198 Collecting Dus (2/2)

”Says the one who's feeding his horse an apple.” Li Xueyue chortled, taking a step back while the stable boy fastened everything in place. Once all was done, she effortlessly climbed onto the saddle, reins in hand.

”It's a healthy treat.”

”Sure it is.”

Li Wenmin stuck his tongue out at her. He hopped onto his horse and the two began riding out of the stable.

The servants approached them with the archery equipment.

Li Xueyue nodded in satisfaction upon seeing it was her favorite archery bow. She stretched the string, testing its tension. Since the bow was properly taken care of, there wasn't anything to complain about.

”Are we hunting today? Or just archery practices?”

”We can take a stroll in the forest.”

”Sounds like a plan to me,” Li Xueyue agreed.

- - - - -

”No fair, that was my shot!” Li Wenmin complained fifteen minutes into the gallop through the forest. He angrily glowered at his younger sister who had stolen the shot.

Li Xueyue rolled her eyes. ”You should've shot your arrow faster then,” she said whilst getting off of the horse.

Li Xueyue approached the direction she shot the arrow at. Heiyue confusedly walked in circles, befuddled about where she could've gone to.

”Just a second, Heiyue,” Li Xueyue called back, though she wasn't too sure if he understood her or not.

Sometimes she found it interesting that Heiyue responded to her only. She knew his loss of eyesight forced him to rely on his other senses, but his hearing was simply incredible. The smallest snap of a twig in the distance was enough to alert him.

”Xiao Yue, your horse is stupid.” Li Wenmin groaned when he saw the horse follow in her direction, only to bump into a tree.

”Heiyue is not stupid.” Li Xueyue scowled whilst searching for the animal she had shot her arrows at. That's strange. She was sure it went in this direction.

”He can't see, so it's hard for him to know the directions without me.” She glanced back and let out a small whistle.

In an instant, Heiyue jolted and effortlessly galloped in her direction.

”Look, he responds to me perfectly well.” Li Xueyue mused, ”He's so smart that he understands my commands.”

Li Wenmin let out a wistful sigh. He was still jealous of how well-built and powerful the horse was. In the two and half years that went by, Heiyue had undergone a drastic transformation. Originally, he was a matted, skinny, and abused horse, but look at him now. He was effortlessly one of the fastest horses in the country.

Li Wenmin had never seen such a deadly combination of stealth and strength. Quite honestly, he was jealous. What Heiyue lacked in sight, he made it up with his intelligence and hearing.

”That's so strange, Wen-ge. I can't find my prey.” Li Xueyue crossed her arms. ”I'm pretty sure I shot in this direction. Less than five minutes have passed since I shot it. There's no way a predator would've stolen the prey from me without any of us seeing it.”

Li Wenmin barely had a second to turn his horse in her direction before he heard her scream. His heart lurched in his chest.

”What happened?! Xiao Yue?!” he called out, noticing she was suddenly nowhere to be found.

Li Wenmin pressed his foot into his horse which peddled her forward. ”Xiao Yue?!”

Li Wenmin urged his horse in the direction she had wandered off to, his heart racing faster than he could blink.

”W-Wen-ge…” Li Xueyue wailed out, pressing a horrified hand to her mouth.

Li Wenmin's jaw dropped open in shock. Standing in front of them, teeth bearing was none other than a bloodthirsty tiger.