"Simply put, it got away."
The moment Ren Li opened his mouth, he pointed out the key issue.
Du En did not immediately press him for details. He merely waited for him to finish explaining everything from beginning to end.
"Recently, Steward He's side has suffered quite a bit of ridicule. The reports reached the chief steward, and I heard he even made a few pointed remarks—not too harsh, but not too mild either. That has left him scrambling to make up for it."
"So, naturally, since he couldn't catch the Evil Cultivator, he went after the demonic beasts instead. However, by the time the people he sent tracked them to their former hiding place, they had already fled."
"Judging from the traces, they unsurprisingly headed south. What was slightly unexpected was that they crossed the border the entire way. The people at the outpost even spotted them from a distance, but since they were only first-tier demonic beasts, they didn't do anything."
"Taking into account the cubs' rate of development, which was truly abnormal, I only realized it when I began refining them. They were probably not even a month old. From that, it isn't hard to infer that they actually possessed the bloodline of a Second-tier Demonic Leopard—hm, possibly one in the late stage or even at perfection."
"Therefore, that mother leopard's journey north this time might not have been due to the typhoon passing through. It may simply have come to hunt based on experience, hoping to ensure a smooth birth and strong cubs, while also securing enough suitable prey to guarantee their rapid growth shortly after birth."
At this point, Ren Li stopped and looked at Du En as though he were looking at some unlucky wretch.
"In other words, by killing that Leopard Cub, I