Chapter 79
Chapter 79 Sending a Lump
Deep within the dense forest, Ying Hou was looking down at Long Chen’s tracks . His expression was so dark that it was frightening . That was because he had realized Long Chen was extremely crafty . Sometimes he would purposely leave footprints to mislead him .
He would follow those footprints and find that any trace of Long Chen completely disappeared after a while . After just a moment of thought, he realized that Long Chen must have backtracked into a previous location and once more fled in a different direction .
These footprints were purposely a bit more clear to intentionally let Ying Hou see them . Now he had to go back and spend even more searching for where Long Chen had split off into a different direction .
Ying Hou had a stomach full of anger with nowhere to release it . Long Chen was too cunning . Sometimes the footprints he left behind intentionally would actually be the direction he went, so Ying Hou couldn’t even rule that out .
In order to tell his true direction, Ying Hou had no choice but to patiently follow along slowly . He could sense Long Chen wasn’t that far, but he was unable to find him . He was so angry that his lungs felt like they were about to explode .
A whole day had already pa.s.sed since they had entered the forest . Ying Hou was starting to get impatient . But he also had no way around this . He could only continue searching for his tracks .
In just this manner, the two of them continued playing hide-and-seek in the endless forest . Although Long Chen had a slight advantage at this time, he didn’t dare be the slightest bit overconfident .
If Long Chen wanted to, he was actually able to quickly break away from Ying Hou’s search . However, he refused to do that . He only continued to keep Ying Hou at a distance of five miles .
That was the perfect distance from which a Muscle Rebirth expert could sense an enemy was in the vicinity, but would be unable to pinpoint that enemy’s location . This was done intentionally by Long Chen .
After sending Long Chen to kill Xia Changfeng, the fourth prince had sent Ying Hou to kill him . This meant the fourth prince was no longer worried about his father .
In other words, the entire Long household was in danger . He had to continue this in order to stall Ying Hou . One reason for this stalling was that as long as Aman did what he had told him, he would quickly return to the capital .
Aman would bring his household’s people to the alchemist guild . With his relations.h.i.+p to grandmaster Yun Qi, Yun Qi would definitely not ignore them . At that time, even the fourth prince would have to reconsider whether he should make any moves against them .
The other reason was that if Ying Hou continued not to return to the capital, the fourth prince who hadn’t received a report of his death would definitely not attack the Long household .
That was why Long Chen continued to risk his life to hold up Ying Hou . It was also why he had no other options . He had to do this .
He carefully continued advancing . Long Chen suddenly saw a huge tree with a fist-sized beetle on it .
Seeing that beetle, Long Chen’s eyes brightened . He recognized that beetle as the ‘horned bull beetle’ . That was because it had a horn on its nose that was just like a bull’s horn .
This was a very mildly tempered beetle . Its movements were especially slow . But it shouldn’t be underestimated for being small . Its strength was actually greatly shocking .
Just such a small beetle was capable of moving ten to twenty kilograms . He smiled, “Hehe, little guy, help me out a bit . ”
Ignoring its outrage, Long Chen picked up the little beetle and placed it into his robes . Once more advancing another mile, he found a good location and stopped .
He took out a thin thread from his spatial ring . That was black silk, and despite its thinness, it was extremely st.u.r.dy . Just one thread of it could withstand half a ton of force . Most adventurers would also keep a bit of it on hand .
Whether it was to use as rope or to make a snare, it was extremely convenient . Most importantly, it was made from black silkworms that were raised by humans, so its price was extremely low .
Long Chen looked around and nodded in approval . The black silk’s color was not easy to notice against the background .
He found a tree brush around the size of an egg and gently pushed on it, feeling a good elasticity . He lightly twined the black silk around the bush .
By tying it back with the black silk, the bush was just like an arm ready to pitch . Once it lost the force of the black silk, it would immediately shoot forward .
Long Chen did all this extremely carefully . The slightest mistake might make a large enough noise to attract Ying Hou .
But thinking about the result of this trap if it worked, that little danger was definitely worth it .
He finished setting up his ‘slingshot’ . Looking around, both sides were covered by th.o.r.n.y thistles and there was only one straight path through this area .
While people were rus.h.i.+ng they would naturally choose the easiest path . So this was the ideal place to place the trigger .
Putting up a couple obstacles around his ‘slingshot’ to protect it, he confirmed the distance . No matter how Ying Hou arrived, he would definitely step upon a certain root .
He took out the horned beetle and bound one of its legs with the black silk . Placing it on top a large tree, the beetle began to slowly crawl, but it wasn’t randomly crawling around . It was crawling up to a spot ten meters up on the tree .
That was because Long Chen had placed a petal from a b.u.t.terfly Orchid there . That was a kind of medicinal ingredient . That petal contained a very rich sweetness .
It was also the favorite food of the horned bull beetle . Although that petal was half withered, with the beetle’s amazing sense of smell, it immediately noticed it and began to crawl over to it with all its might .
Its speed was extremely slow though . In only managed to reach there after the time it took for an incense stick to burn .
