Chapter 34: Chu Feng’s Scheme—the Wolf Pack Leaps onto the Second Peak

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The snow on Jade Dragon Mountain had not stopped for days.

It kept falling, piling higher and higher.

For small animals, the weather was anything but merciful.

A Jade Dragon snow hare was searching for food atop the thick blanket of snow. Its two adorable paws raked backward with the speed of spinning fire wheels, flinging the snow behind it.

At last, it cleared a patch in front of itself, revealing the damp earth beneath—and a cluster of ferns that looked far from fresh.

To the snow hare, however, they were the most delicious food it had found in days.

Excitedly, it clamped the ferns between its teeth and leaped out of the hollow, intending to return to its burrow and enjoy its meal at leisure.

Whoosh!

An arrow came hurtling through the air.

Before the hare could react, the arrow pierced straight through its head.

Without the slightest hint of pain, the snow hare lost consciousness.

“You’d better give me a reasonable explanation, or don’t blame me for being rude.”

Tian Zhuang glared viciously at Chu Feng, the wariness in his eyes growing ever deeper.

Wild rabbits were nimble creatures.

It was not as though Tian Zhuang had never seen other hunters before. They generally chose to hunt animals such as roe deer, deer, or wild boars—not because those creatures were easy to catch, but because they were easier targets for arrows.

How could an ordinary hunter’s bow be so accurate?

To shoot such a small wild rabbit from more than a dozen paces away—and pierce its head clean through at that.

If Tian Zhuang had merely suspected Chu Feng’s identity at first, then now he was almost certain.

Chu Feng was definitely no ordinary mountain patrolman.

He was either a master archer who had fled from the front lines, or a spy from an enemy kingdom.

If Chu Feng had not still been useful to him, Tian Zhuang would have restrained him long ago and taken him to the government office in town.

Chu Feng ignored him.

He stepped forward and used a hoe to dress the rabbit. He deliberately cut through its main artery first.

The sharp smell of blood immediately filled the air.

Chu Feng and Tian Zhuang were standing at the edge of the dense forest, between the First Peak and the Second Peak.

He had no idea where the blind bear was.

But the two of them had no chance of defeating more than a dozen men by themselves.

If Chu Feng wanted to overcome the bandits, he had to seek help.

For instance, from the blind bear that had yet to hibernate for reasons unknown.

“What exactly are you trying to do?” Tian Zhuang asked again.

“Didn’t those bandits say that if they had nothing to eat, they would harm Miss Tian? If we give them some prey, won’t your sister be safe?”

The words sounded reasonable at first glance.

In truth, they were not reasonable at all.

Tian Zhuang stood there, pondering for a while.

In the end, he silently accepted Chu Feng’s actions.

The two men climbed the steep mountain once more and reached the platform on the Second Peak.

Then they lay prone in the thick snow.

They waited.

The sky gradually darkened.

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Lying in the snow, Chu Feng and Tian Zhuang felt as though their bodies were about to freeze solid.

From time to time, Tian Zhuang glanced at Chu Feng, apparently afraid that he might run away.

“Throw it over!”

Chu Feng handed Tian Zhuang the wild rabbit’s body, frozen stiff.

Though Tian Zhuang did not understand what he intended to do, he followed Chu Feng’s instructions and hurled the carcass over with all his strength.

He immediately burrowed into the snow, making sure he could not be seen.

Nearly half an hour later, the bandits began to come out on patrol.

Second-in-Command Xing stepped on the rabbit. When he picked it up and saw what it was, he nearly drooled.

“Boss, it’s a rabbit!”

He hurried over to Zhao Youtian.

Zhao Youtian was not a particularly clever man, but he had some sense.

“How could a dead rabbit suddenly appear on Jade Dragon Mountain in weather like this?”

He brought the rabbit closer and examined it.

There was still a trace of blood on it, and its head had been pierced by an arrow. But it had frozen completely solid, making it impossible to tell when the rabbit had died.

“Boss, could it have been killed by those wild men on Jade Dragon Mountain? Maybe they left it behind for some reason,” Xing Er guessed.

“Start patrolling. Don’t slack off. Get the fire going first.”

Zhao Youtian did not tell them to throw the rabbit away.

These men had become bandits only because they had been driven into a desperate corner. They had lived on wild grass and tree bark every day, and their bellies had long been emptied of anything nourishing.

