A Hard Fight

The mountains stood high and the forests thick, blotting out the sky and sun.

Following close behind the Crow Spirit ahead, Zhang Yuan entered a region he had never set foot in before.

The vegetation here was exceptionally lush. Not only were there no existing paths to travel along, but even animal trails were hard to find.

Enormous canopies blocked out the sunlight, making the forest dark and unfathomable.

Even an experienced hunter could easily lose his bearings in such an environment and never find his way out!

So Zhang Yuan could only trust the Crow Spirit leading the way for him.

The Crow Spirit stopped from time to time, only continuing its flight after Zhang Yuan caught up.

In this way, it led him out of the maze-like dense forest.

The view ahead suddenly opened up!

A small valley appeared in Zhang Yuan's sight, and he also saw a waterfall hanging down from the mountain peak.

The scenery was beautiful.

But what truly caught Zhang Yuan's attention was a herd of Wild Boars foraging in the valley!

There were seven Wild Boars in total. Two were robust, large adults, while the rest were all piglets.

A neat and tidy family.

"Caw, caw!"

The Crow Spirit perched on a branch and gave two soft calls.

Yet Zhang Yuan found himself in a difficult spot.

The Crow Spirit's willingness to cooperate was beyond question—it had truly helped him find prey.

The problem was that he could not handle this herd of Wild Boars alone!

There was an old saying among the people: "First the boar, second the bear, third the tiger." It did not refer to the fighting prowess of these three beasts, but to the degree of threat they posed to people.

An adult Wild Boar weighed three to four hundred jin. Its head was huge, its neck thick, its limbs sturdy, and its hide rough and tough. It possessed tremendous explosive strength.

Once enraged, such a beast could ram even a powerful opponent to death or gore an enemy through with its sharp tusks. Combined with the "armor" it had built up over years of rolling on the ground and rubbing against trees, both its combat ability and defensive power were terrifying.

Zhang Yuan had never hunted a Wild Boar before.

But he knew very well that his bow and arrows could not break through a large Wild Boar's defenses at all.

With the Divine Nest's Parasitic Body Power enhancing him, Zhang Yuan was somewhat confident that he could bring one down with his Firewood Knife.

But there were two adult Wild Boars before him!

After hesitating for a moment, he shook his head at the Crow Spirit on the branch.

This humble concubine—no, this brother really can't do it!

The Crow Spirit tilted its head and gave him a disdainful look.

The next moment, it abruptly spread its wings and swooped forward, instantly transforming into a mass of black mist that dived toward the herd of pigs several dozen steps away.

The herd, which had been rooting through the earth for food, immediately fell into chaos.

The startled piglets squealed as they scattered in all directions, while the sow rushed about in a panic to protect her young.

The fierce Male Wild Boar bared its tusks and charged boldly at the black mist the Crow Spirit had transformed into.

An opportunity!

Zhang Yuan immediately realized that the Crow Spirit had created a perfect chance for him to hunt. Without a moment's hesitation, he drew his Firewood Knife and charged forward, lunging at the Male Wild Boar like an arrow loosed from the bowstring.

At the same time, Zhang Yuan activated the Divine Nest's Parasitic Body—Black Giant Ant Power!

The blood and qi within him erupted with a roar. The arm gripping the Firewood Knife suddenly swelled, its knotted, bulging muscles nearly bursting through his sleeve.

At that very moment, the Male Wild Boar had not noticed death drawing near at all.

All of its attention was fixed on the black mist before it. As it charged with all its might, threatening bellows continuously rumbled from its throat, trying to scare off the strange enemy.

The Male Wild Boar's tactic succeeded.

The black mist suddenly dispersed.

Yet at the instant the mist vanished, a flash of snow-bright blade light cleaved toward its head like lightning!

This strike contained all of Zhang Yuan's strength.

The Male Wild Boar was completely unprepared and had no time to dodge. By the time it sensed danger, the blade had already fallen.

Splat!

