Ding Hao did not expect that a hunter that looked so proper actually turned out to be a cold-blooded killer.
His cultivation level was too different from the hunters, Innate Stage level three against a level seven, two bottlenecks and four levels away from each other.
Ding Hao still had a bottle of sea of grass in hand, but he was not willing to use it. However, in terms of equipment, he was a lot better than his opponent.
He had a moderate grade willow-leaf saber in hand, as well as a high grade hand crossbow, whereas the hunter only had a lower grade willow leaf saber in hand. DIng Hao was also wearing snow silkworm armor, and the hunter did not seem to have any defensive equipment.
Their skill had quite the gap, but it was not an impossible fight, Ding Hao said calmly, “Minion, listen to him and go over.”
Minion looked at him and slowly walked toward the hunter. At the same time, Ding Hao pretended to undo his storage pouch.
Ding Hao had wanted Minion to launch a surprise attack and gain the upper hand, but the hunter was not stupid. With a wave of his hand, he got his hunting dog to stand in front of him.
The hunter coldly said, “You and I are leagues apart, I’m warning you, don’t court death!”
Ding Hao knew there was no hope for an ambush, he shouted out, “Minion, attack!”
“Woof!” Minion was full of vigor today, he charged forward and leaped, looking like a golden thunderbolt.
The hunting dog reacted quickly as well. The moment Minion moved, he ferociously leaped forward, attempting to block Minion.
However, Minion was way stronger than it, and leaped right over the hunting dong before slashing his claws on its head. Minion then bounded toward the hunter.
“What a good dog!” The hunter was surprised, and did not dare to take it slow as he slashed at Minion. He was an Innate Stage level seven, so his sword was fierce and powerful! However, the hunter really liked that dog, so he did not exert his full force since he did not want to kill Minion.
Just as he was hesitating, Ding Hao had retrieved the hand crossbow from his storage pouch and sent an arrow right at him!
“You brat, making a move before me.” The hunter hunted in the area year long, so his body was incredibly agile. He dodged Ding Hao’s first arrow, and when Ding Hao fired another, it was dodged as well!
Even if the hunter had avoided the arrows, it created an opportunity for Minion. Minion bit on the hunter’s wrist which was gripping onto the sword. The hunter recoiled in pain and dropped his willow-leaf saber before shouting, “Tiger!”
Tiger did not stay idle, and turned around to bite at Minion’s throat. It was a hunting dog used to attacking prey, so it was very clear about where the weak spots were. With a tug, it bit onto minion’s neck and blood started to flow out.
Tiger was incredibly fierce, and he once again bit into Minion’s injury, inflicting more damage to the wound! However, Minion was abnormally durable, and still would not release his bite. His teeth pierced deeply into the hunter’s flesh, unwilling to let go.
The hunter was in great pain and he started to punch Minion. This time he had lost all compassion for Minion, shouting, “Kill him!”
Ding Hao was not just standing there, his three arrows at the hunter did not hit, so he decided to shoot at Tiger instead.
There were five arrows loaded onto the hand crossbow, and only one managed to hit Tiger.
Even if the arrows were of lower quality, the bow was still high grade, so the power was quite good. The arrow pierced right into Tiger’s body. Tiger kept on biting Minion as Ding Hao reloaded the bow. This time he did not waste any time unloading all five arrows onto Tiger. The hunting dog was slowed down thanks to his injury, so all five arrows pierced into its body!
“Arf!” Tiger let out a cry as it collapsed onto the ground.
The hunter saw that his dog had died and let out a miserable cry, “Tiger!” He then sent another fist toward Minion’s head.
Minion could not take it anymore and was sent flying. The hunter then retrieved a longbow from his storage pouch. Even though the bow looked to be crudely made, it still packed a punch. Its arrows could even pierce through trees. If it hit Ding Hao, even his snow silkworm armor would not be able to save him!
“Minion, run!” Ding Hao commanded, disappearing into the forest with Minion.
The hunter held the bow with his left hand and pulled it with his right, but his right hand was injured, and blood was constantly flowing out, so he could not even aim properly, firing two wild shots.
Ding Hao escaped to somewhere quiet with Minion before examining Minion’s injuries.
The wound was deep, and a large chunk of his fur and skin were ripped away. There was a blood vessel that had been punctured, and was constantly oozing fresh blood, painting half of Minion’s body in a shade of red.
“Despicable!” Ding Hao cursed, pressing down on Minion’s injury as he looked in his storage pouch.
There were quite a few ordinary level pills in his pouch which were all meant to treat injuries. He fed Minion those pills before pouring some alcohol onto Minion’s injury. However, those pills were all made for humans, and were not effective at all!
Ding Hao’s hands were full of blood as he started to panic.
