Chapter 191: The Beast Destined to Rot in Jail

Hearing Old Man Gao’s voice, Lin Heng and Li Baiquan rushed outside.

As they walked, Li Baiquan asked, “Where did you see signs of the bear?”

Old Man Gao pointed at the snow. “Look, those are some massive bear tracks.”

The canyon was always covered in snow, and even when the sun came out, it never melted. Lin Heng ran over and immediately spotted the tracks. The bear had come from downstream and made its way upstream through the snow.

It had even lingered outside their shelter for quite a while, leaving behind a mess of footprints—clearly, it had been hesitant.

They hadn’t brought the bell with them this time; it had been given to his elder brother. But their shelter wasn’t completely undefended either. There was a spiked wall made of firethorn trees out front—anything trying to break in would definitely make noise.

Lin Heng curiously asked, “Old Man Gao, did you notice this last night?”

Old Man Gao nodded. “Yeah, I heard something outside, but I didn’t get up. Thought it was just some small animal.”

He was full of regret now. If he hadn’t been lazy last night, maybe they could’ve bagged a bear.

Li Baiquan looked at the two of them and asked, “So are we going after the bear now, or still tracking the antelope?”

“Let’s check out the bear first, see what kind it is,” Old Man Gao said after thinking for a moment.

Lin Heng had no objections. He was curious too—was it a black bear or a panda?

After tidying up their shelter, the three of them set off, following the bear tracks.

The bear had traveled quite a distance through the canyon, about a kilometer past their shelter, then climbed up a slope on the side of the mountain.

Although there was snow in the forest, it was patchy, which made tracking more difficult.

“Good thing we’ve got Xiong Ba. This dog’s amazing. How did you train it?” Old Man Gao asked, watching Xiong Ba with curiosity. The dog seemed to understand human speech and worked without needing much direction.

Lin Heng chuckled. “I didn’t really train him. He’s just naturally smart.”

Old Man Gao’s eyes widened even more. “That makes it even more impressive. Means he’s born with it. And look at his size—he’s way bigger than your average village mutt. He’s a year old, right?”

As they walked, Lin Heng replied, “Nope, just seven or eight months.”

Old Man Gao was even more shocked. “Then he’s a miracle dog! You picked the perfect name for him—Xiong Ba really lives up to it.”

Li Baiquan nodded. “You should find him a good mate. A dog like this shouldn’t go extinct.”

Lin Heng grinned and nodded. “Absolutely.”

He’d already planned for that—he wanted to breed Xiong Ba with different types of dogs. Once Xiong Ba was fully grown, he’d start with a smart, purebred yellow dog and see how that went.

Right now, his shortlist included a German Shepherd, a Czech Wolfdog, and a big yellow dog.

The three of them chatted as they hiked and soon crossed another mountain.

“This thing can really run,” Li Baiquan said in awe.

Lin Heng laughed. “That’s normal. Running dozens of kilometers overnight is nothing for a bear.”

By midday, they had crossed another ridge and were greeted by a splash of green.

It was a patch of bamboo growing in the mountain ravine.

Li Baiquan groaned. “Damn, it’s probably a panda.”

At this point, pandas were a protected species—killing one would land you in jail. And even if you took the risk, the fur couldn’t be sold. Totally not worth it.

Which meant they’d spent half the day tracking it for nothing.

“Let’s go take a look anyway,” Lin Heng said. He didn’t mind. Seeing a panda up close was kind of cool.

Old Man Gao chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, let’s at least see the guy. We’ve been chasing him half the day—we deserve a look.”

Since Lin Heng and Old Man Gao were heading down, Li Baiquan had no choice but to agree. “Alright, let’s go.”

He was still holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t a panda but a black bear. That would be a huge win for the three of them.

They used the trees for support as they carefully made their way down to the bottom of the ravine. Just as they were about to head up the opposite slope, they saw Xiong Ba suddenly lift his head, staring off to their left.

The three of them followed his gaze—and spotted a big, fluffy black-and-white creature staring back at them, looking just as dumbfounded.

It was sitting on the ground, belly up, one paw holding a piece of bamboo, a half-eaten segment still hanging from its mouth.

When it saw Lin Heng, the others, and the dog, it froze, staring blankly as if it had been scared stiff.

“It really is that dumb thing,” Li Baiquan muttered, shaking his head.

