Chapter 47

"Memories from a few years ago; things have indeed changed quite a bit." Guo Ming gave a sheepish smile, watching Chu Danqing light firewood inside the old hut to provide warmth.

"No matter, as long as we found it." Chu Danqing said.

Guo Ming had said it was about two miles away, but in reality, his direction had been off, and they had circled around before finding it.

"This place is safe and secure; you can just wait here until the wind and snow subside before going to Nanshan Temple or down the mountain."

"I still have important matters to attend to."

Chu Danqing intended to leave to look for the tracks of the Lame-Footed Tiger.

He had already settled Guo Ming, so naturally, there was no need to stay and keep him company.

Upon hearing this, Guo Ming's expression stiffened: "Isn't this a bit too urgent? It wouldn't be too late to go after the wind and snow die down."

"Important matters must be handled, but one must also be mindful of one's own safety."

He could hear the howling wind and snow outside growing stronger, making even the small hut creak and groan.

Even if Chu Danqing were a person of extraordinary abilities, traveling in such wind and snow was extremely dangerous, so he offered a word of caution.

"In the wind and snow, something, is approaching." Great Treasure spoke up, and his sharp claws also extended.

This made both of them vigilant.

Thump, thump, thump~

A knocking sound came from outside the door.

"Is there anyone in the hut? I am Liu Wu, open the door quickly." Outside the house came the voice of a middle-aged man shivering from the cold.

This made Guo Ming's face light up with joy: "It's Brother Liu Wu, open the door quickly."

As he spoke, Guo Ming got up and was about to open the door, but was grabbed by Chu Danqing.

"Great Treasure said, he is not a person." Chu Danqing explained; Great Treasure had a mental deficiency, but he could distinguish between humans and non-human things.

He would not refer to a person as a "thing."

"Is this voice Brother Guo?" Liu Wu outside the house heard Guo Ming's voice, and his trembling voice was filled with excitement.

Guo Ming was now conflicted; outside was a good friend, inside was his savior, and being caught in the middle was truly difficult.

Chu Danqing, meanwhile, took out the Cold Spring Shadow sniper rifle; he had fumbled with it a few times before and wasn't very proficient, but firing it was no problem.

He had no skill or knowledge in firearms, nor had he received professional training, so being able to use it was already quite good.

There was no reaction inside the house; Great Treasure also seemed to have sensed that this was not a good time, so he did not make a move.

As time passed, Liu Wu's voice outside the door became hoarse, and he began to pound on the door vigorously, wanting to come in.

Chu Danqing found a suitable position, set up the Cold Spring Shadow, and prepared.

Seeing this, Great Treasure cooperated and opened the wooden hut.

The wind and snow poured in instantly, and they saw a figure with half its head missing standing right at the doorway.

Chu Danqing decisively pulled the trigger; a chill emerged and spread from the firearm, and a Cold Shadow Bullet sprayed out from the muzzle, hitting the target on the spot.

【You dealt 20 points of physical damage + 10 points of ice-attribute damage to the target, and caused a 5-second slow effect.】

Upon seeing the combat log, Chu Danqing understood why the equipment requirement for this sniper rifle was 5 points of Spirit.

Because it was essentially a magic staff disguised as a sniper rifle; apart from lacking the recoil unique to firearms, its damage was also far inferior to a normal sniper rifle.

Consequently, its effective range was only three hundred meters, but precisely because of these characteristics, it was very suitable for a layman like Chu Danqing to use.

Upon hitting the target, Chu Danqing directly cast a Scouting Art on it.

【Ghost-Servant】

【Attributes】

【HP: 11%】

【Mana: 25】

【Strength: 1】

【Agility: 3】

【Physique: 2】

【Spirit: 5】

【Perception: 3】

When he saw the digitized data, the corner of Chu Danqing's eye could not help but twitch.

A single shot had directly brought the target to the brink of death.

It was no wonder it had been pounding on the door outside; with 1 point of Strength, trying to break the door physically wasn't a matter of whether it was strenuous, but whether it was even possible.

It wasn't that the Cold Spring Shadow had high attack power; it was truly that the target was too weak, to the point where even the slow effect seemed redundant.

It was just that Chu Danqing's marksmanship was terrible; otherwise, hitting a vital point to deal critical damage could have killed this Ghost-Servant directly.

"It's a Ghost-Servant." Chu Danqing put away the gun, and Great Treasure extended his claws to directly kill the Ghost-Servant, which had been heavily wounded and was unable to move.

The Ghost-Servant immediately vanished into thin air, leaving nothing behind, and Great Treasure took the opportunity to close the door.

Chu Danqing knew the concept of a Ghost-Servant; a client had once ordered a commission from him for a Mountain Lord, and one of the requirements was to include a Ghost-Servant as part of the background.

"Liu Wu... Liu Wu was eaten by a tiger?!!" Guo Ming's expression was horrified.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Chu Danqing asked in return.

It was a tiger, not an old cat.

"Brother Liu Wu hunted countless times in his life; never did I imagine he would die at the hands of such a beast."

"Back in the day, he had even hunted tigers, but unfortunately, it ran away; later, there were Ghost-Servants disturbing him at night, and he shot them away with a single arrow." Guo Ming said with a sigh.

Upon hearing this, Chu Danqing became interested: "Would you mind telling me about it?"

"Naturally." How could Guo Ming mind? "Perhaps by the time I finish speaking, the wind and snow will have stopped."

He was thinking about how to prolong this story to stop Chu Danqing from going out; now, there was not only wind and snow but also Ghost-Servants, making it even more dangerous to go out.

"This matter must start from my..." Having made a decision, Guo Ming intended to start from the beginning.

Chu Danqing did not have the intention of making him keep it short, listening quietly as he recounted the story.

Until Guo Ming mentioned that the tiger had been injured in its left hind leg by a trap, Chu Danqing asked: "In other words, this tiger is a Lame-Footed Tiger?"

"That's right; this tiger has already become a spirit, disregarding the injury to its hind leg, abandoning the chariot to save the commander, and stubbornly enduring as it escaped." Guo Ming was puzzled; he didn't quite understand why Chu Danqing was suddenly concerned about this point.

Chu Danqing understood immediately in his heart; the tiger that Liu Wu had hunted was the Lame-Footed Tiger that Chu Danqing was looking for.

The meaning of Lame-Footed Tiger was a tiger with a lame foot.

Liu Wu becoming a Ghost-Servant was a reprisal after the fact.

After being swallowed by the tiger, he became a tiger's accomplice.

"Coincidentally, I came to this Mount Nanshan under the orders of the Lu family to eliminate a Lame-Footed Tiger."

"Now it seems it is precisely this one." Chu Danqing stated his purpose; he felt that this Guo Ming might be of some help to him.

After all, the person using this Sever the Three Corpses Art was the grand-disciple of the Taiping Dao Master and the son of the Human-Duke Dao Master; using a tiger that had become a spirit as one of the Three Corpses was not considered extravagant.

Didn't you see that the other of his Three Corpses used a single-horned flood dragon?

Of course, whether it was a flood dragon remained to be determined; it could also be a crocodile or a python.

"It must be this wicked beast." Guo Ming said: "But this wicked beast is cunning, Mount Nanshan is treacherous, and there are Ghost-Servants; I'm afraid it won't be easy to find this wicked beast."

Chu Danqing was thinking about how to find it, and looking at the wind and snow gradually subsiding outside, he said: "Let's go to Nanshan Temple."

"The monks in the temple have lived here for a long time; perhaps there will be clues."

"And the injuries on your body also need to be treated."

(End of chapter)