My Cultivation Starting from Archery
Chapter 37 Hunting Tigers

North of Second Layer Mountain.

Chen Sansi's "Track Concealment" was fully activated, with no trace escaping his notice.

Rabbits, roe deer, goats...

If he wished, within ten minutes he could be carrying a goat down the mountain to his home.

But a wild goat of around one hundred pounds could only sell for two pieces of silver.

That might have been fine before, but now it was too little.

His target was a tiger, or at the very least a black bear or a leopard—some kind of fierce beast.

Following Zhao Qiao's suggestion, Chen Sansi headed toward the southwest.

Along the way, he occasionally encountered martial arts academy disciples adorned in brocade robes.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Chen Sansi wore cloth armor this time up the mountain.

Seeing his armor and heavy bow, the disciples indeed dared not provoke him, and mostly went about their own business after a glance or two.

"Why are there so many people?"

Chen Sansi traveled five miles and encountered at least a dozen people.

Even for hunting, they shouldn't appear in such dense numbers.

Moreover, many of them didn't even carry bows and arrows; instead, they roamed back and forth with knives or swords, appearing as if they were searching for something.

Witch God Sect?

It didn't seem like it.

Because these people looked relaxed and most of them were dressed as disciples of the Tai Lei Martial Arts Academy.

Chen Sansi took notice.

A gust of wind blew, and with his exceptional hearing, he overheard the conversations of the martial arts academy disciples.

"White Deer!"

"The Master is injured; whoever replaces the White Deer will be rewarded with property!"

"It's tough! I heard the White Deer likes to eat medicinal herbs, and those herbs alone cost at least a dozen pieces of silver."

"..."

Chen Sansi figured out what was going on.

The night Qin Feng died, a battle had broken out in the city.

Xiang Tingchun and the masters of the three big martial arts halls were arresting barbarian assassins when they encountered the Witch God Sect. Master Tai Lei was seriously injured and needed an exotic beast, the White Deer, for healing; thus, a reward was offered.

No matter the level of the disciple, anyone who could present the White Deer would be immediately taken as a core true inheritor and also manage a portion of the properties in the future, which is why they were running into the mountains like headless chickens.

Chen Sansi made a mental note of the exotic beast's characteristics and continued to hurry forward.

Tai Lei Martial Arts Academy...

He hadn't seen Zhang Chao and his companion.

Otherwise, he would have shot a few arrows at them regardless.

After traveling another dozen miles, he arrived at the midsection of a mountain peak.

At the side of the winding and narrow path stood two martial arts academy disciples with bows on their backs, one of whom had a bow that Chen Sansi estimated was a Seven Strength Bow, already considered forbidden weaponry.

Holding iron swords, they looked ahead with hesitant expressions and were reluctant to move forward.

Chen Sansi ignored the two of them.

"Hey!"

A martial arts academy disciple called out to him, "You dare to go forward? There's a Big Worm inside this peak!"

"I know."

Chen Sansi answered perfunctorily, showing no intention of stopping.

"You're still going? Aren't you afraid of death?"

The martial arts academy disciple noticed the Big Bow on the newcomer's back and his eyes lit up. He looked at his companion with the prohibited Seven Strength Bow and, getting his approval, proposed, "How about we cooperate? The Brother Wei next to me is a Blood Refining Warrior with small achievement!"

They had discovered the presence of a tiger on this peak only in recent days.

But due to the court's ban on heavy bows and their limited cultivation, they wouldn't normally dare to provoke it.

Wei Xu took the risk of acquiring a Seven Strength Bow, but was still not very confident he could take down the Big Worm. Close contact with the beast would be more than a Blood Refining Warrior could withstand.

Finding someone carrying a two-stone bow was an unexpected surprise.

"Brother."

Wei Xu, full of confidence, said, "I have Blood Refining Minor Success, and with our combined strength, taking down the Big Worm will be a piece of cake. Once successful, we'll split the proceeds: sixty-forty. I'll take sixty, you take forty. How about it?"

