We immediately stopped and turned back, just as someone let out a startled cry. That cry was like the wail of a ghost; we could only see chaos ahead and had no idea what was happening. We paused for a moment, then grabbed our weapons and rushed toward the source of the scream.

Not far away, we could hear dogs barking frantically, but the shadows of the trees obscured our view of why they were shouting. Ah Gui shouted, “What’s going on?”

“Be careful! There’s something in the grass!” someone in front yelled. Just after that, there was a rustling sound coming from the nearby thicket, as if something large was quickly moving through the bushes. The noise was quite loud; it seemed to be a large animal.

Ah Gui raised his gun and fired a shot, but it was hard to see where it went. The thunderous gunshot startled all the birds in the distance, and the animal bolted, disappearing into the darkness.

We rushed to join them, and a few people from the mountain came over as well. With flashlights, we swept the area in the thicket, only seeing the bushes shaking. Ah Gui immediately shouted, “Release the dogs!”

A few hunters whistled, and the hunting dogs charged out, their energy completely different from that of city pets. The scene erupted into chaos; the sounds of rustling bushes and barking dogs filled the air. Ah Gui and the others quickly followed, and it seemed that several of them had hunting experience. They shouted in the local dialect, spread out, and ran into the thicket after the dogs.

We wanted to follow, but Ah Gui turned back and shouted a few times at Yun Cai, who stopped us, saying not to follow them; they couldn’t take care of us. In the pitch darkness, hunters couldn’t shoot recklessly, as a cornered wild animal might injure someone. Wild beasts, especially ferocious ones like leopards, are extremely dangerous—one encounter could result in serious injury. We lacked experience and could easily get into trouble, plus I didn’t know how to surround the prey, so my presence would only complicate things.

Naturally, I was unwilling; I thought, if it came to skills, wouldn’t the muffled oil bottle just add to your troubles? I took a few steps forward, only to realize that what she meant by “adding to the trouble” was something else entirely.

The hunting dogs, well-trained, split into three and formed a line, charging toward the animal. Once it was cornered, it immediately turned to run back, right into the hunters who were closing in from behind. The dogs and hunters formed a front and back line, effectively creating a surrounding formation. This required every person in the encirclement to have experience; otherwise, the prey might find a breakthrough point and escape.

Ah Gui and the others kept shouting, disorienting the prey so it didn’t know which direction to flee, forcing it to continuously turn back within the encirclement. Meanwhile, the hunters raised their rifles, steadily closing in on the circle. This was a method for hunting wild boars, and I had seen similar situations back in my hometown, where they used this approach to hunt slightly larger animals.

It had been a long time since I had seen a real hunting scenario, and we held our breath, watching as Ah Gui and the others got closer. Soon, the prey was within shooting range, but it kept moving, making it difficult to lock onto with the flashlight. The hunting dogs here were medium-sized, primarily chasing after small animals like wild chickens and rabbits, so they didn’t dare rush in recklessly. If it had been the large dogs used for wolf hunting in the north, they would have charged in for a melee fight in a one-on-three scenario.

After dawdling for a long time, A Gui and the others still didn’t fire their guns. Typically, prey in such situations would make mistakes and suddenly dash in a certain direction. Once they got close to a prepared hunter, the hunter’s shot at close range would be almost guaranteed to hit. Then the hunting dogs would chase after it, making escape nearly impossible. However, this particular animal not only didn’t break out immediately; instead, it gradually calmed down and soon vanished into the grass, hiding in an unknown position. As a result, A Gui and the others didn’t dare to approach.

I watched in surprise, thinking to myself, how impressive! It turned the tables on us. What exactly is this creature? So cunning—could it be a large fox? But how big would a fox have to be to attack a person? Is it just a Schwarzenegger among foxes?

