Outside of Feiyun, Zhou Zhong led a group of villagers, all of whom were the strongest in the village, marching into the vast mountains in the distance.
Lin Xun was also among the group. He had promised to kill the pests in the spiritual land of Zhou Zhong on the sole condition that he joined the hunting.
Zhou Zhong delightedly agreed.
His wife was in desperate need to regain her Qi and blood as she just recovered from a cold which had severely weakened her.
So he planned this hunting mainly to collect herbs which could supplement Qi and blood.
As an experienced hunter in Feiyun, Zhou Zhong was quite aware of the dangers hidden in the mountains. For his own safety, he had to invite some strong villagers to come together.
When Lin Xun insisted on joining him, he had not been worried. He had heard of the fight yesterday, so he knew Lin Xun was much powerful than the rest companions.
The hunting group, led by Zhou Zhong who had rich experience, spent more than an hour to reach the border of the mountains.
In front of them, the mountains towered over the sky, half of which were wrapped in fog.
Faintly soaring cries of beasts were heard from the deep of the mountains, scaring anyone who tried to intrude.
"Watch out, everyone. Dangers are everywhere. Not only are there fierce beasts but also miasma and poisonous bugs. Stay close, and don't run about."
Zhou Zhong took the longbow from his back, held it in his hands, and glanced around in sharp eyes.
The rest villagers also took out their weapons, with heavy look on their faces.
They were strong and vigorous as common people, but they were no practitioners. None of them dared to be heedless.
Lin Xun thought for a while, and grasped the pale cyan dagger in his hand as well.
After this, they entered into the dense woods and soon disappeared.
…
It was a vast forest growing with towering old trees, the luxuriant foliage of which shrouded the sky, making it dim and damp.
Vines as thick as buckets were hanging all over the forest like boa constrictors. Fallen leaves piled up on the ground, dotting with peculiar and voluptuous flowers that were obviously toxic.
The group of villagers led by Zhou Zhong advanced cautiously with their nerves tightened. They did not dare to speak, fearing that their sound would draw the beasts and bugs to attack them.
Lin Xun, on the other hand, was relaxed, so he had time to observe the scenery, even occasionally to pick some herbs.
"Fluorite flower, blue star grass, trefoil silver cane, bitter root with red tail…never expected to find so many spiritual ingredients in such deep mountains."
He turned excited. As a spiritual apprentice, he had dealt with all kinds of spiritual ingredients since he was a little child, so he could spy out the good stuff from the useless one with a quick glance.
With such experience and ability, he saw a lot of spiritual ingredients along the way, most of which could be used as raw material to make medicine and spiritual ink.
Moreover they could be sold for money, which was really nice.
But unluckily it was impossible to trade them in Feiyun.
The animal-skin bag he carried was as long as a man and had plenty room to store the spiritual ingredients he collected.
"Little Brother Lin, what are you picking these things for?"
When he saw Lin Xun was picking unknown flowers and plants, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but ask in a lowered voice.
Other villagers had the same doubts in their minds.
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Lin Xun made no secret of his actions, and told them the values of each flower and plant, which made them even more confused.
Yet their eyes brightened at the fact that these herbs could be sold for money, so they all asked Lin Xun to teach them.
After he agreed with great pleasure, the villagers started to search for any valuable herbs under his instructions.
It was no joke there was strength in numbers. After the duration of a burning joss stick, Lin Xun's bag was stuffed up.
The vast forest off the beaten track turned out to be a hidden treasure full of various spiritual ingredients, albeit extremely dangerous.
Without Lin Xun, the villagers who had been cheered up by the surprised discovery would have never learnt that the ordinary flowers and plants in their eyes could earn them money in the market.
Suddenly, Lin Xun came to a stop and waved his hand, signaling the others to do the same.
He then abruptly grabbed the longbow in Zhou Zhong's hands, quickly climbed up the old tree next to him, took a deep breath, and set an arrow against the string with the sharp arrowhead pointing to some place far away.
The villagers who had not understood at once realized there must be a ferocious beast approaching!
They held their nerves immediately and got ready to fight.
In a short time of several breaths, a deafening roar came from afar, frightening the birds in the forest like thunder.
"That does not sound good. It must be a snow-spot leopard."
