’But I can forget about that for now. Once I slaughter Yuwen Shuo, that Celestial Eye Cloud Pattern Deer will naturally fall into my hands.’
"That’s right. Once that brat is put to death, we’ll try it out with that Cloud Pattern Deer!" Zou Feng said.
However, Tian Yun shook her head. "I don’t want something he’s used..."
’Uh, is that really something to be so concerned about? It’s not like he actually *did* anything with the Cloud Pattern Deer.’
’But on second thought, it is pretty repulsive.’
’In any case, we’re already here. There should be some untouched Cloud Pattern Deer deeper in Qifeng Mountain...’
The next day, the fully rested Hunting Team set out once more.
Their journey was smooth and uneventful, and they traveled until evening.
The trees ahead were clearly much taller, indicating that the group was about to enter a deeper region of the mountain.
"General Leader, look over there!"
A subordinate pointed to the upper left.
Zou Feng turned to look and immediately saw a great number of gruesome claw marks on the main trunks of several large trees.
There were also some irregular craters on the ground, with rubble scattered everywhere.
Clearly, someone had fought a great battle with some kind of Demon Beast here.
Zou Feng immediately strode over to take a closer look.
’How come some of these craters look like they were made by Bian Yixia’s Round Hammer?’
’Bian Yixia had claimed she was coming to Qifeng Mountain for seclusion, but Zou Feng knew her so-called "seclusion" actually meant venturing deep into the mountain to fight powerful Demon Beasts repeatedly.’
’However, these traces were clearly old, so Bian Yixia wasn’t necessarily still nearby.’
’Besides, while Bian Yixia was brash, she wasn’t stupid. She wouldn’t have delved into this clearly unsettling forest; she would have chosen to go around it.’
’After all, sunlight couldn’t penetrate this part of the forest, visibility was terrible, and it was filled with giant trees so tall you couldn’t see their tops. It was the perfect place for a Demon Beast to launch a sneak attack.’
He peered into the depths for a moment. It wasn’t even dark yet, but he could already see faint shadows flickering within the woods...
Zou Feng was certain that if they entered this forest, they’d be lucky if half the Hunting Team made it out alive within a day.
He therefore immediately gave the order for the Hunting Team to take a detour.
But when Yuwen Shuo saw the team changing direction, he barked in displeasure, "Who told you to take a detour!?"
The men had no choice but to stop, and they all looked to Zou Feng.
Zou Feng had no choice but to approach Yuwen Shuo again. "Young Master Yuwen, we cannot enter this forest. It’s far too dangerous. I’m saying this for your own safety."
"Heh heh, and which of your eyes saw that it was dangerous?" Yuwen Shuo snorted. "It’s exactly in a place like this that you’ll find Demon Beasts worth hunting. Or did you think you came to Qifeng Mountain just to go sightseeing?"
Zou Feng’s tone remained unchanged. "Young Master Yuwen, if you observe the forest carefully, you’ll see. If we go in there, I’m afraid it won’t be us hunting Demon Beasts, but the other way around..."
"You coward. Look at you, absolutely spineless. And you call yourself a General Leader?" Yuwen Shuo said impatiently. "Alright, cut the fucking crap and keep moving!"
This time, Zou Feng didn’t try to argue. Instead, he shot a helpless look at Chief Xie, who was standing nearby.
Xie Ding’s expression was just as grim.
With his level of experience, he could naturally tell that the forest was a deathtrap.
Admittedly, if they truly ran into danger, the Seventh Grade experts, along with the two Sixth Grade experts, Yuwen Shuo and Wu Xing, could probably escape without much issue if they went all out.
After all, the Hunting Team had plenty of people who couldn’t outrun them.
This was why Yuwen Shuo was so brazen.
Besides, wiping out the Ten Directions Sect and capturing a Celestial Eye Cloud Pattern Deer right after entering Qifeng Mountain had made Yuwen Shuo feel like he was the chosen one.
Once he returned from this trip, with the feat of killing two Ten Directions Sect Guardians, the capture of numerous Demon Beasts, and the completed formation of the Rebel Army, his influence in the Cheetah Camp would naturally and significantly increase.
His father would look at him in a whole new light!
So, even if entering the forest resulted in considerable losses for the Hunting Team, it was no big deal.
’It’s just like war,’ he mused. ’How can you fight without casualties?’
As this thought crossed his mind, Yuwen Shuo noticed that the team was still not moving forward as he had commanded.
