Chapter 194: The Peach-Plucking Leopard

The noises of the scuffle in the forest kept diminishing.

Chen Wuji was torn about whether to go in and join the fun.

He suspected that the white wolf's opponent right now was that tiger, but he also feared being surrounded.

That white wolf was already fierce enough; if another one showed up, he'd probably be done for!

But if it really was that tiger, who had been so adept at worldly affairs, sending him game one after another and even saving his life in a crisis, then for a educated human like him to sneak away now would feel somewhat immoral.

Just then, a thumping sound suddenly came from the mountaintop.

Chen Wuji turned his head, got a fright, and quickly darted to the side.

He saw the carcasses of three or four muntjacs tumbling down the mountain like falling rocks, rolling until they reached the gentle slope below and stopped, piling up together amid a series of booming thuds.

Chen Wuji felt numb.

After the wild boar herd appeared out of nowhere, the mountain began to rain muntjacs.

These muntjacs had just died, their blood not yet congealed; as they rolled, they left a trail of blood.

Suddenly, a tiger's roar echoed from the mountaintop.

The sound wasn't loud, and vaguely it seemed to carry a bit of spoiled, lazy coquettishness.

People who often keep cats should be very good at distinguishing this kind of sound.

Chen Wuji had never kept a cat, but now he could barely make it out.

Nothing else, just familiarity.

After all, it wasn't the first time he'd heard it.

Chen Wuji lifted his head, gazed into the distance, and finally made out the figure crouched on the mountaintop.

It was that Mountain Lord who was highly skilled in worldly affairs.

All its other bandages had fallen off, only the one around its neck remained.

Moreover, having seen it many times, Chen Wuji grew familiar with that tiger face, which looked no different from any other tiger's.

"Since this tiger is here, what's in the woods then?" Chen Wuji wondered again.

There was no answer to this, making him feel as uneasy as if a cat were scratching his heart.

But seeing this tiger appear, he no longer needed to risk investigating further.

Life comes first!

"Thanks, Tiger Brother." Chen Wuji waved his hand and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Do you know what's in the woods? I'm curious!"

Roar!

The tiger responded.

But Chen Wuji couldn't understand.

He suddenly felt a bit envious of those who could communicate with animals, wishing he had such a cheat.

The tiger let out a low growl like a yawn, then leapt toward the woods on Chen Wuji's left—the same woods where intermittent howls and fighting sounds were still coming from.

Not long after, the howling inside suddenly turned fierce.

Chen Wuji gritted his teeth and followed.

As a human, he also needed to know a bit of worldly wisdom.

But as soon as he slipped into the woods, the sounds of tearing and fighting stopped abruptly.

Over already?

Chen Wuji slowly moved toward the direction the sound had come from.

It really seemed to be over.

The forest floor bore several bloodstains and some white fur, but the principals were nowhere to be seen.

Chen Wuji looked around carefully, and a rather absurd guess suddenly popped into his mind.

The wolf had set its sights on him, while the tiger had set its sights on the wolf pack.

The wolf pack fell for the tiger's linked stratagem: first drive the pigs to swallow the wolves, then feint east and strike west, surround them, and the result was only the lead wolf escaping while the rest were wiped out.

But this possibility…

Could it be possible?

Even though he'd seen many outrageous things, Chen Wuji still thought this guess was too outrageous.

However, Chen Wuji was broad-minded; for problems he couldn't figure out, he wouldn't needlessly torment himself.

Right now, the threat to his life had been lifted, and having witnessed the tiger's worldly savvy once more, he ought to tally his haul—today he'd probably need to round up more help again.

Chen Wuji turned back onto the game trail and dragged out two gray wolf carcasses from the nearby woods—these were the ones he'd previously killed with blind shots when he couldn't see.

His archery skill went up!

Being able to kill two without sight made Chen Wuji feel kinda badass.

He dragged the wolf carcasses over and tossed them together with the four muntjacs.

Today's haul: five wolves, four muntjacs—so productive it's almost terrifying.

Chen Wuji hoisted a muntjac and headed to the pond first, hailing Licentiate Yuan to go round up people in the village.

"Brother Wuji, it's too much to carry again today?" Yuan Jinshi's face showed utter shock.

In just that short while, they'd only managed to catch three or four catties of crickets, yet after Chen Wuji's one trip into the mountains, the game was already too much for the three of them to carry?

That seems kinda terrifying.

"How impressive is that?" Chen Wuji asked with a smile.

Yuan Jinshi bobbed his head like a chick pecking at grain.

It's not just impressive—it's incredibly impressive!

Chen Wuji turned his head, and suddenly noticed a white flash darting through the pond—"Quick, quick, quick, there's a big fish!"

Yuan Jinshi, a bold fellow, just thrust in, raised the sharpened bamboo pole in his hand, and stabbed with a lift of his hand.

After about seventeen or eighteen or twenty-odd rounds like that, he finally lifted up a little fish.

That fish had been stabbed by him until it was full of holes, almost a thousand.

"When you have time, practice more; your skill is a bit clumsy!" Chen Wuji shook his head and said.

Watching Yuan Jinshi spear fish, he was about to die of anxiety.

Clearly he had speared it, but because his force was unstable, each time the fish slipped from his grasp.

"Yes!" Yuan Jinshi wiped water from his face, smiling like a simpleton.

"Wait here, I'll leave a mark on the road for you, and when the time comes I'll bring people to find me." Chen Wuji stood up, patted the dirt off his body.

He also planned today to set up a 'waiting by the stump for a rabbit' for the mountain animals.

The bloody smell emanating from several muntjacs and wolves placed together will surely attract some bold, fearless animals coming to get a warm bite.

Although today's harvest is extremely abundant, the things that Old Zhang and Xu Zengyi wanted still haven't been secured.

Still need to wander around in the mountains some more.

Returning to the game trail where the hunted animals were piled, Chen Wuji looked around, selected a tall ancient tree to climb up; such a strong bloody smell would very likely attract large carnivores, safety first.

Chen Wuji's mouth seemed to have been blessed; just as he finished thinking that, his body not yet settled in the tree fork, he saw a vigorous and agile leopard dart out from not far away.

This was also Chen Wuji's first time seeing a leopard in Shenxian Ling; he couldn't tell what breed, anyway it was just a big leopard, full of strength.

For this vast mountain range stretching who knows how many square kilometers, Chen Wuji had already grown accustomed.

The animals here basically can't be judged by his previous notions; it's completely different, encountering any species seems not surprising, and who knows what unseen species might still be lurking deep in the mountains.

That leopard leisurely walked to the side of the piled-up game, sniffed, hesitated a bit, picking and choosing, then set its sights on a muntjac.

They didn't even avoid Chen Wuji at all, directly in front of him they began to feast heartily, even smacking their lips.