Li Baoyu’s shot missed the roe deer, but on the opposite slope, a cacophony of dog barks erupted.

And they sounded exceptionally vicious.

"Give me the gun!" Zhao Jun reached out and pressed down on Li Baoyu’s arm. Li Baoyu was a bit dazed, and Zhao Jun didn’t give him a chance to raise the gun again.

"Ah."

Li Baoyu snapped back to his senses just as Zhao Jun’s other hand reached out and grabbed the gun.

Li Baoyu relaxed his grip, and the gun fell naturally into Zhao Jun’s hands.

With the gun in hand, Zhao Jun raised it and aimed, spotting a massive wild boar on the opposite slope. It was powerfully built, a full size larger than a bull.

Surrounding it were five hunting dogs!

One yellow, one white, one blue-gray, and two black dogs.

And in the instant Zhao Jun’s eyes fell upon the battlefield, the five hounds switched from skirmishing to an all-out assault, suddenly lunging at the boar in unison.

These five dogs were none other than Wang Dalong’s Dog Gang. The two groups had parted ways, heading north and south respectively, so it was a mystery how these dogs had circled around to the slope opposite Zhao Jun.

The Yellow Dog—the same one Wang Dalong had disciplined earlier—leapt ferociously, making a beeline for the boar’s ear.

The boar met the Yellow Dog’s charge with a toss of its head. Its long, upward-curving tusk plunged straight into the dog’s neck.

With a jerk of its head, the boar flung the Yellow Dog into the air. The moment the tusk pulled free, a jet of blood spurted from the dog’s throat.

The Yellow Dog flew more than three meters before crashing heavily into a snowdrift, its body half-buried in the snow.

At that moment, the other four dogs latched onto the boar. The boar spun violently, its massive body sweeping sideways like a barn door, throwing all four dogs off.

Zhao Jun lowered his gun and said to Li Baoyu, "Baoyu, you really messed things up... for the dogs."

"Huh?" Li Baoyu was stunned and utterly bewildered. ’I didn’t do anything,’ he thought. ’How could I have messed things up for the dogs?’

Zhao Jun said no more. Grabbing his gun with one hand and pulling Li Baoyu along with the other, he started to leave.

But he didn’t head down into the gully to cross to the opposite slope.

Instead, he turned back and climbed up the way they came. After walking more than three hundred meters, he looked across to the other slope. Powdery snow billowed as four hounds viciously pursued the huge wild boar.

Hunting dogs recognize people, and they recognize guns. Because of this, they know how to coordinate with a Hunter.

Back when Xing and Li Er failed to capture the Little Black Bear, Zhao Jun couldn’t get his gun into position and had no choice but to have Li Baoyu enter the fray with a knife.

When Hua Xiao’Er and Daqing saw Li Baoyu approach with the knife, they went berserk, as if they’d been shot full of adrenaline.

Furthermore, every time they hunted, whether it was a bear or a boar, the moment Zhao Jun’s gun fired, Hua Xiao’Er and Da Huang would latch onto the prey.

They knew that when a Hunter entered the fight or a gunshot rang out, it was time for the final showdown.

This is the trust a hunting dog has in its Hunter.

Of those five dogs on the slope, apart from the newly added white dog, the other four were all seasoned hounds with over three years of experience. They had hunted with Wang Dalong for years and naturally recognized the sound of a gun.

The hounds, which had been skirmishing with the boar, suddenly heard a gunshot. They didn’t know it was Li Baoyu shooting at a roe deer; they thought their master had arrived. And so, they instantly swarmed the boar to pin it down.

But that shot wasn’t aimed at the boar, and this was no final showdown.

The boar was uninjured, its fighting strength completely undiminished. And just like that, the hounds were in deep trouble.

The first to suffer was the Yellow Dog—the same one Wang Dalong had disciplined, the one Zhao Jun had spoken up for.

It was a head-on dog, one that latched on like a vise. It charged straight for the boar’s ear, making it the first thing the boar saw. The boar simply met it with a toss of its head.

That single strike snapped the Yellow Dog’s neck, and it was dead before it even hit the ground.

