Early in the morning, a stout man with a beard and a brown animal skin came to the door of the thatched hut.

The stout man shouted into the room, "Mingfan, are you ready?"

The door of the house opened, and I saw Ming Fan walking out of the door, dressed differently than usual, on weekdays, Ming Fan wore ordinary cloth clothes, but today he wore a beast skin uniform like a strong man, carrying a bamboo basket and a wooden bow behind him.

"Hehe, Uncle Mingyeol, I've been ready for a long time, let's go. With that, the two of them headed for the barren valley at the edge of the village.

The strong man is a hunter in this village, called "Ming Lie", and his job on weekdays is to hunt some mountain and forest monsters in the barren valley, and take the hunted beast meat and animal skins to Luohe City in exchange for some scattered silver and daily necessities.

Ming Lie is bold and upright, unlike most of the people in the village who are alienated from Ming Fan, he can be said to be the best villager except for the old man Ming Chen, and for a period of time after the old man died, he and his wife took care of Ming Fan's food and clothing, until later Ming Fan was able to take care of his own food, clothing, housing and transportation, and then refused the care of Ming Lie and his wife.

However, on weekdays, as long as Ming Lie goes to the barren valley to hunt, Ming Fan will beg him to take him with him.

At first, Ming Lie refused, because it was not very safe to go hunting in the barren valley, but he couldn't stand Ming Fan's constant pleading, and helplessly, Ming Lie had no choice but to agree to Ming Fan, and for Ming Fan, one of them was that he could learn hunting skills, and when he became an adult, he could become a hunter like Ming Lie, and the other was that he could go and pick some medicinal herbs by the way.

And today is the day when Minglie goes hunting, the barren valley is not close to the village but not far away, and the two of them came to the periphery of the barren valley in a short time.

Although this barren valley is located next to the village, it is definitely not called "Mingjia Valley" or anything, on the contrary, this barren valley used to have a nice name "Hongxia Valley".

However, now the villagers are talking about this barren valley.

The old people in the village said that in the past, the peaks and mountains here were steep, the pine walls were covered, the white clouds were flying, and the rivers were blue, and in the middle of each month, a colorful glow would fly out from the deepest part of the valley and go straight to the sky to form a strange scene.

However, a hundred years ago, from the sky I don't know what flew into the valley, since then the valley has been unrecognizable, has become today's barren valley, since then there are often strange sounds in the valley, and the animals in the inside have also changed, irritable, fierce, beast body has become stronger, many people in the village also died in the mouth of the monster because of this mutation, and then the inside of the barren valley became a forbidden place, but the outside of the barren valley has not been affected, so the hunters in the village will only hunt in the periphery in the future, and will never go to the inside of the barren valley.

Ming Lie pulled out the hunting knife on his belt and held it in his hand and reminded Ming Fan,

"Ready, we're going in. ”

"Don't worry, uncle, it's not the first time I've hunted with you, so I don't have to say this every time. After that, Ming Fan also took the bow on his back in his hand.

"As a hunter, you can't relax all the time," Minglie Zhengse said, "This time is different from the previous times, the first few times I just took you to hunt some ordinary livestock." Today I want to take you to hunt some aggressive monsters, so you must be prepared for everything this time before you can act, because no hunt is safe, and any negligence on your part could kill you or your companions, you know. ”

Seeing the serious expression on Minglie's face, Mingfan knew that Minglie was teaching himself with his heart, so he also put away his playful attitude and became serious.

"Well, uncle, I'm ready. ”

Seeing that Ming Fan's attitude was rare to concentrate, Ming Lie was relieved, what he said just now was not for Ming Fan to hear, but the guidelines that he had always adhered to in his hunting career for more than ten years, and it was these guidelines that allowed him to survive countless hunting processes, so the two of them walked cautiously in the woods on the periphery of the barren valley.

"This is?" Ming Lie suddenly noticed a few rows of footprints on the ground a few steps in front of him, and when he came to the footprints, Ming Lie squatted down and took a closer look, "It seems that this should be the footprints of the Great Fierce Jackal Beast." Mingyeol observed for a few minutes, patted the dirt on his hands, stood up and said.

"Uh.... The name of this monster seems so familiar," Ming Fan said

"The Great Fierce Jackal Beast, known as the Thief Beast in the hunting world, is a monster of the tooth beast species," Ming Lie continued to explain to Ming Fan, "It is a typical brainless animal that cares about everything in order to eat." ”

"Hmm.... Uncle, are you sure that this monster is called the Great Fierce Jackal Beast and not the Great Fierce Jackal Dragon?" Ming Fan complained in a low voice.

Maybe the voice was too small, Ming Lie didn't hear Ming Fan's complaint about the name of the big fierce jackal, but continued, "Although this big fierce jackal beast belongs to a monster that is easier to hunt, but judging from the fact that these footprints are big and small, it should be several big fierce jackal beasts foraging together. ”

"Since it's the kind of brainless monster, even if there are more of them, it shouldn't be difficult to hunt, right?"

"Can't say that. Minglie frowned slightly and said, "When I was young, I used to travel to the major forests and barren valleys in Lingzhou, hunting monsters, and once I met a monster called the big monster bird, the big monster bird has a gentle and cautious temperament and likes to live alone, plus the size is not large, I had the idea of hunting alone, but when I found the habitat of the big monster bird and rushed in, I found that several big monster birds were having a dinner, and I almost became their after-dinner dessert, and finally I also escaped from the "Ming Lie Vicissitudes of Life" Therefore, Ming Fan, as a hunter, must not underestimate any prey. That's all the conclusion I've come to as a hunter wandering on the verge of life and death. ”

"Hey, uncle, this is the conclusion you came to when you played monster hunting, you only cared about playing games when you traveled to Lingzhou! And you can't even beat the big monster bird, and your game level is too inferior." Ming Fan shouted inwardly.