The rabbit falling from the heavens was certainly suspicious.

But Xing Er’s theory also made sense. There were wild men living on Jade Dragon Mountain. Perhaps this had indeed been left behind by them.

Starting a fire in these deep mountains was no easy task.

Xing Er and another bandit squatted together, striking their flints again and again.

Only after a long while did they finally manage to light the fire.

Xing Er and the other bandits stared hungrily at the rabbit roasting over the flames.

There was no time to prepare it properly; they had not even removed the fur.

Before long, the unpleasant stench of burnt hair and blood mingled with the faintly enticing aroma of browning meat and drifted out from the campfire.

A howl rang out.

Chu Feng, who had been feigning sleep, opened his eyes at once.

“They’re here!”

His plan seemed to have worked.

In the freezing winter, with snow covering the land, none of the beasts could find prey.

They were starving.

Otherwise, they would not risk entering places inhabited by humans every winter.

There was a blind bear in the dense forest.

Wolves prowled around the Second Peak.

To defeat more than a dozen bandits, all Chu Feng had to do was find a way to draw these beasts out.

But the bandits were not the only ones Chu Feng intended to deal with.

Tian Zhuang suddenly rose to his feet.

“Where did those wolves come from? This is bad.”

He seemed ready to rush forward and rescue Tian Xin.

This time, Chu Feng did not stop him.

He merely watched in silence from behind.

But after taking only a few steps, Tian Zhuang halted.

“Come with me to save her!”

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“My advice is that we wait a little longer.”

Ever since Tian Zhuang had threatened him, Chu Feng had spoken less and less to him.

But he had no intention of taking part in such an obvious suicide mission.

Tian Zhuang clenched his fists, yet in the end he chose to lie down again.

The howling wolves startled Zhao Youtian from the snow shelter where he had been resting.

The men emerged from the shelter and looked toward the source of the howls.

“Damn it, even a rabbit roasted until it’s burnt has drawn the wolves here. Are they really that hungry?”

“Everyone, be careful. Remember to leave someone on watch tonight. Don’t get yourselves eaten by wolves.”

Zhao Youtian called out to the others.

The group began patrolling in pairs and threes.

They were not concerned by a few wild wolves.

Every one of them was armed.

Moreover, beside Zhao Youtian lay a black bundle that had never once left his side.

No one knew whether it contained weapons or money.

He clearly valued it above all else.

Tian Xin had not been taken into the snow shelter.

She had been bound tightly and wrapped in two fur coats outside the shelter.

That would keep her from freezing to death while also preventing her from escaping.

The howls of the wolves drew nearer and grew more numerous.

Xing Er was puzzled.

Were wild beasts not most afraid of firelight?

Why were the howls coming closer and closer?

“Second-in-Command, I think I can see green eyes!” one of the bandits patrolling near the mountainside shouted.

“It’s nothing. Let them come. Are a dozen of us supposed to fear a few wolves? They can come and add to our food stores.”

Xing Er spoke with complete indifference.

Once the bandits began patrolling, Chu Feng and Tian Zhuang retreated several steps farther.

They buried themselves in the snow to avoid being discovered.

More and more emerald eyes appeared in the darkness.

Chu Feng knew he had achieved his objective.

Whenever he had caught game on the mountain before, he had processed it as quickly as possible and hauled it down.

If he stayed on the mountain too long, the beasts would pick up its scent.

But this time, Chu Feng had deliberately dressed the wild rabbit there, allowing the smell of blood and flesh to spread across all of Jade Dragon Mountain.

After being roasted, the rabbit’s aroma had grown even more intense.

Wild animals possessed exceptionally keen senses of smell.

Still, Chu Feng had not expected the wolves to be the first to arrive.

In his view, it would have been even better if the blind bear had come.

The pack began gathering at the foot of the mountain.

Some of them even ran beneath the spot where Chu Feng lay concealed.

He had no idea how many wolves there were.

For now, all he could do was wait.

A howl split the night.

A giant wolf nearly six feet long emerged before the eyes of the assembled men.

The instant Tian Zhuang saw it, he instinctively started to rise and flee.

But when he saw that Chu Feng remained motionless, he forced himself to stay still.

“Boss, the wolves are here.”

“Quit shouting at me and kill them!”

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