A Gui shone his flashlight a few times but couldn’t pinpoint anything. This group of hunters wasn’t like those who had spent their entire lives in the mountains; their experience was lacking, and they had no good ideas. They resorted to shouting for Yun Cai to throw stones to flush the prey out. We picked up some stones and were about to move closer when we were both suddenly pulled back by the Muffled Oil Bottle. I looked up at him and noticed that his expression had changed. Instead of looking at the area where the hunt was taking place, he was staring behind A Gui and shouted, “Watch out behind you!”

I turned to look and was shocked to see the grass behind A Gui rippling as if blown by the wind, but there was no wind around, and it seemed like something was lurking in the grass, gradually closing in on A Gui.

A Gui immediately turned around, and the rippling stopped at once.

“What is it?” I asked, puzzled. “Is there another one?”

“No,” the Muffled Oil Bottle said coldly as he scanned the surroundings. I swept my flashlight around and quickly spotted several strange ripples in the distant grass, converging towards us.

The hunters here had never encountered such a scene before; they were all dumbfounded. It was Yun Cai who first reacted, whistling to call the dogs back.

I shouted for everyone to gather together. A few of us huddled closely, carefully observing the movements around us. Those ripples in the grass resembled waves, appearing and disappearing intermittently.

The three hunting dogs sensed the strange situation even more acutely, barking incessantly and growing increasingly agitated. The ripples, moving in an irregular pattern, gradually approached us. Although I wasn’t afraid, I couldn’t help but feel tense, my heart pounding.

“Get in the middle,” A Gui told Yun Cai, though he was equally unsure of what was happening. However, the mountain folks were indeed tough; not a single one of them showed fear. A few of them raised their guns, disregarding us in the process. I picked up a stone as a weapon, glanced at the surrounding environment, and said, “There’s too much grass here; let’s retreat to the ancient tomb on the hillside.”

The group immediately moved, staying alert while quickly heading uphill. To our surprise, as soon as we started moving, those ripples closed in on us. When they were about thirty meters away, they suddenly vanished. We barely had time to feel nervous before we were in a panic, not taking the usual path but heading straight up the slope.

The mountain mud was all wet. A few of the men made it up, but Yun Cai twisted her ankle and slid down several meters. I reached out to help her and ended up slipping myself, the mud beneath me giving way.

Men You Ping and A Gui stopped to pull me, and the distance from the team widened by several meters. The grass on the hillside was so dense it resembled a curtain. At that moment, I heard the sound of grass stems being trampled all around me, very dense, and a strong sense of unease ignited in my heart.

After being pulled up, I went to look for Yun Cai, who had twisted her ankle and was crying in pain. Cold sweat broke out, making my legs unresponsive. Gritting my teeth, I pushed through the grass and finally managed to help Yun Cai up the hillside, but there was already another pit that had collapsed in the mud over there. I gave her a little push on her small backside, and the heavy Men You Ping pulled her up with one hand.

I climbed a few times but realized that my weight was too heavy. Without anyone pushing me from behind, the mud couldn’t bear my weight and would collapse. So, I tried to go around to the side. Unexpectedly, even a person drinking cold water can choke, and after just a few steps, the mud beneath me collapsed again, causing me to fall and slide down the hillside for several meters. Struggling to get up, I heard A Gui shouting from above, “Get away! Run away quickly!”

Instinctively, I knew he must have seen something, so I immediately moved to the left, only to hear A Gui shout again, “Wrong! Not that way!” Suddenly, I saw the grass in front of me stirring, and then I saw an animal the size of a calf, with a hanging gaze and a white forehead, peering out from the grass. Its two emerald green eyes glinted coldly, and its face was fierce and menacing, resembling a villain from a Peking opera mask.

The moment I made eye contact with it, I knew exactly what it was, and my heart filled with astonishment—this was actually a lynx.

The lynx is a large cat, smaller than a leopard but much larger than a domestic cat. The face of this feline resembles a monster, with a mixture of evil and ferocity. The most obvious difference between a lynx and a leopard is that the lynx has two long tufts of hair on its ears, resembling the ornamental feathers in Peking opera.

