"Listen up this is our plan. It is impossible for us to kill the lava spiders. So we need to distract them long enough to steal the fruits after it ripens. I shall handle one of them. Bai Hao and Bai Lin shall take two of you and handle one each. Bai Lin, you are the fastest among us aside from me. When the time comes, we shall launch an a.s.sault on all three of them and you shall have to quickly grab on to the fruit and we shall make our escape."

They nodded and moved towards the lava spiders. The lava spiders turned towards them and quickly raised their front legs.

Lava spiders were a type of spiders that lived in the earth. They lived close to volcanoes, underground, and thus their skin took on a red glow from being in close contact with lava, making their skins very thick, and difficult to penetrate. Their carapaces would usually be used to create defense armors, especially ones with great heat resistance. They were able to send out sticky web that could entrap any foe that was caught in it. They would also use their front legs to skewer enemies. The only downside to them was that it was not that difficult to escape their attacks due to their speed.

Just as Bai Qing's group got ready to attack, the three lava spiders lined up in a line. They charged at them, at the same time spitting web at them also.

Bai Qing was sitting at the left most edge of the group. Since this location was the farthest from the entrance, he chose this position to fight. Bai Lin was the other end to not get caught up in the middle of the spiders when he went for the fruits. Bai Qing moved in an instant, cutting the web and thrusting his sword at the spider. The sword bounced off the spider's skin. It barely left a scratch on its hard skin.

The spider lunged towards Bai Qing, its legs sweeping from the right. Bai Qing stepped back and dodged the attack. By now all the groups had started to fight. All three spiders were attacking with all they had in order to quickly defeat the enemies.

Bai Qing once again attacked the spider unsuccessfully. The lava spiders only weakness was the inside of its mouth. But the only time they open their mouths were to spray the web. Thus the chance to kill them was very difficult to get hold of.

Suddenly the spider's mouth puffed up. Bai Qing got ready to attack the spider in the opening after it spit the web. The moment the spider spit out the web at Bai Qing, he dodged to the left and approached the spider in an instant, thrusting his sword at the spider. The spider immediately stabbed its left forelimb at Bai Qing. If Bai Qing was to continue with the attack, both of them would be wounded. Bai Qing did not want such a situation so early in the fight, so he retreated.

Bai Qing wanted to get past the spider, and close to the weed if possible. But the moment he tried to go past the spider, it would attack him in a frenzy, simply refusing to allow him to go past it. Bai Qing retreated backwards. The spider tried to catch up with him, but its speed did not allow it to do so.

Bai Qing tried to use a longer curve to get past the spider. Suddenly it spit a web at Bai Qing's path. The web the lava spiders spits out becomes wider the further it traveled, thus by the time it reached Bai Qing, it had become too wide for Bai Qing to run past. He withdraw from his path, turned around and tried to go the other way, only to be stopped by another web.

Bai Qing looked around, and suddenly realized that he had moved quite far to the left in his fight, and thus much inward. And it was same for the other two groups too. He realized that all the attacks that the spiders had send to the right where a very close call, forcing him to move to the left to dodge, while the attacks to the left where a bit wider, allowing him to stay still and dodge easily. This forced his entire team to move quite a bit into the cave.

Bai Qing frowned. He did not like the way the fight was progressing. He inwardly praised the spiders intelligence. The spiders were attacking their right side repeatedly, forcing them to move left in order to dodge. This was making them move further inward. He did not want this to happen. They were going to get trapped with the spiders between them and the entrance. They would have to spend a huge effort to break through their defenses even if they get the fruit.

Bai Qing tried to take a step to the left once he reached the other end of the cave. Then suddenly the spiders lunged at him to his left, forcing him to his right, and back to the center of the end of the cave. Seeing this Bai Lin, who was standing at the other end of their group, tried to step to the right, only to be pushed to the left, and forced to stay there.

The current situation was extremely unfavorable for Bai Qing and his group. They were stranded in the other edge of the cave, on the opposite side of the entrance. The three lava spiders surrounded them and attacked. They did not have much room to maneuver in this setup. It was extremely dangerous to fight three beasts with high defense and attack in an narrow s.p.a.ce. Thankfully due to the slowness of the spiders and the existence of the three seventh stage qi realm cultivators they were able to have enough s.p.a.ce to not be in danger.