But just as it was preparing to eat its favorite food, Long Chen picked up the pitiful fellow and pulled it away .
Long Chen made some calculations and tied a knot over the beetle, keeping it in place . That knot had a small loop in it . If that loop was touched then the knot would immediately loosen, releasing it .
After carefully setting up all these preparations, he placed a small stone on the other side of the black silk . He confirmed everything was set .
Once the beetle crawled up to the b.u.t.terfly Orchid’s petal, it would activate and release the knot, causing the stone to fall to the ground .
Long Chen once more looked over his trap from start to end . A strange smiled appeared on his face . He found a large leaf and then sneakily hid behind a large tree .
He watched for a moment as the beetle continued according to its original route, crawling towards the petal . But due to it not pulling on a stone, its speed had slowed down a bit .
Long Chen nodded and quietl retreated . Now there was only one tiny crucial item remaining . As for whether the trap would succeed, that would depend on Ying Hou . He stealthily disappeared deeper into the forest .
An hour later, Ying Hou, who was searching for any of Long Chen’s tracks, suddenly heard a strange sound, the sound of a stone rolling .
That sound was extremely quiet, but within the keen listening ears of Ying Hou, it was practically like a thunderclap .
Ying Hou didn’t even think about it before rus.h.i.+ng over . He was just like a wild gale, and three or four miles was instantly traversed .
That sound had definitely not been natural . He knew it was the sound of someone accidentally tripping on a stone .
Within this silent forest, other than him, the only one who would make such a noise was Long Chen .
Thinking of Long Chen, flames of fury rose inside him . Last night he hadn’t gotten the slightest bit of sleep and hadn’t even had time to rest his wounds .
Those d.a.m.n beasts had become enraged and continuously attacked him . Although they were unable to pose any danger to him, they had troubled his internal injury .
It was impossible for a medicinal pill alone to completely heal his injury . He had to combine it with spiritual qi in order to recover . But he hadn’t had any time or opportunity to do so .
He was forced into being unable to maintain his peak combat ability, causing him to feel a great sense of unease . So he urgently needed to kill Long Chen and return to the capital to recover .
In just a couple breaths’ time, Ying Hou arrived at where the sound had come from . But there was no sign of Long Chen anywhere . Under a tree was the rock that had made the noise, and it seemed the rock had writing on it .
Ying Hou looked over the surroundings and his expression became ugly when he saw no sign of Long Chen . He knew that he had most likely been played .
He slowly walked over to that rock, wanting to know what Long Chen had wanted to show to him . He had just walked a couple steps when he suddenly stepped on a string that activated the short brush not far from him . A ball of something wrapped in a green leaf shot towards him .
Ying Hou coldly laughed and raised his sword, slicing that ball in half .
“Hmph, you little insec-”
He hadn’t expected that the moment his sword touched that ball, the ball exploded, filling the air with juice .
Due to that happening so fast and being so close, Ying Hou was unable to get away in time and was completely drenched by that juice . An incomparably disgusting smell filled the air .
Some of it had also gotten into his mouth, so now his mouth was also full of that disgusting stink . Ying Hou hastily retreated, his first thought being that it was poison .
But although that thing had been incomparably disgusting, it didn’t have a trace of poison in it . His spiritual qi was circulating completely normally .
Now that he had time, he noticed that the rock on the ground had flipped over to reveal the following words:
“Just a small gift which is unworthy of you . Originally I wanted to send you a large t.u.r.d, but recently my stomach hasn’t been feeling well . Please forgive my helplessness . ”
Looking at the words, Ying Hou’s face suddenly turned completely white . Looking at the sticky residue left on his clothes, his stomach began to heave and he vomited .
“LONG CHEN!!!”
Ying Hou’s incredibly angry roar practically blew apart the clouds . It caused the entire forest to shake and countless birds and beasts were frightened into flight .
Long Chen was on a distant large tree watching those birds . He smiled heartily . A bit of his anger from being chased by Ying Hou was finally relieved .
Ever since that day, Ying Hou’s face became even more dark and Long Chen became even more careful, not daring to set up such a trap again .
If he ended up making slight mistake when setting it up, he would definitely be doomed . That small trap had been to relieve his anger and to increase his self-confidence .
Since he had managed to do that, it wouldn’t be smart to set something like that up again . Only by being careful could he survive . He didn’t want the advantage he had worked so hard to create to be reversed .
One fled while one chased . Eight days quickly pa.s.sed . Over that time, Long Chen fled during the day and recuperated during the night after using all kinds of techniques to hide from the wild beasts .
Due to the a.s.sistance of his medicinal pills, Long Chen’s recovery was extremely quick . His right hand’s meridians had almost completely recovered . His inner injuries had also nearly healed .
Ever since the first night where he had drawn over many beasts, Ying Hou had become smarter and also rested during the night . He would jump up into a high tree, using the time to rest and heal his wounds . His efficiency was also very fast .
This continued up till the ninth day . Long Chen was crossing a small stream when he sensed a strange movement above his head .
Looking up, his expression greatly changed . c.r.a.p, I’m screwed .