Chapter 291: Young Men & Hunters
Inside the coffin, the zombie cthulhu seemed unsettled. Lin Jin knew he must be hungry.
A rare beast such as this zombie cthulhu was very unique and they loved fresh meat.
At times, they could eat a ton and last for more than ten days without eating. Since Lin Jin was to treat the zombie cthulhu, he definitely couldn’t let the creature starve.
He had White Ape toss the bird’s corpse into the coffin. Then, Lin Jin allowed White Ape to carry the coffin to hunt for food around Mount Gua with the condition that they wouldn’t hurt any humans.
Since following Lin Jin around, White Ape had been behaving and respectful. Now that he was given an opportunity to run free, of course he was ecstatic. After bowing, he quickly carried the coffin and ran off.
Lin Jin stood at the peak, enjoying the mountain breeze and scenery from above.
Though Mount Gua wasn’t a famous location, it had a great view. From above, watching the mountains and rivers nearby relaxed the mind.
Watching longer improved one’s mood as well.
It was no wonder expert cultivators loved retreating into huge mountains to live in seclusion. Sects and temples loved setting up their base at mountain peaks too. Not only did this imply superiority and transcendence, but it was also beneficial to their cultivation.
Still, enjoying the view from time to time was good enough. To do it every day would render it ineffective.
Lin Jin scanned the area below and was surprised that he could see White Ape carrying the zombie cthulhu as they hunted for food in the distant forest. The zombie cthulhu was obviously a carnivore but White Ape was an omnivore that ate everything.
On regular days, White Ape consumed mostly fruits but he would also eat meat sometimes.
For instance, now. White Ape swiftly captured a mountain deer and tore it apart to feast on it. The zombie cthulhu was much quicker. With a sweep of his tentacles, he effortlessly caught wild beasts before sucking them dry, turning them into dried corpses.
That was somewhat cruel.
However, natural selection was the law of nature. Lin Jin couldn’t have them starve to death, right?
Lin Jin wasn’t being hypocritical about this. He only stopped beasts and monsters from eating humans because Lin Jin himself was a human. Had Lin Jin been a deer, he would stop monsters and beasts from consuming deers instead.
Inside the forest, White Ape clearly wasn’t satisfied by just one deer. Turning around, he noticed that Zombie Cthulhu had eaten more than him.
Reluctant to give in, he sniffed around from leaping up, covering a distance of several hundred feet to reach a valley. Here, several wild boars were trembling in hiding. Once White Ape descended, the wild boars scattered out of fright.
But how could they ever escape?
White Ape was a monster who had practiced cultivation. Revealing an eerie grin, he made a grabbing gesture and easily caught a wild boar that had escaped far away.
The wild boar squealed but White Ape was unfazed. Opening his mouth, he devoured it alive, making crunching sounds as he chewed the creature with sharp teeth.
“That should do it.” White Ape wasn’t a greedy monkey. He usually stopped when he had had enough. Although he could still eat another ten pigs if he wanted, after he began cultivation, White Ape didn’t find meaning in mindlessly supplementing on meat.
Consuming meat occasionally was more than enough. According to Master Lin, if he wanted to improve his cultivation, he had to cut down on meat consumption as he would need to absorb essence from flora and spirit energy from nature. As time progressed, he would consume meat less and less until he could last several months, perhaps years even without needing to eat meat. By then, he would have achieved a certain height in his cultivation.
White Ape knew the benefits of cultivation and he yearned for it. However, completely cutting off meat consumption right away felt like a pity. Hence, he would treasure the times he was allowed to eat meat.
After devouring that enormous wild boar, White Ape was about to head back to find Zombie Cthulhu. But all of a sudden, an arrow shot toward him from a nearby distance.
The arrow came swiftly with a burst of wind, aiming at White Ape.
A regular beast would have been shot, incapable of reacting in time. But White Ape was no average beast. He was a monster. Even if he was only Rank 3, he wouldn’t get hurt by a mere arrow.
His body trembled with energy as an invisible aura spread out three feet from his being. Once the arrow entered this range, it was stopped one foot away and fell to the ground.
White Ape turned to see several human silhouettes running in his direction with a few pet beasts in tow.
“Continue firing your arrows. Don’t let that white ape escape.”
“Haha, this forest isn’t huge but we actually found a white ape. It must be a rare breed. Once we capture it, it’ll definitely fetch a good price.”
“We can’t be sure of that. This white ape clearly looks like a dangerous beast adept at killing. If we let it live, it’ll definitely harm humans. Since we’re on a training journey throughout the lands to fight for justice, we can’t leave it be after encountering this beast.”
“Preach!”
As the men spoke, a few other arrows came flying at White Ape.
“Run? Why would I run?” White Ape mumbled to himself. He remained rooted to the spot as he watched the men rush over. As for the arrows, they obviously fell to the ground after hitting the invisible barrier.
In an instant, White Ape was surrounded by these men.
Standing in the frontlines were a few ferocious beasts. Among them were lions, tigers, and leopards. None of these beasts were creatures a regular family could afford and there was even a visibly rare creature in their ranks.
It was a four-eyed saber tooth tiger.
With a significant rank to boot. This creature led the group as the other beasts surrounded White Ape.
Standing a hundred feet away were the humans.
Two of them were dressed like hunters while the others donned unusual coordination. They wore brocades on the inside and animal skin armor on the outside equipped with chest guards and scaled leg covers. The two hunters were carrying bows while the other three had long swords ready at their waists, dressed like heroes.
In their group of five, the two hunters were hired by the other three to train here in Mount Gua’s forest. Simply put, they were here to hunt for fun. This was a hobby for many rich kids and martial arts heroes. At certain locations, they would hire local hunters to escort them deep into the forest, allowing them to appreciate the local scenery, increase their experience, and even hunt some wild animals. If they encountered any strong beasts, they would capture or kill them so as to gain new conversation material.
The three men had different origins and backgrounds. One of them was the son of a highly ranked official in Jade Dragon Kingdom, his father the city lord of Jade Dragon’s Fan City. One was the youngest son of a merchant association’s chief whose family’s wealth was comparable to a nation’s. The last one was the son of a prominent martial arts family.
Though today’s era focused on blood contract cultivation, there were still individuals who didn’t take that path and focused on martial arts instead. These people came from families that focused on being warriors.
They only formed blood contracts with beasts to strengthen their vigor, intensifying their might. There weren’t many blood contract warriors in Jade Dragon Kingdom as the country mainly produced friars. However, in some other places, blood contract warriors were the majority. They could even oppress blood contract cultivators by relying only on their physical strength and martial arts skills.
“Young Master Fan, this white ape is physically strong and its fur is clean. It definitely doesn’t look like a regular beast. Your father, City Lord Fan’s birthday will be here soon and this seems like a good opportunity to capture this white ape back and present it to the city lord. It’s best if we can catch it alive, but if we can’t, bringing its skin back should be good enough.” The one speaking was the son of a merchant association’s chief. This guy was plump with sharp eyes but his face was smooth and sophisticated. He was clearly trying to please the city lord’s son.
“Haha, Zhao Xi, I had that exact thought in mind. But this white ape is huge so capturing it alive would be tough.” Young Master Fan looked helpless.
“That might not be the case. Young sirs, I just happened to bring with me some unique drugs, especially used to capture large beasts. Forget one, even if a few more comes our way, I can definitely drug them. I’ll play by ear later and use it on the beast. I guarantee you that this big guy will be out cold for an entire day,” one of the hunters announced confidently, patting his chest.