Like a Rat
Bleat-!
The silver spotted grand deer cried out in pain as it staggered to the side.
Unfortunately, its fate was sealed.
Pierce-! Pierce-! Pierce-!
Three more daggers arrived in quick succession, all of them finding their way into its neck with terrifying precision.
Blood spurted out from its four wounds, and yet the silver spotted grand deer refused to fall.
Still, that was all it could do.
At this point, it could no longer muster enough strength to escape.
It was then that Zhao Yunxiao finally showed himself.
Zhao Yunxiao leapt out from the treetop with his halberd raised, smashing down in a strike devoid of mercy.
This was the final nail in the coffin.
When the mighty halberd landed upon the back of the silver spotted grand deer's neck, its four legs finally gave way, causing it to crash to the ground.
Even with that last strike, Zhao Yunxiao had made sure to approach from behind the deer monster to avoid any complications whatsoever.
This meant that from start to finish, the majestic silver spotted grand deer never caught a single glimpse of its attacker.
It was a monster known for its unstoppable charge.
But what good was that if there was no target to charge at?
Zhao Yunxiao ended its suffering with a dagger before letting out a smile of satisfaction as he thought back on the entire process.
Every strike, be it the daggers or the halberd at the end, was imbued with just the right amount of essence energy, allowing them to pierce the thick hide of the silver spotted grand deer with the least amount of effort.
It was a clean kill.
In fact, there were a few other moments prior to this when he could have acted as well, but he chose not to take those chances as the conditions were not as ideal as he would have liked.
The kill would likely still have happened, but the process might not be as straightforward.
Looking at the current result, Zhao Yunxiao could not be more satisfied with his decision to wait.
He casually retrieved the daggers and cleaned them in the stream before keeping them away.
Next, he carefully treated the wounds of the deer with powder to mask the scent of blood.
Finally, he lifted the deer that was more than twice his weight, and quickly made his way back to his pushcart.
The carcass of the silver spotted grand deer might not be as valuable as that of nightspirit rats due to how common it was, but it was still potential sect points nevertheless.
Even though Zhao Yunxiao was doing this mainly to hone his hunting skills, that did not mean he was ready to let anything of value go to waste.
This was the life of an outer disciple – every sect point mattered!
It did not take long before Zhao Yunxiao had hidden the deer monster's carcass on his pushcart and returned to exploring the wilderness.
His next prey was a salamander monster – one that roamed the forest preying on large animals.
After spotting it from afar, Zhao Yunxiao secretly tailed it for more than an hour before finding the right chance to act.
At the very moment when the salamander monster let its guard down after successfully catching a wild boar, Zhao Yunxiao struck.
The salamander monster's hide was far thicker than that of the silver spotted grand deer, but its agility fell behind.
Faced with a monster like that, Zhao Yunxiao no longer resorted to his throwing daggers.
Instead, he leapt onto it from behind, punching his halberd directly into the back of its neck.
The salamander monster roared and struggled, but Zhao Yunxiao used the halberd as a handle to continue riding on its back.
With no way to reach behind its back, the salamander monster could only do its best to struggle in vain before eventually succumbed to its injuries.
It sounded like a simple way of taking down the salamander monster, but it was not nearly as easy as it seemed.
Just the act of getting on its back was a huge hurdle that many would struggle to cross.
If not because the salamander monster had been distracted by its food, even Zhao Yunxiao would have found it tricky to do so.
After putting away the salamander monster, Zhao Yunxiao once again began to move through the mountain forest while remaining as undetectable as possible.
In this silent forest, every little sound seemed to be magnified, so it was a tall order to not draw any attention to oneself.
That was no issue for the experienced Zhao Yunxiao, but he soon heard noises that did not seem to belong.
Screech-! Screeeeeeech-!
The desperate cries of a bird resounded through the mountain forest, reaching Zhao Yunxiao from a distance away.
Hmm?
Zhao Yunxiao's curiosity was piqued by this, and decided to make his way towards it, albeit in a careful manner.
He jumped from tree to tree as he approached, but chose to drastically slow down his pace once he realised that he was getting closer to the source of the cries.
There were all sorts of monsters and spirit beasts out there, and Zhao Yunxiao could not say that he knew even half of them.
The last thing he wanted was to fall for a trap that was disguised in the form of desperate bird cries.
Zhao Yunxiao checked his surroundings with extra care, making sure that it was safe before taking each step.
Finally, he arrived at the source of the cries.
From atop a branch, he could see a huge bird standing by a tree.
Just like the silver spotted grand deer from before, it was a monster that he recognised.
Giant tree ostrich.
Despite the word 'giant' in its name, it looked no different from a regular ostrich.
But unlike regular ostriches, it thrived on living in the trees most of the time, diving down on any unsuspecting prey that ventured too close.
Many believed that the one who named the giant tree ostrich had been shocked by the terrifying sight of a ostrich-sized bird diving down from the trees, and thus added the word 'giant' to its name.
That aside, its preference to live in the trees was definitely not the only thing differentiating it from regular ostriches.
Giant tree ostriches were best known for possessing skin that was as sturdy as the bark of trees, making it difficult for anyone to even hurt them.
Not just that, but they were also blessed with extremely powerful beaks and talons, capable of cutting through steel.
Any unfortunate souls that these bird monsters manage to land their talons on could end up having their skulls split open before they even realise what was going on!
It was rare to see a giant tree ostrich on the ground when it was not attacking something.
But upon taking a closer look, Zhao Yunxiao could see that the giant tree ostrich had a thick iron chain wrapped around one of its talons, binding it to a nearby tree.
