Ice Jade Scorpion, Bait

Chapter 76 Ice Jade Scorpion, Bait

The snow-covered forest was difficult to traverse.

The soft snowflakes covered the ground, and you never knew what you would step on.

The skill required to walk without leaving a trace in the snow is currently beyond Chi Ping's reach. Not to mention he also carries a small "compass." Therefore, Chi Ping and Mi Qi's progress in the frozen forest is not fast.

"Xiao Miqi, can you still confirm where your dad is?"

Chi Ping held Mi Qi in front of him and secured her with mycelium. Chi Ping was 1.8 meters tall, while Mi Qi was less than 1 meter tall; they looked like kangaroos carrying their joeys in their pouches.

Miki poked her head and hands out of the "baby bag," holding the Martial Soul Life Pointer in her hand.

"Brother Chiping, in this direction."

On his journey to find his father, Chi Ping doesn't always follow the direction the pointer indicates. Sometimes he deliberately deviates from the direction and walks a distance before asking Miki for directions.

Miki didn't understand, but she didn't question it; she simply pointed out the direction faithfully when Chi Ping asked.

After mentally calculating for three seconds, Chi Ping murmured, "About twenty li... We're almost out of the Frozen Forest by now..."

What exactly happened to Miki's father?

The intersection of the straight lines forms a point, and Chi Ping is calculating the position of Mi Lan.

Wearing snow boots woven from mycelium, Chi Ping made steady progress. The last leg of a journey is often the hardest; if he made a mistake due to impatience and failed to find Mi Lan, Chi Ping would feel guilty for a long time.

……

"Kobayashi, have those scorpions left yet?"

Beneath the snow, in the cracks of the frozen soil, a man with an icy face whispered a question to a thin, red-eyed man.

The thin-faced, red-eyed man emanated a faint fluctuation of soul power. His red eyes turned green, and he shook his head as he looked at the icy-faced man.

Hey!

Ice Face wanted to smash something to vent his anger, but he put his fist down before it was fully raised.

Making a commotion would attract the Ice Jade Scorpions, endangering our teammates. We've already been trapped for almost half a month, exhausted and worn out; if we're discovered again, it'll be tantamount to suicide.

"We'll figure something out when we get back."

The two carefully made their way back to the group along an icy path.

……

It averages two meters in length, with a pure icy blue body, as if carved from the finest jade. Its two large pincers are strong and powerful, gleaming like a mirror, and its segmented tail, which accounts for half of its body length, sways from side to side, exuding a highly aggressive aggression.

The Ice Jade Scorpion is a unique soul beast found only in the far north, and it usually only appears in the depths of the far north.

On the ice plains outside the frozen forest, in a tiny hut shaped like mycelium, Chi Ping looked at the thirteen Ice Jade Scorpions patrolling back and forth a mile away with a troubled expression.

"Xiao Miqi, are you sure your dad is here?"

Miki stared at the life pointer pointing to the ground, gritted her teeth and remained silent, only nodding.

She almost fainted when she glanced at the swarm of ice-green scorpions.

There are beings there that are ten thousand years old; even a trace of their ferocity is beyond her ability to withstand.

"What should I do?!" Ikehira exclaimed, feeling a headache coming on.

Trying to deal with the Ice Jade Scorpion in the snow is like fighting a shark in the ocean—it's practically suicide, or even worse, living too long. Especially since he has Miki, his "little burden," with him.

The cold wind howled outside, extinguishing any hope.

"Brother, if... if there's no other way... you... you should go back..." Miki sobbed softly, her voice broken and intermittent.

Chi Ping patted her little head. "Brother just finds it troublesome, it's not like there's no way to fix it."

Miki buried her head in Chi Ping's arms, "It's...too dangerous..."

Chi Ping smiled. "Your brother is very strong. He will definitely bring you and your father back."

……

A day later, Chi Ping led Mi Qi toward the Ice Jade Scorpion Swarm in the direction indicated by the compass.

Chi Ping held his breath and concentrated, while Mi Qi hugged him tightly in the pouch, not daring to make a sound.

Suddenly, a volley of whistling arrows flew out from the opposite direction of Chi Ping, landing amidst the swarm of Ice Jade Scorpions with a deafening roar, and flashing with lightning the instant they hit the ground.

The lightning was like a tickle to the Ice Jade Scorpion, but it was very loud and caused considerable damage to its hearing.

The already volatile Ice Jade Scorpion swarm was further enraged, unleashing a frenzy of soul skills in the direction from which the arrows had come. Ice blades, ice spears, icebergs—all sorts of icy soul skills were unleashed without restraint.

Chi Ping held Mi Qi and stood motionless.

A moment later, the Ice Jade Scorpion stopped moving.

With a thought, Chi Ping unleashed another barrage of lightning arrows.

The swarm of Ice Jade Scorpions stirred.

This process repeated itself. After the fifth volley of arrows, the swarm of Ice Jade Scorpions charged wildly towards the direction of the arrows. There lay the puppet doll formation that Chi Ping had set up, similar to the fighting puppets sent to Xue Qinghe. Compared to those, the puppet dolls on the snowfield could perform fewer and more rigid movements, but their control range was much greater, and they were less reliant on mycelium.

This is very useful in the far north, where the ground is all permafrost and mycelium cannot spread.

Ikehira seized the opportunity and ran wildly through the snow.

By the time the Ice Jade Scorpion destroyed the array of archer puppets, Chi Ping had already covered half the distance. Another array of puppets activated, unleashing a rain of flashing arrows.

The swarm of Ice Jade Scorpions was drawn to it again.

This time, Chi Ping and Mi Qi arrived at a location directly above Mi Lan.

The life pointer is pointing directly down.

Hold me tight.

Chi Ping murmured.

I plunged into the snow, holding my breath and diving down.

The mycelium on the snow surface swept away the traces, and then spontaneously dissolved without leaving a trace.

Beneath the snow lay a layer of frozen soil as hard as iron. Based on the information gathered by the mycelium, Chi Ping found a crack and then crawled down without hesitation.

After diving ten meters, Chi Ping jumped into an empty crevice in the ground.

With his left arm emitting light, Chi Ping sensed the composition of the air inside the crevice, then patted the baby carrier on his chest.

"I came out for some fresh air."

Miki obediently poked her head out.

"Little Qi, we need to wait here first. We can only find your father after your brother has scouted the way. No matter what happens later, don't be afraid and don't make a sound."

Miki nodded. "I understand, brother."

"Good boy." Chi Ping praised with a slight smile, then spread the fifth generation mycelium, using the power of the earth element to search downwards along the crack in the ground.

In the intervals between searching the fissures in the ground, there were hissing and cracking sounds overhead, as well as the oppressive aura of ferocious beasts.

Xiao Miqi remembered Chi Ping's instructions, buried her head in her clothes, and refused to make a sound no matter how scared she was.

Chi Ping received the information transmitted by the mycelium, and while tidying up, he stroked Miki's little head to comfort her.

— Frozen soil, stone wall, bend... dead end... dead end... left, right, left, down... found!

Chi Ping patted Miki and whispered in her ear, "We've found him. Don't move or make a sound. I'll take you to find your father."

……

This is a hollow, like an underground cavern, about 100 meters below the snow.

In the center of the cavity was a scepter, whose cold light illuminated the cavity.

The cold-faced man and the thin-faced, green-eyed man sat together, next to a blonde woman, a muscular man, and a long-haired woman in black.

Opposite them, Mi Lan huddled alone against the cold stone wall, squinting and warily watching the five of them.

(End of this chapter)