The arrows filled the sky like rain and whizzed into the flames and into the crowd of scarletfire flying foxes.
No one had imagined that Sang Zijun would be the one to deal the strongest blows. In the face of such dire beasts, who attacked strongly but defended weakly, Golden Silk Longbow’s shocking speed carried a huge advantage.
She single-handedly shot out consecutive streaks of rain-like golden silk arrows.
The scarletfire flying foxes dropped one after another, sprinkling fresh blood all over the ground like raindrops, as the incessant whines of the scarletfire flying foxes rang across the field.
The scarletfire flying foxes fell into complete disorder.
Ai Hui had already come out from the lake and couldn’t care less about the fact that he was drenched. He yelled, "Bangwan!"
A cold snort was all he heard.
Duanmu Huanghun, who had long accumulated enough power, channeled the wood elemental energy surrounding him and swept it over the huge volume of grass seeds like a green python, raising them high into the air before throwing them right at the scarletfire flying foxes.
Clap, clap, clap, clap!
The sounds of beans being fried filled their ears momentarily.
The grass seeds burst no matter what they touched. The scarletfire flying foxes that had yet to regain focus from all this confusion were quickly hit by these destructive seeds.
There were simply too many seeds and even Duanmu Huanghun had no idea exactly how many he’d thrown out. He’d practically utilized whatever usable amount he had on him.
His wildness was without reservation. If they did not survive this ordeal, it did not matter how many grass seeds he had remaining.
The scarletfire flying foxes fell in succession. Some were even struck by a few kinds of grass seeds and had all kinds of vines appearing on around their bodies and winding like spider webs, making them look like dumplings.
Nevertheless, wild Duanmu was never a passable sidekick since he had always wanted to be the lead character.
After the grass seeds came the mini, sword-like, jade green bamboo leaves that were hidden behind the seeds.
Whimpers came after the explosions of the concentrated grass seeds. It was as if beautiful women were playing the flute in the bamboo forest under the moonlight. However, amid the mellow tunes was a quietly rising murderousness.
The drifting and floating bamboo leaves were as sharp as sword blades.
scarletfire flying foxes that were wrapped up by the seeds had no time to struggle free as they were quickly killed by these silent, yet powerful assassins. The leaves pierced the scarletfire flying foxes’ bodies effortlessly without getting any bloodstains on them, remaining ever new and jade-green.
About to lead his team in the attack, Ai Hui suddenly noticed that there weren’t any targets left in the sky.
Duanmu Huanghun’s knees went weak, causing him to fall onto a bamboo branch bottom first. This attack required a scary amount of control over the wood elemental energy and he knew that he only had one chance to attack, so he’d channeled all his elemental energy into it. His body was now an empty vessel as sweat, albeit delayed, poured out from every part of his body. His pale cheeks were now flushed and his sweat meandered down his face. His breaths were heavy, like moving bellows and he had absolutely no energy to even lift a finger.
But when he saw the amazement and lifeless expression on Ai Hui’s face, he couldn’t help but let out a laugh. Except before he could laugh properly, it turned into an intense bout of coughs.
Everyone looked toward the sky.
After a moment of silence came thunder-like cheers.
Everyone was moved as the joy of having survived filled their chests. They were really being put under tremendous pressure upon seeing the number of scarletfire flying foxes that they had to deal with and the formidability of their scarlet fireballs.
No one would’ve thought that the battle would proceed and end so smoothly with them reigning in a victory.
Ai Hui turned around and looked toward the bamboo forest, where he saw Duanmu Huanghun laughing, wild and proud. Iron Lady, too, was close to being exhausted. In order to interfere with more scarletfire flying foxes, she’d used up all her water elemental energy.
Ai Hui flew up into the sky and saw a few lonesome scarletfire flying foxes attempting to escape. His eyes lit up.
Scarletfire flying fox cave!
They’d battled so diligently and consumed so much, but their harvest was unjustifiable. The scarletfire and fire sacks of the scarletfire flying foxes were the most valuable. There was no need to consider the scarletfire since they’d practically become scarletfire bullets and were all used up. It was the same for the fire sacks since most of the scarletfire flying foxes were killed by explosions, arrows or bamboo leaves so there wouldn’t be many well preserved fire sacks.
Ai Hui, now out of the crisis, immediately felt the pain. As such, when he saw the scarletfire flying foxes desperately trying to flee he immediately thought of the cave that they lived in.
It seemed like not many had gone into the caves of scarletfire flying foxes!
But it made sense. These scarletfire flying foxes lived in a colony and were revengeful dire beasts that even the hunting teams avoided provoking, since they could all be destroyed if they were careless.
The scarlet fireballs were simply too powerful.
Ai Hui shouted at those below, "A few of you, follow me to their cave!"
In a split second a group of them rushed up. They were members who had been arranged to deal the final blows. They’d expected more from the toughest mission, but did not even manage to secure any soup. Feeling regretful, it was only natural that they would be the first to volunteer upon hearing that there was a follow up mission.
Ai Hui selected a few decent members who had faster speeds. The rest would stay in the valley to guard it from sneak attacks by other dire beasts.
With a firm look on his face, Fatty spoke up, "Ai Hui, I’ll go too!"
Collecting spoils of war was simply Fatty’s favorite pastime. Just thinking about it made his eyes shine.
"No!" Ai Hui replied disdainfully. "Why are you trying to join the buzz when you fly so slowly?"
