Chapter 88: Hunting Became Much Easier |
Snow Mane desperately turned and fled. Although its speed wasn't slow, it only managed to avoid the neck area in the end.
Xia Hong's blade still struck solidly on its spine.
Several of the icicle-like spikes on Snow Mane's back were severed at the root. The Jinghan Blade pierced through Snow Mane's hide, cutting halfway into its body. At the same time, Luo Yuan and the other three's great blades also struck the joints of Snow Mane's limbs.
Compared to Xia Hong, Luo Yuan's group only managed to break through Snow Mane's hide, creating four-to-five-inch long wounds. The damage they caused was clearly extremely limited.
Snow Mane's powerful momentum didn't stop despite five blades cutting into its body. Instead, it seemed to become even more ferocious due to the pain, still charging wildly toward Xia Chuan's position.
Luo Yuan and the others hadn't even had time to withdraw their blades before Snow Mane directly dragged them along. Not daring to be careless, all four chose to release their weapons.
Only Xia Hong's blade had cut the deepest. When dragged by Snow Mane's momentum, he didn't let go but instead followed Snow Mane as it charged toward Xia Chuan's direction.
It's over!
Seeing Snow Mane instantly reach Xia Chuan's position while Xia Chuan still stood there dumbfounded without moving, Luo Yuan and the other four thought to themselves, their hearts instantly turning cold.
Thud…………
However, no one expected that just as Snow Mane was less than half a meter from Xia Chuan, it seemed to crash into something invisible. Its massive body came to an abrupt halt.
Its legs were clearly still kicking violently against the ground, its sharp tusks swaying wildly as its head thrashed about. Though it pressed right against Xia Chuan's body, it couldn't advance even an inch further.
"This………… how is this possible?"
In the moment when Luo Yuan's group and the seven people in the tree were all stunned, a cold light flashed in Snow Mane's pupils. Its legs suddenly stopped kicking, and instead it raised its head, opening its bloody maw toward Xia Chuan before it.
"Be careful!"
"Watch out for its tongue!"
"Careful!"
Everyone present had hunting experience. Seeing Snow Mane open its mouth, they immediately reacted, shouting warnings while rushing toward the scene.
Unfortunately, the distance was too great—they couldn't cover it in such short time.
A long, icicle-like tongue shot straight out from its mouth, flying directly toward Xia Chuan's head. The tongue was like a sharp sword, even leaving a trail of cold light in the air.
"Been waiting for this move!"
Xia Hong, who had been following close behind Snow Mane, wouldn't let it succeed. The moment he saw the tongue shoot out, he flipped over Snow Mane, gritting his teeth as he forcefully pressed down the blade that was already halfway into Snow Mane's body.
Xia Hong's eyes widened with fury. His terrifying strength of over ten thousand jin made the Jinghan Blade cut deeper into Snow Mane's body, not only causing greater damage.
In pain, Snow Mane's tongue hesitated in the air for a brief moment.
Seizing this opportunity, Xia Chuan's previously empty hand suddenly produced a black three-inch dagger.
Xia Chuan slashed diagonally, creating a crescent blade arc in the air almost without any pause.
Ssssshhh…………
As the blade light flashed, Snow Mane's long tongue was cleanly severed.
With its tongue cut off, Snow Mane's body convulsed violently. Xia Hong withdrew the Jinghan Blade and delivered a decisive slash at its head.
Thud…………
Snow Mane's massive head was severed with one strike, landing on the snow and rolling forward a full four or five circles before being stopped by its two tusks.
"Quick, extract the essence blood!"
Hearing Xia Hong's instruction, Xia Chuan nodded and hurriedly took out a small wooden bottle from his person. Then, using the black dagger, he cut open Snow Mane's heart area and squeezed out a drop of deep green blood.
By now, on the other side, whether it was Luo Yuan's group of four or the other seven who had descended from the tree, all wore expressions of utter astonishment.
The group approached Snow Mane's corpse and saw the white threads in front of its head, finally understanding why Snow Mane hadn't collided with Xia Chuan earlier.
"Hehe, my white threads and black dagger aren't bad, right!"
