Chapter 86: Hunting for Poisonous Scorpions
Although Jian Chen had killed quite a few Class 2 Magical Beasts in Kargath Academy before, the ones in the Magical Beast Mountain Range were on a completely different level. The Class 2 Magical Beasts in Kargath Academy were not even equivalent to some of the Class 1 Magical Beasts in this mountain range. Moreover, the magical beast that he had encountered was one indigenous to the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
Just as Jian Chen was distracted, the poisonous scorpion didn’t give him any time to relax, as its six powerful legs began to scamper across the floor. In a blink of an eye it covered dozens of metres and arrived in front of Jian Chen as its poisonous green pincers widened menacingly and pincered towards Jian Chen’s head.
Encountering a local magical beast for the first time in the mountain range, Jian Chen did not dare to be negligent. He had learned the hard way in his previous life that being careless only led to disaster.
Jian Chen’s expression immediately grew solemn. He tilted his head, dodging the giant scorpion’s pincers by a hair’s breath. He then gathered strength in his feet and pushed off the ground, leaving a deep footprint in the ground as his body burst forwards towards the poisonous scorpion’s much smaller head. The Light Wind Sword in his hand was once again enshrouded in that hazy white light as Jian Chen aimed it straight at the scorpion’s tiny eyes.
The eyes, throat and heart were three of the most fatal and weakest parts of the body. That much Jian Chen understood, but this poisonous scorpion had a neck that could not easily be pierced due to the angle. Not only was the neck rather short, but it had scales that were interwoven with each other to protect it. Under this circumstance where it was impossible to determine how tough the scales protecting its neck were, Jian Chen had decided to attack its eyes.
Although Jian Chen was very confident in his precise and powerful stab, the defenses of some magical beasts were also just as tough. Thus, he wasn’t 100% sure that he would be able to penetrate the scales and deal a serious injury to the beast.
Jian Chen’s sword traveled towards the scorpion with blinding speed, his sword had already reached the scorpion’s eye.
Just as the Sword Qi enhanced Light Wind Sword as he was about to pierce the scorpion’s eye, it suddenly opened its mouth and spat out a pungent green blob of poison. Almost as if it were being controlled by a mysterious force, it flew quickly towards Jian Chen. At the same time, the scorpion’s eye shut and the head dodged towards the side, avoiding the Light Wind Sword.
The Light Wind Sword’s speed was matchless, and so even at this crucial moment where the scorpion desperately tried to dodge, the scorpion wasn’t able to completely avoid the sword. In the end, the sword slashed open the scorpion’s outer eyelid.
While the Light Wind Sword hit the scorpion’s outer eyelid and it paused for a bit as it encountered resistance. After a moment, the amazing amount of Sword Qi around the sword caused it to break through the strong defenses of the eyelid and stab through into the eye of the scorpion successfully.
Simultaneously, Jian Chen’s entire body was covered by the green fog of poison.
“Hiss!”
As it felt the sharp pain in its eye, the scorpion let loose a hoarse scream. A dark green fluid began to leak out of the injury in its eye, and its great mouth opened wide, revealing rows of needle-sharp teeth. Its overall appearance was extremely terrifying.
The poisonous mist floated around. Jian Chen, who was shrouded inside the fog, retreated outwards, in a sorry state, as fast as lightning to escape. Right now, Jian Chen’s appearance was the complete opposite of his previous state; his whole body was covered with a layer of dark green poison. His coarse clothing had begun to disintegrate at an alarming rate, and even his originally short hair had begun to fall off as green threads.
Feeling a painful burning sensation throughout his body, Jian Chen’s face hardened before growling, “What a strong poison!” Quickly, Jian Chen grabbed onto the melting clothes before tearing them off from his body while using his Saint Force to counter the poison that made contact with his skin.
Jian Chen looked at the one eyed scorpion that was still crying out in pain. He knew in his heart that this was the perfect time to kill the scorpion. With a flash of killing intent, he dashed towards it without even stopping to take out a spare change of clothes from within his Space Ring, making him completely naked while moving to finish off the scorpion.
Jian Chen’s movements were agile and nimble, and he quickly flashed to the poisonous scorpion’s side. With a shake of his arm, he reached out as fast as lightning, moving the Light Wind Sword in his hand so fast it appeared to be just a ray of silver light. It shot towards the scorpion’s throat, and in that instant, the blade suddenly exploded with sharp Sword Qi. Although it didn’t seem to be very powerful, that Sword Qi was similar to a sharp blade.
Like a streak of lightning that briefly illuminated the world with a gorgeous and magnificent light, and it immediately disappeared without a trace momentarily afterwards.
“Ding!”
