Encountering a Tiger

Encountering a Tiger

Night fell.

The sweeping conscription campaign had come to an end.

Some households wailed; others mourned.

White-haired parents sent off their black-haired children, loving husbands and wives were torn apart by life and death.

Little Ink Village fell utterly silent.

Yan Yu had extinguished the candle early. Tense, she kept watch by the back door, glancing outside from time to time, worried yet expectant.

Her eyes were red and swollen from crying. That was not an act; the entire atmosphere in Little Ink Village was like this. What household living there was not heartbroken?

At midnight, a ghostlike shadow suddenly appeared at the back door. Raising a hand, it knocked six times in the rhythm of "light, light, heavy, heavy, light, heavy."

Yan Yu hurried over, and a voice came from outside.

"It's me."

The familiar voice delighted Yan Niangzi. She hurriedly opened the door, pulled the man outside inside in one swift motion, and then eagerly embraced him, her hands restlessly seeking more.

After a long while.

The sounds in the room finally subsided.

Li Yuan said, "You don't mind the smell?"

"I didn't smell anything," Yan Niangzi answered softly and sweetly, but her arms clung tightly around her man, afraid that the moment she let go, she would lose him.

After a soft sigh, she seemed to have held him enough and finally released him. "I'll boil some water for you to wash up."

"Don't. The smoke might make the neighbors suspicious," Li Yuan said. "Besides, I already washed in a mountain spring. But I should take some soap pods and a change of clothes with me later."

"A mountain spring?"

Yan Niangzi's eyes widened, disbelief written across her face.

"In this weather?"

"Won't you freeze to death?"

Li Yuan said, "Your man's stronger than an ox. I won't freeze to death."

Yan Niangzi shot him a sidelong glare and pinched his flesh with her hand. "No wonder you can plow so well."

After saying that, she sighed again, lay against Li Yuan's chest, and softly said, "So many men from the village have gone. Uncle Wang, Qian Er, Brother Xiong, and that Little Hu who used to call you Brother Yuan. Nearly all the Young Adults whose names I know have gone.

Yuan Ge'er, do you think they can come back alive after going to kill the Red Lotus Bandits?"

Li Yuan remained silent for a long time.

Before crossing over, he had not studied much history, but he had at least watched historical dramas.

So he knew that peasant uprisings often marked the beginning of chaotic times.

Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, the Yellow Sky shall rise, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Once chaos truly began, order would collapse, and human lives would become as worthless as grass.

Right now, people starving to death or being sold in a single village could only be considered child's play.

By then,

the human world would no longer be the human world.

It would be hell.

"Yuan Ge'er, do you think they won't come back?" Yan Niangzi asked softly. "Qian Er and the others are one thing, but there are quite a few good people in the village too. Are they just going to die like that?"

Li Yuan felt somewhat heavy-hearted.

He thought: once things settled down, perhaps he could save up more silver and move to Silver Creek. Would it be any better there?

Or perhaps he could flee deep into the mountains? Hide in the mountains and carve out a Peach Blossom Spring to escape these chaotic times?

Li Yuan held his wife close and comforted her. "Whether they live or die isn't for us to decide. We can only leave it to fate."

Yan Niangzi choked up and cried, "Thank goodness you didn't go. Thank goodness you didn't go. You must take good care of yourself in the mountains. If you can't make it back at night, don't force yourself."

Li Yuan said, "Sister Yan, I understand everything you're saying.

Hide our grain carefully. Only take out a little at a time, and don't let anyone discover that our household has so much.

Also, if you see a family that can no longer get by, don't go handing out a lot of grain out of kindness. It'll bring trouble."

Yan Niangzi closed her eyes,

her cheek pressed against him,

and murmured, "Your wife isn't stupid."

Before dawn, while the sky was still dark,

Li Yuan climbed out of bed. Carrying the bundle he had packed, he quietly pushed open the back door and vanished like a ghost into the mist before daybreak.

Having a home yet being unable to stay there, forced to hide in the mountains, left him feeling somewhat dejected. But there was no helping it.

After returning to the mountain, he quickly entered the Second Layer Mountain and found a cave near a mountain spring to settle in.

Before long, dawn arrived.

Golden sunlight shone over the mountains.

Holding his old clothes and some soap pods, he went to the spring to wash his clothes. When he saw several "0~1" values emerging from the depths of the water, he directly threw an arrow down, then pulled it back up, and a fish came with it.

Once he had washed his clothes, he draped them over a rock outside the cave.

Spread out flat, they should be mostly dry after a day in the sun.

Then, using firewood he had gathered along the way, he lit a bonfire at the cave entrance and crouched beside it to roast the fish.

After eating the fish, he leaned against the mountain wall and stared blankly into the distance.

