The Young Man Who Roped Horses

After saying goodbye to the Tree Tribe, Luo Chong set off once more on his exploration journey northeast.

Advancing through the dense Black Forest, it wasn't easy to maintain a straight path. The environment was identical everywhere, so Luo Chong had no choice but to take out the Bark Rope and tie it around his waist.

He dragged a long rope behind him as he moved forward, occasionally looking back. As long as the rope remained straight, his direction was correct. If the rope curved, it meant he had strayed off course.

Relying on this simple but very practical method, Luo Chong walked for two days, marking his path by cutting branches and sticking them in the ground. Finally, he emerged from this dark forest.

The Black Forest disappeared, replaced by sparse woods, bushes, and wild grass. Some hoof prints from herbivorous ungulates also appeared on the ground.

Elder Tree really didn't lie to me, Luo Chong thought to himself. He took out his Bow and Arrow and cautiously moved forward.

After walking for about another 20 minutes, Luo Chong finally saw the animal that Elder Tree had mentioned. It was a herd of Blue Antelope, about the size of domestic donkeys, with a shoulder height of around 1.2 meters and a body length of nearly 3 meters. They had a pair of half-meter long pointed horns that curved backward.

They had the face of a sheep, the ears of a donkey, the body of a horse, and the tail of an ox. Their bodies were bluish-gray, their limbs were long and slender, and they had inch-long manes on the backs of their necks.

Tsk tsk, wouldn't it be fine to bring these back and use them like donkeys? The thought of capturing them alive instantly crossed Luo Chong's mind, but it wouldn't be easy.

Donkeys are very gentle animals, but Blue Antelope are different. Just looking at the pair of sharp horns on their heads, you know they aren't easy to mess with. Blue Antelope are naturally aggressive. Even the females will occasionally fight individually to defend territory, butting with their horns and such. If Luo Chong were to run over there, and they all attacked him at once, he'd be finished.

This was a small herd, only 17 in total. Herbivores generally only gather in large herds during the summer. It was autumn now, their mating season, so there was only one adult male antelope in the entire herd. This was easy to distinguish; the largest one was the male.

There were 8 adult females and 8 young. This made things simpler. As long as he could control most of the adult Blue Antelope, the young would follow on their own. Young wouldn't leave the herd alone. After a moment of thought, Luo Chong had a plan and quietly retreated.

He set his Back Basket aside. Luo Chong wanted to make a simple Bolas, but this unlucky place didn't even have a single stone. There was nothing he could do, so he had to take two small snakeskin bags, fill them with dirt, and tie them to the ends of a rope as weights.

He had a bundle of Bark Rope and made a retractable noose loop as a spare. It was mating season, so as long as he prioritized controlling the adult male antelope, he didn't believe the others wouldn't listen. Otherwise, who would they find to mate with? Heh heh heh, Luo Chong thought with a lewd grin, and stealthily moved closer again.

Quietly hiding behind a chest-high bush, Luo Chong peeked out and immediately grimaced.

Emm, what an eyesore, what an eyesore. He saw the male antelope happily singing while mounted on a female antelope. What a great opportunity!

Taking two steps back, Luo Chong quickly swung the Bolas. The whistling sound startled the Blue Antelope herd, causing them to gather together vigilantly, heads facing outwards, horns forward, protecting the young behind them. Only the mating pair was oblivious, lost in their arousal.

The Bolas, spinning like a propeller, suddenly flew towards the mating pair with a whooshing sound.

Swoosh! Splack! Thump!

"Aiyoh! Hooooowl!"

The Bolas instantly wrapped around the hind legs of the two Blue Antelope. The mating pair jolted, shivered, and then fell to the ground with a thump. They immediately began to howl, whether from pleasure or from the pain of falling, it was unclear.

Luo Chong swung a rope loop in his hand and rushed out quickly, like a cowboy in a movie. The Blue Antelope herd stirred. Seeing that there was only one enemy, not a pack of wolves, they immediately took up a fighting stance, heads lowered, sharp horns extended forward.

Thanks for that! Sticking your heads out to be lassoed, couldn't be more polite.

Following the principle of "only a fool wouldn't take advantage," Luo Chong swung the rope loop violently, and with a patta, it looped around the horns of two female antelopes. Ah, crap! A mistake! I didn't manage to loop their heads.

The two antelopes clearly hadn't expected this two-legged beast in front of them wouldn't come to bite them but instead threw a rope loop from a distance. One of them charged fiercely, intending to impale Luo Chong like a candied hawthorn, but after taking just one step, it was pulled back by the one next to it.

Luo Chong quickly tightened the Bark Rope, firmly tying the long horns of the two antelopes together. The other female antelopes also became agitated and quickly charged over. Their sharp, long horns glinted coldly in the sunlight as they rapidly dashed towards Luo Chong.

Luo Chong moved quickly sideways, nimbly jumping and dodging among the several female antelopes. In just a few moves, he had entangled three antelopes together. Then, he yanked the rope hard, using the weight of his entire body to pull downwards.

Thump! Thump! Thump! With several consecutive sounds of falling, Luo Chong lay on the ground, desperately pressing down on the rope. Five female antelopes, some entangled by their necks, others by their legs, all lay on the ground, struggling and howling with guttural sounds.

The remaining two female antelopes saw the situation and, taking the 8 young antelopes with them, turned and ran. Charging forward at this point would be foolish.

"Hey, don't run! Come back!" Watching the herd of antelopes run away, Luo Chong was anxious. This wasn't how he had envisioned it. With only a few young left, they shouldn't have left the herd.

Damn it! Luo Chong watched the ten antelopes escape, speechless and helpless. He reluctantly got up, ready to vent his frustration on the seven left behind.

First, he cautiously walked over and tied their legs. Then, he went to check on the mating pair. Because their hind legs were entangled, they still hadn't separated and were still lying on their sides on the ground, twitching.

Now this is a real stud! No, a stud antelope. Tsk tsk, even in death, they'll be romantic ghosts.

It's very difficult to completely subdue wild animals, especially adults. It's just wishful thinking that they will obediently work hard just because you exude an aura of dominance.

For a species like the Blue Antelope, which is defiant and naturally aggressive, you must first destroy its self-esteem.

The ancients had a method called "Hawk Taming." To tame fierce wild hawks, when they were first caught, they wouldn't be allowed to sleep for days and nights, making them extremely tired until their wild nature was worn down. In short, it was one sentence: Are you compliant or not? If not, I won't let you sleep.

But Luo Chong clearly didn't want to spend that much time. He directly and roughly used the Stone Axe to smash off all the Blue Antelope's horns. He then used burning hot charcoal to sear the broken surfaces of the horns, preventing them from growing back.

You see, their beautiful, sturdy horns were a symbol of their strength and a weapon for courtship and territorial defense. Now that their horns were broken, it was like taking away half their lives. The 7 antelopes, which had initially struggled violently, immediately became listless quails. This was a sign of losing their sense of security.

If Luo Chong hadn't wanted to keep the male antelope for breeding, he wouldn't have minded castrating it. He didn't need wild Blue Antelope; he only needed these antelopes to work for him like oxen or horses. Even most ancient warhorses were gelded, just to make them obedient and easy to control.

~

~

~

~

~

A new day is about to begin. I hope everyone can cast a recommendation vote for me at the stroke of midnight. I would be very grateful. Thank you.