The four men and four dogs headed for Xing San’s dugout.

Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu dragged the sow, which was over two hundred pounds. Xing San himself hauled the yellow-haired one—which weighed less than a hundred pounds after being bled out.

As for Xu Changlin, he was truly getting old. Even though he wasn’t carrying anything but a rifle on his back, he still walked at the very rear of the group.

Once they got the boars to the dugout, Xu Changlin went inside to rest. Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu helped Xing San skin the two boars outside, butcher the meat, and then left it to freeze in the snow.

Then, Xing San chopped up the boar ribs he had set aside earlier. He also took out some frozen pickled cabbage shreds and went back inside to stew a pot of wild boar ribs with pickled cabbage for Zhao Jun and the others.

After eating and drinking their fill, everyone went to bed early.

The next morning, the four of them were all up before five.

They lit a kerosene lamp, had a quick bite to eat, and fed the dogs until they were half-full. Xing San went up the mountain to check his roe deer snares. Meanwhile, Zhao Jun, Li Baoyu, and Xu Changlin split into two groups and moved to encircle the lynx at Jumping Stone Pond.

As Xu Changlin had instructed, Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu took Hua Xiao’Er, Daqing, and Da Huang and waited on the south side.

Xu Changlin would approach from the north with White Dragon to flush the lynx out.

Xu Changlin climbed North Ridge, making his way into Jumping Stone Pond. He walked with his rifle in his right hand, leading White Dragon with his left.

It was a little after seven, almost eight o’clock, when Xu Changlin finally arrived at Jumping Stone Pond with White Dragon.

As soon as they entered Jumping Stone Pond, White Dragon let out a "WOOF! WOOF!" toward the path ahead.

"Who’s up ahead?" Xu Changlin asked. He, too, could faintly see someone in front of them.

"Brother Xu." The speaker was none other than Qin Dajiang. He and the three Tao Brothers came forward to greet Xu Changlin.

"Jiang." Politeness, after all, had to be returned. Even though Xu Changlin wasn’t fond of Qin Dajiang, he had to acknowledge the greeting.

"Brother Xu, what brings you here?" Seeing Xu Changlin leading a dog, Qin Dajiang’s heart sank. ’This is bad,’ he thought.

Xu Changlin gave a faint smile and was just about to answer when he felt White Dragon tugging on the leash, trying to pull him forward.

White Dragon’s action, however, alerted Qin Dajiang and the Tao Brothers. The four men looked in the direction White Dragon was facing and saw the Big Stone Cliff.

Holding the leash, Xu Changlin followed White Dragon forward.

Qin Dajiang, meanwhile, had already raised his rifle.

"WOOF..."

The closer they got to the cliff, the more ferocious White Dragon’s barks became, and the harder he struggled.

Suddenly, a grayish, large cat-like animal scurried out from a crevice in the rocks at the base of the cliff.

It was the very lynx they were looking for!

The lynx appeared, darting out from the crevice. It paused on the snow, turned its head, and gave the men a cool, indifferent glance.

BANG!

The instant the shot rang out, the lynx vanished in a blur.

"WOOF WOOF..." White Dragon barked frantically.

"After it!" Tao Dasheng roared, charging ahead of everyone. His two younger brothers followed close behind.

"Get back here!" Qin Dajiang shouted, stopping the three. "What’s the point in chasing?" he snapped. "Where do you think you’re going to catch that thing?"

You have to understand, a lynx can run even faster than a roe deer.

And a roe deer? Even dogs can’t catch one.

As for a man, with just two legs, what hope is there of outrunning anything?

Qin Dajiang glanced at Xu Changlin. Seeing the old man’s calm expression, he couldn’t help but feel a flicker of suspicion.

Just then, White Dragon suddenly spun around and lunged back the way they had come, pulling Xu Changlin off balance.

"What the—?" Qin Dajiang tensed, hurriedly breaking open his rifle to reload.

But then they heard someone shout from the north, "Who’s up there?"

As soon as the person spoke, White Dragon stopped and started barking where he stood.

Xu Changlin frowned slightly, then a faint smile appeared on his face. "Is that Youcai?" he called out.

No sooner had the old man spoken than Zhao Youcai’s voice came from the mountain path. He was jogging and panting heavily, clearly having rushed over after hearing the gunshot.

"Xu... White Dragon?" Zhao Youcai came closer. He was about to greet Xu Changlin but then spotted his own dog.

Seeing his master, White Dragon strained against the leash to get to Zhao Youcai, then put his front paws on the man’s legs.

Zhao Youcai stroked White Dragon’s head and asked Xu Changlin, "Where’s my boy?"

"Who knows," Xu Changlin said with a laugh. "We flushed out a sounder of boars yesterday, so we came out early today to chase them and got separated."

"Ah!" Zhao Youcai nodded. Then he asked, "That little brat said he was going with you to take on the Black Bear’s Den. How’d you end up chasing a bunch of pigs instead?"

Xu Changlin was taken aback for a moment, but he was a wily old man. He immediately laughed and said, "The Black Bear got away. Your boy and I figured we couldn’t go back empty-handed, so we decided to hunt a couple of boars instead. The Longtaitou Festival is coming up, after all."

Zhao Youcai shot the old man a sidelong glance, thinking, ’Too bad. If he’d dared to say he and Zhao Jun had already killed the Black Bear, I’d have demanded half the Bear Gall no matter what.’

As for Xu Changlin’s explanation, Zhao Youcai didn’t believe a single word of it.

Because the day before yesterday, as soon as he got home, he’d heard from Li Dayong that while Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu were ostensibly going after the Black Bear’s Den, they were actually after the lynx.

This had infuriated Zhao Youcai, so yesterday he had dragged Wang Dalong all over the area searching for it.

That was why Wang Dalong had given up today and refused to come no matter what. But Zhao Youcai, persistent as ever, had entered the mountains alone with his rifle.

While Zhao Youcai and Xu Changlin were talking, Qin Dajiang and the three Tao Brothers stood off to the side, watching.

Ordinarily, no matter how important their conversation was, with other people present whom they all knew, they should have at least exchanged greetings.

But Zhao Youcai acted as if he hadn’t even seen the four of them. And Xu Changlin made no effort to bring them into the conversation.

Just then, a gunshot echoed from the south. Zhao Youcai shot a quick glance at Xu Changlin, then slung the rifle from his shoulder and started running south.

Seeing this, Qin Dajiang handed the reloaded rifle to Tao Dasheng and said, "Quick, Great Victory, you chase!"

Without a word, Tao Dasheng took the rifle and ran. Tao Ersheng and Tao Sansheng followed right behind him.

「A little more than half a kilometer to the south.」

It was a stretch of Qingtang Forest, just as Xu Changlin had described—the trees were sparse.

The moment the lynx entered the forest, a volley of barks erupted as three dogs came charging toward it.

The lynx leaped into a tree, scrambling onto a branch in just a few movements. But just as it steadied itself, a gunshot rang out. It hurriedly leaped down, barely dodging the bullet.

The moment the lynx hit the ground, Hua Xiao’Er was on it, sinking his teeth into its rear.

The lynx shrieked, twisting around to claw at Hua Xiao’Er’s eyes.

Before Hua Xiao’Er could dodge, Daqing lunged forward and clamped his jaws on the lynx’s head. Daqing then shook his head violently, thrashing the trapped lynx back and forth.

Not to be outdone, Da Huang leaped and bit one of the lynx’s front paws. The three dogs then pulled backward in different directions, stretching the lynx out between them.

Just then, Zhao Jun closed the distance in two strides. He flipped the rifle in his hands, brought the butt of it swinging down, and smashed it onto the lynx’s back.