William Reed felt a bit embarrassed—truly, children from poor families mature early. When he was her age, all he knew was skipping class with a gang of troublemaking friends, getting into fights, drinking, causing trouble, and even flirting with girls—he was the very definition of a spoiled rich kid. The title of The Ninth Young Master of the Reed Family became famous back then. If it hadn’t been for that incident, he’d probably still be in the imperial capital, riding horses, playing with dogs, and living the carefree life of a pampered young master. Although his parents were gone, his uncle and aunt doted on him even more than their own son.

“Brother Reed, you don’t believe me?” Seeing him silent, Emily Harris misunderstood a little, pouting in annoyance, “Actually, I came out this time to try and hunt the scar-faced alpha wolf, but you beat me to it.”

This time, William Reed was truly surprised, and couldn’t help but widen his eyes: “What? You could take down that bronze-rank alpha wolf?” He looked her up and down in astonishment—her aura seemed weak, not even reaching the iron rank. She might be able to handle a couple of ordinary adult men, but how could she possibly defeat the alpha wolf?

“Hehe, Brother Reed, you’re so silly. Who said hunting has to be done head-on with swords and knives?” Emily Harris laughed, stretching out her little finger to press down her eyelid, cutely sticking out her tongue in mockery. “Can’t I set traps? Kill the scar-faced alpha wolf with a trap? But the scar-faced alpha wolf is really cunning. I’ve tried to hunt it several times, but it always saw through my traps. It’s just too sensitive to smells.” As she spoke, she sighed regretfully.

William Reed was both shocked and impressed. Indeed, hunting monsters could be done with traps, but it wasn’t easy—it required strong skills in tracking, counter-tracking, and trap-making. Otherwise, you might end up being hunted yourself; monsters are clever and have strong survival instincts. The fact that Emily Harris had tangled with the scar-faced alpha wolf several times without suffering losses showed she really had some skills.

If only he were as good at counter-tracking as she was, he wouldn’t have suffered so much these past days. Luckily, William Reed managed to kill Shadow Wolf Scott at the last moment. Otherwise, after being seriously injured and knocked out by the alpha wolf, he wouldn’t have escaped Scott’s deadly pursuit.

Truly, you can’t judge a book by its cover—William Reed learned another lesson. Just like that Grace Foster, who on the surface looked like a delicate, pretty, girl-next-door housewife, but once she fought head-on, she was as wild as a madwoman.

…

Chapter 8: Slaughter

As they talked, the two quickly finished packing up the campsite. At Emily Harris’s suggestion, William Reed agreed to rest for a day at her remote little mountain village before leaving. After thinking it over, William Reed agreed. After all, now that Shadow Wolf Scott was dead, their pursuers’ tracking ability was greatly weakened. Grace Foster was fierce, but her strength lay in direct combat, not tracking.

On the way back, although Emily Harris wasn’t strong, she’d grown up in this area and was used to these snowy, stormy days. She could keep up with William Reed’s pace. Besides, she really wasn’t joking about being skilled at tracking and counter-tracking.

She applied some powder to William Reed to mask his scent, and easily erased their tracks along the way, making their movements as elusive as a battlefield scout. At the same time, William Reed began to wonder just who Emily Harris’s grandfather really was. The skills she displayed were clearly not those of an ordinary hunter—her techniques were extremely professional, even surpassing what William Reed had learned about battlefield scouting in his own family.

Could it be? Was her grandfather some kind of hidden master? The only thing that puzzled William Reed was that Emily Harris didn’t seem to know much about battle aura, and what she did know was very basic—her level was poor, not even reaching iron rank.

“Emily, why did you come out to hunt the alpha wolf in this weather? Your skills were all taught by your grandfather—why didn’t he help you?” William Reed probed gently, out of caution. If Emily Harris’s grandfather was a hermit hiding from enemies, and he exposed him, wouldn’t that make them enemies?

“My grandfather is very weak and has trouble walking.” Emily Harris directed her black-backed hunting dog to scout ahead, answering casually, “As for hunting the scar-faced alpha wolf, I had no choice. Our village had a poor harvest of pelts this year and couldn’t meet even half of One-Eyed Dragon’s tax demand. He said that if we’re short even one pelt this year, he’ll kill someone from our village. So I took the risk to hunt the scar-faced alpha wolf. Its precious pelt and crystal core are enough to make up half our tax. In a couple of days, I’ll have to go into the Hengduan Mountains to see if I can find something rare to get us through this crisis.”

“So that’s how it is.” William Reed mused, “And yet you still gave me the wolf pelt and crystal core? How about this—I’ll give them back to you, so you can get through this tough time. In this weather, it’s too dangerous for a girl like you to go into the Hengduan Mountains.”

“How could I?” Emily Harris shook her head, refusing, “You risked your life to kill that wolf, Brother Reed. I can’t take it.”