand Gold Coins to purchase. This strange substance, produced deep within volcanoes, ignited on contact with fire and had the terrifying property of being unquenchable by water, clinging to bone as it burned.
The more the Red Yin Poison Scorpion struggled, the more intensely the flames burned. The fire that clung to its body was impossible to shake off.
First, it was frozen by extreme cold, and then it was incinerated by blazing flames.
Under the dual torment of ice and fire, through the rapid expansion and contraction, the first crack finally appeared on the Red Yin Poison Scorpion's hard carapace. Moreover, this crack continued to spread, fanning out like a spiderweb. But the Red Yin Poison Scorpion's life force was simply too tenacious; it continued to struggle madly within the sea of fire.
A full half-hour later, the Red Yin Poison Scorpion's body was covered in such wounds, and streams of highly toxic blood flowed from its body.
"HUFF! HUFF!"
The Red Yin Poison Scorpion was finally exhausted. Gravely wounded, its body collapsed heavily onto the ground.
'Is it finished?'
Hong Yu blinked, a hint of excitement showing on his face.
'A Tier One Advanced Wild Beast, the Red Yin Poison Scorpion... This is a creature that even Earth Soul Realm experts are unwilling to face lightly. Am I really about to trick it to death?'
But Hong Yu didn't approach immediately. The Red Yin Poison Scorpion was notoriously cunning; this was no time to be careless.
Another half-hour passed...
'It hasn't moved for more than ten minutes. Looks like this thing is finally dead!' Hong Yu heaved a long sigh of relief.
Although the objective of this mission was the Reviving Grass, when facing a ferocious Desolate Beast like the Red Yin Poison Scorpion, Hong Yu didn't dare be careless for a moment, lest the beast counter-attack while he was harvesting the grass. Fortunately, it seemed the Red Yin Poison Scorpion was truly dead. Only then did he turn and walk towards the scorpion's lair.
There were three stalks of Reviving Grass, all of them mature.
Hong Yu carefully picked the three stalks of Reviving Grass and placed them into the jade box he had prepared. Only then did he let out a long breath, a glint of excitement in his eyes. 'The Reviving Grass is mine. Once I go back and turn in the mission, I can ask Master Xue to help Yaoyao expel the cold poison from her body.'
After stowing the Reviving Grass, Hong Yu prepared to leave.
Just then, he felt a faint sensation from the Profound Celestial Tower within him. Hong Yu's heart skipped a beat, and his body instinctively rolled and slid several meters away. Almost simultaneously, four sharp arrows glinting with cold light landed one after another in the spot where he had just been. A somewhat annoyed voice sounded from behind him...
"Damn it, I was so close to killing that kid."