Snow blanketed Qingliang Mountain.
A gray rabbit darted across the snowfield, but in an instant, a birchwood arrow struck it. The gray rabbit was killed without the slightest chance to resist.
"There's less and less game in Qingliang Mountain."
Su Mo walked over, pulled out the arrow, and carried away the gray rabbit. Hunting in Qingliang Mountain had become increasingly difficult. Many wild animals had hidden away for their winter hibernation.
The reason he had entered the mountains again this time was that Uncle Chen Shan had previously told him that a wolf king had appeared in Green Wolf Ridge within Qingliang Mountain. It had already mauled and killed many hunters, and it was said to possess strength comparable to a mountain boar.
Su Mo was very cautious. He guessed that if he killed this wolf king, he should be able to obtain its innate trait. After all, ordinary green wolves were utterly incomparable to mountain boars.
Mountain boars completely crushed green wolves.
Yet the old hunters, including Uncle Chen Shan, had judged that this Green Wolf King possessed strength no weaker than a mountain boar. That meant the Green Wolf King had something extraordinary about it.
Besides, although there was still some wild boar meat at home, it could not withstand him stuffing himself every day. If he took down this Green Wolf King, the meat at home would be replenished without interruption, and he could continue strengthening his body.
After becoming a Body Tempering Realm Martial Artist, Su Mo always felt that something was missing. He had discovered that tempering and honing his body progressed very slowly. To break through to the mid-stage of the Body Tempering Realm, he would have to wait until the Year of the Monkey and Month of the Horse.
This made Su Mo suspect more than once that his innate bone talent was simply inadequate, that he had no cultivation potential at all. Could breaking through to the Body Tempering Realm truly have been a coincidence? Or had he simply stumbled into it by accident?
Su Mo was somewhat troubled and melancholy.
Therefore, all he could do was eat meat voraciously every day. Only then could he find some comfort.
There was another reason: he had truly been frightened by hunger before.
Su Mo moved and headed straight for Green Wolf Ridge. To other hunters, Green Wolf Ridge might be a land of calamity and death, where entering meant nine deaths and one life.
But to Su Mo, it was merely a place where he could conveniently kill wolves and obtain meat. There were so many green wolves inside Green Wolf Ridge that if he finished the wild boar meat later and had nothing left to eat, he would have to eat the Green Wolf Meat here.
Even though Green Wolf Meat was no longer of much use to him at the Body Tempering Realm, it was still meat, after all.
Qingliang Mountain held many wild beasts and Fierce Beasts, but Fierce Beasts were not easy to find.
After racing along, Su Mo appeared in Green Wolf Ridge. The instant he arrived, several green wolves that had come out to hunt seemed to face an overwhelming enemy. They immediately fled into the distance, as though some great terror had descended upon the place.
Su Mo paid them no attention. He had come to Green Wolf Ridge today to find that wolf king.
Awooo! Awooo!
Just as he was searching everywhere for the Green Wolf King, several anguished howls suddenly came from ahead. It seemed someone was hunting the green wolves.
Su Mo hurried toward the sound and saw that, in a dense forest ahead, a figure was frantically slaughtering the green wolves. The figure belonged to a young man dressed in splendid brocade robes. He was exceptionally handsome, but he looked much younger than Su Mo.
He was at most fifteen years old.
The green wolves charged forward without regard for their lives, but this young man, even younger than Su Mo, struck out with his fists and feet, killing them with ease.
Behind those green wolves stood an extremely unusual one. It was far larger and longer than ordinary green wolves, its entire body covered in green fur. Some of that green fur had actually begun to take on a crimson hue. This meant that the green wolf had become a Fierce Beast beyond the level of ordinary beasts and had awakened some special innate ability.
This green wolf was the Green Wolf King Su Mo had searched so long for—the one that had taken the lives of many hunters.
The Green Wolf King's bloodthirsty pupils shifted as it fixed its gaze on the young man in the middle of the scene. It let out a Wolf Howl. As the howl spread, the surrounding green wolves charged at the young man as though marching to their deaths, slashing with their claws and roaring furiously.
