Chapter 27: Hunter

Seeing Han Yuan retract his saber, the hunter visibly relaxed.

"This Great Tiger Mountain is indeed a labyrinth. Most people can’t find their way out."

"You’re lucky you ran into me. Otherwise, you’d probably be spending the night here."

The hunter chuckled.

"Then I’ll have to trouble you to lead the way," Han Yuan said, cupping his fist in thanks.

"It’s no trouble. We all have to help each other out when we’re away from home."

The hunter waved a hand.

Just like that, Han Yuan followed the hunter, heading down the mountain.

On the way, Han Yuan asked curiously, "Brother, I heard that Great Tiger Mountain is full of ferocious beasts and that few hunters dare to come here."

The hunter sighed. "I had no choice. I haven’t caught anything for days, so I had to take a chance here on Great Tiger Mountain."

"Thankfully, I had some luck today. At least I’m not going home empty-handed."

Han Yuan nodded slightly. "Great Tiger Mountain is dangerous. Besides the beasts, there are plenty of bandits. You’d be wise to come here as little as possible."

"Don’t worry, I can handle myself in these mountains."

"But you, little brother, why did you come into Great Tiger Mountain in the first place?"

the hunter asked curiously.

"I got lost... and wandered deep into Great Tiger Mountain by accident."

Han Yuan explained casually.

"I see..." The hunter didn’t press the issue.

The two fell silent, hurrying through the gloomy mountain forest.

GRRRRR...

Suddenly.

Han Yuan heard some strange sounds.

It sounded something like sharp teeth tearing through flesh.

"Brother, be careful."

"These woods are teeming with beasts after nightfall."

The hunter took the Bow and Arrow from his back, cautiously scanning his surroundings.

Han Yuan nodded.

The two proceeded with caution.

Suddenly.

Han Yuan’s eyes narrowed. In a flash, he charged into a patch of tall grass.

A gray mountain wolf was there, gnawing on a corpse.

The gray mountain wolf, seemingly hearing Han Yuan’s approach, bared its fangs and lunged viciously at him.

SHUNK!

A terrifying gleam of light flashed from a blade in the darkness.

The pouncing wolf’s head was split open in mid-air. With a final whimper, it crashed heavily to the ground.

Its body was still twitching.

The stench of blood filled the air in the gloomy forest.

Without a second glance at the wolf’s carcass, Han Yuan walked over to the corpse it had been gnawing on.

In the faint moonlight, he could just barely make out the corpse’s profile.

BOOM!

It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck his very Heart Spirit.

Han Yuan’s scalp tingled, his expression twisting in absolute horror.

’No... That’s impossible...’

RUSTLE, RUSTLE...

Just then, the hunter rushed in, Bow and Arrow in hand.

He first spotted the wolf’s corpse on the ground and exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Brother, what skill! The wolves in these mountains are cunning and fierce, yet you took one down with a single strike."

Han Yuan didn’t answer. He only gripped his saber tighter.

"Hm... And someone’s dead here, too..."

"A shame... Must have been killed by the wolves."

The hunter said, shaking his head.

But Han Yuan quietly rose to his feet. As the hunter bent down to examine the corpse, he plunged his saber into the man’s back.

SQUELCH!

The hunter, not expecting the sudden attack, was completely defenseless.

Han Yuan’s strike was incredibly precise, piercing straight through his back and into his heart.

POOF!

The hunter actually dissolved into a puff of black smoke.

"Pain... It hurts so much..."

The corpse that had been lying on the ground moments before began to speak, its voice eerie.

CRACK...

The corpse’s head, which had been turned to the side, now snapped ninety degrees to face Han Yuan, its expression a mask of agony and venomous hatred.

The face was identical to that of the hunter who had just dissolved into black smoke.

A chill shot through Han Yuan’s body at the sight. He quickly backed away and couldn’t help but shout, "What are you... man or ghost?"

"Pain... I’m in so much pain!"

