The second-in-command of Black Wind Stronghold relaxed a little after getting a clear look at the person who had arrived.

As long as it was a person, he had nothing to fear.

Liu Qingshan and his two men also followed Bai Yuan out of the darkness.

He looked at Bai Yuan, who stood at the very front, his face full of admiration. If it weren’t for Bai Yuan, they never would have found the bandits’ location.

"Vile scum! How dare you kill members of my Liu Family! Die!"

Liu Qingshan roared. The Soft Sword at his waist was drawn with a sharp ring as he flew toward the burly, bearded man.

"So, you’re from the Liu Family."

The second-in-command of Black Wind Stronghold gave a vicious smile, raising his large saber to meet the attack.

Saber and sword clashed, and the two were locked in combat.

Both were skin-tempering Martial Artists, and for a time, they were evenly matched.

The skilled Liu Family retainers who had come along also drew their weapons and each chose an opponent.

In the end, only the young man who had complained earlier was left without an opponent—or rather, his opponent had yet to make a move.

Bai Yuan stared coldly at the young man.

’If you choose to be a bandit, you must be prepared to be killed.’

The young man gripped the short saber in his hand tightly. With a roar as if to bolster his own courage, he raised his saber and charged at the youth before him.

When he was less than ten feet away from Bai Yuan, his pupils suddenly constricted.

He saw an unusually large saber appear in the youth’s hands.

The young man had once been a farmer, so he naturally recognized it—a Firewood Cutting Saber!

Before he could react, a flash of silvery-white light streaked across his vision.

A head hit the ground. A life was extinguished.

Enhancement Points +3

The second-in-command of Black Wind Stronghold, who was currently fighting Liu Qingshan, felt his eyelids twitch when he saw this.

He hadn’t expected the Liu Family to hire two Martial Artists just to hunt them down. At this thought, all his will to fight vanished.

The second-in-command of Black Wind Stronghold forced Liu Qingshan back with a powerful, heavy blow, then planned to duck into the mountain forest and escape.

But he had only taken a few steps.

A large saber, glowing with a strange scarlet light, was already descending upon his back.

The strike was too fast—so fast he had no time to dodge.

"AH!"

With a wretched cry, the second-in-command of Black Wind Stronghold met his end.

Enhancement Points +16

Three more miserable cries rang out, and three more corpses littered the mountain forest.

Enhancement Points +5

Enhancement Points +6

Enhancement Points +7

With that, Black Wind Stronghold was completely wiped out.

Bai Yuan looked at the enhancement points on his status panel with satisfaction. Every one of these bandits had blood on their hands; he felt no psychological burden from killing them.

[Name: Bai Yuan]

[Class: Hunter, Swordsman, Boxer]

[Skills: Archery (Proficient), Tiger-Crane Form (Novice), Blood Tiger Saber (Novice), Five Animals Fist (Adept)...]

[Enhancement Points: 37]

He had gained a total of 37 enhancement points from this battle. This was far more efficient than hunting.

"Allocate the points!" 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

[In your seventh year of practicing tracking, you have mastered the habits of most beasts.]

[In your eighth year of practicing tracking, your Tracking Technique has surpassed that of most Hunters.]

...

[In your twenty-seventh year of practicing tracking, your tracking skill has reached perfection.]

[Name: Bai Yuan]

[Class: Hunter, Swordsman, Boxer]

[Skills: Tracking (Proficient), Archery (Proficient), Tiger-Crane Form (Novice), Blood Tiger Saber (Novice), Five Animals Fist (Adept)...]

[Enhancement Points: 0]

Bai Yuan had raised his Tracking skill to the Proficient level, just one level short of Master.

Once his Tracking skill reached the Master level, it would be able to work wonders. It was worth sacrificing some martial arts training time for it.

With his Tracking skill upgraded again, Bai Yuan’s powers of observation grew even stronger.

