Hunting Novice

Yang Gan was overjoyed at the words. He immediately dropped to his knees and bowed. "I will not fail the general's command."

A mocking look appeared on Zhang Shuyang's face as he said coldly, "If you fail to bring it back, military law will deal with you. Execution!"

Yang Gan's heart chilled, but he had no choice but to steel himself and agree. "Yes!"

"Use the terrain and surrounding environment to conceal your movements. For example, approach prey along the backs of slopes, valley floors, or through dense woods, and avoid exposing yourself in open ground. Different prey leave different tracks, including the shape, size, depth, and age of the prints. By observing the direction and spacing of the tracks, you can judge the prey's speed and general direction."

At this point, Fang Mushan, who had been half-kneeling on the ground to inspect the traces, rose and let out a breath. He looked at Xu Yunfan with a serious expression and nodded slightly.

Over the past few days, Xu Yunfan had shown an extremely strong capacity for learning, even displaying some ability to draw inferences from one example. Fang Mushan felt somewhat defeated by it.

Xu Yunfan nodded and glanced at a system notification that had appeared in his field of vision.

You listened to Fang Mushan's explanation of hunting techniques. You have gained a slight understanding of hunting and seem to have glimpsed the threshold of hunting.

Xu Yunfan said, "How about we split up and try hunting separately?"

Fang Mushan nodded. "The Eight Hundred Li Barren River Ice Field may look desolate and lonely at a glance, with ice fields and snowy mountains stretching endlessly, but animals still live here. Splitting up gives us better chances of finding prey."

That was what he said, but the Eight Hundred Li Barren River Ice Field was simply too barren. Over the past few days, Fang Mushan had caught very little prey. His only decent haul had been two snow rabbits.

Unfortunately, that was not even enough to fill the gaps between the teeth of several martial artists.

After parting ways with Fang Mushan, Xu Yunfan held a homemade bow in his hand. He did not know what kind of wood it was made from, but Fang Mushan had crafted it with great care. It was hard yet flexible.

The bowstring had been made by tanning the plant fibers of something called Alpine Willow.

You tracked an animal's footprints and preliminarily determined its direction of travel. Your hunting proficiency has increased.

You...

Looking at the several notifications in his field of vision, Xu Yunfan naturally knew that he was on the right track.

His gaze kept flickering, his eyes missing not a single detail in his surroundings.

The biting Cold Wind howled across the Desolate River Ice Field, carrying coarse grains of sand that lashed against his face. Wind poured in through every gap in his ragged clothes, making him shiver.

Xu Yunfan rubbed his hands together. With Fleet Foot, his steps were nimble and his figure agile as he made his way through the rugged mountain paths. His footsteps were light and swift, making no unnecessary sound.

Nearly two hours later, Xu Yunfan finally spotted a resting Alpine Goat beside an inconspicuous patch of brown earth and stone that nearly blended into the surrounding landscape.

More precisely, it was a Plateau Blue Sheep whose coat gleamed with a unique luster beneath the sunlight.

Though it lay curled up at rest, its body remained agile and alert. Even while resting, its ears twitched from time to time, as if it could sense danger and bolt away at any moment.

Joy instantly surged through Xu Yunfan's heart, washing away the fatigue from his journey at the sight of the prey.

His hand slowly reached for the bow and arrows on his back. Feeling the faint roughness against his fingers, every nerve in his body tightened as he fixed his full attention on the blue sheep's every movement.

The arrow had only been roughly tied with a few tufts of down. Fang Mushan had made it.

He carefully nocked the arrow and drew the bow. The plant-fiber bowstring, which was fairly tough, slowly stretched taut with a faint creak.

As the muscles in his arms tensed and exerted force, the bow bent into a full moon, its arrowhead steadily aimed at the blue sheep's vital spot.

Xu Yunfan's gaze sharpened. His fingers suddenly released the string, and the feathered arrow shot forth with a whoosh like lightning, tearing through the air with unstoppable force as it flew straight at the blue sheep.

The blue sheep seemed to sense something and instantly sprang up. However, it was still a beat too slow. The arrowhead precisely buried itself in its neck, blood spurting out. The blue sheep let out a mournful bleat, staggered a few steps, and crashed to the ground.

Xu Yunfan quickly ran over. Looking at the prey now in his grasp, his eyes were full of delight.

You successfully shot and killed a blue sheep. You have gained a new insight into the hunting skill and find the bow in your hand increasingly easy to use. Skill: Hunting Novice.

Hunting 0/500 (Novice)

Effects: Sharp Ears and Eyes, Tracking Like a Wolf, Silent Footsteps, Basic Archery, Skilled Trapping

In an instant, memories of himself constantly hunting in the mountains flooded his mind.

In those memories, he entered the mountains every day to search for tracks, pursue prey, set traps, and practice archery.

At first, he returned empty-handed nine times out of ten. But after day after day of honing his skills and studying archery, he finally learned how to make trapping snares and track prey. Out of every ten shots with a bow, five or six would hit their targets.

Threads of nearly imperceptible warmth also slowly flowed through his body, but they quickly faded away. Aside from making his body feel slightly swollen, there was no other change.

Xu Yunfan let out a breath. He understood that his physique had already become quite strong. An ordinary skill like hunting offered extremely limited physical enhancement.

But now that he had hunting skills...

Xu Yunfan raised his head and looked into the distance. A vast expanse of white stretched to the horizon, while the mountain ridges lay tightly buried beneath thick layers of ice and snow, without the slightest hint of green.

Gales howled over the ice field, carrying a bone-piercing chill and producing shrill whistles.

Mountains rose and fell all around him. Beneath the ridges lay barren, withered grasslands dotted with scrub. Not even a branch could be seen. Strange jagged rocks stood abruptly across the mountains, pitted and scarred by ice and snow amid this desolate land.

For the past several days, the sky had always been overcast. Heavy leaden clouds pressed low, adding an oppressive feeling to the already cold and barren ice field.

But now, even alone, he should be able to survive in this desolate land.

The hide of this blue sheep could be tanned into clothing to ward off the cold.

Xu Yunfan hoisted the blue sheep, which weighed a full one hundred and fifty jin, onto his shoulder. With light steps, he quickly returned in less than half an hour to their temporary shelter in a Mountain Hollow.

Li Haomiao said in shock, "You caught that?"

"Indeed I did."

"Impossible."

Xu Yunfan lifted the blue sheep slightly. "This is the truth."

"..."

Li Haomiao felt stifled. Back when he had hunted in the royal mountain forests, he had single-handedly killed a fierce tiger and could easily fight and kill savage bears.

Yet he had never once completed a proper hunt. Most of the time, he relied on his superb martial arts.

Then, beneath Li Haomiao's astonished gaze, Xu Yunfan skillfully used a fragment of the Purple Gold Earth-Shaking Hammer to skin and gut the blue sheep.

He looked remarkably practiced.

"Where did you learn those techniques?"

"Fang Mushan taught me."

Li Haomiao wore a face full of disbelief. "I won't believe you haven't skinned at least a hundred sheep to have hands like that."

"Believe it or not."

Without even raising his head, Xu Yunfan focused on processing the blue sheep's carcass.