Chapter 3

A pot of rice was filled with water, then some dried meat and wild vegetables were added and stewed together. Only when the aroma of the rice and meat wafted up did Wang Dashan, drenched in sweat, ‘crawl’ over.

"I’m just getting old. If I were still young, I wouldn’t even be out of breath on these mountain paths!" Wang Dashan wanted to save face in front of his adopted son, so he fabricated a story about his younger days.

The anger he had just felt had long since dissipated, and now he just felt hungry.

At this moment, Wang Qi really felt annoyed. He said, "Alright, Uncle Dashan, let’s eat and then quickly go into the mountains to hunt some more live animals. Winter is approaching, and while we don’t lack meat as hunters, we can’t do without staple foods like rice and flour."

"Taking advantage of the cheap grain prices after the autumn harvest, we should hunt more and trade the meat or hides for money to buy rice."

"Alright, let’s hunt more for the winter." Wang Dashan readily agreed.

Although Wang Dashan is now in his forties, he really isn’t good at managing the household... It might be hard to believe, but since seven years ago, the true head of the household has been Wang Qi.

Back then, Wang Qi was only nine years old...

Wang Dashan quickly ate two large bowls of meat and vegetable porridge, then sighed contentedly.

He then put down his bowl, stood up, and began to gather his hunting equipment.

Wang Qi, already very skilled, cleaned up the mess, extinguished the fire, and took the pots and bowls to the nearby mountain spring to rinse them.

He is a person who values cleanliness.

"If I hadn’t watched you grow up, I would have thought you were a clean little girl!" Wang Dashan’s mocking voice didn’t come late this time either.

Wang Qi didn’t bother to respond, finished washing the pots and bowls, and immediately went to his room to fetch his hunting gear...

It was just a short hunting bow, two full quivers, and a machete for clearing paths in the mountains.

Adding some ropes and other essentials, the total weight on his back was roughly forty pounds.

But he felt warm all over, and the weight didn’t feel too heavy.

From this, he was certain that his body had truly improved after the ‘Yi Yang Sheng’ technique.

His endurance, speed, flexibility, and strength had all increased significantly.

It seems that the ‘Shaoyang Qi’ technique, known as a legitimate cultivation method, is indeed well-founded, and when practiced to a profound level, it truly has its wonders.

Theoretically, Wang Qi could now practice a more advanced qi cultivation technique to further his training... but unfortunately, Wang Dashan’s path was from external to internal, and he didn’t have a suitable qi cultivation technique to teach him.

Knowing how difficult this was, Wang Qi never made things hard for Wang Dashan... Instead, over the past ten years, he also learned some external martial arts from Wang Dashan, achieving a balance of internal and external cultivation.

When he stepped out of his small house, he saw that Wang Dashan had already put on his fur-wrapped strong bow, three quivers, and a machete, waiting for him.

The total weight of his gear was probably eighty pounds, but on Wang Dashan, it seemed weightless.

After all, he had practiced external martial arts to the point of internal strength, and his physical power was truly formidable.

The two men met without much talk, just nodded at each other, and then followed the usual path into the mountains.

Along the way, they had set many traps, and they might be able to collect some small game as they went.

A hunting trip into the mountains usually takes at least three to five days, and this game would be perfect for the journey.

Although Wang Qi is only sixteen this year, he has been hunting with Wang Dashan since he was ten, so the journey was familiar to him.

On the way, Wang Dashan just focused on moving forward.

Wang Qi, however, would occasionally run off to check the traps he had set earlier in some hidden, overgrown areas...

"What’s the point of this? It’s simpler and more straightforward to just hunt a wild boar."

Wang Dashan’s thinking was always so straightforward.

Wang Qi, without even looking, replied, "You have to encounter a wild boar first. Besides, these traps don’t require your attention, and it’s much easier to catch prey with them."

At that moment, the sixth trap he checked finally had some results... it was a wild rabbit with its leg caught.

He immediately untied the rope from its leg, grabbed it, and threw it to Wang Dashan, saying, "Look, we have meat for dinner."

Wang Dashan caught the rabbit, which was still kicking in the air, and with a light flick of his finger...

There was a muffled ‘puh’ sound, and the rabbit’s head tilted, and it fainted.

He then threw the rabbit into the large bamboo basket on his back, using it as provisions.

Wang Qi, meanwhile, took out a rope from his bag, made a thin line, and reset the trap. The whole process took less than half a minute, and he was very skilled.

This way, they could have another chance to catch something on their way back.

Wang Dashan naturally disapproved of this meticulous approach, but Wang Qi ignored him. He was in the middle of growing, and he didn’t want to be malnourished.

Moreover, although Wang Dashan seemed to disapprove, he would always find the food ‘delicious’ at mealtime, without exception.

Wang Qi continued to check his traps. In the outer part of the forest, he could only catch small game with these traps.

This time, his luck was good, and he found a wild chicken in one of the traps... dinner looked promising.

After handing the chicken to Wang Dashan, Wang Qi reset the trap.

He then noticed some small mushrooms growing under a nearby tree and picked them up as well.

He would pick up anything edible... possibly influenced by the many ‘survival’ shows he watched sixteen years ago.

He didn’t want to experience the ordeal of going hungry for three days in any situation.

On the first day, they walked at a comfortable pace until the sky grew dark. They arrived at a small wooden cabin hidden by a mountain stream to spend the night.

This was their usual route into the mountains, and to hunt large animals, they had to go deeper into the forest.

The small cabin by the mountain stream was actually built by Wang Qi, who had nagged and pleaded with Wang Dashan during one of their trips.

Originally, a hunting trip would involve camping for four to five days, which was quite miserable for the young Wang Qi. Now, with a ‘forward base,’ they could sleep soundly before entering the deep forest, which was much more comfortable.

Moreover, Wang Qi had collected a lot of game along the way, so spending the night in the cabin would be very comfortable.

He lit a piece of stinkweed and threw it into the cabin to drive away the mosquitoes, then took the basket of game to the mountain stream to clean and prepare it.

Wang Dashan wouldn’t do these things. He just took advantage of Wang Qi’s busyness to find some grass and climb onto the cabin roof to make some simple repairs.

The weather in the mountains is unpredictable, and the clouds in the sky suggested that it might rain in the middle of the night.