Lin Heng, on the other hand, found it kind of cute. Its round face and dopey expression were oddly endearing.

Unlike most pandas, this one had a brown tail. No idea if it was stained by its own pee or if it was just born that way.

“Ying ying!!”

Apparently deciding that humans were too much trouble, the panda reluctantly dropped its bamboo, rolled over, and started clumsily climbing away.

The look in its eyes and the tone of its little grunt seemed to say, “All I did was peek at you guys last night—did you really have to chase me over several mountains?”

“Let’s go,” Lin Heng said, shaking his head and turning away with Xiong Ba.

“Time to move on,” Old Man Gao echoed, nodding and following suit.

Seeing the trio leave, the panda stopped and looked a bit puzzled—why were they just walking away?

But it didn’t care for long. Without hesitation, it bit off a nearby bamboo stalk and started munching again.

After leaving the bamboo ravine, Li Baiquan looked at the others and asked, “So where to now? I don’t think we’ve got enough time to track the antelope anymore.”

Lin Heng nodded. “Definitely not. Just getting to that valley takes half a day. We’ll have to just poke around the forest and see what we can find.”

Old Man Gao agreed. “Yeah, that’s the best we can do. This ravine seems decent. Let’s search around here—it’s not too far from the campsite either.”

“Works for me,” Li Baiquan said with a nod, and the three of them split up.

It was midday, and chances of finding anything big were slim. Lin Heng shifted his focus to gathering smaller things—maybe some enoki mushrooms or medicinal herbs.

Lowering the bar made things less frustrating.

He followed behind Xiong Ba, his thoughts drifting to his wife and kid. It was already the 27th—almost New Year’s.

It was about time to head back. All that was left was to try and find that antelope. If they did, great. If not, oh well.

“Whoa!”

Lost in thought, Lin Heng didn’t watch his step and suddenly slipped down a slope, sliding a good ten meters.

Xiong Ba froze for a second, then quickly ran down to his side, looking at him with concern.

“Damn,” Lin Heng muttered, checking his hand. He’d gotten two scratches from some brambles during the fall—thankfully, they weren’t deep.

But once he pulled up his shirt to check his lower back, his luck clearly ran out—a scrape the size of a child’s hand stared back at him.

His ankle throbbed too, like he’d twisted it. “Just my damn luck.”

Lin Heng was annoyed. He’d felt like he had solid footing—how the hell did he trip and fall?

He moved his ankle around a bit, then got up with a frustrated look on his face. It hurt, but not so much that he couldn’t walk.

The scrape on his back was more serious, but still manageable. It wasn’t bleeding heavily, and it would scab over on its own soon enough.

He quickly opened his compound bow case to check for damage. Fortunately, the bow was fine. Two of the arrows he’d been carrying on his back had snapped, though.

He placed the broken arrows back into the quiver, then found a windless spot to sit down and rest. He reached over and ruffled Xiong Ba’s furry head.

“Awoo~”

Xiong Ba nuzzled against Lin Heng, then plopped his head onto Lin Heng’s lap, letting him mess with his fur as he pleased.

“Go on, go play. I need a break.”

Lin Heng gave him a couple more pats before shooing him off.

“Awoo~”

Reluctantly, Xiong Ba lifted his head and wandered off to explore.

Lin Heng sat there, rubbing his ankle and holding his shirt away from his lower back to let the wound scab over. If it stuck to the fabric, it’d be a nightmare.

He ended up sitting there for over an hour. There was no wind where he was, but across the slope, he could see the icy wind howling, snapping trees like twigs.

He even spotted a squirrel darting out from a nearby spot.

Once the wound on his back had scabbed over, Lin Heng got up with some effort and walked over to where he’d seen the squirrel. He studied the area for a while—there had to be a stash of food hidden there.

“Strange… why can’t I find anything?”

He searched all around but came up empty-handed, which left him more than a little frustrated.

“Huh? Where the hell did Xiong Ba run off to?”

Lin Heng glanced around but didn’t see his dog anywhere.

“Xiong Ba!!” he called out loudly.

“Woof woof~~”

The sound of barking came from far down the slope.

“Get back here!”

“Woof woof~”

“Huh?”

Lin Heng frowned. Usually, Xiong Ba would come running the moment he called. But now he just kept barking from a distance.

“Did he find something?”

With that thought, Lin Heng started walking in the direction of the sound. He walked nearly 800 to 900 meters before he finally spotted Xiong Ba in a dense patch of forest. The dog was digging furiously, flinging clumps of dark humus soil everywhere.

