In the end, it was Li Ban and a few merchant hands who joined forces to take down the massive ring-tailed black panther.
After biting through Shen Kong's neck, the vicious beast appeared somewhat intoxicated.
To keep anyone from noticing the panther's abnormal state, Li Ban chopped off its head without much effort.
The men who fought alongside him suffered no further casualties. When the battle finally ended, Li Ban wiped his blade, sheathed his saber, and pointed at Shen Kong's corpse.
"He's from our Death Prison. Please wrap him up separately; I'm taking him back."
Shen Kong's earlier move of using a comrade as a shield had left the bystanders furious, but in their eyes, Li Ban was a godsend. They all nodded repeatedly, voicing no complaints.
The people who had been hiding in the back came forward, looking at Li Ban with a mix of admiration and awe.
The more black panthers they killed, the greater the share of credit they could claim.
Furthermore, Li Ban hadn't needed anyone to help him surround, chase, or intercept the target. He had slain the most troublesome beast all by himself.
Without waiting for Li Ban's orders, the men immediately set to work—some carrying the panthers, others hauling the corpse.
The large group marched back toward their starting point in high spirits.
Li Ban thought they were returning late, but upon reaching the starting point, he realized they were actually the first group back.
The people waiting outside the forest broke into cheers when they saw Li Ban's group walk out carrying three black panthers.
The group rested where they were, and Li Ban made no mention of going back in to look for the others.
Half a shichen later, Liu Mu emerged as well.
Although his team had returned later, they brought back only two black panthers.
There was still a pleased look on Liu Mu's face, though it was unclear what exactly had happened in the woods.
He walked up to Li Ban. "How did it go?"
He was asking how many panthers Li Ban had let escape.
Li Ban shrugged. "Didn't run into a suitable one at all. By the time we found that small one, it was already dead."
Liu Mu shook his head, his expression clearly saying, "I gave you a chance, but you blew it."
Li Ban kept a straight face and turned away. "Anyway, those two big ones belong to me."
Even without any element infusion, vicious beasts like these could still fetch a decent price.
Besides...
Liu Mu was never going to get the reward he was waiting for.
They waited until nightfall, when the final team finally returned.
Seeing that the team was being led by a mere patrol inspector holding a Tier 1 Identity, Li Ban and Liu Mu exchanged a glance and walked over to ask.
"Where did Assistant Magistrate Zhou go? It's getting late, and the forest is going to be much more dangerous now."
The patrol inspector's face was stricken with panic. Seeing Li Ban and Liu Mu was like seeing a pair of saviors.
"You two prison guards, Lord Zhou is missing!"
Perhaps in his panic, the patrol inspector blurted out Zhou Jinhai's disappearance right in front of the entire crowd.
Of course, a thing like this couldn't have been kept under wraps for long anyway.
But now that the secret was out, panic immediately rippled through the gathered men.
"Do you think Assistant Magistrate Zhou got dragged off by a vicious beast?"
"Are you an idiot? No matter how fierce a beast is, it can't take down a 3rd Tier spirit practitioner!"
"But I've heard some vicious beasts are as strong as 4th or 5th Tier spirit practitioners!"
"Yeah! Isn't the Black-Winged Qiongqi in the Myriad Ancient Pagoda on par with a 4th or 5th Tier spirit practitioner?"
The crowd around them erupted into heated murmurs.
The patrol inspector was in no state to care about their chatter. If something really had happened to Zhou Jinhai, his career was over.
He had worked hard to secure this position with a Tier 1 Identity, after all.
"Could the two of you accompany me back into the forest to search for Lord Zhou?"
In situations like this, Li Ban usually preferred to keep a low profile.
Sure enough, as soon as the patrol inspector finished speaking, Liu Mu stepped forward.
"Of course. However, since this is a serious matter, someone needs to inform the County Office. Additionally, one of our men was killed in action, so we must send word back to the Death Prison."
"Naturally, naturally."
Liu Mu looked quite anxious—even more anxious than when he had returned to find Shen Kong dead.
After all, Zhou Jinhai still owed him money.
