Chapter 92: 【Seeking First Subscription】The Limitations of Trap Hunting

Crack………

Two hours later, a frost wolf, lured by torchlight, stepped again on a trap buried in the snow.

Unlike the previous snowmane, whose bones were merely caught, this frost wolf’s left foreleg was nearly severed.

And because the frost wolf sensed danger and fled with excessive speed, the trap tore off a large chunk of flesh from its entire left leg, exposing nearly all the bones— a horrifying sight.

Despite the frost wolf’s agility and even faster reaction than the previous snowmane, having chosen escape early, the trap’s immense pulling force and restraint, combined with Xia Hong’s meticulous prior planning, ultimately trapped it on the spot, where Xia Chuan extracted its essence blood.

Luo Yuan and the others stared at the frost wolf’s corpse, weighing over a thousand jin, then looked up at the sky—they realized only half the night had passed, yet they had already secured two prey. Their expressions had grown numb.

When did hunting become this simple?

It wasn’t that they hadn’t exerted effort, but compared to when Luo Ming led them out before, the dangers they faced tonight were almost negligible.

Whether the earlier snowmane or the current frost wolf, both had been lured by torchlight into stepping on traps, suffered leg injuries, lost three to four tenths of their strength, endured a barrage of arrows, and were left half-dead—then Xia Hong led their five men in for the final strike, and the prey was easily taken.

Moreover, when hunting the second frost wolf, Xia Chuan’s white thread replaced the rope; the frost wolf pulled with all its might, yet the white thread never snapped—time-wise, hunting it was even easier than the snowmane.

“With this trap, if I lead the team myself, hunting low-grade cold beasts will no longer be a problem from now on—let’s see how quickly we can clear all the low-grade cold beasts on the perimeter!”

After two consecutive hunts, Xia Hong had confirmed the effectiveness and power of the trap he personally crafted, and his confidence in future hunts had soared.

“Leader, could we mass-produce these traps?”

Luo Yuan’s question instantly brightened everyone’s expressions.

But Xia Hong shook his head, calmly removing the trap from the frost wolf’s leg, then said: “This trap’s body and spring are forged from my ten-fold forged iron—over twelve hundred jin of iron ore were used alone. It’s nothing like the ordinary iron tools produced at Luo Ge’s camp. With our current camp reserves and mining capacity, mass production is impossible…”

Here, Xia Hong paused, then continued: “Even if we could forge two or three more now, we couldn’t use them.”

Hearing this, the others thought for a moment, then immediately nodded.

Recalling the two hunts just now, while the trap played a major role, the more critical factor was their own frontal encirclement—more precisely, the fatal wounds on both prey were almost entirely inflicted by Xia Hong.

So strictly speaking, the trap can injure cold beasts, but relying on it alone for effortless kills is impossible. Without prior deployment and the reinforcement of Earth-Digging realm cultivators, the likely outcome would be the cold beast severely wounded but still fleeing, dragging the trap along.

If that happened, we’d lose both men and prey.

“So, if any of you break through to the Earth-Digging realm first, with this trap, the camp can form a second hunting team—then our hunting capacity will greatly increase, and our prey yield will inevitably rise another level.”

Hearing this, everyone’s eyes lit up.

They had all witnessed tonight’s trial firsthand.

One Earth-Digging cultivator, one trap, plus a group of Wood-Cutting realm men—while they couldn’t guarantee success against unfamiliar cold beasts, tonight had proven that snowmanes and frost wolves, if handled carefully, could be hunted almost at will.

Based on tonight’s hunting progress so far, not only could Xia Hong’s meat-sharing rule be smoothly implemented, but there might even be surplus cold beast meat.

Luo Yuan and the other eight exchanged glances, then turned to Xia Hong. The doubt in their eyes had vanished entirely, replaced only by admiration and respect.

That seemingly absurd meat-sharing rule.

He wasn’t boasting after all.

This new leader, Xia Hong.

Could truly make it happen!

