Chapter 22

The story did not just happen in the small city of Fenghuai.

Moving time forward a little, back to the time when the rain pressed on the city on the third day of the eighth month.

Pulling the perspective higher, further away, and moving to the vast and boundless Xincang Mountain Range that Fenghuai leaned against.

Here, there were steep cliffs and tall trees, deep valleys and long abysses, and looking up, one could only see a narrow line of sky.

The black clouds grew heavier, and a rainstorm was contained in the mouth of the Heaven. Fine wind leaked from between the lips and teeth, gradually becoming larger, and the forest also rustled and swayed.

A figure was running staggeringly.

Mo Wu swallowed a mouthful of blood that surged to his throat, but the wound on his left arm cracked open again, and a few drops of blood inevitably fell to the ground.

He stopped, picked up the blood-soaked soil, and swallowed it into his abdomen. He tore off another piece of his trouser leg and bandaged it roughly.

The rainstorm was coming. According to the experience of the past few decades, the rainwater would cover the traces, wash away the smell of blood, and all the means of tracking by beasts would fail, so he wouldn't have to worry about covering his tracks anymore.

But this time it was different. Thinking of that beast's ghostly perception of blood, he really couldn't settle down in his heart.

The rainwater washed the wounds, and the blood would inevitably overflow. This rainstorm might not be on his side.

But he had no choice. The bow and axe had already been discarded, and only a small dagger remained at his waist. He could only run faster, faster.

They had gone too deep into the mountains this time.

When he first discovered the traces of that thing, he had the intention to retreat. He had hunted for half his life and had killed a few tigers and leopards, but he had never seen a cat with such a stride.

But the younger generation were full of vigor, saying that Fifth Uncle was old and his courage was small. Even if it was a bigger tiger, with more than a dozen of us, couldn't we fight it?

There was also Gangzi in the team. His father was the soul that died in the belly of this beast. How could he be persuaded?

The most pitiful one was Yunsheng. Yunsheng was a smart child. He saw that Yunsheng believed it, but he was unwilling to leave alone, and in the end, he followed his brothers.

But hunting does not rely on courage, and that thing is even less of a prey.

A drop of rainwater dripped onto his dry lips. Mo Wu raised his head, gasping for breath. The bean-sized raindrops visible to the naked eye were falling vertically toward his eyes. Mo Wu closed his eyes to catch them, and his eyelids actually felt a slight pain.

The rain was coming so fiercely.

Mo Wu quickened his pace again. His only chance of survival was to pass the cable bridge before the beast chased him. As long as the bridge was cut, no matter what it was, it would be impossible to leap over the deep ravine more than twenty zhang wide.

Staggering over a steep slope, a small stream suddenly appeared in front. Mo Wu looked upstream, its source hidden in the high cliffs and dense trees. Mo Wu's face showed joy. This was the stream flowing down from the Rat Pool. Since this pool was right above, it meant that first, he was lucky not to have lost his way, and second, he was not far from the cable bridge.

Mo Wu looked around and barely found a path to cross by climbing stones. He stepped on the stones cautiously, but after walking only two steps, his exhausted legs stepped on the slippery moss, and one foot slipped into the stream.

As soon as half of his lower leg entered the water, Mo Wu froze. The first feeling was bone-chilling cold, and the next moment the real feeling surged up—this water, why is it hot?!

Mo Wu hurriedly pulled out his lower leg, crouched on the stone, and gently stroked his leg and foot with both hands. In just this short while, the part that entered the water had turned red. He looked up and realized that the entire stream was slightly steaming with faint water vapor.

Fortunately, the water was not boiling hot, and although the skin was painful, it was not injured. The cool rainwater kept hitting it, and soon it was no longer a hindrance. Mo Wu looked at the stream with disbelief, but at this time he had no heart or strength to investigate the reason, so he just stepped on the stones more carefully to cross.

The moment he stepped on the ground, his body, which had been holding on, suddenly relaxed. His trembling thighs could no longer support him, and he fell to the shore.

He lowered his head, gasping for breath. His distorted image appeared in the stream.

Dirty and tattered clothes, messy and disheveled hair, embracing a face of more than fifty years old in the middle.

This face was black and yellow, rough, familiar, strange, and his eyes were red. His nose felt sour, and while his vision blurred, he slapped himself hard.

How did he survive?

In the darkness before sunrise this morning, that thing rushed into the camp. When he woke up in shock, the strong wind that blew for no reason was already filled with a rich, fishy smell and the smell of blood.

Amidst the roars and screams of the younger generation, that thing was very quiet, not roaring or shouting, like a ghost. If it weren't for the torch that was blown to the verge of falling, which vaguely reflected a huge and fierce shadow, he would even suspect that it was a ghost rising from the underworld.

