Fang Xing followed the tracks behind the remaining party with high expectations.
A slender line of silvery moon hung high and radiant over Mount Miasma. The deep forests of the mountain ranges appeared even more mysterious as the tall trees hid what little light the moon gave. All around Fang Xing was already pitch black, and it was fortunate that reaching the peak of tier two had given Fang Xing's many physical improvements, sight included among them. Together with the help of the [Book of Revelation], he was able to avoid any form of dangerous events well before they happened.
Of course, any ordinary insects and creatures that wouldn't be detected by the book would have no impact on Fang Xing.
After tracking some distance, it became quite clear that Hou Qing must have decided to go for the toad after all. Recalling Hou Qing's slyness and cruelty, Fang Xing decided he would take extra care along the way, just in case Hou Qing had set a trap waiting for Fang Xing at the end of these tracks.
As Fang Xing made his way by following the men's footprints, he also carefully arranged curved branches into the shapes of bows and combined rattans and bamboo shoots into arrows. After some time, Fang Xing decided that the power of these traps was perhaps too low to make any impact; they were not even enough to hurt Fang Xing, let alone Hou Qing who was much more powerful than he was. Unwilling to resign from laying traps, however, Fang Xing continued to search for suitable items until he heard a rustling noise from somewhere close by. Immediately alarmed, Fang Xing tiptoed towards the noise.
Seeing what it was gave him a sudden burst of joy.
Under a near-ancient tree that could only be encircled by three grown men hand-in-hand, a giant serpent as thick as a man's waist coiled in on itself in quiet rest. The serpent was a beast at the second tier and it seemed to have just eaten, as there was a large bump in the middle of its body. Fang Xing grew excited at the sight and—without disturbing the serpent during its nap—took a few steps back.
In fact, even if the serpent were to notice something, Fang Xing would not be afraid of it. Although the beast may appear intimidating, its temperament was surprisingly docile.
Demonic Qi and Diabolic Qi were not to be confused. Beasts mutated by Demonic Qi would typically hold on to its original habits and temperament, and it was only that their powers and strengths would be amplified. If a beast or human were to be influenced by Diabolic Qi, however, they would lose all rationality no matter how harmless or timid they once were and would turn into savage, bloodthirsty monsters.
This was the main difference between Demonic Qi and Diabolic Qi.
After seeing the giant serpent, Fang Xing crouched down to think before setting another trap down right there. Then, he returned to his tracking.
About an hour later, Fang Xing had finally spotted both Hou Qing and Lyu under a cliff near the outskirts of the forest. There, the pair sat and seemed to be chatting next to a bonfire while next to them laid a man. From the looks of the man's clothing, it was none other than Qian, and his entire body was trussed and tied up like a stuffed turkey as though a hostage to an enemy. His body was covered in fresh blood and twitched every so often.
He was still alive.
'Excellent! These bastards have indeed had a bit of an internal struggle.' Excited, Fang Xing looked around before moving himself closer in order to hear exactly what they had in plan.
After Fang Xing had come about a hundred yards away from the pair, he heard the movements of a bowstring.
SWOOSH
Surprisingly, two arrows could be seen flying right towards him. Under the cover of the night, they were hard to see.
'Ah sh*t! I've left all those traps for them, yet here I am walking right into one of theirs.' Angry, Fang Xing curled himself into a ball and quickly rotated his body backwards to fend off both arrows.
At Fang Xing's current level of cultivation, bamboo arrows couldn't harm him; the true purpose behind these traps was that of a sentinel keeping watch from afar on their behalf. Without a doubt, both men had already been alerted by now, and so as soon as Fang Xing dodged the arrows, he fled like a shadow into the forest without sparing even a moment to look behind him.
Right before Fang Xing had walked into the trap, Hou Qing and Lyu had been talking about him.
"Shixiong Hou, do you really think the kid will come following us again?" Lyu asked.
Hou Qing was emotionless as he moved his lips in response, "I've thought about this. After he ran away from us at the river stream, he had set up and ambushed us with his robe. He obviously planned and took advantage of us by knowing you had skills in tracking and would use it to track him down. Such complexity of thought and meticulousness does not belong to an ordinary child, so we can't predict him like one either."
Lyu silently had to agree. It was true that if an ordinary boy had the chance to escape, they would have run for their lives. They would not have done what Fang Xing did.
Similarly, given a chance like this, any normal child would likely steer clear of everyone by a large margin. Considering whom they were facing against, however, it was highly likely that this particular child would come back to see if there was an advantage he could grab without much effort of his own.
"It would be good if he really did come, though. I've set up traps all around the area, and while they're all basic traps that cannot hurt him, we can still use them as an alarm. As soon as he comes within a hundred-yard radius, we'll be able to detect him. At his cultivation level, there's no way he'll be able to escape from us with such a short distance." Lyu nodded, looking at Qian before moving his gaze to Hou Qing after a short delay.
