Chapter 25: Fire Cloud Leopard

"Cousin, hang in there, I'm going to get help!" Chu Hao, feeling he had caused enough trouble in Ba Houyuan, threw down these words and made a swift getaway.

"Idiot! The kid is about to run; stop fighting and chase him together!" Liu Yang was in a panic and eventually lost his composure, cursing out loud.

"You're his cousin. As long as I capture you, that kid will definitely find someone to rescue you! Lao Tzu just needs to wait like a sitting duck!" Ba Houyuan, unable to clone himself, could only focus on one of Chu Hao and Liu Yang.

And since Liu Yang was not weak, if he were to chase Chu Hao with all his might, he might get ambushed and taken out by surprise!

Therefore, he decided to take down Liu Yang, who was stronger first.

He was proud of his own intelligence!

"Idiot!" Liu Yang was furious, his eyes boiling with a killing intent, "Since you're so stupid, don't blame anyone for dying unjustly!"

Still daring to call himself stupid?

Ba Houyuan was equally furious. Seeing that he couldn't deceive him, the kid showed his true colors, wanting a fight to the death? Hmph, was he afraid? "Lao Tzu won't let you die so easily; I will chop off your hands first!"

Liu Yang said no more. He took a deep breath, transformed his palm into a claw, and a powerful surge of killing intent emanated instantly!

...

Chu Hao didn't care about anything else and ran as fast as he could until he was certain that Liu Yang and Ba Houyuan were no longer in sight. Then he stopped, hid in a thick bush, and gasped for air.

Having sprinted for so long earlier, he had used up a significant amount of energy! Fortunately, he had been overtraining for the past two months; otherwise, he would have never been able to run for so long without stopping.

Even so, Chu Hao was extremely tired, overwhelmed by an endless fatigue, feeling drowsy and unable to muster any spirit.

Falling asleep in the wilderness was dangerous, but Chu Hao couldn't help himself. His eyelids grew heavy, and soon, he lost consciousness. When he woke up, it was deep into the night. The sky was covered with dark clouds, without a star in sight.

Fortunately, he hadn't been discovered by people or ferocious beasts.

Gurgle!

As soon as he woke up, he immediately felt hungry, but his provisions were already eaten up. He had no choice but to hunt wild animals to fill his belly.

His luck had turned sour. Even after half an hour, he hadn't found a single beast, as if all the wildlife had gone extinct. He had to keep moving, and unknowingly, he reached the edge of Blackwood Forest once again.

"I took the wrong direction!" Chu Hao muttered to himself. Without the stars or the moon on such a late night, it was really hard to judge the direction, and he ended up going back the way he came.

"Forget it, having come here, I must hunt some game. Otherwise, with such hunger, how can I have the strength to travel!"

Entering the forest, given the vastness of Blackwood Forest, the chances of encountering Liu Yang or Ba Houyuan again were pitifully small.

"Too bad, I didn't manage to buy any Cloud Mist Stones from Yang Suyun and the others!" Chu Hao thought as he walked. There was no chance for that with the urgency of the situation. "Forget it, the Cloud Mist Stones I have now can last for another month. Once I get back to Eastern Cloud City, I'll just post a reward to collect them!"

"Roar—" As he was lost in thought, a beast's roar suddenly broke the silence, full of might.

Chu Hao was stunned for a moment. Judging from the roar, it was a leopard! And he had seen it before—it was the Fire Cloud Leopard that had attacked them, the ferocious beast at the top of the food chain in Blackwood Forest!

His first reaction was to turn tail and run, but before his body could move, he discarded the idea.

The roar... was incredibly weak!

Chu Hao, bold as ever, immediately abandoned the thought of leaving. Instead, he continued forward, but his movements became extremely slow, not making a single sound.

Soon enough, a small rocky mound appeared ahead with a shallow cave at its base. At the entrance lay a red leopard, around two meters long, looking majestic.

It was indeed the Fire Cloud Leopard!

But now, this Fire Cloud Leopard was close to death, breathing in but not out, occasionally letting out low groans. By its side were three little leopards of the same fiery fur, likely its offspring.

All four leopards lay motionless, as if they were dead.

Chu Hao soon understood why—a ten-meter-long snake with dark scales the size of coins and a triangular head lay dead on the ground, its head bitten off.

Although he hadn't seen the fight, he could guess that the mother leopard had engaged in a fierce battle with this venomous snake to protect her cubs. The snake was dead, but it had also poisoned the entire family of the Fire Cloud Leopard!

Could he eat the meat of ferocious beasts killed by a venomous snake?

Ravenous and unable to bear the hunger any longer, Chu Hao only had this one thought.

As long as the meat was cooked thoroughly, it should be fine, right!

With these thoughts, his eyes blazed with excitement. The Fire Cloud Leopard was a Middle Mahayana realm ferocious beast of the fifth tier, potentially capable of stepping into the Great Mahayana realm. The flesh of such a beast would surely be profoundly nourishing! However, Chu Hao did not act immediately, for as the saying goes, "A centipede may die but will not fall down stiffly." With the Fire Cloud Leopard's immense strength, as long as it wasn't completely dead, a single swipe of its paw could potentially break his arm!

