Chapter 51: Tail
The long arrow sank into the Tusked Horned Pig’s skull, instantly making its body stagger as it let out a terrifying roar.
‘This head is really tough.’
The Tusked Horned Pig abruptly turned around and, like a mad beast, crashed through a tree trunk that would take one person to hug, charging straight at Su Yan.
However, Su Yan had achieved Archery Great Accomplishment, and he had the Fine Steel Longbow in hand.
Drawing the bow and nocking an arrow, he instantly pulled it taut like a full moon and fired two arrows in succession.
The Tusked Horned Pig, in its frenzy, had no time to dodge at all; with a squelching sound, the arrows pierced from its eye socket into the back of its brain.
“Boom”
The massive body fell in front of Su Yan, crushing the shrubs on the ground with creaking sounds.
Blood flowed from the Tusked Horned Pig’s mouth and corners, dying groans huffing out, with blood foam filling its mouth and nose.
Su Yan stepped forward with a bone dagger, and while the Tusked Horned Pig was not yet fully dead, he slit its throat with one knife stroke.
Large amounts of blood continuously surged out; Su Yan reached out to probe, and the steady stream of blood flow was absorbed by the Fierce Insect Cauldron, transforming into blood threads that sank into those fierce insect patterns.
“Feral Beast Blood has more essence; the previous Bronze Fox Ape already nearly filled up the Beast Blood Essence, and now adding the Tusked Horned Pig is just right, perhaps with some surplus.”
Su Yan drained this blood dry, then immediately cut open the belly and peeled off the pig skin sufficient to make leather armor, before slowly dismembering the Tusked Horned Pig’s body bit by bit.
The Tusked Horned Pig’s body weighed no less than two thousand catties; setting aside the internal organs which were hard to handle, he fed them all to the Velvet Fire Scorpion Insect and Yin Water Centipede to devour.
The remaining muscles and bones together weighed nearly eighteen hundred catties.
“Grind the bones into powder for use in pills; the remaining flesh and blood are for food, but the Insect Realm Space is a bit small.”
Dismembering one feral beast completely filled the Insect Realm Space, especially those bones.
Su Yan frowned slightly; with so many bones, grinding them all into powder would be an enormous workload.
“I can only sell some to Hundred Herbs Hall.”
Packing up the items and hiding them, Su Yan gathered some Dan Zhi Mushrooms over ten years old and a large amount of Gastrodia Elata, then went down the mountain.
Over the next few days, Su Yan made several trips to Hundred Herbs Hall.
He handed over all the bones from the Tusked Horned Pig to Hundred Herbs Hall.
Among them, the skull and large bones were not traded but instead boiled and ground by Hundred Herbs Hall in exchange for bone powder.
If it were an ordinary person, they naturally wouldn’t do it, but Su Yan was different.
The new steward had learned these days that he was from Golden Ape Martial Arts School Inner Sect and now had ties with Song Qi.
Thus, as a favor, he accepted an apprentice’s gratuity and returned the favor.
After selling over several days, Su Yan had saved up a hundred taels of silver.
‘About enough; find some medicinal herbs, refine them into pills for the Yin Water Centipede and Velvet Fire Scorpion Insect to consume.’
Over several days, the Velvet Fire Scorpion Insect and Yin Water Centipede had mostly devoured the Tusked Horned Pig’s flesh and blood, progressing steadily.
The Yin Water Centipede continuously accumulated power, with growth progress at 30/400; the Velvet Fire Scorpion Insect was even faster, already at 168/200 growth progress.
A little more effort, and they could reach the Mature Stage.
Su Yan naturally wouldn’t continue delaying, so after selling everything, he headed straight to the marketplace, to the various mountain household stalls.
On both sides of the wide street, there were no shops, only large and small stalls with backpacks, fern grass, and grass mats.
Hawking calls came incessantly, and some people even used peeled fox skins and bear fur as displays in front of their stalls.
“Top-quality mountain ginseng, roots intact, with a full ten years of medicinal potency.”
“Bear fur, bear meat, fresh mountain goods roe deer.”
