The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Zhao Jun had just finished collecting an empty snare when he heard someone shouting "Brother!" from up the slope.

He didn’t even have to think. In all the surrounding villages, no one called him that except Li Baoyu.

Zhao Jun looked up and saw Li Baoyu running down from the ridge, a burlap sack on his back. Suddenly, his feet slipped, and he fell right on his butt.

’What in the world is chasing him?’ A thought flashed through Zhao Jun’s mind as he quickly slung the gun off his shoulder.

But then he saw Li Baoyu get up, calmly pat the snow off his rear, and then go pick up his sack. He didn’t look like he had a fire lit under him at all.

Still, Zhao Jun went to meet him. "What’s wrong? What’s the big rush?"

"Bro... Brother..." Li Baoyu was so out of breath from running he couldn’t get a complete sentence out.

"Slow down, don’t rush," Zhao Jun said, patting him on the back.

As soon as Li Baoyu caught his breath, he blurted out, "Brother, there’s a Black Bear’s Den!"

"Is it occupied?" Hearing there was a Black Bear Den, Zhao Jun’s interest was immediately piqued. Since he was reborn, he had killed his fair share of Black Bears, but he had never hunted a Xiong Cangzi.

Every other time, someone else had flushed the bear out of its den, and he had only shown up with his gun and dogs for the chase.

"It is, it is!" Li Baoyu said. "There’s frost on the entrance!"

"Let’s go!" Zhao Jun gripped his gun in one hand and pointed forward with the other.

"Right!"

After taking a few steps, Zhao Jun quickly turned back to sling the burlap sack full of rabbits onto his back.

The two arrived in front of a big poplar tree. Zhao Jun looked up and saw that there was indeed white frost around the outside of the tree hollow. He said to Li Baoyu, "Baoyu, hurry up and gather firewood for a fire."

Since they were going to hunt a Xiong Cangzi, and they didn’t have any dogs with them, they had to make thorough preparations.

They needed to pack down the snow around the tree with the den and clear away all the branches and saplings sprouting around the roots.

Then, they had to build a bonfire nearby. If the Xiong Cangzi hunt went wrong, they could run circles around the fire.

For the same reason, they had to find another large tree nearby and pack down the snow around it too.

The paths between the two trees, and between each tree and the bonfire, also had to be packed down.

"Huh?" Li Baoyu was taken aback. The words tumbled out of his mouth, "What time is it? Are we eating already?"

"What?" Zhao Jun froze. "What are you thinking? Don’t we need a fire to hunt a Black Bear’s Den?"

"Hunt a Black Bear’s Den?" Realization dawned on Li Baoyu, and he laughed. "I thought with your skills, you’d just call the Black Bear out, pop it with two shots, and be done with it. Why would you need a fire?"

"Get out of here! Stop talking nonsense!" Zhao Jun had never been this angry with Li Baoyu before, but he couldn’t let him become arrogant.

Zhao Jun said angrily, "Have you forgotten Big Pants? He hunted a Xiong Cangzi three times, and the last two times he was so damn cocky, if it weren’t for his damn luck, he’d have been turned into bear shit long ago!"

Hearing Zhao Jun say this, Li Baoyu was speechless. He thought about Zhang Yuanmin. He had hunted a Xiong Cangzi three times, and each time was a brush with death.

Recalling those three experiences, aside from the first time when he teamed up with the Li Brothers and made some preparations, the other two times he thought he had it in the bag, only to be caught completely off guard when things went down.

It was just as Zhao Jun said. That Zhang Yuanmin was just lucky. Otherwise, he would have been laid out for good several times over.

Now that Li Baoyu thought about it, Zhang Yuanmin’s plans for his last two hunts could be called ingenious. He truly lived up to his name as the "Little Zhuge" of Yong’an Village.

But even so, he still messed up. This just went to show that you absolutely couldn’t be careless when hunting a Xiong Cangzi.

"I get it. I’ll go gather firewood now." Li Baoyu went to gather dry branches and twigs, while Zhao Jun cleared smaller branches and packed down the snow.

