The Musk Deer

Night fell, and Qin Ming returned home after slaughtering pigs. Embroiderer had already made soup with the venison Senior Brother Lu Liu had given them and stir-fried a large bowl of pork offal.

After they finished every bite between them, Qin Ming felt a warm current bubbling up in his throat. His whole body grew warm, and his Qi and blood were rapidly recovering.

"This venison is surprisingly effective!"

Qin Ming was astonished.

Compared with the pork offal, this little piece of venison was practically twice as effective!

Venison really was a powerful tonic!

Among meats, leaving aside Spirit Beasts, tiger, bear, and deer were the most nourishing.

Of the three, deer blood was even more nourishing than venison, but it was extremely rare and expensive.

Embroiderer drank a bowl of venison soup and ate a few bites of meat. Her whole body grew hot, and her little face turned bright red.

With the improvement in their meals over the past few days, plus Qin Ming's loving attentions, Embroiderer had shaken off her former weak, sallow appearance. Not only had color returned to her cheeks, but she had also gained more of a young wife's captivating charm.

"Brother Qin, I learned another new trick today."

Embroiderer traced circles on Qin Ming's chest with her delicate hand, her eyes sultry.

Over the past few nights, Embroiderer had tried all the tricks she had learned from the neighbor's wife on Qin Ming, much to his enjoyment.

"Oh? Then I'll have to try it."

An hour later, Qin Ming threw back the covers, and a wave of white heat rose into the air.

Embroiderer's face was flushed, and she fell into a deep sleep with a satisfied expression.

Qin Ming got out of bed and dressed, then began practicing Fire Sand Palm as usual.

After practicing for some time, his control over Fire Sand Palm had grown increasingly skillful. Although he had yet to reach the entry level, he no longer covered his palms in blisters and mangled their flesh as he had the first time.

A closer look revealed a thin layer of calluses on his palms.

That night, his Fire Sand Palm proficiency increased by six points.

[Ninth-Rank Martial Art: Fire Sand Palm (29/100) — Not yet at entry level]

[Ninth-Rank Martial Art: Eight Trigrams Stake Skill (21/100) — Not yet at entry level]

After eating the venison, Qin Ming's Qi and blood had recovered, so he practiced his stance for another hour before bed.

After applying his burn salve, Qin Ming held Embroiderer in his arms and drifted off to sleep.

The next day, before dawn.

Qin Ming took his pig-slaying saber and the trapping tools he had prepared earlier and headed for the mountains.

More than an hour after he left, two yamen runners came to the shantytown. After asking around, they arrived at Embroiderer's home and pounded on the door.

"Qin Ming! Are you in there? Get out here!"

Embroiderer jolted awake and covered her head with the quilt, not daring to make a sound.

The runners hammered away for so long that their hands hurt, and they cursed furiously.

They had wanted to break down the door, but Qin Ming had reinforced it. No matter how they kicked, they couldn't get it open.

Residents of the surrounding shanties stuck their heads out to watch. The runners grabbed a passerby and pinned him to the ground. "Do you know where Qin Ming went?"

The man was startled and hurriedly said, "Spare me, sirs! I don't know."

"Scram!"

A runner sent him flying with a kick.

A yellow-haired young man with a sharp, monkey-like face came over and whispered, "Sirs, I saw that Qin Ming go up the mountain this morning."

"Up the mountain?"

The two runners exchanged a look, their anger rising.

They had come all this way, only to return empty-handed.

"Fucking bad luck! Come on, let's head back and come again later!"

The two runners left, cursing as they went.

After they were gone, everyone began talking.

"What crime did that Qin Ming brat commit, for yamen runners to come to his door after him?"

"Hey, the smell of meat has been coming from his place a lot lately. Isn't he a pig butcher? Maybe he stole some of his employer's meat."

"I remember seven or eight people came to make trouble at his door not long ago, didn't they? I think they were there to collect a debt. That brat Qin Ming does nothing but stir up trouble all day. What a waste of his beautiful wife—a fresh flower stuck in cow dung. She'd be much better off with me. I've been single for over thirty years and haven't even held a woman's hand!"

Wang Shun's wife hurriedly told him what she had heard.

"Yamen runners came to his door? How did Brother Qin get mixed up with the authorities?"

Wang Shun lay on the bed, frowning.

"Wife, listen to me. Later, do this..."

Wang Shun leaned close to his wife's ear and whispered a few words.