Fatty gave a bitter look. "You can’t be so heartless. During our time in the Wilderness, when have I ever been absent from the clean ups?
Ai Hui was already immune to Fatty’s tactics. He shouted to Lou Lan, "Keep an eye on him!"
"No problem, Ai Hui!"
Fatty yelled indignantly, "Mister Ai, are you just going to disown me? Are you feeding our years of friendship to the dogs? You’d better give me a proper explanation!"
Ai Hui bore his teeth as he responded, "I’ll clear things up with you today!"
Fatty sensed that the situation was amiss and got frightened. He smiled meekly before saying, "Brother Hui, calm down, we can talk things over slowly. There’s no using of fists among brothers. You’re really hitting! Ow, easy, easy! I’m wrong, I’m at fault, it’s my bad! Brother Ai! Father Ai! I’m going to flip if you keep hitting me! I’m about to flip! The scarletfire flying foxes are escaping…"
His last sentence convinced Ai Hui. "I’ll teach you a lesson when I’m back!"
He then led the team and made chase.
Fatty let out a sigh of relief. He’d pulled a fast one fortunately and saved himself by luring the enemy!
He raised his head and saw Lou Lan looking back at him. He walked toward Lou Lan with a solemn expression on his face. "Lou Lan, Ai Hui asked you to keep an eye on me."
Lou Lan opened his eyes wide. "Yes he did."
Fatty continued seriously, "Lou Lan, I’ll promise not to go anywhere if you bring out your elemental food."
Lou Lan blinked. "Really?"
Fatty was secretly delighted but kept a straight face, replying in a righteous manner, "I’m a man of my word!"
Lou Lan cheered. "Then we have a deal!"
Lou Lan brought out pieces of elemental food and placed them in front.
Fatty swallowed his saliva greedily, his heart bursting with joy. "You’re still the best. There’s so much! I’ll enjoy them."
Fatty reached his palm out but was blocked by Lou Lan. Fatty asked in shock, "Didn’t we have an agreement? You’re going back on your words!"
Lou Lan shook his head. "You asked me to bring them out, which I did. I kept my word."
"Then why are you stopping me?"
"I did not agree to let you eat them."
Fatty wanted to run himself over. Why! Why did he make such a fatal mistake! The pain of being able to look but not eat was more unbearable. The enticing fragrance filled his nostrils, yet he wasn’t able to taste them. Fatty was convinced that this must be the world’s cruelest punishment.
"Fatty, do you want me to keep these? You don’t look good."
"No! Even if I can’t taste them, I’m going to look all I want! I can still smell their fragrance!"
Fatty’s voice was filled with struggle and determination. He sprawled out in front of the food, his eyes wide open.
Ai Hui led the small team and followed the remaining two scarletfire flying foxes.
The entrance of the elementalists into the Wilderness turned it into an even more brutal place. Elementalists were all dire beasts’ number one enemy.
The scarletfire flying foxes weren’t fast enough, so Ai Hui and his team quickly caught up and were following them from far behind. The scarletfire flying foxes were already beyond frightened, so all they wanted to do was to return to their warm and safe cave, and couldn’t care for anything else.
Ai Hui paid attention along the way and noticed that the place where he’d been ambushed by the rockback earth dragon was now empty. He did not notice any other beasts’ odor. The earlier battle had raised too big of a commotion, so few dire beasts would provoke the scarletfire flying foxes. The scarletfire flying foxes had frail bodies but were powerful in their attacks. Plus, with that many of them, there could easily be trouble.
The rockback earth dragon, too, would not initiate an attack on the scarletfire flying foxes.
Following far behind, Ai Hui and gang maintained a strong defensive stance. Danger lurked in every corner of the Wilderness. The seemingly barren and desolate Blackfish Mouth Volcano was home to many dangerous dire beasts. Any slight negligence could possibly cost them their lives.
Over the mountain range, the scarletfire flying foxes’ cave was no more than three miles away from Central Pine Valley.
The close proximity shocked Ai Hui. It was no wonder these scarletfire flying foxes appeared near the valley.
But this fact increased his vigilance. He would have to conduct a thorough exploration of Blackfish Mouth Volcano once the valley’s defense was constructed.
How could one sleep soundly knowing that his territory was susceptible to invasion?
If there were powerful fire beasts, he must think of a way to get rid of them. Just a rockback earth dragon was enough to give all of them a headache.
Suddenly, the scarletfire flying foxes flew down and into the rocks.
Ai Hui and gang flew closer and realized that there was a deep crack behind the rocks. The crack was about six meters tall but its width was wide enough for a person to go through.
Ai Hui stood in front since he was the strongest and had the most experience.
The cave mouth was narrow but it was actually wide and big inside. It was spacious and the ceiling of the cave was about twenty meters above the ground. No one could’ve imagined how such a narrow opening could lead to such a huge paradise.
It was very dry inside the cave and there was a faint sulphur smell as well, the most distinct feature of caves near the volcanoes.
Advancing into the cave, Ai Hui did not walk quietly on tiptoe. He knew that the scarletfire flying foxes had incredible hearing and must have already sensed their presence the moment they stepped in. What they had to do now was to guard against the scarletfire flying foxes’ sneak attacks.
The passage within the cave was curvy and uneven. The scarletfire flying foxes’ excrement could be seen everywhere. Fortunately, there wasn’t any odor or else the smell within the cave would be even worse.
Ai Hui did not feel any obvious air movement, a clear sign that this was a cave with only one opening.
He dared not let himself be even the least bit careless.