Chapter 28: Hunter
The Boulder Bear had identified Lin Fan as the weakest among the three of them.
"Run!"
Bai Qiao's voice echoed in the woods as he desperately tried to get Lin Fan out of harm's way.
His brother Bai Ti, a man of action, threw his sword at the Boulder Bear.
Thud.
He missed, and the sword thrust into a tree trunk, leaving it wobbling left and right as the sword handle swayed.
By this time, it was too late to do anything; the Boulder Bear was right in front of Lin Fan with its paw raised and its claws extended, ready to swipe down at Lin Fan's face.
Bai Qiao had already started to feel guilt rising from his gut.
His heart sank as if a ton of weight was put on it.
First mission for Qing Feng sect and he was screwing it up.
Lin Fan's young life with so many good years ahead of him would be stopped today, all because of his incompetence.
How would he face Lin Fan's close ones?
Bai Qiao couldn't bear it and turned away as he saw the Boulder Bear's paw coming down at Lin Fan.
His brother Bai Ti didn't give up, leaping at the Boulder Bear.
With his head turned away, Bai Qiao heard a loud roar, followed by sounds of skull cracking and flesh splattering all over.
Plop.
Plop.
Plop.
Next thing he heard was the sound of blood dripping onto the ground.
Every sound it made was like Lin Fan prodding his finger at him, asking him, why did you let me die?
It got to him, so he gritted his teeth, turned, and looked.
The scene in Bai Qiao's imagination of the Boulder Bear towering over Lin Fan, looking at his bloodied body, didn't happen.
Instead, the Boulder Bear had an arrow stuck in its head, stabbed through the eye socket of the missing eye.
Blood was dripping down from the Boulder Bear's head.
"Huhuhu…"
Lin Fan was lying on the ground panting, exhausted as his energy was all gone from using his Leader of the Pack ability.
The Boulder Bear, being a much more powerful demonic beast than the Fire Deer, had used up all his energy with only a few seconds of control.
As he lay down, he tried to steady his breathing, daring not to take deep breaths as the stench still permeating in the air would make him gag and puke.
A familiar sound then erupted in his mind.
[Ding! Congratulations on terminating malevolent intent.]
[Vengeance points + 50.]
[Current Vengeance Points: 100]
[Host's level is currently too low to gain Demonic Beast's abilities.]
[Minimum Level Required: 5]
100 points, 300 points short for the next level, Lin Fan mentally calculated how many more vengeance points he needed for the next level.
Still a long way to go.
"Thank God. You're alive. What happened?" Bai Qiao walked over, put his hands on Lin Fan's shoulders, and checked the status of Lin Fan.
Bai Ti retrieved his sword from the tree trunk, came over, and gave a kick at the Boulder Bear's body; the body slowly toppled down like a falling tree.
Leaves on the ground flew up and slowly came back down.
Bai Ti couldn't hold his disgust, spat, and cursed at the Boulder Bear's body, "Good riddance."
"I think i just got lucky. When I saw the Boulder Bear swiping at me, I blanked out, and the next thing I knew was that I'd struck an arrow through the head of the Boulder Bear."
With his hand scratching his head, Lin Fan pretended that it was a stroke of luck that he was able to kill the Boulder Bear.
Although Bai Qiao seemed like an upright person, Lin Fan wasn't going to disclose his secrets with anyone.
Bai Qiao rubbed his chin with his hand and thought about what Lin Fan had said.
After a few moments, he nodded to himself and said, "There are cases where non-cultivators were able to make use of the Qi surrounding them when they were in dire situations.
"It's rare, and these people's abilities and physiques are suited to be cultivators.
"The dire situation somehow triggered their potential.
"If you are willing, why don't you come join the Qing Feng Sect?
"I think you can get through the test for innate talent and abilities easily.
"I will write a recommendation letter when we get back to the village."
Lin Fan opened his eyes wide at what Bai Qiao offered to do for him. "I'll be glad to; I was planning on going during next spring."
Bai Ti patted Lin Fan's back, giving him an approving look.
This young man didn't run for his life, stayed, and was able to deal a crucial blow to the demonic beast.
He was someone worthy of his respect.
Cough.
Lin Fan coughed from the 'strikes' dealt to his back by Bai Ti.
Suddenly, the palm striking his back turned into a claw clutching his cloth.
Lin Fan nearly fell from the sudden tug.
Turning around, he saw Bai Ti's leg had a black-colored tentacle grabbing onto it.
The tussle with the tentacle made Bai Ti seem to float in the air.
"Argh!" Bai Qiao slashed his sword at the tentacle, but it only went through, as if the tentacle was not a physical thing.
Whip!
Another tentacle then came out from under the leaves and whipped at Bai Ti's hands; the pain made Bai Ti release his hands from Lin Fan's cloth.
The next moment, the tentacle grabbing onto Bai Ti's leg snapped back, dragging him into the woods.
"Bai Ti!"
Seeing this, Bai Qiao shouted and gave chase.
Lin Fan followed suit.
Bai Ti was dragged left and right, winding through the tree trunks in the woods.
They chased at their top speed; Lin Fan could feel all the sticks and branches coming at him, but it was not enough.
Bai Ti was soon out of sight.
Bai Qiao stopped to check where Bai Ti had been dragged away to.
There was no sight of him.
"Damn!" Bai Qiao slashed aimlessly in front of him.
It was the first time Lin Fan saw him lose his composure.
Lin Fan tried to calm him down and said, "Let me track him down. We hunters have our ways."
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Starting tomorrow the 1200HRS (SGT TIME) release will be at 2350HRS and 2355HRS for the next. The afternoon release is giving me too much stress to finish on time. Thank you for your kind understanding. Please give review, comment and powerstone if you like this book, it lets me continuing writing it.