“Woof woof~~”

Seeing Lin Heng approach, Xiong Ba gave him a big Samoyed-style grin, tongue lolling as he barked excitedly.

“What’ve you got there?”

Lin Heng walked over curiously. From a distance, he couldn’t see what the dog was digging at.

But the moment he crouched down, a strong medicinal scent hit his nose. He looked closer—then closer still—and froze in place.

“This… this… could it be…”

He could hardly believe it. He snapped off a small branch from a nearby tree and gently pushed aside some more soil to expose the object a bit further.

Now he could see it clearly. And he understood.

First stunned, then scrambling, he searched himself and finally tore a strip of red cloth from his shirt to tie around the plant.

Then he plopped down on the ground, staring in disbelief at the thing buried in the soil—and at Xiong Ba.

“How the hell did you find this?”

Lin Heng looked at Xiong Ba like he was staring at a mythical beast. Because this was just too unbelievable.

What lay in the ground was none other than an incredibly rare Mount Taibai Wild Ginseng—a species unique to the Qinling Mountains, even rarer than the Changbai Mountain ginseng from the Greater Khingan Range.

It was said that the saponin content in this ginseng was seven times higher than that of ordinary ginseng, making it exceptionally valuable.

Even in summer, finding one of these was nearly impossible. And yet Xiong Ba had sniffed one out in the dead of winter. Lin Heng couldn’t help but wonder if the dog had gained spiritual powers or something.

“Whimper!”

Faced with Lin Heng’s questioning gaze, Xiong Ba let out a soft whine, looking completely innocent.

He’d just been wandering around when he caught a strange scent in the air. Curious, he started digging—and here they were.

Lin Heng took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He rubbed Xiong Ba’s head and exhaled. “You’re amazing. Even if you really are some kind of spirit beast, I’ll build a shrine and worship you!”

This ginseng was worth no less than musk. His dad had found one this year and called it a stroke of ancestral luck.

Lin Heng hadn’t even dared to hope—he hadn’t even brought a red string to tie it with.

The odds of finding wild ginseng were about the same as fighting a tiger and winning.

And yet, without even trying, his dog had found one. He didn’t even know what to say.

“That fall was totally worth it.”

Lin Heng grinned wide. Suddenly, his back and ankle didn’t hurt at all. If falling meant finding ginseng like this, he’d gladly break a leg.

Once he’d settled down, Lin Heng pulled out a knife and carved two wooden sticks, then began carefully digging up the ginseng.

With ginseng, the more intact it is, the more valuable. Ideally, not a single root hair should be broken.

Fortunately, the soil here was all soft humus. He loosened it bit by bit, using the wooden sticks to gently pry it away.

It was painstaking work. Rushing would ruin everything. Luckily, Lin Heng had lived two lifetimes and had long since mastered the art of patience. He knew all too well that haste makes waste, and that chasing small gains could ruin big rewards.

After nearly three hours of delicate work, he finally unearthed the entire ginseng. Its pale yellow body was covered in ring-like patterns—far more than the one his father had found.

The most accurate way to determine a ginseng’s age was by examining the “lu tou”—the stem base where it grows.

Each year, when the ginseng’s leaves and stalks wither, they leave behind a ring-like scar called a “lu wan.” One scar equals one year.

Normally, the lu tou has no root hairs—it’s smooth. Only when a ginseng reaches seventy or eighty years old do little “jujube pit roots” start to grow from that area.

The one Lin Heng had just dug up had two of those jujube pit roots. That meant it was at least a hundred years old.

And it wasn’t just that. Unlike the thick, stubby cultivated ginseng, this wild one was slender and smooth, with only two “legs” and incredibly long root hairs.

Even the shortest were 30 to 40 centimeters long, while the main root stretched nearly a meter. Lin Heng had spent almost an hour just digging that main root out.

But in the end, he’d managed to extract it whole. The ginseng looked almost like a tiny person.

Lin Heng stared at the thing in his hand, momentarily speechless.

Everyone knew: the older the ginseng, the higher the price.

A wild ginseng over a hundred years old was worth more than gold.

In recent years, one such ginseng had sold at auction for a staggering three million yuan. Per gram, its value was 25 times that of gold.

And the one in his hand was clearly that kind of Ginseng.

(End of Chapter)