The morning mist had yet to clear, and Stone Village's clearing reeked of sweat.
Training cries rose one after another.
The children lifted stone weights, their movements perfectly synchronized.
Shi Hou stood at the back of the group and winked at Shi Hao ahead of him.
Shi Hao caught his meaning, tossed the thousand-jin boulder in his hands to the ground, and dusted off his palms.
The two ducked low, using the crowd as cover, and slipped like a pair of loaches into the bushes at the village's edge.
Snot Boy was straining to lift a cauldron when he caught the scene out of the corner of his eye.
His hands trembled, and the cauldron nearly smashed his feet.
He opened his mouth to call Ermeng and Dazhuang.
A withered hand pressed down on his shoulder.
The clan chief, Shi Yunfeng, stood beside him. Without looking toward the two departing boys, he merely tapped Snot Boy's backside with his cane.
The old man shook his head.
Snot Boy froze, then shut his mouth.
He took one last look in the direction Shi Hou and Shi Hao had gone, clenched his little fists until they turned white, sniffled, and finally let out a heavy sigh.
Turning around, he hoisted the great cauldron again.
This time, he roared louder than anyone else.
Beside him, Ermeng and Dazhuang jumped at the noise and exchanged puzzled looks. Though they had no idea why, they gritted their teeth and pushed harder too.
Ten li outside the village.
Shi Hou summoned the enormous Stone Pot and fastened it onto his back, tightening the vines.
On his shoulder, the glossy black mutant Kang had buried its head beneath its wing to catch up on sleep.
Add to that Shi Hou's skin, which had gone from bronze to a deep charcoal gray.
One boy, one pot, one pig.
They blended seamlessly together, pure black through and through.
Walking ahead, Shi Hao glanced back and stopped in his tracks.
Then he shifted three steps sideways, putting some distance between them.
"What?" Shi Hou raised an eyebrow, puzzled.
"Really ugly."
Shi Hao pointed at the pot, then the pig, and finally Shi Hou's face.
"Like a chunk of coke that came to life."
Shi Hou rolled his eyes and bounced Black Pig a little higher on his shoulder.
"You don't know shit."
"It's called camouflage. It's called toughness. A deep, profound black."
"If I could kill a pureblood creature with one punch, I'd be happy even if I looked like a coal briquette."
Shi Hao didn't argue. He just silently moved another two steps farther away.
Neither spoke again. They concealed their auras and trailed five hundred meters behind the Hunting Team.
The deeper they went into the mountains, the quieter the forest became.
Broken giant trees and enormous beast tracks began appearing on the ground.
Those were the traces left by the primordial remnants' battle for supremacy a few days earlier.
The men of the Hunting Team were on edge, planting every step firmly.
"Stop!"
Shi Linhu abruptly raised a hand, crouched, and used his broadsword to brush aside the fallen leaves ahead.
Several rusty iron traps lay exposed, still stained with dried blood.
Farther ahead, a few extremely thin beast sinews stretched taut between two trees.
If someone ran into them fast enough, they could slice straight through his ankles.
"This is Bei Village's handiwork."
Shi Shoushan snorted coldly and kicked an iron trap away.
"Those sewer rats have crossed the line."
Shi Feijiao spat. "Forget them. We'll go our own way."
The group skirted the traps and continued onward.
Behind them, Shi Hou narrowed his eyes at the traps, his fingers tapping lightly against the black pot's rim.
The trunk of the enormous tree Shi Hao had been resting a hand on crumbled to powder in his grip.
Half an hour later.
The view ahead suddenly opened up.
A thick stench of blood hit them in the face.
They had reached the mouth of a mountain valley.
Corpses lay strewn across the ground.
Redflame Bulls, Dragon-Horned Elephants, Two-Headed Demon Wolves...
There were twenty or thirty in all. Most had had their hearts shattered by some terrifying lightning treasure technique, yet their bodies remained fairly intact.
This was a windfall.
Enough to drive any village mad.
"We're rich!"
Shi Feijiao's eyes went wide, and even his voice trembled.
Shi Linhu was excited too, but he remained relatively calm.
"Quick! Shoushan, take two men back to the village and get people to haul these away!"
"Everyone else, keep watch!"
The men quickly spread out, taking advantageous positions.
Just then.
Whoosh!
An exceedingly faint sound cut through the air.
It wasn't the wind.
It was an arrow.
Shi Shoushan had just turned when a chill shot straight toward the back of his head.
Instinctively, he swung the broadsword in his hand behind him to block.
Clang!
Sparks flew.
A wolf-fang iron arrow bearing tremendous force pierced straight through the heavy broadsword, its tip sinking about an inch into Shi Shoushan's shoulder.
The enormous impact drove him back five or six steps before he landed on his backside.
"We're under attack!"
Shi Linhu roared, instantly drawing his great bow to full tension.
Dozens of figures emerged from the dense forest around them.
They rode tall dirt wolves and carried iron dagger-axes, mocking smiles on their faces.
Bei Village.
A youth sat astride the enormous wolf at their head.
He looked fourteen or fifteen.
He wore finely crafted soft beast-hide armor. His skin was almost glaringly pale, and his hair was glossy black and smooth.
Holding a great bow, he leisurely drew a fresh arrow from his quiver.
His eyes were cold.
As though he were looking at a herd of livestock awaiting slaughter.
"You Stone Village savages react pretty quickly."
The youth's voice was clear, yet carried a sinister softness.
Bei Feng.
Bei Village's prodigy.
"Leave the prey, cut off one of your own arms, and get lost."
Bei Feng raised his bow, once again aiming the arrowhead at Shi Shoushan on the ground.
The bowstring pulled taut, and runes flowed.
This arrow was aimed between his brows.
Furious, Shi Linhu was just about to loose his arrow.
Whoosh-
Bei Feng released his fingers.
The iron arrow became a streak of black light, tearing through the air.
It was too fast.
So fast that Shi Shoushan had no time to raise his broken sword.
Just as the arrowhead came within three inches of the spot between his brows.
A small figure sprang out from behind a rock to the side.
"You dare!"
A furious roar rang out.
Still in midair, Shi Hao thrust out one hand.
Runes flashed, and his bare palm met the iron arrow head-on.
Smack!
The wolf-fang arrow, powerful enough to pierce rock, was seized firmly in that little hand, unable to advance another inch.
Shi Hao landed, casually snapped the iron arrow, and looked up at the youth on the wolf's back.
His large eyes blazed with anger.
"You steal our stuff and hurt people? You're asking for a beating!"
Bei Feng froze for a moment, then curled his lips in disdain.
"Where did this little wild brat come from? You've got some strength, at least."
He nocked another arrow, and the runes on his bow flared brilliantly.
However.
Before he could draw the bowstring.
An overwhelming sense of danger made every hair on his body stand on end.
To the side.
A blue light suddenly flashed.
Then came an outrageously arrogant voice.
"Who do you think you are, the main character?"
"So pale and all flash!"
"You dare hurt my dad!"
"Get down, damn you!"
Boom!
Wood splinters flew.
A pitch-black shape hurtled straight at him like a black cannonball fired from its barrel, wrapped in a furious gale.
On that figure's shoulder.
A black pig flared its nostrils wide.
"Ratatatatat!"
A dense barrage of blue light arrived first.
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