"Second Uncle, Big Brother, Gouzi, be careful—danger."
Liu Tiezhu quickly raised his compound crossbow and shouted a warning to the others.
Everyone dropped the meat in their hands, grabbed their gear, and stood back-to-back.
Taro and the other hunting dogs started barking fiercely toward the dense weeds in the southwest.
"Zhu, why are these dogs barking so wildly?"
Second Uncle squinted, staring into the pitch-black southwest, but saw nothing.
"I'm not sure. It must be a large predator, or else Taro and the others wouldn't act like this."
"Everyone needs to stay on high alert. Don't let this thing catch us off guard," Liu Tiezhu warned.
Just then, a rustling sound emerged, and a pair of green eyes appeared among the weeds.
A beast resembling a leopard pushed through the grass and slowly stepped out.
The creature was nearly two meters long, with markings like a leopard's.
Its appearance was about eighty percent similar to a house cat, and it looked to weigh around two hundred jin.
With long limbs and light steps, it was clearly built for running.
After emerging from the weeds, those green eyes locked onto the four of them, and it let out a sound like a cat's meow.
"What the hell is that?" Er Gouzi couldn't help asking.
It wasn't a cat, nor was it a leopard.
In all his years, he'd never seen an animal like this.
Second Uncle shouted a warning: "That's a rock tiger—a rare breed around here."
"This beast is faster than a leopard and good at ambushing."
"It must have been drawn by the smell of the elk's blood. Everyone be careful."
As Second Uncle warned them, the rock tiger had already come within five meters.
The rock tiger was clever and didn't rush to attack.
It paced slowly around them, searching for the perfect moment to strike.
"Second Uncle, Big Brother, keep your eyes on the rock tiger's movements."
"Gouzi, aim at the rock tiger and wait for my command."
With that, Liu Tiezhu moved his compound crossbow to track the rock tiger's steps.
Er Gouzi did the same, holding his breath and waiting for Liu Tiezhu's order.
"Gouzi, loose arrows!"
As Liu Tiezhu's voice fell, twelve bamboo arrows shot out one after another.
From just over five meters away, the arrows quickly sank into the rock tiger's flesh.
The rock tiger let out a pained cry, leaped, and vanished into the weeds.
Taro immediately signaled an attack, and five heavy hounds charged forward.
"Come back!"
Seeing this, Liu Tiezhu immediately ordered them to stop.
Though the rock tiger had taken the arrows, its escape speed showed it wasn't badly hurt.
The current hunting dogs were no match for the rock tiger.
If they chased it, they might end up as its meal.
The rock tiger had fled, but the group still didn't let their guard down.
They stared at the weeds for a full ten minutes, only relaxing when they were sure there was no movement.
Second Uncle picked up the elk meat and put it back over the fire to roast.
Big Brother poured the elk blood into a wine bottle, mixed it with the strong liquor, and shook it evenly.
A simple bottle of elk blood wine was ready.
"Everyone, have a couple of sips to warm up."
Liu Tieshan took a few gulps, then passed the bottle to Second Uncle.
Second Uncle drank, then handed it to Liu Tiezhu.
Liu Tiezhu downed some, and the rest went to Er Gouzi.
After one round, the bottle of strong liquor was empty.
Once the elk blood wine settled in, the chill in their bodies faded, replaced by a warm glow.
Second Uncle picked up the elk meat from the ground and put it back on the fire.
"Even a rare thing like a rock tiger is showing up."
"It seems something's really changed in the mountains," Second Uncle muttered.
Er Gouzi said, "Dad, could it be that a bigger predator has appeared in the mountains?"
"And these animals are coming out to survive?"
At that, everyone froze.
Er Gouzi's theory couldn't be ruled out.
If a large predator had truly emerged in the mountains, it made sense for these animals to flee to avoid being hunted.
But the fiercest thing in the mountains was the jungle tiger.
That animal had lived there for decades, yet no other creatures had left.
Lately, all sorts of rare animals had been coming out, and it clearly wasn't because of the jungle tiger.
But aside from the jungle tiger, they couldn't think of any fiercer beast.
Second Uncle was silent for a moment before saying, "Whether there's a bigger predator in the mountains or not, we need to be careful."
"Rare animals leaving the mountains in droves isn't a good sign."
As they chatted, the elk meat finished roasting.
Liu Tiezhu gave some to Taro and the other dogs, and the four of them split the rest.
Er Gouzi took a few bites and asked, "Should we still go after the wild buffalo?"
Second Uncle said, "No, we can't."
"With a rock tiger here, who knows what other predators are hiding?"
"If we push on, we might be in danger."
Liu Tieshan chimed in, "Second Uncle's right. We've got a few hundred jin of elk meat—that's enough. We can't risk going deeper."
Seeing that Second Uncle and Big Brother had made up their minds, Liu Tiezhu had to go along.
Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi went to retrieve the bamboo arrows.
Of the twelve they'd shot, they only found ten.
The other two were probably still in the rock tiger.
They loaded everything onto the mule cart and headed back.
After the run-in with the rock tiger, their overnight plan was scrapped.
"That place has a rock tiger now. The folks from Liujia Village are in for trouble tomorrow."
As the mule cart moved off, Second Uncle couldn't help sighing.
Liu Tiezhu said, "Second Uncle, that's not our concern."
"Even if we went to Liujia Village to warn them, they wouldn't believe us."
"They'd probably say we're jealous they caught a wild buffalo and made up a story to scare them."
It wasn't that he was cold-hearted; he'd long seen through the bad nature of those Liujia Village people.
Why bother with something that would only bring trouble?
Er Gouzi added, "Zhu's right. Those bastards aren't worth it."
"Even if we warned them, they wouldn't care."
"Ah!"
Second Uncle sighed but said nothing more.
The mule cart had gone about twenty meters when it suddenly stopped in the middle of the road and refused to move.
"What's going on?"
Second Uncle raised his whip to scare the mule.
But the mule didn't react, just stomped its front hooves and brayed.
"Get off the cart! Grab your gear!"
Liu Tiezhu shouted, immediately grabbing his compound crossbow and jumping down.
He'd trained the mule—stomping its front hooves was a danger signal.
Second Uncle and the others reacted quickly, grabbing their steel forks and jumping off too.
"Zhu, what's happening?" Second Uncle asked.
Liu Tiezhu said, "The mule's signaling danger ahead."
"Big Brother, Second Uncle, cover the left and right. Gouzi, watch the rear."
After giving orders, Liu Tiezhu quickly signaled the hunting dogs to be on alert.
All the dogs leaped off the cart and formed a perimeter around the four of them.
In the silent night, the pounding of their hearts was unmistakably loud.
The mule suddenly reared up, letting out a piercing whinny, trying to break free from the cart and flee.
They followed its gaze and saw two pairs of green eyes, terrifyingly bright in the pitch-black darkness.