As if it had instinctively sensed danger, the enormous tiger sprang to its feet.
Thud!
Ahead, an arrow had sunk straight into the ground where the tiger had been lying, its fletching trembling violently.
Roar!
The tiger roared. Its considerable intelligence let it know at once that it had been attacked, and fury flared within it in an instant.
But before its anger could continue—
Whoosh, whoosh!
Whoosh, whoosh!!
Four arrows tore through the air again almost instantly.
The arrows came from extremely tricky angles, three of them directly sealing off every direction in which the tiger could dodge.
The tiger instinctively darted left.
The next moment—
The tiger felt a sudden pain in its left leg.
Thud!
The clear sound of flesh being pierced rang out. The arrow from the left buried itself directly in its front left leg, scarlet blood spraying as the tiger staggered.
Roar!
The tiger's cry instantly became more shrill, and its fury deepened.
Its huge tiger eyes immediately fixed on Chen Xuan, a hundred meters away.
Boom!
Though its front leg had been pierced through, the tiger's massive body seemed completely unhindered. Amid thunderous noise, it leaped up and pounced at Chen Xuan.
The instant the tiger looked at him, Chen Xuan's body trembled instinctively. Yet he did not hesitate, turning at once and sprinting wildly toward the rear.
Boom!
Rumble!
Massive thunderous sounds echoed behind him.
The distance between them seemed to be rapidly closing.
Cold sweat seeped from Chen Xuan's forehead, but his movements remained exceptionally fluid.
As he ran, every dozen or so meters, he would draw his bow, nock an arrow, and turn around.
The arrow whistled out.
One arrow after another flew forth.
His master-level archery meant that, at this moment, his arrows never missed.
Even though the tiger dodged as much as it could—
The arrows seemed as if they had calculated its every position.
Thud!
Thud, thud!
Arrows sank in one after another.
Scarlet blood continued to spray. To avoid damaging the Tiger Heart, Chen Xuan had aimed every one of these arrows at its limbs.
Roar!
As more arrows sank into it, the tiger's mad sprint was finally affected.
By now, there were only a dozen or so meters between them.
Chen Xuan did not hesitate in the slightest and stopped instantly.
He drew his bow and nocked an arrow.
Whoosh!
An arrow shot from his hand in an instant, flying straight toward the tiger's head.
At this moment, with all four limbs pierced by arrows, the tiger's huge body had stopped in place.
It instinctively opened its mouth.
However—
Thud!
An arrow instantly entered through its mouth, piercing through its massive head in a heartbeat.
Boom!
Its enormous body crashed to the ground, its flesh twitching faintly once before falling still.
The arrows through its limbs had not been enough to kill it, but this arrow had pierced straight through its head. There was naturally no chance of survival.
Whew!
Watching the tiger collapse completely to the ground, Chen Xuan let out a long breath of stale air and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Though he had anticipated this outcome long ago—
Being hunted down by such a ferocious tiger was no joke.
Fortunately, everything had remained within the system's expectations. The hunt had still been completed.
Chen Xuan took a deep breath, then walked toward the tiger.
Only when he drew close did he truly see the terror of this king of the forest.
Over four meters long, with powerful limbs, a huge and savage maw—although its eyes had lost their light, one could still sense the peerless ferocity within them.
"This thing could probably have become the strongest beast of prey even in my previous life."
Chen Xuan could not help muttering to himself as he began to work.
First, he pulled the arrows from the tiger's body. Then he wrapped the tiger in cloth and loaded it onto the flatbed cart.
After finishing that, he went to retrieve the arrows he had fired earlier. Those Iron Feather Arrows were probably not cheap, and Chen Xuan had no intention of wasting them.
By the time he had recovered the arrows, the sky had already darkened somewhat.
It was clearly approaching evening.
Chen Xuan did not hesitate further. Dragging the flatbed cart, now obviously much heavier, he slowly headed down the mountain.
Two hours later, when the sky had completely darkened, Chen Xuan finally appeared at the foot of the mountain.
Under the starlight, all of Small River Village was utterly quiet.
Not a single lamp had been lit. In these troubled times, oil cost money too, and the villagers saved wherever they could.
On the silent mountain path—
Only the creaking of Chen Xuan dragging the flatbed cart echoed continuously.
"This thing is really heavy!"
At the foot of the mountain, Chen Xuan wiped the sweat from his forehead and could not help sighing softly.
He had not expected this tiger to weigh nearly five or six hundred jin. Even with his skin-tempering cultivation at mastery, dragging such a weight through the mountains still took considerable effort.
It had even taken somewhat longer than he had originally expected. Fortunately, he was still within the system's safe time limit.
Otherwise, Chen Xuan would have started to panic.
He looked toward the back mountain. For some reason, Chen Xuan instinctively felt a sense of unease.
He did not hesitate any longer and quickly dragged his flatbed cart toward his home.
Not long after Chen Xuan left—
A figure emerged from the shadows.
"He's only coming back now!"
"What is that on the flatbed cart? Why is it covered?"
The figure subconsciously looked again at the heavy tracks on the ground and muttered, his expression filling with confusion.
He had been ordered by his master to keep watch here at the back mountain.
Yet he had waited for an entire day. Night had fallen, and Chen Xuan had still not returned.
He had thought that kid might have met with some accident.
But just as he was preparing to head back, he saw Chen Xuan coming down from the mountain, dragging something on the flatbed cart.
"Could that kid really have hunted a Tiger and Leopard?"
As if he had thought of something, the figure's eyes widened as he muttered in shock.
His gaze could not help drifting once more toward the distant figure.
He did not dare delay and hurried toward another place.
Though he had not verified it, this information was clearly enough for him to report to his master.
As for everything else, it had nothing to do with him.
He might have called him "kid" again and again, but he knew perfectly well that Chen Xuan could crush him as easily as crushing an ant. He did not dare act recklessly.
Meanwhile, after swiftly leaving, Chen Xuan stopped after putting some distance between them. His gaze turned toward the figure rapidly departing in the distance.
Reaching skin-tempering mastery could not enhance his five senses, but with his Conceptual Ability, Chen Xuan had naturally learned today's outcome through repeated settings.
But before, it had only been cold words. Only now, when he truly saw that hurried figure, could he confirm it completely.
"Third Master, why bother?"
With a soft sigh, he moved forward once more, while a chill surfaced in his heart.
Before you continue