Over the next few days, Su Mo silently consolidated his strength in the courtyard. Of course, he would occasionally enter Qingliang Mountain to hunt.
One day, Su Mo picked up his ancestral Hunting Knife, slung the Beast Hide Great Bow over his back, and hung a quiver from his waist. Filled with birchwood arrows, it accompanied him once more into Qingliang Mountain to hunt.
He wanted to see whether he could hunt some other Fierce Beasts and obtain their innate traits.
However, after wandering through the mountains for half a day, Su Mo still hadn't found a single Fierce Beast. Even the larger wild animals had hidden away early because of hibernation.
Helpless, Su Mo could only enter Green Wolf Ridge. After killing a Green Wolf, he prepared to return to Shuanglin Village.
As a hunter, one couldn't enter the mountains and return empty-handed.
"Damn it, the people from Black Wind Stockade are such bastards! They actually set up checkpoints inside Qingliang Mountain and rob us of the prey we worked so hard to hunt. I finally managed to bring down a roe deer, only for them to forcibly take it from me. Without that roe deer, how am I supposed to get through the winter?"
"You're lucky. They only took your prey and didn't beat you. I'm the unlucky one. Not only did they steal my prey, they also beat me half to death. Now I can't even enter the mountains to hunt for many days. Am I really going to starve to death this winter?"
"The people from Black Wind Stockade truly deserve to die! May a thousand knives cut them down!"
"Huh? Isn't that Su Mo? You hunted a Green Wolf? Don't go that way! There are people from Black Wind Stockade over there. They're robbing hunters of their prey."
Just as Su Mo was carrying the Green Wolf Meat and preparing to leave Qingliang Mountain, he suddenly encountered several hunters. Many of them were from neighboring villages. One of them had a swollen, bruised face and was limping, clearly having been beaten badly.
These hunters had obviously run into people from Black Wind Stockade. Their prey had been stolen, and some of them had even been viciously beaten, leaving them covered in injuries and unable to enter the mountains to hunt for many days afterward.
That was exactly what had happened to Su Mo's predecessor. Faced with Black Wind Stockade's oppression and forcible robbery, he had ultimately starved to death inside a dilapidated tile-roofed house.
At that moment, one of the hunters noticed Su Mo and, more importantly, the Green Wolf on his back. He hurried over. Since they were all hunters from neighboring villages and often encountered one another in the mountains, they naturally knew each other.
They hurriedly told Su Mo that he couldn't take the road ahead, as he would easily run into people from Black Wind Stockade.
Su Mo thanked them, then turned and headed down another path, clearly intending to avoid the people from Black Wind Stockade.
Seeing this, the hunters also breathed a sigh of relief. They had been afraid Su Mo might act rashly. Afterward, they all dejectedly prepared to return to their village.
Clearly, it was another day of coming home empty-handed.
Bang! Bang!!!
After they had walked several dozen meters, several heavy objects suddenly slammed into the ground in front of them. Snow exploded in all directions, nearly obscuring the path ahead. But as the snow gradually settled—
They looked carefully and saw several carcasses suddenly lying ahead. These were the very prey Black Wind Stockade had robbed from them earlier. Now, the lost prey had returned to them, and they were delirious with joy, feeling as though they were caught in a dream.
"Thank you, thank you! Thank you for your aid, great hero!"
"Thank heaven and earth! Our prey is back! Otherwise, how would we get through this winter?"
The hunters knew that the people from Black Wind Stockade would never easily return the prey they had stolen. Since the prey had been recovered, some great and righteous hero must have stepped in to help. Thus, they were incredibly excited and repeatedly bowed toward their surroundings in gratitude.
With this prey, they at least wouldn't starve to death during the winter!
In the dense forest not far away, Su Mo quietly watched everything. Naturally, no so-called great hero had come to their aid. He had been the one to eliminate those Black Wind Stockade guards.
At that moment, the Black Wind Stockade guards who had robbed the hunters lay in the snow in horrifying states of death. The snow-covered ground had been dyed red with blood...
Su Mo wasn't a saint, but these people from Black Wind Stockade deserved to die!
Their crimes were simply too numerous to write down on bamboo slips. Many times, hunters entering the mountains to hunt didn't die at the hands—or fangs and claws—of wild beasts or Fierce Beasts. They were instead forced to death by Black Wind Stockade, or even beaten to death outright. Not to mention all the other vile deeds Black Wind Stockade committed when descending the mountain to collect taxes.
Su Mo carried the Green Wolf and prepared to descend the mountain and return to Shuanglin Village.
But at that moment, a swift, piercing sound suddenly tore through the air. Su Mo tilted his head aside, and an iron dart flew past his forehead before embedding itself in the bushes behind him. The tangled bushes were instantly severed and pierced through, scattering grass blades and vines everywhere.
A Martial Artist?
Su Mo raised his eyes and saw a burly man in black slowly walking toward him, a black cloth wrapped around his head. The man held a huge hammer in his hand, and extremely powerful force surged around his body.
This was a Martial Artist—a Martial Artist whose strength had reached the mid-stage of the Body Tempering Realm.
Judging from the black-clad man's attire, he was clearly one of Black Wind Stockade's guards. But he wasn't an ordinary guard or gang member. He was a leader—more precisely, a Major Leader.
Otherwise, he wouldn't possess such strength.
"Were you the one who killed the people from our Black Wind Stockade?"
When this burly man in black had left Black Wind Stockade, he discovered the guards lying in the snow in horrifying states of death. He had followed their trail and found Su Mo. Seeing the Green Wolf in Su Mo's hands, he instantly suspected that this hunter might have killed the people from Black Wind Stockade.
Whether he had or not didn't matter. Even if he killed the wrong man, so what?
But the young hunter before him had dodged his iron dart. Moreover, after dodging it, he remained so calm and composed that the man in black was almost certain he was the culprit who had killed Black Wind Stockade's guards.
Su Mo didn't answer. Instead, he nocked an arrow and drew the Beast Hide Great Bow in one smooth motion. A mid-stage Body Tempering Realm Martial Artist looked quite powerful, and with that huge hammer in hand, his destructive force was bound to be terrifying.
The birchwood arrow shot forth!
The instant he released it, Su Mo continued drawing and nocking another arrow, preparing to fire again. His earlier battle against Shi Mingdong had served as a warning: he couldn't afford to underestimate any Martial Artist.
But in the next moment, something unexpected happened to Su Mo...
Before you continue