Four-eared Green Ox

The villagers had all been jolted awake. The old, the children, and the women stayed in the treehouses, while nearly all the able-bodied men gathered on the ground, weapons in hand.

No one knew what was happening, but at the earth-shaking roars, every face grew grave.

"Grandpa's over there. Let's go, young master?"

Little Cat tugged at Bai Yang.

"Where?"

He could ask the Old Village Chief what was going on. Having lived so long, he might have seen all sorts of strange things.

The crowd parted, and the two of them made their way to the Old Village Chief with ease.

"Bai, you were roused too?"

The Old Village Chief looked at Bai Yang and nodded.

They said old age brought wisdom, and the Old Village Chief was certainly no fool. From the little gestures between Bai Yang and Little Cat, he could tell that the two seemed to have crossed some sort of line and grown much closer. A faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared on his face.

"Grandpa."

Little Cat greeted him before Bai Yang could.

Bai Yang felt a little awkward. What should he call the Old Village Chief? Grandpa? That didn't seem right. But he'd already done that thing with the man's granddaughter—not that they'd really done that thing, but that thing and the other thing weren't all that different, were they?

"I was woken by that noise... Grandpa Village Chief, what exactly is going on?"

Bai Yang laughed awkwardly. Calling him Grandpa Village Chief wasn't impolite or distant, but it wasn't as familiar as calling him Grandpa, either. It was just right, somewhere in between...

"I don't know either. But this sort of thing happens often. Mihe Forest is full of towering mountains and dense woods, with deep ravines and gorges crisscrossing it. Too many powerful fierce beasts and birds of prey lurk here. When they get angry, they make a racket like this..."

Yet Bai Yang could hear the deep concern in his voice. And no wonder. As Little Cat had put it, whatever was angry had to be at least as terrifying as the giant ape they'd seen that day. If it charged into the village in a rage, it would be a disaster!

"Then what do we do now?"

Bai Yang asked. In a situation like this, he was completely at a loss. He had no experience with this sort of thing...

"We can only wait. If nothing unexpected happens, we'll send people to take a look during the day and decide what to do then."

The Old Village Chief admitted there was nothing else he could do.

So they waited. They listened to the roars for several hours. The sun rose, and still nothing happened, whether expected or otherwise. Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As the sun rose, the roars grew lower and shorter, as if the beast were finally done disturbing everyone.

"Village Chief, I'll take two men and go see what's going on."

Zhao Shi came over in armor, carrying his Titanium Alloy Broadsword.

"That would be good. Be careful."

The Old Village Chief thought it over, then nodded. The safety of the village was at stake, so they had to find out what was going on.

"Hu Zi, Zhu Zi, come with me."

Zhao Shi turned and called to the crowd.

Bai Yang grinned. You three just can't be apart, can you? Best buddies for life?

His eyes darted around. "I'm going too!"

"Young master, you can't go. It's too dangerous!"

Little Cat quickly tried to stop him. Looking at Bai Yang's near-tears expression, who would have thought she was the Tigress who'd once wielded a greatsword and charged into battle?

"Bai, it's too dangerous. You'd better stay here. If anything happened to you, we'd all deserve to die a thousand deaths," the Old Village Chief urged.

"It won't be dangerous, will it? We're only going to have a look. We're not going to fight that big guy. At most, we'll take a look from far away and leave."

Bai Yang wasn't about to tell the villagers that he was dying of curiosity about what could make such a huge racket!

"But..."

"Then it's settled. Let's go, go, go..."

Zhao Shi was about to say something, but Bai Yang cut him off and hurried toward the village gate, impatient to set out.

"Young master, wait for me! I'll get my bow and arrows..."

Little Cat called after him. She dashed back to the treehouse, grabbed her bow and arrows, then rushed to catch up with Bai Yang. Wherever Bai Yang went, she stayed right by his side.

Seeing that Bai Yang wouldn't change his mind, the Old Village Chief personally assigned seven of the village's strongest hunters to join Zhao Shi and the other two, making a ten-man team. The reason was obvious.

And so Bai Yang once again ventured into the forest with the villagers.

What? Hadn't he said he'd never set foot in the forest again? Had he?

