Hunting hunters

In an unfamiliar part of the forest, a group that was temporarily camping set off again, withdrawing from the mountain. Leading them was none other than Zi Yan, after Chi Huo decided to leave with Bai Ming's group, he had left telling them to try not to die and that he would inform the other groups of their situation when he gets back to the camp.

The followers in his group whispering to each other were confused by his actions. It did not seem like something he would usually do.

"Is the boss really going back to the main camp?" one of them asked.

The sky was already dark, and every group would be returning back to the main camp, so it sure seemed like they were also going back.

"Lower your voice" another whispered.

"Are you often stupid? Isn't it obvious the boss isn't going to let that fat piece of meat rot in the mountain…"

After hearing this, the member who had asked showed a confused look on his face, no matter how he looked at their current path, it seemed they were really returning to the main camp but when he thought of Bai Ming's group, he began to guess that those guys will likely end up dead soon. After all, they also knew how it was increasingly dangerous as one got closer to the depths of the mountain.

The whispers kept on as they moved further. Only after a while did Zi Yan, who was in the front, suddenly stop. Seeing this, the other members stopped, too, and one of them asked.

"Boss? Are we settling here for the night", the member asked, thinking Zi Yan had stopped to set up camp here, but their current position was not truly safe. Although they seemed to be far from the mountain, the area they were in still had its fair share of beasts, and as dark as it was now, camping here would be courting death. 

At this moment, everyone kept their silence. Only Zi Yan looked at his weapon's bladed edge, looking at his reflection as his expression turned ferocious. 

"It's time…" he said as if he was still thinking of what next to say.

The other members kept their curiosity in check and waited for Zi Yan to complete his words.

Zi Yan, who was in the front, turned to face them, but he was not looking at them. Instead, he was staring in the direction he had left Bai Ming's group.

"…to pick up those sick rat's corpses"

"B-boss means?" one of them said enquiringly.

In fact, they all had a guess as to who Zi Yan was referring to, but they couldn't be sure.

Zi Yan looked at him and said, "Yes, those poisoned fellas we left back there."

Hearing this, the members became ecstatic. It seemed they were thinking too much, and now they showed looks of realization. 

Zi Yan had likely taken the liberty to withdraw and not arouse any suspicion only now after distancing himself quite far away. Did he show his true intentions. After all, if he wanted to deal with another group of hunters who were also experienced, he had to make them let down their guard first.

If he had been too impulsive and alerted the tiger, they might erase their tracks or even mislead them.

The members also turned to face the mountain with looks of awe thinking that their boss was just too cunning.

It was now time for another hunt. Just the target was different than before. 

…

Chi Huo felt the gaze lingering on him from the figure in front of him simply too much, but there was nothing that could be done about it. He could only blame himself for not taking action sooner.

Although Si Niang was leading the group from the front with Bai Ming on the side, he still paid most of his attention on this healer. After they had started moving, he noticed how Mu Bai's breathing seemed to ease for a bit.

He kept looking at this healer with a look that said, "Since you had this on you, why didn't you just use it already?" In his eyes had Chi Huo given Mu Bai this medicine when he arrived earlier, the poison would not have progressed to this state.

Meanwhile, Chi Huo also felt like a pound of flesh had been taken from him. Those medicines were not cheap and if it were in any other situation he would have been asking for a hefty price but at that moment he had become the target of suspicion and knowing that he had already left Zi Yan's group, he could no longer rely on them.

He also couldn't afford to turn the Bai Ming's group into enemies. That would not benefit the possible future he had realized. If the people in the village and camp were to learn of this, then his actions might trigger public outrage, and he would not be able to bear it. No one would be willing to accept his healing services ever again.

At this point, the group had encountered many beasts along the way, but now they also truly felt the horrors of this mountain range.

Wu Zhengyi and Li Tian were following behind them with Mu Bai in tow. They were very careful not to touch this young man, so they had used the forest vines and prepared a versatile carriage which seemed like a net with Mu Bai lying on the middle parts made with vines and them holding onto the wooden ends tied to the vines.

Slowly but surely, they were approaching the depths of the mountain. The entire way they were using the blood trail left by Mu Bai to find where he had contracted this poison, and now they had reached the end of the blood trail.

"It seems the trail ends here" Cui Rong said from behind.

Si Niang crouched down, looking at his surroundings and, after a moment, pointed in a certain direction. Bai Ming seemed to also agree with this. Looking at the bushes and small trees in the surroundings, he could tell that Mu Bai had come from that same direction. Given that they were hunters, they wouldn't be stopped by merely the end of one clue. There were many traces in the area that indicated human activity, and noting all these was in their line of work.

The others had doubts, but since they weren't experienced enough, they could only follow in silence. They had to move fast before the poison acts further. Originally, Bai Ming, Si Niang and Cui Rong seemed well enough and had begun to think they had overestimated this poison but at this point, they were starting to feel as if their heads were too heavy to carry. A sense of exhaustion seemed to have washed over them.

At this time, they felt hurried to find the source of this poison and be rid of this sickness. The others also noticed this change and quickened their pace.

In no time, they had passed this area and gone further.

However, moments later, a figure lept out of the dark and stood at the spot the group once stood. After surveying the area for scents, it looked into the direction the group had followed. Very soon, it also lept back into the darkness.