Chu Hao waited for several hours until the roaring of the Fire Cloud Leopard ceased. Then he stood up, walked over to the beast, drew his sword, and plunged it into the mother leopard's neck. She showed no reaction, evidently dead through and through.

Shh!

As Chu Hao was about to start cutting the beast's meat, he suddenly noticed that the leg of a small leopard cub twitched!

Surprised, he couldn't help but wonder, how could the cub still be alive when even the mother leopard had been poisoned to death? He turned to look and saw that the little cub was tenaciously getting to its feet. Though its body quivered, it did not fall.

This cub must have just been born; it hadn't even opened its eyes yet. There were two obvious bite marks on its belly, clearly from a venomous snake, yet it had tenaciously survived the poison. What incredible life force, and what a strong will to live!

Of course, Chu Hao could end this little one's life with just one sword stroke or punch right now.

But how could Chu Hao possibly do such a thing? The little guy's tenacious life force gave rise to compassion in him. He reached out and picked up the cub, which immediately opened its tiny mouth, its tongue pink and utterly adorable, and headbutted Chu Hao's chest, obviously searching for milk.

A twitch pulled at the corner of Chu Hao's mouth. He had no milk, so how was he to feed it?

The mother leopard had just died and might still have some milk, but she had died from snake venom. Her blood and milk must be filled with toxins. The cub could have survived one instance, but that didn't mean it was immune to all poisons and could drink poisoned milk!

What to do?

Gurgle!

His stomach growled, panicked with hunger.

"Let me fill my stomach first, then I'll find you a wet nurse!" Chu Hao said. He set his pack down and stuffed the small leopard inside to keep it from wobbling about and injuring itself.

In light of the small leopard, Chu Hao decided not to touch the bodies of the mother leopard and the other two cubs—fifth-tier Middle Mahayana realm ferocious beasts were definitely precious! He skinned the venomous snake, removed its poisonous parts, and began to roast it over a fire.

Before long, the mouthwatering aroma of roasted meat made his hunger even worse.

Chu Hao immediately took the snake meat off the fire and devoured it messily, regardless of the heat. It was incredibly delicious, easily the tastiest thing he had eaten in his life.

Most ferocious beast meat was tough and gristly, but some, like this snake meat, were incomparably delicious!

After eating a few pieces, Chu Hao felt his stomach about to burst and couldn't eat anymore.

He packed away the remaining snake meat. The beast that fought the Fire Cloud Leopard to a standstill must also be from the Middle Mahayana realm! Besides, with the snake meat being so delicious, he planned to bring some back for Uncle Yu to try.

"Little guy, I'm full now. Time to find you a wet nurse!" Chu Hao put the snake meat into his backpack and was about to lift out the little cub when he discovered, to his surprise, that it had fallen asleep.

"Starved into sleepiness?" Chu Hao found it inconceivable; the hungrier one was, the less likely they could sleep, right? He shook his head; finding a wet nurse for the little guy was the priority for now.

But finding a lactating wild beast or ferocious beast in the Blackwood Forest was a monumental task. By the time the Sun rose in the morning, Chu Hao still hadn't found one.

The little cub woke up, but to Chu Hao's surprise, instead of headbutting him for milk, it affectionately licked him with its pink tongue, showing great fondness. Its eyes were now open, emanating an ineffable sense of intelligence.

"Eh, how come you're no longer hungry?" Chu Hao was puzzled.

But he soon learned why, as the little cub deftly pulled a stone out of the pack and began to eagerly lick it.

Cloud Mist Stone!

"Ahh—" Chu Hao cried out, knowing the real value of the Cloud Mist Stone. It could increase his strength by 100 jin a day, and that number was only going up. And now, the little cub was treating it like food!

Wait, the little cub could absorb the power of the Cloud Mist Stone?

Chu Hao was taken aback. He believed there were very few people in the world who could absorb the stone's power; otherwise, such a precious object wouldn't remain so obscure in use. Yet a newly born cub could absorb it too? That was truly bizarre!

However, considering that the cub survived the snake venom on its physical constitution alone, it was already extraordinary. In light of this, it didn't seem strange for it to absorb the power of the Cloud Mist Stone.

"You must have undergone a genetic mutation!" Chu Hao said with a laugh. Just as there were geniuses among humans, the same was true for ferocious beasts. The little leopard was one such remarkable outlier, blessed with extraordinary abilities!

While the consumption of the Cloud Mist Stone pained him, at least he no longer had to worry about the cub starving to death!

Chu Hao gently rubbed the little cub's head, and in return, the little leopard nuzzled into his chest, finding the most comfortable position to fall back to sleep.

With the ability to absorb the power of the Cloud Mist Stone, the cub's growth would surely be astoundingly fast. In the future, it might become a formidable ally! Although ferocious beasts were fierce, if tamed, their loyalty was incomparable to humans.

The little cub had not yet opened its eyes when he first picked it up, so it surely regarded him as its parent. Such loyalty, of course, was beyond doubt.

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