Just as the Liu Family retainers were preparing to cut off the bandits’ heads to claim a bounty at the County Magistrate’s Office—

Suddenly, a faint sound came from the dark forest behind them.

Bai Yuan’s Tracking skill had reached the Proficient level, and its effects were beginning to show. He could now make out shapes even in the pitch-black darkness.

In the darkness, he saw a weasel with mottled yellow fur, only knee-high, standing upright on its hind legs with a piece of a skullcap on its head. At a glance, it looked like a human child.

Even more bizarre, it wore a human-like, mocking expression on its face, as if Bai Yuan and the others were the prey, and it was the Hunter!

’Third Master Huang?’

The thought flashed through Bai Yuan’s mind like lightning.

In his past life, there were folktales about weasels being the most intelligent of animals, creatures that could easily gain spiritual power and become demons. He never expected to see a real, demonic Huang Pizi after transmigrating.

An intense sense of crisis rose in Bai Yuan’s heart.

’Unbeatable!’

Just then, the Huang Pizi actually spoke in a human voice.

"Do I look like a person to you?"

The sudden, ethereal voice gave Liu Qingshan and his men a huge fright.

In his previous life, Bai Yuan had enjoyed reading strange folk tales. This Huang Pizi was clearly "soliciting a title," a ritual that would lead to a fate worse than death for them.

It wanted to become human!

’Don’t believe the nonsense spouted by those damn Daoists. For an ordinary person, no matter how you answer, the only path is death. The only option is to run.’

"Run!"

Bai Yuan bellowed, spun around, and dove into the woods, breaking into a frantic sprint.

Liu Qingshan’s reaction was just as fast. The instant Bai Yuan turned, he too leaped into the woods, following closely behind him.

He instinctively felt that his only chance of survival was to stick with Bai Yuan.

The three Liu Family retainers weren’t so lucky. They weren’t Martial Artists. They had just snapped out of their shock and hadn’t yet had time to react when they saw a pair of eerie, brownish-yellow pupils. In a mere instant, all three of them collapsed at the same time.

The Huang Pizi leaped onto the three men and began to suck frantically.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, three desiccated corpses lay on the ground.

...

Bai Yuan did not panic and run blindly.

Navigating at night was a fundamental skill for a good Hunter tracking his prey.

With his Proficient-level Tracking, moving through the mountain forest was like walking on flat ground for him.

He and Liu Qingshan ran without stopping for a full hour before finally halting when the eaves of Baisha Town came into view.

HUFF... HUFF...

Bai Yuan and Liu Qingshan lay on the ground, spread-eagled and gasping like oxen. Even the physique of a Martial Artist could barely handle such a long, full-speed sprint.

"That... monster... it won’t follow us, right?"

Liu Qingshan asked Bai Yuan, his voice full of uncertainty.

He recalled the stories told by some of the town’s elders and thus avoided speaking the Huang Pizi’s name directly.

Bai Yuan shook his head with certainty.

"It won’t."

The reason he was so sure was because he had encountered this Huang Pizi in a small game in his past life. It was the final boss of the beginner village.

As long as the Huang Pizi absorbed enough vital energy, it wouldn’t chase anyone else. The three Liu Family retainers were more than enough to sate it.

Liu Qingshan’s expression turned ugly. As he fled, he had caught a glimpse of the Huang Pizi sucking the vital energy out of his men.

Those three retainers were all skilled experts painstakingly trained by the Liu Family. To think they would die just like that... This was a devastating loss.

Bai Yuan’s eyes lit up, and he rubbed his hands together excitedly.

In his past life, after clearing the beginner village and defeating the Huang Pizi, it had dropped a lot of good loot—including a treasure that Bai Yuan desperately needed right now.

Liu Qingshan noticed Bai Yuan’s strange behavior.

"Junior Brother Bai, what are you thinking about?"

"I’m thinking about how to clear the stage."

"Clear the stage?"

"..."