Chen Sansi frowned upon hearing this and, uninterested in further engagement, quickened his pace.

"?"

Wei Xu was staggered, clearly not expecting to be treated as if he didn't exist: "Arrogant!"

"Brother Wei, he doesn't want to cooperate, so what do we do?" his junior asked.

"I've glimpsed that Big Worm from afar once, it's incredibly formidable. Where does he get his confidence from?"

Wei Xu said angrily, "Let's follow and see. Maybe the Big Worm will eat him, and we can take advantage at the rear."

...

"Someone else has their eyes on this Big Worm. If I had come two days later, I might have missed my chance."

Chen Sansi crouched on the ground, scooped up a handful of dirt, and from it extracted two rather stiff orange hairs, followed by claw marks, buried feces, and dried bloodstains in the grass.

He knew this process by heart.

Like following a thread, he traced it to a hidden cave halfway up the mountain.

The cave, with a diameter of roughly five meters, was concealed by dense grass and branches, easily overlooked if not examined closely.

About twenty zhang from the cave's entrance, amidst the thickets, one could vaguely see rotting clothing and chilling white bones; it seemed the deceased had been there for some time.

"Ninety-nine percent sure the Big Worm lives inside."

Of course, Chen Sansi would not foolishly charge in.

In the confined space, the advantages of bows and long spears disappeared, so he needed to replace a way to lure the Big Worm out.

"Whoosh—"

Chen Sansi suddenly turned and loosed an arrow.

A hundred paces away, a passing roe deer got grazed by the precise shot, leaving behind a trail of blood.

"Hiss—"

The foolish roe deer let out a piercing scream.

"Whoosh—"

Another arrow shot, landing near its feet.

Startled, the roe deer bolted towards the cave's direction.

Chen Sansi had deliberately not killed it.

His experience hunting Black Bears had taught him that a dead lure might not attract the game.

But a live one was different.

Predators like tigers, with their strong territorial instincts, wouldn't allow any infringements.

A creature carrying the scent of fresh blood running around and calling out on its territory was certainly not something the Big Worm would tolerate.

Chen Sansi climbed up a tree to a vantage point, then continually prevented the roe deer from leaving the vicinity with arrows, forcing it to stay near the cave, its wounds bleeding as it ran chaotically.

The process went on for a full five minutes, the huge commotion scaring away the birds in the woods, but the pitch-black cave remained eerily silent.

"Ineffective? It shouldn't be. Tigers are ferocious and murderous; they usually don't hold back."

Just as Chen Shanshi was considering other approaches, a gloomy wind swept through the mountains.

Wind follows the tiger, clouds follow the dragon.

Here it comes!

A robust shadow, as mighty as a mountain yet as nimble as a leopard, burst out of the silent cave. In the blink of an eye, it pinned the roe deer to the ground, its sharp fangs accurately clamping down on the carotid artery.

After a few feeble struggles, the roe deer became a lifeless body.

What a majestic king of the mountains!

Chen Sansi focused his gaze.

The tiger was more than ten feet in length, weighing no less than seven or eight hundred catties, its golden fur dazzling in the sunlight, and its saber-like claws dripping with blood. Its orange-yellow pupils emitted a fierce light, letting out a roar that shook the area for miles.

No wonder ordinary people would be petrified at the sight.

After hunting the roe deer, the Big Worm did not rush to feast, apparently not hungry, purely bothered by the noise.

It grabbed its prey, intending to drag it back inside the cave.

Right at that moment, Chen Sansi's two-stone bow was drawn taut as a full moon; a Wolf Teeth Arrow whistled through the air.

"Bang—"

The arrow collided with the tiger's skull, making a dull sound, and got firmly stuck, piercing through the bone but failing to reach the brainstem and deliver a fatal blow!

Such a tiger must be close to an Exotic Beast?!

"Roar—"

In pain, the Big Worm roared and with a swipe of its paw broke off the arrow shaft in its forehead, then, with a gust of Gale, charged towards the direction of its attacker.