Encircling and Hunting a Beast

In Redleaf Forest, a pile of firewood had been stacked up at some unknown time.

The pyre was built from several freshly felled trees and stood three to four meters high.

"Fire oil, pour it."

At Xie Xiong's command, everyone poured some of the fire oil they had brought into the pile.

Once the fire oil had soaked into the wood, Xie Xiong took out a Fire Starter, opened it, blew on it, and a spark flared back to life.

Before long, the pile was lit and became a bonfire.

Flames several meters high roared into the sky.

"Take the fire."

Xie Xiong shouted.

"Yes."

Everyone answered in unison.

Then one person took out two wooden sticks smeared with fire oil and held them into the bonfire. The sticks immediately became torches.

"Withdraw."

The torch-bearing group promptly retreated several hundred meters away.

By then, a column of black smoke could already be seen shooting into the sky from Redleaf Forest.

The bonfire also concealed plenty of dried herbivore dung that the Hunting Team had collected along the way.

Besides luring the Mutant Beasts in the forest, the black smoke also served as a signal for the other group.

With a chorus of chattering cries, the first creatures drawn over were not the Mutant Beast Red-Haired Giant Ape, but a troop of ordinary monkeys.

They feared the flames and lingered around the bonfire, yet did not dare approach it.

Once the monkey troop exceeded a hundred in number, a red giant beast finally arrived.

The red giant beast stood two meters tall at the shoulder, and when he rose upright, he reached nearly three and a half meters.

He was the Mutant Beast Red-Haired Giant Ape.

"Roar." Though he was a Mutant Beast, he too feared fire.

The difference was that his enormous size gave him both the ability and awareness to put out flames.

The next moment, he yanked up a nearby redleaf tree and smashed it viciously into the bonfire.

With a bang, the bonfire scattered across the ground, and the flames rapidly spread.

"Awroo!" Red-Haired Giant Ape hurriedly ordered the other monkeys to put out the fire despite their fear.

However, the burning wood was all coated in fire oil. The moment the monkeys touched it, the fire oil stuck to them.

Before long, dozens of monkeys were ablaze from head to toe, shrieking wildly.

The scent of roasting meat filled the air.

"Roar!" Red-Haired Giant Ape flew into a rage, but there was nothing he could do. He could only step in to extinguish the fire himself.

Just then, two people suddenly appeared behind Red-Haired Giant Ape and splashed black liquid over him—it was fire oil.

Drenched in fire oil, Red-Haired Giant Ape whipped around and saw only the backs of two figures fleeing madly.

Red-Haired Giant Ape watched the two retreating figures in confusion, then reached behind himself and wiped. His palm was immediately coated in a layer of sticky black liquid.

"What is this?"

The question had barely crossed his mind.

The next instant, three flaming arrows came flying in at incredible speed.

Red-Haired Giant Ape reacted quickly and swatted away two flaming arrows in succession, but the third came from a tricky angle and struck him squarely.

His hide was thick and his flesh tough. The arrow sank only as far as its head before it could advance no farther.

But the arrow's power lay not in the arrow, but in the fire.

In an instant, the flames ignited the fire oil in Red-Haired Giant Ape's fur.

It was like pouring water into a pan of boiling oil, triggering a violent reaction. The flames instantly spread across Red-Haired Giant Ape's entire body.

"Roar! Roar! Roar!" Red-Haired Giant Ape let out agonized cries. He began frantically slapping at the flames on his body, only to find that no matter how he struck them, they would not go out.

The flames seemed glued to his body, impossible to dispel.

He began rolling on the ground, sprinting wildly, and rubbing himself against trees.

"Follow him."

Xie Xiong immediately led Chen Xun and the others in pursuit behind Red-Haired Giant Ape.

Whenever he noticed signs of the flames on the ape weakening, he sent someone to shoot flaming arrows or splash more fire oil.

When Red-Haired Giant Ape saw the humans, he immediately realized that these unfamiliar creatures were behind it all and began pursuing them in a frenzy.

But while he was powerful and well-defended, his speed and agility were only ordinary.

Every member of the Hunting Team present was a Qi-Blood Second Transformation Martial Artist. Those sent to splash fire oil had even reached Minor Accomplishment in Lightfoot Skill, their speed and agility utterly crushing Red-Haired Giant Ape's.

Thus, Red-Haired Giant Ape could not catch a single Hunting Team member no matter what he did.

Instead, with his attention drawn away, he failed to notice that the fire on his body had burned through his hide and flesh and was gradually roasting his internal organs.

By the time he came to his senses, it was already beyond saving. He crashed heavily to the ground and died in agony.

"Quick, put out the fire!"

