Longevity Martial Arts: I have a Mysterious Water Snake Avatar
Chapter 33 - 32 Where Did Qingmu Deer Go? (Please follow and favorite)

Chapter 33: Chapter 32 Where Did Qingmu Deer Go? (Please follow and favorite)

An army of bee insects blanketed the sky. Arranged in formations, they methodically searched the area, scouting the various, distinct forest landscapes for Hong Yuan.

The bee insects brandished their claws menacingly. Their overbearing presence caused countless ferocious beasts to flee, forcing one forest overlord after another to abandon their territories.

With the bee insects searching so unrestrainedly, Hong Yuan still hadn’t caught a glimpse of any Qingmu Deer!

The Qingmu Deer seemed to have vanished from the Firefly Forest!

For over four hours, Hong Yuan had traversed multiple areas of Firefly Forest, yet the Qingmu Deer were nowhere to be seen.

The scarcity of the Qingmu Deer far exceeded Hong Yuan’s expectations.

This shouldn’t be the case. Could multiple competitors have entered Firefly Forest and be hunting down the Qingmu Deer? Hong Yuan frowned slightly, his foot tapping the verdant ground.

He had penetrated so deeply into Firefly Forest; why hadn’t he encountered any Qingmu Deer?

Hong Yuan was extremely puzzled.

At this moment, Hong Yuan wore a Tang Sword at his waist and a quiver over his shoulder. He wielded the White Bull Bow, fully armed and ready for a Qingmu Deer to appear!

But the question was, where had the Qingmu Deer gone?

Above, the swarms of Small Black Honeybees and mutant Tiger Head Bees also stalled as Hong Yuan contemplated, their incessant buzzing filling the air.

The sound of their wings was like thunder.

Perhaps because Hong Yuan and the bee swarms had lingered too long, the overlord of this forest, a second-stage Crimson Fire Bear, finally could no longer tolerate their annoying noise.

The Crimson Fire Bear crawled out of its dark cave, intending to smash the source of the noise into pulp.

ROAR!!!

A furious bellow erupted.

The Crimson Fire Bear charged fiercely toward Hong Yuan, its menace terrifying, intending to tear to shreds the human who had disturbed its sweet dreams.

However, caught in the bee insects’ "Double Claw Capture" Formation, the Crimson Fire Bear couldn’t get close to Hong Yuan.

A Crimson Fire Bear? Fine. If I really can’t find any Qingmu Deer, I’ll just treat this as a hunting trip, Hong Yuan mused.

Then, with a mental command from Hong Yuan, the bee swarm coordinated their attack with greater precision to subdue the second-stage Demon Beast.

They alternated between covering, retreating, and assaulting.

The Crimson Fire Bear became enraged and went mad. Relying on its species’ naturally thick hide and flesh, it withstood the bee swarm’s assault while it charged up an attack.

FWOOSH!

The Crimson Fire Bear suddenly opened its mouth wide, unleashing its Innate Ability. Flames burst forth. With a loud BOOM, they formed a colossal pillar that pierced through the swarm, heading straight for Hong Yuan.

Damn it! This Crimson Fire Bear has actually reached the second stage?!

Hong Yuan sidestepped to avoid the flames, but the bee insects weren’t so lucky.

The Crimson Fire Bear’s strike cost Hong Yuan over a hundred bee insects. Fortunately, the Sting Bee Worm was agile enough to escape; otherwise, it too would have been destroyed.

Such a heavy loss slightly irritated Hong Yuan.

Angered, Hong Yuan drew his bow and nocked an arrow, aiming directly for the Crimson Fire Bear’s right eye.

He centered himself, his mind free of distractions, no stray thoughts remaining—

Hong Yuan took a step outward with his right foot, his knees set, thighs tightened, and shoulders stabilized.

As the Crimson Fire Bear was happily swatting the mutant Tiger Head Bees one paw strike after another, Hong Yuan made his move.

THWANG! THWANG! THWANG!

In an instant, the White Bull Bow was drawn to a full moon three times. Three arrows, coated with paralyzing powder, shot out in rapid succession, one after the other.

HOWL!!!

The Crimson Fire Bear clutched its right eye in agony, rolling on the ground and kicking up clouds of dust.

Unmoved, Hong Yuan continued to nock arrows and draw the bow.

