Zhou Jinhai did not use his own saber.
Although he planned to take this opportunity to kill the head constable, he had no intention of leaving evidence for the county magistrate.
Clutching his chest, the head constable glared viciously at Zhou Jinhai.
He had been set up earlier, forced to take a direct claw strike from a ring-tailed black panther.
Realizing it was a trap, he had abandoned the others and fled deep into the mountains.
The man who had set him up was the county deputy's trusted aide.
The county deputy and the county magistrate had always been secretly at odds.
He just didn't know who had given Zhou Jinhai the nerve to attack him directly.
Understanding his predicament, the head constable only wanted to hide and wait for a chance to flee back to the county town and seek the magistrate's help.
"Heh. What did I do to catch the county deputy's eye, that you'd actually risk coming out here to kill me yourself?"
The head constable and Zhou Jinhai were separated by two ranks in status.
Even if Zhou Jinhai normally neglected his martial arts training, the difference in their physical attributes was like night and day.
He no longer expected to survive. He only hoped that once the magistrate learned of his death, he would take care of his family.
Therefore, he had to leave behind evidence that Zhou Jinhai was his killer.
Zhou Jinhai gave a half-smile. "If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for wandering around in the middle of the night instead of sleeping."
The head constable frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"Still playing dumb?"
Zhou Jinhai suddenly kicked up a spray of dirt. Using the wind to his advantage, he closed the distance.
He struck the head constable's chest with his palm, instantly caving it in.
The head constable jerked his head aside. Despite taking the heavy blow, he neither dodged nor retreated, but instead lunged to grab Zhou Jinhai's fist and sleeve with both hands.
But a cold glint flashed in Zhou Jinhai's eyes. Already prepared, he swiftly deflected the head constable's wrists to keep the man from touching him, and followed up with a vicious kick straight to his already shattered chest.
Unable to withstand the force, the head constable flew backward, spitting blood.
He landed hard against the mountain rocks and struggled for a brief moment before his body violently twitched and went still.
Zhou Jinhai stepped forward, maintaining his guard. He checked the head constable's neck to confirm he had no pulse, and only then stood to clean up the scene.
But just as he rose, a flash of bright silver caught his left peripheral vision.
Sunlight struck it, reflecting a sharp glare.
Zhou Jinhai narrowed his eyes, abruptly freezing in place.
Someone was ambushing him from the side, but they hadn't anticipated that the angle of their weapon would catch the sunlight and alert him.
Yet a second later, a soft "thwip" sounded in his ear.
Followed by a wave of excruciating pain.
Something had burrowed into his ear and drilled straight into his brain!
The previous attack was a feint! It was just to draw my attention so they could strike from another direction.
Zhou Jinhai figured it out, but he could no longer move.
He stood hunched over, staring at the dead constable in front of him.
He had set a trap to kill the constable, only to be ambushed by someone else.
So... who was the real prey?
Zhou Jinhai's vision went black. He finally collapsed across the constable he had just murdered.
The Silver Kingfisher landed beside Zhou Jinhai's ear, using its slender little beak to pluck Li Ban's iron arrow from his brain.
Then, carrying an iron arrow that was even longer than its own body, it wobbled unsteadily through the air toward Li Ban.
Li Ban tucked the Silver Kingfisher and the iron arrow away. After double-checking his surroundings to ensure no one was near, he hurriedly erased his tracks and retraced his steps.
He didn't consider setting the corpses on fire.
The thick smoke would only attract attention.
In a primeval mountain forest like this, wild beasts were the best tools for disposing of bodies.
Before leaving, he used Zhou Jinhai's own saber to carve a few gashes into the man's body. The stench of blood would soon draw out the local beasts.
A short while later, Li Ban returned to the spot where he had slain a ring-tailed black panther earlier.
The black panther's corpse was exactly where he had left it. A few large black birds had already landed on it, drinking its blood and tearing at its flesh.
Li Ban waved his saber to scare the birds away. He then further mangled the bite marks on the panther's corpse and rolled on the ground a few times to forge the appearance of a grueling battle.
