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Then he took a deep breath and recovered his wits a little. And carefully watched the Beast again.

From what little he had heard from the Hunters, he knew that Silver-streaked Ferrets were vicious creatures that attacked almost at once. Since this one did not, he guessed that there was something a little out of the ordinary with it. Which meant that he had a chance, so long as he could figure out what it was!

His eyes raked over the creature carefully, and not in a leisurely fashion. He knew that he didn"t have much time and that he needed to work fast. After all, he did not know just how much longer the Beast was going to hold back.

Then he saw it. The Silver-streaked Ferret in front of him was only somewhere in the region of six to seven handspans long! But all the books that he had read mentioned that they were at least ten handspans long when they were fully mature, and could easily reach a length of fifteen handspans!

Didn"t that mean that the one that was in front of him now was a juvenile? And was not at all experienced with dealing with humans?

But just how was he going to deal with it?

Qin Feng swallowed the saliva in his mouth nervously, as he quickly made plans. He had a chance here, and he didn"t want to waste it. Slowly, he straightened up, and spread his shoulders out to either side. And edged his right foot towards the Beast instead of retreating.

If the Ferret was as inexperienced as he hoped, the apparent increase in his size, and his advance should make it think twice. No matter if it was a Spiritual Beast or a simple woodlands creature, most animals would tend to be cautious when dealing with a larger, more aggressive animal. So Qin Feng was doing what he could, to present such a image to the same.

The Silver-streaked Ferret froze where it stood, as soon as it saw Qin Feng"s response, and didn"t come any closer. Which gave him time to fumble at his waist-sash for the pitifully small knife that he had there. He had brought it along to cut the lotus roots earlier, and simply tucked it into his clothes afterwards. In fact, he was still holding the lotus root in his left hand!

For a moment, he considered dropping it. Then he changed his mind. Partly because it was worth a great deal to him, and partly because he had just thought of a way to use it. If necessary, he could use it as another weapon, albeit an ineffective one. Using the lotus root as a club, it wouldn"t do any damage. But it might be enough to distract the Spiritual Beast, and allow him a chance to jump back into the riverlet.

From what he had read of the creature"s habits, he knew that it was unable to swim, and therefore afraid of water. So long as he could get himself into the stream ...

But that was already the worse case scenario, and the juvenile Silver-streaked Ferret in front of his eyes was already looking a little unsure of itself. Which was enough to put a little more steel into Qin Feng"s demeanor.

So what if you were a Spiritual Beast? So what if you were a predator high above the ordinary wild animals of the Southern Woods? You would surely be a little afraid if you had to face a creature that was more than twice your size!

Then he remembered something.

It was a Spiritual Beast! That meant that it could detect fluctuations of qi and such around itself. Was that why it was eyeing Qin Feng so suspiciously? Because he looked and smelled just like an ordinary creature? Was that why it was feeling so confident earlier? If that was so, he would have quickly quash all of its intent to hunt at once!

He Breathed then, drawing a strand of qi all the way into his body, and allowing his aura as a Foundation Realm pract.i.tioner to exude from his frail form. That revelation, that he was capable of drawing and using zhenqi, he hoped, would be enough to deter the creature before him, and make it back off.

And true enough, he could see the eyes of the Ferret widen, as it backed away a step. It was clear that it was nervous now, and more than a little unsure about this strange upright shape before it. That was enough of an encouragement, to tell Qin Feng that he was on the right track. All he had to do now was to break its spirit completely, and chase it off!

All he needed, Qin Feng thought rapidly, was another signal, another motion, that would completely convince the juvenile Silver-streaked Ferret before him that it was utterly outcla.s.sed. That should be all that was needed to make it turn tail and flee.

But it would have to be a sign that all animals would understand. He could simply talk to it, could he? Like how he dealt with Lingyuan and those female disciples from the Rear Gardens? This was a Beast, and a juvenile at that. It would certainly not be able to understand human speech, much less the intent behind the same.

Besides, the air was cold and the lower half of his body had been soaked in that stream at his back. And he was really worried that he would start shivering, and so give the game away. He was not a Hunter, after all, and had never dealt with the common wild animals in the forest before. And this one that he was facing now was a Spiritual Beast!

So he did what he thought would be enough to break the Ferret"s spirit:

From what he could remember, all animals growled and bared their teeth at their prey. Or as a challenge. So he opened his mouth, and drew his lips back to show off his pearl white teeth. Hoping that it would be sufficient to put the final scare into the youngling Beast in front of him.

For a moment, he thought that it had worked. The Silver-streaked Ferret jerked its fore-paws back as though it was about to run off at once. And from its wide eyes and the tufts of fur that had sprung up on its back, Qin Feng knew that it had been frightened. Perhaps so frightened that it would run away at once!

But ... disaster!

Instead of running away in a panic, the small Silver-streaked Ferret attacked! It gave out a loud screech as it launched itself straight into the air!

And pounced right at the shocked Qin Feng!

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