Objective: Go hunting in the mountains today, obtain prey, and return safely (Pending confirmation) Setup complete Loading! Loading successful! Route One: Head to the back mountain. Five hundred meters to the left of the Old Locust Tree, there is a flock of Mountain Chickens. Arrive within one hour, then immediately descend by the path on the right within half an hour. The descent must not take longer than half an hour. Route Two: Three thousand meters from the Old Poplar Tree, there is a group of Bamboo Rats. Arrive within one hour, leave within fifteen minutes, and return by the original route. Route Three:
A thought stirred in his heart, and new words appeared, just like yesterday.
The displayed text was not much different either.
Chen Xuan swept his gaze over them one by one, once again settling on the first option.
Compared to the second and third options, the first was undoubtedly the safest.
Chen Xuan slung the bow and arrow over his back, took his basket, reminded Xiao Shitou of a few things, then set off toward the back mountain.
Just like yesterday, Chen Xuan quickly arrived at his destination.
He also found that flock of Mountain Chickens, once again roosting and foraging there.
Compared to yesterday, these Mountain Chickens were clearly far more vigilant. They only fully settled after several attempts, and even after landing, they continued watching their surroundings warily.
At the slightest movement, they would take flight.
Chen Xuan was in no hurry and simply waited in silence.
Only after the flock of Mountain Chickens had completely settled down did he swiftly draw his bow and nock an arrow.
Whoosh!
An arrow tore through the air, instantly piercing one Mountain Chicken.
The instant the other Mountain Chickens took flight, Chen Xuan fired another five arrows in the span of a breath.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The five arrows shot forth. This time, his accuracy seemed even better—four Mountain Chickens fell straight from the sky.
Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Xuan rushed forward, picked up the five Mountain Chickens, and quickly left the area.
He returned home.
After dressing the Mountain Chickens, Chen Xuan continued practicing his archery.
Evening came.
His mother returned, bringing back a few wild vegetables.
Seeing Chen Xuan's five Mountain Chickens, Zhang Chun Hua fell silent for a moment, but ultimately said nothing.
After the family finished dinner,
they went to sleep.
The next day, Chen Xuan went up the mountain again.
The same place, the same spot. This time, his luck was much worse, and he only shot down three Mountain Chickens.
On the third day,
his Conceptual Ability changed.
Loading! Loading successful! Route One: Three thousand meters from the Old Poplar Tree, there is a group of Bamboo Rats. Arrive within one hour, leave within fifteen minutes, and return by the original route. Route Two: Five hundred meters to the right of the Old Locust Tree, there is a stream. In two hours, a group of sika deer will be drinking there. Within fifteen minutes, shoot two sika deer, leave one sika deer behind, and depart immediately within ten breaths. Return to the village within half an hour. Route Three!
New words appeared, and the Mountain Chickens vanished from the list entirely.
Clearly, after being hunted by him three times, the Mountain Chickens no longer foraged in the same place.
Moreover, the places these Mountain Chickens had moved to were no longer safe for him.
His gaze swept across the new routes.
When he saw Route Two, his brow could not help but twitch.
Hunt two sika deer, yet leave one behind. Anyone who was not a fool would understand what that meant.
Taking a deep breath, Chen Xuan looked toward Route One, the route he had previously dismissed.
Compared to the Mountain Chickens, the former Route Two—now Route One—was undoubtedly far more dangerous, since it led deeper into the forest.
Yet compared to the other routes, this one was clearly safer.
More importantly, this was the very direction leading to Cold Pool. He did not have much time left, so it was a good chance to familiarize himself with the route.
Having thought this through, Chen Xuan took a slight breath.
Then he picked up his equipment once more and entered the mountain forest.
Finding the Old Poplar Tree was not too difficult. It was not far from the Old Locust Tree, and following the route's directions, Chen Xuan headed toward his destination.
Three thousand meters was no short distance, especially in the mountains. To arrive within an hour, he practically had to walk at a brisk pace. Fortunately, the mountain had paths trampled out over the years by hunters. Though they were now covered in weeds, they were still passable.
Half an hour later, Chen Xuan arrived at his destination, panting heavily.
Ahead of him, a Bamboo Forest came into view.
With his sharp eyes, Chen Xuan immediately spotted the round, roly-poly creatures inside the Bamboo Forest, gnawing apart bamboo.
At a glance, there were quite a few of them.
Taking a deep breath, Chen Xuan carefully approached.
When one of the roly-poly creatures ahead seemed to sense something and instinctively raised its little head, Chen Xuan hurriedly stopped and held his breath.
The round creature watched for a moment. Finding nothing unusual, it resumed gnawing on green bamboo.
At that moment, Chen Xuan drew his bow and nocked an arrow.
Once his breathing had steadied,
Whoosh!
An arrow instantly tore through the air.
The moment that arrow flew out, Chen Xuan did not hesitate in the slightest and swiftly drew and nocked another arrow.
Ahead,
the bamboo rat instinctively sensed danger and leaped away at high speed.
Thud!
The first arrow struck straight into the ground, its great force making its fletching tremble nonstop.
Clearly, that arrow had missed.
But the second arrow that followed immediately struck the bamboo rat's rear.
Squeak!
A cry of agony rang out, but before it could fully escape, the next arrow nailed straight into its head.
The bamboo rat's body stiffened completely where it stood.
Only then did Chen Xuan let out a breath of relief.
To avoid any mishap, he had fired three arrows in quick succession.
The result proved that his choice had been right. Bamboo rats were undoubtedly much harder to hunt than Mountain Chickens. If not for those two follow-up arrows, the bamboo rat would probably have escaped.
He glanced at the Bamboo Rats that had already vanished from the surrounding area.
Chen Xuan took a deep breath and chose not to linger.
Even though he knew that, with his system ability, obtaining plenty of Bamboo Rats here should not have been difficult.
The risks would inevitably rise as well.
This one bamboo rat already weighed around ten pounds.
There was no need to continue taking risks.
He quickly left.
And just moments after he departed,
deep within the Bamboo Forest, amid the grass, a massive black shadow slowly emerged. Its scarlet pupils fixed on Chen Xuan's departing figure.
Its tongue flicked as it tasted the air. Only after a moment did the enormous shadow refrain from giving chase, instead sweeping its huge tail.
Boom!
Tremendous force crashed down, and the ground instantly collapsed.
The powerful crushing force smashed three Bamboo Rats out at once. The enormous shadow raised its head and swallowed them whole.
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