Immortal Path to Heaven
chapter-53

After the forest leopard was handled, a soldier went to carry it.

The soldier was not considered very burly, and he was one of the soldiers who had not advanced to Yin Grade yet. The leopard might not be the heaviest among the other ferocious beasts, but it was definitely a burden for the soldier.

Nonetheless, the soldier carried it without a murmur, and the others acted like it was a very normal thing.

Ou Yangming looked at him then asked, “Squad Leader Yan, how many beasts do we have to kill to achieve the target?”

“Normally, if nobody’s injured, we’ll leave after hunting five big-sized ferocious beasts,” Yan Haobo answered after thinking for a while, then explained, “After all, it’s quite dangerous here, so it’s hard for us to leave completely unharmed without enough resilience.”

Ou Yangming nodded. ‘It turns out that every squad that enters the dense forest can only kill five ferocious beasts.’

Although it was impossible that there was only one squad hunting in the forest, the fact that Sui Hezhi sent Ou Yangming a ferocious beast once in every ten days proved that he had put in a lot of effort.

For the next three days, they simply roamed in the dense forest. The biggest takeaway for Ou Yangming was that he understood the way to judge the depth of the forest by observing the surroundings.

Needless to say, it was not easy to survive in the deep forest. Even if one had exceptional martial arts skills, one who was not fully prepared would be in serious trouble. In fact, one could even be killed.

Ou Yangming paid attention to every detail because he needed to be well-prepared if he came alone next time.

Perhaps they were very lucky, they hunted five big-sized wild beasts by the third day. Other than the forest leopard from the start, they killed three wild boars and a giant wolf.

The giant wolf was a unique species in the forest, which was much larger than a normal wolf. Even though it did not appear as a pack, it was quite a problematic beast to handle. Despite that, they managed to kill it by working together.

After gathering five wild beasts, they achieved their hunting target.

It was worth noting that they could not overdo it when they were trying to survive in the dense forest. If they were too greedy, it was possible that all of them would be wiped out.

Nevertheless, there were still injuries among the soldiers when they tried to subdue the giant wolf, by which two soldiers were hurt. One was injured on the leg, whereas the other’s right shoulder and groin were hurt, all while having protection from their armor. If it was not for the pieces of equipment, they would have been half-dead.

Among the squad, five of them carried quarries, and two of them were injured, so they could not hunt in the forest anymore. In fact, it would be difficult for them to leave the forest with ease.

All of a sudden, Ou Yangming stopped and furrowed his eyebrows because the Vision +1 attribute allowed him to see things that were beyond a normal person’s range.

He noticed a dark shadow that had become one with a big tree far away, but he knew that it was a forest leopard that was a size bigger than the one they encountered in the beginning.

It stayed on the tree quietly and curbed its aura, so it was not eye-catching at all.

Nobody from the squad was being the pathfinder at the moment as they had limited manpower, thus they were not as careful as they were before.

The person at the front was a Yin Grade soldier, but it did not notice the danger above his head at all.

Ou Yangming hesitated then stopped. “Wait!”

Everyone stopped right away to look at him strangely.

“Squad Leader Yan, I sense danger. How about we stop to look around before we leave?” Ou Yangming proposed.

Yan Haobo was slightly stunned and frustrated. Ou Yangming had been very cooperative without causing any trouble throughout their journey, yet he suddenly raised this suggestion when everyone was eager to leave the dense forest after finishing their hunt.

“Squad Leader, there’s no danger ahead,” An archer frowned as he expressed, then continued after a pause, “Some of us are already injured, which lowered out combat power, so it’s best for us to leave before sunset!”

The others nodded in agreement.

In actual fact, the archer was one of the scouts in the squad, thus the others naturally believed him when he said that everything was fine. On the other hand, Ou Yangming was just a stranger who did not do much during the hunt, hence it was quite difficult that they would trust him.

Yan Haobo pondered. “Master Ou, I’m sure you can see that there are some in the squad who are injured, and we have quarries to carry, so we need to leave as soon as possible. We’ll only draw attention from wild beasts once it’s nighttime, and I’m afraid that there’ll only be more injuries. It’s best that we leave this place now.”