He picked up his bow, but didn't dare to shoot in the darkness, so he gritted his teeth and took out his blade to rush up. At that moment, he really wanted to fight it to the death, but when that ghost-like head turned to look at him, his hot blood seemed to have been poured with a basin of ice water.

Under those golden, devouring, and extremely calm vertical pupils, thirty years of mountain hunting and the courage practiced by shooting leopards and tigers were broken at once.

Wolves and leopards don't have this kind of momentum. They are certainly extremely dangerous, but they only make one's mind tense and blood surge, inciting blood courage in a fast heartbeat. But tigers are different. When facing them head-on, the low and majestic roar, the extremely oppressive body and eyes, easily make people lose the courage to fight them. The king of the forest is nothing more than this.

And if this thing in front of him was a tiger, it must be a tiger among tigers. With just one look, his heart was already cold and his courage was trembling.

How could a human kill such a monster? Can't win... can't win...

He wanted to shout for everyone to run, but the next moment the beast tore open Gangzi's abdomen in front of him. A complete person was like a thin piece of paper in front of those sharp claws. Blood splashed into his mouth, his throat went dumb at once, and even his brain went blank for a moment.

But Yunsheng roared deafeningly from the side: "Fifth Uncle! Fifth Uncle, run!"

His already soft legs seemed to have received an order—not wanting to distinguish whether it came from the master at all. He used all his strength to run out, brushing shoulders with Yunsheng who was rushing up.

After running far away in a panic, he realized that perhaps only he had survived.

He, the only elder, the backbone of the team, the person entrusted by more than a dozen parents to take care of their sons before departure, had left the children in the sea of blood behind him and fled for his life in a panic.

It shouldn't be him who is alive.

Gangzi should be alive. He was born with great strength and vigorous blood. After selling a few more skins to save enough money, he could go to the county martial arts school to apprentice, become an instructor, and maybe even be an official and become a constable.

Yunsheng should also be alive. The teacher said he was a seed for reading. Next year when the county examination opens, maybe he could get a scholar title.

Only he, an old bone, had lived enough, and he was alone and had no worries. Why did he snatch their chance to escape?

What face did he have to return to the village alone?

Fear urged him to flee, but another mood was expectant due to shame, expecting that the beast could catch up and kill him too, so that he wouldn't have to go back and face the eyes of more than a dozen parents.

But the beast didn't catch up immediately. It wasn't until three or four hours later, when he looked back at the mountaintop, that he saw that vague shadow again. So he realized that it had leisurely finished enjoying the corpses of more than a dozen people before it leisurely followed.

So the raging anger took the upper hand again. He didn't want to die so much. Even if he was scolded by the villagers for a lifetime, even if he was ridiculed by the villagers and couldn't lift his head, he must return to the village, report to the county office, ask for reinforcements, enter the mountain again, and then personally stab it with a blade, watching this beast be painfully killed with his own eyes!

So he began to cover his tracks, designed some simple traps, deliberately left his blood on the cliff, and then quietly changed direction to leave... In order to survive, he made every effort he could make in great detail.

And at this moment, staring at his reflection in the stream, it was this belief that supported his exhausted body to stand up again. Picking up a branch for support, he continued to walk forward.

The raindrops became denser, the wind became wilder, and the trees swayed. Every branch and every leaf was making a sound, and the whole forest seemed to come alive, roaring in a language that humans could not understand.

The blood was constantly being washed away, and Mo Wu's heart was lifted bit by bit. However, after walking like this for more than half an hour, the beast still hadn't caught up.

Mo Wu finally felt a little relaxed in his heart. Perhaps the beast's perception was not as god-like as imagined, perhaps the decoys on his escape route had indeed played some role, perhaps the rain and the stream had a greater effect than imagined, perhaps the beast had no strong desire to hunt after being full... In any case, he should have temporarily shaken it off.

While his spirit was slightly relaxed, his footsteps did not slow down. Mo Wu still tried his best to pass through the forest and climb the rocks at the fastest speed. After another half an hour or so, Mo Wu finally saw the cable bridge.

On normal hunting days, arriving at this cable bridge was considered very deep into the mountains, but this time his group had actually gone far beyond it.

Although there was still a considerable distance from the village after crossing the bridge, at least he didn't have to worry about being caught up by the beast at any time after destroying the bridge.

He could take a long rest, pick some wild fruits, catch a small beast to satisfy his hunger, and then find a way to return to the village slowly.

The fire of revenge burned up again. When he returned to the village, he must... he must...

Mo Wu stepped on the cable bridge, but suddenly stood still on the spot.

