Chapter 970: No, this is

No, this is impossible!

Watching the two, one attacking and one defending, rapidly fade from his field of vision, Sun Miao was stunned.

No, this isn't how the previous plan was supposed to go!

Cheng Shi, what are you doing!?

You finally lured him here with such difficulty, why won't you let me out!?

Do you want to take down the Beastmaster all by yourself?

Stupid, arrogant, and senseless!

How can you be so foolish at a time like this, insisting on some meaningless "personal resolution" and a seemingly honorable one-on-one?

Do you know that the Foolish Society will ruin this one and only chance!?

Sun Miao was truly anxious; although he wasn't worried that Cheng Shi, who had once defeated Zainjier, would face any life-threatening issues, he didn't want to waste this best opportunity he had waited a day and a night for.

If this attempt fails, the next time—no, there won't be a next time; the vigilant Beastmaster will certainly not step into the same trap again, and that would mean an item of the Fear Tree Core's caliber would fall into the opponent's hands for nothing.

This is even harder to accept than failing the trial.

But Sun Miao was helpless; he couldn't exactly shout, "Cheng Shi, let me out to give you a hand," because if he shouted that, the Beastmaster would realize the two had set a trap, and the fish that had just bitten the hook would only slip away faster!

But if he didn't shout, the foolish Fate Weaver didn't seem to have the slightest intention of letting him out to help.

Thus, suddenly losing his role, Sun Miao frowned and stood still, beginning to think carefully about what this Fate Weaver, who was full of secrets, was actually trying to do.

He was clearly unprepared before, so what confidence does he have now to face a Beastmaster in peak condition and be so sure he can keep the opponent trapped in this trial?

Also, the fact that the other party refused to explain how he managed to deal with Yoge for so long—could it be related to this planned hunt?

There were too many questions; the wise man couldn't figure it out.

Xiao Qi couldn't figure it out either; how did this childhood friend have so many strange and bizarre methods for escaping death?

He had already shot him with three arrows, but these three arrows hadn't affected the opponent's escape speed at all.

You're a Priest who can heal yourself, that's understandable, but how did you practice this proficient posture of drinking potions like water? Whose potions can be used like that?

Did you open the backend to modify your potion count?

Seeing that the fleeing Cheng Xiaoshi still had energy left, Du Qiyu's expression gradually darkened.

If this continues and he really drags it out until Cheng Xiaoshi waits for Ge Lisi's cooldown, he would be the one in danger!

He couldn't afford not to seize this brief opportunity, otherwise...

Thinking of this, Du Qiyu decisively cut off his other beasts, leaving only one humanoid beast to cover him, and then, gathering almost peak-level strength, he once again utilized his hunter's talent advantage and fired an arrow intended to decide the outcome along the path Cheng Shi had to take to escape.

This arrow was his entire understanding of the Hunter profession in this game; to a certain extent, it even had a hint of the Wind-Taming Ranger's "Arrow of Time Reversal," except the Wind-Taming Ranger hit the past, while Xiao Qi hit... the future.

Although the 【Filth-Stained】 container was constantly feeding on Xiao Qi's emotions, at this very moment, the piercing arrow was still the condensation of his obsession over half a lifetime.

In terms of speed alone, this arrow broke Cheng Shi's understanding of the Hunter profession's upper limit, leaving him with no way to defend and no way to dodge!

If he were the Pointer Warrior, he would naturally have the confidence to time his dodge, but unfortunately, Cheng Shi was currently in his Priest form, so...

"Whoosh! Bang! Hum—"

The fragile human body didn't even slow the feathered arrow down by the slightest bit; the flying arrow passed through his body, bringing out a mist of blood behind Cheng Shi's heart, and then plunged straight into the tree trunk behind him, emitting a rattlesnake-like hum.

"Wah—"

Cheng Shi spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, staggered two steps, and his body suddenly lost strength as he fell backward, but before his figure could hit the ground, a waterfall of arrows, accompanied by whistling shrieks, poured down, instantly pinning Cheng Shi to the ground like a needle-cushioned straw man.

