Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

"You're still alive?"

Zhang Da was somewhat surprised to see that He Dazhuang was unharmed.

Weren't the roars of the beasts directed at them before?

"How could I die so easily?" He Dazhuang chuckled and said, "Come on! Let's see who's hunted!"

Zhang Da pointed to the pheasants and rabbits tied up on the ground and said, "Ten pheasants and twelve rabbits. They're all quite big; there must be at least one hundred and twenty or thirty in total!"

"What about yours?" Zhang Da glanced at He Dazhuang, who seemed to be empty-handed. "Did you come back empty-handed?"

"How is that possible?" He Dazhuang took two steps back and pointed behind the rock: "My prey is right here!"

Zhang Da looked puzzled and curiously walked over. When he looked behind the stone, he was immediately shocked.

It was a black bear!

However, the entire bear skin was peeled off, along with the head and four intact bear paws.

The other parts of the black bear were too heavy, and the mountain road was rugged, so He Dazhuang simply couldn't move them. Therefore, he only took the most valuable parts of the black bear.

"You killed a bear?"

Zhang Da was clearly still in a daze, unable to understand how He Dazhuang had done it.

Judging from the size of the bear skin, this bear must have weighed four or five hundred pounds when it was intact.

With a bear this size, let alone one hunter, even ten hunters couldn't guarantee they could take it down without injury.

"Of course!"

He Dazhuang pointed to the wound on the bear's head and said, "See that? That was from my knife."

As he spoke, He Dazhuang even pulled out the hunting knife and compared it to the knife, which matched perfectly.

"Impossible!" Zhang Da ignored all of that, simply shaking his head in denial: "Even if you were the one who made the cut, you couldn't have killed him!"

"Are you trying to cheat us?" He Dazhuang frowned. "It's a deal: whoever catches the heaviest prey wins!"

"But...but all you have here are bear pelts!" Zhang Da immediately retorted, "They might not even weigh as much as the prey I brought down the mountain!"

"That's not necessarily true!" He Dazhuang patted the bear's head and said, "This bear head alone weighs several dozen kilograms, and with the bear skin and claws, it's at least 170 or 180 kilograms!"

"A bet's a bet. When are you going to give me the fifty taels of silver?"

He Dazhuang simply shrugged and asked for it.

Zhang Ziran knew he had lost, but how could he be willing to admit it?

If you admit to losing, you'll have to pay fifty taels of silver.

All my possessions combined amount to only about thirty taels of silver. How could I possibly give that away?

So the argument continued: "Who weighs more or less isn't something that can be decided by words alone; we have to go back to the village and weigh them!"

"Alright, alright, whatever you say!" He Dazhuang waved his hand, knowing he was sure to win.

Then they prepared to carry their spoils back to the village to be weighed.

He Dazhuang walked ahead, full of vigor and high spirits.

I really stole the show on this trip back.

The feat of hunting a bear single-handedly was something I never dared to dream of before.

In contrast, Zhang Da followed behind dejectedly.

He still couldn't understand how He Dazhuang had done it.

He had hunted black bears before, but it was when he was young that many hunters worked together to set traps and surround them.

It took me half a month of work to finally get it done.

How could He Dazhuang handle it all by himself? I just can't understand it.

Or perhaps the black bear and the other beasts fought to the death, and He Dazhuang got a free ride.

Correct!

This is the only possibility.

When He Dazhuang encountered the black bear, it was already dead.

"Damn, he's so lucky!"

Zhang Da was filled with resentment and anger.

He watched He Dazhuang's retreating figure, his eyes growing increasingly fierce.

"We can't let him go back alive!"

Zhang Da slowly pressed his hand against the knife at his waist; he wanted to kill him to silence him!

With no one around in the surrounding mountains and forests, all I need to do is silently attack from behind and kill the other person. Not only will the bet be off, but I can also keep both the bear skin and the bear paws.

With evil thoughts taking root, Zhang Da quietly slowed his steps, gripping the hunting knife tightly in one hand.

Taking advantage of He Dazhuang's attention being focused on the rugged mountain road ahead, he suddenly threw off the wild game he was carrying on his shoulder, quickened his pace, and drew his knife to stab!

Just as he was about to succeed, a fireball that seemed to come out of nowhere suddenly knocked away Zhang Da's thrusting knife.

With a loud crash!

The hunting knife was knocked away by the fireball and landed some distance away.

Hearing the noise, He Dazhuang turned around abruptly.

Although I didn't see what happened behind me, I noticed something from Zhang Dada's posture and the knife in the distance.

"What do you want to do?" He Dazhuang pressed the hilt of his knife at his waist and took a step back.

But Zhang Da realized that his plan had been exposed, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue, and pounced on the attack.

He Dazhuang was about to draw his knife when Zhang Da pressed it back down.

The two instantly began to wrestle and tear at each other in the mud, the bear skin rolling to one side.

But Zhang Da was taller and stronger than He Dazhuang. In close combat, He Dazhuang was no match for him and was quickly pinned to the ground.

After gaining the upper hand, Zhang Da glanced at his hunting knife in the distance and immediately ordered, "Black Panther, bring me my knife!"

But there was no response!

Zhang Da sensed something was wrong, and a quick glance around made his heart sink.

The black panther, which had been following closely behind, was now lying in a pool of blood, its limbs stiff, a gruesome bite mark on its neck, and it had already stopped breathing.

Beside the corpses of the Black Panther Party members, Gou An sat quietly, watching them.

It was clear that the black panther was killed by his bite.

Seeing this, Zhang Da had no choice but to try and snatch the knife from He Dazhuang's waist.

But He Dazhuang had already gripped the hilt of the knife, and during the struggle, a soft "thud" was heard.

The hunting knife plunged into Zhang Da's chest, and Zhang Da's eyes widened in shock.

He Dazhuang gave Zhang Da a hard push, and Zhang Da fell straight to one side. After twitching a few times, he became completely still.

He Dazhuang staggered to his feet. He glanced at the knife in his hand and then at the blood splattered on his body, and was immediately terrified.

"I killed someone! I killed someone!"

So frightened, he dropped the knife from his hand.

But at that moment, Gou An spoke up: "Don't be afraid. In the middle of nowhere, a corpse can be dumped anywhere and devoured by wild animals in a few days. What business is it of yours?"

He Dazhuang turned to look at Gou An, who was standing calmly to the side, and his expression froze instantly.

I felt completely petrified on the spot!

"The dog...the dog...the dog is talking!"

He Dazhuang swallowed hard, feeling utterly unwell.

"I must be dreaming!"

"Yes! Such strange things only happen in dreams."

He started talking to himself, and then slapped himself twice, trying to wake himself up.

But after a few slaps, his face was swollen from the blows, but it was no use.

"Don't be afraid, I am the mountain god!" Seeing that He Dazhuang was almost scared out of his wits, Gou An could only start making things up: "I will protect you."