Chapter 44: Monster Stealing
Li Ye quickly dealt with the two Ironclad Pigs, his footsteps never stopping as he continued stepping through the air, overlooking from high above and searching for targets.
Whether wild boar or Ironclad Pig, this color was still easy to distinguish in the mountain forest. He didn’t know if it was done intentionally, but Li Ye had no trouble finding them.
Soon he spotted another Ironclad Pig rubbing against trees. As he descended, his body swam through the air without fully landing. He reached out with his claws mid-air, drilling a hole in the Ironclad Pig’s head, then stomped a foot on its back before it fell, shooting straight up again. He continued using the high-altitude view to lock onto other conspicuous black traces, charging toward them.
Ironclad Pigs seemed to be the mainstream in this area.
A Two Dragon Gate classmate also encountered an Ironclad Pig. He held a sword in hand and was entangled in combat with it. His martial arts leaned toward agility, with all his skills in the sword, making it easy to handle the Ironclad Pig’s charges.
Thrust, flick, chop, stab—every hit on the Ironclad Pig slid smoothly.
But every sword strike could only carve a sword mark, hardly dealing significant damage to the Ironclad Pig.
That classmate seemed accustomed to it. Coming to Dragon Mountain for experience during summer vacation, he handled it this way too—just find an opening, stab a vital spot, and kill one.
But this still took time; longer ones took one or two hours. This thing looked bulky, but its reactions were quick, not easily exposing its weakness.
One could only spend time exhausting the Ironclad Pig’s stamina, or those with speed could spend less time.
The Ironclad Pig let out a shrill cry and charged. The classmate dodged sideways with agile steps, raising his sword to slash upward, stabbing at the Ironclad Pig.
Thud!
But at that moment, an inexplicable sound of air exploding rippled from above.
He instinctively looked up and saw a person appear in the treetops above. His posture was like swimming, with air circles rippling from his feet as he swam over extremely fast, diving onto the Ironclad Pig and grabbing its head with five fingers, pinching several holes into it.
“Count it together!”
Li Ye didn’t linger and swam away again.
Leaving the classmate holding his sword aimed at the Ironclad Pig, unsure whether to stab or not.
Normally, he didn’t need to team up with others; he could handle it alone. Anyone intervening now would be making an enemy.
But he recognized that person—the Li Ye who had smashed Xiang Feipeng hard on the first day of school, someone he couldn’t afford to provoke.
Good news: no time wasted. Bad news: revenue halved.
The classmate sighed and continued searching for traces on the ground, looking for soil turned over by wild boars to find the next prey.
Li Ye had now fully transformed into a fighter jet. The sustained stamina from Dragon Gate circulation let him ignore stamina issues—at least for now. He rushed along using lightness skill, grabbing prey the moment he spotted it, killing it, then seeking the next.
Whether someone was fighting it or not, Li Ye didn’t mind. Anyway, hitting it counted as splitting evenly—it was just one grab, so the more the better.
This actually made them easier to spot. Ironclad Pigs were conspicuous as black, and people were even more so. From above, once spotted, he grabbed and killed directly.
“Hm?”
Li Ye had just borrowed force to step on a tree trunk and continue his Qi Blood Leap lightness skill when a green object suddenly appeared before him. Instinctively, Li Ye reached out and grabbed the green object.
Ding!
But as he reached, he heard a faint crisp sound in his ear, like his palm had been scratched by something.
Looking again, it was a jade-green mantis with forelimbs sharp as blades. Held in hand, it flailed its forelimbs, slashing at Li Ye’s hand.
Green Bamboo Dart Mantis, entirely jade-green but with forelimbs like glass—actually quite beautiful in a way. This demonic creature was relatively rare on Dragon Mountain.
Besides sharp forelimbs, when flying, it also dropped sharp stings from its wings like darts. Once skin was broken, it caused signs of paralysis.
Small size, high agility—normal students really couldn’t handle it.
Yao Lèdān had told him before: if possible, catch this alive rather than kill it; live ones were more valuable. Some people liked these special bugs.
Catching one in a day and selling it was better than killing two Ironclad Pigs.
“Good stuff.”
Li Ye held the mantis and continued maneuvering to other areas.
Soon, every demonic creature fight on this mountain gathered by the martial arts track students was spotted by Li Ye. Like a predatory eagle, relying on good lightness skill, he swooped down for a grab, then left without stopping, leaving a group of stunned classmates.
“Hey, right, charge straight in and wrestle it—don’t give it a chance to charge.”
At a certain spot on the mountain, Yao Lèdān sat on a tree trunk, directing Deng Hao and Jia Dong below.
They had also encountered an Ironclad Pig. Deng Hao, with greater strength, held its head up front, preventing it from charging. Jia Dong circled behind, attacking the Ironclad Pig’s forehead.
Since its body was too hard, hitting anywhere was the same, but the head was still a weakness.
“No, don’t hit the head—this chance is rare. Once restrained, hit the back—it’s softest there, not as hard as other places. Stab right in and burst it; the Ironclad Pig loses resistance,” Yao Lèdān reminded.
“Shut up!”
Jia Dong roared: “I’m just a student here for experience, unarmed—what do I stab with!”
Yao Lèdān had mentioned the Ironclad Pig’s weaknesses: one was the eye socket—stab right in; the other was the back—also stab in.
But the former was tricky; Deng Hao could only barely hold the head, preventing a charge.
The latter was disgusting—they were all bare-handed, no way to reach in there.
“Hands or feet work. If you don’t mind, switch with someone who can. Rare chance—you know how long it takes to kill one Ironclad Pig? One or two hours minimum, and you’re exhausted after. Rest up, and you might not find a second.”
“Kill it and sell to the school or me—you profit big. Don’t mess with anything but money. Martial artists fear nothing—go!” Yao Lèdān said.
“Dong bro, put some effort in—holding it is tough,” Deng Hao called out.
“Fuck, you’re not me.”
Jia Dong cursed harshly but thought it over, circled to the Ironclad Pig’s back, eyed the seemingly soft opening under the iron skin, gritted his teeth, and stomped down hard.
“Ang!!”
The Ironclad Pig burst into a shrill cry, flinging its head and breaking free of Deng Hao’s hold. Its whole body leaped up, eyes clearly red, twisting to charge straight at Jia Dong.
It was a short distance, but its four hooves kicked up a trail of dust.
Seeing this, Yao Lèdān dove down fast, heading straight for the Ironclad Pig.
If hit solidly, it’d mean hospital.
But with her there, it wouldn’t happen.
Thud!
Just as she was about to land, a gust of wind stirred by her ear. A figure landed faster in front of the Ironclad Pig, one hand reaching down to claw several holes in its head, squeezing to hollow it out.
“What are you doing?” Li Ye looked at the disheveled group, puzzled.
“Ye, Brother Ye.”
Jia Dong relaxed inwardly and called: “Sister Le screwed us.”
