Kill!

The icy arrowhead grazed almost right under Li Bufan's ribs, tearing his clothes and sending a few shreds of fabric flying along with a searing sting! The shadow of death instantly enveloped him, making his scalp tingle and his heart skip a beat!

Without a moment's hesitation—not even time to see where the arrow came from—his survival instinct and the sharp reflexes of a Perfection of Skin Refining Warrior made his body react before his mind could think!

"Go!" Li Bufan growled low, his blood and qi erupting as he stomped the ground hard, unleashing the Spirit Monkey Three Leaps footwork to its absolute limit! Like a startled monkey, he no longer fled in a straight line but darted in erratic, unpredictable zigzags, shooting sideways into the denser woods behind him!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The moment he moved, two more arrows tore through the air. One slammed into the snow where he'd stood, the other grazed the afterimage of his rapid dash and buried itself in a distant tree trunk, its fletching quivering violently!

In a single breath, Li Bufan had covered nearly twenty paces! His speed far exceeded anything he'd managed in practice!

But this explosive burst left his blood and qi churning, his leg muscles aching with a tearing strain. After all, this was a life-or-death escape, a performance pushed beyond normal limits by sheer pressure! Yet under that extreme duress, the [Heaven Rewards Diligence] destiny kicked into overdrive once more. The countless hours of practicing Spirit Monkey Three Leaps, every subtle insight into blood and qi flow and muscle exertion from each step, were forcibly fused and channeled by an invisible hand!

Boom!

A surge of even more agile, more explosive power erupted from his legs! His body suddenly felt lighter, his understanding and control of the footwork leaping to a whole new level! His leaps grew smoother, more natural, his momentum shifts more clever, his speed climbing another notch. Each step carried greater explosive force, making his figure through the woods even more elusive and unpredictable!

Spirit Monkey Three Leaps, breakthrough to Minor Completion! (1/2000)

At the same time, the breakthrough in footwork subtly vibrated and strengthened the muscles throughout his body as blood and qi circulated. Though far less effective than a dedicated Muscle Tempering technique, it still thickened his already Perfection of Skin Refining blood and qi a little, boosting both strength and agility. His whole body surged with energy, trembling faintly—a natural reaction to the breakthrough.

"Good!" Li Bufan's heart leaped with surprise and joy. He hadn't expected such a breakthrough at the brink of death! But he dared not pause. Using his newly advanced footwork, he flickered a few times and vanished completely into the thick trees, finding a massive rock for cover. He crouched quickly, panting heavily, calming his boiling blood and qi and racing heart.

Calm! Must stay calm! Li Bufan forced his racing mind to analyze. He quickly replayed those three harrowing arrows.

The first was the closest, the most dangerous, but it came when he was off guard and he dodged by luck. The next two, with distance and his movement, the shooter clearly lacked accuracy and missed.

"This guy's archery... doesn't seem that great," Li Bufan's eyes flickered. "If he were a skilled archer, the best moment would've been when I was watching the Tiger Bear, or when I left cover to handle the prey—plenty of time to aim. But I was fine. He only shot when I got close to the kill. Was he waiting for me to let my guard down? Or did he just arrive?"

"And the force of those arrows..." Li Bufan recalled the sound of their flight and how deep they'd sunk into snow and wood. "Doesn't seem much stronger than my own full draw. Probably a standard hunting bow, not a spirit-grade weapon."

"If his realm were far above mine—the instructor said peak Muscle Tempering experts have hundreds to nearly a thousand jin of strength, meaning they can lift that much stone, not just strike with it. If he were Tendon Tempering or even Bone Tempering, his speed, power, and reactions would far outstrip mine. I doubt I'd have dodged the first arrow, let alone three. Besides, experts like that probably wouldn't bother with a mundane Tiger Bear. Even if they did, they'd just take it openly—would I dare resist?"

The picture grew clearer. Li Bufan judged that the hidden archer was likely at a similar realm to his own—maybe also Perfection of Skin Refining or early Muscle Tempering—with mediocre archery skills. Probably another Warrior hunting in these mountains, about on par with the Lin Manor guards' archers. He'd seen the standoff and wanted to play the fisherman, even willing to kill and rob!

"Trying to take my spoils?" Li Bufan's eyes turned icy cold, killing intent radiating. This Tiger Bear was vital fuel for his martial path, a hard-won opportunity he'd risked waiting for. He wouldn't let anyone covet it! Since the other had struck first with lethal intent, there was nothing more to discuss!

In martial combat, resource struggles were always a bloody affair! If you want to kill me for my gains, be ready to die by my hand!