Zhou Zhong's face turned colorless. The conclusion he drew was not out of nowhere but based on his years of hunting experience.
The snow-spot leopard, as big as a buffalo, was snow-white with black dots on its fur. It was fierce and cunning.
Even Lian Rufeng, the Captain of the village guardians, had nearly died when he had once been attacked by a snow-spot leopard after he had already reached the level of Inner Strong.
Other villagers were sure enough frightened and all clenched their weapons.
Who would have known a snow-spot leopard would interrupt their peaceful herb harvest? Right now, any negligence would cost their lives.
Before anyone could figure out what to do next, a blurring white figure, coming across the woods like a powerful flash of light, made a violent sprang at Zhou Zhong.
The attack was so fast that no ordinary person could be able to escape no matter how well prepared he was. Zhou Zhong's sword was still half way in the air before a bloody mouth wide opened right above his head.
Everyone there thought he was going to die, but to their surprise, the white figure cried abruptly paused in the air, giving out a painful cry, and then fell on the ground.
Not until now did the villagers see clearly it was indeed a snow-spot leopard, only that it had an arrow shot at one of the hind legs where blood was spilling out.
Obviously, the arrow had saved Zhou Zhong's life!
Before they had hardly recovered from the shock, the snow-spot leopard bellowed and jumped to its feet, charging at the crowd like it was not hurt at all.
The bloody smell all over it, feeling like death, overwhelmed Zhou Zhong and other villagers, who tumbled backward in panic.
Almost at the same time, a grey blade dropped from the sky and accurately hacked at the neck of the snow-spot leopard with great strength that could shake a mountain.
Poof!
Blood spattered up to one meter high, and then its head flew into the sky. Without its head, the body lost control and crashed on the ground.
That was it?
Zhou Zhong and the others found it hard to believe a snow-spot leopard that could have killed Lian Rufeng when his cultivation was within the level of Inner Strong was slaughtered by an arrow and a dagger right in front of their eyes!
Then they saw that Lin Xun walked to the dead snow-spot leopard and stabbed the pale cyan dagger into its heart to let fresh blood gurgle out into his skin water bag.
Snow-spot leopard was no ordinary wild animal but a monster, and its heart blood was enriched with power that did not only have great medicinal value but could also vastly benefit the person who drank it.
After the water bag was full, Lin Xun stopped and turned to the others, "The blood is some good stuff, don't waste it."
As if awakening from a dream, Zhou Zhong and other villagers took out their water bags to fill it up with the blood.
"Little Brother Lin, it's quite extraordinary to kill an adult snow-spot leopard. Its skin alone can sell for ten copper coins in Green-sun Tribe, and its meat is also popular."
Zhou Zhong exclaimed.
The others nodded, looking at Lin Xun with admiration. It was beyond their imagination that a 13-year-old boy could behead an adult snow-spot leopard by himself.
Lin Xun grinned and said, "I think we should hurry up and collect all the valuable stuff left of the snow-spot leopard. I am afraid the smell of its blood will soon lure more monsters to come."
The villagers agreed and in no time they dissected the snow-spot leopard and put all of its skin, meat, bones and tendons wrapped with the big leaves of the smell-blocking grass in their animal-skin bags.
The smell-blocking grass was pungent enough to cover the blood smell, leaving no track for other monsters to follow.
After this, they moved on.
The recent attack made them more cautious and focused, so they stopped picking spiritual ingredients.
However, Lin Xun kept searching except that he only selected the more valuable ingredients for he had become more captious.
The more important reason was that they had limited animal-skin bags, so he had to give up on the spiritual ingredients worth less.
After walking in silence for quite some time, Zhou Zhong frowned and murmured, "Something is not right. We should have encountered at least seven or eight beasts along the way here, according to past records. But this time, apart from a snow-spot leopard, nothing else has shown up. It's damn weird."
The rest villagers had also noticed this unusual situation and nodded their heads.
Just then, Lin Xun seemed to find something and stepped up to a tree dozens of meters away.
Soon he shouted, "Come and have a look. It appears someone else has been here before us."
Zhou Zhong and the others hurried to join Lin Xun, and they saw a dead lizard-like monster with its whole body covered by dark green flakes lying behind the tree.