44, Entering the Mountain, Keeping Watch, White-headed Wolf

Slowly opening his eyes, Lu Lin saw Ren Tian standing guard over him. He smiled at Ren Tian. "Thanks, Brother Ren."

"No problem. But it was the Captain who noticed you were breaking through."

"Lu Lin, I'm not trying to nag you, but next time you're about to rank up, could you give a little heads-up? We're just casually eating some barbecue, and you go and break through without warning—that's a real test on a man's heart."

"My bad, my bad. Next time I rank up, I'll definitely let Brother Ren know in advance."

Lu Lin clasped his hands to Ren Tian, then hurried over to the others to thank them one by one, especially Zhou Shenming and Li Mo.

Zhou Shenming was the first to notice the fluctuation in Lu Lin's blood energy.

Huang Li was the one who brought the Jumping Deer.

"Brother Huang Li, thanks for the venison you hunted."

Huang Li's mouth twitched. He had specifically hunted that Jumping Deer with the thought of giving Lu Lin a good tonic. Ren Tian had subtly mentioned before that Lu Lin's family circumstances were modest, and as a newly promoted Martial Artist, he had no savings to speak of.

Venison happened to have the effects of tonifying the spleen, boosting qi, warming the kidneys, and strengthening yang. It wasn't of much use to High-level Martial Artists, but for someone like Lu Lin who had just advanced, it might offer some help.

He never expected Lu Lin to ride that momentum and directly break through to Mid-level Martial Artist.

"It's nothing, nothing. Lu Lin, if you like eating venison, I'll hunt you one every day from now on."

Lu Lin was embarrassed. The big brothers of the Dragon Saber Squad were way too enthusiastic. One Jumping Deer a day—Lu Lin was afraid he'd overdo the tonic and have a constant nosebleed.

After Lu Lin's incident, everyone's tense expressions relaxed a bit. Yang Dawei even superstitiously called it a good omen.

Having just entered the mountains and already advancing to Mid-level Martial Artist, this mission was bound to go smoothly.

Hopefully so.

After eating the barbecue, the group cleaned up the site. Then Li Mo shared the intelligence he had gathered from his reconnaissance.

"The Baiyin Mountain coverage area is vast, with complex terrain. The foothills are still lush with trees, but at the mid-slope position, vegetation is sparse. I found traces of a tiger pack. Additionally, there should be several large herds of Iron Bone Bulls, along with some common first and second-order birds and small Monster Beasts."

"What about the Red Moon Earth Bear?" Zhou Shenming asked.

Li Mo shook his head. He hadn't found any trace of the Red Moon Earth Bear.

Not finding any trace of the Red Moon Earth Bear was expected.

Monster Beasts aren't without intelligence. As a special breed among Monster Beasts, the Red Moon Earth Bear, aside from being unable to speak, has wisdom no less than that of an ordinary human.

At this critical juncture before giving birth, it would certainly conceal its tracks to avoid being found by enemies or humans.

The danger level of this mission wasn't very high for the Dragon Saber Squad, but searching for a hiding Red Moon Earth Bear across the vast Baiyin Mountain was bound to be a time-consuming task.

Still, no matter how difficult, they had to search—after all, this was their line of work.

After cleaning up the campsite, everyone shouldered their backpacks and set off on the search.

Zhou Shenming instructed the group that, as long as no danger was confirmed, they should let Lu Lin handle some of the Monster Beasts to accumulate combat experience.

But from noon until evening, they didn't encounter a single Monster Beast. They ran into plenty of ordinary rabbits and mountain rats, but those things weren't worth fighting.

Martial Artists have fast foot speed. They spent only an afternoon crossing the first mountain of the Baiyin Mountain range. As the sky darkened, Zhou Shenming had everyone stop to rest and set up camp.

Nighttime is the peak activity period for Monster Beasts. They would rest early and then venture out at night to search—maybe they'd find traces of the Red Moon Earth Bear.

Lu Lin didn't know if it was because he was too excited or because his blood energy was surging after advancing to Mid-level Martial Artist, but he wasn't sleepy at all. He felt incredibly energetic.

Seeing this, Zhou Shenming assigned Lu Lin to pair up with Huang Li for guard duty. If danger arose or a Monster Beast approached, they had to sound the alarm immediately.

The others gradually fell asleep. Huang Li, a man of few words, sat there silently staring into space, holding his longbow.

With nothing else to do, Lu Lin put on his light armor and started practicing the Mad Ox Strength Fist in the open space.

Every punch came with a cow call. This Lu Lin did catch Huang Li's attention.

But Huang Li had a different personality from Ren Tian. Though curious, he just watched quietly without making a fuss.

The progress of the Mad Ox Strength Fist slowly increased. Watching the rising proficiency, Lu Lin grew more and more excited.

What could compare to the joy of seeing effort pay off?

The Monster Beasts of Baiyin Mountain were also cooperative. Though their calls rose and fell in a lively chorus, not a single one approached their temporary camp.

At one point, Ren Tian got up to relieve himself. Seeing Lu Lin so energetic, he praised him inwardly and went back to his tent to sleep.

Young people these days really had boundless energy.

By the time he was cultivating until the early hours, Lu Lin felt something was off.

A chill wind seemed to be blowing all around.

Lu Lin glanced at Huang Li, who was sitting not far away, and hurried over. "Brother Huang Li, I think something's wrong."

"Yeah, I know. Just a few White-headed Wolves. No need to panic."

Huang Li was calm as could be. As a shooter, his eyes were his greatest asset. He had already sensed something wrong before Lu Lin spoke.

But when he saw it was just a few White-headed Wolves approaching to attack, he didn't take it seriously.

White-headed Wolves were a common Monster Beast widely distributed in the Wilderness outside Dongshan City. Their combat ability was average, with pack members generally ranging from first to third order. But they had their strengths—cruel by nature, united in packs, bloodthirsty and frenzied.

Sometimes, even in death, a White-headed Wolf would bite off a piece of its prey's flesh.

"Lu Lin, there are three over there. Leave them all to me. There are two more in this direction, both first-order. They're yours. If you can't handle them, just let me know."

Watching Huang Li's calm demeanor, Lu Lin asked, "Brother Huang Li, don't we need to wake the Captain and the others?"

"No need. Just a few little wolves like this—three minutes and the fight's over."

"But you should be careful too. Don't push yourself. Getting injured out in the wild is a real hassle."

"Mm, got it, Brother Huang Li."

Lu Lin swallowed instinctively, then drew the pitch-black E-rank Battle Saber Ren Tian had given him.

This time, strictly speaking, was Lu Lin's first real battle. Killing Scarface earlier had only been an act of self-preservation, not a true fight.

Having adapted to the dark environment for so long, Lu Lin took two steps in the direction Huang Li had indicated and could faintly make out two white heads emerging from the shadowy grass.

White-headed Wolf—its most distinctive feature was the patch of white fur on top of its head.

At that moment, staring at the two White-headed Wolves, all the information about them in Lu Lin's mind vanished.