What surprised Su Mo, however, was that the young man did not become entangled in battle. Instead, he flipped through the air and instantly charged toward the Green Wolf King hiding behind the pack.
The Green Wolf King was extremely strong, at least no weaker than the mountain boar Su Mo had killed back then. Yet, unexpectedly, after only a few exchanges, it could no longer withstand the attacks and began letting out anguished howls.
The Green Wolf King's bones seemed exceptionally hard, however, and it forcibly endured several of the young man's blows.
As the Green Wolf King howled, the surrounding green wolves sensed that the situation was unfavorable and began scattering in every direction. Clearly, their king was about to be beaten to death.
In Su Mo's eyes, if the Green Wolf King had not awakened some innate trait, it would probably have been killed by the young man already. That young man was definitely a Martial Artist—and a Martial Artist of considerable strength at that.
The power erupting from his fists and palms was astonishing.
Su Mo did not hesitate. He turned and left.
"Hunter, there's something wrong with you!"
Just as Su Mo was preparing to leave, the young man's figure had somehow arrived five meters behind him. As for the Green Wolf King that had been so ferocious earlier, it was already lying to the side, barely alive.
"I'm only a hunter." Su Mo stopped and spoke softly.
After discovering that the Green Wolf King had already been found by the young man, he had no intention of competing for it.
If the young man had not been a match for the Green Wolf King, Su Mo would naturally have stepped in to kill it. But since the young man possessed the strength to kill the Green Wolf King, there was no point in Su Mo remaining there.
Unexpectedly, however, the young man had stopped him.
The young man stared at Su Mo curiously. "I know you're a hunter. I could tell from your clothes. But there's something very wrong with you."
The young man was named Shi Mingdong. He was a cultivation prodigy from a great lineage in the prefecture city. This time, he had followed his family elders to Qingliang Mountain to hunt a high-level demon beast to use as a medicinal primer. That kind of demon beast could only be found in Qingliang Mountain, which was why Shi Mingdong had come to this region.
In Shi Mingdong's eyes, the lands surrounding Qingliang Mountain were merely remote and backward places. While his family elders hunted high-level demon beasts, he took the opportunity to practice against Fierce Beasts like the Green Wolf King, which were not even considered demon beasts. It was also a form of tempering.
When ordinary hunters from Qingliang Mountain discovered him, he usually ignored them. He would even give the wild beasts and Fierce Beasts he killed to those hunters. He knew that during the depths of winter, hunters entering the mountains could easily return empty-handed.
Earlier, he had casually killed a plum deer and allowed a hunter and his son to take it away. The father and son had been overwhelmingly grateful to him, but he had merely waved his hand.
Although he looked down on this remote region, Shi Mingdong did not casually bully people.
It was just that this young hunter before him gave him a very strange, very wrong feeling. Yet he could not explain what that feeling was, and it left him puzzled. That was why he had forcibly stopped Su Mo.
Su Mo carefully looked over the young man. He had no impression of him at all, so he should not be an acquaintance. "As a hunter, what's wrong with entering the mountains to hunt?"
Shi Mingdong shook his head slightly. "There's nothing wrong with you entering the mountains to hunt. What's wrong is that you give me a very strange feeling."
Su Mo said, "All right."
With that, Su Mo turned and prepared to leave. Had this young man stopped him just to say this? He was wasting Su Mo's time hunting in the mountains.
"I told you to stop. Can't you hear me?"
Seeing Su Mo turn to leave without giving him the slightest face, Shi Mingdong's voice sank slightly. Whenever the other hunters saw him, which one was not respectful and deferential? Yet this hunter before him actually dared to defy him.
"I can hear your mother!"
Su Mo spun around, nocked an arrow, and drew his bow. The birchwood arrow shot forth explosively. Whether Shi Mingdong could hear him or not, he could ask the Beast Hide Great Bow in Su Mo's hands.
The arrow tore through the sky and shot forward, stirring the air ahead as it flew straight at Shi Mingdong. It was an arrow that could split the heavens and rend the earth.
The instant he saw the arrow, Shi Mingdong's expression changed. He moved his body, and the birchwood arrow flashed past his shoulder, striking a tree behind him. In an instant, the tree exploded, sending wood splinters and dust flying.
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