The Oriole Lurks Behind

As the sun set, a stream babbled through the river valley. A White Deer wandered within it, lowering its head from time to time to nibble the tenderest grass tips, utterly content and at ease.

Downwind, within the shadows, Jiang Chen stood with his bow in hand, silently sensing everything. From beginning to end, his gaze never fell directly upon the White Deer.

"With the White Deer's alertness and speed, I have only one chance to strike. If I miss, then even if I have mastered the Willow-Floss Movement, I will never be able to catch up with it in these mountains and forests."

"More importantly, once startled, this White Deer will definitely leave this place for good. Finding it again afterward will be difficult."

As thoughts turned in his mind, Jiang Chen was like an unyielding stone. The killing intent in his heart grew ever more restrained, without stirring the slightest ripple.

As time passed, the White Deer gradually walked into the stream in the valley. It delicately drank the water, while spitting out bits of grass as though rinsing its mouth. As those grass scraps mingled with the stream, a strange fishy scent quietly spread through the water.

Drawn by that fishy scent, fish of all sizes and kinds soon began appearing in the stream. They frantically chased after the grass scraps as if they were some exquisite delicacy.

Yet as it watched the fish scrambling over one another and swimming upstream, the White Deer remained unmoved, continuing to frolic in the water on its own.

After a while, a flash of silver suddenly appeared, cleaving through the stream. At that moment, a sly glint quietly flashed through the White Deer's seemingly pure eyes. The fish had taken the bait.

It stretched out its head, opened its mouth, and bit down. The entire process was swift as lightning. Seizing that fleeting opportunity, the White Deer clamped down hard on a palm-sized fish that was silver-white from head to tail.

Scarlet fish blood slid from the corners of its mouth, staining its snowy fur red. A savage look tainted the White Deer's once harmless face. It was no vegetarian.

But at that very moment, killing intent burst forth. A feathered arrow whistled through the air and pierced straight through its eye.

A mindless howl rose from its throat. Its breath cut off, the White Deer's body went limp, and it collapsed directly into the stream. It died at the very height of its triumph, so quickly that the smugness on its face had yet to fade.

As the mantis stalked the cicada, the oriole lurked behind. It had seen itself as the hunter, using grass scraps as bait to catch silverfish, never knowing that someone else was using the silverfish as bait to catch it. The instant it successfully caught the silverfish, it truly had been a successful hunter—but at the same time, it had exposed its greatest flaw and become prey in another's eyes.

The next instant, Jiang Chen's figure drifted over.

"The archery I honed at the end of the world was not wasted after all. It is only a pity that this body's muscle memory is somewhat lacking. Otherwise, I could have done even better."

As he looked at the White Deer lying motionless on the ground, a thought quietly crossed Jiang Chen's mind.

Jiang Wang's archery had only been average in his previous life, no better than that of an ordinary hunter. Jiang Chen was different. During the early days of the apocalypse, his soul ability had yet to be developed and was quite limited, able only to serve as support. To survive, he had once trained diligently in archery.

Under the pressure of life and death, coupled with the assistance of his soul ability, his mastery of the bow had advanced by leaps and bounds. For a time, it had become his strongest means of attack. Only after his soul ability progressed further did that change.

"If it was only a guess before, then now I can be fairly certain."

Jiang Chen's gaze fell upon a claw mark on the White Deer's back, and his eyes shifted slightly. It had been left by some avian creature—most likely an eagle.

"Ordinary beasts have unopened intelligence, their souls muddled and chaotic. There is no useful information to be found in them. But this White Deer already possesses some spirituality and is quite extraordinary. It is worth trying."

"Soul Illumination!"

As his ability activated, Jiang Chen saw a ball of light slowly drift out from the White Deer's body.

The next moment, he extended his hand and grasped that ethereal light. This was the White Deer's soul. At the same time, blurry and chaotic images began flooding into Jiang Chen's mind.

Struck by this information, Jiang Chen could not help frowning slightly. Yet as he continued activating his ability, he still found the information he wanted amid the chaos—and even an unexpected gain.

Perhaps because the White Deer had just been injured by this Gray-Feather Eagle, its memory of the eagle was especially clear, saving Jiang Chen considerable effort.

"So it really is him—Old Hound, one of the River-Sweeping Bandits' six chief leaders."

Looking at the Gray-Feather Eagle in the White Deer's memories, Jiang Chen finally confirmed his suspicions. The White Deer's appearance here was no accident. Someone had deliberately driven it into this area, and that Gray-Feather Eagle was Old Hound's mark of identity.

He truly came from a family of hunters; for three generations, his ancestors had all been hunters. Not only was he exceptionally skilled at tracking prey, but he also possessed a rather unusual art of eagle training. It was precisely through such methods that he had stood apart among the River-Sweeping Bandits' six chief leaders and earned the regard of the second-in-command, Sky-Eagle Claw Zhou Quan, who had taken him in as a trusted confidant.

"The most urgent matter is to extract the White Deer's heartblood, lest anything unexpected happen. Old Hound should be arriving soon. I also need to inspect the White Deer's nest. If I did not see wrongly, there should be a spiritual treasure in the new nest it found. If I can obtain it, it may accelerate my cultivation."

As his thoughts turned, a complete plan formed in Jiang Chen's heart.

The next instant, he immediately crouched down and began dealing with the White Deer's corpse on the spot, extracting its heartblood and sealing it within a porcelain bottle he had prepared long ago.

Once he had finished, Jiang Chen quietly breathed a sigh of relief. So long as he had obtained this heartblood, this trip could be considered a complete success.

"With this heartblood, the cultivation of the Bloodflame Art can finally get on the right track. This art is not particularly difficult to comprehend; what is truly difficult is obtaining the White Deer's heartblood."

"As for the White Deer's remains, I can only find somewhere to hide them for now and have Skinny Monkey carry them back later. What a pity that I have yet to reach the Qi Refinement realm and cannot use treasures like storage bags."

His gaze fell upon the White Deer's remains, and Jiang Chen could not help shaking his head. In these deep mountains and ancient forests, hiding this White Deer's corpse properly and taking it out would not be easy.

As for storage bags, they were treasures commonly used by cultivators. Refined from the hide of a certain exotic beast, they contained a trace of spatial mystery and were quite wondrous. However, they required true qi to activate, and only cultivators at the Qi Refinement realm or above could use them.

Jiang Wang had possessed a storage bag in his previous life. It had been left behind by his teacher, and it contained cultivation methods at the Qi Refinement level as well as several treasures. Unfortunately, his cultivation had been insufficient, and he had been unable to open it at all.

Just as Jiang Chen finished concealing the White Deer's corpse, he suddenly sensed something. He looked up at the sky, where a black shadow flashed across the heavens. It was an eagle.

"It has finally come? It is even faster than I expected. It seems it truly cannot wait any longer."

The black shadow flew away. Jiang Chen withdrew his gaze, and a sharp glint appeared at the corner of his eyes.