Chapter 38: Life-and-Death Duel?
Chapter 38: Life-and-Death Duel?
Fang Moqi stepped forward casually, walking to the shore. The piece of “wood” was only one meter away from the bank.
He extended his bamboo pole and tapped the “wood,” teasing it.
“Slosh!”
The scene shifted from extreme stillness to motion. The wood flew out, a gaping mouth lunging straight at Fang Moqi. It was indeed a large crocodile.
Including its tail, the crocodile was about 2.5 meters long—an adult Malay crocodile.
Fang Moqi reacted swiftly. He had been prepared and retreated backward, narrowly dodging the crocodile’s first bite.
The bamboo pole slapped against the crocodile’s belly with a crack, causing the crocodile to stiffen momentarily. The moment it landed, its limbs began to crawl again, charging forward with quick movements, its huge mouth open to the limit.
Fang Moqi ducked, avoiding a head-on clash. At the same time, he thrust the bamboo pole, hitting the crocodile’s upper jaw and sharp teeth squarely. The impact forced the crocodile’s head to turn sideways, and its second bite missed once more.
Immediately after, Fang Moqi pounced smoothly, landing on the crocodile’s back. He pressed down on the crocodile’s large mouth with both hands, riding on its body.
By teasing the crocodile twice and dodging backward, Fang Moqi had lured it ashore, entering a more favorable battleground.
“Stop struggling. You’ll be today’s lunch!”
Fang Moqi drew the tool of the Xiannuyi people. His chest and right hand pressed down on the crocodile’s mouth, using all his strength.
His left hand held the tool against the crocodile’s armpit on its front limb, ready to stab into its heart.
Suddenly, chaotic splashing sounds erupted from behind him. Fang Moqi’s hairs stood on end.
Without turning around, he knew another crocodile was attacking him from behind!
At this moment, Fang Moqi’s posture was terrible. His entire body was pressed on the Malay crocodile. One hand was using the tool, having already exerted force—a moment when new strength had yet to be generated.
Without turning his head or any hesitation, he rolled. His left hand forcefully stabbed the tool into the Malay crocodile’s heart. Using that momentum, his body rolled to the left, releasing the Malay crocodile beneath him.
The Malay crocodile’s heart was pierced. It thrashed its huge body wildly, its tail whipping a few times before it died with its mouth half-open.
The crocodile that had attacked him from behind was three meters long. It had pounced and missed, now lying with its mouth closed on the back of the dead Malay crocodile.
It was a close call. If Fang Moqi had been just one second slower, he would have been bitten.
Being bitten by a crocodile was almost a death sentence because a crocodile’s bite force was astonishing. Once it bit its prey, it would never let go and would perform a death roll.
A human’s fragile body would be crushed instantly, then dragged into the water to drown. There was simply no way to save oneself.
After dodging the attack from behind, Fang Moqi finally had time to assess the situation. He then realized with horror that more than one crocodile had charged up.
Another Malay crocodile, over two meters long, rushed out of the water, almost right after the first one, with less than two seconds between them. This left Fang Moqi no time to stand up.
Fang Moqi pushed off with his legs, assuming a backflip posture. But his upper body remained on the ground. When his lower body lifted into the air, dodging the crocodile’s bite, Fang Moqi was almost supporting his entire weight with just his shoulders and the back of his neck.
He flipped over, landing back on the ground face down. Lifting his face, he was now facing the gaping mouth of the crocodile that had just missed its bite.
The continuous dodging pushed Fang Moqi to his physical limits. Anyone else would have died already.
Earlier, using the stabbing force to roll and then performing successive backflips, he had already abandoned that tool.
Now, Fang Moqi was empty-handed, his face less than two feet from the crocodile’s mouth!
The two crocodiles crawled frantically with their limbs, their short-distance sprint speed extremely fast. Their big mouths opened wide, emitting a foul smell.
This almost sealed off all possibilities for Fang Moqi to dodge. Without a weapon, he was in a desperate situation.
Just as Fang Moqi seemed about to perish in the crocodile’s mouth, his expression suddenly changed. It became unusually sharp, like a frenzied wild beast.
All his muscles tensed; blood vessels and veins bulged out, like a wild wolf about to pounce.
At that moment, an arrow shot over with lightning speed. It hit the crocodile closest to Fang Moqi. The arrow entered diagonally through the crocodile’s mouth and pierced out through its brain.
Seeing this fierce arrow, Fang Moqi showed a moment of surprise in his eyes. But his body exploded into action without the slightest delay.
The leaping Fang Moqi punched the crocodile’s chin, forcing its mouth shut. Then his right leg instantly bent and stomped down.
He stood firmly in a bizarre posture, leaning forward and using his shoulder to ram against the crocodile, flipping it over in one go.
Fang Moqi didn’t stop. His hand speed was astonishingly fast. He grabbed the crocodile, pounced onto the ground with it, and pinned it down.
His right hand reached out and grabbed the tool still stuck in the heart of the previous Malay crocodile. He raised the tool and brought it down, plunging it into the crocodile’s heart with a squelch, killing it instantly.
After dealing with the crocodile, Fang Moqi sighed in relief and stood up. His first glance was toward the river, making sure no fourth crocodile appeared. Only then did he smile at the others.
Everyone stared at him in amazement, hardly believing these were actions a human could perform.
The entire sequence of movements was too agile, quick, and sharp—human limit reactions from start to finish.
From the moment he started fighting the first crocodile to the death of all three crocodiles, the whole process took no more than seven seconds.
It was dazzling to watch. Many people hadn’t even seen clearly what had just happened.