That’s why Zhao Jun had said Li Baoyu screwed over the dogs.

Without his shot, the five dogs would have continued to harass the boar, not engaged in a life-or-death battle.

But you couldn’t really blame Li Baoyu; after all, he hadn’t done it on purpose.

Zhao Jun took back his gun, pulled Li Baoyu along, and hid behind a large tree.

Zhao Jun had no intention of getting involved today. To be precise, he planned to feign ignorance.

Because that Wang Dalong was not an easy person to deal with. If he decided to blame Li Baoyu, it would be a huge headache.

Although he and Zhao Jun were relatives, Zhao Jun’s relationship with him wasn’t as close as his with Li Baoyu. Zhao Jun wanted to avoid the trouble.

The two of them hid behind the tree and watched the fight. The boar charged left and right, its massive body forcing the hounds to give way wherever it turned.

But the boar was never able to break out of the dogs’ encirclement.

You had to admit, Wang Dalong’s dogs were something else. The Yellow Dog was already dead, so there’s no need to say more about it.

Among the remaining dogs, Zhao Jun’s eyes were immediately drawn to the large white one.

The dog was a cross between a Mengxi and a "stupid dog," and it had a vicious bite. Every time it bit into the boar’s rear, the pain made the boar turn around to find it.

This was still a dog that had only recently started hunting in the mountains. Its skills were a bit raw, but if it were properly trained over time, it would surely become a first-rate hunting dog.

As for the two black dogs, one went for the boar’s ears while the other attacked its rear.

Compared to the white dog, these two black ones were far more skilled and experienced.

But of the four dogs, the one playing the key role was the Qing Gou.

This dog, like Zhao Jun’s Hua Xiao’Er, specialized in attacking the boar’s back passage.

This was a Big Cannon Egg, and the pair of large sacks hanging under its tail were almost the size of a puppy’s head.

With testicles that big, every time the Qing Gou latched on with its mouth, the boar would shriek in heart-rending agony.

It was precisely because of this Qing Gou that the boar couldn’t fight its way out of the encirclement.

As the four dogs continued to battle the boar, Li Baoyu estimated the distance between them and the boar was about eight hundred meters.

"Brother, are we gonna shoot?" Li Baoyu asked in a low voice. Having just fired a shot, his trigger finger was itching. ’I missed the roe deer,’ he thought, ’but if I can take down this six-hundred-jin Big Cannon Egg, I’ll have bragging rights for life.’

Zhao Jun shook his head without even raising his gun. He said to Li Baoyu, "No. Let’s go!"

"Huh?" Li Baoyu paused, then asked, "Aren’t you going to watch the show for a bit?"

"No," Zhao Jun said decisively.

With that, he continued up the slope. Though Li Baoyu didn’t understand, he followed closely behind.

The two had only taken a few steps uphill when Zhao Jun suddenly pulled Li Baoyu behind a large linden tree.

Looking back toward the opposite slope, they saw Wang Dalong appear with his gun at the edge of the boar-and-dog battlefield.

He was alone; the others hadn’t arrived yet.

Wang Dalong clutched his shotgun, raised it, and took aim.

The boar, which was trying to break free and escape, was attacked from behind by the Qing Gou and slowed its pace in pain.

Just then, one black and one white dog caught up from behind.

And at that very moment, the boar was broadside to Wang Dalong’s gun.

Its body, as wide as a barn door, gave Wang Dalong a perfect, massive target. Without hesitation, Wang Dalong pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The shot slammed into its body, entering right behind the boar’s front shoulder.

On the other side of the boar’s body, a spray of blood mist erupted, mixed with bits of flesh.

Wang Dalong didn’t even notice that only three of his dogs were chasing the boar. The Yellow Dog and one of the black dogs were nowhere to be seen.

The Yellow Dog lay dead not far away.

And the other black dog was on the far side of the massive boar. With its body blocking his view, Wang Dalong hadn’t seen it at all.

The bloody mist that burst from the boar’s body slammed into the black dog. The dog staggered and fell to the ground.

A second later, the black dog struggled back to its feet, took two steps forward, and then collapsed again.

This time, it didn’t get up.