Chapter 58: Bears Always Like To Play Thief
The Red Date Horse ran extremely fast.
Its body was huge, not only possessing the speed of a horse but also the agility of an antelope. Its massive hoof even split into two parts when descending rapidly… Yun Ce was very certain that horses were not even-toed ungulates; their hooves should be a single solid mass.
However, Yun Ce stubbornly believed that the Red Date Horse was just a horse. Heaven knows what kind of predicament its poor ancestors encountered during the long process of evolution to turn a solid hoof into two parts.
The sound of the crossbow bolt slicing through the air rang out again. Yun Ce swung his hand to slash it away, but he probably miscalculated the timing, and the crossbow bolt still accurately struck his back.
Once was tolerable, twice could be endured, but when the crossbow bolt hit almost the exact same spot for the third time, Yun Ce flew into a rage. He used all his strength to whirl the meteor hammer and smash it toward the Large Bird. This time, he did not grab the other hammer head but instead whirled the entire meteor hammer and threw it out.
“Gua!” The Large Bird shrieked and rapidly flapped its wings, its body suddenly lifting upward to dodge the lightning-fast meteor hammer. However, its two claws did not escape the meteor hammer’s coverage. The iron chain was blocked by its feet and then began to rotate violently, tightly binding its two claws together. Finally, after the two meteor hammers emitted a crisp ringing sound, they intertwined and wrapped together.
“Gua!” With its feet entangled, the Large Bird panicked. Its massive body suddenly tilted, flipping the triumphant Zhang Min off its back.
Yun Ce watched as Zhang Min clung to the reins and was carried far away like a kite by the Large Bird. He urged the Red Date Horse to chase after the tottering Large Bird.
At this point, Yun Ce had lost much interest in capturing Zhang Min. Compared to this venomous beauty, he wanted that man-carrying flying Large Bird more. With this Large Bird, Yun Ce felt his investigation of this Great Han society would be completed one step earlier.
Watching the Large Bird wobbling ahead, E Ji happily cried out in excitement. At this moment, she shared the same thought as Yun Ce: capture the Large Bird and fly wildly all over the world afterward.
1 Zhang Min’s hat was blown off by the gale, and her long hair was blown everywhere by the biting wind, tangling on the belly strap under the Giant Bird’s stomach. For the moment, she could neither go up nor down.
1 Yun Ce continuously shot arrows. The arrows landed on Zhang Min’s body but could not penetrate. Seeing this, Yun Ce was surprised for a moment before continuing to shoot at Zhang Min’s head and limbs.
1 “Ah—” Zhang Min screamed in agony as one arrow pierced her left leg, and another arrow shot toward her right leg.
1 Zhang Min was furious and exasperated. She hadn’t expected to fall into this situation after having the upper hand just moments ago. The soft sword wrapped around her left wrist popped out like a spiritual snake, stretching straight in the biting gale. In an instant, it severed the hair tangled on the belly strap. With a push from her right hand, her body leaped up, landing on the wobbling Large Bird’s back. She turned back and glared angrily at Yun Ce.
1 With someone controlling it, the Large Bird quickly regained balance and stopped panicking. After circling in the air, it charged once more at the horse-riding, galloping Yun Ce. This time, Yun Ce saw clearly: Zhang Min, this woman, was once again pedaling the crossbow in mid-air to reload, not minding that her underpants were exposed.
1 This time, she aimed at the horse.
1 Yun Ce drew a spear from the Dragon Pearl, gripped it in his hand, and prepared to strike. This time, he did not aim at Zhang Min but wanted to pierce the Giant Bird’s stomach with this spear.
1 The crossbow bolt whistled toward the Red Date Horse’s head. Yun Ce’s spear was not thrown at the last moment but instead knocked the crossbow bolt away.
1 Zhang Min would rather the Large Bird die, but Yun Ce could not yet. He urged the Red Date Horse to dash into the forest.
1 The Large Bird broke free from the meteor hammer’s bindings and angrily cried out while circling above the forest. Yun Ce, with E Ji and the Red Date Horse, hid behind a towering Big Tree, exchanging glances.
2 Yun Ce pushed away the Red Date Horse’s massive head and said to E Ji, “Just wait until nightfall.”
2 E Ji whispered, “Pursuers will come.”
2 Yun Ce laughed, “No problem, this forest is vast; she won’t find us.”
2 No sooner had the words been spoken than a Giant Bear dropped from a tree, smashing down butt-first like Mount Tai pressing the top toward the Red Date Horse. The Red Date Horse swiftly dodged, and the Giant Bear’s heavy body thudded onto the hard ground. Before it could rise, Yun Ce’s spear pierced into its open mouth and out through its brain.
2 “Why is there a Giant Bear here?” Yun Ce kicked the not-yet-dead Giant Bear and vigilantly scanned the surroundings.
2 Ever since learning that the pigs and bears in this world were organized animals, Yun Ce had raised his vigilance toward them by several levels.
2 Seeing the Giant Bear, the Red Date Horse neighed in panic, shook off Yun Ce and E Ji, and ran away. For some reason, this dead horse was fundamentally different from the one Peng Zeng rode in—others would rather die than submit for their master, but this horse always ran first when facing danger, and even its neigh sounded like that of a shameless rogue.