Her gaze gradually grew resolute.

"I understand, Brother Shun. Brother Qin has been so good to us. No matter what, I have to help him with this."

On the mountain.

Qin Ming set his traps one by one.

He had temporarily borrowed the trapping tools from an old hunter he knew.

Heavy snow had sealed off the mountain, and many animals had hidden away. Now that the snow had melted, many would come out to forage.

After setting all the traps, Qin Ming began waiting in an abandoned wooden cabin.

The cabin had also been left behind by the old hunter, who had once used it to stay overnight on the mountain.

Hunting could not be done in one fell swoop. Qin Ming planned to stay on the mountain for three days, so he had prepared three days' worth of Qi-Blood Soup.

In his spare time, he stood on a tree to practice his stance. Whether it was because he was on the mountain, where Spiritual Qi was abundant, he didn't know, but his stance training progressed rapidly. Before long, he felt a warm current rise from his feet and flow into his limbs, and his body immediately warmed up.

Two hours later, he drank a bowl of Qi-Blood Soup and continued practicing his stance.

When the last bowl of Qi-Blood Soup went down, the muscles and bones throughout Qin Ming's body rang in unison, and heat steamed off him.

He lit a fire and cooked.

After eating, Qin Ming began practicing Fire Sand Palm.

Time flew, and two days passed.

Over those two days, Qin Ming caught two pheasants in total.

After he ate the pheasants, his Qi and blood quickly recovered, providing him with two stance points.

[Ninth-Rank Martial Art: Eight Trigrams Stake Skill (38/100) — Not yet at entry level]

"Slow! It's still too slow. If only I could bring down something big!"

"Whoosh!"

Qin Ming released his grip, and a sharp arrow struck a tree trunk fifty meters away with pinpoint accuracy. Its sharp arrowhead sank about an inch deep.

Perhaps because he had reached minor accomplishment in the Pig-Slaying Saber Technique, Qin Ming's control over minute amounts of force was quite perfect. After two days of practice, he could basically hit a tree stump within fifty meters every time, but hitting a precise point still depended on luck.

"If I don't catch anything else today, I'll have to go back."

Qin Ming crumbled a frozen-hard bun and tossed it into the boiling meat soup.

The rations he had brought were only enough for three days, and his Qi-Blood Soup was nearly gone too. He would have to go down the mountain first thing tomorrow.

After eating and tidying up briefly, Qin Ming prepared to practice.

Hunting depended on luck; it couldn't be forced. Qin Ming was only a little disappointed, and he soon regained his calm.

He took his position, ready to practice his stance.

Just then, a piercing wail suddenly came from the woods.

"That sound! It's a musk deer!"

Musk deer belonged to the deer family, and their blood was a powerful tonic!

Qin Ming immediately raced toward the sound.

Before long, he saw a musk deer with blood on its leg disappear into the brush in the distance.

Its tail was short, and it had no antlers. A pair of long fangs could faintly be seen, and it was quite large—a musk deer in the prime of its life.

"It's a male!"

Qin Ming's heart leaped with excitement, and he immediately picked up speed.

Deer blood was a powerful tonic, and musk deer belonged to the deer family, so its blood was bound to have some effect too. If he caught this musk deer, his stance training would surely advance by leaps and bounds!

But Qin Ming had underestimated it. Although its leg had been injured by a trap, it relied on its familiarity with the mountain forest, deliberately plunging into the dense undergrowth deeper in the woods. For a while, Qin Ming really couldn't catch up.

The old hunter had said that formidable beasts lurked deep in these woods. Even experienced hunters only dared venture in with three to five people together.

I have to catch up as soon as possible!

Qin Ming fired arrow after arrow, but the distance was too great and the undergrowth too thick. None of them hit.

After running for quite a while, the musk deer finally began to slow down.

Just as Qin Ming was about to catch up, the musk deer suddenly lunged into a patch of brush.

Qin Ming pushed the brush aside and saw a pitch-black hollow in a tree, half a man's height. The musk deer was already nowhere to be seen.

"It got away?"

The cooked duck had actually flown away!

Qin Ming cursed under his breath.

What a pity—he had been so close!

He had been just a little short of catching the musk deer!

Qin Ming sighed. As he turned to leave, his gaze accidentally fell on a blurry, indistinct shape at the edge of the hollow. He moved closer to look, and his eyes suddenly widened. Wild with joy, he blurted out:

"Lingzhi!!"