After storing the essence blood bottle and retracting the white threads, Xia Chuan saw everyone's shocked expressions and looked quite pleased with himself.
When Xia Hong had previously said he should join the hunt too, he hadn't missed the looks on Luo Yuan and the others' faces.
Among the twelve people, he was the only one without a weapon. Everyone thought he had joined the hunting team through connections—he knew this perfectly well.
"Brother Xia Chuan, impressive skills!"
Luo Yuan didn't conceal the astonishment in his tone. He could feel Snow Mane's terrifying impact force just now. While the white threads and black dagger played significant roles, Xia Chuan's own strength definitely couldn't be overlooked.
Now not just him, but the three Zhao brothers and the other five all regarded Xia Chuan with newfound respect.
Even Xu Ning and Qiu Peng showed great shock and confusion at how quickly Xia Chuan's strength had improved.
"Alright, enough showing off. What's your base strength at now?"
Xia Hong teased lightly. He had some idea about Xia Chuan's improvement. Xia Chuan had privately told him about the power of the black dagger and white threads; otherwise, he wouldn't have rashly brought Xia Chuan along.
Xia Chuan chuckled and replied, "Should be almost 7,000 jin now."
7,000 jin—that's rapid improvement in such short time!
Xia Hong had some guess from that move stopping the severely injured Snow Mane, but hearing the number seven thousand still surprised him somewhat.
The others, especially Luo Yuan's group, showed clear envy upon hearing this number, feeling a sense of urgency rising within them.
Among them, Luo Yuan had the highest base strength at eight thousand jin; the three Zhao brothers were just over seven thousand; Li and Ying's group of four had just reached seven thousand.
On paper, they were all stronger than Xia Chuan, but the question was—how old was Xia Chuan?
Then considering the black dagger and white threads Xia Chuan had obtained from the Wood Puppet Abomination.
It was highly possible that none of them were actually stronger than Xia Chuan.
"Don't get too complacent. You're still far from the Digging Realm. Also, spend more time studying the black dagger and white threads—their functions should extend far beyond what you've discovered."
Remembering how Yang and Li had valued the Wood Puppet Abomination, Xia Hong both cautioned and reminded Xia Chuan.
"First prey of the night—acquired!"
At Xia Hong's words, everyone snapped back to reality. Looking down at the Snow Mane on the ground, they all felt a sense of unreality.
Though the process felt long, from finishing the trap pit until now, only about an hour had actually passed.
Snow Mane stepped into the trap and got injured, arrows wounded its body, then Xia Hong led Luo Yuan's four in the main assault. Snow Mane turned to flee, encountered Xia Chuan who severed its tongue, and finally Xia Hong decapitated it with one strike.
The entire hunting process flowed smoothly, as simple as eating or drinking.
Was this really hunting?
Hunting at Rogge Camp had never been this straightforward before!
Luo Yuan shook off the chaotic thoughts in his mind. After reviewing the entire hunting process, his gaze fell successively on the torch and animal trap.
"Leader, how is this animal trap so powerful?"
Hearing Luo Yuan's question, Xia Hong showed clear appreciation and directly pointed at the animal trap on Snow Mane's right forelimb. "Take it off and have a look."
Luo Yuan nodded, bent down, gripped the animal trap with both hands, and exerted slight force—then his expression froze.
The animal trap didn't budge at all.
Luo Yuan set down his great blade, gritted his teeth, gathered his strength, and tried again with full force.
The saw-toothed jaws of the animal trap still showed not the slightest sign of loosening.
"Zhao Long, Zhao Hu, come help me."
With Zhao Long and Zhao Hu's assistance, the three of them working together finally managed to open the animal trap's jaws and remove it from Snow Mane's leg.
Seeing the ten silver-white pattern marks on the animal trap's side wings and the over ten thick springs at its joints, Luo Yuan and the others suddenly gained clarity.
"This animal trap took me a full three days of forging. I added over ten crude springs—the force generated when it closes is at least over twelve thousand jin. Without Digging Realm strength, you can't even open it."
Taking the opened animal trap, Xia Hong showed a confident expression.
"One prey isn't enough. Bury this Snow Mane in the snow, mark the spot, and follow me east to find that Frost Wolf!"