Liu Mu turned and ordered another servant, Yu Li, to take Shen Kong's corpse back and report the situation while he was at it.
Throughout all of this, Li Ban simply watched in silence without voicing any opinions. Naturally, Liu Mu appreciated Li Ban's compliant attitude.
Calling along the patrol inspector and a few bailiffs, the group headed back into the forest.
As night was falling, the woods were far more dangerous than during the day, so the group proceeded with extreme caution.
They had even brought a few slaves along, intending to abandon them to any formidable beasts they encountered so the rest could escape in the chaos.
They retraced the route that Zhou Jinhai's team had taken during the day.
Along the way, they repeatedly called out for "Lord Zhou" and "Assistant Magistrate!"
Li Ban dutifully played his part in the search.
He knew full well that Zhou Jinhai wasn't anywhere near here anyway. By the time the group had combed through the entire search area, the sky had turned pitch black.
Lighting their torches, the men stared into the pitch-black woods and the dark, looming mountains, falling silent.
"Are we... going into the mountains?" the patrol inspector asked Liu Mu cautiously.
Liu Mu's expression was conflicted.
Entering the deep mountains at night was suicidal; even as a 2nd Tier spirit practitioner, he couldn't guarantee his own safe return.
At that moment, Li Ban stepped up and tugged on Liu Mu's sleeve, speaking in a voice low enough that only the two of them could hear.
"Don't trade your life for money."
Liu Mu stiffened, then nodded. "It's too dark. Even if we go into the mountains, we won't be able to spot any tracks. We'd better come back tomorrow."
Truthfully, the patrol inspector didn't want to turn back, but with Li Ban and Liu Mu refusing to go deeper, taking his men in alone would be sending them to their deaths.
So the search party turned around and began the trek back.
On the way back, it was so dark that they could barely make out the path ahead.
The hazy moonlight was blotted out by the dense canopy. Since they couldn't lower their torches too close to the weed-choked ground for fear of starting a fire, men kept stumbling as they walked.
Under these conditions, however, Li Ban's vision remained perfectly clear.
He took the lead at the front, occasionally warning the others to watch what was underfoot.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted an unusual shadow darting through the woods beside them.
He immediately stopped in his tracks and thrust his torch in that direction.
Yet the woods were dead silent and gloomy—there was nothing there besides plants.
Still, Li Ban was absolutely certain he had seen something pass by.
It was simply too dark and had moved too fast for him to tell whether it was a beast or a person.
"What is it?" Liu Mu asked, hurrying over when he saw Li Ban wave his torch.
"I think I saw something pass by."
Everyone from the Death Prison knew about Li Ban's sharp eyesight, so Liu Mu instantly went on high alert.
But before he could open his mouth to warn the others, a scream erupted from the back of the group.
Li Ban quickly stopped and turned to look.
In the darkness, the scream rapidly faded into the distance. Li Ban caught sight of a dark shadow again, dragging away an unlucky slave who hadn't been holding a torch.
"My lord! Ah, my lord! Shu has been taken!"
Hearing that the victim was merely a slave, the patrol inspector standing in the middle of the formation immediately ordered his men not to give chase.
"Hurry, keep moving! Once it eats the slave, it won't come after us!"
Everyone knew the wilderness at night was extremely dangerous, but people always held onto wishful thinking until real danger hit.
Now the patrol inspector was fully gripped by fear, bitterly regretting dragging the search out this late.
Even if his career was ruined, he at least needed to make it out alive.
Li Ban swept his torch back and forth but couldn't spot any trace of the shadow. Seeing nothing, he hurriedly led the group out of the forest.
They hurried along the entire way.
The group huddled tightly together.
People bumped into each other and stepped on heels, but no one dared to complain, thinking only of getting out as fast as possible.
By the time they finally made it back to the official road, everyone was out of breath, hearts pounding with lingering terror.
The patrol inspector immediately organized his men to check on the group.
Only then did they realize that, without anyone noticing, they were missing three people.
Aside from the one who had screamed, the other two had vanished without a sound.