"Uncle, what are we going to do now?"

Ming Lie looked around, and said calmly, "The big fierce jackal's desire for food can be said to have reached an uncontrollable point, so the easiest and safest hunting method is to use this to set traps, Ming Fan come with me, let's find where the big fierce jackal beast goes to forage for food" After that, he took Ming Fan and followed the footprints left by the big fierce jackal beast to track down.

Although there were footprints on the ground, it took the two of them a lot of time to track down the location of the great jackal beast, not that it was a long distance, but Ming Lie was slower to track than before he found the footprints, and Ming Fan also asked Ming Lie about the reason.

"Little one, what do you think is the scariest thing about hunting?"

"Is it a monster? Ming Fan thought about it

Ming Lie smiled slightly, "You may be right, demon beasts are indeed terrifying, but they are not the most terrifying. I saw Ming Lie say to Ming Fan seriously, "Remember, the most terrible thing is the human heart." ”

"Huh?" Ming Fan wondered

"Alas, you are too young to know the dangers of the world, and the great jackal beast has small and round feet, and only three toes on its feet, so that even a man like you, who has little hunting experience, can forge its footprints on the ground. Ming Lie unloaded the bamboo basket behind him very lightly, and said to Ming Fan at the same time, "So when I found the footprints, two thoughts came to my mind, first, this is indeed the footprint of the great fierce jackal, and second, this may also be the footprints forged by someone." ”

Ming Fan looked at Ming Lie and wondered, "Forgery, why would someone forge the footprints of monsters, and why do you say that the most terrifying thing is the human heart?"

After asking this question, Myeongyeol seemed to recall an incident from a long time ago, some people, and the ugly face that he had never forgotten.

"Lie, leave us alone. ”

"I took the things, as for you still think you can leave alive!hahahaha. ”

"Zhu Demo, you betrayed your companions and became wealthy, you... You... You don't die well. Ahh

"Uncle, uncle?" Ming Fan gently tugged at Ming Lie's cuffs and pulled Ming Lie out of his memory.

"Hmm, I'm sorry, uncle, I just remembered the past. Ming Lie smiled bitterly and explained to Ming Fan: "People who forge footprints and set traps against hunters in the process of tracking footprints, and then kill people and take things, we call them 'hunting'." ”

"Hunting?"

"That's right, hunters are divided into 'Beast Hunting', which hunts ordinary monsters, and 'Sky Hunting', which specializes in hunting monsters. Minglie patiently explained to Mingfan

"Beast hunting refers to ordinary people like us, and those who have cultivated the truth, but have no choice but lack of talent, and later rely on the extraordinary physique that they exercised when they cultivated the truth, as well as some spiritual skills to hunt demon beasts with weak demon power, this is the heavenly hunting. ”

At this time, Minglie took out an item wrapped in a small cloth from his bamboo basket, and continued: "Beast hunting makes a living by hunting ordinary monsters, collecting animal meat and animal skins in exchange for daily necessities or scattered silver taels. The goal of the Heavenly Hunt is to kill the demon beast and obtain the demon beast Neidan. Ming Lie smiled at Ming Fan and said, "And the heavenly hunter who can be a god can kill powerful demon beasts with the power of one person." ”

"Can one person kill a powerful demon beast....." Ming Fan muttered this sentence in his mouth, while his eyes showed a look of longing.

Ming Lie looked at the expression in Ming Fan's eyes, and remembered that he was determined to be a hunter at the beginning, and he admired and longed for a hunter like Tian Hunt who could kill demon beasts. But it's a pity that he has no talent in cultivation, and in the end he can only become a beast hunter.

Ming Fan asked again, "Uncle, what is the hunting you mentioned before, and why did they kill the hunters?"

"Because the risk of hunting monsters and monsters is much smaller than the risk of hunting monsters and monsters, especially those who have successfully hunted monsters or monsters have exhausted the hunters, they are often the primary target of hunting. Mingyeol explained with a serious expression, "It's okay if the hunt is just to rob the hunters, but they will not only take the goods, but they will also kill all the hunters they plotted to do."

As soon as the words came out, Ming Fan was really shocked.

Minglie continued, "And these hunting methods are nothing more than several, first, it is the kind of fake footprints or traces of some monsters and set traps when the hunter tracks, but this is the kind of method that is relatively easy to crack, as long as you pay more attention to the tracking process. The second is to secretly follow behind the hunters, waiting for them to be exhausted after successfully hunting monsters or monsters, and attack while they are unprepared. As for the third point...."

"What's the third point?"

"The third point is actually similar to the second point, but unlike the second point, the third point is that after the hunt is successful, kill the companion who fought side by side with you just now, and take the items you have obtained before as your own. While Minglie said this, his right hand was unconsciously clenched tightly.

"Kill.... Own.... Companion?" For Ming Fan, who had never been involved in the world, this sentence undoubtedly shocked his heart.

"That's right, pretend to hunt with others, deceive your companions, and kill people and seize things after achieving your goal," Ming Lie said to Ming Fan earnestly, "That's why I said that the human heart is the most terrible thing when hunting, and you must be very careful when hunting with others in the future, because it is not necessarily the monsters and monsters that take your life, but it is more likely that those who are waiting for the opportunity to sneak up on your hunt and the so-called 'companions' around you." ”

In fact, there is another sentence that Minglie did not say to Mingfan, maybe Minglie thinks that it is better not to let this child understand the darkness of this world too early.

As long as there are people, there is deception, as long as there are interests, there is betrayal, and there is no hunting when you need to be vigilant against people's hearts.