This time, the cautious Xiao Qi did not choose to be a talkative villain; the moment he seized the opportunity, he firmly held the chips of victory in his hands.

Won?

Is Cheng Xiaoshi dead?

As a sharp hunter, upon noticing that his attacks were hitting every time, he should have been very certain that the prey couldn't still be alive, but after all, the opponent was Cheng Xiaoshi, the childhood friend he had once deceived, the lucky kid who supposedly waited for his father's love, and the game "new" star who was rumored by players to have defeated a false god...

His calm posture while escaping earlier already showed that this was not an easy opponent to deal with, but now, is he dead?

Just like that?

In that instant, the joy of victory almost triggered his accumulated emotions again, but fortunately, the container in his hand absorbed Du Qiyu's excitement in time, allowing him to calm down again.

Champagne can be drunk at any time, but absolutely not at halftime.

Thus, Xiao Qi moved cautiously; after confirming that the trapped wise man couldn't escape for a while, the Beastmaster... did not appear.

He was too cautious, just like the most seasoned hunter.

Not only did he not appear, but he even changed his position, firing feathered arrows from the dense forest at irregular intervals, whipping that corpse which had almost no good flesh left to bear an arrowhead.

This suspicious hunter wanted to complete this hunt in the most secure and cautious way possible.

The entire archery process lasted for nearly half an hour.

No hunter would waste so much time on a dead prey's corpse, but until Xiao Qi felt he was being a bit too cautious, he finally stopped his offensive and smiled.

There was no ecstasy, no relief; Du Qiyu was just smiling contentedly under the influence of the container, and at that moment, he seemed to have finally said goodbye to his past self.

As for whether Cheng Xiaoshi would respawn somewhere else...

No, absolutely impossible.

Because he still had an item in his hand capable of sealing the fate of the prey's death!

Skinning Bone Knife!

An SS-rank loot from a certain bone-cutter, this knife contained the purest 【Death】 curse; once any living corpse is scratched by it, the bone pile buried in 【Death】 will be the opponent's only destination.

Du Qiyu calmly pulled this bone knife from his sleeve and walked step by step toward Cheng Xiaoshi's corpse.

Interestingly, even at this moment, the one walking toward Cheng Shi's corpse was not his true body, but that last remaining humanoid beast.

It was dressed exactly like the Beastmaster and was Du Qiyu's proudest treasure; now, he was going to use the hand of another "himself" to send this childhood friend to hell once again.

"Go in peace, Cheng Xiaoshi, I hope in the next life, you'll still be deceived by me."

Saying this, Xiao Qi held the bone knife and stabbed down.

But when he was halfway through, his movement suddenly stopped because he discovered that there wasn't even 1cm of skin left on the arrow-filled corpse to place the tip of the knife.

Helpless, Xiao Qi had to pull out the arrow from Cheng Shi's heart first; one must know that under such dense shooting, a normal corpse couldn't possibly retain an intact heart—it would definitely bring out chunks of rotten flesh with a single pull.

But at this moment, Xiao Qi clearly felt a resistance from the flesh through the arrow handle in his hand, and even more shockingly, the moment he touched the arrow in Cheng Shi's heart, that heart, which should have been rotten into mush, suddenly "thumped" and began to pump again!

The Beastmaster's pupils shrank; quick as a flash, he didn't have time to pull out the arrow and instead stabbed the bone knife into the beating heart. However, this strike not only failed to suppress Cheng Shi's heartbeat but instead made the heart beat faster, pumping the warm blood directly out of the wound and splashing it onto the Beastmaster's face.

At the same time, Cheng Shi, whose face was filled with arrows, suddenly raised both hands, pulled out the feathered arrows from his eye socket and mouth respectively, and with a terrifying smile of "blood flowing from the eye hole, mouth rotten but still curved," turned to look at the shocked old friend in front of him, and said with a hoarse, airy laugh:

"Heh, old friend, your method of saving people...

It's not bad at all."

In that instant, even with the container in hand, both Du Qiyus felt a chill run through their bodies.

No, this is impossible!