Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Hunting the Purple Flame Marten

The Red Pine is a kind of tall and sturdy pine tree, generally standing over thirty feet in height.

Once such trees form a forest, they attract and breed several unique species of pine caterpillars, making it difficult for other tall trees to grow in the vicinity.

Zhou Chun and his companions now found themselves in the Red Pine Forest, which was filled with Red Pines reaching more than a dozen yards high, many of which were over a thousand years old.

The forest floor was covered with a thick layer of pine needles, bristling with various thorny bushes and weeds, making it very inconvenient to walk.

Pine caterpillars as long as one’s finger would often fall from the trees above.

In such a place, one couldn’t bear to stay without considerable courage.

At the moment, Zhou Chun and his companion donned hats to prevent pine caterpillars from falling on them, and had Zhou Zhengyong’s Red-Tailed Monkey lead the way by clearing the path ahead; they quickly ventured over ten miles deep into the pine forest.

“The Purple Flame Marten is fond of hunting various kinds of rodents, and with such a vast Red Pine Forest, there must be an abundance of squirrels and wood mice—perhaps even the mythical creatures like Golden-Toothed Rats and Flame Rats.”

“If we manage to catch one, using it as bait, we can surely lure out that Purple Flame Marten.”

Under a Red Pine tree, Zhou Chun and Zhou Zhengyong crouched down, looking at the black-brown marten droppings on the ground beside them, Zhou Zhengyong whispered his plan.

It was a solitary creature, and finding its incredibly hidden den within three days in this vast pine forest would require astronomical luck.

Hence, the “lure the snake out of its hole” method seemed the most useful.

“Brother Yong, your method isn’t bad, but those rat-like Demon Beasts are also quite timid and cautious. Catching them alive won’t be easy, especially since we’re short on time.”

Zhou Chun didn’t doubt the efficacy of Zhou Zhengyong’s method but also pointed out the difficulties involved.

“I’m prepared for this. I specifically asked some Clan Leaders for some food that rat-like Demon Beasts enjoy eating and some sedatives.”

Upon saying this, Zhou Zhengyong looked at Zhou Chun and said, “Let’s split up and act separately next, each taking food to look for the traces of these Rat Demons.”

“Okay, let’s give it a try then.”

Zhou Chun nodded in agreement with the plan.

Immediately, Zhou Chun took some dried fruit and sedatives from Zhou Zhengyong and split up with him to start searching for traces of those rat-like Demon Beasts in the pine forest.

Both were experts in the Beast Taming Technique, with abilities to track Beast Demons surpassing those of even some very experienced Loose Cultivators.

From droppings and claw marks to the nearby types of plants, as well as changes in humidity and temperature, all served to help them determine the nearby traces of certain Demon Beasts’ activities.

Take the “Golden-Toothed Rat” as an example; this squirrel-like Demon Beast, with two golden incisors capable of biting through steel, often needed hard stones to sharpen its teeth and preferred to live in places with abundant hard rock.

Zhou Chun darted through various parts of the pine forest, using both Divine Sense and keen eyesight to carefully observe the passing areas, searching for minute signs of rat-like Demon Beasts’ activities.

After half a day passed in this manner, he found three possible locations of rat-like Demon Beasts’ dens, and settled on the one he felt had the highest probability to stake out.

He then scattered some dried meat and dried fruits imbued with faint Spiritual Power in a certain area of the pine forest and mixed in some sedatives that resembled the shape of the dried fruits, followed by scattering some fierce Beast’s droppings and ant-repellent powder collected nearby.

In this way, ordinary rodents and ants, even if they smelled the aroma, would not dare come forward to enjoy the food.

After making these preparations, Zhou Chun hid some distance away, silently operating the Hidden Cicada Breathing Technique to conceal his presence.

Having been practicing two secret techniques for nearly a year now, although he had not yet mastered both to the point of effortless use, he was able to employ the techniques with some advanced planning.

At the moment, Zhou Chun lay hidden among the bushes and weeds, his body and the nearby plants completely blending in color, his own scent also masked by the fragrance of the plants under the influence of the secret technique.

Even if someone were to pass by at this moment, it would be extremely difficult to detect Zhou Chun in the underbrush by sight or smell.

To avoid alarming any possible rat-like Demon Beasts that might appear, he even scattered some particularly pungent fresh fierce Beast droppings nearby to ensure that the scent would not spoil his plans.

Of course, the downside to this was that, even wearing a homemade mask, he had to endure the assault of the foul odor, leading to an experience that was anything but pleasant.

As time gradually passed, after nearly two hours of staking out, Zhou Chun finally saw a red-furred rat appear in his line of sight.

The rat was as large as an adult’s lower leg, and it wasn’t disturbed by the fierce Beast droppings Zhou Chun had scattered nearby.

