Chapter 122 Mantis fights the scorpion                                                                       

The blood mantis seemed to disdain the scorpion’s sudden attack; it chopped out with its raptorial foreleg and struck the black scorpion’s head first, the strength behind the attack made the black scorpion retreat back a step, its two big pincers attack naturally failed to achieve result.

SS~

Blood mantis lightly shook its wings twice just like a peac.o.c.k spreading its tail, except that the blood mantis’s movement expressed provocation and showed disdain towards the black scorpion.

Qin Lang knew the blood mantis was being lenient. It might be because it had been a long time since the blood mantis had come across a presentable opponent that it didn’t feel anxious to kill the black scorpion but rather wanted to train itself through this black scorpion.

The black scorpion became furious upon being hit; it first retreated back two steps, but seeing the blood mantis motionless like before, it again approached the blood mantis. This time, the black scorpion was even more cautious, moving step by step and when there was only about two-three centimeters left between it and the blood mantis, it attacked! Its two big pincers stabbed separately towards blood mantis’s head and chest!

Fast and fierce!

The blood mantis still looked arrogant, it struck out its raptorial leg, and though it attacked late like before, it was much faster than the black scorpion and the attack approached the scorpion’s head. Just when it looked like the black scorpion was going to be hit, it suddenly lashed out its tail and was actually able to deflect the blood mantis’s attack. It then fiercely stabbed its tail towards the blood mantis’s head!

The scorpion had used its tail!

All this while, Qin Lang’s full concentration was on the battle and so, he was able to accurately grasp this ‘killing move’ of the black scorpion. He had previously heard of the ferocity of a scorpion’s tail, but this was the first time he was personally seeing it, so the impression was more profound and shocking.

The blood mantis was somewhat startled due to this move, it hurriedly used its other raptorial leg to block the black scorpion’s tail, and used its previously deflected raptorial leg to block off both pincers of the black scorpion.

Seeing the time-tested ‘trump card’ defeated, the black scorpion finally realized that this red mantis in front of it was not ordinary. As soon as it thought of that, it had the mind to retreat, but just as the black scorpion was about to retreat, the blood mantis swooped down, its two raptorial legs were like lightning as they clamped down on the black scorpion’s tail and head, then it put strength on them——

Rip! crack!

Accompany two clear sounds, in front of Qin Lang’s astonished gaze which was also filled with pity, the black scorpion’s body split into three chunks!

Mantis’s raptorial legs originally were very sharp, but the blood mantis was an abnormal insect, and with its recent consumption of many ‘insect feed’, its toxicity and strength had advanced a step, so cutting off a scorpion was nothing to talk of.

However, this black scorpion was also amazing; its tail, even after being cut off, was thrashing madly, as if it still wanted to deliver a fatal blow to its enemy, before its death!

But how terrifying was blood mantis, even though this black scorpion was amazing, it still became its food.

Although Qin Lang felt some pity for the black scorpion, it was the law of the jungle, and this was originally the world’s supreme law.

While the blood mantis was feeding on the scorpion’s corpse, Qin Lang’s mind continuously recalled the scorpion’s movement and attacking posture, trying to comprehend its profound mysteries.

After a while, Qin Lang put his hands on the ground, trying to crawl like the scorpion, but his movement was not smooth, this seemed to be because scorpions have more legs than humans. However, Qin Lang was not resigned, so he jumped on a slanted trunk of a big tree. Right then, he made a fascinating discovery.

While climbing the slanted trunk with the scorpion’s posture, he felt much more stable!

Of course, the credit could not only be given to the black scorpion, it was also due to the Hidden Dragon Pillaring, because climbing the slanted trunk needed not only technique and strength, it was also important to have balance.

And Hidden Dragon Pillaring was the mediator that could accurately control the strength and balance. Now, as Qin Lang’s kung fu cultivation progressed day by day, he realized that Old Poison had put careful thoughts into making him cultivate Hidden Dragon Pillaring; at first, Qin Lang had thought Hidden Dragon Pillaring was a simple stance technique to cultivate strength, but only now did Qin Lang start to realize its profoundness.

‘Scorpion technique’ and Hidden Dragon Pillaring were well-matched with each other and soon, Qin Lang was able to crawl on the tree trunk like wind. He even realized that if he continued practicing it, not only could he crawl the tree freely, he would even be able to move straight up and down the tree, just like a scorpion crawling upside down.

Crawling upside down sounded somewhat stupid, but in truth, it contained profoundness, because from an upside down position, the scorpion could immediately notice any preys or predators underneath it, and could quickly react to it. And, even when it ran into danger, it would be occupying geographical dominance. But if it was in an upright position, it naturally wouldn’t be able to sense the incoming danger.

It was no wonder that Old Poison thought highly of ‘scorpion climbs the city’ movement technique; it was not only due to the scorpion being one of the five poisons as it wasn’t so easy to satisfy this old guy’s appet.i.te.

The more fascinating thing was when Qin Lang practiced scorpion climbs city, the blood mantis also practiced together with him by making attacking movements in order to test if Qin Lang’s movement techniques had any problem.

Like this, one man and one insect continued training for quite a while, Qin Lang naturally was becoming more adept at the movement technique.

If there was a compatible support tool, Qin Lang would even be able to crawl upside down like a scorpion.

Morning pa.s.sed by quickly, and only when the bell to signal the end of morning self study cla.s.s rang, Qin Lang realized how much time had pa.s.sed while he was training, but he was still not satisfied and wished to continue, because he still hadn’t achieved a ‘killing move’: it was the move which had stunned Qin Lang, precisely the ‘scorpion swings its tail’.

Those that didn’t know of the scorpion’s nature, would think that the scorpion’s most ferocious weapons were its two pincers, but it was not so. A scorpion’s most ferocious weapon was the stinger of its tail. Even when hunting for food, the pincers would only act as support to capture the prey, then the stinger would move to take the prey’s life by injecting poison into the prey.

That unbridled black scorpion was simply not at the same level as the blood mantis, but when it used the move ‘scorpion swings the tail’, even the blood mantis had to avoid it, and that was enough to prove the ferocity of a scorpion’s tail.

But, Qin Lang didn’t have a tail, so how could he use ‘scorpion swings its tail’?

Qin Lang wasn’t stupid, he possessed abundant creativity. How could many martial artists practice kungfu like Eagle claw, Tiger and Crane form and so on? They didn’t have claws or wings, but instead they used their own hands to replace them.

Similarly, Qin Lang didn’t have a tail or poison stinger, but he could replace it with something else:

His leg!

There was a saying in northern styles ‘hands are like two doors, it all depends on the legs to win the fight’. Mantis fist prioritized hands, it was sharp and fierce, but if there was a compatible leg technique, then it naturally would become more perfect.

Qin Lang kept on practicing the ‘scorpion swings its tail’ till he became much more skilled in it, and only then did he head back to school.