"Master Li, do you have to get up this early every time you hunt wild boar?"
It was still quite dark. Li Long led the way, followed by Qi Jingyue, with Yang Chen and Xie Ruifeng bringing up the rear. There was no wind, and the only sound was the dull crunch of their feet on the snow.
Yang Chen found something to talk about and asked Li Long a question.
"If you're ambushing wild boar, this is the only time. This is when they come down from the mountains to root around here, where there's more food. By the time dawn approaches, they head back into the mountains. Wild boar don't have fixed bedding grounds, and they stay deep in the mountains, in places people seldom visit, so they're hard to find. The best way is to ambush them while they're feeding."
"Haven't you hunted wild boar anywhere else?" Xie Ruifeng asked, panting. Of the three, he had the least stamina. Even Qi Jingyue, who looked a little shorter than him, was stronger.
Perhaps to ease his embarrassment, Xie Ruifeng kept asking questions now and then, and rather pointed ones at that.
"I have. I once came across their bedding grounds in the mountains and shot two," Li Long said as he walked. "I've also tracked wild boar and got two that way. I've come across them in Hot Spring Valley too, and shot some there."
Li Long's words silenced Xie Ruifeng for a while before he continued asking:
"Master Li, you've shot wolves and lynxes. Have you ever shot any other large carnivores?"
"No." Li Long's answer excited Xie Ruifeng a little. He was just about to make a few teasing remarks when Li Long added:
"Never encountered any. There was a bear I spotted from a distance,