Chapter 26 Hunting III

　　—Life itself is a hunt. Only after tasting every bitterness does one understand that dignity, selfconfidence, wealth, reputation, love, happiness, and friendship must all be hunted for and seized.

　　The misunderstanding between Gongdian and Lian Kui having been resolved, both sides were packing their belongings and preparing to take leave when the camelhorses beneath them suddenly stamped and grew restless.

　　Immediately afterward the company saw several swiftly moving shapes racing from the southern forest straight toward them.

　　Gong Yi’s eyes were sharp: “Father, disaster! The beast’s clan has come to avenge it.”

　　Stabbing Tigers are gregarious animals. The one just killed had been a male; upon hearing its dying howls its pack had raced from their territory to rescue it.

　　The pack numbered thirteen in all. After the BullHeads under Gao Yuan had killed a female, the male had continually harassed the Gongyou Clan.

　　Stabbing Tigers are extremely fierce; humans form part of their diet. The hunters of the Gongyou Clan in the forest never dare provoke them lightly.

　　The members of the FireWorship Clan clustered around Lian Kui and mounted their camelhorses, intending to flee.

　　“Do not panic! Gather together and do not scatter! Camelhorses cannot outrun Stabbing Tigers; if we separate we shall be destroyed one by one!” Gongdian shouted.

　　Everyone drew bows and loosed arrows at the beasts. Gong Yi also released several shafts from the dragonbone bow, yet each struck only the animals’ heads.

　　These beasts truly possessed copper heads and iron backs; their skulls were harder than stone. Even arrows from the dragonbone bow could not penetrate.

　　Seeing the beasts draw ever nearer, Gong Yi hastily felt in his quiver and discovered only one arrow remained.

　　He ran to a nearby rise, adjusted his angle, aimed, and released. The arrow struck a beast squarely in the belly; it howled once, rolled, and fell.

　　In the blink of an eye the pack was upon them. Apart from the camelhorse ridden by Lian Kui, all the others were already trembling with terror; their legs gave way and they rolled upon the ground, throwing their riders.

　　The charging Stabbing Tigers bit without discrimination; within moments seven or eight soldiers who had fallen were dead.

　　The uncontrolled camelhorses fled in every direction; the tigers did not pursue. Their purpose was the humans, pure vengeance; after killing they did not even eat the flesh.

　　The situation was extremely grim. The hunters had in an instant become the hunted, surrounded by the remaining ten beasts.

　　The surviving humans formed a circle, weapons in hand, confronting the Stabbing Tigers.

　　Strangely, however, the tigers showed fear when they saw the camelhorse ridden by Lian Kui and dared not approach it.

　　Another Gongyou clansman was bitten to death. At the moment the tiger sprang, Gongdian seized the opportunity and thrust his sword into its belly; the beast screamed and collapsed dead.

　　In the space of a few breaths only about ten of the Gongyou remained—Gongdian, Gong Yi, Yi Wu, Ge Wu and a few others—while the FireWorship Clan likewise numbered little more than ten.

　　Dong Yifeng, who had earlier complained that the hunt lacked excitement, now trembled with fear and hid within the human circle; Huamei stood beside him protectively.

　　Gongdian’s killing of one tiger had cowed the others. They no longer charged as ferociously as at first, but glared with wide eyes, bared fangs, and snarled, surrounding the twentyodd humans. The two sides remained locked in stalemate.

　　Even the valiant Gongdian could not help feeling discouraged: “Brother Lian, I never imagined that I, Gongdian, would die today upon the territory of the FireWorship Clan.”

　　They had come out solely for the phoenix eggs, never expecting danger; now peril surrounded them on every side. Gongdian deeply regretted not having brought a larger personal guard.

　　“Father, do not speak words of despair. Live toward death; die and be reborn. We still outnumber them nearly three to one; the outcome is far from certain. So long as I draw breath I shall not allow them to harm you!”

　　“Bro… Brother Gong, it is still your se… second son who has back… backbone. Let us hold on a little longer. When my men realize I have been gone so long they will certainly come looking for us.”

