Book 15: Chapter 90
Although the hunting family was a famous family, they weren’t actually a single family but a big group of hunters. Furthermore, rather than earning a living as hunters, they actually operated a hunting facility. The facility was incredibly profitable in the capital, where the imperial family, nobles and the wealthy gathered.
The imperial family naturally selected their own forest as their hunting ground, but aside from Li Clan’s last Emperor, none of them were fans of extravagance, and Emperor Yuansheng took it to a new extreme. The erstwhile Emperor expanded their hunting grounds to segregate into smaller grounds to sell, resulting in the size of their hunting grounds shrinking. They only used their hunting grounds a few times annually, but it cost them an exorbitant amount to maintain the enormous grounds, yet nobody was even allowed to lay their eyes on it, so it was a waste of money. For the reason that he disliked wasting resources in that manner, Emperor Yuansheng hosted six hunting events each year and waited until it was time to hunt to have the grounds prepared. While they used the same grounds as before, the grounds were sold, so they just rented it instead.
Since the imperial family no longer owned the hunting grounds, the grounds eventually ended up in the hands of the people. Skilled hunters from various places around the world and tamers formed a union of sorts to purchase the hunting grounds, and they successfully built it into a highly profitable business over the last two decades. As the majority of them were originally folks of the pugilistic world, accepting others from the pugilistic world into their clan was part of their job. Panshan Valley was one such hunting facility.
Strictly speaking, Panshan Valley wasn’t classified as an orthodox sect, so it wasn’t a place orthodox sects would’ve chosen a sojourning spot. Thus, seeing Bai Yumo there unnerved Ling Jialan. As a swordswoman, training her recognition abilities was necessary, so she could’ve identified Bai Yumo even if she only saw Bai Yumo’s skeleton. Howbeit, Ling Jialan sensed an atypical vibe from Bai Yumo; besides having a familiar appearance, it wouldn’t have been far fetched to say that Bai Yumo’s interior had been swapped out. Nobody could’ve changed so much no matter what they experienced. It was Ling Jialan’s first time questioning her own judgement.
“Who is she? She’s pretty?” mumbled Bu, watching Bai Yumo.
“How do you know each other?” Li Zizi flapped his eyelids. “How did you know she’s a girl without seeing her face?”
Ling Jialan’s father praised her for having an aptitude for swordplay that rivalled her brother’s. Her honed senses from swordplay training were part of the reason she recognised Bai Yumo, but it was her friendship with Bai Yumo that was the primary reason she recognised Bai Yumo. On the other hand, Bu wasn’t supposed to have known Bai Yumo, yet he managed to identify her as a girl.
Bu answered his friend’s query with just a smile. Ling Jialan was going to inquire further until the sound of a fight interrupted her. Regardless of the reason for Bai Yumo’s transformation, she was still Ling Jialan’s friend. Therefore, Ling Jialan dove down into the valley.
Li Zizi and Bu followed after Ling Jialan, but they were careful. After all, they could’ve walked into traps without realising it when they were in the turf of hunters. Plus, if Ling Jialan was caught, then they needed to be available to rescue her, right? However, before they could enter, someone zipped out so fast that Li Zizi only saw a silhouette. Still, they hurried in as the fight inside was still ongoing.