Cries of vendors were endless; although shops specifically bought these items, for slightly higher prices, mountain households set up stalls tirelessly to sell.
Besides shop workers, at this time some peddlers were also here scouting to buy, then selling to Yun Cang Town or neighboring towns to make a profit margin.
As a result, the marketplace naturally bustled.
People came and went, shoulder to shoulder.
Droplet Sinking Gold, Early First Order feral beast bone powder, gallbladder, and some medicinal herbs were already prepared; Su Yan just needed to find some more herbs to balance the medicinal potency, and he could attempt refining.
While searching the stalls, he also noticed that the martial world guests lingering in the marketplace had decreased somewhat.
It was said that Xu Guan had led yamen runners to guard various positions in the mountains, and also offered heavy rewards.
Those who discovered clues about Pang Tianfeng would receive a hundred taels of silver for first report; those who brought Pang Tianfeng’s head would be rewarded a thousand taels of silver.
This was wealth that made many martial world guests envious.
It was unknown whether the money came from the county yamen or if big households like Hundred Herbs Hall had also contributed silver.
For ordinary rogue martial artists, a set of pills cost only a few to dozens of taels; these rewards were enough for them to cultivate for a while.
Plus, Pang Tianfeng had some goods in hand, so martial world fighters followed the scent into the mountains, regardless of the difference between themselves and Pang Tianfeng.
Men die and birds face the sky; the bold are stuffed, the timid starve to death.
Even if Pang Tianfeng was at Spirit Nurturing Realm, under siege by so many people, he might have to shed a layer of skin.
Su Yan visited many stalls, buying water creek grass and wood ginseng root among a few medicinal herbs, before leaving the marketplace.
The sun had set behind the western mountains; after exiting the marketplace’s wooden walls, it was already evening.
Su Yan hurried along quickly, but halfway there, his expression shifted slightly, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
‘Not looking for Pang Tianfeng, but coming for me instead.’
With Archery Great Accomplishment, his hearing was exceptionally sharp; right after leaving the marketplace gate, he sensed someone behind him.
At first he thought they were passersby, but halfway along the road, they were still following—not a tail, what else?
His figure paused slightly, then he changed direction, heading quickly toward a patch of mountain woods.
“The fat sheep is running, probably spotted us.”
Three burly men followed at a distance behind Su Yan; at this moment, the ring-eyed rough man in the middle looked anxious.
“Don’t worry, he can’t escape.”
The thick-browed, rough-faced burly man in the middle smirked coldly, drew a dagger, and lowered his voice: “Follow him; he’s just a novice who’s barely learned martial arts, a fat sheep who made dozens of taels from mountain hunting.”
Su Yan coming and going to sell goods didn’t flaunt it, but the marketplace was only so big, so news inevitably spread.
With the current marketplace full of fish eyes mixed with pearls, it naturally drew attention from some rogue guests.
The head constable had no time for them, and Pang Tianfeng was out of their league for now; they had come precisely to fish in troubled waters.
The three quickened their pace, steps steady, figures agile, holding daggers, gazes gloomy like wolves.
After a few steps, they no longer hid their figures, chasing Su Yan who had already entered a nearby grove.
Su Yan fled ahead, they chased behind, just like hunting.
“Little brother, don’t be scared; we brothers heard you have skills in mountain hunting and want to borrow some silver from you—no harm to your life.”
Huang Sanhu grinned ferociously and quickened his pace to catch up.
The ring-eyed burly man Huang Ba also lunged out, cutting off Su Yan’s path from the side.
The remaining Wang Heng blocked the retreat, holding two daggers, swinging them left and right, eyes full of mockery.
The three brothers had learned martial world skills, but from poor backgrounds without resources, after learning, they couldn’t go back to honest labor or manual jobs.
Gradually, they became martial world guests wandering between a few towns.
When hired, they did dirty work to earn quick money.
Naturally, they also did this kind of highway robbery; blocking and robbing people was their habit, so they weren’t afraid of Su Yan fighting back.
“Are you speaking truthfully?”
