The hunt

His figure drifted slowly to the ground like a fallen leaf.

"This Wild Goose Floating Heart Method really is useful!" The moment his feet touched the ground, delight flashed across Little Leopard's face. Previously, he had known next to nothing about lightness skills. Wu Ironworks emphasized hammer techniques and internal and external cultivation, with little study devoted to lightness skills.

Thus, his understanding of lightness skills had been limited to rumors circulating in the martial world. He knew broadly that "lightness skills" was an umbrella term encompassing the Four Arts of Lightness: lightness, agility, vertical movement, and horizontal movement. Lightness meant using an Internal Energy method like the Wild Goose Floating Heart Method he was now learning to make the body as light as a swallow, allowing one to descend from great heights like a drifting leaf without injury. Agility referred to evasive footwork and bodily movement. The simplest way to understand vertical movement was the legendary Onion-Pulling Leap, while horizontal movement included techniques such as the Land-Flying Technique and the Eight-Step Toad-Chasing Lightness Skill.

The lightness skill he had learned at Wu Ironworks was the most commonplace of all, the Land-Flying Technique.

The Wild Goose Floating Heart Method Blood Wuy a had taught him was a top-tier method of the art of lightness. Thus, although he had only just begun practicing it, jumping down a cliff several dozen feet high posed no problem.

"The scenery here really is beautiful. If I were cultivating here instead of being brought here as a hostage, I'd definitely progress much faster than outside the mountains!"

Little Leopard greedily drew in a breath of mountain air, an intoxicated look on his face. Suddenly, his gaze stopped, and a spark of delight flashed in his eyes. More than a dozen beasts, large and small, had gathered beside the clear stream beneath the waterfall. The most conspicuous was a large black boar, as big as an ordinary ox. Black bristles covered its body, each standing upright like a steel needle. Two gleaming white tusks curved upward from the corners of its mouth, their sharp tips showing a faint metallic sheen. Perhaps knowing that this boar was not to be trifled with, the other beasts kept their distance, none daring to come within ten feet of it.

The boar was vigilant too. Even with its head lowered to drink, its small, beady eyes kept darting about, watching for anything unexpected. Perhaps this was the survival instinct of every creature that lived in the Wilds!

The sight of the boar made Little Leopard's hands itch. This was fine prey indeed. He wondered whether Blood Wuy a would count it as two animals if he hauled it back to him.

Of course, that thought merely flashed through his mind before fading away. Since Blood Wuy a had already said he needed ten animals, Little Leopard had to bring ten kills before him by midnight today. This was not for Blood Wuy a's sake, but his own.

In his previous life, carrying out his superior's orders to the letter had become instinctive. Though he had lived another lifetime since then, retaining that instinct would serve him well in his present circumstances.

Blood Wuy a was now his superior, and superiors always liked obedient subordinates. Although Little Leopard knew Blood Wuy a already intended to kill him, he still had considerable value to offer. Besides, the exploitation went both ways: Blood Wuy a was using him, but he was using Blood Wuy a too. They had only just met today, yet he had already gained an enormous windfall. If they continued like this, he believed the benefits he received might far exceed what he had gained so far. The advantages a rank-eight expert could offer were beyond his imagination-but there was one condition: Blood Wuy a must not kill him.

If he wanted to avoid being killed by Blood Wuy a, he naturally had to do everything he could to please him!

How was he to curry favor? Some people might find that difficult, but for Little Leopard, who had been a civil servant in the new century, flattery was as simple as eating and drinking.

What was the purpose of flattery? First and foremost, of course, it was to satisfy one's superior. How could he do that? By completing the assigned task in full, with quality assured-or even exceeding expectations. Today was the first day, and first impressions mattered!

At that thought,

Little Leopard abandoned all thoughts of slacking off. With a slight flick of his hands, two kunai slid from his sleeves, and he gripped them tightly. He was roughly a hundred feet-thirty meters-from the boar, well within his range. Given his accuracy and the boar's size, such a short distance was nothing.

Yet just as he attacked, some strange notion passed through his mind. His hands shifted, and the way he channeled his strength as the kunai left his grip became exceedingly bizarre. He had used precisely the hidden-weapon technique Blood Wuy a had taught him not long before.

Now he was in trouble. Once released, the two kunai flew wildly like headless flies. Neither went anywhere near the boar, but they startled the beasts drinking beside the stream into scattering in every direction.

Thud! Thud! The two kunai buried themselves in two tree trunks, sinking all the way to their hilts.

"Damn!" Little Leopard muttered, frustration once again showing on his face. He drew the Black Gold Short Sword Blood Wuy a had given him, sprang into the air, and lunged straight at the boar. By now, the boar had also sensed the danger, but instead of fleeing, it turned, leveled its two sharp tusks at Little Leopard, and charged. It aimed directly for the spot where he would land once his leap lost momentum.

"Good!" Seeing the boar charge, Little Leopard abruptly accelerated. He activated the Wild Goose Floating Heart Method, and his body, already at the peak of its leap, suddenly floated like a leaf. The boar's tusks struck empty air. Unable to halt its momentum, it charged another two steps. Before it could regain its footing, a dark gleam flashed.

Clang! His sword struck with the ring of clashing metal, and both of the boar's tusks snapped off.

"Aooow!"

With its tusks severed, the boar let out a strange, furious howl. Its forward charge halted, then it turned and ran, plunging into the dense forest ahead without so much as a backward glance.

"Well, would you look at that!" Little Leopard had been waiting for the boar to turn around and fight to the death. He had never expected it to simply flee. The contrast between its fearless charge a moment ago and its headlong retreat now was so stark that he could barely react. He froze briefly, then chased after it, unsure whether to laugh or cry. Without a second thought, he plunged into the dense forest.

"This beast certainly doesn't hesitate!"

The boar ahead ran for its life. Relying on its thick hide and massive body, it forcibly smashed a "road" through the shrubs and small trees of the dense forest. Little Leopard had a much easier time. Following the trail it had broken, he sped along without a speck of dust touching his feet. The Black Gold Short Sword in his hand flickered with a dim, dusky gleam that looked particularly eerie beneath the dense canopy. The boar was fast, but it had to clear obstacles as it fled. Little Leopard had no such problem; he merely had to follow its path straight ahead, and his speed was hardly slow either. With one hindered and the other unhindered, the distance between them gradually shrank. Suddenly, the desperately fleeing boar's body lurched into the air, as though something beneath its feet had tripped it, and it pitched forward.

Little Leopard's heart leaped with joy. The chase had already consumed a fair amount of his physical strength and Internal Energy. Although he was closing the gap, heaven only knew how long he would have to keep running. Seeing the boar trip and tumble forward naturally filled him with delight. Yet joy turned to grief: a dark shape suddenly appeared in midair, blocking his path. Unable to stop, Little Leopard suffered the same fate as the boar. His body caught on the dark shape, and he pitched headfirst forward.

"What is this?!" Almost at the same instant he toppled forward, a rank gust struck his face. Alarm surged through Little Leopard's heart, and without thinking, he thrust the Black Gold Short Sword forward to block it.

Pff! The short sword seemed to pierce a thick sheet of rotten leather. A hot, scarlet stream spurted out, splashing straight onto Little Leopard's face. Only then did he realize that a White-Scaled Python more than a hundred feet long lay coiled before him!

He had entered the Wilds, and the first cup of tragedy had appeared on the tea table. Heh heh-