Clan Cultivation: Starting from Beast Taming Chapter 43: Hunting the Purple Flame Marten

Chapter 43: Hunting the Purple Fla 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 mont, 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 Fla 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 Fla Rats.”

“If we manage to catch one, using it as bait, we can surely lure out that Purple Fla 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” thod seed the most useful.

“Brother Yong, your thod 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 ti.”

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

“I’m prepared for this. I specifically asked so Clan Leaders for so food that rat-like Demon Beasts enjoy eating and so 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 agreent with the plan.

Imdiately, Zhou Chun took so 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 so 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 so dried at and dried fruits imbued with faint Spiritual Power in a certain area of the pine forest and mixed in so sedatives that resembled the shape of the dried fruits, followed by scattering so fierce Beast’s droppings and ant-repellent powder collected nearby.

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

After making these preparations, Zhou Chun hid so 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 so advanced planning.

At the mont, 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 soone were to pass by at this mont, it would be extrely difficult to detect Zhou Chun in the underbrush by sight or sll.

To avoid alarming any possible rat-like Demon Beasts that might appear, he even scattered so 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 homade mask, he had to endure the assault of the foul odor, leading to an experience that was anything but pleasant.

As ti 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 at 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 sa way it ca.

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 Fla 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 Fla 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 so ti without any success.

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

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

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

Dealing with an untad Fla Rat, trying to make it lure out a Purple Fla Marten for hunting within a specified area, certainly required so special treatnt.

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

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

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

Later, to avoid alerting the Purple Fla 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 Fla Marten to appear.

Squeak, squeak, squeak!!

The Fla 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Capturing this Fla 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 Fla Marten was extrely 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 Fla Rat to use as bait, it would be impossible to lure the marten again in a short ti.

Ti continued to pass, and the Fla Rat on the ground could barely make a sound; it seed 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 Fla 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 Fla 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 Fla Rat, grabbed it in one bite, and dashed off into the depths of the forest with incredible speed.

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

It was indeed the Purple Fla Marten!

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

At the sa ti, he let out a long howl to signal Zhou Zhengyong, who was waiting in the distance, to co and assist.

But the Purple Fla 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 extrely agile in the forest, to chase the Purple Fla Marten while he took out a Flying Artifact to follow suit.