Book 10 Chapter 9 – Hunt

OCTOBER 10, 2017 ~ EMILYEVELAN

Ke Dashan was surprised, but Ke Nanshan was calm, saying “Don’t worry. Let’s see what he’ll do. Ah Feng was never stupid.”

The other hunters watched Lei Xinfeng wordlessly, seeing his swaggering movements that showed no hint of evasion. Bull herds are very sensitive and treated any moving object as enemies. The charge and trampling of bulls is something even barbarians must beware of.

Hu Daniu was in a tree. “Ke Dao, is Ah Feng being too careless? If he keeps on like this, he’ll definitely cause the herd to attack.”

“I don’t know why he’s going like this either. We’ll see, Daniu.”

Right when it seemed the hunters’ worries couldn’t increase any further, a herd of bulls began to charge toward Lei Xinfeng.

The herd was seventy to eighty animals strong, with the male bulls numbering around twenty; the rest were cows and calves. The trembling caused by a stampede of bulls was terrifying.

The thundering hoofbeats could be heard by the white-faced hunters in the trees as they watched Lei Xinfeng standing all alone.

Ke Dashan grabbed the branch he clung to so tightly his fingers paled. “Why… Ah Feng… dodge!” he whispered.

Lei Xinfeng stood his ground, eyeing the herd. He lifted his hand and a steel spear appeared in his hands.

Shu!

The spear flew true like an arrow, stapling into the leading bull, so quick it left barely an afterimage. The spear sank into the bull’s head, penetrating halfway into its abdomen, leaving only a foot of spear outside. The bull continued for a few more steps before collapsing heavily onto the ground.

When he threw the first spear, another spear appeared in Lei Xinfeng’s hands, and he threw it again.

Shu! Shu! Shu…

A dozen sounds of the spear splitting air followed the dozen spears’ flight, and then came the thundering sounds of huge bodies hitting the ground.

Ke Dashan’s mouth hung open. He never thought that this would be the result. Every spear killed a bull and in moments, a dozen bulls were lying on the ground. About half of the animals behind them tripped over the bodies.

Lei Xinfeng did not stop. Spear after spear took flight, each killing a cow, and in a few minutes, the entire herd was dead.

The hunters in the trees stared blankly. They’d never seen such a slaughter. This wasn’t hunting. It was a massacre. The bulls were never a threat to Lei Xinfeng.

Lei Xinfeng ran over to the unmoving herd and began pulling out his spears, putting both the weapon and the animals into his Hidden Lun space. Soon, all the bulls were gone, leaving behind only the blood that marked the slaughter.

There was a total of seventy-six bulls, of which fourteen were calves, and twenty-one were male bulls. The rest were cows.

Lei Xinfeng planned to hunt one more herd; it’s not like he wanted to hunt them to extinction.

Meanwhile, the hunters were all shocked by Lei Xinfeng’s killing. A whole herd was decimated in less than a minute! How powerful does one have to be to accomplish this? If someone like this decided to kill people, no one would be able to stop him.

Lei Xinfeng meandered to another herd. This one was a bit bigger, numbering around a hundred animals.

That herd quickly realized Lei Xinfeng’s existence, letting out a loud baying sound. Lei Xinfeng ignored it and summoned a spear to his hand.

The thundering hoofbeats resumed and roughly thirty of the bulls charged toward Lei Xinfeng.

Lei Xinfeng launched his spear and another one appeared in his hands. The spear screamed as the tip split the air before it.

Everyone already knew the outcome. In less than three minutes, the entire herd was killed and not one escaped. This was the difference between a practitioner and a regular person. A regular person wouldn’t be able to accomplish this no matter how they tried, while a practitioner could do this effortlessly.

The hunters felt numb even as they cheered in their hearts. Once they transport all these bulls back to Tiger Cliff Castle, they would have enough meat to last the entire winter. The bull pelts would make them rich.

After killing the two herds, Lei Xinfeng stopped. Of course, killing some two hundred bulls was nothing compared to the thousands that roamed the plains. The number he hunted was enough to last Tiger Cliff through the winter. They only had to hunt a little besides to broaden their palate.

Lei Xinfeng pulled out his spears and stored these bulls too. He walked back to the hunters. “Okay, we have enough bulls now. Uncle Ke, get everyone to look around. I want to find where the barbarians live.”

Uncle Ke looked at Lei Xinfeng strangely. Was this really the feisty youth from back then? Sighing to himself, he agreed. “Alright, I’ll form the teams.” He gave a call and the hunters all climbed down from their hiding spots. They all showed respect to Lei Xinfeng when they saw him. To be able to hunt like this required a certain amount of strength, and these hunters were always respectful of strength when they saw it.

