As the sound of the sparrow's call echoed, Old Hu swiftly climbed up a large tree in a couple of moves. The speed at which he moved was astonishing.
Xu Lang followed closely behind, climbing up the nearest large tree in a matter of seconds. He was even faster than Old Hu. Then, he looked down and saw the sparrow struggling to pull the fat man's bottom. The fat man couldn't climb at all and was clinging to the trunk, inching his way up.
The next moment, Old Hu jumped down, joining the sparrow in lifting the fat man. At the same time, he shouted loudly, "Xiao Xuzi, hold on! We don't need your help down here. I tell you, dead fat man, couldn't you have eaten a little less? This fat of yours is going to kill your Hu Ye!"
Old Hu looked up and saw Xu Lang already standing on a branch, with no intention of coming down to help. He breathed a sigh of relief but was also a little puzzled. This young man's escape speed was so fast, was he really just a normal person?
The fat man finally managed to climb up to the lowest branch. He was drenched in sweat, lying on the branch and shouted, "Damn... This tree is so high! Don't pick on me at a time like this!"
The fat man's personality was fearless and reckless, but he had an insurmountable fear of heights. It was something that was incredibly difficult to overcome.
As the saying goes, no one is perfect. Everyone has their own weaknesses.
Some people are afraid of heights, and their legs will tremble uncontrollably when they look down from a high place. Let alone the fat man, who was terrified of heights.
The barks of the two dogs grew more and more urgent. Before Old Hu and the sparrow could climb the tree, a black-haired man-bear emerged from the bushes. It seemed to be excited by the sight of humans, roared like thunder, and stood up. The sound was deafening.
With its enormous size, gaping maw, and ferocious roaring, one glance at the beast was enough to sap one's courage. Its ferocious and crazed expression was enough to instill fear in anyone's heart.
Yan Zi had been going into the mountains with her father since she was young, hunting. She was incredibly experienced in hunting and, without a moment's hesitation, raised her hunting rifle and fired a shot at the man-bear. A burst of fire and a loud bang filled the air. The bullet hit the man-bear's belly.
The distance between them was not far. The man-bear's abdomen was the most vulnerable area. The single shot opened a large hole in its belly, and blood and intestines flowed out almost simultaneously. But the man-bear roared and used its massive paw to stuff its spilling intestines back in. It then charged wildly towards Yan Zi.
Xu Lang saw clearly and quickly shouted, "Old Hu, fire! Bear One, bite it!"
At the same time, Xu Lang took out his hunting knife and threw it with force at the man-bear. The knife plunged down from above, hoping to stop the beast’s attack. Old Hu's gunshots echoed almost simultaneously.
With a bang, the massive recoil almost threw Old Hu off his feet. Xu Lang's hunting knife slashed across the man-bear's shoulder, the aim was fairly accurate, but it only caused a superficial wound.
Old Hu's shot struck the man-bear's head accurately, but it was slightly off target. Only one of its eyes was shot out, and blood immediately flowed out. The man-bear, now with only one eye left, became even more frenzied. It abandoned Yan Zi and charged towards Old Hu.
Xu Lang sighed in frustration. After all, he was not very strong, and his hunting knife was not a divine weapon. Its power was limited against the man-bear. He had managed to hit it, and that was already good enough, it could at least delay the man-bear’s attack.
Old Hu's shot had proven effective. Although it did not kill the man-bear, it had saved Yan Zi.
As Yan Zi and Old Hu were climbing up the tree quickly, Bear One and Chestnut Yellow attacked simultaneously, savagely biting at the man-bear's rear. When the man-bear turned its head, the two dogs ran away, barking and growling from a distance, challenging and warning the man-bear with their menacing postures.
Having two hunting dogs fight a man-bear head-on was basically suicide. A few more Mastiffs might be a different story. If seven or eight Mastiffs attacked simultaneously and in coordination, even the man-bear wouldn't dare to fight them head-on, it wouldn't even be able to run, and would eventually be hunted down and killed.
Bringing a pack of Mastiffs out with you would basically allow you to walk sideways through the woods, unless you encountered a pack of wolves, there wasn't anything that could match such power.
In a matter of a few seconds, Old Hu and Yan Zi had climbed up the tree. Xu Lang felt relieved. At least he didn't have to go down and risk his life.
In truth, if Xu Lang, a mere newbie cultivator, had been sent to fight the man-bear, he would likely have been killed. After all, his cultivation hadn't even reached the entry level, he couldn't even perform the most basic spell.
If he could only learn the most basic Fireball Spell, he would never have allowed the man-bear to be so arrogant.
The man-bear was badly injured. Its intestines had been ripped out and one of its eyes had been shot out. Blood was flowing profusely. It was desperately trying to rip the hunting dogs to shreds, but the dogs were too fast for it. It wanted to grab a human, but all the humans were up in the trees.
Enraged, the man-bear, almost behaving like a human, circled around the base of the trees, not knowing what to do. It roared and howled wildly.
Xu Lang saw this scene and couldn't help but feel a little amused. Wild beasts were still not as intelligent as humans. They could only roar impotently below.
Xu Lang was just about to speak when he heard Old Hu's voice, "Little Fatty, why isn't your second uncle leaving? What's he doing down there, just aimlessly wandering around? Why don't you go down and give it some advice, tell it to get lost and not get any crazy ideas!"
The fat man's body trembled as he lay on the branch, but he refused to lose face. He cursed loudly, "Go to hell! You're a real piece of trash! This guy down there isn't my second uncle, it's your wife, you better take a closer look before you speak!"
Old Hu burst into laughter and shouted, "Oh, I got it wrong! It's your old aunt, I don't want to be your uncle!"
Seeing them still joking around, Xu Lang couldn't help but admire their courage.
Xu Lang laughed, "Never mind if it's your wife or his old aunt, let's reload our guns first. If your relatives don't leave, shoot them! Damn, reload the ammo! Why the hell can't your relatives climb trees?!"
Hearing this, the fat man's smile immediately froze. He shouted, "Damn, Hu Commander, your wife is trying to get cozy with you."
Old Hu saw the man-bear's paws tightly grasping the tree trunk. Its massive body leaped up a meter or more with every jump. He immediately started reloading his ammunition and shouted, "Which bastard told me bear can't climb trees? This is a total scam!"
At that speed, the man-bear would soon reach Old Hu's position.
Xu Lang saw this and shouted, "We don't know if bear can climb trees, but man-bear definitely can!"
"We're definitely no match for it. We can't outrun it if we run separately, and the only way is to climb up the tree. So Old Hu, don't get any crazy ideas about going down and fighting it. And, this thing can climb trees really fast.
"If you really can't do anything else, just keep climbing higher. When you reach a certain height, the branches won't be able to bear the man-bear's weight. Even if it doesn't die from the fall, it won't be feeling too good. It's been bleeding the whole time. We can just exhaust it."
His words came out quickly. Old Hu and the other three were surprised by Xu Lang's calm demeanor. He could still make accurate judgments in such a crisis. This alone showed that he was no ordinary person.
Xu Lang didn't know what the three of them were thinking, but he only had one thought, thank goodness the man-bear wasn't climbing the tree I'm on...
The fact that Xu Lang was still calm and talking during this crisis was because he was afraid that Old Hu would get impulsive and fight the man-bear head-on.
With the man-bear's size and weight, even though it had lost a lot of blood, a single slap from it would either kill or cripple a person. Their tiny bodies wouldn't be able to withstand it.
Fight the man-bear head-on? The bear could tear a person apart! He had heard stories about this in his previous life!