For the most part, Li Beichen had been eating dried Black-White Strange Pig meat lately.
He had to finish it as soon as possible, fully turning it into nourishment for his martial path before he could feel at ease.
As for the Black Market, Li Beichen had gone again a few days ago, but he hadn't come across an Exotic Beast Meat auction.
Lady Li had said that the auction at the beginning of September had featured so much Exotic Beast Meat because several big shots had just returned from the Lingnan Mountains.
In fact, under normal circumstances, an Exotic Beast Meat auction only came around once every two or three months.
Li Beichen had already realized that the martial resources in Ram City were monopolized almost entirely by those at the top.
Ordinary martial artists could only struggle to find a way through this vast web just to get a little meat.
But if they wanted to eat their fill, there was no chance unless they climbed to the very top.
Looking at the Exotic Beast Meat stored in the cellar, Li Beichen sank into thought.
"There's only enough meat left for a month..."
He remembered the Black Wolf Zhao Si had mentioned.
He made up his mind at once.
He would go to Small Gravel Mountain and hunt the wolf!
His cultivation and skills had both reached a high level.
Against a Ninth Grade Exotic Beast, he had a very good chance of hunting it alone.
And even if there were danger, Li Beichen wasn't afraid.
How could a martial artist afford to lose his courage?
If he could kill the Black Wolf and get a hundred or so catties of Exotic Beast Meat, that would be enough to sustain his cultivation for quite some time.
The stream burbled in front of Clear Creek Village.
As always, it wound around the edge of the village.
Nothing seemed to have changed.
Li Beichen glanced at it, then continued without stopping or entering the village to disturb anyone.
He followed the path outside the village and went straight into the mountains.
The village was still the same village, and the mountains were still the same mountains.
But Li Beichen was no longer the same as when he had last entered the mountains to hunt.
He had gone from an ordinary hunter who knew only the Locust Stone technique to a Ninth Grade martial artist capable of unleashing Hundred Echoes.
But to reach what he truly aspired to, this was only the beginning.
Small Gravel Mountain was full of earth, rocks, and shrubs.
Li Beichen moved through it at a brisk pace.
He knew no lightness skill, but with his strength alone, a light leap carried him a zhang.
Then he made use of the branches and vines.
Li Beichen moved as nimbly as an ape.
With [Keen Sight], everything around him was crystal clear. He could precisely distinguish sturdy branches from grass that only looked solid.
He wouldn't step into empty space or grab a dead branch that couldn't bear his weight.
Before long, Li Beichen had entered the dense forest deep in Small Gravel Mountain.
Compared with his previous trip into the mountains, the surroundings seemed much more desolate.
The vegetation was still lush.
But along the way, he saw far fewer small and medium-sized animals than before.
Traces left by the wolf pack were everywhere.
"Looks like this pack has quite an appetite."
"If things keep going this way, Small Gravel Mountain won't have enough prey for the pack once winter comes."
"These wolves will either hunt in the Lingnan Mountains or come down and threaten the villagers."
"Compared to the former, the latter is more likely."
"The villages backed up against Small Gravel Mountain, like Clear Creek Village, will be the first to suffer a wolf calamity."
At the thought, Li Beichen focused and began searching carefully for signs of the pack.
In this world, all Li Beichen sought was to keep himself out of trouble. But if he could conveniently prevent a disaster like this before it happened, he was happy to do so.
Clear Creek Village had a simple, honest local character, and he had a good impression of it.
"Awooo..."
Li Beichen's ears twitched. Amid the chirping of cicadas and birds, he heard a wolf howl in the distance.
His Hunting skill was still only at First Glimpse of the Way, but he could make out the general meaning of the howl.
Generally speaking, wolves had four basic calls: barking, whining, growling, and howling.
The howl he heard now was a means of communicating over long distances.
Usually, it meant a wolf had spotted prey and was using the howl to give its location and summon the pack to hunt together.
Li Beichen knew that if he followed the howling, he would find the main body of the pack.
The Ninth Grade Black Wolf was likely among them.
He hurried in the direction of the howl, plucking some herbs along the way, crushing them, and rubbing them onto his body.
That would conceal his scent.
Li Beichen moved quickly, while keeping his movements quiet.
In the time it took to burn an incense stick, he had followed the direction of the howl and climbed a ridge.
From his vantage point, Li Beichen soon spotted the wolf pack.
They had formed a curved line, driving three Yellow Sheep ahead of them.
They were closing in, too.
The hunt had reached its final stage.
Li Beichen's eyes narrowed. He saw a One-Eyed Wolf noticeably larger than the others.
It led the charge.
This One-Eyed Wolf was the same alpha he had wounded before.
But the Black Wolf Zhao Si had mentioned wasn't among the wolves surrounding the prey.
Seeing this, Li Beichen didn't act rashly.
He watched the pack hunt the Yellow Sheep in silence.
His target had always been only the Ninth Grade Exotic Beast. These ordinary wolves were of no use to him.
The pack had them surrounded. The three Yellow Sheep had no chance of escape.
But after the One-Eyed Wolf bit through the throat of the last Yellow Sheep, it didn't immediately feast on the flesh.
Instead, it stood guard beside its prey in silence.
As if waiting for its superior to arrive.
Only the Ninth Grade Black Wolf could make an alpha that had once led more than a dozen wolves wait like this.
Li Beichen kept his eyes fixed on the pack. At last, a Black Wolf as long as an ordinary tiger leaped out from the shadows of the trees.
The other wolves, including the One-Eyed Wolf, lowered their heads and whimpered softly when they saw it.
There was a clear hierarchy among the pack.
Lowering their heads and whimpering meant complete submission.
The Exotic Beast, more than two meters long, held its head high and swished its tail as it passed through the pack.
It reached the three Yellow Sheep, chose the fattest one, and began eating.
The other wolves didn't move, keeping watch around them.
They had to wait for their alpha to finish eating before they could feed.
Taking advantage of the moment, Li Beichen immediately began approaching with care.
He was two li from the pack, but at his pace, he could cover the distance in the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
He had plenty of time.
But when he came within two hundred paces, Li Beichen deliberately slowed down and made even less noise.
Though he had reached Hundred Echoes and mastered the Shuriken technique, there were dozens of wolves up ahead.
If they spotted him and attacked together, Li Beichen wasn't confident he could kill the Ninth Grade Black Wolf without getting hurt.
After all, he was still at the Flesh Tempering stage. One bite from a wolf would injure him.
To shoot the horse, first shoot its rider; to capture the bandits, first capture their king.
If he could kill the Black Wolf by ambush, he could accomplish his goal and leave the pack without a leader.
Wolves were pack animals. Without their alpha to direct them, they would be nothing more than scattered soldiers.
They wouldn't be able to organize a coordinated attack.
Then Li Beichen would be confident he could pursue and kill them one by one, wiping out the entire wolf pack on Small Gravel Mountain.
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