Constellations Gather Around the Moon! Is Black Wind Stockade Afraid of Li Xian? Hunting Plum Deer with an Unmatched Arrow!

When Li Xian returned to the village, many people had gathered at the village entrance, and even the village chief had led the welcome party to receive him.

Because Li Xian was a Martial Artist—and a powerful one at that.

Li Xian had returned from the county town on a white horse, riding back to Shuanglin Village. His bearing and presence made many villagers unable to look away.

"Is that Grandma Li's grandson, Li Xian? He's so young! Judging by his age, he can't be more than eighteen, right?"

"Don't be fooled by Li Xian's young age. I heard he became a Martial Artist a long time ago. He's extremely powerful and already quite famous in the county town."

"The county town? Could you mean Anyuan County Town, dozens of li beyond Qingshan Town? I heard there are many Martial Artists there, along with gangs and sects. For Li Xian to make a name for himself there—that's truly remarkable. Grandma Li is blessed."

"Of course! You know about Zhang Qian from Zhang Tieshan's family, right? Everyone's been saying that the people from Black Wind Stockade took a fancy to Zhang Qian and wanted to forcibly take her up the mountain. But didn't they hear that Li Xian had returned to the village? I heard they were so scared that they didn't dare come."

"Really? Then Li Xian is far too formidable! Even the vicious Black Wind Stockade is afraid of him! Li Xian truly lives up to his title as the only Martial Artist to emerge from our Shuanglin Village!"

At that moment, at the entrance of Shuanglin Village, a tall, handsome man with an extraordinary air and dressed in white martial robes dismounted from his white horse. Powerful energy flowed around him. Seeing the fellow villagers who had come to welcome him, he revealed a smile and responded courteously.

He was Li Xian, Grandma Li's grandson.

He had just turned eighteen, yet his cultivation had already reached the peak of the Body Tempering Realm. His force energy circulated and his blood qi surged; he was already laying the foundation for breaking through to the Meridian Opening Realm.

"As expected of Li Xian the Martial Artist! Even this old hunter of mine feels his heart tremble at that aura!"

"That's right. Martial Artists are lofty existences above us all. Among all the surrounding villages, there are practically none that can produce a Martial Artist. Only our Shuanglin Village has one."

"Li Xian and I once went hunting in the mountains together. I never expected that he would now become a Martial Artist, someone high above and beyond our reach. What a change..."

As Li Xian entered the village, the villagers on both sides of the road began discussing him animatedly. Several old hunters in particular felt their hearts pound when they saw him now. That was the aura of a Martial Artist.

Some of the younger people wore complicated expressions. Back then, they had gone into the mountains to hunt alongside Li Xian, but now he had already become a Martial Artist. The enormous contrast between then and now left them dazed.

Among the crowd was Zhang Tieshan's family as well. Zhang Tieshan puffed on his dry tobacco and looked at Li Xian, who was even a little younger than Su Mo. He could not help sighing. A Martial Artist could kill a beast with a single punch.

Zhang Hai's gaze burned with fervor and longing. If only I could become a Martial Artist. Then no one would dare bully my little sister, Father wouldn't have to work so hard hunting in the mountains, and Mother could hold her head high in the village. Most importantly, we wouldn't have to fear Black Wind Stockade.

Zhang Qian stared at Li Xian, who was the focus of everyone's attention in the middle of the village road. Her beautiful eyes held an unusual light, and her desire to marry a Martial Artist grew stronger. Only by marrying a powerful Martial Artist could she feel safe. What had happened with Black Wind Stockade this time had driven Zhang Qian's need for security to its absolute peak.

Her mother, Liu Guihua, was even more convinced that Heaven had eyes. She felt that if Li Xian had not suddenly returned to the village, the people from Black Wind Stockade would certainly have come down the mountain to forcibly seize her Qian'er.

Clearly, Zhang Tieshan's family also attributed Black Wind Stockade's failure to come down the mountain to Li Xian's return.

Just like the villagers, they believed that Black Wind Stockade was afraid of Li Xian.

In the middle of the street, Li Xian was surrounded as though the stars revolved around the moon. His white horse was handed to the village chief to lead, and Yang Baishu felt greatly honored. He introduced Li Xian to the changes that had taken place in the village.

Of course, compared with when Li Xian had left the village several years ago, there had been no real changes. The only change might have been that life had grown even harder.

"Chief, has Black Wind Stockade remained the same these past few years?"

Li Xian's gaze swept over the simple villagers of Shuanglin Village. As though he had thought of something, he slowly asked the question.

