The figure held his breath and moved quietly. Even without Zhang Shan's guidance, months of hunting had steadily improved Chen Xuan's skills. By now, even without relying on his Conceptual Ability, his hunting prowess was no worse than that of an ordinary hunter.
As an extremely large prey animal, the wild boar also had exceptionally tough hide.
Naturally, he could not shoot from too far away. Although the bow and arrow Chen Xuan had prepared this time were much stronger than before, to avoid trouble, he still wanted to get within thirty meters.
Perhaps because the wild boar had no enemies around here, even though Chen Xuan's approach alerted it, it merely paused briefly, lifted its head to look around, then continued rooting through the ground for food.
Chen Xuan, meanwhile, crept closer with utmost care.
Only when he could almost clearly see the wild boar's entire body did he stop.
He could not get any closer.
On one hand, if he approached any further, the wild boar would very likely react. On the other, once he killed it, if it went berserk, he might not have a chance to dodge.
As for facing a wild boar barehanded, Chen Xuan had never entertained that thought.
He had indeed completed skin tempering, and the toughness of his skin was likely not much worse than the wild boar's, but that was only his skin. His strength was nowhere near the wild boar's.
A frenzied adult wild boar was more than enough to send him to the grave.
After looking around and finding a large tree,
Chen Xuan took a deep breath and nocked an arrow.
He targeted the wild boar's pupil.
The arrowhead polished from Ram Skull did possess greater lethality, but directly clashing with the wild boar's tough hide was clearly an extremely unwise choice.
The eyes were a fatal weakness for any living creature, so Chen Xuan chose them immediately.
"Whoosh!"
He drew the bow to its fullest, and the arrow instantly split the air.
The greater kinetic force made the arrow streak across the distance like lightning, shooting toward the wild boar's right eye in an instant.
Yet the wild boar's reaction was unexpectedly fast. Its head jerked aside almost on instinct.
"Pfft!"
A clear sound of flesh being pierced rang out. Because the wild boar had turned its head, the arrow did not sink into its eye, but instead embedded itself in the front of its neck.
Intense pain spread through it.
"Awooo!"
A miserable scream burst from the wild boar's mouth. It instantly went berserk, its scarlet pupils locking onto Chen Xuan in a flash.
Chen Xuan's expression changed.
"Damn it!"
He could not help cursing under his breath. The next moment, he leaped straight up into the tree.
This was no joke. If a frenzied wild boar hit him even once, even with his skin tempering complete, he would be in for a world of hurt.
And at the very instant Chen Xuan climbed the tree, the berserk wild boar charged over at full speed.
Even though Chen Xuan had climbed the tree,
the wild boar still rammed into it without a care for anything else.
"Boom!"
A massive, muffled crash rang out, followed by violent trembling through the entire tree. Chen Xuan could not help tightening his grip around the trunk.
The immense shock even made him worry that if the wild boar rammed it a few more times, it might knock the tree over outright.
There was no helping it—the force of that charge was simply too great. Even he could not help feeling alarmed.
Fortunately, his concern proved unnecessary.
Below,
the wild boar that had slammed into the trunk with such tremendous force was already dizzy and disoriented. It had not held back in that charge, and the powerful recoil left its head spinning. It swayed where it stood, its head shaking constantly.
Watching this, Chen Xuan, who had still been somewhat patient, felt his eyes light up.
Without the slightest hesitation, he swiftly drew his bow and nocked another arrow.
"Whoosh!"
Another arrow shot out in an instant.
Its target was still the wild boar's eye.
This time, the dizzy wild boar finally failed to dodge.
"Pfft!"
A clear sound rang out as the arrow sank straight into its pupil.
"Awooo!"
As the arrow entered, it did not pierce through its skull because of the angle, merely stabbing through one side of its head. Even so, the huge wild boar's dazed state instantly turned into an even more shrill scream.
The pain of one side of its head being pierced made it involuntarily throw back its head, its mouth opening wide as well.
Chen Xuan could even clearly see that terrifying, blood-filled maw.
An opportunity!
Seeing the gaping bloody maw, Chen Xuan's expression brightened. Without any hesitation, he once again drew his bow and nocked an arrow.
"Whoosh!"
Another arrow tore through the air, this time aimed directly at its mouth.
"Pfft!"
The clear sound of flesh being pierced rang out again. This time, the arrow entered through its blood-filled maw and instantly pierced through its skull.
The wild boar's scream came to an abrupt halt.
It staggered a few steps, then crashed to the ground.
Bright red blood soon seeped from its corpse.
From atop the tree, Chen Xuan watched the fallen wild boar for a moment. Only after confirming that it would not rise again did he jump down.
The joy on his face grew increasingly intense.
He had succeeded. He had truly succeeded in hunting a wild boar.
And this wild boar weighed at least two hundred and fifty or two hundred and sixty jin, perhaps even close to three hundred jin.
At such a weight, he felt it might be worth more than two taels of silver.
After all, the wild boar Zhang Shan and the others had hunted several years ago, according to his memories, had not been nearly this large. It had been a full size smaller.
That one had been worth two taels of silver. This one would only be more valuable. How could his delight not grow ever stronger?
After looking around, Chen Xuan hurriedly retrieved his simple flatbed cart, loaded the wild boar onto it, then dragged it away from the area at speed.
Chen Xuan had not forgotten the prompt from his Conceptual Ability.
After everything that had happened, he trusted the Conceptual Ability's prompts completely. He also knew that it was best to follow the route indicated by the Conceptual Ability exactly. Otherwise, no one could say what he might encounter. This was the most fundamental guarantee of his safety.
Dragging the wild boar behind him, he quickly headed down the mountain along the path indicated by the route.
Nothing happened along the way.
Naturally, the path arranged by the system brought no accidents whatsoever.
An hour later, Chen Xuan appeared at the foot of the mountain.
Chen Xuan's appearance immediately sent the entirety of Small River Village into an uproar.
This time, Chen Xuan had not returned in the dead of night, nor had he carried his prey back in a basket. Instead, he dragged a small flatbed cart down the mountain, and the huge wild boar carcass instantly drew the attention of countless villagers.
Sorry, I made a mistake when posting. I missed one chapter in the middle, so Chapters Twenty-One and Twenty-Two ended up repeated. That chapter does not affect the reading, though. How embarrassing—my apologies.
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