Rock Python

The morning mist had not yet fully dispersed, and the outline of the Great Wilderness slowly emerged beneath the pale golden sunlight.

Lin Yi and the rest of the hunting party had already finished preparing, standing between the two thick totem pillars at the entrance of the tribe.

Thirteen figures stood straight and tall, spears, stone axes, and bone bows in hand. The morning light stretched their shadows long and hard.

Lin Yi walked over to Biao, his tone serious and sincere. "Brother Biao, you should still lead and command this hunt.

"Although my cultivation has improved, my wilderness experience and understanding of ferocious beasts are far inferior to yours. If I gave the orders, there would inevitably be oversights."

Biao looked at him, a trace of understanding flashing through those rough eyes weathered by wind and sand.

He did not refuse, merely nodded heavily. "Don't worry. Leave it to me."

After a pause, he added, "Hunting is a matter of risking your life. There can be no carelessness."

Lin Yi swept his gaze over the others. The sky was already bright, and sunlight had crossed the eastern ridge, dyeing the entire tribe in a warm glow.

Biao drew a deep breath and flung one thick arm into the air. "Move out!"

This time, the group moved much faster than before.

Lin Yi was no longer the novice who needed everyone to deliberately slow down for him. His Blood Tide Realm and the enhancement brought by the Savage Bull Diagram had given him stamina and explosive strength beyond any veteran hunter present.

The group passed through increasingly familiar woodland and slopes, entering their usual hunting grounds in less than an hour.

Biao stopped beside a protruding boulder and turned to signal for everyone to gather around.

He squatted down and used the tip of his knife to draw several circles in the dirt. "Same old rules. Split into pairs and search separately for prey tracks.

"Once you find a clue, do not act alone. Send a signal immediately, and wait until everyone is here before surrounding the prey. Remember."

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping heavily across every face. "Going off alone for glory is courting death."

Everyone nodded in unison.

Before long, the thirteen figures had split into six groups. Lin Yi was naturally assigned to Mang, whom he had worked with last time, while Biao went alone, taking charge of support from the center.

Mang was half a head shorter than Biao, yet his shoulders were nearly just as broad. He was like a sturdy, squat wall—quiet and reserved, but exceptionally steady in both hands and feet.

Lin Yi traveled through the forest beside him, while Mang handled most of the searching. He bent down to inspect the remaining tracks on the ground, pushed aside brush to judge the direction of animal trails, and occasionally pinched up a little dung to sniff at his nose. Then he could precisely identify what kind of ferocious beast it was, roughly when it had passed through, and which way it had gone.

Walking beside him, Lin Yi committed every movement and every step of Mang's judgment to memory.

His Super Brain automatically sorted and filed away these experiences, cross-referencing them with what Biao had taught him before.

"Brother Mang, how many years did it take you to build up all this experience?"

Without turning his head, Mang pushed aside a patch of grass. "I started entering the forest with Brother Biao at fifteen. It's been twenty years now, I suppose. You've only been here a few days. No need to rush."

Just as Lin Yi was about to reply, a sharp whistle, so urgent it had gone shrill, suddenly exploded from not far behind them.

The sound was piercing and frantic, blasting out three times in one breath. It was clearly an emergency!

Lin Yi's and Mang's pupils contracted at the same time. Without exchanging a single word, they both pushed off at once, blood and qi surging into their legs as they sprinted wildly toward the whistle.

The bushes behind them collapsed into a green wave, while shattered stones scattered in every direction beneath their feet.

In barely a dozen breaths, they burst through the tree line. The sight before them sent Lin Yi's blood rushing straight to his head.

On a relatively open stretch of rocky ground ahead, a massive python lay coiled at the center.

The python was more than three zhang long, its entire body covered in thick blue-black scales. The edges of those scales were sharp as blades, gleaming with a cold, hard light beneath the sun.

Its body was as thick as an adult's waist, coiled layer upon layer. At the center of those coils, a figure was being slowly crushed tighter.

Lin Yi recognized the beast-hide vest.

It was Falcon, the youngest member of the hunting party aside from Lin Yi himself. He had always been a man of few words, but he worked harder than anyone.

At that moment, Falcon's face had already turned purple-red. His mouth hung wide open, yet no sound came out. Beneath the python's crushing coils, his breastbone gave off teeth-grating cracks.

And Falcon's partner was desperately stabbing at the python's body with a spear. Yet the spearpoint slid off most of the blue-black scales, leaving only a few shallow scratches between them. The giant python could not even be bothered to acknowledge him, as though it intended to swallow a person whole.

"You beast!"

A roar like thunder exploded from Lin Yi's side.

Biao arrived almost at the same time as Lin Yi. His normally steady eyes were now bloodshot, and he charged at the giant python like a crazed ferocious beast, even drawing his blade a fraction faster than usual.

At the same time, Lin Yi activated the Savage Bull Diagram. Blood-gold Divine Markings burst to life beneath his skin, and the phantom of a Savage Bull flashed behind him. He kicked off the ground, scattering shards of stone as he shot forward like a cannonball.

Seeing so many people suddenly appear, the giant python flicked out its tongue. Its coiled body abruptly loosened as it tried to turn and retreat into the rock crevices behind it.

But Lin Yi was faster. The instant the giant python stretched out its body, he seized its tail!

His ten fingers clamped into the gaps between its scales like iron pincers. A hundred thousand jin of force poured forth, forcibly dragging the three-zhang python to a halt.

His feet sank deep into the rocky ground, plowing two trenches behind him. Empowered by the blood-gold patterns, every muscle in his body tightened as if forged from iron. He was like a stake driven into the earth, firmly pinning down the colossal beast.

Seizing the chance, Biao swung his broad-backed saber and slashed viciously at the giant python's head!

Clang!

The blade struck the top of the snake's head, shattering several scales. A deep wound stretched from above its eye socket to the center of its brow, and dark python blood flowed from the gash.

But the scales were far tougher than expected. Though the blow had broken through them, it had failed to reach the skull beneath.

The wound stirred the giant python's ferocity. Its yellow-brown vertical pupils suddenly shrank into slits. Its attempt to flee came to an abrupt stop, replaced by the desperate posture of a beast fighting with its life on the line.

The snake's tail suddenly exerted force within Lin Yi's grasp. Its blue-black muscles swelled by a full circle, as though countless sinews beneath its scales had tightened all at once.

Bang!