He would have agreed if Ou Yangming suggested this when they first entered the dense forest, but they were currently in a different situation. Besides, they could not afford to waste more time.

Ou Yangming sighed but was determined that he would enter the forest alone next time.

With that, they continued their journey but were more alert after Ou Yangming’s warning.

The archer did not leave the squad behind as he was still leading in front. Ou Yangming felt helpless because the archer soon took the path where the forest leopard was hiding above.

Since the big tree was very dense, and the leopard’s color was very similar to the branches’, it could not be easily spotted.

Therefore, Ou Yangming was the only one who noticed it.

Ou Yangming slowed down as he circulated his essential Qi inside his body while holding his saber tightly. He was ready to attack at any time. The soldiers who brought him into the dense forest taught him plenty of useful knowledge, thus he was not going to watch them die no matter what.

He soon felt strange because the forest leopard did not move an inch when the archer who was at the front walked past the big tree, let alone pounce on the archer.

Ou Yangming wondered, ‘Did it notice how powerful our squad is, so it didn’t dare to come down?’

If that was the case, it would be good for him as he would not need to waste his energy.

Ou Yangming would have devoured the forest leopard’s Qi and blood after killing it if he was alone, but he would not do something so improper since he was with the rest of the squad.

As they advanced forward, Ou Yangming walked past the big tree as well, but it was at that moment when he figured it out.

He came to a sudden realization that the forest leopard’s target was not the archer in front, but the last person in the line.

Hence, he quickly stopped.

Right then, the forest leopard that was hiding above him seemed to have sensed something, so it leaped down at the last person in the line.

“Oh no!”

Those who saw the black shadow screamed.

They knew that they had encountered a violent beast that lurked in the dark like a venomous snake.

Whether it was Yan Haobo or the archer who turned to look because of the noise, they were extremely regretful. Why did they not listen to Ou Yangming’s suggestion earlier? As a result, one of their brothers was going to be in grave danger.

The person at the back of the file was a stern-looking middle-aged man. He was being very cautious, but the moment the sound of wind above him, a black shadow came into view.

Knowing that he could not dodge in time, he faced danger fearlessly and quickly squatted while wielding his saber.

However, the forest leopard seemed to have interacted with humans before, thus it swung its claw at the middle-aged man’s hand. Instantly, the back of the man’s palm had numerous deep cuts, forcing him to let go of his saber as he lost his grip.

The man was appalled, but just as he had no choice left but to wait for his death, a strong force pushed him away.

“Scree—”

A sharp, shrill voice was heard as the forest leopard scratched the man’s armor with its claw to the point that sparks were seen as well.

It was Ou Yangming who pushed the man away during the crucial moment earlier, but his back was scratched by the leopard’s claw as he could not dodge in time.

Yan Haobo roared as he was exasperated. A frightening thought crossed his mind at that moment.

‘This is over. Even if Ou Yangming doesn’t die, he’ll be heavily injured!’

Wild beasts in the forest must not be taken lightly. Due to their sharp teeth and claws, one’s armor could even be torn apart if one faced a beast head-on. Since the forest leopard was able to hide himself to deceive the soldiers, it was obvious that he was unordinary and outstanding.

How could one’s armor withstand a ferocious beast like that?

If anything were to happen to Ou Yangming, Yan Haobo had no idea how he could explain to his good friend and the general.

After all, Ou Yangming was a Military Fire Blacksmith valued by the general.

With bloodshot eyes, Yan Haobo lifted his military saber while charging at the forest leopard. He only had one thought at that moment, which was that he would kill the brute no matter what, even if it meant that he had to sacrifice himself.

Just as he was going to attack, he was surprised by what he saw.

Ou Yangming did not collapse to the ground. Instead, he turned around with his military saber in the air, then shifted outward strangely yet reasonably to go around the forest leopard’s claws and body. While doing all that, he stabbed his sharp saber deep into the leopard’s rear.

“Roar—”

The forest leopard’s shriek was piercing, and its mournful cries shocked all of them.

Apart from that, the soldiers who witnessed this squeezed their butt subconsciously while shivering in fear.