Daqin Zhentiansi

Chapter 1108: All 23 Black-Maned Beasts Were Slaughtered

The mist in the forest had not yet dissipated.

Tuoba Tie walked at the front of the group, followed by more than forty hunters.

There was no sound from their feet, only the soft rustling of their boots on the fallen leaves.

Everyone knows their own position, and also knows the position of their comrades.

That was the instinct ingrained in his bones from dozens of days of repeated practice and rehearsals.

Amu whistled softly.

That's a signal that prey has been spotted.

In the ravine not far ahead, a group of black-maned beasts were drinking water by the stream.

The black-maned beast is one of the most troublesome prey in this forest.

It is larger than the Demon-Patterned Leopard, with thick skin and flesh; ordinary swords and blades can only leave a white mark when they strike it.

What's even more dangerous is that they live in groups, ranging from seven or eight to twenty or thirty individuals.

If they charge head-on at you, they can break not only a person, but even a tree as thick as a bowl.

Tuoba Tie raised his right hand.

The group behind them immediately stopped, and everyone crouched down and hid in the bushes.

Their movements were so subtle that dozens of people disappeared into the woods at the same time without even a bird's call disturbing them.

Tuoba Tie squinted and counted the black-maned beasts in the mountain valley.

Twenty-three heads.

He turned to look at Amu and made two hand gestures.

Amu nodded and led his team silently to the right.

Ayan led another team to circle around to the left.

Tuoba Tie led the middle route and slowly advanced from the front.

After the three teams were in position, Tuoba Tie took a deep breath and swung his right hand down heavily.

Team Ayan made the first move.

Seven people simultaneously leaped out from the bushes on the left, cutting the outermost black-maned beasts out of the herd.

Startled, the black-maned beast roared and charged toward Ayan.

But Ayan did not block them head-on. He commanded his troops to fight and retreat, leading the charging black-maned beasts in the intended direction.

Just as the beast horde's attention was drawn to Ayan, Amu's team charged out from the right and cut directly into the beast horde's midsection.

Seven people lined up in a triangular shape.

The two men in the front row wielded long-handled heavy axes, directly confronting the Blackmane Beast's counterattack.

Three men in the middle row thrust their spears out from between the axe shadows.

The two people in the back row protected both sides.

The beasts were attacked from both sides, and their formation immediately fell into chaos.

Tuoba Tie seized the opportunity and led the central force straight into the heart of the beast horde.

He charged ahead, swinging his newly forged heavy hammer high, channeling his mountain-splitting power into the hammerhead, and smashed it into the skull of the leading male beast.

Before the male beast could even utter a sound, its massive body crashed to the ground.

What happened next happened so fast that no one had time to blink.

The three teams were like three sharp knives: one team drew, one team sliced, and one team thrust.

Twenty-three black-maned beasts were all killed, while only two members of the hunting team suffered minor scratches.

After the battle, Tuoba Tie stood amidst the carnage scattered on the ground and looked down at his hands.

His hand was numb from the hammer handle, but his smile was small, just a slight grin at the corners of his mouth.

The other hunters behind him were also laughing; some laughed out loud, and some slapped their comrades on the shoulder.

More than forty people stood by the stream, littered with prey and blood, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Ayan walked to the stream, squatted down, and scooped up water to wash his face.

The cold water splashed on his face, and he suddenly remembered something.

During the entire hunt just now, from beginning to end, he knew exactly what he was supposed to do.

Not only him, but also Amu, Tuoba Tie, and even the new recruit who had only been with the team for a little over ten days, everyone knew where to stand, when to make a move, and in which direction to exert their strength.

No one panicked, no one hesitated, and no one gave the wrong command.

He glanced back at the path he had come from. The morning mist had dissipated, and sunlight filtered through the treetops, casting golden dapples on the forest floor.

Several dozen days ago, in the same forest, he was nearly clawed through the ribs by a leopard.

Several dozen days later, he led his men to hunt twenty-three black-maned beasts.

Tuoba Tie carried the blood-stained hammer to his side and said in a muffled voice, "Let's go."

Ayan stood up, shook the water droplets off his hands, and caught up with the group.

More than forty people carried their prey out of the dense forest. The lookouts on the stockade wall spotted them first, and then the horn sounded.

The village gates were opened wide, and the villagers poured out.

Twenty-three black-maned beasts were lined up in the open space, and the whole village was in an uproar.

The animal bones in the village were piled up into a small mountain.

Twenty-three black-maned beasts, plus the two demon-patterned leopards hunted earlier.

The furs were piled up in the warehouse, while the flesh and blood were distributed to each household's pot.

The remaining bones and claws lay piled up in the open space, waiting to be processed.

They used to throw most of these things away.

It's not that I don't want to use it, it's that I don't know how.

The Blackmane Beast's leg bones are harder than iron, but incredibly resilient.

Sharpening them is time-consuming and laborious, and the resulting bone knives become dull after only a few days.

The claws and teeth of the Demon-Patterned Leopard are indeed sharp enough, but the residual demonic energy on them is too difficult to deal with, and can easily corrode the user's meridians if not handled carefully.

So when they hunted monsters, they ate the meat they could eat, skinned the skin they could skin, and buried most of the remaining bones and claws.

Zhang Yuan stood in the open space, with animal bones scattered around his feet.

He picked up a black-maned beast leg bone and weighed it in his hand.

"A-Tie, bring me your axe."

Tuoba Tie handed over his heavy axe.

The axe blade had three chips, and the handle, made of hardwood, was bent.

Zhang Yuan flipped the leg bone over and pointed to the fine lines on the bone: "The hardest part of the Black Mane Beast's bone is not in the very center, but two inches away from the joint."

“The bone is densest in these two inches, and the texture is also the smoothest.”

"Start cutting here, following the grain, no need to grind it hard."

"If you grind it unevenly, the bone will be ruined."

“You’ve sharpened it correctly. This bone knife is harder than the iron knives you use now.”

Tuoba Tie only half understood what he was hearing, and squatted down beside him, nodding repeatedly.

He would never doubt Zhang Yuan's words.

Zhang Yuan picked up another claw from the magic-patterned leopard.

The purplish-black demonic energy remaining on the claw tip writhed slightly in the sunlight.

"The claws of the Demon-Patterned Leopard have residual demonic energy, so they can't be used directly. But it's not entirely impossible."

He placed his paw on the ground, pulled a half-burnt piece of firewood from beside the fire, and slowly roasted the red-hot embers against the base of his paw.

"Demonic energy fears fire. Not ordinary fire, but the white charcoal layer from firewood burning at its brightest."

"White charcoal has the highest temperature, which can bring out the demonic energy without making the claws brittle."

"Bake it for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, and the demonic energy will dissipate. Then, while it's still hot, sharpen it, and you'll be able to make the claws sharper than you can imagine."

After he finished speaking, some of the tribesmen who were gathered around him ran off to get firewood.

Zhang Yuan looked down at the few most inconspicuous pieces of animal bones.

The bones were yellowish and had a rough texture, looking no different from ordinary animal bones.

But he had seen things like that before.

Similar materials were used to forge the arms of crossbows on the battlefield of Tianyuan City a million years ago.

"Don't throw these pieces away." He pointed to the patterns on the animal bones with his fingertip. "Keep them to make crossbows."

Amu squeezed through the crowd, squatted down in front of the pile of animal bones, and stared intently at Zhang Yuan's movements.

The man who was nearly pounced on by a leopard in the forest now looked like a novice apprentice.

He reached out to touch the leg bone, then withdrew his hand and glanced up at Zhang Yuan. (End of Chapter)