Chapter 78: Tiger Roar, Wild Goose Flight

Whispers came from the wind...

"He is still nearby, don't move around."

"Quick, snuff out the fire!"

"Do you want to be found even faster? His eyes are wickedly sharp."

Several hunters huddled beneath a concave rock formation, their expressions full of terror.

A pile of dead branches and fallen leaves was ignited into a bonfire in the dark night, driving away the surrounding bitter cold.

Their location was a recessed rock pit, surrounded by smooth, steep cliff walls.

It was already dark! They had missed the best time to leave the mountains and could only wait for dawn.

Zhou You was still circling and patrolling the area, hunting down the remaining hunters—that is, them.

The hunters could never have dreamed that someone could learn and improve so quickly; clearly a city boy, yet he was like a fish in water once he entered the mountains.

Originally, the mountains were the hunters' home turf, but now they had been reduced to a slaughterhouse where they had to hide and Zang.

A hunter opened his dry rations bag; it was already empty. Starving, he turned to pick some withered grass to chew on.

He had only taken a few steps when a black shadow suddenly swept past, reached out, grabbed him, and dragged him outward.

"Ah, save me!"

His companions didn't have time to react, watching helplessly as he was flung by the black shadow to the ground below, crashing directly into the hard rock in an irregularly twisted shape, blood slowly spreading in the silent night.

Looking again, the black shadow landed more than ten meters away, feet stepping on protruding stones, fingers digging into rock crevices, clinging firmly to the flat, steep cliff wall.

It was Zhou You! Zhou You squinted at the few hunters, like a tiger looking at its prey.

He was wounded, but the wounds had already scabbed over and were no longer bleeding.

Compared to when he first left the city, his physique had also undergone visible changes.

The most intuitive change was the decrease in body fat; the contours of his limbs, chest, and abdomen were more angular, exuding the aggressive aura unique to a male.

After actual combat and hunting, the moves of the Tiger-Subduing Fist had been developed, erupting with tangible power.

A hundred days of empty practice is not as good as half a day of real combat!

Many moves originally thought useless turned out to be unexpectedly effective when placed in the specific geographical environment of the mountains.

Using his hands as claws and his feet to kick off rocks, Zhou You could leap seven or eight meters at a time, traversing even the most complex environment as if it were flat ground.

The sharp edges of rocks and the bone-piercing thorns were harsh environments that everyone feared, but under the protection of his internal energy, they were no problem.

Zhou You had the Battlefield Perspective, allowing him to achieve precise targeting and hunt the group of hunters one by one.

For instance, in an inconspicuous patch of grass nearby, dense red dots were hidden.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

A rain of arrows flew out from the grass, the arrowheads poisoned, aimed at his eyes.

Zhou You had been prepared; he used the Tiger-Step to dodge the arrow rain, then backhanded a kick to send a large rock flying into the grass.

"Damn it, he found us again."

The hunters lying in ambush firing cold arrows were directly crushed to death, three or four of them; they knew their ambush had been discovered.

Zhou You flipped over, grabbed one person, and tore them apart side-by-side, using each half to sweep and push; the hunters retreated steadily amidst the rain of blood.

Suddenly, the rock under his feet loosened; it was because the mountain rock had weathered for so long that it could not withstand his fierce footwork.

The next moment, Zhou You fell into the abyss below along with a few rock fragments.

The hunters had been in a desperate situation, but they didn't expect a sudden turn of events; below was a bottomless abyss, and once he fell, not even his bones would remain.

They didn't dare to blink, fearing they would miss the scene.

Zhou You's feet missed their mark, and after falling for more than ten meters, he suddenly spread his arms like a large bird stretching its wings.

"Energy transformation, Yanxing Quan, Gliding Stance."

Energy is ever-changing; in the heat of battle, he switched from Tiger-Subduing Fist to Yanxing Quan, smooth and seamless.

The energy in Zhou You's arms was dense, like large feathers overlapping, fanning the air with power.

He began to circle like a dandelion, slowing down with every rotation.

His falling speed gradually slowed, and at a certain moment, it stopped completely, hovering in mid-air.