These creatures have a very high intelligence. Although they prefer to live alone, they can cooperate in hunting when food is scarce, making them the only cat species that can hunt in groups apart from lions. In Tibet, large lynxes are referred to as “forest demons,” and it is said they can carry young women back to their dens to mate. However, due to their fur, they have been nearly hunted to extinction in recent times. How could one appear in Guangxi, where poaching is so severe?

If it is a lynx, it could explain why Old Man Pan Ma was attacked but not killed; lynxes, like cats, enjoy exhausting their prey before killing it. Moreover, they are extremely cautious and do not engage in close combat easily.

In a flash of thought, another lynx poked its head out on my other side. This one was even larger, and mud fell from its head. Men You Ping had already come down from above and slid down to my side. A Gui was holding his hunting knife. After Men You Ping came down, he immediately grabbed me, saying, “Step on my back to get up.” He spoke with determination.

“Ah, that would be too much trouble.” I didn’t respond immediately.

“Get on!” A Gui shouted from above, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

Feline predators prefer to attack their prey by targeting the throat, delivering a lethal blow. I instinctively shrank my neck, thinking to myself that I wouldn’t hold back. I pushed aside some muck and stepped onto the shoulder of the “Dull Oil Bottle.” With a sudden lift, he hoisted me up. Up above, Agui grabbed my hand, and I kicked and struggled, finally managing to stabilize myself on the slope. Suddenly, I heard a startled cry from the clouds, and a massive creature burst out from the grass below, leaping onto the slope to gain momentum. I watched as a “giant cat” leapt through the splashing mud, almost as if it were flying, and landed right in front of me.

Agui reflexively let go of my hand, and I fell, getting bitten in mid-air. Fortunately, the lynx was still too small to pin me down directly. I tumbled into the grass and rolled several meters down, then kicked it hard, sending it flying away. When I got up, I saw that my shoulder had almost been bitten through.

All the grass around me seemed to be moving. The one I had kicked had already regained its attacking stance and lunged at me again. I had no time to feel fear; my years of adventure had given me a strong survival instinct. I protected my throat and was knocked down, but I took the opportunity to roll down the slope quickly.

This roll felt like the world was spinning. When I got up, I didn’t care about anything else and stumbled away. Agui and the others had already opened fire behind me, and I couldn’t tell which direction to go, so I dashed deeper into the valley. Just a few meters later, I heard a rush of wind behind me. I knew it was coming; I absolutely couldn’t expose the back of my head, or it would be bitten through. So, I immediately turned around.

Almost as soon as I turned, I saw a dark shadow rushing towards me at lightning speed, impossible to gauge its speed, and in an instant, it was right in front of me. I thought it was over; once it knocked me down, I would have no time to defend myself. Reflexively, I closed my eyes, waiting for death.

Before my eyes were fully closed, the grass beside me suddenly parted, and then a flash of cold light appeared. A figure shot out from the grass like lightning and collided with the dark shadow.

The shadow was ferocious, and after the two figures collided, they flew apart a great distance. I stood there, completely stunned, as if I were dreaming. I could only hear the lynx’s growls and moans, and the grass was in chaos.

I don’t know how long it took, but eventually, the grass settled down, and a figure stood up from within. I breathed a sigh of relief. The figure stepped into the moonlight, and I realized it was a thin, unfamiliar old man, covered in blood, holding a unique hunting knife from the Yao Miao people. The large lynx was slung over his back, seemingly lifeless.

He walked up to me, paused upon seeing me, and asked me something in the local dialect. I didn’t understand what he said and instinctively shook my head, wondering who this divine old man was. The next moment, I saw something even more astonishing—on the old man’s body, there was a tattoo of a black qilin.

With deer antlers and dragon scales, it resembled the markings on the “Dull Oil Bottle.”