Iron Bull's ears were ringing from the shock. He quickly grabbed his hunting fork and rushed forward. Smoke was billowing from the cave entrance, and there was movement inside.
"They're here!" Du Jianshan roared.
The next second, a huge badger leaped out of the hole, covered in blood, with a hollow left eye and protruding fangs. The beast pounced, and Tie Niu was knocked back two steps.
"Tie Niu! Get out of the way!"
Du Jianshan picked up the musket, lit it, and "Bang!"
With a flash of light, the badger fell to the ground, struggled a couple of times, and then went still.
The forest fell silent again, leaving only the two of them breathing heavily.
Tie Niu wiped his sweat, his legs still a little weak. "Damn, that's really weird. Even with his eyes gone, he can still pounce on people."
Du Jianshan exhaled, slowly stepped forward, and used his hunting knife to poke at the badger's paw, muttering, "This beast... it's probably become a spirit."
"What?" Tie Niu's eyes widened. "Uncle Du, don't scare me. There's no such thing around these days."
Du Jianshan didn't reply, but squatted down to examine the corpse. There was a gash on the badger's belly, the blood glistening black. He frowned, "Judging from this wound, it doesn't look like a knife or a gun. It looks like it was bitten hard by something."
Tie Niu swallowed hard: "Any other beasts?"
"Hmm." Du Jianshan looked up at the dense forest across the mountain. "Something's been off in this forest lately. Badgers are fleeing, and wild boars are heading towards the higher ground. I reckon some big ones have gone into the mountains."
Tie Niu scratched his head, feeling uneasy: "You mean... that leopard over by Lao Lin's?"
“That thing hasn’t shown up for three years,” Du Jianshan said in a low voice. “But you never know what might happen in the mountains.”
After dealing with the badger, the two men lit a pipe and sat on a rock, catching their breath. Tie Niu looked up at the rolling mountain mist and suddenly remembered something: "Uncle Du, where did you get the saltpeter for that gunpowder?"
Du Jianshan chuckled: "I scraped it in the abandoned mine shaft, the same old place. You went there when you were a kid."
"That place is half collapsed, and you still dare to go?" Tie Niu glared. "What if it collapses completely?"
"So what if it collapses?" Du Jianshan sighed. "Isn't driving up the mountain just gambling with your life against God? If you were afraid, you should have gone down the mountain to find a wife and settle down long ago."
Tie Niu was speechless. He scratched the back of his head and muttered after a long pause, "I'm just following you around to learn a skill."
“Hey,” Du Jianshan laughed, reaching out to pat him on the shoulder, “When you can actually mix gunpowder, set traps, and track people on your own, then you’ll be considered a master.”
Tie Niu grinned, about to speak, when he suddenly heard a deep roar from afar.
Both of them froze in surprise. The voice didn't sound like a wolf, nor like a wild boar. It was low, long, and hoarse, making their chests feel tight.
"This..." Tie Niu swallowed hard. "Uncle Du, what's that noise?"
Du Jianshan's expression darkened. He slowly stood up and looked towards the distant woods. The shadows of the trees swayed in the mist, as if some enormous creature was slowly moving through them.
"Pack your things and let's go," he whispered.
"Leave? Aren't you going to look?"
"Life is worth more than a badger's pelt. Hurry!"
The two retreated down the mountain, their steps extremely light. After walking about half a mile, Du Jianshan suddenly looked back and saw a pair of eerie green lights in the shadows of the trees in the distance, staring at them.
"Damn, there really is something here." Tie Niu's voice trembled.
"Don't panic." Du Jianshan raised his gun, the powder pouch already in his hand. "If it really is that leopard, we have to scare it."
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