Tiger-Subduing Fist is good for mountain combat, while Yanxing Quan allows for gliding and deceleration in small areas, keeping the body from falling. "Killed Pan Laoda, Experience Points +100; killed a hunter, Experience Points +20."

"I had accumulated over 680 Experience Points, intending to upgrade the Tiger-Subduing Fist, but I used them on the Yanxing Quan instead."

On the panel, the level of Yanxing Quan had already been raised to lv16.

It was truly because the mountains were dangerous, with rocks often peeling off, leading to sudden, unexpected attacks.

Zhou You couldn't help but be flustered, and at such times, he had to rely on the aerial stance of the Yanxing Quan to avoid danger.

Having no choice, he consumed his Experience Points in one go to raise the Yanxing Quan to the lv16 level.

The effect of the upgrade was immediate; even when he slipped and fell, with nowhere to leverage force in mid-air, he could use his hands as wings to circle and float.

"Good opportunity."

Zhou You's circling trajectory looked like a mosquito coil, the circle growing larger the further down he went, until he finally saw a cluster of withered vines on the nearby cliff wall.

He took the opportunity to hook his foot out, inserting it into the vine cluster and pulling hard.

He crashed into the vines, covered in dead leaves and dust.

"A Gourd!"

When Zhou You looked up, he discovered it was a pile of gourd vines, with dense, withered yellow gourds mixed inside.

Hmm, just ordinary gourds, nothing strange about them.

Zhou You pushed aside the withered vines and saw the cliff above, where a few hunters were pacing around, checking to see if he had fallen to his death.

A thought suddenly struck him; he remembered the few brief times he had entered the Inner Courtyard and seen Wang Jianxiong fiddling with something, and the inner hall also seemed to have a few gourds enshrined.

Gourds are good things; cut in half, they serve as water ladles, and tied with a red string and hung in the house, they signify 'Fortune and Prosperity' in full.

Zhou You picked out a few well-shaped Gourds, tucking the small, exquisite hand-playthings into his bosom.

Then he pushed aside the withered vines and walked out.

A moment later...

Zhou You stood beside the corpses of several hunters, with star-like green eyes flickering all around.

The nearby wild wolves were attracted by the scent, waiting for Zhou You to leave so they could swarm in and tear the corpses apart.

Driven by beastly instinct, they felt an innate fear of Zhou You and stood far away, not daring to come forward to snatch the food.

"Howl!"

A tiger's roar rang out; it was the signal given by Li Hao.

Zhou You nodded, received! Li Hao sent the signal from across the mountain; everything was going smoothly on his end, having annihilated all incoming enemies.

These past few days, the two had been operating separately, employing a fast-paced, mobile fighting style, killing several hunters every day.

Accumulating day by day, the hundred-plus hunters were now few in number.

Originally, without Pan Laoda, the hunters had already become like headless flies, their only advantages being their familiarity with the terrain and their large numbers.

But now? The balance of power had shifted.

Next, it was time for Zhou You and his companion to counterattack the Shan Shen Miao.

A sense of heroic spirit rose in Zhou You's heart, and he let out a Meng Hu Quan roar that shook the surroundings, causing the pack of beasts to tremble in fear.

His meaning was also very simple: follow the original plan, meet at the Shan Shen Miao, and wipe out the remaining hunters.

Once finished, he could return to the martial arts hall to report back.

A response came from Li Hao, indicating he had received the message and would meet at the Shan Shen Miao the next day.

Zhou You still had one small concern; according to what the hunters had mentioned, there was still a formidable character, "Second Master."

This person's strength was not below that of Pan Laoda, and he seemed to be the second-in-command of this group of hunters, but he was away on business and not present.

The hunters kept insisting that once Second Master returned, he would definitely avenge them.

"At the very least, he is a martial artist at the Jinli Level, but I just don't know how strong he is."

If "Second Master" had already returned by the time they reached the Shan Shen Miao tomorrow, a fierce battle would be unavoidable.

After all, it was only because he and Li Hao had launched a sneak attack and besieged Pan Laoda to death that they had avoided a lot of trouble.

(End of chapter)