"Yes, it has!" Yang Baishu replied while leading the white horse. Black Wind Stockade's oppression and persecution of the villagers had always been the same—but who dared resist them?

"Black Wind Stockade?"

A flicker passed through Li Xian's eyes. He had not returned to the village this time to show off. After becoming a Martial Artist, his horizons had long since changed. His main purpose was to visit Grandma Li. After following his maternal uncle and the others to Anyuan County Town and cultivating in a sect, he had not returned to the village for a very long time.

His second purpose was to secure peace for the villagers now that his cultivation had succeeded: to go up the mountain and eliminate Black Wind Stockade, which had plagued the surrounding villages for years.

That was right. He wanted to flatten Black Wind Stockade, bring blessings to the villagers, and free everyone from its oppression.

Before he had gone to Anyuan County Town, Li Xian and Grandma Li had depended on each other for survival. Like many villagers, they could only make a living by hunting and had suffered no shortage of persecution from Black Wind Stockade. Now that he had completed his studies and returned, he naturally had to eliminate this menace and bring peace to Shuanglin Village and the surrounding villages.

This was the decision Li Xian had silently made when he left the village back then.

After three years of studying martial arts, he had returned to the village. He was still that hot-blooded youth, and his original intent had never changed.

"Li Xian is still the same as he was back then! But judging by his cultivation, he's probably already reached the late Body Tempering Realm, perhaps even the peak. The advantage of starting cultivation early really is enormous."

Standing among the crowd, Su Mo spotted Li Xian at a glance. Even after three years, Su Mo could still sense the hot-blooded spirit radiating from Li Xian. When they had hunted together in the past, Li Xian had said that one day he would definitely wipe out Black Wind Stockade.

But now that he looked again, Li Xian had most likely not returned merely to visit Grandma Li.

Moreover, Li Xian's cultivation aura far surpassed that of the black-clothed man from Black Wind Stockade whom Su Mo had killed earlier. That man had been at the mid Body Tempering Realm, nowhere near possessing Li Xian's might.

However, Li Xian still felt inferior to Shi Mingdong, whom Su Mo had encountered in the mountains back then.

Su Mo then slipped into the crowd and went into the mountains to hunt. He carried the Beast Hide Great Bow on his back, with the ancestral Hunting Knife and quiver hanging at his waist. Although he had broken through to the early Body Tempering Realm, he lacked the relevant Cultivation Technique for tempering his body. On top of that, he had been over eighteen when he began cultivating, and his bones had already hardened. Even with his terrifying, peerless comprehension and talent, his cultivation progressed very slowly.

All he could do was rise early every day, ram his body into the wooden posts in the courtyard, hammer the stone locks with his fists and palms, and frenziedly temper and polish his body before heading into the mountains to hunt.

After eating Wild Boar Meat and Green Wolf King meat during this period, combined with his physical cultivation, Su Mo felt that he was about to reach the peak of the early Body Tempering Realm.

He had started cultivating too late and his bones had hardened, so his cultivation speed lagged far behind that of ordinary Martial Artists.

Within Qingliang Mountain.

Heavy snow blanketed the world, while the cold wind howled like a raging dragon. Snowflakes scattered through the air, wrapping the mountains in a vast expanse of white.

Su Mo walked through Qingliang Mountain. Because the animals had gone into hibernation during this period, whenever he failed to catch any prey, he would go to Green Wolf Ridge and casually kill a Green Wolf to bring back.

This time, however, Su Mo's luck was rather good.

Before he even reached Green Wolf Ridge, he encountered a Plum Deer in a dense forest. It was the same kind of Plum Deer as the meat Zhang Qian had sent him before, so Su Mo was very familiar with it.

This Plum Deer was enormous, weighing at least three hundred pounds. Its body was covered in plum-blossom patterns, which was how it had gotten its name. Unlike ordinary animals, the Plum Deer was a herbivore, yet it possessed strength no weaker than that of beasts, and even Fierce Beasts. Its hooves in particular were incredibly powerful; a single kick could kill a person.

The instant Su Mo spotted the Plum Deer, he swiftly nocked an arrow and drew the bow. The bowstring thrummed with a muffled sound, and the birchwood arrow shot toward the Plum Deer in the dense forest.

The Plum Deer was extremely alert and perceptive. The moment Su Mo appeared, it tried to flee, but how could it escape the birchwood arrow he fired? With a sharp pfft, the arrow pierced straight through the Plum Deer's huge body. The enormous, ferocious force left it unable to stand and sent it tumbling to the ground, scattering snow everywhere.

The terrifying power of that arrow was plain to see!