Four-eared Green Ox

The villagers had all been awakened; the elderly, children, and women stayed in the treehouses, while nearly all the able-bodied men gathered on the ground with weapons.

No one knew what was happening, but hearing those earth-shaking roars, every face wore a grave expression.

"Grandpa is over there, young master, should we go?" Little Cat tugged at Bai Yang's sleeve.

"Where?" He figured he could ask the old village chief, who had lived long enough to have seen many strange phenomena, what exactly was going on.

The crowd parted, and they easily made their way to the old village chief.

"Young Master Bai was startled awake too?" The old village chief nodded at Bai Yang as he spoke.

As the saying goes, old people are shrewd and old ghosts are cunning; the village chief, advanced in years, could tell from the subtle movements between Bai Yang and Little Cat that they seemed to have crossed some boundary and grown much closer, a faint smile appearing on his face.

"Grandpa," Little Cat greeted before Bai Yang could.

Bai Yang felt a bit awkward. What should he call the old village chief? Follow her lead and call him grandpa? That didn't seem right. But he had already done that sort of thing with his granddaughter—well, not really done it, but it was basically the same as doing it, wasn't it?

"Woken up by that noise... Village Chief Grandpa, what's going on exactly?" Bai Yang laughed it off, calling him Village Chief Grandpa. It wasn't impolite or distant, nor as intimate as just "Grandpa," hitting a comfortable middle ground.

"This old man doesn't know either, but this happens often. Mihe Forest is dense with tall trees and crisscrossed by deep ravines, harboring too many powerful fierce birds and beasts. When they get angry, they make such a commotion..." Yet Bai Yang could sense deep worry in his tone. As Little Cat had said, whatever was angry was at least as terrifying as that gorilla they'd seen the other day. If it charged into the village in a rage, it would be nothing short of a disaster!

"So what do we do now?" Bai Yang asked. Faced with this, he was completely at a loss—no experience with this kind of thing.

"We can only wait. If nothing unexpected happens, we'll have to send someone to check on the situation during the day and then decide." The old village chief indicated he had no solution for this either.

So they waited. Hours passed as they listened to the roars. The sun rose, and still nothing happened—nothing they imagined or didn't imagine—which undoubtedly put everyone at ease.

As the sun climbed, the sound gradually grew lower and shorter, as if it were about to stop disturbing the peace.

"Village Chief, I'll take two men to go see what's going on." Zhao Shi, clad in armor and carrying a Titanium Alloy greatsword, stepped forward.

"Alright, be careful." The old village chief thought it over and nodded. After all, it concerned the village's safety; getting to the bottom of it was necessary.

"Hu Zi, Zhu Zi, you're with me." Zhao Shi turned and called out to the crowd.

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

He rolled his eyes and raised his hand. "I'm going too!"

"Young master, you can't go, it's too dangerous!" Little Cat quickly stopped him, looking at Bai Yang as if she might cry—nothing like the tough girl who'd swung a greatsword to chop people up.

"Young Master Bai, it's too dangerous. You'd better not go. If something happens, we'd all be unforgivable," the old village chief urged as well.

"It won't be dangerous, right? We're just going to check things out, not fight that big thing. We'll take a look from far away and leave." Bai Yang wasn't about to tell the villagers he was dying of curiosity about what could make such a racket!

"But—"

"It's settled! Let's go, go, go, go..." Zhao Shi tried to say more, but Bai Yang cut him off, already rushing toward the village gate with an impatient look.

"Young master, wait for me! I'll get my bow..." Little Cat called after him, then dashed to the treehouse to grab her bow and arrows before chasing Bai Yang. Wherever he went, she was never more than a step away.

Unable to change Bai Yang's mind, the old village chief personally arranged for seven of the village's strongest hunters to join Zhao Shi and his two men, forming a ten-person squad. The implication was clear.

And so Bai Yang once again stepped into the jungle with the villagers.

What? He'd said he'd never set foot in the jungle again? Did he?

"Oh, by the way, Zhao Shi, how did it go with that thing I asked you to do yesterday—telling the villagers in the other settlements in Mihe Forest?" On the way, Bai Yang suddenly remembered and sidled up to Zhao Shi to ask.

Zhao Shi's mouth twitched. "Young master, when you arranged that yesterday, it was already dark. I hadn't gotten around to it yet."

"Alright, I was too impatient..." Danger could lurk anywhere in the jungle at any moment, but luckily Bai Yang had over a dozen people with rich wilderness survival experience guiding him.

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

At some point, the roaring had faded away, leaving the villagers to grope forward based only on the direction they had heard the sound from earlier.

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

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

Hearing Bai Yang call her name, Little Cat was initially happy, but at his question, her eyes dimmed as she forced a smile. "Young master, Little Cat's father and mother left when I was very young. Little Cat heard from Grandpa that one day, when I was little, they went deep into Mihe Forest and never came back..."

"Sorry, Little Cat, I didn't mean to bring it up. You still have me, okay? Be good."

"Mm..."

Little Cat cheered up again.

On and on they went. After trekking through the jungle for over two hours, Zhao Shi, acting as their scout, signaled for everyone to stop from a large tree ahead, his face filled with shock.

Bai Yang had been walking easily the whole way, because shortly after entering the jungle, he had been riding on the broad shoulders of the towering Zhu Zi, carried along...

"What's going on?"

Seeing Zhao Shi's gesture, he asked quietly.

Zhao Shi didn't speak, only gestured for them to climb the tree and see for themselves.

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

Little Cat stood beside Zhu Zi, looking up at Bai Yang.

"Alright."

Bai Yang had full confidence in Little Cat's abilities, having experienced them once before.

The whole process of climbing the tree was quite thrilling!

Little Cat wrapped her arms around Bai Yang's waist, then leaped upward, jumping over three meters high. She tapped her toes on the trunk, rising another meter or two, then grabbed a vine and swung, sending them soaring five or six meters higher in a flash...

After several such moves, Bai Yang was already dozens of meters above the ground, perched on a tree branch!

Keep in mind, Little Cat's Titanium Alloy Armor alone weighed over a hundred jin, the titanium alloy longsword at her waist another thirty or so jin, plus Bai Yang's weight of over a hundred fifty jin...

"Heh, my Little Cat—if she were back on Earth, she could pound some so-called tough guys into meat paste..."

Bai Yang was sweating inwardly, to say the least. Thankfully, Little Cat was a good girl...

"Young master, look over there."

Zhao Shi came closer, pointing ahead and speaking softly.

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

About five hundred meters from their position, a large swath of the once towering jungle had been cleared. Thick trees were snapped and toppled, the scene a complete mess.

The key point was that in that area, an enormous green ox lay prostrate on the ground. Even lying down, it was five or six meters tall! The most astonishing thing was that the green ox had four ears—to Bai Yang, that was just a deformity.

No doubt about it—the earth-shaking roars from last night must have been this ox's doing. The surrounding broken and fallen trees were probably its handiwork too!

But the ox's condition was terrible. Its muscular body was covered in crisscrossing wounds, blood nearly staining its entire frame red.

Both of its horns were broken—one snapped halfway, the other torn out at the root. One of its eyes was gone, leaving only a bloody socket. A terrifying gash on its neck still bled, and one of its hooves, nearly the size of a tabletop, lay not far away...

"This..."

Bai Yang was speechless with shock. An ox this big in the world? Are you kidding me? And it looked like it was either dying or already dead—how did that happen?

"Young master, this is 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 the skill to do this to it?"

Bai Yang didn't believe it.

"Young master, legend says that powerful Martial Artists have such abilities."

Little Cat said from the side...

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