"Are you all fucking deaf? I said move forward! Didn’t you hear me!?"
The Hunting Team still didn’t respond. After all, the only person who could truly give them orders was the General Leader of the Hongxing Gang.
Zou Feng glanced at the forest again. His expression changed in a flash, and he let out a cold snort. Clasping his hands behind his back, he said, "Yuwen Shuo, you’re really pushing it, aren’t you?"
Yuwen Shuo truly hadn’t expected Zou Feng to turn on him so abruptly. For a moment, he thought he might have misheard.
It was a normal reaction; after all, no one had ever dared to defy him before.
"Since you’ve already picked out your own graveyard, then I’ll be happy to oblige!"
Zou Feng made a one-handed Flower Hand gesture, his knuckles letting out a series of sharp, popping cracks.
In truth, Yuwen Shuo hadn’t entirely forced his hand in revealing his true intentions.
By now, the poison in Yuwen Shuo’s body had just about finished spreading.
Combined with this obviously unsettling forest, it was the perfect place to destroy the corpse and erase all traces of the crime.
When it came to killing Yuwen Shuo, Zou Feng’s biggest worry was that Yuwen Boxi might possess a Magical Artifact capable of locating a corpse and identifying its killer.
He had likely placed some sort of precaution on his son as well.
For example, if Yuwen Shuo encountered true danger, his father would sense it and immediately notify the masters from the nearby Cheetah Camp to rush to the rescue.
Or perhaps, the moment Yuwen Shuo died, some kind of "mark"—the mechanics of which he couldn’t begin to fathom—would be placed on his killer.
Therefore, even burning Yuwen Shuo’s body or letting it be devoured by a Demon Beast wasn’t a guaranteed safe bet.
But this forest felt like a world unto itself; it should be able to block the connection between Magical Artifacts.
A moment later, Yuwen Shuo let out a series of derisive laughs, looking as if he was about to double over in hysterics.
He remained seated atop his mount, not even showing any intention of getting up.
"Excellent. I take back what I said. You’re not a coward. You’ve got guts—a surprising amount of them!"
"But has it occurred to you that you might have just done something monumentally stupid?" Yuwen Shuo watched Zou Feng with a leisurely expression, his eyes like a cat toying with a mouse.
Zou Feng shot back, "The only one doing stupid things here is you, don’t you think?"
"I sometimes wonder if Yuwen Boxi let you run wild just so you’d get yourself killed. Maybe he wants you to meet your end out here so you don’t cause him even greater trouble in the future."
"You..."
Yuwen Shuo’s expression changed, and he immediately pulled a small, translucent, crystalline bead from within his robes.
After stroking the bead a few times with his finger, he said with a vicious expression, "You dumbass. Have you perhaps forgotten the wine I so graciously gifted you?"
Zou Feng shrugged. "Nope, haven’t forgotten. It tasted pretty good."
"You ignorant frog in a well! You don’t even know what you drank... In that case, allow me to show you the meaning of a fate worse than death!"
With that, Yuwen Shuo raised the hand that had stroked the bead, aimed it slowly at Zou Feng, and then snapped his fingers sharply.
The tense, sword-and-dagger atmosphere had already silenced the clearing, so everyone heard the sharp snap of Yuwen Shuo’s fingers with perfect clarity.
Seeing Yuwen Shuo’s supreme confidence, they all assumed their General Leader had long since fallen into his trap, and this was the moment of the final reveal.
And so, nearly everyone held their breath, looking toward Zou Feng with deep concern.
The scene froze.
But after a long moment, nothing had happened to Zou Feng.
Not getting the expected result, Yuwen Shuo was dumbfounded, unable to figure out what had gone wrong.
He strained to snap his fingers again, this time much louder, trying once more to activate the Exotic Poison he had slipped into Zou Feng’s wine.
However, after seven or eight consecutive snaps, it was still no damn use.
Zou Feng just stood there, perfectly fine, a mocking sneer on his face that made Yuwen Shuo both furious and embarrassed.
"A petty parlor trick, and you dare show it off before a true master!"
"Had enough yet? Then next... it’s my turn!"
Before the words had even left his mouth, Zou Feng also raised his hand and, in turn, snapped his fingers at Yuwen Shuo.
This time, the snap seemed to contain some kind of magic, causing the taunt Yuwen Shuo had been preparing to die in his throat.
He clutched his mouth in disbelief as a large gush of foul blood sprayed uncontrollably from his lips.