Xie Xiong hurriedly led everyone to extinguish the flames. They scattered handful after handful of white powder, and the flames began dying out the moment they met it.

When every flame had vanished, only a corpse with a charred exterior remained.

"What a pity. All that fur is ruined, and so much meat has been burned away."

Xie Xiong looked at the charred corpse, his eyes full of regret.

Still, taking down such a strange Mutant Beast without a single casualty made the loss of some fur and meat more than worthwhile.

"Everyone, hurry and deal with this corpse, then let's see whether Yang Feng and the others need help."

Under Xie Xiong's command, everyone swiftly began processing the corpse.

They removed all the charred flesh from the surface, cut away the fresh meat, discarded the large bones, and packed up the edible organs. The heart in particular was handled by Xie Xiong alone.

Xie Xiong took out a sharp small knife, cut open the heart, and extracted more than a dozen drops of pale purple blood that gave off a faint, unusual fragrance.

At the sight of it, everyone revealed longing expressions.

This was the most precious treasure on a Mutant Beast. It was found only in a Mutant Beast's heart: Heart Blood.

A single drop of Heart Blood could fetch the high price of ten taels on the market.

Yet it was a treasure with a price but no supply. Whoever obtained Heart Blood would consume it themselves at the first opportunity.

This thing had many uses.

Used on children, it could strengthen their foundations and nourish their essence, building an excellent cultivation base for them.

Used on Martial Artists, it could rapidly raise their cultivation.

Used on the elderly, it could nourish the body and slow aging.

Therefore, unless neither they nor their family had any use for it, no one would sell it.

After Xie Xiong stored Red-Haired Giant Ape's Heart Blood in a jade bottle, he carefully tucked it into his clothes.

He had no right to use it either. All of it had to be handed over to Captain Li Tiangang.

Chen Xun and the other Hunting Team members could only look; they had no right to use it.

Before long, the corpse of the Red-Haired Giant Ape had been completely dismantled.

Some carried meat, some carried bones, and some carried internal organs.

"Let's go see Yang Feng and the others."

With that, Xie Xiong took the lead, and everyone else followed closely behind.

They had not gone far when they saw Yang Feng's group.

"How did it go? Any casualties?"

Xie Xiong asked at once.

"No. The plan went smoothly."

Yang Feng smiled. "On our side, we killed one large one and two small ones."

"What about you?"

"You're asking when you already know."

Xie Xiong replied irritably.

"Hahaha!" Yang Feng could not help laughing. The smooth operation had clearly put him in a fine mood.

After the two groups joined up, they left the valley together and met Li Tiangang and Elder Jiang again.

"Fourth Master, everything went smoothly."

Yang Feng and Xie Xiong said together, cupping their hands.

"Good. You did well."

Li Tiangang smiled in satisfaction.

Afterward, everyone returned to Cloudflow County together.

This was what a normal hunting operation looked like. The previous one had been an exceptionally rare special case.

More often than not, even after three to five hunting operations, not a single member would be lost.

But if an accident occurred, the deaths of three to five people would not be surprising.

That was the risk of hunting Mutant Beasts.

Intelligence was not always entirely accurate, and the Hunting Team had to make its own judgments.

This time, they had been fortunate. The intelligence was correct, the plan had been carried out properly, and they had taken down the target smoothly.

On the way back, the Mutant Beast's organs were divided among them and eaten, since they were difficult to preserve.

As for the meat and bones, none of them touched those at all.

Aside from certain special uses, the greatest use of Mutant Beast bones was to undergo special processing and have marrow fluid extracted from them for refining Bone-Tempering Pills.

After another day and a half of travel, they finally reached Cloudflow County at dusk.

"I'm giving you three days off. Get some proper rest."

After returning to Li Estate, Li Tiangang spoke to the group, immediately drawing a burst of cheers.

Li Tiangang then hurried away with the Mutant Beast's Heart Blood.

The Mutant Beast meat was first handed over to the estate. After some time, the estate would distribute the Hunting Team's thirty percent share, then place it in the Hunting Team's cold storage for preservation.

The Mutant Beast bones, however, were all handed over. The Hunting Team kept none of them.

This made Chen Xun frown.

"Sure enough, the Li Family values Mutant Beast bones more than Mutant Beast meat."

He had planned to study how to refine Bone-Tempering Pills in the future, but that idea had now died before it could take shape.

Bone-Tempering Pills were not medicine for Blood Qi realm Martial Artists. They were used by Martial Artists of higher realms, true medicinal pills of great value.

After that, everyone dispersed.

Chen Xun also returned to the house he rented outside. After having dinner with Ye Ying and Chen Qingqing, he returned to his bedroom and went to sleep in peace.