The enemy was hidden, he was exposed—staying on the defensive would only hurt him. But now, having slipped into the dense woods, the enemy had lost the chance for a clean shot. The tide was turning!

Li Bufan took a deep breath, adjusting his body to peak condition, sharpening his hearing and sight to the limit, carefully sensing the distant sounds. He kneaded his leg muscles to keep them primed. The wind and snow, the creaking of dead branches... he strained to pick out any anomaly.

Sure enough, after a moment, a faint, cautious crunch of snow came from his right. The other had clearly seen Li Bufan kill the Tiger Bear in the woods and was wary of his bow, trying to creep closer for melee or shift position for a better angle.

"Can't wait any longer!" A cold glint flashed in Li Bufan's eyes. The enemy had a bow; stalling would only let him find another chance. Besides, Li Bufan didn't know his experience in the wild—he himself was a novice, just months ago a grad student from the modern world, no blood on his hands. He had to close the distance and force close combat! His Mighty Ox Fist was at Perfection; he was confident he could crush anyone at the same realm in melee, and with the Spirit Monkey Three Leaps, he could even tangle with a beginner at Muscle Tempering!

Decision made, he suddenly rose from behind the rock and loosed an arrow like lightning toward the general direction of the sound! Not to hit, but to suppress and probe!

Whoosh!

The arrow vanished into distant brush.

The crunching stopped abruptly. The enemy was clearly startled and hid.

Now!

Li Bufan shot out like a hunting leopard, no longer running straight but weaving between trees and rocks, using his newly Minor Completion Spirit Monkey Three Leaps to leave a trail of afterimages as he charged toward the enemy's position!

"Looking for death!" A furious shout rang out from afar, clearly shocked that Li Bufan was bold enough to counterattack.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two more hasty arrows flew, but against Li Bufan's erratic Minor Completion footwork, they all missed, not even slowing his charge!

Dozens of meters closed in just two breaths under his full burst! He could already see, behind a big tree ahead, a figure in a gray leather coat clutching a longbow, face panicked, fumbling to nock another arrow!

"Get out here!" Li Bufan roared, his voice shaking the woods. With a final leap like a tiger pouncing, he cleared the last distance, his right hand clenched into a fist, vast blood and qi surging, the perfected force of Mighty Ox Fist condensing instantly, and he drove it forward with unstoppable momentum straight at the man behind the tree!

The Gray-clad Man saw his arrows useless and the enemy already upon him, the fist pressure nearly suffocating. Horror twisted his face. He dropped his bow in panic, hastily raising both arms to block, staggering backward—clearly caught off guard by Li Bufan's reckless charge and his speed through the woods.

Thud!

A dull impact of flesh on flesh!

The Gray-clad Man was knocked off balance and fell to the ground.

Though it was his first time killing, Li Bufan didn't panic. With the blow landed, he quickly drew his hunting knife and stabbed straight down at the man.

The man, though down, scrambled backward on instinct, so the aimed strike missed its mark but still sank deep into his left leg. Rip! Hot blood sprayed from the Gray-clad Man's thigh.

The steaming blood splattered on the snow, a stark contrast of vivid red against cold white. A few warm drops even hit Li Bufan's hand and cheek. His grip on the knife felt a strange, warm stickiness—the unique sensation of living flesh, pulsing with life, utterly different from cutting game!

His stomach lurched. A wave of intense nausea and physical revulsion surged up his throat, nearly making him retch—he'd stabbed a living person! A thinking, fearing, struggling fellow human! The moral and legal codes built over twenty-plus years in his past life screamed a sharp alarm, causing a tiny, almost imperceptible hesitation in his movements.

"Ugh!" The Gray-clad Man's pained grunt and his face, twisted in agony, amplified the shock.

But that flicker of civilized discomfort lasted only an instant!

The moment the Gray-clad Man's eyes flashed with vicious intent, his right hand frantically reaching for a short knife at his lower back, his left hand scooping up a handful of snowy mud to fling at Li Bufan's face—the sheer terror of life and death crushed all weak emotions with brutal speed!

"No hesitation! It's him or me!" Those words thundered in his mind, shattering the last trace of unease!

Li Bufan's pupils contracted sharply, all stray thoughts forcibly stripped away. He didn't lunge in for a follow-up—the man's hand reaching behind his back was too dangerous. Up close, any hidden trick could be lethal. His perfected Mighty Ox Fist was strong, but his flesh couldn't withstand a blade.

In a flash, his tactic was clear!

Without hesitation, he let go of the knife still stuck in the man's leg—pulling it out would waste time and risk the enemy locking his arm. Using the release's recoil, he shifted his footwork, displaying the Minor Completion of Spirit Monkey Three Leaps to perfection. Like a startled monkey, light and swift, he floated back two steps, instantly creating a sliver of distance!