THWANG! THWANG! THWANG!

Another three successive shots, and the Crimson Fire Bear was pinned down, motionless.

The Crimson Fire Bear was only inhaling, not exhaling, clearly at death’s door.

At this, Hong Yuan commanded the swarm to enter the Crimson Fire Bear’s right eye socket and devour its brain.

The Crimson Fire Bear, in its death throes, tried to swing its paws, but its forelimbs were pinned, leaving only its left hind leg mobile.

BUZZZZ!

The swarm of bee insects rushed into the bear’s brain cavity, chewing the contents to pieces.

Under Hong Yuan’s urging, the bee insects quickly devoured the Crimson Fire Bear’s head.

A headless bear corpse collapsed into a pool of blood.

Hong Yuan took out a small Storage Bag and collected the Crimson Fire Bear.

Obtaining the corpse of a second-stage Demon Beast should have been a joyous event. This was especially true for a unique beast like the Crimson Fire Bear, whose value could reach as high as 120 Energy Stones.

But Hong Yuan remained very calm. This savage bear had destroyed over two hundred of his bee insects, and more than one hundred others had lost their combat capabilities.

In other words, this single battle had wiped out half of his bee insect forces!

Alas, such high casualties. It seems I can only replenish my bee insect forces while continuing to track the Qingmu Deer, Hong Yuan sighed inwardly.

Hong Yuan would rather fail to catch a Qingmu Deer than allow his strength to decrease.

「Elsewhere, Zhang Tianyuan was also sighing.」

With the aid of a map, he had successfully hunted seven Qingmu Deer.

But then he encountered a big problem!

He ran into several other cultivating Disciples also hunting Qingmu Deer.

Normally, Zhang Tianyuan wouldn’t panic upon meeting other cultivating Disciples. However, he became extremely frustrated when he saw that among them were two Disciples from the Spirit Beast Hall.

Damn Spirit Beast Hall, so dishonorable! Using Beast Taming to hunt Qingmu Deer?! Who can possibly compete with you? Zhang Tianyuan was deeply disconsolate.

Disciples of the Spirit Beast Hall were known to be like one-man armies. They held a major advantage at lower cultivation stages.

Scouting, besieging, herding...

Disciples of the Spirit Beast Hall excelled at such tactics. Indeed, the current Qing State Army Commander was a True Disciple from their hall!

Who could contend with these Disciples in terms of tracking and hunting?

Even with a map, Zhang Tianyuan felt his situation was precarious.

It now seemed likely that the earlier disappearance of entire Qingmu Deer herds was the work of these two Spirit Beast Hall Disciples!

Pah, disgusting! I hate rule-breakers the most, Zhang Tianyuan cursed under his breath, glared unwillingly at the male and female Disciples in the distance commanding their beasts, then turned to leave.

He had to hurry. He had to get to the map locations that hadn’t been plundered yet, getting there before those two Spirit Beast Hall Disciples, to hunt enough Qingmu Deer!

「Ahead, in the dense thicket.」

Spirit Beast Hall Disciples Xu Haisheng and Xiao Youjun were commanding their tamed beasts to corner a herd of Qingmu Deer.

"Senior Brother, now that we’ve hunted these seven Qingmu Deer, we can raise three or four more Spirit Beast cubs!" Xiao Youjun said excitedly, her pure eyes filled with joy.

"Focus on improving your cultivation first. Your current cultivation is only first-stage mid-rank, and you can only control five Lightning Wolves at most. Why waste extra Energy Stones on more beasts?" Xu Haisheng calmly advised.

"I don’t care! I’ve wanted a Moonlight Fox for ages!" Xiao Youjun pouted, clearly not about to give up until she was satisfied.

"Moonlight Foxes are beautiful, but they’re mostly for show— Alright, alright, I promise. But only one or two. Two at most!"

Xu Haisheng saw his Junior Sister starting to feign tears, looking as if she were about to cry from grievance. He knew she was faking, but his heart always softened, and he couldn’t help but reluctantly agree.

Hearing this, Xiao Youjun’s tears vanished, replaced by a radiant smile, making Xu Haisheng feel it was all worth it.

Thus, Xu Haisheng refocused on meticulously controlling the five Falling Wind Hawks and twenty Lightning Wolves.

He couldn’t disappoint his Junior Sister, after all.