One Hundred Twelve, Searching for Clues

Zhang Xuan, Yang Hu, and Zhao Yun were all clutching their stomachs, barely able to stand. So this was the thing that was supposed to scare them to death? What on earth had that display been just now? At last, Zhang Xuan truly believed that a person really could laugh themselves to death; he himself was hovering right on the edge of being “laughed to death.”

“You three had better know when to stop. My temper is not exactly gentle, you know. Just now I saw Little Yun crouching there in such misery and played along with him, that was all. You have laughed enough by now. We should get moving and see where that sound you heard came from. Come on.”

With that, Yang Zaixing headed toward the direction Zhang Yun had indicated, and Yuwen Chengdu followed after him.

Zhang Xuan, Zhao Yun, and Yang Hu exchanged glances and fell in behind them as well. Even while walking, they kept adjusting their breathing, afraid they might burst out laughing again. After all, their own elder brother was already close to exploding. If the “Furious Yang” were to reappear in the martial world, Zhang Xuan and the others felt they would be the ones who suffered for it over the next few days. There was no need to keep sharpening the blade on a whetstone when it was already sharp enough.

After walking for a while, Zhang Xuan and the others still saw nothing unusual, so they stopped to think things over. Should they keep going, or split up and search separately? With so many people together, the efficiency was simply too low. In the end, they divided into two groups: Zhang Xuan and Yang Hu in one, Yang Zaixing, Yuwen Chengdu, and Zhao Yun in the other. They would search in different directions. If one group found something, they would send someone to notify the other, leaving different markers along the way.

Thus, as planned, Zhang Xuan’s group searched toward the northwest, while Yang Zaixing’s group headed toward the northeast. But after searching for quite a while, neither group found anything at all, and in the end they had no choice but to give up. Zhang Xuan and Yang Hu followed the markers they had left, slowly making their way back, hoping that they might hear something during the return journey. Yet even after they reached the point where the two groups had split up, Zhang Xuan still heard nothing resembling that earlier sound.

He looked around. Yang Zaixing and the others were probably still searching. Bored, he told Yang Hu to wait there and build a fire while he went hunting for game to roast as a snack. After wandering around for half a day, he had suddenly found himself hungry.

Yang Hu naturally agreed with both hands raised to Zhang Xuan going off to hunt game for barbecue. It seemed that ever since he had left the Yan family, he had hardly eaten any wild game at all.

So Zhang Xuan put his words into action. After all, this was unfamiliar territory, and whether he could really catch anything here, he had no confidence at all.

Meanwhile, Yang Zaixing’s group was still pressing on with all their strength in the search. If they knew that Zhang Xuan had already given up looking and switched targets to hunting wild game instead, who knew what the three of them would think.

Zhang Xuan was only trying his luck. If fortune smiled on him, he might run into a wild pheasant, a hare, or even a wild boar. But if he met a wild boar now, he would still choose to step back. That was not something he could deal with alone. Killing it was no problem, but butchering it, washing it, cutting the meat, and roasting it were all labor-intensive tasks as well as skilled work, so that option could be ruled out. In any case, there would be time enough in the future; sooner or later, some reckless pig would fall into Zhang Xuan’s hands.

It could only be said that Zhang Xuan’s luck was still pretty good. After walking for a little while, he spotted a wild pheasant. Judging by its size, there would be enough for him and Yang Hu to share. Of course, that was only if his elder brother and the others had not given up and were still searching there. If they had already turned back, then five people would definitely be too many for that amount.

After a burst of frantic chaos, Zhang Xuan wiped the sweat from his brow and successfully captured one wild pheasant. He had gained a skill point in “catching chickens” and received a hefty amount of experience.

Carrying the pheasant, Zhang Xuan was just about to look for a stream or a small pond to clean it when he suddenly noticed a patch of blood at the spot where he had caught the bird. From the color of it, it looked as though it had fallen not long ago. Perhaps the struggle during the chase had been so fierce that it had exposed something that had been hidden before. Zhang Xuan turned over both himself and the pheasant he had caught for quite a while, but he did not find any injured spot.

He searched the surrounding area again and found no other traces of blood. He could not help frowning, but since he could not find anything, he did not think too much of it. This was like looking for a needle in the sea; perhaps even if he searched the entire mountain forest, he still would not find a second patch of blood. Besides, whether it was even human blood was another matter altogether.

Finding water to wash the pheasant was more important. Time waited for no one, and his elder brother might come looking for him at any moment. Sometimes a man still had to enjoy a little solitude and a private meal. After all, he had not had hot meat in a long time.

Just as Zhang Xuan was about to go looking for water, he suddenly heard another sound. It was like the muffled “mmph-mmph” of someone having their mouth covered. But after those few sounds, there was nothing more.

Zhang Xuan tilted his head and looked carefully around him, but he did not hear that sort of noise again, much less find its source. This left him once again doubting his own ears. Could it be that he was truly exhausted and had really begun to hallucinate?