After looking around and sniffing fiercely with its nose, it directly crawled over to the dried meat and dried fruits and happily began feasting on the delicious food.

After consuming all the food Zhou Chun had scattered in one go, the large rat turned around and prepared to return to its den the same way it came.

But it hadn’t gone far before it felt dizzy and disoriented, its body swaying uncontrollably from side to side.

After a short while, the little creature couldn’t withstand the effects of the potion and fell unconscious.

Only then did Zhou Chun leave his hiding place and pick up the unconscious rat.

After holding it by the back of its neck and sizing it up, he muttered to himself, “Luckily it’s just a low-tier first-grade Flame Rat. If its cultivation had reached mid-tier first-grade, these few Beast Bewitching Pills would probably not have confused it!”

Then he carried the Flame Rat off in search of Zhou Zhengyong.

Compared to Zhou Chun, Zhou Zhengyong’s luck was far less favorable, and he had been waiting for quite some time without any success.

Upon seeing Zhou Chun approaching with the unconscious Flame Rat, he heaved a sigh of relief.

“It’s good that you made a catch, little brother. You’ve really helped me out this time!”

While expressing his gratitude, he immediately took the Flame Rat from Zhou Chun’s hand and began to process it.

Dealing with an untamed Flame Rat, trying to make it lure out a Purple Flame Marten for hunting within a specified area, certainly required some special treatment.

For Zhou Zhengyong and Zhou Chun, this wasn’t a difficult task.

The Zhou Family, a Beast Taming Family, had long developed many methods for capturing various Demon Beasts alive.

Zhou Zhengyong now used drugs and silver needles to damage the Flame Rat’s brain, making it go mad, while also heaping up some Purple Flame Marten droppings collected earlier to prevent it from fleeing the specified area.

Later, to avoid alerting the Purple Flame Marten and because Zhengyong couldn’t use the Hidden Cicada Breathing Technique, he left the scene from afar, handing over his Spirit Pet, the Red-Tailed Monkey, in the Spirit Beast Pouch to Zhou Chun, who would then lie in wait nearby for the Purple Flame Marten to appear.

Squeak, squeak, squeak!!

The Flame Rat, with its brain damaged, ran and jumped chaotically across the clearing, constantly emitting loud, piercing squeals.

Its eyes had lost all intelligence, filled only with madness, its blood-shot and reddened eyeballs appeared rather frightening.

Some predators in the pine forest were attracted by the noise but, upon seeing that the source of the screams was a Flame Rat, they scampered away in fright.

Indeed, a normal rat is prey to these predators, but a Flame Rat is capable of casting spells.

Even a simple ball of fire is enough to kill a fierce tiger.

As time trickled by, the Flame Rat’s energy gradually depleted from the constant screeching, and its voice became too hoarse to continue emitting loud noises.

Yet, the silhouette of the Purple Flame Marten was nowhere to be seen.

This made Zhou Chun, hiding in the shadows, increasingly anxious.

Capturing this Flame Rat had already been lucky; finding another one to use as bait was not going to be easy.

But despite his urgency, Zhou Chun dared not act rashly.

The Purple Flame Marten was extremely vigilant and careful. Perhaps it was already observing from a hidden spot.

If he made any reckless move and startled it, then even if they were to capture another Flame Rat to use as bait, it would be impossible to lure the marten again in a short time.

Time continued to pass, and the Flame Rat on the ground could barely make a sound; it seemed as if it had died completely.

It was deep into the night now, with the access to stars and moonlight obscured by the tree canopy, just a sprinkle of light fell through the forest, barely allowing Zhou Chun to make out the silhouette of the Flame Rat.

He dared not use Divine Sense to monitor the situation, because, though intangible and unseen, many Demon Beasts can sense it and would know they are being watched.

Hence, unless the Purple Flame Marten showed itself and Divine Sense was needed to lock onto it, Zhou Chun would absolutely not dare to use it.

Just as Zhou Chun’s eyes grew sore and he felt he could hardly hold on any longer, he finally spotted an anomaly.

A dark shadow flashed by and a large figure, the size of a yellow dog, appeared beside the Flame Rat, grabbed it in one bite, and dashed off into the depths of the forest with incredible speed.

This scene immediately made Zhou Chun’s spirits lift, and he released his Divine Sense to lock onto that figure.

It was indeed the Purple Flame Marten!

The result from his Divine Sense scan greatly relieved Zhou Chun, and he quickly chased after the retreating silhouette.

At the same time, he let out a long howl to signal Zhou Zhengyong, who was waiting in the distance, to come and assist.

But the Purple Flame Marten was incredibly fast within the forest, and even with the help of the Wind Control Skill, Zhou Chun couldn’t keep up with it.

So after signaling for help, he released Zhengyong’s Red-Tailed Monkey, a creature also extremely agile in the forest, to chase the Purple Flame Marten while he took out a Flying Artifact to follow suit.