The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Not long after Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu parted ways with Zhang Yuanmin, Minister Li, and Li Erchen, they hadn’t gone far before Zhao Jun stopped and pulled Li Baoyu back.

Li Baoyu looked at Zhao Jun, his face filled with confusion.

Zhao Jun said, "Baoyu, I think the two of us can still bag a Black Bear today."

"Huh?" Li Baoyu was startled. But then he remembered the other three men and quickly caught on. "Brother, should we really be doing this?"

In Li Baoyu’s eyes, if it were just Minister Li and Li Erchen, anything would have been fair game.

But with Zhang Yuanmin there, they had to be more considerate.

Zhao Jun peeked out from behind a tree, glancing at the three men heading south before turning back to Li Baoyu. "What are you thinking about? I just have a feeling those three won’t be able to pull it off."

"Well... that could work." Li Baoyu’s eyes lit up at the thought, but he immediately hesitated. "But what if they do manage to kill it? Won’t we have come all this way for nothing?"

"No way they’ll pull it off." Zhao Jun shook his head with a smile. "Haven’t you heard our uncle talk about it? Get pounced on by a Black Bear once, and you’ll be terrified the next time you see one."

"Mhm!" Hearing this, Li Baoyu nodded thoughtfully.

Zhao Youcai had no younger brothers, so Zhao Jun didn’t have that kind of uncle.

The "our uncle" he had just mentioned was actually Li Baoyu’s uncle, Li Daren.

When Li Daren was a young man, he went up the mountain with Zhao Youcai and Li Dayong to hunt a Black Bear and ended up getting sat on by it.

Luckily, Zhao Youcai was dependable. Before the Black Bear could maul Li Daren, he shot and killed it with a single bullet.

Although Li Daren emerged from under the Black Bear’s rear end without a scratch, he developed a deep-seated fear of them from that day forward.

It was so severe that if he ever heard someone mention a Black Bear sighting, Li Daren would go out of his way to avoid that area in the mountains.

Li Baoyu seemed to recall something and suddenly laughed. "Maybe those two scumbags will ditch Zhang Big Pants and run off by themselves again."

"That Zhang Big Pants isn’t exactly a dependable guy himself," Zhao Jun remarked.

Li Baoyu asked curiously, "How so?"

Zhao Jun recalled Zhang Yuanmin’s actions from his previous life, a faint smile touching his lips. He said, "It’s nothing. I’ve just heard he’s not very thorough with his work."

Hearing Zhao Jun say that, Li Baoyu’s interest was immediately piqued. "Brother, if we take down this den too, our haul for the winter will be massive!"

"You can say that again."

Li Baoyu added, "Out of all the Cannon Shooters and hunters in the entire Forest Area, is there anyone who can beat the two of us?"

"That’s actually true," Zhao Jun mused. While there were plenty of bears in the mountains these days, the mountains themselves were vast and the forests were dense.

Finding a bear in these vast mountains was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

The reason he and Li Baoyu had managed to hunt so many bears recently wasn’t their own skill or the quality of their dogs; the key was that they hadn’t needed to find the bears themselves.

Minister Li and Li Erchen had found one for them, and Xing Zhuyong and Li Hu had found a pair.

And chances were, today Zhang Yuanmin and his two companions would serve up another one.

So, Zhao Jun led Li Baoyu, and they began to tail the group from a distance.

It wasn’t that Zhao Jun wanted to poach their Black Bear Den. Besides, he didn’t know where the den was, so he couldn’t have stolen it even if he’d wanted to.

He just wanted to follow them and see what happened. If the three of them failed, then no one could complain if he stepped in to finish the job.

And so, Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu followed them, watching from afar as the three men got to work.

When they saw Zhang Yuanmin swing his axe into the tree, Li Baoyu nearly cramped up from laughing so hard.

At that moment, Zhao Jun raised his gun and started heading down.

To avoid being discovered and causing a misunderstanding, they had hidden quite far away. Now, when Zhao Jun tried to rush over, he was too far to reach them in time.

Before Zhao Jun could get close, the two brothers, Minister Li and Li Erchen, had already bolted. All he could see was the Black Bear chasing Zhang Yuanmin in circles around the campfire.

Zhao Jun was still about two hundred meters away, but he was desperate to save the man and wanted to take the shot immediately.