While Bai Qing was trying his best just to stay alive, Bai Yun was having the time of his life. It was needless to say that Bai Qing's current situation was entirely his doing.

Bai Yun had no interest in letting Bai Qing have an easy time. It was due to this b.a.s.t.a.r.d that Bai Shan looked for him, and all the other mess happened as a result of it. If Bai Qing had any intention other than to probe a potential enemy, and wanted to harm him, then he would have been dead by now.

The first thing he had to do in order to escape from Bai Qing here was to make sure that the lava spiders were between the entrance and the group. Even if he stole the fruits and ran, and both groups tried to chase after him, the lava spiders would definitely attack that group also since he was a human. They would a.s.sume that he was with them and make the attack on them too. This would help to slow them down.

This was why Bai Yun interfered in the fight between the two groups to make sure that they moved in the right direction without getting caught himself. He could only use his soul tendrils to affect the fight from this distance. So he focused one tendril each on the two spiders at the end and manipulated their attacks. He couldn't forcefully change the direction of their attacks as that would alert the lava spiders. He manipulated the soul tendril to simulate an attack to the lava spiders coming from the direction he did not want the group to move, so that the lava spiders would attack that direction, forcing the group to move in the opposite direction. Of course he maintained a balance such that Bai Qing's group had enough time to dodge. He did not want either group to be harmed. It was only due to his battle experience that he was able to maintain such a delicate balance.

Bai Yun had moved a bit closer to the supreme weed by then. He used the dead bodies of beats to hide his tracks and move quietly and only when all of them where in the middle of an attack. But he did not move too close to the weed. Both groups were keeping half an eye on the weed, and the fighting had not reached a desperate stage yet. Of course Bai Yun did not need to get right next to the supreme weed. He only needed to get close enough to use his soul tendrils to get the supreme weed. The only problem was that since there were three fruits, and he could only use two soul tendrils comfortably, he had to cut the supreme weed and take it all with him.

Bai Yun watched the two groups fight and interfering in the fight while cheering inside. Time pa.s.sed in this manner.Suddenly Bai Yun's eyes jerked upwards. The time was exactly midnight. Through the long and small opening in the top of the cave, the full moon could be seen peeping through. The moonlight fell from the top and down onto the supreme weed fruit below.

Perhaps by chance, the moonlight fell onto the supreme weed fruit in a conical shape. As it did, perhaps because of the fruit, or perhaps the cave, it took on a magical quality and seemed to turn silver.

The supreme weed started to sway, even though there was no wind. The three dark red fruits on the weed seemed to come alive.

As it started to sway, every single person who was here, human and beast, started to watch, enchanted. They saw the fruits swinging like bells in the wind.

Then a single piece of the skin of the fruit peeled off. A dark red, paper thin piece of skin started to float about in the air next to the fruit, like a child afraid to leave its mother. Beneath the patch of skin that was peeled of a blood red color could be seen peeking out. One by one patches of dark skin started to peel off of the three fruits. But the pieces did not leave the cone of moonlight, and stayed around the supreme weed fruits, dancing along an invisible wind.

As the fruits ripened, small multicolored markings started to appear on the fruits. The three red fruits swayed in the silver backdrop in astonis.h.i.+ng beauty captivating the audience. So much so that every single being present missed the slight swoosh as an object cut through the air.

Bai Qing's eyes narrowed in an instant. "Watch out." he cried out.

A single dagger broke through the air in the silent night. A pale sharp line was drawn through the air, cutting the stalk in two.

In an instant the magical atmosphere broke. As they watched, the stalk flew towards the front of the cave. This change was so sudden that every single person there was stunned and couldn't move for a short while.

As they watched, a shadow emerged from behind one of the demonic beasts carca.s.ses. In an instant the supreme weed reached the hands of a figure completely clad in black. Only a pair of bright eyes could be seen from beneath the hood that covered his face. The figure continued to charge forward, leaving the whole place behind.

"Thank you for the present prince Qing." A cheeky voice sounded out.

The entire group watched in stunned silence as the figure reached the weeds at the entrance of the cave, and quickly ran outside. He was hidden from their view before any of them had a chance to react.

Every single person stood there in stunned silence.

The supreme weed fruits had been stolen.