Strange Hoofprints

Early the next morning, just after everyone had finished breakfast, a man came running hurriedly from outside the village.

The man was in his thirties, his trouser legs caked with mud. By the time he reached the village entrance, he was panting hard. He braced himself against a wooden post by the roadside and rested for quite a while before raising his head to look at the martial arts school apprentices packing up their things.

"Little masters, could you help us out?"

Zhao Chuan was the first to turn around.

"What happened?"

"Wild boars got into the fields."

The man pointed outside the village, his face still full of anxiety. "Several of them came early this morning and rooted our vegetable plot into a complete mess. A few farmers tried driving them off with hoes several times, but they weren't afraid of people at all. If you got too close, they even dared charge straight at you."

"Wild boars?"

Wang Lie had been sitting beneath a tree drinking water. The moment he heard those words, he immediately stood up.

He hung his waterskin from his waist, and his eyes brightened considerably.

Zhao Chuan perked up as well, grabbing the wooden stick beside him. "Come on, let's take a look."

This time, no one complained that the road was too far.

Even Zhao Ming and the other paying disciples, who usually had little interest in rough work, picked up their things and followed.

For the past few days, they had only been doing jobs like carrying medicine and repairing roads. At the end of the day, there had still been a layer between them and real wild beasts. Now that they had heard there were actual wild boars in the fields, everyone felt a little more excitement.

Chen Mo walked at the back, casually tucking the small knife at his waist farther in.

He was not particularly excited.

When he had followed his father into the mountains as a child, he had seen plenty of traces left by wild boars. He knew that while these things looked bulky, once they went mad, the force of their charges was no small matter.

Still, the village was right nearby, and the fields were open ground.

If there was real danger, they could simply retreat.

Before long, the group arrived at the edge of the fields.

Before they even got close, they heard a series of snorting sounds from within.

Several vegetable plots had already been rooted into utter chaos. A large patch of newly sprouted seedlings had been trampled flat. The soil had been turned over everywhere by the wild boars' snouts, and one particularly large boar had its head down, rooting ceaselessly through the field.

"There they are."

The man leading the way pointed into the field.

"All of them are here."

Wang Lie looked them over and asked, "How many are there?"

"Three big ones and one small one."

"Are we fighting them?"

Wang Lie asked bluntly.

The leading disciple beside him shook his head.

"Just drive them away. No need to kill them."

"Understood."

Wang Lie answered, though the anticipation on his face clearly faded.

Chen Mo stood on the ridge between the fields without rushing forward.

He looked around first.

To the left was a patch of low shrubs. To the right were already cleared fields, and farther back stood the village's earthen wall. Though the wild boars looked fierce, there was no complicated terrain around them, nor was there anywhere they could suddenly hide.

"Drive them together when they turn away."

Chen Mo offered a reminder.

Zhao Chuan nodded.

"Alright."

The group quickly spread out.

They did not charge in for real. Instead, they waved their wooden sticks from a distance and shouted loudly. Zhao Chuan shouted especially hard, his voice nearly drowning everyone else out.

"Go, go, go!"

"Stop eating!"

"Hurry back into the mountains!"

The wild boars were startled and paused at first.

The largest boar raised its head. Its tiny pitch-black eyes stared at the people ahead, while two streams of white vapor burst from its nostrils.

Zhao Ming gripped his wooden stick, his palms already beginning to sweat.

"It won't really charge us, will it?"

"Stand farther to the side."

Chen Mo warned him.

No sooner had he spoken than the boar suddenly lowered its head and lunged forward several steps.

Zhao Ming's face changed, and he hurriedly dodged aside.

"It's coming!"

Zhao Chuan was startled too.

"Spread out!"

Everyone immediately gave way to either side.

The wild boar charged between them, its four hooves kicking mud into the air as it ran. It nearly slammed into one apprentice.

Wang Lie, however, remained where he was.

Only when the boar drew near did he sidestep.

The enormous black shadow rushed past, brushing the corner of his clothes.

Wang Lie glanced back and could not help muttering, "It wasn't that fast."

Zhao Chuan glared at him.

"You almost got sent flying just now."

"It didn't hit me."

"..."

Zhao Chuan had no answer to that.

Everyone adjusted their positions again.

This time, having learned their lesson, they no longer blocked the boars head-on. Instead, they slowly pressed in from both sides.

Wooden sticks struck the ground.

The shouts continued without end.

At last, unable to endure the harassment any longer, the wild boars turned and ran toward the other end of the fields.

That side happened to connect to a patch of shrubs at the foot of the mountain.

Several black shadows darted inside and quickly vanished.

"They ran!"

Zhao Chuan excitedly waved his wooden stick.