After finding out that Lei Xinfeng planned to eradicate the barbarians, they all let out a cheer. The hunters all knew that the existence in the forest that presented the most threat to them was not the large beasts in there, but the barbarians. The barbarians were sapient and powerful. They also liked to hunt humans. To them, hunting humans was a rite of passage, and those that could not hunt and kill a human were not considered a warrior.

Many of Tiger Cliff’s hunters fell to the barbarians so when Ke Dashan gave the order to search for them, none of the hunters present shied from the duty. They dispersed, combing the forest in small groups for the barbarians.

Jin Daya smiled. “Ah Feng, you scared them.”

“That’s normal,” Fengying said. “If they were stoic the whole way through, they would be the abnormal thing.”

“What are barbarians?” Shihu asked.

“The natives here. They… find glory in hunting hunters,” Lei Xinfeng replied.

Shihu was surprised. “What kind of native is this? Aren’t there practitioners here?”

“There are, why wouldn’t there be? It’s just that none of them are very powerful. The strongest ones are only third or fourth ring, and since they are the leaders, there’s no way that they will come up here into the mountains to kill barbarians. As for those lower Ten Thousand Lun Masters, or Milun Masters, they might be able to kill some barbarians, but eradication is impossible.”

“If this was my home, they’d have been destroyed already,” Shihu said.

“This is a remote region and no one comes here. Even if a hunter was killed, no one except the people here will know,” Lei Xinfeng said.

“What do you plan to do?” Fengying asked.

“Nothing much. I just want to clean Tiger Cliff’s surroundings of barbarians and make them fear ever setting foot here again. As for the others… never mind,” Lei Xinfeng said.

Fengying nodded. “Might as well. It’s a temporary solution, but it will make this place a little safer.”

“Well, I do feel gratitude toward this place,” Lei Xinfeng said, laughing.

“Haha, this does count as returning home. At least you don’t have a large family, or you’ll be a lot busier,” Fengying said.

Lei Xinfeng grimaced. “If I had a large family, everything would be different. However, I can’t even find my sister or grandfather.” He never mentioned his parents. He’d never even seen them, so he felt no emotions toward them.

“You’ll find them. They’re not regular people after all,” Fengying said, comforting him.

Lei Xinfeng nodded. “I will definitely find them.”

When evening fell, the hunters’ whistles began to sound, letting them all gather at the wooden house near the pond. It was a place for the hunters of Tiger Cliff to rest as well as a decent hunting location.

“Did you find anything?” Lei Xinfeng asked.

The hunters shook their head. They couldn’t find the barbarians’ gathering spots. Lei Xinfeng didn’t find it strange either. The mountains were too big for the twenty hunters to search easily. If they did run into them, it would be because of abnormal luck. Not being able to find the barbarians was more normal.

Lei Xinfeng smiled. “Don’t worry. Let’s rest for tonight. Tomorrow, the four of us will search. Heh, I bet we will definitely find their hiding spot.” He was very confident, stemming from their ability to fly. Flying definitely broadened their vision, and if the barbarians lived anywhere nearby, they wouldn’t be able to hide from the four of them.

He took out the body of a bull. Ke Dashan and the other hunters began to skin the animal and boil water, preparing the food for the night.

The twenty-four of them, each of them adult men with big appetites, were more than enough to finish off an entire bull along with some little animals. While they were searching for the barbarians, some of the hunters had come across some small game and took them on their way back.

Hu Yi even killed two pearl sheeps. Each pearl sheep only had two or three jins of meat on them, but each morsel was delicious. It was the best Tiger Cliff had to offer.

A big pot of water was brought onto a rack. Someone brought back a bunch of firewood and Lei Xinfeng even especially took out a few sticks of oil wood, lighting a large fire under the pot. Each hunter was an expert at outdoor cooking. Someone gathered a bunch of mushrooms and cooked it along with the bull meat. Large clumps of salt were scattered in the brew together with wild herbs and more mushrooms. When the water began to boil, the aroma of the food began to spread.

Cooking outside was actually a dangerous activity since it can draw the attention of wild beasts. However, with Lei Xinfeng and his guards present, they had nothing to fear.

Every hunter knew how to make chowder, or known locally as the random stew. Random meats, herbs, vegetables, and mushrooms were all thrown in with some salt to create a delicious meal. The freshness of the ingredients only served to make everything more delicious.

Someone even added a few pieces of bacon to finally finish off the dish, going off of their experience on what would taste good.