“Next, let’s see how many low-grade cold beasts remain on the perimeter—whether our camp’s hunting speed outpaces their spread. I want to see if these cold beasts are truly inexhaustible.”

Xia Hong didn’t understand the shift in Luo Yuan and the others’ attitudes. His gaze turned toward the deeper Redwood Ridge, his expression growing excited.

Tonight’s two hunts had proven that from now on, the Great Xia Camp had truly risen above snowmanes and frost wolves on the food chain.

As long as no complications arise, hunting the few familiar cold beasts we know will remain essentially trouble-free.

He was even now considering whether there would be enough low-grade cold beasts in the future.

The trees of Redwood Ridge were thick, and the cold beasts were large—only a few could possibly dwell within five hundred meters of the perimeter. For instance, tonight, before arriving, they had scouted and confirmed only seven.

But that didn’t mean only seven existed on the perimeter—only seven were present tonight. Cold beasts’ habits were not well known to Xia Hong, but from the few he’d encountered, none showed signs of permanent settlement.

Logically, those reaching the perimeter must be the weakest among cold beasts, but he didn’t know exactly how many such weak ones dwelled within Redwood Ridge.

According to Great Xia’s current meat-sharing rule, at least fifteen beasts per month are required.

In the short term, it’s not a problem—but if this continues long-term, the five-hundred-meter perimeter will become depleted. When that happens, we’ll have no choice but to expand the hunting range.

“Leader, two should be enough. Shall we end tonight here?”

Hearing Luo Yuan’s question, Xia Hong shook his head.

“Take down the Golden-Eyed Demon Sheep too.”

Everyone swallowed hard—even Xia Chuan did.

Two cold beasts in one night was already a fantasy to them; Xia Hong now wanted to hunt a third.

It wasn’t that they thought it unrealistic—having witnessed the kills of two already, they didn’t feel the third, the Golden-Eyed Demon Sheep, would be especially hard.

The issue was hunting three cold beasts in a single night.

To them, this was truly insane—and utterly unbelievable.

If the hunts of the first two cold beasts had required some effort, the final one, the Golden-Eyed Demon Sheep, was undeniably simple.

The Golden-Eyed Demon Sheep’s attack method was extremely simple: it charged head-on. Though its strength far exceeded the snowmane’s, once it stepped on the trap, its power was drastically reduced—and faced with Xia Hong’s group’s encirclement, it could only flee.

Knowing the terror of its golden eye on its back, Xia Hong’s group deliberately avoided it.

Ironically, that very golden eye on its back became the perfect target for the seven archers—Xu Ning, Qiu Peng, and others—perched in the trees.

Notably, compared to Qiu Peng and Xu Ning—even Xia Chuan—Luo Yuan and the other eight clearly had superior hunting skills. This wasn’t just evident in the Golden-Eyed Demon Sheep hunt; it had also been clear in the earlier snowmane and frost wolf hunts.

Xia Chuan, with his black blade and white thread, could still match Luo Yuan’s group—but Qiu Peng and Xu Ning’s archery skills were clearly on a completely different level.

Both clearly noticed this. Though their faces showed some defeat, their dominant expression was defiance. On the return journey, they kept asking about archery techniques and seizing every spare moment to practice.

Xia Hong was pleased to see this quiet rivalry.

As they prepared to return to camp with all three prey, the temperature dropped noticeably—they knew dawn was near, and everyone quickened their pace.

Coincidentally, as they reached the valley entrance, they met Huang Yong and Hong Gang, leading the wood-cutting team as they carried logs inward.

“Leader, how was it? Did you get any prey…?”

Seeing Xia Hong at the front, Hong Gang bowed in greeting, about to ask about the hunt’s success—but before he finished, he looked behind Xia Hong and his mouth fell open, his face filled with shock.

“Greetings, Leader, this…?”

Huang Yong also approached. He had been puzzled why Hong Gang had suddenly frozen—until he looked up and saw Xu Ning, Qiu Peng, and Zou Yuankai each carrying one of the three massive beasts on their backs.

His expression instantly became identical to Hong Gang’s.

(End of Chapter)