Chapter 38: A Sword Technique and a Thief (2/2)
When Junior Leopard woke up, he looked refreshed. A whole night in meditation had dispelled the exhaustion of yesterday and all was left in its place was an empty stomach and he was hungry once more.
He walked to the mouth of the cave and all around him he saw branches swaying. The distant hills were filled with howling roars of beasts and the flying birds up in the skies passing by from time to time. He had his feet in the stream and the next moment, a flock of wild beasts came to the stream to drink water. Had he looked at them, he would have seen a perfectly beautiful landscape painting, a perfect harmony of nature right before his eyes.
Sadly, such harmonious scenery could not last long. Out of the thicket darted out a panther who rushed to the stream, grabbing a wild goat by the neck and scattering all the wild beasts who were drinking water. The animals then all took flight in fear.
Junior Leopard did not stop to think but raised his hand. With one dart, he hit the panther directly in the middle of its left eye. The panther howled loudly, put the wild goat down, and turned back. Junior Leopard was not going to give the panther a chance to run away and he hit it on one of its legs. The panther wailed and fell to the ground. He struggled to get up, but it wasn't easy.
Junior Leopard fell down from the cliff and the tip of his foot missed the panther by an inch. He pulled out the nail that was inflicting so much pain from the panther's eye and cut its throat. When he looked at the goat that had just been seized by the panther, its throat was already gnawed, and although it wasn't broken, it lay twitching on the ground. It did not have much time left.
”Saved me the effort!” Junior Leopard smiled. He took both carcasses and put them under the big sycamore tree. He threw the panther aside, tore the goat open, washed it, lit a fire, and set it on top of the rack.
It was the technique he learnt in the village from Wang Tianlei and other hunters. When he used the same technique today, he thought it was very convenient. His only regret was the lack of salt.
He lifted up the wild goat and gently controlled the temperature of the fire. Gradually, a faint aroma from the goat roasting on the rack drifted around.
Looking at the roasting goat and smelling the sweet aroma, the smile on Junior Leopard's face gradually spread out. He was imagining what it would be like once the goat was done roasting and ready to eat when he suddenly felt as if there was something curving him under his foot.
He lowered his head and was dumbfounded.
”What is this thing? A squirrel? A chipmunk? Or some other thing?”
At that moment, beneath his feet, a fist-sized, stout thing was trying to arch his feet. On closer inspection, it was a chipmunk-like creature. This little monster was covered in grayish-brown fur, with a furry tail dragging behind it and bending itself hard against his feet. He didn't know what it was arching.
Junior Leopard frowned, put out a hand, and by its tail, he lifted it upside down.
”Squeak, squeak, squeak — !” Junior Leopard lifted it and the little monster was very uncomfortable. His mouth creaked and squeaked. His four claws were scratching in the air. He struggled and struggled to free himself from Junior Leopard's grasp.
”What a bold fellow!” Junior Leopard's heart jolted. After two days of contact, Junior Leopard knew something of the wild beasts in the mountain. They were sneaky and clever, vigilant, and extremely wary of strange things. Whenever there was something amiss, they would scatter and run. Wherever would you encounter such a creature — whose size was smaller than Junior Leopard's fist, seemingly without strength, yet to one's surprise audacious enough to run up to his foot and arch him?
At this point, Junior Leopard had brought the little monster before him and had finally seen its face. It was a little chipmunk. The only difference from the chipmunks on earth was the silvery fluff on this little one's forehead. It was very conspicuous and in the sun it had a silvery gleam.
”Interesting!” Looking at the chipmunk's eye bone, the little chipmunk's eyes turned continuously. Its mouth was wide open, its big teeth were bright and white, and it squeaked. Maybe it had moved too much, and its body was spinning in midair.
Junior Leopard looked at this little monster in fascination and did not let go.
After a few spins, the little monster stopped struggling.
”Well, why is it not moving?”
Junior Leopard was stunned, and at that moment, the little monster was facing him with its back.
Suddenly, ”Poof!” A strange smell from the chipmunk's body spurt out.
”What the fuck — ?!” By the time Junior Leopard realized that something was wrong, he had already inhaled a bit of the smell.
”This odor — ”
Although Junior Leopard had a bit of resistance, the smell got into his nose and his stomach began to squirm. The acid in his stomach shot up which led him to relax his grip and the little monster fell to the ground.
”Blargh — !” Junior Leopard turned, held his breath, and bent facing towards the stream. He vomited the acid from his stomach in the stream. Had he not held his breath in time, who knew what would have happened.
”Phew, phew, phew — !” After Junior Leopard had finished throwing up, he didn't dare to breathe in that spot. Only after climbing several meters did he take a big breath and waited until he exhaled out all the air. On turning his head, his lungs were within an inch of exploding.
It is said that the rat pulls the turtle, and now the chipmunk was dragging away his half-roasted goat. Toot, toot, toot. It went off straight to the woods. He didn't know how so much energy could come from such a small body. Junior Leopard looked back only to see the half-cooked goat. On the edge of the thick forest, it shook for a moment, then it was dragged by the little monster.
”What the fuck — !” Junior Leopard flew into a rage. He leaped thirty feet high and rushed straight into the woods, vowing to take the thief by force!