　　Even as he spoke a great shout rang from the distance: “Yo… tai! Father, do not panic—your son has come to the rescue!”

　　The cry was like a thunderclap splitting the sky. Everyone looked and saw two figures racing from the direction of the forest.

　　Gong Yi was the first to recognize them: “Father, excellent! Elder Brother has come!”

　　A cheer rose at once among the Gongyou. The arrival of the foremost warrior Gong Kang rekindled hope of survival.

　　The two newcomers were none other than Gong Kang and Lian Xiang.

　　That day the pair had been meeting in the small wooden hut at the forest edge between the two clans. Upon hearing the Stabbing Tigers’ howls they had immediately mounted and ridden at full speed; by the time they neared the scene the situation was already critical.

　　Their camelhorses, catching sight of the nine remaining tigers from afar, refused to approach. Forced to dismount, the two ran the rest of the way.

　　When they drew near, the newly kindled hope of the company burst like soap bubbles: they saw that Lian Xiang held only a short dagger while Gong Kang’s hands were empty.

　　Lian Xiang, catching sight of Lian Kui from a distance, asked with concern: “Father, are you unharmed?”

　　“Humph! You little… little brat—once this is over I shall settle accounts with you!” Lian Kui saw Gong Kang and Lian Xiang together and roughly understood the situation.

　　Scolding aside, when he saw that his daughter held only a dagger his heart softened: “What are you doing here? Have you come to die?”

　　At that moment the circle of tigers surrounding the company also changed. Seeing that the humans had received reinforcements, they grew restless; one tiger turned and sprang at Gong Kang and Lian Xiang while the others accelerated their attack.

　　Gong Kang’s movements were agile; he dodged the leap, seized the tiger’s tail, and, like a hammerthrower, spun the beast through the air three or four times before hurling it with all his strength.

　　The tiger was flung several dozen meters, crashed heavily to the ground, both hind legs broken, and lay howling, unable to rise.

　　On Gongdian and Lian Kui’s side the remaining eight tigers pressed their assault and at once tore through the defensive line; the battle became a melee.

　　One tiger, after killing a FireWorship soldier, sprang upon another and was about to tear at the man’s throat when Lian Xiang raced forward and drove her dagger into its belly. The beast flung its head and gored her with its horns, sending her flying.

　　Abandoning the soldier, the tiger charged straight at Lian Xiang where she lay.

　　Lian Kui was behind the animal; seeing the danger he spurred forward to rescue his daughter and struck with his sword at the tiger’s neck, severing the head.

　　The head rolled precisely beneath the camelhorse Lian Kui rode; the horned beast actually began to gnaw at the bloody skull.

　　The Gongyou side was even more perilous; two more members were bitten to death. The remaining hunters consciously protected their chieftain, standing back to back with Gongdian in the center.

　　Suddenly a tiger sprang upon Ge Wu; in another moment he would have perished.

　　After hurling away the tiger that had attacked him, Gong Kang was free. Seeing Ge Wu’s danger he snatched a spear from the ground and flung it with all his might; the spear pierced the tiger’s belly and the beast fell dead.

　　At that very instant another tiger, having just killed a Gongyou clansman, found itself behind Gong Kang. While Gong Kang was throwing the spear the tiger leapt into the air toward him.

　　There was no time for Gong Kang to dodge. At the critical moment a beam of light struck the tiger; it howled once and fell dead from the air.

　　Gong Kang turned and saw that his rescuer was Dong Yifeng, who held a strange object in his hand.

　　“A narrow escape!” Gong Kang muttered, then turned and clasped his fists toward Dong: “My thanks to the celestial god for saving my life!”

　　After the eight tigers had broken the line Dong Yifeng had already drawn his laser pistol. When one tiger sprang at him he raised the weapon and fired, striking it squarely in the face and opening a hole in its skull; brains and blood spilled upon the ground.

