"
Meanwhile,
"Oh my god, that Horned Sheep is terrifying — shoot, shoot now!" As the Horned Sheep drew closer and closer, Lu Piao ran for his life without looking back.
"That idiot Lu Piao — we agreed he'd stand still and the Horned Sheep would walk right into the trap zone! But now he's running off and pulling it out of position!" Nie Li frowned. The trap zone was a series of small pits barely two fingers deep — if the Horned Sheep accidentally stepped into one while charging, it would snap one of its legs, and a single well-placed bolt after that would finish things with minimal effort.
Seeing Lu Piao sprinting in a panic, Du Ze grew tense too. He pulled the trigger in rapid succession — whoosh, whoosh, whoosh — three crossbow bolts flew through the air.
The Horned Sheep was a demonized creature, and as long as it wasn't injured, its reflexes were incredibly sharp. Sensing the three bolts screaming toward it from behind, it reacted almost instantly, leaping aside one after another. All three bolts whistled past, missing their mark completely.
"What? Missed?!" Lu Piao's jaw dropped. The Horned Sheep's razor-sharp horns were practically inches away — and Nie Li and Du Ze had pulled this kind of stunt? He wanted to cry his heart out. He'd picked the worst friends imaginable! If those horns so much as grazed him, his backside would explode on the spot.
Watching the Horned Sheep dodge the bolts and charge at Lu Piao without breaking stride, Du Ze's palms were slick with sweat. By the time he reloaded, it would be too late. He could already picture it — Lu Piao getting savaged by the Horned Sheep, his rear end turned into a bloody mess.
"Nie Li, what do we do—" Du Ze cut himself off halfway, not daring to disturb Nie Li's focus.
Nie Li crouched with half his body lowered, left arm held straight and horizontal, the crossbow resting on it. His right hand gripped the trigger tight, eyes locked on the sight. Even as the crossbow swept sideways, it was as steady as if mounted on a fixed stand.
Du Ze couldn't even begin to describe the feeling he had in that moment. Nie Li hadn't even fired yet, but Du Ze already had the conviction that the shot would hit. Right now, Nie Li was like a leopard crouched in the grass, waiting for the perfect moment to strike — radiating a chilling, predatory presence.
Though his body was frail and he wasn't even a Bronze Warrior, Nie Li's experience from his past life remained intact — experience accumulated through one bloody battle after another, some of it gained in moments where death was a heartbeat away. Any weapon at all — blades, swords, crossbows, even a scrap of iron — became a lethal instrument in Nie Li's hands. Though he wasn't a Bronze Warrior, he had hundreds of ways at his disposal, drawing on a wealth of experience, to kill even a Bronze or Silver-rank opponent!
The entire world seemed to narrow down to Nie Li alone. The way he gazed through the sight was like a hawk about to dive.
Nie Li's still-youthful face held an expression of iron resolve, and his every movement carried the gravity of a towering mountain.
Whoosh! Nie Li pulled the trigger, and a crossbow bolt shot through the air.
The bolt traced a streak of silver light, swift as a startled swan.
The angle Nie Li fired from was precisely in the Horned Sheep's blind spot.
"Hit!" Watching the bolt arc through the air, Du Ze's heart clenched with awe. Right now, Nie Li gave him the illusion of a seasoned hunter who'd been shooting for decades.
The Horned Sheep had no time to dodge. With a wet thud, the bolt struck it in the hind leg.
With a thunderous crash, the Horned Sheep howled and collapsed, landing right at Lu Piao's feet and kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
Lu Piao gasped for air, his nerves stretched to the absolute limit. Looking at the whimpering Horned Sheep, he couldn't help but think, "Oh my god, that was insane! Thank heavens — my ass is saved." If Nie Li's shot had been even a fraction slower, the Horned Sheep would have blown him sky-high.
If it had been an ordinary crossbow bolt, that minor wound wouldn't have fazed a demonized Horned Sheep at all — it would have gotten right back up. But their bolts weren't ordinary. They'd been coated with a juice distilled from a blend of Black Marsh Grass and Creeping Bentgrass — basically the Horned Sheep's worst nightmare.
The venom quickly spread through the Horned Sheep's bloodstream into its heart, and its cries grew weaker and weaker.
"That fast?!" Du Ze was stunned. He hadn't expected the potion Nie Li had prepared to be this powerful — in mere moments, a robust Horned Sheep had been completely stripped of its ability to fight back.
Lu Piao was also astonished. He understood the strength of these Horned Sheep — even two Bronze One Star Warriors working together would need a very long time to bring one down! But this Horned Sheep had been felled by just one tiny crossbow bolt?
"That was too close!" Lu Piao thought back to the moment just before, still shaken.
"If you hadn't run off like that, this Horned Sheep wouldn't have posed any threat to you!" Nie Li said with a faint smile.
"Alright." Lu Piao couldn't help but blush. He really hadn't followed the plan — he'd panicked when he saw the Horned Sheep charging.
Looking at the fallen Horned Sheep, Du Ze still felt as if he were in a dream. Nie Li's expression and actions from just moments ago were still deeply imprinted in his mind, filling him with profound admiration. For the first time in his life, Du Ze admired someone so much! Nie Li's archery skill was practically master-level. Even an ordinary person who practiced for ten years might not reach the realm Nie Li was currently at!
"Hurry up and skin it. We only want the horns, the fur from its neck, and the Demon Crystal and Demon Spirit — leave everything else!" Nie Li said quickly. The Horned Sheep's Demon Crystal and Demon Spirit were both inside its head. The Demon Crystal was a crystal about the size of a thumb; most Demon Beasts possessed one. As for a Demon Spirit, only one or two in tens of thousands of Horned Sheep would have one. The Demon Spirit's shape resembled a candle flame.
Generally, a Horned Sheep with a Demon Spirit was much stronger than an ordinary one.
Horned Sheep belonged to the lower-tier Bronze One Star Demon Beasts, so all their parts were relatively cheap. A pair of horns could sell for five Demon Spirit Coins, the fur from the neck could sell for three, and the Demon Crystal could also sell for five.
Calculating it that way, even without a Demon Spirit, they could earn thirteen Demon Spirit Coins per Horned Sheep.
They had spent at most five minutes killing this one. If they hunted Horned Sheep like this, wouldn't it mean the three of them could earn several thousand Demon Spirit Coins in a single day?
Du Ze couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. His family was very poor; their annual income was only two or three thousand Demon Spirit Coins. To enable Du Ze to attend Sheng Lan Academy, his family had even borrowed a lot of money from relatives and friends. Du Ze was the hope of his family! If he hunted Horned Sheep with Nie Li, he could afford his own tuition fees from now on!
Nie Li smiled faintly and said, "We need to hurry. There's no need to rest tonight!"