Chapter 245: The Blood Hunter's Regret

The Blood Hunter has returned to the village?

Fang Yue's heart stirred.

After letting Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu eat well at Lang Fu, he prepared to go find the Blood Hunter.

Fang Yue had already told Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu about Wei Liang, so as long as she saw Wei Liang's ID change to "user not found," it most likely meant Wei Liang had died in the wild.

If Wei Liang kept sending messages with no reply, it meant the distance was too far and the messages couldn't be received.

No matter what, given Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu's strength, she could only wait at home for news.

Leaving Lang Fu, riding along with the group, Fang Yue quickly arrived at An Shenyi's An Shenyiguan.

Inside lay a stretch of people, all newcomers; the sounds of painful groaning mingled with the heavy scent of medicinal herbs, making one somewhat uncomfortable.

Fortunately, the Blood Hunter still had some connections with An Shenyi and had been arranged into a private room.

When Fang Yue pushed the door open, he saw the Blood Hunter clutching the bloody hole in his waist, his face twisted in agony.

Fang Yue frowned slightly and glanced at the young physician beside him.

"Is his condition serious?"

The young physician recognized Fang Yue—he was clearly one of the people from the An Fu great hall before—and gave a slight bow. He said, "His kidney is severely damaged. Saving his life isn't hard; what's hard is restoring his former health. Even with daily rest and recuperation, he won't be able to engage in strenuous activity in the future—in other words, as a Hunter, his days are over."

Hearing this, the Blood Hunter looked at the physician in agitation.

Clearly the physician hadn't told him this before.

"I—I can't hunt anymore?"

His expression was pained and twisted, whether because of this or because of the wound.

"Close your mouth first and let me treat you."

Shaking his head slightly, the young physician gave Fang Yue a look.

Fang Yue patted the Blood Hunter's shoulder and led the person out.

Having someone stand guard at the door, he wandered around for a bit.

By the time he came back, he basically understood the situation.

First, Wei Liang wasn't among this group of people, and after asking several of them, no one had seen Wei Liang either.

And the Hunting Zone they were in was 【Ruoyunshi Ground】.

This meant… either Wei Liang was at the nearer Yuanyuan Hill, in a relatively safe location.

Or he was at the farthest Maple Leaf Forest, the densest and most dangerous area of the entire 【Giant-Head Blood Hound】 gathering ground. Even with his current strength, entering that densely populated strange-hunting area would mean life or death was uncertain!

Relatively speaking, the 【Giant-Head Blood Hounds】 at Ruoyunshi Ground were moderate in number, making it a zone where reward and risk were fairly balanced. This group had clearly also gone there as a team, yet such a large-scale casualty event had still occurred.

But it was also unlucky, happening to run into that kind of thing.

Fang Yue's brow furrowed slightly—could that matter possibly have something to do with him?

But he had stayed in the village and never gone out, so it shouldn't be counted against him.

Just as Fang Yue was thinking, the private room's door suddenly opened.

The young physician glanced at Fang Yue and nodded slightly: "The injury has already been stabilized. What's next is rest, just as said before—he can only retire from now on and can no longer do this kind of strenuous work."

After a pause, he suddenly lowered his voice: "Also, Captain Ye, are you free tonight to come by our An Fu for a chat? Our clan has organized a gathering, and many young women will be present…"

"No need, I've already discussed this matter with your family's patriarch."

Although Fang Yue said this, the young physician still seemed a little unwilling. He gritted his teeth and said: "…Then, then may I ask when Captain Ye will be leaving Mo Cun? If you could stay in Mo Cun for seven or eight more days, distant relatives from the neighboring villages will also arrive one by one, and Captain Ye can get to know them all then."

Ah, this… are you a pimp…

Fang Yue wiped his brow lightly, politely declined the young physician's invitation, then hurriedly requested a private word with the Blood Hunter, and only then finally got inside the room.

Closing the door, he looked at the Blood Hunter lying in bed, covered with a white sheet.

At this moment, he was different from the high-spirited man he had been during the escort.

The Blood Hunter back then was full of fighting spirit, looking cockily handsome and refusing to admit his age.

Now, there was a strong sense of decay, a look of having nothing left to live for.

But Fang Yue could understand him.

First, he had encountered the death of the 【Giant Beast Blood Hound】 he had cultivated for so many years in a blood fight.

Then, having pulled himself together and resolved to catch a new 【Giant Beast Blood Hound】, he had instead failed and suffered grave injuries, to the point where he had even lost the ability to hunt in the future, left with only a not-quite-healthy disabled body.

These successive blows, coming one after another in such a short time, would be hard for anyone to bear.

"Blood Hunter…"

"Ye Ge."

The Blood Hunter responded, somewhat downcast.

"Look on the bright side—people have to accept getting old, don't they? At your age, it's time to sit back and enjoy your remaining years."

"…I know, but there's still one wish in my heart I haven't fulfilled."

"Catch a 【Giant-Head Blood Hound】 pup?"

"Right. The 【Giant-Head Blood Hound】 is the mark of my youth to my twilight years, the symbol of my career's launch to its peak. The blood fight is gone—at the very least I have to catch another 【Giant-Head Blood Hound】 to bring back, only then can I have something to account for. Otherwise, if I go back empty-handed, how will the people in the village look at me from now on? What face would I have to keep staying in the village? A Blood Hunter? Just a disabled piece of trash!"

At the end, the Blood Hunter's emotions grew somewhat intense, his fists clenched tight.

Although his disability wasn't obvious, the internal severe damage meant he could no longer do physical labor—it was indeed a form of Can Yu.

Fang Yue was silent. After a good while, he said: "You should have waited for me. I was in closed-door cultivation at the time. Once I came out, we'd have had a better chance going after the 【Giant-Head Blood Hound】 together."

The Blood Hunter's face was full of regret and sighs.

"I was too impatient. At the time, a team happened to approach me. They were very young, but very strong. Although they were all outsiders, from my experience they were very disciplined, had good tacit understanding—a team with a good foundation, just lacking a core to lead them."

"And their target was only Ruoyunshi Ground, while my original target was even Maple Leaf Forest. I just hadn't waited for you, so I settled for the next best thing and chose Ruoyunshi Ground, which wasn't a problem, so I joined."

"At first, everything went smoothly. Searching and hunting—I shared my experience, they followed commands. As our tacit understanding improved, we had already begun attempting to hunt 【Giant Beast Blood Hounds】. After a few days of failure, we gradually figured out the patterns, and the team's tacit understanding reached a certain level."

"Everything was like a boat gliding downstream. After a few days of hard work and my seasoned trap placement, we finally hunted down a lone, weak 【Giant Beast Blood Hound】. Although we were still far from catching one alive, everything was heading in a good direction."

It was at this moment that the things appeared.

The Blood Hunter looked up at Fang Yue and slowly spoke.

"The flock of Yang Xu Gui has appeared."

……

(End of Chapter)