Without a second thought, Su Qing immediately sent vines snaking around the legs of two black bears, tripping them to the ground. She saw that A Jin had the upper hand against the third bear, so she didn’t intervene. ’A king of the forest like A Jin must prefer to defeat his opponents with his own strength,’ she thought. Besides, she was curious to see how he would deal with the bears after winning.

Would he kill them, or just drive them away? The animals of the forest had their own code of survival, and she had no intention of breaking it.

"ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!" The two black bears caught by the vines had no idea what was happening; they suddenly found they couldn’t move. When they looked back, they saw their legs entangled by the strange plants. They tried to claw the vines off, but instead of coming loose, the vines only tightened their grip. The two bears grew frantic, howling as they desperately pawed at their restraints.

"ROAR—" Initially, seeing the three black bears ganging up on him, A Jin had felt apprehensive. He could handle one black bear, no problem, but he was clearly outmatched against three. But no matter how nervous he was, he couldn’t show any weakness, so he had launched himself at them with ferocious intensity.

Now, seeing Su Qing run over to help and trap two of the black bears, his morale instantly soared. He reared up on his hind legs and smacked his opponent right on the head.

"HOWL! HOWL! HOWL!" The bear on the receiving end of the slap cried out in pain. The last time it had come here to steal honey, it had run right into A Jin. Not only did it fail to get any honey, but it was also beaten soundly. Today, it had specifically brought two buddies along to get revenge.

To its fury, after A Jin slapped it, its two buddies didn’t rush forward to help. They just stayed in the back, roaring anxiously. The bear was livid. ’I brought them here for revenge, not to be a damn cheering squad!’

And here they were, just watching the show.

But no matter how the bear roared for its partners, they didn’t advance. Pinned down by A Jin’s assault, it had no chance to turn and see what was happening, so it could only roar in frustration as they continued to brawl.

For a moment, the roars of the tiger and the bellows of the bear were deafening.

But the black bear was clearly no match for A Jin. Soon it was pinned to the ground, unable to move, and A Jin had even drawn blood with a bite to its back.

Su Qing watched from the sidelines, wanting to see how A Jin planned to deal with this black bear.

She saw A Jin holding the black bear firmly to the ground, roaring at it incessantly. Although pinned, the black bear was clearly unwilling to submit, howling and trying to struggle. But A Jin’s strength was immense, and it couldn’t break free, which only made it more frantic.

Seeing this, A Jin slapped the black bear on the head again, his roar filled with warning and threat.

After a good while, the black bear’s roars weakened, as if it were begging for mercy. A Jin roared forcefully at it one last time before finally letting it go.

Su Qing knew at a glance that A Jin had no intention of killing the black bear.

Once freed, the black bear didn’t attack A Jin again. Instead, it spotted Su Qing leaning against a nearby tree. It had never seen a human before, but Su Qing’s frame was clearly much smaller and slighter than its own. Still pent-up with frustration, it let out a roar and lunged at Su Qing.

Seeing this, Su Qing raised an eyebrow slightly. But before she could make a move, A Jin slapped the black bear on the head from behind, sending it staggering.

The black bear was furious. ’Fine, I can’t beat this tiger, so I won’t fight him anymore. But why does he get to decide who I attack? This is too much!’

But before the black bear could retaliate, A Jin pounced on it again, pinning it to the ground and letting out a torrent of roars.

Su Qing watched from the side. ’Do these wild animals have their own way of communicating?’ In any case, after A Jin let out a string of roars, the way the bear looked at her clearly changed. The gaze was no longer ferocious, but filled with surprise and curiosity.

’Surprise and curiosity!’

Su Qing glanced at A Jin and casually pulled a piece of wild boar meat from her storage space.

"ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!"

The moment the wild boar meat appeared, it wasn’t just the bear pinned by A Jin—even the two still tangled in the vines forgot their plight, their eyes glued to the meat in Su Qing’s hand.

Su Qing smiled. She had plenty of wild boar meat in her storage space now. It wasn’t just from her hunts in Baihua Mountain; she had also bagged quite a few since entering Da Hu Mountain.

Su Qing tossed the piece of wild boar meat to A Jin, who swallowed it in a single gulp. Seeing A Jin get to eat while they got nothing, the three black bears became anxious and started clamoring incessantly.

"A Jin, let it go," Su Qing said, gesturing to him as she spoke.

After spending the past few days together, while A Jin still didn’t understand most of her words, he could comprehend simple meanings and gestures. And so, he released the black bear.

The newly freed bear immediately tried to pounce on Su Qing. Its simple logic was identical to A Jin’s initial thought process: if it ate this unfamiliar creature, it would get the delicious-smelling meat.

However, before it could get close, it was trussed up like a green rice dumpling. The sudden turn of events left it stunned, completely clueless as to what had just happened.

With the precedent A Jin had set, the process of taming the black bears went exceptionally smoothly for Su Qing. Soon, none of the three dared to provoke her again. And, of course, they got to eat the wild boar meat they so desperately wanted.

Perhaps it was due to their shared new favorite food, but while A Jin and the lead bear still didn’t seem to like each other much, most of the hostility between them had faded.

Seeing that the problem here was resolved, Su Qing prepared to leave. But to her surprise, the black bear that had fought A Jin walked over on its own and lay down beside her.

Su Qing raised an eyebrow and glanced at A Jin.

She saw A Jin let out a soft call toward her, signaling for her to get on the black bear’s back. Su Qing raised an eyebrow again, then smiled and climbed on.

Su Qing finally understood A Jin’s little scheme. He served as her mount, and since the black bear had also eaten her wild boar meat, it had to receive the same "honor." The principle was simple: share and share alike, through thick and thin. If one had to be a mount, then so did the other. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

A Jin escorted Su Qing for a long way before reluctantly parting ways with her. He only turned back to his own territory in the forest after watching her and the black bear she was riding disappear from view.