41: Chapter 41 The Scent-Chasing Rat

Decades ago, in the southeastern part of Dongyu Kingdom, a Hetero-blood king rose to power and established the Manxue Tribe.

The members of the Manxue Tribe worshipped the ancient god, the Barbarian Ancestor, and despised the Dongyu people who worshipped the Red God. Under the leadership of the Man King, they won several victories in wars against Dongyu Kingdom.

For a considerable time, the Manxue Tribe was a massive threat to Dongyu Kingdom. It was not until the Pope of Dongyu Kingdom mobilized various sects to join the war that the Manxue Tribe was quickly defeated, and the Man King died in a major battle.

After the Man King died, the Manxue Tribe fell apart. In particular, his direct blood descendants were ruthlessly hunted down by Dongyu Kingdom, and this extermination order has yet to be lifted to this day.

Lu Xiaohu's mother was actually a barbarian princess, a direct blood descendant of the Man King.

The Man King's direct bloodline possessed incredible power. While in the womb, each descendant would take the blood of a strange beast as their bloodline totem, and upon birth, they would possess innate abilities similar to that strange beast.

In reality, Lu Xiaohu's parents were mortally wounded by the guardian priests under the Pope, which led to their deaths.

Fortunately, Lu Xiaohu's parents died fighting to kill that guardian, sparing Lu Xiaohu from being discovered by outsiders. The blood spirit stones in Lu Pingan's possession were the legacy left behind by Lu Xiaohu's mother.

However, the Man King's bloodline was noble, and they were generally in a nearly perfect human form. For some unknown reason, Lu Xiaohu had been a tiger-headed human since birth. Lu Pingan took him wandering, never daring to let him show his true face.

Ever since Lu Pingan was maimed in a hunt a few years ago, their lives had gone from bad to worse.

Although Lu Xiaohu grew quickly, he was still too young, and his intellect and abilities were very immature.

Catching up with the good policies of Song City, Lu Pingan was anxious to pave the way for Lu Xiaohu's future, and in his haste, he finally made a mistake.

After hearing his explanation, the doubts in Tang Long's heart were cleared.

No wonder Lu Pingan needed the spine of a Blood-striped Tiger, and no wonder he had so many blood spirit stones in his hands.

"Young man, that friend of yours named Man Hai, although not a direct descendant of the Man King, is from a quite pure branch of the bloodline, known as the Barbarian Blood Warrior clan."

"They swore to protect the royal blood descendants for generations. Back then, there were actually two of them by Little Tiger's mother's side. It's just that because their physiques were too conspicuous, they both died in battle later on."

"Young man, we are on the same side; I truly have no intention of harming you!"

"Where is your friend now?"

Tang Long shook his head without answering and turned his gaze back to the largest wooden house on the east side of the camp.

The effect of the Aurora Phantom Sound on Lu Pingan was not very good; perhaps because the old man's cultivation level was two stages higher than his own, it only lasted for less than three minutes.

Then, what would the effect be on the two Bounty Hunters?

...

Mu Dayong was tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep.

Suddenly, he felt his bounty terminal wristwatch on his wrist vibrate.

He raised his hand to look, and his eyes immediately widened.

"Brother Hou! Brother Hou!"

"Take a look quickly! Boss Yellow has sent a message!"

Opposite him, Hou Qiang turned over impatiently. "It must be telling us to chase Tang Long first. The communication is delayed anyway, so don't bother with him. Hurry up and rest; we'll head back to the city as soon as it's light."

Mu Dayong hurriedly jumped out of bed and ran to his side. "It's not that! Boss Yellow's message says that Tang Long has thirty spirit stones on him! He might also be carrying a treasure worth at least five hundred thousand!"

"How much?!"

Hou Qiang also sat up in shock and immediately checked the message. Upon confirming the amount, his expression was equally shocked.

The entire combined wealth they had scraped together during the day was only worth about 150,000 to 160,000, equivalent to twelve or thirteen blood spirit stones. Even if they took this shipment of goods and made a fifty percent profit, it would still fall far short of thirty blood spirit stones.

And that treasure worth over five hundred thousand...

"Brother Hou, this is a huge fortune! Boss Yellow says they will arrive around dawn and that we should try to keep a lock on him first..."

Hou Qiang raised a hand to stop him, narrowed his eyes, and asked in return, "Dayong, do you dare to pull off a big job?"