The entire motion was fluid and seamless, without a hint of hesitation! As he retreated, the hunting bow he'd kept clutched in his left hand was already raised, and his right hand had somehow drawn an arrow from the quiver—nocking, pulling, drawing, aiming! The muscle memory forged through countless tedious daily drills surpassed the speed of thought in that instant, executing perfectly!

The bowstring was pulled taut to a full moon in a flash, the icy arrowhead glinting with deadly light against the snow, locked unerringly onto the Gray-clad Man, who had just reached for his waist knife a few steps away!

The Gray-clad Man had barely drawn his blade when the sneer on his face—a mix of pain, malice, and a hint of contempt for what he took to be a greenhorn's judgment—froze solid. He looked up to see the cold arrowhead aimed straight at the center of his brow from such close range! The youth holding the bow had eyes as sharp and steady as stone, with not a trace of the fleeting panic or discomfort from moments ago. That rock-steady arm and the arrow poised to strike exuded a bone-chilling, resolute killing intent!

"No...!" The Gray-clad Man's eyes finally erupted with disbelief and utter despair. He had completely miscalculated! This was no untried novice fresh from the slaughter! The chillingly calm reaction, the ruthless and decisive shift in tactics—this was clearly a born killer! He tried to block, to roll away, but the severe wound in his leg and the momentum from drawing his knife left him no time for an effective dodge!

"Whiz!"

The bowstring snapped, low and deadly!

At such close range, there was no chance of missing. The arrow pierced cleanly into the Gray-clad Man's brow, leaving only a short fletching quivering faintly outside.

All his movements—the shock, despair, reluctance, and the plea just forming on his face—froze in an instant. His body gave a violent shudder, then lost all strength, crashing backward heavily onto the snow. The waist knife clattered away from his grip, and warm blood gushed from the wound, staining the snow beneath him red.

Li Bufan held his shooting stance, breathing heavily, white vapor puffing rapidly into the cold air. His heart pounded like a drum, adrenaline still surging through his veins.

He stared fixedly at the corpse, which was quickly losing warmth. The impact from sight and smell was far stronger than when he'd stabbed earlier. But he forced down his churning emotions, sweeping his gaze over the area around the body to confirm there was no other threat, especially eyeing the fallen blade warily.

A full ten-odd breaths later, he slowly lowered the bow, though his fingers still gripped an arrow, his vigilance undiminished. He stepped forward cautiously, first kicking the long knife aside, then crouching to check the man's carotid artery.

Confirmed—the man was dead.

Only then did Li Bufan truly relax, plopping down onto the snow nearby, overwhelmed by a profound sense of exhaustion—not just physical, but a massive mental shock. He looked at his bloodstained hands, then at the corpse, a tangled mix of emotions churning in his chest—lingering fear, relief, disgust, and a hint of... unfamiliarity with that cold, decisive state he'd just entered.

Was this the law of this world? Kill or be killed?

He took a few deep breaths of the frigid air, forcing himself to calm down. Now wasn't the time for reflection. He quickly stood and began clearing the battlefield, moving as fast as he could. He pulled the arrow from the corpse's brow and the hunting knife from its leg, wiped them clean in the snow, and stowed them. Searching the Gray-clad Man's person, he found some copper coins, food, and a wooden token inscribed with "Wu, Ershijiu."

Wu Ershijiu! Li Bufan thought: "Wu? There seems to be a Wu Family in Huaiyuan County. Judging by this man's attire, he's likely a guard, but given his age and the quality of his gear, he's probably not a new recruit—more like a senior guard, equivalent to the level above Lin Manor's new guards."

Li Bufan also examined the Gray-clad Man's blade and bow, both engraved with the Wu character.

Li Bufan quickly rose. Wu Ershijiu? Senior guard? These thoughts flashed through his mind. Ershijiu meant there were twenty-eight others ahead of him. If this man, like him, had just come into the mountains to hunt some beasts, that would be one thing. But if it was something like the Lin Family's Winter Hunt, that would be troublesome.

With that in mind, he glanced at the corpse on the ground, hesitated briefly, then laboriously dragged the body and the Wu-marked bow, blade, and token behind a bush, covering them lightly with snow. At the very least, he couldn't let the corpse be easily discovered by others, inviting bigger trouble.

Done with that, he dared not linger any longer—delays bred danger. The scent of blood here would soon draw predators from the forest. He had to return to that other battlefield immediately and deal with the far more valuable prizes—the tiger and the Black Bear.