"We did it!"

The other young men laughed along with him.

Though they had not truly fought from beginning to end, facing living, breathing wild beasts for the first time still gave them an indescribable thrill.

Wang Lie stood at the edge of the field, looking toward where the boars had disappeared.

"What kind of fight was that?"

Zhao Chuan walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

"They asked you to drive off pigs, and you actually wanted to beat them to death?"

"I was just saying it was boring."

"Then next time, talk to the pigs and tell them not to run."

Wang Lie looked at him.

Zhao Chuan immediately turned away.

"Forget it. Pretend I said nothing."

Chen Mo laughed beside them.

He did not join their bickering. Instead, he crouched down to inspect the place the wild boars had just charged through.

The hoofprints left by the boars were obvious.

Their hooves had sunk into the mud, staggered front to back, and they were roughly the same size.

Judging from their gait and the way they charged, they were all ordinary wild boars.

At least, they were nothing like the mad wolf he had encountered in the mountains before.

That wolf's movements had been completely wrong.

Its gaze, its gait, and the way it pounced and bit all carried an indescribable strangeness.

The wild boars before him, however, were perfectly normal.

When startled, they ran. When they encountered a crowd, they avoided it.

Chen Mo stood up and brushed the mud from his hands.

"There shouldn't be any problem now."

"That's good."

The man who had led them here let out a sigh of relief.

"Many thanks, little masters."

The villagers soon gathered around.

Some helped inspect the fields, while others cleaned up the vegetable seedlings damaged by the boars.

Zhao Ming stood nearby, listening to a few words of thanks. The smile on his face simply would not fade.

Zhao Chuan noticed and deliberately asked, "What are you smiling about?"

"They're thanking me."

"They thanked me too."

"I know."

Zhao Ming straightened his clothes.

"But I'm still happy."

Zhao Chuan thought about it.

"Seems like I would be too."

As they talked, both of them started laughing.

Chen Mo did not join them.

He had been about to head back when his steps suddenly stopped.

In the muddy ground on the other side of the fields, one patch looked different from the rest.

When the wild boars had charged through just now, they had left plenty of hoofprints.

But beside those hoofprints was another trail.

Chen Mo walked over and crouched down.

He pushed aside the trampled weeds nearby.

Several prints emerged clearly from the mud.

He took one look, and his brows slowly furrowed.

This was not a wild boar.

The prints were a size larger than the traces left by those boars.

They had also sunk deeper into the ground.

In the mud at the front, several faint claw marks could still be seen.

"What is it?"

Zhao Chuan had somehow followed him over.

Chen Mo said nothing.

He reached out and touched the edge of the print.

The soil was still wet.

Though the edges had already collapsed somewhat, the trace remained clear.

It should have been left recently.

"Did you find something?"

Zhao Chuan crouched down.

"Look here."

Chen Mo pointed.

Zhao Chuan stared for a long time.

"A wild boar?"

"No."

"Then what is it?"

Chen Mo shook his head.

"I don't know."

Zhao Chuan froze for a moment.

"Aren't you the one who knows this stuff best?"

"It's not like I know everything in the mountains."

Chen Mo shot him an annoyed look.

After saying that, he followed the footprints farther onward.

One.

Two.

Three.

The footprints stretched onward.

At last, they disappeared into the bushes at the end of the fields.

Beyond them lay the woods near the foot of the mountain.

Chen Mo squatted there, studying them for quite a while.

He had followed his father into the mountains before and had seen tracks left by bears, as well as wolves, deer, and wild boars.

But he truly could not recognize the ones before him.

The pads did not look like those of a wild boar.

The claw marks did not resemble the wolves he knew, either.

Even the stride was somewhat strange.

"Could it be a larger mountain boar?"

Someone beside him said casually.

"Maybe."

Another person chimed in.

"The mountains are so vast. What isn't in there?"

Zhao Chuan thought that made sense as well.

"Maybe it really was a huge wild boar."

Chen Mo did not argue.

He merely looked once more at that trail of footprints.

If it really was a wild boar, that would make sense.

Only, these footprints...

He could not shake the feeling that something was off.

"Chen Mo!"

Someone called from afar.

"Time to go. There's work to do this afternoon."

Only then did Chen Mo rise to his feet.

"Coming."

He brushed the mud from his knees, then looked back once more.

That trail of footprints lay quietly at the edge of the fields.

No one paid it any more attention.

After packing up their things, everyone headed back toward the village along the dirt road they had come by.

After they had walked some distance, Zhao Chuan was still arguing with Wang Lie over how fast that wild boar had been.

Chen Mo listened to the two of them, occasionally throwing in a remark.

He still had not figured out those footprints from earlier.