But before he could take aim, Zhang Yuanmin suddenly changed direction and proceeded to pull a bizarre stunt right in front of Zhao Jun.

’What in the world is he doing?’ Zhao Jun watched as Zhang Yuanmin was brutally yanked down from the tree by the Black Bear, and he began to seriously question the man’s intelligence.

’Is he some kind of psychic? Did he predict someone would shoot the bear?’

’Is that why he lured it up the tree? Otherwise, why go through all that hassle?’

But whatever the reason, Zhang Yuanmin had indeed created the perfect opportunity for Zhao Jun. The bear, unaware of the hidden shooter, was slowly inching its way down.

Zhao Jun timed the shot perfectly. He aimed for the Black Bear’s shoulder, and just as he fired, the bear moved downward, causing the bullet to strike it squarely in the head.

The Black Bear tumbled headfirst from the tree, dead before it hit the ground.

Hearing the gunshot behind him, Zhang Yuanmin snapped out of his daze and collapsed onto the ground, turning to see who had fired.

"Zhao... Zhao..." Zhang Yuanmin could only stammer the same word over and over.

"Zhao Jun!" Zhao Jun fired another insurance shot into the Black Bear before walking over with a smile. He helped Zhang Yuanmin up from the snow and clearly stated his own name.

"Right, right, Brother Zhao Jun." Zhang Yuanmin gripped Zhao Jun’s arms, his eyes welling with grateful tears and his lips trembling.

"Alright, it’s okay, you’re safe now." Zhao Jun comforted him with a smile. "Stop crying, or your face will crack from the cold. You’ll have to borrow some of my wife’s skin cream."

At these words, Zhang Yuanmin managed a smile through his tears. He let go of Zhao Jun’s arms and roughly wiped the tears and snot from his face with his sleeve.

Just then, Li Baoyu walked over and teased, "So, Brother Zhang? What did I tell you? I said those two brothers were useless!"

Li Baoyu’s words made Zhang Yuanmin freeze for a moment. He then started craning his neck, looking around for something.

"Brother Zhang, what are you looking for?" Li Baoyu asked curiously.

Zhang Yuanmin said, "My Large Axe, where is it?"

Li Baoyu pulled him by the arm and pointed upward. "Your Large Axe? It’s hanging up in the tree, isn’t it?"

Zhang Yuanmin looked up and saw it. "I was so mad I forgot!"

With that, he grabbed Li Baoyu and started to head toward the large linden tree.

"Brother Zhang, what are you doing?" Li Baoyu asked, confused.

Zhang Yuanmin said, "Brother, the axe is hanging too high. I can’t reach it. Give me a lift."

Li Baoyu’s eyes widened. "What? You want to step on me to get up there?"

"Yeah!" Zhang Yuanmin replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Get lost!" Li Baoyu shoved him away irritably, then picked up a short, thick stick from the ground, aimed, and threw it upward.

The stick hit the axe handle squarely but failed to knock it down.

Then, Li Baoyu and Zhang Yuanmin stood under the tree, taking turns throwing sticks at the axe.

Seeing the two of them carrying on like this, Zhao Jun felt a sense of resignation. He single-handedly rolled the roughly two-hundred-jin Black Bear over and began to gut it with his Invasion Blade.

By the time he had removed the Black Bear Gall, Li Baoyu and Zhang Yuanmin had finally managed to knock the axe down.

Zhao Jun walked over to Zhang Yuanmin, holding the Bear Gall. "Brother Zhang," he said, "let’s split this gall three ways."

"No!" Zhang Yuanmin replied instantly and decisively. "Brothers, you two can split it however you want. I won’t take any part of it!"

"Come on, Brother Zhang," Zhao Jun said. "You’re the one who found the den. You have to take a share!"

"No!" Zhang Yuanmin’s tone was just as firm. "Brother, you saved my life today. I won’t say anything else. Just watch my actions from now on."

After saying his piece, Zhang Yuanmin picked up his axe and made to leave.

"Brother Zhang, what’s the rush? Let’s head back together," Zhao Jun shouted when he saw him leaving. "Even if you don’t want the gall, you should at least take some meat."

But Zhang Yuanmin didn’t even turn his head. "You guys go on back without me," he said. "I’m going to take my Large Axe and go kill those two bastards!"