Chapter 69: Practicing Archery

Gong Mei had no objections to her suggestion, and besides, she had already said earlier that this time she would go wherever Yun Li wanted.

So with Han leading the way, Yun Li's group followed him and eventually arrived at a stretch of wasteland near the mountains.

The wasteland stretched for dozens of li in every direction before giving way to a lush forest of towering ancient trees.

Han had clearly been here many times; the moment they arrived, he led Yun Li and the others familiarly to an inconspicuous corner and pushed aside a raised stone, beneath which several black, earthworm-like things scurried out in a flurry.

Han swiftly grabbed those few black earthworms, then introduced them to Yun Li and the others:

"These black longworms generally like to hide under stones and in damp mud. To lure out a rhinoceros python, you have to crush these black longworms mixed with a kind of tree-bud worm and place them on a pile of fresh wild grass to first attract the black goat over.

Then the rhinoceros python will chase the black goat here."

Yun Li watched their black goat bait being prepared, somewhat worried that they would have to wait here all along for the black goat to take the bait.

"The black goat probably won't be lured over that quickly, should we leave just one person here to keep watch, and have the others look around nearby for any prey worth catching?"

Hearing this, Gong Mei thought it over and agreed it made sense—staking out the black goat's bait indeed didn't require so many people all waiting here together.

"Then let Han stay behind; he's more familiar with this place."

"Sure!" Han had no problem with that.

He had indeed been here many times; if he happened to encounter a rhinoceros python, he would know how to respond immediately.

After leaving the wasteland, Yun Li and Gong Mei's group didn't go too far either.

And because Yun Li discovered plants similar to ramie, they even delayed a while along the way.

Gong Mei was quite curious about her collecting some wild grass that was neither useful nor edible. "What are you getting this great reed grass for? It's not edible? And it's not the kind of plant with a flavor you'd want to eat either."

You couldn't exactly say great reed grass was inedible—after all, the plant wasn't poisonous; it just felt like chewing a mouthful of stiff bristles. Beastmen mostly preferred meat, and even if they occasionally ate other things, they wouldn't compete with wild beasts for wild grass, but would go find other things to fill their stomachs.

Yun Li was still in the experimental stage herself, so how could she dare tell her she wanted to try extracting plant fiber to make clothes? So she casually made up an excuse:

"The wolf cubs at home keep crawling all over the place sniffing things, so I'm bringing back something fresh to distract them."

Gong Mei found this both funny and exasperating. "I've never seen anyone give wolf cubs great reed grass to play with. Wouldn't it be better to bring back some small live prey?"

Yun Li shook her head. "The kind of small prey you're talking about would have to be kept alive if brought back, and if it died there wouldn't be much meat either. Besides, the cubs are still small—no matter how small the prey, when startled it can still bite, and it wouldn't be good if it scared them."

Gong Mei didn't have cubs and really couldn't say much on this matter, only remarking, "You're quite attentive."

Yun Li said helplessly, "Can't help it—they're still little. Once they grow a bit bigger, they won't need to be pampered like this."

A flash of envy crossed Gong Mei's eyes; she would love to have a cub to pamper, but unfortunately she still didn't have one.

"Squeak, squeak~"

While the two were talking, a gulu beast that looked like a mouse but was as big as a rabbit suddenly ran past.

Yun Li instinctively wanted to grab her bow and arrow to shoot it, but before she could move, Guan Yu from not far away took out a sling and directly knocked the gulu beast unconscious.

Seeing Yun Li holding up her bow and arrow, he froze for a moment. "Sorry, I didn't know you had your eye on it too..."

After all, his female's stance was already clear; by suddenly snatching her prey like this, he was undoubtedly somewhat slapping his own female's face.

Fortunately, Yun Li didn't make an issue of it, and instead quickly waved her hand. "I was too slow. This is prey you brought down, so naturally it belongs to you."

Gong Mei and the others accompanying her out here was already helping them a great deal, not to mention that later, out of regard for her making bows and arrows, they were willing to let her go wherever she wanted.

If she still took advantage of others when it came to prey, that would truly be laughable.

"You want to practice archery, right? But standing down here you can't see much prey—why don't you go up a tree?"

Seeing Yun Li tempted but still somewhat hesitant, Gong Mei couldn't help continuing, "If you keep worrying about not having prey, then have your beast husbands—one go drive prey over, and one help you pick up arrows."

As for them, they would just watch from the side and step in to help when needed.

Yun Li thought Gong Mei's idea was good. After all, she wasn't as sharp as they were; standing down here, if she wanted to practice archery, who knew how long she'd have to walk before she could loose a single arrow.

Better to do as Gong Mei said and go up a tree to practice archery.

"A Qing."

She turned her head and called out to Mu Qing. Mu Qing gave her a slight nod and said to Leng Xiao, "I'll go drive the prey. You protect A Li."

Compared to Leng Xiao, Mu Qing's beast form was indeed better suited for driving prey.

But before he left, Gong Mei still reminded him, "Our Tribe is very sensitive to Snake Beastmen. Try not to fully transform into your beast form—if the beastmen patrolling nearby spot you, it might draw the patrol beastmen over to investigate."

Then they'd have to explain things to people.

Even in Half-Beast Transformation, there was still a chance of being discovered, just that the target wasn't as big or as conspicuous as a full beast transformation.

Mu Qing acknowledged with a sound. He was only driving some harmless small wild animals for A Li to practice archery—he wouldn't go so far as to reveal his beast form.

With Mu Qing's departure, Yun Li was brought up into a tree by Leng Xiao.

Gong Mei and Guan Yu also climbed up another tree, ready to see how Yun Li's aim was.

Since Yun Li clearly looked pampered with no combat experience, Gong Mei and the others didn't have very high expectations for her at first.

After seeing her miss two arrows in a row, neither of them showed any surprised expression.

It wasn't until Yun Li shot her third arrow that the arrowhead fiercely pinned a dark green tree python that was climbing upward.

"Nice!"

Gong Mei made a fist-bump gesture toward Yun Li from afar. Seeing this, Yun Li returned the fist-bump across the distance as well.

She hadn't expected her third arrow to hit anything either, so her joy naturally went without saying.

Leng Xiao behind her chuckled low. "See, wasn't I right? A Li, if you listen to me, you'll definitely hit the target."

Though he had never used a bow and arrow, throwing a spear and shooting an arrow looked about the same—the only difference was that one's focus was in the hand and the other's focus was in the eye.

Timing was crucial when throwing a spear, but when to throw and how far to throw—those were things you had to find the feel for in your own hands.

But with a bow and arrow, what mattered even more was seeing accurately. If the arrowhead wasn't aligned or you didn't anticipate the target, not only would the shot miss the prey, but more critically, it would startle the prey into fleeing.