The two of them bustled about for nearly an hour until everything was finally ready. Zhao Jun backed away about twenty meters and said to Li Baoyu, "Baoyu, wake the den."

"You got it!" Li Baoyu stood under the big poplar, a club in his hand, and started whacking the tree.

One blow against the trunk sent a numbing jolt up Li Baoyu’s forearm. He pressed his ear against the wood to listen, and from the sound, he could tell he had hit a solid spot.

Li Baoyu moved his aim higher and struck again. This time, he heard a hollow DONG from inside.

Hollow.

The Black Bear would enter the tree den through the opening and surely settle down here. That meant its head should be a little higher up.

So, Li Baoyu moved the club up another twenty centimeters and began to strike the tree, one blow after another.

"ROAR! HNGH... HNGH..." Suddenly, a sound came from inside the tree, echoing from the opening above. Li Baoyu turned and ran, dragging the club with him.

He followed the path Zhao Jun had flattened, running all the way to a large linden tree that Zhao Jun had chosen beforehand. Leaning there was the Invasion Blade, its handle already set firmly in the snow.

Li Baoyu grabbed the blade and peeked out from behind the tree, looking nervously toward Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun stood with his gun raised, the muzzle pointing up toward the den’s entrance.

"ROAR... ROAR..." The bear’s roars were incessant, growing louder and louder.

A Bear’s Paw clawed at the edge of the tree hollow, and a second one appeared right after.

Soon, two small, glossy black eyes peered out from the tree hollow.

The next second, the entire Bear Head shot out of the opening. The bear’s movements were remarkably swift, and its two front legs followed.

You could imagine that the bear’s two hind paws must be pushing against the inside of the trunk, constantly shoving itself outward.

Now, it pressed its front paws on the lower edge of the hollow, heaved its body up, and pushed the upper half of its torso out of the opening.

Zhao Jun had long been waiting with his gun raised, aiming for the crescent-shaped patch of white fur on the Black Bear’s chest.

BANG!

A gunshot rang out.

The Black Bear dove headfirst from the tree, landing and scrambling to its feet in one violent motion.

"HNGH! HNGH..."

The bear’s furious roars echoed through the mountain forest, washing over Zhao Jun like rolling thunder from just twenty meters away.

The bear rose, kicking up a cloud of snow like dust.

The shot fired, Zhao Jun broke open the shotgun, extracted the spent shell, and instantly loaded a new cartridge that was wedged between the middle and ring fingers of his right hand.

Zhao Jun snapped the gun shut and brought it to his cheek just in time to see the Black Bear charging at him.

BANG!

The second shot!

Zhao Jun still aimed for the crescent on the Black Bear’s chest—the location of its heart.

But at the instant the gun fired, the Black Bear spun.

It reared, and the shot tore into its belly.

The Black Bear spun from the impact, landing five meters away before lunging forward again.

In an instant, it was only ten meters from Zhao Jun.

By this time, Li Baoyu had emerged from behind the large linden tree. Though it was winter, the palm of the hand gripping the Invasion Blade was already slick with sweat.

By the time Zhao Jun shoved the cartridge wedged between his right ring and pinky fingers into the chamber, the Black Bear was a mere eight meters away.

Zhao Jun didn’t retreat!

In his mind, his second shot should have pierced the Black Bear’s heart. He never expected the bear to spin at that exact moment, dodging his kill shot.

But this was hunting. Anything could happen.

When the shotgun was once again at his cheek, only five meters separated the Black Bear and Zhao Jun!

Zhao Jun didn’t move. He steadily brought the gun to his cheek and aimed for the Bear Head.

In the distance, Li Baoyu felt his heart leap into his throat. He pleaded inwardly, ’Shoot! Shoot now!’

But he didn’t know that the closer the target, the more crucial the aim. If you think you don’t need to aim just because it’s close, you’re guaranteed to miss.

BANG!

The third shot rang out. At that moment, the Black Bear was a mere two meters from Zhao Jun!