The Firewood Knife, carrying four to five hundred jin of force, hacked viciously into the Male Wild Boar's face, splitting open its soft, large snout before cutting through the hard bone beneath.

Dealing even greater damage!

Squeal!

The Male Wild Boar let out an incomparably miserable shriek after suffering the sudden heavy blow. Driven by searing pain, it sprang three feet into the air, and its huge eyes instantly became bloodshot and swollen.

It instinctively wanted to counterattack its enemy, but Zhang Yuan withdrew his blade and flashed to its right side, bringing the knife down again.

The second strike split into the Male Wild Boar's right eye!

Though the Male Wild Boar's body was rough-skinned, thick-fleshed, and impervious to blades and spears, its rear and face were clearly much less well defended.

After Zhang Yuan struck its weak points in succession, dark-red blood immediately sprayed out in torrents.

Then came the third strike, the fourth strike...

Every blow struck a vital spot!

No matter how fierce the Male Wild Boar was, with its huge pig head hacked into the shape of sliced pork kidney, it struggled only briefly before wailing and crashing heavily to the ground.

But Zhang Yuan did not immediately celebrate his victory.

Gripping the blood-dripping Firewood Knife, he prepared to deal with the other sow.

Yet Zhang Yuan discovered that the sow had already fled into the nearby forest with several piglets.

He immediately let out a long breath.

Though his blood and qi could still sustain several minutes of doubled-strength eruption, he was not confident that he could take down that sow without injury. After all, his earlier victory had involved no small amount of luck.

The other party fleeing without a fight was naturally the ideal outcome.

Only then did Zhang Yuan notice that the hand holding his Firewood Knife was trembling slightly.

It was not lingering fear. Rather, his body had not yet fully adapted to such an explosive burst of power, and the pressure and stimulation of confronting the Wild Boar head-on had produced a reaction he could not control.

Still, that was only a minor problem.

After taking several deep breaths and calming his emotions, Zhang Yuan severed the connection between himself and the Divine Nest's Parasitic Body.

The enhancement from the Black Giant Ant Power vanished accordingly.

At that moment, black mist rapidly gathered, condensing into a Crow in front of him in the blink of an eye.

The Crow Spirit landed on the Wild Boar's battered head, tilted its head to look at Zhang Yuan, then plucked out an eyeball and swallowed it.

"Thank you!"

Zhang Yuan said to it sincerely, "A pleasure working with you."

Without the Crow Spirit's help, even if he had found this herd of Wild Boars, he would never have been able to take them down.

In the battle just now, the Crow Spirit had played a crucial role!

Next naturally came the division of spoils.

Just like with yesterday's Fawn, Zhang Yuan used his Firewood Knife to cut open the Wild Boar's belly, digging out all the red and green innards and piling them beside the carcass.

These were the Crow Spirit's share.

In truth, the most valuable part of such a large Wild Boar was its stomach.

Its stomach pouch.

Wild Boar stomach could be used as an ingredient in medicinal cuisine. Mildly warming in nature and sweet in flavor, it could treat stomach ailments, strengthen the stomach, and replenish deficiencies.

An intact Wild Boar stomach could easily sell for one or two taels of silver at a medicinal shop in the County Town!

By comparison, Wild Boar meat, with its rank smell and woody texture, could not fetch much of a price.

But Zhang Yuan had no intention of going back on his word.

After cleaning out the innards, he put in more effort to cut the Wild Boar into two halves.

This Male Wild Boar weighed three to four hundred jin. Even after its innards were removed, it still weighed more than two hundred, nearly three hundred jin.

Zhang Yuan could not carry it all away by himself.

He coated one half of the Wild Boar meat with dried grass powder to preserve it.

As for the other half...

Zhang Yuan glanced at the Crow Spirit beside him. Seeing it standing atop the pig innards and feasting heartily, utterly ignoring him,

he stretched out his left hand and gently pressed it against the meat.

An ancient incantation surfaced in Zhang Yuan's mind.

Sacrifice!