As Ye Feng's figure vanished completely from the town's exit, several men in the crowd exchanged glances. Without a word, they slipped away from the others and silently followed in the direction Ye Feng had disappeared.
Their movements were stealthy and coordinated. They were clearly seasoned hands at this sort of thing.
However, when they left the town and reached the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, stopping three or four meters from the shadowy woods, they all came to a halt.
The way ahead was empty. There was no sign of the boy.
"Boss, what's going on?"
A tall, lanky man lowered his voice, disbelief written all over his face.
"Did that brat sprout wings? We've been following this direction the whole time!"
The man they called Boss was a middle-aged man with a sinister face named Jiang Yi. He narrowed his eyes and surveyed the dark woods ahead, then gave a cold snort.
"Fly? Impossible!"
Jiang Yi's analysis was calm and measured.
"From the looks of him, he's no more than seven or eight! At most, he's a little Soul Master who just obtained his First Soul Ring!"
"As for that Radiant Lion..."
He paused, then offered the most reasonable explanation.
"He probably just got lucky and happened upon one on the outskirts, badly wounded by the beast tide. The brat picked up a hell of a bargain."
The other four nodded in wholehearted agreement.
A seven- or eight-year-old child, hunting a top-tier Soul Beast over three hundred years old all by himself?
Who would believe that?
Scavenging a kill was the only possible explanation.
"Search carefully, all of you!"
Jiang Yi's voice brimmed with menace.
"That little bastard has to be somewhere nearby!"
Then he looked up at the sky and judged the time.
"The beast tide hasn't fully subsided. It might not end until tomorrow.
Even with ten times the courage, he wouldn't dare venture deeper into the forest right now!"
"Right!"
"He's just a little brat who's barely gotten a Soul Ring!"
"Once we catch him, those six hundred Gold Soul Coins will be ours, brothers!"
Full of confidence, the men didn't take Ye Feng seriously at all. They spread out in a loose semicircle and began searching carefully along the edge of the forest.
Not far away, inside a natural hollow in the trunk of a giant tree with thick, dense branches, Ye Feng watched everything below through a gap in the foliage.
His eyes glimmered faintly gold in the darkness.
Pupil of Light Dawn!
With the boost from this External Soul Bone, his dynamic vision and night vision had improved tremendously. Every move made by the five men below was clearly within his grasp.
Seeing the undisguised greed and savagery on their faces, a cold killing intent welled up in Ye Feng's heart.
Did they really think he was just some helpless child?
They wanted to kill him and rob him?
Fine.
If they wanted to play, he'd play along!
He didn't act rashly, instead calmly assessing their strength against his own.
There were five of them. From the faint fluctuations of Soul Power as they moved, none seemed especially strong, but they were all certainly Soul Masters with some cultivation.
In a head-on fight, he had no chance of winning.
Picking them off one by one was his only way to survive!
Ye Feng took stock of the tree hollow where he was hiding.
He had stored fresh water and dried meat here earlier. He could stay hidden for a whole week without trouble.
He had plenty of patience.
But the "prey" that had wandered into his hunting grounds clearly didn't.
Now, all he had to do was wait.
Wait for one of them to come within range of his hunt.
He slowly took the hard bow from his back, drew a sharpened arrow from his quiver, set it on the string, and silently pulled it taut until the bow formed a full moon.
Time trickled by in the oppressive silence.
The five bandits had spread out and were searching with painstaking care, advancing almost inch by inch.
At last, one of them, a short, stocky man, came toward the giant tree where Ye Feng was hiding, cursing under his breath.
"Damn it, is that little bastard a rat or something? Where'd he scurry off to?"
As he grumbled, he used the broad-bladed machete in his hand to push aside the bushes in front of him.
Closer and closer.
Fifty meters.
Thirty meters.
Twenty meters!
Now!
Inside the hollow, Ye Feng's breath stopped for an instant. His fingers snapped open on the bowstring!
"Whoosh!"
A barely audible hiss cut through the air. The Wolf-Tooth Arrow became a lethal shadow in the night, shooting straight for the stocky man's throat with unerring accuracy!
"Thud!"
The arrow sank into flesh with a dull, unmistakable sound.
The complaint froze on the man's face. He lowered his head in disbelief and stared at the arrow suddenly jutting from his neck. A wet, choking rasp escaped his throat as blood gushed out like a fountain.
He didn't even have time to scream. His body crashed heavily to the ground, twitched a few times, then lay still.
One shot, one kill!
Ye Feng didn't look at the corpse, and not the slightest ripple of emotion crossed his face.
He simply nocked another arrow and quickly set his sights on the nearest bandit.
The first man's fall would soon be discovered.
And whoever found his companion's body would surely rush over to examine it.
That would be his second chance!
Sure enough, less than a minute later, a muffled shout came from another direction.
"Third Brother? What happened to you?"
A bandit carrying a long staff hurried over. When he saw the stocky man lying in a pool of blood, he was instantly horrified.
He dashed over and crouched down, eager to check his companion's injuries.
"Third Brother! You..."
Before he could finish speaking—
"Whoosh!"
The second death-song of the bowstring rang out in the night breeze.
The sharp arrow, carrying Ye Feng's icy killing intent, pierced the bandit's skull from behind at an exceedingly tricky angle.
The bandit's body stiffened abruptly. His outstretched hand stopped in midair, then fell limply as he pitched forward, landing on top of his companion's corpse.
Two kills!
Ye Feng slowly exhaled a breath.
The same trick might work once or twice, but not a third time.
The three remaining men wouldn't make the same mistake again.
Without the slightest hesitation, he climbed out of the tree hollow and quickly reached the two corpses.
He swiftly stripped the money pouches from them, then effortlessly pulled the two valuable arrows from their bodies. He wiped the blood off with a cloth and slid them back into his quiver.
Once he was done, he took a fire striker from his robes, poured some flammable oil over the bodies, and lit the tinder.
"Whoosh!"
Flames leapt up and quickly swallowed the two corpses, crackling as a charred stench spread through the woods.
"Third Brother! Fifth Brother!"
Jiang Yi's furious, shocked roar came from the distance.
Seeing the blaze shoot into the sky, the three remaining men knew what had happened. They charged toward it like madmen.
When they saw the two charred corpses in the flames, their eyes instantly turned bloodshot.
"Ahhh! You little bastard!"
Jiang Yi threw his head back and roared like a beast, his voice shaking the woods.
"I'll tear you limb from limb! I'll rip out your tendons and peel off your skin!"
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