An inexplicable uneasiness welled up in his heart, coming from the intuition of an old hunter who had hunted in the mountains for decades.

The last time he had this feeling was when he hunted and brought back a large branch of sweet wild fruits. When the children in the village shouted and rushed up, his heart suddenly sank, and he roared to stop them, and then he indeed found a colorful poisonous snake attached under the leaves.

And at this moment, a terrible conjecture echoed in Mo Wu's mind. He stood stiff on the spot like a statue until his body trembled slightly.

He turned his head abruptly, but behind him, only the deep forest was rustling in the rain.

Mo Wu took a deep breath, retracted the foot that had stepped on the cable bridge, turned around, and walked back into the depths of the dense forest step by step, resolutely.

He carefully checked the traces he had walked along the way. His dizzy brain became sensitive again under strong stimulation, and his eyes searched every inch of the ground like a hawk.

Normal, normal, normal...

No discovery, but Mo Wu continued to go deeper with an expressionless face.

Soon... soon... as if entering a certain state, he was confidently obsessed with his judgment.

Suddenly his eyes glanced over a depression. He walked over quickly, stood beside this depression, and his body trembled.

A huge, shallow, fresh plum blossom claw print.

It had been following him all along.

Perhaps from the moment he saw it from the mountaintop, it had also seen him. Along the way, when he was bandaging, stopping the bleeding, cursing, climbing across the stream, or kneeling and sobbing, there was a pair of golden, cruel, and quiet vertical pupils behind him.

It wanted to follow him and find the village!

A bone-chilling cold welled up uncontrollably, and at the same time, a sense of pleasure welled up in Mo Wu's heart—Beast! You finally can't play with us like a cat playing with a mouse! I finally won against you once!

He laughed loudly, threw away his crutch, and turned to run with all his might. It was so fast, like flying, as if squeezing out the last energy of his life.

Arriving at the bridge, he pulled out his dagger, roared, and cut the rope. The cable bridge fell with a crash, and the sound of wooden boards scattering mixed with the heavy rain.

Then Mo Wu fell to the ground, took a deep look at the opposite bank for the last time, gripped the dagger tightly, turned his head, and revealed a hideous smile: "Donkey-fucker! Come on!"

The edge of the dense forest in front vaguely revealed a vaguely shaped shadow, and a pair of cruel, bright golden eyes were embedded in it. It seemed that it never intended to stop Mo Wu's actions from beginning to end, only watching all this indifferently. At this moment, as if responding to Mo Wu's call, it leisurely licked its claws, and then stepped out slowly, revealing its figure so clearly for the first time.

Mo Wu's expression froze.

He felt that his actions were like a joke.

It seemed that there was a roar, but the rain fell on the mountains like smoke, and the noisy sounds of all things mixed together into a vast silence, eliminating all details.

Now, in the Lin residence, which was also windy and rainy.

Seeing Pei Ye finished all this, and the string in his brain loosened. Finally, he could no longer support his body, which had already been squeezed to the limit, and fell to the side, closing his eyes.

Once his eyes stopped receiving information, the sensations from all parts of his body surged into his brain.

Except for the persistent scorching heat, there was not much discomfort in his abdomen. Although the gourd looked like it had shape and form, it seemed to be pure energy. Not only did it not cause harm, but it also seemed to be repairing and healing this body.

The old injuries from two years ago, the traces left after the Small Jiao Heart parasitized, and even the blood hole in his abdomen were all repaired. In a warm feeling, Seeing Pei Ye's consciousness finally fell into a deep sleep.

I don't know how long passed in the darkness.

Seeing Pei Ye felt the wind blowing in his ears. As his consciousness gradually awakened, the sound grew louder and louder, until it became a whistle.

Seeing Pei Ye opened his eyes. In front of him was a vast whiteness—it was clouds.

"You did very well."

Seeing Pei Ye lowered his head upon hearing this. The Chi was still carrying him. Looking back, the bloody mouth was a little further away.

"Thank you, 【Chun Shou】 helped me a lot. How can I return it to you?"

"Self-indulgent."

Seeing Pei Ye did not say a word.

"No need to find a way to get rid of it, because you don't have the ability to carry it yet. Once twelve hours pass, it will naturally disappear."

The black Chi paused and added: "However, you can borrow it from me at any time."

Seeing Pei Ye's body tensed, and he said cautiously: "Such a need might not be too many."

"..." Although he couldn't see its face, Seeing Pei Ye felt that its expression might not be too good.

"Do you think I live by collecting rent?" the black Chi said flatly, "Thinking of ways to lend out my abilities every day, and then collecting a price that will make you regret for the rest of your life?"

Seeing Pei Ye did not speak.

"You are very wary of me," the black Chi pointed out.