To be able to withstand the strength of the giant tree ostrich, there was no doubt this was no ordinary iron chain.
Nevertheless, the giant tree ostrich continued to tug at the chain while letting out loud screeches, causing the tree itself to shake.
In fact, the powerful tugs from the struggling giant tree ostrich were even causing the iron chain to cut into the thick tree trunk.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the entire tree ended up falling!
Nevertheless, it was apparent to Zhao Yunxiao that the giant tree ostrich had fallen into a trap, not to mention that the owner of the trap seemed to be present as well.
Standing a few metres away from the struggling giant tree ostrich was a young man dressed in neat battle robes.
He looked rather ordinary, seemingly in his mid twenties and sporting short black hair with a sword hanging by his waist.
Despite the loud cries of the giant tree ostrich, the young man remained calm and composed, rubbing his chin in contemplation as he observed the struggling bird monster.
It seemed as though he was seriously thinking about how he should deal with the giant tree ostrich.
On the other hand, the giant tree ostrich had eyes filled with rage as it repeatedly tried to leap at the young man, held back only by the iron chain wrapped around its talon.
"As expected, simple traps work best on simple minded beasts," the young man mused aloud. "Now then, what will work best with you? Will braising be better or will frying be better? Hmm..?"
From behind him, a huge shadow suddenly dove down from the trees, headed straight towards the young man.
The young man reacted instantly.
He spun around while drawing his sword, slashing up without hesitation.
Bang-!
The sword collided with two powerful talons, the resulting impact loud enough to reverberate across the originally silent forest.
It seemed that the strength levels of the two parties were dead even as neither of them retreated one step.
At the point of impact, the identity of the attacker also became clear.
It was another giant tree ostrich.
"Heh, here for your friend?" the young man smirked. "Too bad for you, but you will just be joining him instead!"
Screech-!
It almost seemed as though the giant tree ostrich was enraged by his words, as it flapped its wings to gain further momentum in pressing down on the young man's sword.
The blade was cutting into its talon slightly, but the giant tree ostrich did not seem to care.
"Damn, you are pretty strong!" the young man commented. "Unfortunately, I am stronger!"
With that, the young man grabbed the hilt of his sword with both hands, giving his sword a hard push and thereby sending the giant tree ostrich flying backwards.
That alone was not enough to deter the giant tree ostrich.
With a few flaps of its wings, the giant tree ostrich stopped itself in mid air before diving back down towards the young man.
This time, the young man did not answer directly with his sword.
He dodged to the side, causing the giant tree ostrich's talons to miss entirely.
Not only that, but with its talons grabbing nothing but air, the giant tree ostrich was left wide open as the young man slashed out from beside it.
Screech-!
The giant tree ostrich was fearless as it pecked towards the oncoming sword.
Bang-!
Its beak was a weapon in its own right, stopping the young man's sword slash in its track.
"Hahaha! How tough!" the young man laughed despite his failure to end things.
However, he did not rush into attacking again, choosing to leap backwards to create some distance instead.
Screech-!
The giant tree ostrich cried in anger, while a few streaks of blood started to flow from its body.
While its body was extremely tough, the young man's sword was not to be trifled with either.
The two exchanges from before had resulted in cuts appearing on its body each time, drawing blood from both its talons and its beak.
"This isn't looking good for you, little birdy," the young man said while swinging his sword around in a casual manner.
Unlike the enraged giant tree ostrich, the young man seemed to be really enjoying the moment.
Seeing this, Zhao Yunxiao could not help but be reminded of a particular junior martial sister he knew.
Screech-!
The trapped giant tree ostrich cried out, triggering the other to charge forward once more.
However, the young man was not worried.
He remained calm and composed as he continued to dance around the giant tree ostrich.
The bird monster was fast and powerful, but that was not nearly enough when facing the experienced young man who possessed both of those traits and then some.
As time passed, more and more cuts started to appear on the giant tree ostrich's body.
With the increasing number of wounds, the movements of the giant tree ostrich eventually started to slow down as well.
On the other hand, the young man seemed to be as lively as ever, without a single injury on his body.
"Looks like you are already on your last legs," the young man shook his head in disappointment. "Time to end this then."
Having lost too much blood, the giant tree ostrich was barely able to stand by now.
In its current state, there was simply no way for it to react fast enough to block the young man's next attack.
Slash-!
Blood spurt out like a fountain as the young man's sword cut right into the giant tree ostrich's neck.
While the blade did not manage to severe the giant tree ostrich's head in one go, it still cut halfway through it, more than enough to end its life in an instant.
Screech-!
The trapped giant tree ostrich cried in rage, but to no avail.
What's done was done.
No matter how much it cried, it could not change the fact that the other giant tree ostrich was already gone from this world.
"Don't worry, you are next," the young man turned away from the dead giant tree ostrich to face the one that was still chained to the tree.
This time, the giant tree ostrich cowered a little upon matching gazes with the young man.
It would appear that seeing its companion die to the young man was enough to strike some level of fear into its heart.
Still, the ability to feel fear did nothing to alter its eventual fate.
With one of its talons chained to a tree, it stood absolutely no chance against the young man.
The young man took it down with relative ease, much quicker than when he dealt with the other giant tree ostrich.
It did not take long before the young man was standing between two giant tree ostrich carcasses, using a stained cloth to wipe the blood off of his blade in a skilful manner.
"All done! Now then..." the young man said coldly as he suddenly glanced in Zhao Yunxiao's direction. "Isn't it about time you stop hiding like a damn rat?"