Hou Qing seemed to have understood what Lyu had on his mind. "We only need one bait. If we can catch the kid, we will then no longer need Shixiong Qian. I will then personally apologize and send him gifts after this is finished."
Lyu sighed. "Yes, that would be ideal. Yes—"
Before Lyu had finished his sentence, the sound of a bowstring was heard from the western forests followed by a swift gust of wind sweeping into the deeper woods.
"It's him!"
As Lyu spoke, Hou Qing had already stood up and gripped his sword. By the time the two syllables had finished, Hou Qing's silhouette could already be seen vanishing into the darkness of the trees, the flames of the bonfire swaying behind him.
"So fast…." Lyu exclaimed, startled by Hou Qing's speed. After a low sigh, he began to follow close behind.
Dashing as fast as he possibly could, Fang Xing cursed at his own stupidity. He had gotten careless from all the smooth rides so far; he knew that Hou Qing was a tough enemy to deal with ever since the beginning, but he had still miscalculated and fallen into their traps.
Behind him, a dazzling silver dot came closer and closer: it was Hou Qing standing atop his sword, flying towards Fang Xing like a bolt of lightning.
"Oh my god! I'm gonna die…." Fang Xing increased his speed even further as he grumbled under his breath. Taking advantage of his small stature, he began to zigzag in and out of the woods.
Hou Qing jumped off of his sword after just thirty yards and placed it away and continued the chase on foot. The distance between the two, however, still had some thirty yards left.
Looking at the tiny fleeing shadow ahead of him that was stricken with panic, Hou Qing's gaze grew gradually colder and the right edge of his lips curled ever so slightly upwards. The boy had time and time again made things more complicated, but—at the end of the day—he was still unable to escape.
'Agh, there's no other choice but to go to the first trap!' Biting his lips, Fang Xing sped up towards a location that was covered with withered leaves, deliberately lightening his footsteps as he dashed over them. It took Hou Qing no more than a few seconds to pass over the same location, and the moment he placed his first step over the leaves, he felt a sudden sense of lightness. Hou Qing hastily sent a handful of Qi towards his feet, lifting his body two feet in the air in an instant and leaping right away from the trap Fang Xing had set.
Fang Xing grumbled to himself, as this trap had been specifically designed for times like these. He had placed some withered leaves over a steep hole that was dug with some unknown tool and took advantage of his tiny body weight since the adult-sized Hou Qing would have been too heavy to stay atop the hole if he stepped over it. Who would have thought Fang Xing had still underestimated him, as Hou Qing took a leap with seemingly impossible timing and avoided the trap completely.
"Heh! It's best not to play such simple tricks with me again!" Hou Qing called out with a cold laugh and increased his speed towards Fang Xing. Now, less than twenty yards separated them from each other.
"Haha, I, your grandfather, have plenty more tricks up my sleeves for you! There's still the ultimate trap!" During Fang Xing's wild dashes, the volume of his voice only grew louder as he yelled back at Hou Qing; to Fang Xing, his grandeur must not be suppressed no matter the situation. Nonetheless, he was speaking the truth, and there was indeed one more trap—the largest of them all—down the path he had come from.
CRUSHHH
A few sounds later, a pair of bamboo arrows flew out from the bushes to the side, one of them directed right at Hou Qing.
With another cold laugh, Hou Qing gently flicked his fingertips and sent the arrow away. He didn't even use Qi for the act; such a simple trick could not hurt even Fang Xing, much less Hou Qing.
"Such trivial tactics. How embarrass— Hmm?" Hou Qing's words of rebuke were interrupted by a light whistle of wind that reeked of blood. From the side, a giant serpent as thick as a water barrel threw itself towards Hou Qing, and a single headbutt sent Hou Qing flying several yards away. With a quick turn, the serpent swept its tail at Hou Qing and—caught completely unawares—Hou Qing was wrapped up by the giant serpent while it continued to tighten its constriction.
This was the moment Hou Qing realized what Fang Xing had meant when he had mentioned the so-called "ultimate trap". Of the two arrows that were shot out, one was to distract him while the other had been directed at the serpent who was heavily asleep. Although this type of serpent was mild and meek in nature and similar to that of an ordinary serpent—especially after a satisfying meal—having their nap disrupted would cause them to attack whatever they felt threatened by.
That bamboo arrow had been shot at the body of the giant serpent. The beast immediately saw Hou Qing and subsequently sent him flying with the force of its head.
Fang Xing made a quick pause in his footsteps and jumped in joy before quickly yelling out to Hou Qing, "Hah! I've finally tricked you into drinking the water I, your grandfather, use to wash my feet!" before continuing to run away as fast as possible.