Liu Tiezhu followed the direction Liu Ergou was pointing, and his face turned pale as well.
Less than a meter from the eucalyptus tree in front of him, a cobra as thick as an arm raised its head high, its tongue flicking as it stared them down.
A king cobra raising its head—that was a signal it was about to attack.
If it bit them, they were as good as dead.
"What the hell, how is there a snake in the dead of winter?"
Ergou was completely stunned.
Logically, in this kind of weather, snakes should be hibernating.
"We might have walked into its nest and woken it up."
"Hurry, run!"
"Snakes have a strong sense of territory. Once they spot an intruder, they attack immediately."
Liu Tiezhu shouted, dropping into a backward roll.
At the same time, he raised his compound crossbow and fired at the king cobra.
Ergou reacted quickly too, turning and bolting.
The arrow, made from an umbrella rib, grazed the king cobra's scales.
That pissed the king cobra off. Hissing furiously, it lunged at the fallen Liu Tiezhu.
"Damn it, this beast is practically a demon, with such a strong vengeful streak."
Liu Tiezhu cursed, but his reflexes were sharp.
He grabbed a dry eucalyptus branch and swung it hard at the charging cobra.
The blow landed squarely on the cobra's midsection, making it curl up in pain.
The king cobra was thicker than an adult's arm, about three meters long, and weighed a good seven or eight jin.
Liu Tiezhu grinned, using the branch to pin the cobra down.
"Ergou, chop its head off with the knife, but don't get too close."
Liu Ergou reacted instantly, pulling out his hatchet and swinging it at the cobra's head.
Having spent years chopping firewood in the mountains, his aim was precise, and he lopped the head off cleanly.
"Damn, you think you're tough, you beast?"
Still shaken, Liu Ergou cursed and gave the severed head another whack.
"Dog, don't waste the blood. Drink it up."
Liu Tiezhu picked up the king cobra and gestured for Liu Ergou to open his mouth.
King cobra blood was a powerful tonic.
It was rank and hard to swallow, but a few gulps would warm the body up fast.
"You can drink this stuff?"
Liu Ergou swallowed nervously, a bit freaked out.
Liu Tiezhu shot him a glare.
"Stop yapping. Would I screw you over?"
Ergou didn't hesitate anymore. He opened his mouth and sucked at the snake's neck.
After several mouthfuls of blood, the stench almost made him puke.
"Hold it in. This is good for you."
Liu Tiezhu warned him, wiped the spot where Ergou had sucked, and then started drinking himself.
A seven- or eight-jin king cobra was an old snake.
The older the snake, the more potent its blood and gall.
Liu Tiezhu forced down the rest of the blood, fighting the taste.
Then he quickly pulled out a short knife, skinned the snake, and removed the gall.
The gall was the size of a toe, dark green.
Carefully, Liu Tiezhu rolled it in the snow a few times until the bile solidified, then tucked it into his pocket.
Snake gall was great for kids; he'd save it for Yaoyao.
"Tiezhu, I feel like I'm burning up inside, like there's fire in my gut."
Liu Ergou's face was flushed as he leaned in.
"That's exactly how it should feel."
"This king cobra's at least ten years old. Its blood is as potent as deer blood."
"Those few mouthfuls you downed are like eating dozens of jin of supplements."
"Feeling hot all over now is just the blood rushing."
"This snake blood not only boosts you, it can change your constitution."
Liu Tiezhu explained.
Hearing that, Ergou's eyes lit up.
"If I'd known this stuff had that effect, I'd have drunk more."
Liu Tiezhu chuckled. "Easy to get more. Tonight, we'll stew this king snake with civet cat and throw in a bamboo chicken."
"That'll keep you up all night, guaranteed."
That soup, called Dragon, Tiger, and Phoenix, with some herbs, was a real powerhouse.
After packing up the king cobra, the two moved on.
A few dozen steps later, they saw a stretch of white weeds.
The weeds were half as tall as a grown man.
After their earlier scare, neither dared to rush.
They took it step by step, pausing to scan the area for more snakes.
Shh!
Liu Tiezhu, in the lead, made a gesture and then pressed his hand down.
Ergou behind him perked up and immediately crouched.
Liu Tiezhu loaded an umbrella-rib arrow, gripped the compound crossbow, and slowly crawled forward through the weeds.
About twenty meters ahead, a silly roe deer was munching on dry grass with half-closed eyes, unaware of the danger creeping in.
Twenty minutes later, Liu Tiezhu's head slowly emerged from the weeds.
He was now less than five meters from the deer.
The deer still had its eyes half-shut, savoring the grass.
Liu Tiezhu held his breath, slowly raised the crossbow, and aimed at the deer's eye.
The crossbow's power wasn't enough to take down a medium-to-large animal cleanly.
Only a shot to a vital spot would keep it from escaping.
With a *swish*, the umbrella rib shot out.
Startled, the deer opened its eyes to see what was happening.
But the moment it did, the rib pierced its pupil, blood spilling everywhere.
The deer twitched for a moment, then went still.
*Thump, thump, thump...*
Footsteps rustled through the weeds, and a large patch flattened.
Liu Tiezhu looked closely—it was a herd of roe deer.
Panicked, they bounded toward the other side of the mountain.
"Ergou, come bleed this one."
Liu Tiezhu called out softly, then sprinted after them.
If he could take down the whole herd, they'd have meat for a month.
After chasing a hundred meters, Liu Tiezhu skidded to a halt.
Three meters ahead, a roe deer was staring at him with wide-eyed curiosity.
No wonder the old textbooks talked about clubbing deer—their stupidity and curiosity were truly worrying.
But to Liu Tiezhu, that was just dozens of jin of game right in front of him.
He wasn't about to pass up this chance.
He quickly loaded an umbrella rib, aimed, and fired.
The rib pierced the deer's skull cleanly, blood pooling on the ground.
As Liu Tiezhu moved to bleed it, another deer burst from the weeds.
A big buck, easily fifty jin.
It stood by its dead companion, staring at Liu Tiezhu with a puzzled look.
Liu Tiezhu was thrilled. He loaded another arrow, aimed, and shot.
By the time the buck sensed danger, the rib was already upon it.
*Thwack*—blood sprayed, and the buck crumpled.
Liu Tiezhu rushed over, pulled out his short knife, and started bleeding both deer.
Just then, heavy hoofbeats sounded behind him.
He turned to see weeds flattening in a wide swath.
Ergou was sprinting toward him, hatchet in hand.
Liu Tiezhu forgot about the bleeding, quickly loaded the crossbow, and aimed it at Liu Ergou's direction.