　　Seeing Gong Kang in mortal danger he raised the pistol and shot the tiger that was leaping at him—yet at that moment another tiger on Dong’s left sprang toward him.

　　In the critical instant Huamei thrust Dong aside, stretched out both hands, seized the tiger’s front paws, and with a mighty pull tore both paws clean off the living beast.

　　The tiger screamed and toppled, rolling upon the ground in agony.

　　The scene stunned everyone present. Even Gong Kang, foremost warrior of the Gongyou Clan, could not help raising a thumb: “This celestial god possesses true divine strength; I am ashamed of my own inferiority!”

　　Gong Kang picked up a sword from the ground, walked to the pawless beast, and ended its life with a single stroke.

　　Of the eleven tigers that had come to avenge the male, eight were now dead. The remaining three, seeing the situation hopeless, fled in panic. Everyone finally breathed freely.

　　Huamei watched the retreating tigers: “Professor Dong, you should not have displayed modern technology before the alien natives.”

　　Dong put away the laser pistol: “My good Huamei, the situation was so critical I had no time to consider such things. And you need not speak of me—your display of divine strength as a robot was far more shocking than my laser pistol. Ordinary humans do not possess such power.”

　　Apart from Gongdian, Gong Kang, Gong Yi, and Ge Wu, who knew the identities of Dong and Huamei, everyone else stared at the two in bewilderment.

　　They had just witnessed the power of the object in Dong’s hand and the godlike strength with which Huamei had torn the tiger apart; now they could not understand a word of the conversation between the two.

　　Lian Kui blinked his small eyes and asked: “Bro… Brother Gong, who… who are these two in your clan?”

　　Gongdian glanced sideways at Dong and Huamei and prevaricated: “They are… deserters from the HeavenAbandoned Clan, both rather skilled. We happened to bring them along on this hunt.”

　　Lian Kui had heard that at the southernmost edge of the Nanyu Forest, near the Misty Mountains, dwelt the mysterious HeavenAbandoned Clan. Legend held that their ancestors had originally belonged to the Gongyou Clan but had been abandoned by the celestial gods for disrespect and were therefore called the “HeavenAbandoned.”

　　He had also heard that every member of the HeavenAbandoned Clan possessed powerful black magic; thus Gongdian’s explanation did not strike him as strange.

　　At that moment another cloud of dust rose in the north; a troop of riders came galloping toward them.

　　Looking closely they saw that the newcomers wore black—reinforcements from the FireWorship Clan come to meet Lian Kui.

　　The leader was a young man of martial bearing. Upon seeing the corpses strewn everywhere he was greatly startled; when he ascertained that Lian Kui was unharmed he hastily dismounted and paid his respects: “Father, your son has come late to the rescue. Are you unharmed?”

　　“Lian… Lian Shan my son, your father’s life is… is tough enough—rest… rest easy.”

　　“That is well!” the young man called Lian Shan replied. “Younger sister, you are here as well.”

　　Lian Xiang nodded.

　　The company began to clear the battlefield. The FireWorship Clan had lost fourteen men in this engagement; the Gongyou had lost ten.

　　The custom of the Gongyou Clan was earth burial, ordinarily under trees; yet upon FireWorship territory trees were scarce, so the dead brothers could only be buried where they lay and markers set.

　　Gongdian and the surviving hunters prayed for the fallen: “Brothers, forgive us. For now we can only bury you in a foreign land; when opportunity arises we shall bring you home.”

　　The FireWorship Clan practiced cremation. They gathered nearby brushwood, laid the bodies of their dead upon it, and set the pyre alight, reducing the corpses to ash.

　　The Gongyou butcher Ding Wen had survived; he skinned and gutted the eight dead beasts. The meat was divided equally between the two clans.

　　Although the hunt had yielded a rich harvest, both great human clans had paid a heavy price of more than a dozen lives.

　　All the Gongyou camelhorses had scattered. Lian Kui ordered eight mounts led out from Lian Shan’s troop and presented them to Gongdian. Gongdian expressed his thanks; the two clans then took formal leave of each other.