Chapter 143: Blood Crows and Demon Scorpions

As that red cloud-like entity approached a bit closer, Ye Feng’s expression grew serious. “I think we’re in trouble this time!”
“What’s that?” Pei Hong, seeing Ye Feng’s reaction, also grew nervous. It was the first time he had seen Ye Feng look so fearful.
“It’s blood crows!” Ye Feng turned to shout at everyone, “We must avoid those flocks! Follow me!”
After saying that, Ye Feng was the first to change direction and fly westward. Wudao and Kongxu immediately followed without hesitation.
“What exactly are blood crows?” Kongxu caught up to Ye Feng and asked loudly.
“They’re a type of magical beast. They hunt in groups. That red flock just now probably numbered nearly two thousand. The blood crows involved in hunting are all at the Yuan Ying stage or above. They eat anything—small insects to larger magical beasts, even rotten corpses. Nothing is beyond their digestive power. With less than twenty of us against nearly two thousand Yuan Ying-level magical beasts, we’ll surely be wiped out.” Ye Feng tried his best to ensure everyone heard him. “In the world of cultivation, they’re like man-eating ants in the animal kingdom—terrifying predators.”
“Where did you read about these things?” Wudao asked, looking incredulous. “The Shaolin scriptures also mention blood crows, but only in one sentence—‘Social hunting magical beasts, extremely dangerous!’ I didn’t even know what blood crows were.”
“That’s because most who’ve seen them have died. I didn’t read about it in a book. I once encountered a flock of blood crows and almost died, so I know for sure! Blood crows have distinct features: red feathers all over, black claws, golden beaks, and eyes ranging from light blue to dark blue. The darker the eyes, the higher their cultivation level.” Ye Feng vaguely recalled once nearly dying in the Refinement Realm, chased by a flock of just a few hundred blood crows. He thought he could easily handle these seemingly strange birds but suffered a crushing defeat. Since he couldn’t fly at the time, he endured great hardship and could hardly fight back. After that, he never tried to provoke blood crow flocks again.
“Let’s descend! These birds can only attack from above; we can escape on the ground.” Someone in the crowd shouted at the others.

“No!” Ye Feng immediately gave a negative answer. “The Blood Crows appearing here mean there are other creatures here as well. There’s food for them, that’s why they’re here. There must be other magical beasts in this desert beneath us.”
“That flock of birds is coming for us! I don’t want to end up as their food for nothing!” the voice from earlier shouted at Ye Feng. “Everyone, look at what’s under our feet—just sand, no flowers even like those we saw earlier. It’s clearly safer than up in the air.”
As soon as the man finished speaking, he descended alone. A few people in the crowd also followed after him as they saw him leave Ye Feng and the others.
The moment the first person stepped onto the ground and before he could steady himself, a tremor came from beneath his feet. It was a giant scorpion nearly two meters long, its colorful body somewhat similar to the sand and dust on the ground. Its scorpion tail, nearly three meters long, was raised high and instantly pierced through the man’s chest.
The four who had left the group with him were too late to escape when they saw this. More and more scorpions emerged from the desert, staring coldly at the four who were about to land.
Ye Feng and the others were completely helpless at this point. There were thousands of those colorful scorpions in the desert beneath them. If they went down to help, they would only put themselves in danger. They could only watch helplessly as they were torn to pieces by the scorpions leaping high into the air.
Glancing at the eleven people left, including himself, Ye Feng took a deep breath. “It’s obvious we’ve drawn out these colorful magic scorpions. The Blood Crows that will be arriving soon will engage in a fierce battle with them. These two species are natural enemies who can’t coexist… I thought the Blood Crows were out hunting for food, but it turns out it’s over territory… We just need to fly over the area where the colorful magic scorpions are, then, when the battle gets intense, bypass them and continue north.”
“Colorful magic scorpions and Blood Crows are natural enemies?” Wu Dao looked at Ye Feng in surprise. “One lives in the sky, the other on the ground—there shouldn’t be much conflict between them!”

“The Rainbow Scorpions are social predators just like the Blood Crows. Their diets are almost identical—they eat anything. Although the Blood Crows can fly, much of their food comes from ground creatures. Moreover, the Rainbow Scorpions can attack aerial targets; their stingers can be fired thousands of meters into the air to bring down their prey, and they also hunt in the sky. It’s like two different lion prides competing for food in the same territory—before deciding who will be the king of that territory, they won’t easily end this struggle. There are only two outcomes: either the loser dies or leaves.” Ye Feng was also somewhat wary of the Rainbow Scorpions, as they were highly venomous; even a slight scratch from them could lead to death due to the potent poison. Although Ye Feng knew there must be antidotes in the Void Realm, he still didn’t want to come into contact with these creatures.

In fact, social magical beasts are all threats that even stronger beings of the same level would avoid.

“What the hell is this place?” Dracula could hardly bear it anymore. He had thought he would find wine and beautiful women here, never expecting such a situation. “Wudao, are you sure the planet we’re on is the Origin Planet? Why isn’t it mentioned in your records? Even if we traveled there using that device, the environment of the Origin Planet and its dangerous species should be recorded in your data! Look around—just a few hours ago, there were eighteen of us, and now only eleven remain! Nearly half have disappeared!!!”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Dracula. I really haven’t mentioned these things in my records. I don’t know either where we’ve gone wrong. But one thing is certain: as long as we find the local inhabitants, we’ll get the answers we need.” Wudao didn’t know how to explain it either!

“Count Dracula, let’s stop arguing about this for now. Solving the immediate crisis is the most important thing.” Ye Feng glanced at the dense swarm of Rainbow Scorpions below. “If we don’t leave their territory soon, they’ll attack us…”

As soon as Ye Feng finished speaking, he continued flying westward, trying to get away from the Rainbow Scorpions’ territory.

Faced with the overwhelming swarm of Blood Crows, the Rainbow Scorpions didn’t have time to pay attention to Ye Feng and the others. They had attacked earlier because those humans had stepped onto their territory. Now, all they could focus on were their natural enemies—they were ready for battle…