The long arrow buried itself in the Tusk-Horned Boar's skull, staggering the beast and triggering a terrifying roar.
'That head is tough.' The Tusk-Horned Boar violently spun around and charged, snapping an embrace-thick tree trunk in its path, heading straight for Su Yan. However, Su Yan had achieved Great Accomplishment in Archery and held the Fine Steel Longbow. He immediately drew the bow to a full moon and fired two arrows in quick succession.
The Tusk-Horned Boar, mad with pain, had no time to dodge. The arrows struck it with a thwack, penetrating through its eye sockets and into its hind brain.
Boom!
The massive body collapsed in front of Su Yan, crushing the ground and bushes with a loud crunching sound. Blood flowed from the boar's mouth and nose, accompanied by its dying, heaving groans.
Su Yan approached with his boning knife. Before the Tusk-Horned Boar fully died, he plunged the knife into its throat. A large volume of blood surged out. Su Yan reached out, and the torrent of blood was instantly absorbed by the Ominous Bug Cauldron, turning into red lines that flowed into the vicious bug engravings.
'Desolate Beast blood is much richer. The Bronze Fox Ape blood had already nearly filled the essence accumulation. Now, adding the Tusk-Horned Boar should be enough, with perhaps some surplus.'
Su Yan drained the blood dry, then immediately gutted the carcass. After carefully peeling off the hide—which was thick enough to be used for armor—he began methodically butchering the boar's body. The Tusk-Horned Boar weighed no less than two thousand jin. He discarded the difficult-to-handle organs, giving them all to the Velvet Fire Scorpion Bug and the Dark Water Centipede to consume. The remaining muscle and bones totaled about eighteen hundred jin.
'The bones can be ground into powder for medicinal elixirs, and the rest of the flesh is for consumption. It's just that the Bug Realm space is small.' One entire Desolate Beast carcass completely filled his Bug Realm space, especially the large bones.
Su Yan frowned slightly. With so many bones, grinding them into powder would be an enormous amount of work.
'I can only sell some of the material to the Hundred Herb Hall.'
After packing and concealing the carcass, Su Yan harvested some decade-old Cinnabar Ganoderma and large quantities of Gastrodia elata before descending the mountain.
Over the next few days, Su Yan made several trips to the Hundred Herb Hall. He sold all the bones of the Tusk-Horned Boar to the Hundred Herb Hall. He did not sell the skull and major bones but arranged for the Hundred Herb Hall to process and grind them into powder for his personal use. This would normally not be permitted, but Su Yan was different. The new supervisor knew he was an Inner Door Disciple of the Golden Ape Martial Academy and was friends with Song Qi. The supervisor agreed, taking only a service fee, and returned the bone powder to him. Over the course of these sales, Su Yan accumulated one hundred taels of silver.
'That's enough. Time to find the necessary ingredients and refine the pills so the Dark Water Centipede and Velvet Fire Scorpion Bug can advance.'
Over the past few days, the two Contracted Bugs had mostly consumed the Tusk-Horned Boar meat, and their progress was steady. The Dark Water Centipede was steadily accumulating strength, now at 30/400 proficiency, while the Velvet Fire Scorpion Bug was advancing faster, reaching 168/200. A little more push, and it would reach the Mature Stage.
Su Yan did not delay. After selling his goods, he headed straight for the section of the market where the mountain people set up their stalls. The wide street had no storefronts here, only large and small stalls with baskets, ferns, and straw mats. Shouts and calls were constant. Some vendors displayed striped fox and bear hides as signs.
"High-quality wild ginseng, root system complete, at least ten years of medicinal potency!" "Bear hide, bear meat, fresh muntjac game..."
The shouting was non-stop. Although there were shops that bought these items, the mountain people endured the hardship of setting up stalls for slightly higher prices. Besides the official buyers, merchants also circulated, buying goods cheap to sell in Yun Cang Town or neighboring cities for a profit. The market was lively.
Su Yan had already secured the Dripping Gold, First-Order Desolate Beast bone powder, gallbladder, and basic herbs. He now only needed a few more herbs to balance the medicinal properties before he could attempt refining. While searching the stalls, he noticed fewer Jianghu men lingering in the market.
He heard that Chief Constable Xu Guan had deployed yamen runners to patrol the mountain routes and offered a hefty reward: one hundred taels of silver for information leading to Pang Tianfeng, and one thousand taels for his head. This immense wealth made many Jianghu men envious. Whether the funds came from the county yamen or the major families like the Hundred Herb Hall was unclear. For ordinary rogue martial artists, a single elixir cost anywhere from a few to dozens of taels; this reward was enough for them to cultivate for a significant period. Regardless of the difference in strength, Jianghu martial artists were swarming the mountains, drawn by the scent of wealth.
Su Yan visited several stalls, buying Water Stream Grass and Wood Ginseng Root before leaving the market. The sun was setting as he passed through the wooden wall of the market town.
Su Yan hurried along. Halfway back, his expression shifted, a cold glint appearing in his eyes.
'They aren't looking for Pang Tianfeng; they're looking for me.' His Great Accomplishment in Archery had honed his hearing. He felt someone following him shortly after leaving the market. Initially, he thought it was a random passerby, but after walking halfway, the person was still tracking him. What else could it be but a tail?
He slowed slightly, then abruptly changed direction, heading quickly toward a patch of woods.
"The fat sheep is running. He must have noticed us." Three burly men were following Su Yan. The one with the round, rough eyes grew anxious.
"Don't worry. He won't escape." The leader, a thick-browed man, smiled coldly, pulling out a dagger. "Follow him. He's just a novice who just started martial arts—a fat sheep who earned dozens of taels from mountain-trekking."
Su Yan's constant presence and sales in the market meant that news of his sudden wealth had spread. The market was a mix of good and bad people, naturally attracting the attention of some rogue fighters. With the constables preoccupied and Pang Tianfeng temporarily out of reach, they decided to profit from the chaos.
The three men moved quickly, their steps steady and agile. Their eyes, holding daggers, were like those of hungry wolves. They stopped concealing themselves, chasing Su Yan into a small patch of woods. Su Yan fled in front, and they pursued, like hunters after prey.
"Don't be scared, little brother. We heard you have skill as a mountain-man and just want to borrow some silver. We won't hurt you." Huang Sanhu, the leader, grinned viciously as he closed in.
The round-eyed man, Huang Ba, cut off Su Yan's path from the side. The last man, Wang Heng, blocked the retreat, holding two daggers, his eyes full of mockery. The three brothers learned their skills in the Jianghu but lacked resources and refused to do honest work. They were now itinerants, taking on dirty jobs for quick cash and often resorting to robbery. They had no fear of Su Yan.
"Are you serious?"