Jian Chen’s Light Wind Sword accurately struck the poisonous scorpion’s throat. When the blade came into contact with the dense scales covering the scorpion’s throat, a clear sound similar to metal striking metal rang out. However, the scales’ defense was quite strong, it was only able to withstand the Light Wind Sword for an instant before the blade sharpened with Sword Qi broke through, and pierced deeply into the throat.
“Si!”
The poisonous scorpion once again cried out miserably. The single, intact eye pulsed with a strange, dark green glint as its thick pincers quickly jabbed forcefully outwards towards Jian Chen. The 5-6 meter long poisonous hook behind it blurred as it flew over Jian Chen’s head and tried to pierce the back of Jian Chen’s head.
Jian Chen pulled out the Light Wind Sword buried in the scorpion’s throat. His feet pushed off the ground, and his body sailed through the air as he jumped onto the scorpion’s wide back.
“Hiss!” “Hiss!”
The poisonous scorpion was evidently extremely annoyed by the fact that Jian Chen had jumped onto its back. It began to violently shake its body, wailing unpleasantly as it recklessly waved its giant pincers around in the air.
Based on the scorpion’s current state, it appeared that the injury on its throat that Jian Chen had just inflicted didn’t harm it that much.
Seeing that the scorpion was still as ferocious as it was before, Jian Chen frowned. He couldn’t help but mutter, “Its ability to stay alive is really too great, to think that it still hasn’t died.” Because the scorpion’s body was so massive, Jian Chen once again realized how limited his strength was. Aside from attacking the two vital region of its eyes and throat, he couldn’t find any other way to harm this scorpion.
At that moment, Jian Chen heard a faint ripping sound. Without any hesitation, Jian Chen flashed horizontally to the side.
Just as Jian Chen dodged to the side, the shining dark green poisonous hook flew over his head, and then ruthlessly pierced the scorpion’s own back.
A soft sound could be heard as the strong, plated section of its outer shell was pierced through by its own sharp poisonous hook. Under its own sharp poisonous hook, its shell did not offer a whit of resistance , and was easily pierced through. The sharp hook buried itself deeply into the scorpion’s own body, and dark green blood began to flow out from the wound.
Seeing this scene, Jian Chen’s expression clearly went blank. However, immediately afterwards, he couldn’t help but feel unsure of whether to laugh or cry. He had really never imagined that the poisonous scorpion would be stupid enough to actually hurt itself.
The scorpion tugged at its poisonous hook. But because it was already deeply buried within its body, its movements instantly pulled out a chunk of flesh as well. The scorpion felt such intense pain that it ceaselessly wailed in pain as its entire body shook. That fierce pain was enough to disperse any further thoughts about pulling the hook out.
Whenever a human or creature receives a serious injury, there will be a cushion of time where the strength that they exhibit, as well as their reaction speed, will be at its worst.
Jian Chen saw this, and grasping the perfect timing, his body flew high up into the air as he jumped off the scorpion’s back. The Light Wind Sword in his hand flashed with a silver light, and pierced towards the scorpion’s other eye.
Because the scorpion was feeling fierce pain from its back, its reaction time had greatly slowed down compared to its normal reaction speed. In addition, Jian Chen’s blade’s every movement was incomparably fast. In the scorpion’s current state, it was extremely difficult to evade or withstand Jian Chen’s lightning fast sword.
The Light Wind Sword accurately penetrated the poisonous scorpion’s other eye without resistance.
Jian Chen showed a pleased expression. He exerted more strength into his hand, forcing the Light Sword even deeper into the scorpion’s eyes. Eventually, after thrusting at least half of the 4/3 meter long blade into the scorpion’s eyes, he finally managed to injure its brain.
This time, the poisonous scorpion no longer struggled or made any move to resist. Its entire body shuddered a few times before it fell like jello to the ground. With a loud bang, its enormous one meter tall body fell to the ground.
Jian Chen slowly pulled out his Light Wind Sword. His brows knit together at the sight of the scorpion’s bright green blood and white fluid covering his treasured sword. With a single thought, the green and white fluids covering his sword slid off the blade, and it instantly returned to its original appearance.
Jian Chen’s gaze circled around the poisonous scorpion corpse for a bit, then raised his Light Wind Sword to pierce through the skull. However, the Light Wind Sword had just gone through the outer shell of the head before getting blocked. Even though the poisonous scorpion was already dead, its outer shell’s defense was still just as strong as before. There was no way Jian Chen could break through its defense with a casual wave of his sword.
“This snake skin is really thick!” Jian Chen furrowed his brows, and sighed, “Forget it, I might as well conserve my energy. The magical beasts here come and go randomly. If I preserve my extra strength, then that is an extra layer of protection for my life. I’ll just retrieve this monster cores by going through its eyes.” Saying this, Jian Chen resumed his actions. After great effort, he was finally able to retrieve the monster core stored within the scorpion’s skull.