Cheng Zongyang thought for a moment and decided to follow the trail.
It would take some time to get home, but he wasn't in a rush. He still had to sell that bear later.
He followed the obvious drag marks, heading deeper in a northwesterly direction.
'...What a huge tree!'
Following the tracks, Cheng Zongyang saw a dead, fallen tree trunk. It was taller than he was, covered in moss, and wrapped in countless vines.
'It would take at least ten people to wrap their arms around this, wouldn't it?'
Cheng Zongyang marveled to himself as he estimated its size.
A giant tree with a circumference of nearly twenty meters must have taken several hundred years to grow to such a size.
He carefully followed the tracks. 'At least this is a safe route.'
At the same time, he didn't forget to keep an eye on his surroundings.
Even while Tracking his target, he didn't forget to look for anything valuable.
'That aged Polygonum multiflorum back in my market stall is quite valuable, after all.'
'So many vines. This is a good place to gather some.'
'There's a hollow in the tree? A person could probably live in there. Doesn't look like the work of termites... what little creature made this?'
'A pity. This Reishi Mushroom has turned to wood. Thankfully, there are still a few pieces I can harvest.'
'Damn, this Bamboo Leaf Green Snake is well hidden!'
'Hiss...! A patch of ginseng!'
...
Cheng Zongyang continued to observe as he circled the dead tree.
He also found some rather valuable Medicinal Materials.
There were a few usable Reishi Mushrooms that hadn't turned to wood, as well as over a dozen ginseng plants, likely sprouted from the seeds of an old ginseng.
But now wasn't the time to harvest them. He memorized the location, planning to deal with it on his way back.
Three or four minutes later, Cheng Zongyang arrived at the base of a tree.
The trail vanished there, and there was some blood on the tree's roots.
A light breeze stirred the forest, and the leaves rustled. A few greenish-yellow leaves spun down before Cheng Zongyang's eyes.
His eyes followed the drifting leaves. With a calm expression, he slowly backed away more than ten meters, abruptly pressing himself against a thick tree before looking up into the branches of the first one.
There were numerous scratch marks on the trunk. His eyesight was excellent, and he soon spotted it—more than twenty meters up, on a branch slightly bent by a heavy weight. Through the sparse leaves, he saw a familiar creature staring right back at him!
Sure enough, it was the Black Panther!
It was crouched on a sturdy branch, its mouth stained with blood. Draped in front of it was a gray wolf.
The Black Panther shifted, and a few leaves fluttered down from the branch. With a fluid, cat-like twist of its limbs, it turned around on the spot.
It kept its eyes locked on Cheng Zongyang as it slowly backed toward the tree trunk.
Seeing this, Cheng Zongyang turned and bolted.
'I'm too close! If I don't create some distance, I'll never get away! And I won't be able to use my Bow and Arrow effectively!'
Seeing the "intruder" in its territory flee, the Black Panther decided this was a new creature it could hunt.
And so, its agile form suddenly accelerated. It launched itself to the ground, locked onto Cheng Zongyang once more, and gave chase with a series of powerful, bounding leaps.
Its speed was a perfect demonstration of feline agility.
Cheng Zongyang had already run seventy or eighty meters when he caught a glimpse of the Black Panther closing in at an incredible speed from the corner of his eye. His heart sank.
He was confident he could outrun a wolfhound, but compared to this Black Panther, he felt as slow as a shuffling old man.
He could almost hear the beast's hot, panting breath.
As his heart pounded and blood rushed through his veins, a place suddenly came to mind.
Suddenly, Cheng Zongyang slammed on the brakes. He swung around a tree trunk, using it to pivot, killing his forward momentum and changing direction in one fluid motion. He then took off in a dead sprint toward his three o'clock!
The sprinting Black Panther, barely three or four body lengths behind, hadn't anticipated such a maneuver and overshot him.
Its claws plowed furrows in the dirt, but it couldn't stop its momentum and slammed into a tree trunk. It fell to the ground, limbs flailing.
By the time it scrambled back to its feet to resume the chase, Cheng Zongyang had once again widened the distance between them.
Cheng Zongyang had no illusions of being safe. He kept running, heading for the fallen dead tree he had passed earlier.
He didn't run in a straight line, instead weaving between the trees. This would prevent the Black Panther from pouncing directly on him and allowed him to use the trees to create unexpected obstacles.
Just like that, he arrived completely unscathed at the massive, dead tree—the one that would take ten men to encircle, which had been lying on the forest floor for who knows how many years.
Of course, the tree itself wasn't his goal. It was the countless vines clinging to it, and that small hollow within!
He didn't have time to worry about poisonous insects or snakes inside. Relying on memory, he faked one way to dodge the closing Black Panther, then spun and slid toward the small hollow. He quickly tossed his Bow and Arrow and loose arrows aside. With extreme agility, he tore open the vines and squeezed his body through the opening. As he went in, he yanked a section of the vines back over to cover the entrance.
The entire sequence, though it seemed long, took no more than two or three seconds.
THUD!
The very moment Cheng Zongyang scrambled into the hollow, a powerful paw raked viciously across the tree trunk. With a loud tearing sound, wood chips flew everywhere.
Cheng Zongyang's last-second, subconscious tug on the vines had perfectly blocked the Black Panther from following him in.
RAWR...!
The Black Panther roared as it frantically tried to shove its head through the tangle of vines. It swiped its sharp claws, which glinted in the dim light, left and right into the hollow, each slash gouging fresh marks into the wooden floor and sending splinters flying.
Hiding off to one side, Cheng Zongyang watched the frenzied Black Panther. Though his heart pounded with the relief of having survived, he didn't lose his composure.
The hollow was only seventy or eighty centimeters high but over a meter wide. By pressing himself into a corner, he could just barely stay out of reach of its claws.
This wasn't the first time he'd been hunted by a powerful Fierce Beast.
THUD!
There was another heavy impact, and a black, well-muscled paw reached in again, digging frantically at the hollow.
Curled up inside, Cheng Zongyang immediately seized the opportunity. He drew the Bone-Cutting Knife from his waist, a vicious glint in his eyes.
'I'm not some helpless wolf!'
The thought flashed through his mind. In the confined space, he swung the Bone-Cutting Knife, viciously hacking at the claw as it swiped toward him again.
THUNK! The force of the impact jarred the Bone-Cutting Knife back.
The space was too tight to put much force behind the swing. The blade hit the Black Panther's paw, wounding it, but the creature's own strength sent the knife rebounding.
But he could feel that his blade had struck something hard.
'If I'm not mistaken, that was bone!'
AOOOWWW!!!
At the same time, a beastly cry unlike any before rang out, this one carrying a sharp, shrill tone!
It was a scream of pain.
Cheng Zongyang immediately knew what had happened.
Sure enough, he saw no sign of the Black Panther trying to dig its way in again.
The commotion slowly faded into the distance.
Seeing his chance, Cheng Zongyang crawled out, knife in hand. The first thing he saw were bloodstains spattered across the shredded, tangled vines on the ground.
At this, a look of delight spread across Cheng Zongyang's face, and he quickened his pace through the vines.
Outside, he picked up his Ironwood Bow, Quiver, and the few scattered arrows.
When he emerged, he could see the Black Panther several dozen meters away, limping so badly it could barely run.
'Buddy, the tables have turned.' Killing intent flashed in Cheng Zongyang's eyes.