Just as he was about to drag the panther back, he suddenly remembered something. He unfastened his Sleeve Arrow and found a rabbit hole to bury it in.
By the time Li Ban dragged the panther's corpse back, he arrived just in time to see the rest of his squad swarming a young black panther.
Liu Mu had negotiated terms with Zhou Jinhai, but since Zhou Jinhai could no longer pay the reward, Li Ban naturally had no interest in interfering with whether they spared the cub.
Thus, the young panther was besieged until it died.
The group let out a cheer, only then noticing Li Ban returning with the massive black panther in tow.
Li Ban dropped the panther's carcass onto the ground and dusted his hands off, letting the others carry it the rest of the way.
"You're truly amazing, sir! This black panther ran quite a distance; we thought it would manage to escape deep into the mountains," one of the runners flattered him.
Li Ban waved him off without a word. He patted the dirt and weeds from his clothes. "Let's go. We'll check the other areas."
However, the runners dawdled, clearly reluctant.
Li Ban could tell that after securing two catches, they had lost their appetite for venturing deeper into the mountains.
They might not have known Zhou Jinhai's true intentions.
It was just that they lacked an identity, and were afraid of encountering stronger ring-tailed black panthers and suffering casualties.
If this group were to run into a ring-tailed black panther with elementalized limbs, they might win if they swarmed it all at once, but they would also likely suffer severe casualties.
Even though these men respectfully called Li Ban "sir," they weren't actually his subordinates.
Li Ban couldn't be bothered to force them.
He twirled the saber in his hand. "Let's head back and see if anyone needs help."
This instantly brightened everyone's mood.
And so, the group began their return trek, carrying the large and small black panthers.
As they neared the edge of the woods, Li Ban noticed a commotion ahead.
Narrowing his eyes, he immediately spotted an enormous ring-tailed black panther lunging left and right through a crowd of people.
They weren't far from the main road now. He didn't know why this panther was charging toward the road where the crowd was thickest instead of fleeing deep into the mountains.
Li Ban was just about to step forward to help when he suddenly caught sight of Shen Kong in the crowd.
The massive black panther lunged straight for him.
In a moment of desperation, Shen Kong grabbed a companion and pulled the man in front of himself as a meat shield.
But because the black panther's strength was so immense, both men were sent flying.
A small gap instantly opened in the encirclement.
Someone immediately shouted, "Stop it!"
Yet, intimidated by the black panther's ferocious combat prowess, the others were too afraid to step forward.
"Sir?" a runner behind Li Ban asked with a tremble, having vaguely made out the scene in the distance.
Li Ban had said they were going back to help, but the black panther being surrounded up ahead was far too massive. They completely dreaded going over.
Li Ban didn't plan on bringing them over to help either.
Send them to help, just so they could save Shen Kong?
He raised a hand. "Wait here. I'll go take a look."
Instantly, he heard several long sighs of relief from the men behind him.
Li Ban didn't mock them, merely walking forward alone.
However, he didn't approach quickly, instead constantly evaluating the situation on the battlefield.
Seeing the gap, the colossal black panther didn't flee right away, but instead pounced on the two men on the ground once more.
Now Li Ban was in even less of a hurry to go over.
He watched the black panther lower its head and bite down, instantly tearing a massive chunk out of Shen Kong's neck.
Blood geysered out like a fountain.
What a delightful sight!
Shen Kong's head lolled to the side, ending up staring right at Li Ban, who was jogging over at a leisurely pace.
His eyes widened and he opened his mouth as if trying to call for help.
But only blood bubbles frothed from his lips.
Finally, the light faded from Shen Kong's eyes, right before his head was torn apart by the black panther's descending giant claws.
Only then did Li Ban arrive.
Surprisingly, the massive black panther still hadn't left.
Li Ban suddenly thought of the Cat Girl.
They were all felines... could the Cat Girl have slipped catnip onto Shen Kong?
Otherwise, why would this black panther bite onto Shen Kong and absolutely refuse to let go?