Life in a forest was never relaxing and comfortable. Ou Yangming experienced this before.
The first time he came here alone, he only stayed around the border without going deeper as he was mainly afraid of getting lost. Once he was lost in the forest, he could be stuck in there forever.
With Yan Haobo and the others around, he was not concerned about this.
Besides, they taught him how to identify directions when they journeyed into the forest, which was a preventive measure that would help him leave the forest if they lost each other. Of course, it was merely a preventive measure because as mentioned by Yan Haobo, Ou Yangming would not have to make a move unless everyone else died.
Instead of staying at the border, they went straight into the forest. Eventually, even the rustling sounds that were made from them stepping on leaves became quite hair-raising.
None of them made a sound as they looked at their surroundings carefully.
All of a sudden, Yan Haobo stopped. He looked in front of him as he mentioned, “Be careful, something’s found!”
Ou Yangming knew that it was the two pathfinders in front who found something, but he could not find anything even when he used the Vision ability. When Ou Yangming thought about it, he was certain that Yan Haobo’s vision was not as good as his, so he figured that the men had secret signals that he did not understand.
Yan Haobo looked around him as he said, “We found a beast track, and it might belong to a big fella, so brace yourselves!”
The soldiers were instantly spirited because it was their aim to hunt for big beasts in the dense forest, but they usually only found a quarry of this level after staying in the forest for a day, hence they were excited since they found one so quickly this time.
After signaling the man who was holding the line at the back, everyone quickened their pace.
On the other hand, Yan Haobo took the chance to explain to Ou Yangming about beast tracks.
If there was a powerful ferocious beast that could occupy a whole area, the paths that it took were known as beast tracks.
Small animals who smelled the ferocious beast’s aura would quickly stay away.
On the contrary, hunters who found fresh beast tracks would celebrate as it meant that they found a quarry.
Ou Yangming nodded. His main purpose in joining this trip was to learn different experiences, thus he was pleased when Yan Haobo explained everything to him patiently.
Similarly, Yan Haobo was flattering Ou Yangming intentionally because he knew that the master was interested.
With that, both of them were happy.
Yan Haobo’s judgment was accurate, because Ou Yangming noticed after fifteen minutes through the Vision +1 attribute that a figure was running in their direction.
Nonetheless, he did not alert the others because it was one of the two pathfinders.
That person ran toward the squad in a flash to mention excitedly, “Squad Leader, there’s a forest leopard in front, and we found its den!”
The forest leopard was one of the most dangerous ferocious beasts in the forest. In terms of power only, perhaps there were many other beasts that were more superior, but it was the most agile animal as it could even climb trees and make holes.
If there was a ferocious beast that hunters would prefer not to encounter, it was unquestionably the forest leopard.
Needless to say, Yan Haobo and the men were wild prepared because the forest leopard was their target.
An order was given, and someone retrieved bags of medicinal powder to sprinkle them on everyone’s body.
It was a specially made powder that could conceal their odor. Even if a ferocious beast were to pass by, it would never notice them as long as it did not see them.
Everyone walked even more carefully after. Before long, they arrived at a more open area, which was extremely quiet as not a single small animal was seen.
Yan Haobo nodded, then everyone split up to hide, by which two men even climbed up to a big tree like apes.
“Master Ou, that forest leopard is probably out to hunt, so it’s not back yet,” Yan Haobo mentioned, “We’ll be hiding here for now. Two archers will shoot it once it returns, and once it’s injured, we’ll be doing the rest.”
When Ou Yangming clasped his hands together then let go, he felt that his palms were already sweaty.
He nodded slightly, but cursed to himself for being useless. However, it was inevitable for him to be nervous as it was his first time facing a big ferocious beast.
After some time, a soft voice was heard.
Ou Yangming became alert, then tried his best to curb his aura like how Yan Haobo taught him to, and squinted his eyes as well. Through a gap, he saw a long forest leopard covered in prints on the beast track.
Everyone laid in ambush away from the track, hence the leopard had not noticed the human traces yet.
Just as it was about to return to its den, it quickly sensed his surroundings as if it sensed something.
