The Poachers' Appearance
Ye Qin shook the snowflakes from his body, his eyes filled with excitement and exhilaration.
Although the tree was small enough for an adult to kick in half, that also depended on the condition of the body itself. Ye Qin was a snake now, with a slender body and little mass, yet he could unleash such force. Clearly, he was far from ordinary.
There was another tree nearby. Its branches were thick and sturdy, and it would probably take an adult stretching out both arms to wrap them around the trunk.
Ye Qin lashed out with his tail, striking the tree. The great tree swayed, and white snow came pattering down like rain.
This time, Ye Qin had been prepared and hurriedly dodged to the side.
Although he had been unable to knock down such a large tree, the mark left on its trunk gave him a rough understanding of his own strength.
Now, forget his natural enemy, the eagle. Even if he encountered a ferocious beast, he could still hold his own for a while.
And on this mountainside, there were already no creatures capable of threatening Ye Qin.
He was no longer the severely injured, frail Little Green Snake he had once been.
"Because I cultivate White Bone Contemplation, what it gives back to me is hardened bones and a transformation of my physical body."
"It's just a pity that the places struck by lightning still haven't healed. No matter how tough my body becomes, the charred scales still keep falling off. I wonder when they'll recover."
Ye Qin remembered what he had seen in the library before. The Green Brocade Snake he belonged to was not large; it was a small species of snake.
But his current size had already exceeded the usual length, and further changes might still occur.
"So this is the transformation brought about by the first stage of cultivation. I wonder what will happen when I reach the second stage."
"Another thing is, I wonder whether my lifespan has changed?"
At the thought of this, Ye Qin could not help becoming somewhat expectant.
Since he had been able to break through the size limit of a small snake, that meant he still had room to grow in terms of bulk. The same applied to his strength.
After further consolidation and cultivation, perhaps he would one day be able to snap even a thick tree like this in half. It was merely a matter of time.
Perhaps one day, he might even soar into the sky and transform into a dragon?
"Bang!"
Just as Ye Qin was deep in thought, a dull thud came from not far away, instantly drawing his attention.
He listened carefully before speaking uncertainly. "Was that a gunshot?"
How could there possibly be a gunshot on this mountainside for no reason?
Ye Qin followed the source of the sound.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Two tall men walked side by side. One of them was the bearded man who had found the eagle's corpse before. At that moment, he was carrying dozens of dead snakes in his hands!
The man beside him was slightly shorter, with a centipede-shaped scar on his forehead that made him look exceedingly sinister.
His eyes narrowed slightly. He aimed the dark muzzle of his gun at the agile figure in the distance and abruptly pulled the trigger.
The running leopard crashed to the ground. There was a bullet hole in the very center of its forehead, blood trickling from it. It was not completely dead yet, and its body kept twitching.
Seeing the two humans approaching, it let out an enraged growl from its throat, seemingly wanting to bite their throats clean through.
Faced with the leopard's threat, Scarface was utterly disdainful. He kicked it and said, "You're about to die, yet you're still acting so—"
Before he could finish, in the blink of an eye, the leopard suddenly sprang up, attempting one final struggle. Its sharp fangs glinted coldly in the air, nearly touching Scarface's throat.
Scarface's expression turned panicked. Facing that bloody maw rushing at him, a chill struck him head-on, and he could not react in time to dodge.
"Bang!"
Another gunshot rang out. Bright-red blood splashed across Scarface's face, and he could not help taking half a step back as he said, still shaken, "This beast is really vicious. Luckily, Brother Li, you were quick on the draw and your aim was so accurate. Otherwise, I would've fallen right into its trap. It was already dying, yet it still wanted to drag me down with it."
No matter how fast the leopard was, it could not outrun a bullet. Its head drooped helplessly, and its pupils gradually turned utterly dull and gray.
Li Han remained expressionless. He looked toward the large rock in the distance. The leopard had kept staring at that place before it died as well. He strode over.
"A mother leopard protecting her cubs would naturally be fierce."
Three furry little balls appeared behind the large rock. Each one was tiny and extremely adorable. When they saw the humans before them, they let out soft, childish cries.
At that moment, they still did not know that their mother had died.
They stumbled over to the mother leopard's side, their moist noses constantly nudging her body. Sensing her temperature slowly turning cold, they even tried to warm her with their own bodies.
Sadly, the mother leopard would never open her eyes again to lick their fur.
Scarface came over as well. His face was filled with delight and greed as he looked at the little leopards, and what he said sent a chill down one's spine.
"Wonderful. We've made quite a haul this time—one big and three small. Their hides can be turned into plenty of things."
The little leopards had only recently come into the world, yet they already had to face the world's greatest malice. Perhaps they would be made into a scarf, or perhaps someone would turn them into gloves. That was their ultimate fate.
Of course, if they were lucky, they might be made into specimens, left with their corpses intact and placed on a shelf for people to admire.
Li Han inspected the mother leopard's corpse, his expression showing some distaste.
"It was originally a perfectly intact pelt, but because I had to save you, it got another bullet hole. Now look at it—a huge loss in value. Why did you have to get so close?"
Scarface scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. "Brother Li, don't be angry. At worst, we'll shoot a few more leopards to make up for the loss."
Li Han gave a reluctant response. "Hurry up and take them all back."
Scarface glanced at the snake carcasses in his hands and asked curiously, "But speaking of which, Brother Li, why have you taken to hunting snakes this time? Snake hides aren't worth much, and their meat doesn't sell especially well either."
Li Han wore an inscrutable expression. "You wouldn't understand."
He had originally wanted to find the snake capable of killing the eagle, but after searching so many snake holes, all the snakes he had caught were perfectly ordinary, without anything special about them.
Moreover, they had all been small snakes. There were no large ones at all.
This even made Li Han start to wonder whether the snake scale he had discovered that day had merely been an accident—perhaps it had fallen from a passing snake.
But judging from the marks on the eagle's corpse, they had unquestionably been caused by a snake.
Seeing that Scarface still wanted to ask more questions, Li Han urged him, "All right, hurry back. We need to process these pelts, or they won't be any good if we wait too long."
The two figures gradually vanished into the snow blanketing the land. Neither of them noticed that another tail had appeared behind them.
All of this was witnessed by a pair of cold snake eyes.
If he remembered correctly, both Fog City and Tianfu Province had clear regulations forbidding hunting. These people must have taken advantage of winter and the heavy snowfall to sneak up the mountain.
"So they're poachers."
The law of the jungle said that the fittest survived. Though the laws of nature were cruel, they could never compare with the human heart.
Some people loved ivory, so they broke off elephants' tusks. Some people liked animal fur, so they skinned the animals alive. Some people sought to satisfy their appetites, turning all kinds of wild animals into dishes on their tables.
For their own selfish desires, these people cast a bloody shadow over animals that should have been living freely in the wild.
A gray industry chain was born from this as well.
Take these poachers, for example. The government had repeatedly issued orders forbidding such acts, but that could not stop them from advancing.
(End of chapter)