"By the way, Zhao Shi, how did it go with what I asked you to do yesterday—telling the villagers in the other villages in Mihe Forest?"

On the way, Bai Yang suddenly remembered and moved closer to Zhao Shi to ask.

Zhao Shi's mouth twitched. "Young master, it was already dark when you told us yesterday. We didn't have a chance to do it."

"Right. I was too eager..."

Lethal dangers could appear anywhere, at any time, in the forest. Fortunately, Bai Yang had more than ten experienced wilderness guides with him.

He didn't feel any danger at all. It was almost like a spring outing...

At some point, the roars had stopped. The villagers could only feel their way forward in the direction the sounds had come from.

The journey was dull, so Bai Yang asked Little Cat:

"Little Cat, I've always wanted to ask: where are your parents?"

Little Cat had been happy when she heard Bai Yang call her name, but at his question, her eyes darkened. She forced a smile. "Young master, Little Cat's father and mother passed away when Little Cat was very young. Grandpa told me that when I was little, they went deep into Mihe Forest one day and never came back..."

"I'm sorry, Little Cat. I didn't mean to bring it up. You still have me, okay? There, there."

"Mm..."

Little Cat cheered up again.

They walked on and on. After more than two hours moving through the forest, Zhao Shi, who was scouting ahead, gave them a hand signal from a large tree, telling everyone to stop. His face was full of shock.

Bai Yang had taken it easy along the way. Not long after they'd entered the forest, he'd been sitting on Zhu Zi's shoulders as the tall, sturdy man carried him along...

"What's going on?"

Seeing Zhao Shi's signal, he asked in a low voice.

Zhao Shi didn't answer. He only gestured for them to climb the trees and look.

"Young master, I'll take you up."

Little Cat looked up at Bai Yang from beside Zhu Zi.

"Okay."

Bai Yang had complete faith in Little Cat's abilities. He'd already experienced them once.

The climb up was quite a thrill!

Little Cat wrapped her arms around Bai Yang's waist, then sprang upward, leaping more than three meters into the air. She touched the trunk with her toes and shot another meter or two higher, then grabbed a vine and swung. In a flash, the two of them had risen five or six meters...

After doing that several times, Little Cat had carried Bai Yang onto a tree branch dozens of meters above the ground!

Keep in mind, Little Cat's Titanium Alloy Armor alone weighed a good hundred pounds, and the Titanium Alloy longsword at her waist weighed another thirty. Then there was Bai Yang, who weighed around a hundred and fifty pounds...

"Heh. My Little Cat could hammer those third wheels on Earth into meat paste..."

Bai Yang was sweating bullets inside, but let's not get into that. At least Little Cat was obedient...

"Young master, look over there."

Zhao Shi came over and pointed ahead, speaking softly.

Bai Yang looked over and nearly pissed himself...!

About five hundred meters from them, a large swathe of what had been a forest of towering trees lay cleared. Thick trunks had snapped and fallen, leaving the whole area in shambles.

The most striking thing in that clearing was a gigantic green ox, crouched on the ground. Even lying down, it stood roughly five or six meters tall! More astonishingly, the green ox had four ears. To Bai Yang, that just looked deformed...

There was no doubt about it. The earth-shaking roars from last night must have come from this ox, and the broken, fallen trees around it were probably its handiwork too!

But the ox was in terrible shape. Its once-massive, rippling body was covered in crisscrossing wounds, and blood had nearly stained its entire body red.

Both of its horns had been broken: one halfway up, the other right at the base. One eye was gone, leaving only a bloody socket, and a horrifying, bleeding gash ran along its neck. One hoof, nearly the size of a tabletop, lay nearby...

"Th-this..."

Bai Yang was so shocked he couldn't speak. Could there really be a cow this huge in the world? Was someone messing with him? And it looked like it was either dying or already dead. What had happened?

"Young master, that's a Four-eared Green Ox, one of the overlords of Mihe Forest. It looks like someone killed it!"

Zhao Shi said in terror.

"Who could have done this to it?"

Bai Yang couldn't believe it.

"Young master, the legendary powerful Martial Artists are said to have that kind of strength!"

Little Cat said from beside him...