Mu Dayong widened his eyes. "You mean... the two of us do it? Can we pull that off? Didn't you say that kid is powerful and we might not be able to take him down? Besides, when Boss Yellow arrives tomorrow, how are we going to explain?"

Hou Qiang sneered. "There are still a full five or six hours until dawn. It's dark now, and the wind outside is strong; that kid definitely can't have run very far. He's probably curled up somewhere sleeping. We'll sneak over and can catch him off guard."

"Even if he's alert enough, you attract his attention from the front, and I'll sneak attack from behind. This tactic of ours is tried and true; we've never failed."

"Once we take him out, we'll throw the body into the river to feed the fish and just say we couldn't find him—no evidence, no case! What can anyone do about it?"

Mu Dayong's face twitched. "Brother Hou, Boss Yellow might not be so easy to fool. Even if he doesn't say anything for now, we still have to work under him in the future. Who knows if one day he's unhappy..."

Hou Qiang backhanded him across the face. "Are you fucking stupid?"

"Brother, what are we risking our lives as Bounty Hunters outside the city for? Is it to make Yellow Beard happy?"

"Thirty blood spirit stones plus a treasure, and we still have all this stuff on hand. Once we head back to the city and cash it all out, we can live a comfortable, carefree life for the rest of our days. Why would we still deal with a prick like him?"

"Once we get back to the city, we'll quit the team and cancel our Bounty Hunter certificates. If he dares to cause us trouble, the Jingan Division will have him eating prison food in no time!"

"If you want to climb higher, you can find a martial arts gym and learn the Guidance Technique. By then, would you even need to be afraid of him? You could beat the shit out of him in a minute!"

Listening to the future Hou Qiang described, Mu Dayong gradually grinned, his face becoming increasingly excited.

"Brother Hou, I'm in! Let's do it now! We'll leave overnight as soon as we're done! Once we get back to the city and make our fortune, we'll never have to take their shit again!"

"But I didn't buy a Scent-tracking Mouse; the tracking will have to rely on you."

"If we really pull it off, I'll just take thirty percent this time."

"Don't overthink it, let's stick to the four-six split." Hou Qiang smiled and patted his shoulder, but when he turned his face away, a look of mockery appeared in his eyes, and he cursed him as an idiot in his heart.

If he really took down Tang Long and obtained these spirit stones and the treasure, he wouldn't share it with this fool. When the time came, he might just have to let this 'brother' die in action.

He went to the cabinet on the side, took out a small box, and gently opened it, revealing a thumb-sized white mouse inside.

This thing was called a Scent-tracking Mouse, and its favorite food was a type of ant that specifically ate pine resin; its sense of smell was extremely keen. It was a strange beast specifically bred by the Bounty Hunter headquarters to help Bounty Hunters with tracking.

Hou Qiang took out a small packet, smeared some pine resin with his finger, and then took a feather he had bought from Tang Long and let the little mouse sniff it.

The little mouse sniffed it, then immediately shrank into a corner, shivering slightly.

Mu Dayong asked, "Brother Hou, didn't you say this little thing is very smart and can indicate the target's direction and distance with its actions? What does this mean?"

Hou Qiang snorted. "It is very smart, but it's also very timid. This room is full of the scent of that Hetero-blood bastard's savage beast, so it's probably scared. Go and cover that animal up."

Mu Dayong immediately grabbed a few pieces of leather and covered Lu Xiaohu with them.

But when he turned back, the little mouse spun around in the box twice, then once again burrowed into the corner, continuing to shiver.

Even Hou Qiang was a bit confused now and couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Strange. Could it be that the strong wind is affecting its nose?"

Mu Dayong was even more baffled. "Brother Hou, what's going on?"

Hou Qiang answered irritably, "It means the target is very close, so it's terrified."

"Isn't closer better? If it's close, we don't have to waste time running around! Quickly ask it, how close is 'very close', and in which direction?"

Hou Qiang gave him a disdainful glare. "Only when danger is within twenty meters does it curl up like this. According to this, the target is right..."

At this point, Hou Qiang's pupils constricted, his face changed drastically, and he suddenly thought of a possibility.

He immediately reached out to grab the long saber and hand crossbow hanging on the wall, but at that moment, the door was suddenly flung open.

As snow and cold air flooded into the wooden house, a cold light flashed in, piercing directly through the back of his hand and turning into a short blade that pinned his hand to the wall panel.