Su Mo Never Came Back Empty-Handed from a Hunt-Did He Always Bring Home Prey Whenever He Entered the Mountains?

Over the next few days.

Su Mo still rose early every day to temper his body. The wooden posts and stone locks in his courtyard had long since been smashed to pieces, so he brought back another enormous rock from outside and used it as a stone lock for training.

Sometimes, Su Mo even trained right inside Qingliang Mountain, using his powerful body to repeatedly slam into cliffs and trees. His strength was terrifying; he knocked down countless trees, and his fists pounded innumerable marks into the cliff faces.

Although Su Mo's cultivation was still at the peak of the early Body Tempering Realm, his strength was skyrocketing. Every punch he threw was immensely powerful, packed with tremendous force. Even a Martial Artist in the late Body Tempering Realm—or at its peak—couldn't withstand one of his punches now.

After mastering the Basic Saber Technique, Su Mo began devoting more time to practicing the archery on which he relied for survival. To his surprise, though, his proficient archery still hadn't advanced to the great success level.

Su Mo suspected it wasn't a matter of comprehension. Archery at the great success level could kill prey and opponents from hundreds of meters away, which required exceptionally keen eyesight. But his eyesight clearly wasn't good enough to support that level of archery yet, and that was why he still hadn't broken through.

Su Mo remained calm about it. His most urgent task now was to obtain a cultivation technique for tempering his body. Once he broke through to the middle stage of the Body Tempering Realm, his strength would soar again.

In the middle stage of the Body Tempering Realm, strength would arise in the flesh and skin, generating force. Every movement would carry this force, making attacks more powerful. At the same time, the flesh and skin would grow denser and firmer, greatly strengthening the body.

Of course, Su Mo's physical defenses were already terrifying. He had fused the Green Wolf's speed and sharp claws, the Mountain Boar's Great Strength, the Green Wolf King's Iron Bones, the Plum Deer's Deer Strength, and the Gray Rabbit's agility. All of this made his physical constitution far stronger than an ordinary person's.

That was why he dared to train his body alone inside Qingliang Mountain.

Even if he ran into people from Black Wind Stockade, he wasn't afraid.

As long as none of Black Wind Stockade's Meridian Opening Realm experts appeared, Su Mo was invincible. He could defeat any Martial Artist in the Body Tempering Realm and sweep through them without losing.

As time passed, he began to appreciate just how strong Shi Mingdong, the prodigy from the prefectural city whom he had fought, really was. Shi Mingdong was only in the late Body Tempering Realm, far below Li Xian's peak late-stage cultivation. But Shi Mingdong was so young—no more than fifteen at most.

Although his cultivation was inferior to Li Xian's, Shi Mingdong definitely had the strength to beat him to a pulp. Yet Su Mo now possessed physical combat strength that utterly overwhelmed Shi Mingdong.

Before fusing with the Green Wolf King's Iron Bones, Shi Mingdong had barely managed to fight Su Mo to a draw through close-quarters combat. But only Shi Mingdong knew how things would have truly turned out.

Since then, Su Mo had fused with and mastered the Green Wolf King's Iron Bones, gained the Plum Deer's Deer Strength, and advanced to the peak of the early Body Tempering Realm. All this proved that he now had the power to utterly crush Shi Mingdong.

That was why Su Mo dared to train so recklessly inside Qingliang Mountain.

Sometimes, he even ran into Black Wind Stockade men sweeping the mountains. Without exception, Su Mo killed them all.

Among these men were Minor Leaders whose strength was close to that of a Martial Artist, as well as Major Leaders who had reached the early or middle Body Tempering Realm. But when they ran into Su Mo, they were like sheep facing a wolf.

In the blink of an eye, Su Mo would kill them right there in the mountains.

The Black Wind Stockade men in the middle Body Tempering Realm couldn't fight back against him at all.

During this time, Su Mo also killed a Black Wind Stockade man in the late Body Tempering Realm. Unfortunately, he still didn't find any body-tempering cultivation technique on him.

However, from that man, Su Mo learned that Huang Heilong, the Great Leader of Black Wind Stockade, was genuinely in the Meridian Opening Realm. As for how powerful he was, Su Mo didn't know.

He also learned that several of the stockade's other leaders had been quietly accumulating strength and cultivation. They had now secretly broken through to the Meridian Opening Realm as well. In other words, Black Wind Stockade now had several Meridian Opening Realm experts.

This made Su Mo feel increasingly pressed for time.

He was confident that no one in the Body Tempering Realm could hurt him, but the Meridian Opening Realm was different. Martial Artists in the Meridian Opening Realm opened the meridians throughout their bodies and generated martial inner energy. They could send it surging out to wound others, easily piercing an enemy's internal organs.

So Su Mo still didn't dare face a Meridian Opening Realm expert head-on.

Whenever he spotted a Meridian Opening Realm expert from Black Wind Stockade, Su Mo fled immediately. He had killed too many of their people lately, and the stockade's higher-ups were furious. They had sent out Major Leaders at the peak of the late Body Tempering Realm to sweep the mountains.

Sometimes, the Meridian Opening Realm leaders of Black Wind Stockade came out too.

Clearly, they were trying to intimidate Su Mo, the unseen enemy lurking in the shadows.

On the village road in Shuanglin Village.

Su Mo returned to the village carrying a wild rabbit.

"Hey, Su Mo, look at you! You got another wild rabbit today!"

"His uncle, he just got lucky."

"I don't buy it. Everyone knows that whenever you go into the mountains, Su Mo, you come back with prey. You haven't come back empty-handed once lately."

"That's right. Su Mo's hunting skills keep getting better. Even us old hunters have to admit he's good!"

"That's only natural. Su Mo's probably the best hunter among the young people in our village now. Zhang Hai from Zhang Tieshan's family and Li Goudan and Chen Mazi from the east end of the village can't keep up with him."

"Not just them. I doubt there are any young hunters in the neighboring villages who can match Su Mo either!"

"Exactly. Su Mo's really made something of himself!"

Since Su Mo often went into the mountains to hunt, the villagers had noticed that he almost never came back empty-handed. Sometimes he brought back wild rabbits, sometimes roe deer, and now and then he even caught a Green Wolf in an Animal Trap. His record left some of the older hunters feeling ashamed of themselves.

Su Mo couldn't help feeling helpless about it. Whenever he returned from hunting, he always kept a low profile. But the village was full of people, and every now and then someone spotted him. As the sightings became more frequent, though,

the villagers began to realize something was off. How did Su Mo manage to bring back prey every time he went into the mountains? He never came back empty-handed. Sometimes he had game, sometimes wild rabbits, and sometimes even roe deer. One villager had even seen Su Mo carrying a Green Wolf home one night when he got up to relieve himself.

Before long, Su Mo's record of never coming back empty-handed spread throughout Shuanglin Village, leaving many hunters feeling outmatched. The younger hunters, like Zhang Hai, had thought their hunting skills were just as good as Su Mo's.

But when he remembered that Su Mo had taken down a Green Wolf—a vicious beast, no less—Zhang Hai could only concede defeat.

The village's other skilled young hunters, Li Goudan and Chen Mazi, could only keep their distance from Su Mo and avoid competing with him. At first, they had thought about testing their skills against him.

But as Su Mo returned with prey day after day, Li Goudan, Chen Mazi, and the others had no choice but to admit defeat. Su Mo's hunting prowess had completely won them over.

Because Su Mo hunted so fiercely in the mountains, he even caught the attention of Black Wind Stockade.

This also drew some villagers who loved gossip into the spectacle.

Su Mo might be a good hunter, but could he really stand up to the vicious, ruthless Black Wind Stockade?