Because the crocodiles’ attacks and Fang Moqi’s counterattacks were too fast. Probably only Zheng Hui on the scene understood what had happened.
As for Lan Mu, he hadn’t seen clearly initially either. It was only when Fang Moqi was surrounded by two crocodiles that Lan Mu instantly transformed and shot an arrow, killing one.
Using an Elf’s eyesight, he then saw clearly how Fang Moqi counter-killed the last crocodile.
The crowd cheered and rushed forward to greet Fang Moqi, all lending hands to help drag the crocodile corpses.
Only Zheng Hui and Du Yu looked at Lan Mu, because while everyone else had been watching dumbfounded, only he had reacted instantly and shot an arrow, killing a crocodile in a second.
Zheng Hui, unaware of Lan Mu’s capabilities, looked at him with suspicion and disbelief, not believing Lan Mu had shot that arrow. After all, Zheng Hui himself hadn’t reacted in time to help.
Du Yu, however, blindly admired Lan Mu and didn’t hold back his praise. But Lan Mu didn’t seem to care.
Fang Moqi walked over, covered in blood. Ignoring the others’ cheers, he reached out and patted Lan Mu’s shoulder.
“Thanks. That arrow wasn’t really necessary, but I owe you one.”
Only then did the others remember someone had shot an arrow earlier. It was just too fast, instantly killing the crocodile. Then Fang Moqi followed with a series of counter-killing moves, which confused everyone’s attention.
“He shot that arrow earlier? I thought it was Zheng Hui!”
“Isn’t he a reporter? He killed a crocodile with one arrow?”
“Seems like it. If Zheng Hui shot it, he would have boasted about it already.”
Lan Mu ignored everyone’s comments and said to Fang Moqi, “Owe me one? Sounds like you didn’t need my help.”
Fang Moqi smiled and didn’t answer Lan Mu immediately. Instead, he first instructed everyone to handle the crocodile corpses.
“Zheng Hui, teach everyone how to handle the crocodile. I remember you know how.”
“Make a fire right here. We’ll have a crocodile feast for lunch. Hurry—crocodile corpses rot within five hours.”
“Lan Mu and I will be back soon. You all do your tasks.”
After saying this, Fang Moqi picked up his bow and arrows and pulled Lan Mu into the jungle. The large trees hid their figures. The others looked but obediently didn’t follow.
“What’s up? Something you can’t say in front of others?” Lan Mu was puzzled why Fang Moqi had pulled him into the small woods.
Fang Moqi smiled mysteriously. “You react quickly—I mean, in critical moments.”
“Without real combat experience, even someone gifted might not be able to display their true strength in a crisis.”
“I’ve seen plenty of skilled archers who panic when facing truly battle-hardened beasts. They can’t even perform half their strength, resulting in death, injury, and lifelong trauma, never becoming true hunters again.”
Lan Mu nodded and said, “Seems true. As the saying goes, ‘armchair strategies.’ Theoretical experts might be strong, but not necessarily in actual combat.”
“Exactly. The body gets used to training intensity. In a life-or-death fight, muscles might relax and fail to react, or fear destroys calmness, leaving the mind blank. All this stems from lack of real combat tempering,” Fang Moqi said while looking at Lan Mu with a smile.
Lan Mu asked in confusion, “What exactly are you trying to say?”
Fang Moqi raised the bow and arrows in his hand and said, “I want to have another duel with you! A true shoot-out to determine the superior practical combat archer!”
“A shoot-out? You shoot me, I shoot you, see who’s faster?” Lan Mu was even more confused.
Fang Moqi laughed. “Of course not. Did you know I once got second place in a global archery amateur competition?”
Lan Mu nodded. He had heard, though the name itself suggested it wasn’t an official major event.
Fang Moqi said seriously, “It truly was just an amateur competition. Although global, the sponsors were just a group of wealthy financiers who funded it. It had no public welfare purpose—purely a ranking tournament for non-professional archers worldwide.”
Lan Mu said, “To determine the world’s number one?”
“Yeah, you could say that.” For some reason, Fang Moqi suddenly became wistful.
Seeing his mood turn gloomy, Lan Mu thought: Someone this skilled, joining an amateur competition, only got second place? Who was first?
He said, “Don’t be upset. It’s just second place! Think about how the other losers feel. It’s fine. Win first place next time.”
Fang Moqi shook his head with a bitter smile. “No chance. I’ll never have another chance to become the true number one.”
“Why?” Lan Mu asked.
“Three years ago, I was 29 and already famous, a world-renowned Extreme Hunter. I was invited to that global archery amateur competition. At first I refused, but later I heard this competition wasn’t a typical amateur event—it was the highest honor for true practical combat archers.”
“All participants were top practical combat archers, the best from various countries. They engaged in life-and-death duels, having practical shoot-outs in various environments, acting as both hunter and prey to each other. It tested speed, movement, reaction, strength, awareness, technique, experience, strategy…”
Lan Mu exclaimed, “Life-and-death duels? Practical shoot-outs? Fighting to the death, bleeding all over?”
Fang Moqi sighed. “Not exactly. The organizers ultimately didn’t want too many deaths. So they required everyone to wear a steel plate over their chest, protecting the front and back from heart penetration. Other than that, anywhere else could be shot.”
“Actually, such protective measures aren’t very meaningful. In the eyes of true practical combat archers, the human body has too many vital points.”
“So that kind of competition ultimately remained amateur, not recognized by any official body, because many people died each time.”
“After all, two masters of similar skill can only determine the victor in a true life-and-death duel.”
“Some people, for glory, had already cast aside life and death.”
At this point, Fang Moqi let out a long sigh.