Ou Yangming quickly lowered his head. Though he fixed his gaze on its body, he dared not look at its eyes.
Right then, the sound of arrows being released from bows was heard.
Following that, two sharp arrows pierced the air like flying stones that were aimed at the forest leopard.
Being well-known for quick reflexes among countless wild beasts, the forest leopard twisted its body to jump to the side as soon as the arrows were heard. Nevertheless, the archers were by no means ordinary, thus one of the arrows hit its hind leg.
Despite that, the arrow did not hurt the leopard much due to the angle it was shot when it evaded. As such, the arrow only brushed past its body, causing it to bleed and lose some flesh.
The forest leopard roared with a fierce look, and was about to climb up a tree. It was then when a few people jumped out, who were the soldiers who laid in an ambush earlier.
Even when facing a ferocious beast, the soldiers did not fear. They wielded their military sabers and carried their shields as they slowly surrounded it.
The way they encircled the beast was fascinating because the forest leopard only had one escape route.
Seeing as there were so many enemies around, the leopard decided to abandon its den, as well as its plan to take revenge. As such, it turned to escape through a window.
All of a sudden, the empty window was occupied by a burly figure.
Yan Haobo pulled his saber out, and a threatening aura was released when he yelled.
Afterward, his saber seemed to have turned into waves that were going to surround the forest leopard.
He was planning to suppress the beast by himself!
Ou Yangming was moved. A few days ago when he exchanged blows with Yan Haobo, the squad leader released his aura too, and his violent saber-lights made it hard for Ou Yangming to breathe. If Ou Yangming’s mental power had not been stimulated by chance, which helped pull him away from danger, he would have been defeated.
In spite of that, the mightiness of Yan Haobo’s saber this time was completely different.
Yan Haobo dared not go all-out when he fought Ou Yangming back then because the general would surely chop his head off if Ou Yangming was hurt. Therefore, the power, the killing intent, and even the might from his saber previously were more inferior than the current ones.
That being said, in Ou Yangming’s opinion, Yan Haobo was no longer undefeatable this time although he exerted all his force.
The momentum was violent, but Ou Yangming realized that it did not affect him anymore when he entered the mysterious state of multitasking.
More importantly, the mighty saber-light from Yan Haobo’s saber was full of flaws. By just looking at it once, Ou Yangming had already come up with seven to eight ways to break or dodge it.
This would have been impossible for Ou Yangming a few days ago.
A flash of light was seen in Ou Yangming’s eyes. He knew that he grew after the fight against the fop.
Power and skill were actually relative to each other. When he improved in one aspect, his combat power would increase by a huge margin, and it seemed like his skills achievement had surpassed his martial arts accomplishment.
Of course, Ou Yangming was able to achieve it because of the mysterious Military Fire. Without the ability to multitask where he watched the world from an outsider’s perspective, he could not have comprehended the mysterious technique.
The forest leopard roared amidst the flickering saber-light.
Yan Haobo inflicted serious damage on the forest leopard with his saber and suppressed the beast by himself.
On top of the sneak attacks from the arrows earlier, when the other soldiers continued to attack together, the forest leopard’s fate was set.
Ou Yangming stood up slowly from his hiding spot, and looked at Yan Haobo differently.
Before the slash from Yan Haobo just now, Ou Yangming had regarded him as an irrepressible powerhouse, but after calming himself down, he was able to treat the squad leader like they were equal.
This was because he was confident that he would be the one left standing even if he were to fight Yan Haobo without wearing his equipment set.
Only Ou Yangming understood the change in his mentality.
“Master Ou, this is our first quarry. Hehe, we were really blessed to have fought a big fella this soon, perhaps we can achieve our target earlier than planned, and we can return to the camp,” Yan Haobo said with a smile after putting his saber away.
The forest leopard did not struggle for long since many men surrounded it. It finally collapsed to the ground and died.
At last, the men sighed a breath of relief, then began handling the beast’s carcass.
They covered the forest leopard with another medicinal powder, which was extremely wonderful as it could conceal the beast’s bloody smell, as well as maintain its Qi and blood. The medicinal powder was truly one of the special products in the military.