After spacing out for a while, he began to feel bored.

Should he disguise himself and go wander around the county town? Forget it. If he was exposed, he would be dead on the spot.

But he had to find something to do, didn't he?

How about continuing farther into the mountains?

If he really could find a good place in these mountains, it would not be bad to bring Sister Yan here and build a secluded paradise. Perhaps if they endured long enough, they might even outlast these chaotic times.

The residents of Peach Blossom Spring said, "Our ancestors fled the chaos of the Qin era, bringing their wives, children, and fellow villagers to this isolated place." They had directly escaped an entire age of chaos.

Why couldn't he do the same?

Cultivation techniques were certainly valuable, but if obtaining them meant risking his life or taking enormous risks, then forget it. As long as he lived long enough, opportunities would come eventually.

Besides, if he could lie low in the mountains for long enough, he would surely accumulate plenty of points. When he emerged again, he could practically raise any skill or cultivation technique to max level the moment he learned it. Wasn't that better than living in constant fear outside every day?

For a moment, Li Yuan's heart began pounding.

"Good, good, good!"

He sprang up from the ground, full of drive. Clenching his fists, his eyes shining, he said, "Today, I'll explore deeper into Little Ink Mountain."

Thus, Li Yuan slung his bow over his back, grabbed his Firewood Chopping Knife, and continued north.

He was familiar with this area.

But the extent of his familiarity only reached the Mountain Pass ahead.

Today, he decided to cross that Mountain Pass and see what lay in the Third Mountain Layer beyond the Second Mountain Layer.

In the afternoon,

he trudged crookedly northward and soon passed through the Mountain Pass.

Beyond it lay a vast, ancient mountain forest, colored grayish yellow. It would probably look different once spring and summer arrived.

"This damn place doesn't even have a path. No one comes here normally."

Li Yuan gripped his Firewood Chopping Knife and hacked left and right, cutting through withered vines hanging down from nowhere and wild branches growing in every direction.

He looked ahead, but there was no end in sight. Everywhere looked the same.

Sweeping his eyes around, he occasionally saw values of "0~1" or "1~2" flash by.

These values appeared far more frequently than in the Second Layer Mountain.

"Good. That means I won't have to worry about meat.

It'll be even better if I can grow some vegetables later.

But this place is still too close to the outside. I need to scout farther in."

Evening came quickly.

After scouting around, Li Yuan decided to head back.

He had spent the entire afternoon doing nothing but walking.

With Grandmaster Tracking and his ability to see values, as long as he did not provoke fierce beasts with strong aggression, they generally would not bother him either.

At sunset, the twilight was like blood.

The wind in the mountains carried an inexplicable chill.

It was sinister, like knives scraping against bone.

Li Yuan walked and ran, quickly making his way back.

The sky had already darkened, but the bright moon hung overhead, leaving the land well-lit.

Li Yuan returned to the cave, lit the bonfire, then hurried to the nearby mountain spring. Barings his teeth against the cold, he took an icy bath and caught several fish along the way.

A moment later, he put on the clothes that had dried during the day and squatted on a large stone block, roasting fish while reviewing the terrain he had scouted in the Third Mountain Layer.

"So far, I still haven't found a suitable place.

Maybe tomorrow, I can set out earlier and move faster, then reach somewhere farther away."

Just as he was thinking, Li Yuan suddenly sensed a fierce wind rushing toward him from afar.

He reacted quickly. With a flick of his left hand, he seized the Earthen Bow, tossed aside the roasting fish with his right hand, and drew an arrow.

He drew the bow,

nocked the arrow,

pulled the bowstring taut,

and aimed the coldly gleaming arrowhead at the edge of the firelight.

Li Yuan stared quietly into the distance, fully alert.

Then, a "5~8" value approached from afar. In the darkness, the outline of a Striped-Eyed White Forehead tiger emerged.

The tiger had been running at great speed, but just as it neared the bonfire, it suddenly stopped. It slowly backed away a few steps, then lay down directly on the ground, remaining motionless in a crouch.

Li Yuan had originally wanted to loose an arrow, but for some reason, he hesitated. With a flick of his boot tip, he kicked up the roasting fish, then put force into his toes and sent it flying.

The roasted fish flew into the distance and landed beyond the edge of the bonfire's light.

Yet the tiger lying on the ground did not move.

Li Yuan lowered his bow slightly and reined in his presence.

The tiger suddenly rose, walked forward a few steps, snatched up the roasted fish in its jaws, then swiftly turned and ran away.

Note: I tried it out over the past few days, and I can basically finish writing the second update before 8 p.m. So barring anything unusual, the first update will be at 5 p.m. and the second at 8 p.m. Just so everyone knows.