I secretly took out my crossbow and aimed it at the sand monsters that were busy tidying up branches on the ground. At this distance, I was 90% sure that if I fired an arrow, they wouldn't see the sun tomorrow.

But just as I was about to pull the trigger of the Xuan Blade in my hand, I suddenly realized a big problem.

These guys are all so smart; my crossbow can only fire one arrow at a time, so it's impossible for me to take them all down at once.

The previous saber-toothed tiger was the best example. After the sand beast that ambushed the saber-toothed tiger was killed with a single slap, all the sand beasts, under the command of their leader, adopted a new tactic.

This left the saber-toothed tiger with no outlet for its brute strength, and in the end, it still could not escape the clutches of the sand monster pack.

I thought of using a shotgun to take out these sand monsters, but they were scattered around.

Although I could fire two shots in quick succession, I wasn't entirely confident I could kill them all. There was another problem, which contradicted my initial plan to leave this place.

My original plan was to use a crossbow to shoot a sand monster as bait to lure nearby carnivores to this place, so that I could take the opportunity to slip away with my spoils.

Animals are still animals after all; all their actions are for food. As long as there is food, they won't bother with me.

If I were to fire, the deafening gunshot might not wipe out all the sand monsters, but the predators in the vicinity would certainly be frightened by the noise and flee.

I have no way of predicting their route. Even if I don't encounter the Sand Beasts on my way back, I'm very likely to run into these departing predators.

I don't know which predators are hiding in the forests and bushes, but I'm sure that the Sand Beast is definitely not the only predator that could easily kill me.

Now, if I want to stop the predators that come from this area, I have to get rid of these sand monsters in front of me.

We can't use crossbows, and we definitely can't use shotguns. This is driving me crazy. The sand monsters under the tree have already piled up a platform made of branches about a meter high.

Their determination to eat me now seems to have taken hold of their minds.

The thought of the word "eat" jolted me awake. That's it! Since I can't subdue them with brute force, and their goal is to eat me, which is also a weakness, I can poison these sand monsters!

I still have quite a few strips of fresh meat that haven't been processed and dried, which I can use as poison bait.

As for the poison used, I happened to have a dried liniment for sprains and bruises nearby.

Ever since I injured my knee, I have been wrapping a liniment and a hemostatic medicine in banana leaves and securing them to the inside of my usual carrying basket with thin hemp rope.

Anyway, these medicines don't weigh much, but they can be carried around in case of emergency, and now they've really come in handy.

As I mentioned before, the family's traditional Chinese medicine for treating injuries contains a highly toxic herb called Aconitum carmichaelii. Its main component is aconitine, which is extremely stable and completely unaffected by high temperatures and alcohol.

Aconitine is highly toxic. Symptoms of poisoning include numbness of the mouth, tongue and limbs, a feeling of tightness throughout the body, arrhythmia, nausea and vomiting, and incontinence. Ultimately, it can lead to death from respiratory failure.

I took out the medicine packet. Since the aconite was used as the main ingredient, the amount prepared was relatively large.

After picking out all the aconite, I put them in a bowl and crushed them with the handle of a cleaver, then added some water and stirred them thoroughly.

After doing all this, I placed the bowl next to the earthen stove and used the heat of the firewood to slowly heat the water in the bowl until it was slightly hot, but not boiling.

The water temperature at this time is about 60 to 80 degrees Celsius, which is the temperature used for simmering Chinese medicine.

Low-temperature decoction can fully bring out the medicinal properties of aconite, thus maximizing the aconitine content.

I started cutting out strips of meat to use as poison bait for throwing.

The aconitine in this highly toxic substance has one drawback: it tastes bitter. I don't know if those clever folks would be willing to ingest it, so I think it's necessary to make some preparations.

I divided the cut meat strips into two portions. One portion contained highly poisonous bait soaked in aconite solution, while the other portion consisted of normal, fresh meat that had not been poisoned at all.

As for why two types of bait were developed, we'll soon find out.

After being boiled for a period of time, the originally clear water turned dark red, and a bitter medicinal smell permeated the air.

Once the water cooled down a bit, I put all the pieces of meat that I was going to use as poison bait into the bowl to absorb the solution.

A certain water temperature is beneficial for muscle relaxation, which allows toxins to penetrate the muscles more quickly and in greater quantities.

Now it's my turn to perform. I picked up the pieces of meat that weren't poisoned and shouted to the sand monsters below.

"Didn't you want to eat meat? I have some here, come over quickly."

Whether those sand beasts understood what I said or smelled the bloody meat in my hand, I think the latter is more likely.

As expected, the five sand beasts all gathered around me. When I saw them come to the tree, I quickly threw out a small piece of flesh.

The sand beasts, smelling the blood, turned red-eyed. They hadn't eaten enough, and now that they finally had a chance to eat meat, they didn't care if it was thrown to them; they'd eat first.

The concept of poisoning was not yet in their vocabulary or experience. Upon seeing the piece of meat that had fallen, all five Sand Beasts rushed out to grab it, fearing that they would fall behind.

However, a small piece of meat was far from enough for these few sand beasts, so I threw out pieces of meat in several batches to make sure that each one got to eat some.

They've just eaten a little something, and the hunger that had been suppressed in their stomachs suddenly erupted like a volcano.

Many things can affect our judgment, and hunger is one of them.

Now, the eyes of these sand monsters are completely focused on me. They no longer look like ferocious beasts, but rather like five vicious dogs waiting to be fed.

I started to intentionally slow down the pace and frequency of feeding, only throwing out one or two pieces each time.

This greatly alarmed the sand monsters below. They no longer cared about their companions and even fought fiercely for a piece of meat.

I deliberately focused my attention on the Sand Beast leader, which was about twenty meters away. It must have been able to see the commotion here, but it remained in place without showing any intention of coming over.

Now, all it cares about is that saber-toothed tiger. As long as its five companions don't disturb its meal, they can do whatever they want.

I had planned to poison them all at once, but I didn't expect the old man to be so cunning as to refuse to come over. However, I had no choice but to proceed, and I was about to feed him the non-poisoned meat.

I took the poisoned bait out of the bowl, mixed it with the non-poisoned bait, and threw it all out like a shower of flowers.