2 Killing one Giant Bear took an instant; killing two wouldn’t take much time. The problem was, after Yun Ce killed the third Giant Bear, it was as if he had poked a bear den—Giant Bears came from all directions, drawn by the scent.
2 Furious, Yun Ce had no choice but to bounce and jump like a monkey through the dense jungle, stepping on tree trunks to flee.
2 “Roar—”
3 A long bear roar came from deep in the forest. Yun Ce surprisingly heard a human-like warning tone laced with anger in this roar.
3 The sound was very loud, extremely loud. Yun Ce felt this bear must be enormous too. In the unclear situation, he could only continue fleeing by stepping on tree trunks until he avoided the bear den, then swiftly climbed a Big Tree to survey the current situation.
3 “Xiong Pi, who permitted you to leave Tianzhu Mountain?”
3 Zhang Min rode the Large Bird circling above the treetops, the Giant Bird’s wing flaps blowing the leaves rustling.
3 “Roar—”
3 “King Huo gave your kind a path to survival back then, yet you dare defy it. Are you trying to make the Bear Tribe completely extinct?”
3 Listening to Zhang Min and the bear roars, Yun Ce noticed his wristband becoming extremely restless. This time, he saw clearly—it wasn’t Doggy moving, but the Dragon Pearl.
3 Seeing the Dragon Pearl about to change from wristband state to bead state, Yun Ce quickly said to Doggy, “What’s wrong?”
3 “The Dragon Pearl says it’s hungry.”
3 “Doesn’t it eat anything?”
4 “It wants to eat that bear.”
4 “It finally has an appetite?”
4 “Don’t know, but it’s very urgent.”
4 Yun Ce raised his hand to soothe the Dragon Pearl and softly said, “Take it slow, no rush. I’ll find an opportunity to roast that bear for you to eat.”
4 Feeling Yun Ce’s goodwill, the Dragon Pearl quietly lay on his wrist, continuing to serve as the wristband.
4 Yun Ce stood up, jumped to another Big Tree, and under Doggy’s guidance, slowly approached that bear.
4 The Big Tree’s branches and leaves were dense, Yun Ce moved lightly, and he and E Ji even breathed softly. In this quiet environment, Yun Ce sharply heard a heavy panting sound. Parting the branches to look down, he saw a wild boar even larger than an African elephant stealthily moving under the tree.
4 Its body was massive yet moved silently through the dense forest. If the roaring bear earlier was Bear King Xiong Pi, then this one below was undoubtedly Pig King Zhu Nu.
4 “Want to eat this pig?”
4 Yun Ce hoped to communicate with the Dragon Pearl, but unfortunately, it remained silent. Doggy said, “It only wants the bear.”
5 “Why? Xiong Pi and Zhu Nu are both kings of wild beasts.”
5 “Maybe the Dragon Pearl only wants something specific on that bear.”
5 “Dragon Spirit?”
5 “Probably.”
5 Yun Ce trailed the pig slowly toward the depths of the forest.
5 High in the sky, Zhang Min controlled the Large Bird, continuing to circle at high altitude, occasionally questioning why Xiong Pi left Tianzhu Mountain. Xiong Pi’s every response was a bear roar.
5 Anyone seeing Xiong Pi would feel an urge to prostrate in worship—mainly because this bear was too huge. The Pig King was a bit larger than an African elephant, which at least didn’t shatter Yun Ce’s worldview, but a bear standing seven or eight meters tall easily made Yun Ce see it as a King Kong-like existence.
5 At this moment, Xiong Pi was extremely agitated, and Zhang Min riding a bird constantly talking from the air made it even more agitated. Thus, it uprooted a tree and smashed it toward the Flying Bird in the sky.
5 The Large Bird agilely dodged the Big Tree, and Zhang Min’s icy voice came from mid-air: “Xiong Pi, forty-seven days no see, and you’ve grown quite a bit. Looks like you took the Dragon Spirit, huh?”
5 Xiong Pi grew even more furious. It stomped on a giant log, leaped up fiercely, extended its arms to grab the Large Bird in the air. The Large Bird twisted its body and dodged again. The landing Xiong Pi made the ground tremble violently. As it stood, it pressed its thick back against a Big Tree and squeezed hard. Seeing the Big Tree creak and slowly tilt, Yun Ce switched to another tree to hide.
6 Zhang Min set off fireworks on the bird’s back—or more precisely, released a signal flare. Once tossed into the high air, it exploded into a black six-petaled flower shape, extremely conspicuous in the blue sky and daylight. It seemed she was summoning reinforcements.
6 The Giant Bear appeared even more agitated, roared madly, and charged eastward, knocking down and snapping countless trees along the way, forcibly carving a path through the dense forest.
6 Not only that, dozens of bears followed behind it, among which two were particularly special—human bodies with bear heads.
6 Zhu Nu followed behind, unhurried, seemingly very confident. Yun Ce naturally followed Zhu Nu, also unhurried. In the distance beyond Yun Ce’s sight, a horse followed unhurriedly too, but it seemed more vigilant than all the wild beasts and people.
6 The Large Bird seemed invincible in the air. It cried out, and the scavenger birds circling high in the sky all scattered far away.