But the hunter-corpse’s skin was deathly pale, its eyes filled with malice.

Han Yuan could even smell the stench of death wafting from its body.

’Dammit...’

In his two lifetimes, Han Yuan had never encountered anything like this. He was incredibly tense.

The events of this night were far beyond his comprehension.

But training with the blade also meant training one’s courage.

After all, Han Yuan had cultivated his Thousand Falcons Blade Technique to the realm of Great Perfection, and his courage was greater than that of an ordinary person.

So while he was tense, his Heart Spirit remained unshaken.

"Fragrant... Your flesh smells so fragrant... I’m going to eat you!"

The hunter-corpse shot up from the ground, drew a short blade from its waist, and lunged at Han Yuan.

SWOOSH!

Its speed was incredible. Like a phantom, it appeared before Han Yuan in an instant and stabbed viciously downward!

CLANG!

Han Yuan’s focus was absolute. The instant the creature swung, he met the blow with a precise slash of his own.

The long saber and short blade clashed violently!

A ferocious Power suddenly knocked his long saber aside.

Han Yuan himself was sent stumbling back several steps.

He hadn’t expected the creature’s strength to be so immense.

The next moment.

The creature pounced like a wild beast, its short blade stabbing viciously toward his chest.

Han Yuan dodged aside, condensing all his strength. The muscles in his left arm bulged and knotted as he threw a vicious punch.

Mountain-Smashing Hammer!

A move from the Mountain-Breaking Fist Technique.

BAM!

Before the creature’s short blade could fall, Han Yuan’s fist smashed heavily into its head.

It was like punching a block of cold, hard stone.

The creature’s eyeball was blasted from its socket by the force of the punch, and it staggered back several steps.

Han Yuan seized the opportunity, stepping forward and gripping his saber with both hands to unleash a terrifying flurry of strikes.

Falcon Dance in the Sky!

Power surged from the muscles in his arms.

A dense web of saber light, like a chaotic flock of birds in flight, descended upon the creature.

SHLICK!

Slash after slash.

He carved one gruesome gash after another into the creature’s body.

The final strike slit the creature’s throat.

With Han Yuan’s strength, severing its neck with a single blow should have been no problem.

But this time, he found the creature’s bones were exceptionally hard. He only made it halfway through before his blade’s edge buckled.

Not a single drop of blood sprayed out.

’Such hard bones,’ Han Yuan thought, his brow furrowed.

With that strike, his momentum was spent, leaving him in that vulnerable instant before he could muster his strength for the next move. He had lost his rhythm.

The creature’s current appearance was beyond terrifying. Its body was covered in a dense web of gashes, its neck was half-severed, and its nose, eyes, and mouth had been pulverized into a bloody pulp.

Yet it could still let out a hoarse roar and charge at Han Yuan.

SHIK-SHIK-SHIK!

It swung its short blade in a wild, frantic flurry.

Han Yuan continuously dodged, recovering his spent Qi Power.

A dozen breaths later, Han Yuan let out a ferocious roar, gripping his saber with both hands and bringing it down with all his might.

The blade descended in a flash of light.

SQUELCH!

The creature’s head was instantly split wide open.

Han Yuan simultaneously landed a vicious kick to its lower abdomen.

THUMP!

The force of the heavy blow sent the creature sprawling to the ground.

"I’ll chop your damn head to pieces and see if you die then!"

With a look of sinister brutality, Han Yuan raised his long saber and began hacking at it madly.

’After all, he was someone who had already died once.’

’We’ve both died once, so who’s afraid of who?!’

He hacked down dozens of times, not stopping until the saber’s edge was bent and ruined.

The hunter-corpse had been literally chopped into a bloody, meaty pulp.

"You wanted to kill me, huh?!"

"I’ll grind your bones to dust!"

Still not satisfied, Han Yuan gathered some firewood, burned the pulped remains to ash, and only then did he leave.

This time, he didn’t get lost. He left Great Tiger Mountain without any trouble.