Minion kneeled there, letting Ding Hao do what he could. It did not cry out at all despite all the blood flowing. After a moment, it suddenly glazed over and collapsed on the ground due to the blood loss.
It struggled to get up but did not have the strength to even stand. It gazed at Ding Hao with a hopeless look, as if it wanted to say something.
Even though Minion was only a cheap mongrel, Ding Hao believed it definitely had a lot of thoughts going through its mind at the moment. Hopelessness, indignance, a cry for help, or even just wanting to call for its master…
Ding Hao’s sight was blurred as tears started to cover his face.
He lunged forward and pressed down on Minion’s injury, crying, “Minion, don’t be scared. There will definitely be a way, definitely!”
He had always been a calm person, in the few months in this world, he had never shed a tear no matter for happiness or sadness.
This time, he could not help but cry. His first tears were for a dog.
Loyal and brave, worth every bit of those valuable tears.
Ding Hao said there would be a way, but he was out of options right now. He had already let Minion consume all sorts of pills, but to no avail.
“What else do I have!” In a panic, Ding Hao poured out all the contents of his pouch.
He looked at the two small boxes, which were Mi Yunjing’s Concentrated Green Pills. Those pills were forbidden medicines used to awaken, but were useless to DIng Hao. He had put them right into the storage pouch after getting them. Now he did not really care anymore, forbidden medicines were surely more effective than ordinary ones. He opened the boxes and stuffed the two pills into Minion’s mouth.
It was unclear if the pills worked, or the earlier medicines were starting to take effect, but Minion’s injury stopped bleeding and his breath started to stabilize as he slept.
“This mongrel even snores.” Ding Hao wiped away his tears and smiled.
However, he suddenly had a determined look in his eyes, “Hunter, there are no grudges between us, but you harmed Minion to this degree. You must pay!”
Ding Hao put Minion into the storage pouch and rushed back.
The hunter was currently digging a grave in the forest. Hunting dogs were a hunter’s best friend, every hunter would definitely bury their dogs, not allowing their corpses to rot in the wild.
He did not expect Ding Hao who was only at Innate Stage level three to dare come back, but he was quite sharp and heard Ding Hao’s soft footsteps before turning around to run. Ding Hao followed closely behind, firing off a few arrows. However, the hunter was very familiar with the area, and when they reached a small stream in the forest, the hunter had disappeared.
The stream flowed from a small waterfall, Ding Hao held his hand crossbow and could not find the hunter no matter where he looked.
Unknown to him, there was a small space behind the waterfall. The hunter stood in that narrow space, looking at Ding hao underneath him with a cold gaze. This distance was not suited to fire arrows, and his wrist was also injured, so he took out a knife and held it in his left hand before jumping down, pinning Ding Hao on the stream, shouting, “Innate Stage level three, I didn’t kill you earlier, but you actually dared to come back, what an idiot! Die!!”
At that distance, Ding Hao’s hand crossbow and other weapons were useless. He lay on the stream and the clear water was flowing against his ears. The hunter was riding on his chest, gripping the knife with both his hands, viciously stabbing forward!
Ding Hao tossed away his hand crossbow and tightly gripped the hunter’s hands, not letting the knife pierce him.
“You’re trying to block? You’re just at the Innate Stage level three, and you’re trying to block someone at my level? Do you think you could kill me with that stupid crossbow? Since you dared to come back, don’t blame me for killing you!” The hunter mocked as he pushed down fiercely!
“Die! Innate Stage level three!”
The sharp knife was almost at Ding Hao’s forehead, but at that moment, Ding Hao had a flash of inspiration, “Enjoy wine and songs while we can. Life is short. Quiet the heart. Quiet the mind.”
“What?” The hunter was about to spit out blood. He did not understand how he suddenly entered the perfect stage meditative state in the middle of battle.
However, he was certain it was not the time to be meditating. With a bite on his tongue he suddenly woke up.
When he woke up, he was already pinned against the water by Ding Hao, with the knife thrown far away.
As he was about to speak, he heard again, “Enjoy wine and songs while we can. Life is short. Quiet the heart. Quiet the mind.”
“Again!” The hunter felt like crying. Sh*t, he was going to die from meditating at this rate!
When he woke up again, he noticed Ding Hao already had his willow-leaf saber against his neck.
“Bro, have mercy!” The hunter finally knew fear and started to regret, he hurriedly said, “Bro, you did not really have any losses, please spare my life. It’s my fault for not recognizing a warrior.”
Ding Hao coldly said, “You injured my dog!”
The hunter replied, “But my dog died.”
“My dog is the only family I have here!” Ding Hao did not hesitate as he slashed his blade across the hunter’s throat!
The stream was extremely clear, and even the patterns on the rocks under the water could be seen, but a large amount of fresh blood suddenly dyed it right, like a vibrant rose.