When a lion fights a rabbit, it must still go all out

Chen Mo spent the entire afternoon practicing the Tiger Fist in his own courtyard, striving to reach Initiation as soon as possible so he could undergo an Epiphany.

Only techniques that had reached Initiation could undergo an Epiphany.

This highlighted the importance of aptitude.

"The aptitude displayed on my panel is Quite Potential. That shouldn't be too bad, right?"

Thinking of how his aptitude had improved after the Health Cultivation Technique reached Perfect Accomplishment, Chen Mo could not help but wonder:

"I wonder whether every technique can improve aptitude once it reaches Perfect Accomplishment, or whether only techniques like the Health Cultivation Technique can do so?"

If it was the former, Chen Mo might be able to raise his aptitude to the very highest level soon enough.

If it was the latter, he would have to find more health-cultivation techniques in the future.

No matter what, leaving Chen Family Village and heading to the County Town was imperative!

Only by going to the County Town could Chen Mo obtain more techniques and rapidly increase his strength.

Only then could he find the answer to improving his aptitude.

For now, though, there was no use thinking too much. Once he cultivated the Tiger Fist to Perfect Accomplishment, he should have his answer.

After several hours of sparing no effort in practice, even Chen Mo, a Strength Refining Realm martial artist, felt distinctly exhausted.

Still, he had failed to reach Initiation with the Tiger Fist. He was not in a hurry. After a simple dinner, he continued practicing, and when hunger struck in the middle of the night, he even ate a late-night meal.

By then, there was no surplus grain left at home.

The poor pursued scholarship, while the wealthy pursued martial arts!

The night passed without incident. Before dawn the next day, Chen Mo rose from bed. The Tiger Fist had yet to reach Initiation, so he could not undergo an Epiphany. Today's chance for an Epiphany had nowhere to be used and could only be saved for later.

Compared to the Tiger Fist, using an Epiphany on Archery was far less worthwhile. He intended to save the opportunity for the Tiger Fist.

There were still half a month before he went to the County Town. Chen Mo decided to hunt in the morning and practice fist techniques in the afternoon and evening.

He hoped the Tiger Fist would reach Initiation soon. Then he could quickly raise it to Perfect Accomplishment and become an Inner Strength Realm martial artist.

According to Uncle Chao, Inner Strength Realm martial artists already counted as the backbone of the County Town.

If they were students at a Martial Arts School, they could graduate directly.

Even in the great lineages of the County Town, while they could not become Guest Officials, they would have no trouble becoming the head of a lineage's guards.

If they advanced another step and broke through to become a Divine Strength Realm Martial Artist, their status would undergo earth-shaking changes.

In Hequ County, which Chen Family Village belonged to, Divine Strength Realm Martial Artists could open Martial Arts Schools and rise in a single leap above ordinary men. They could become Guest Officials of the Three Great Families and enjoy glory and wealth. Even if they joined the government office, they would receive considerable status.

Once one reached the Divine Strength Realm, unless one encountered a disciplined military formation, ordinary people alone simply could not surround and kill them.

No matter how many ordinary people there were, they could not stop a Divine Strength Realm Martial Artist determined to retreat.

Speed, strength, endurance, defense... none could be judged through the eyes of ordinary people.

As for what kind of might martial artists at the final stage of the Body Refining Realm—the Divine Valor Realm—possessed, Chen Chao did not know. After all, no martial artist of that level was known to exist anywhere in Hequ County.

With these thoughts in mind, Chen Mo smoothly left Chen Family Village. Familiar with the route, he ran briskly toward the outskirts of Mang Mountain.

Since no one had deliberately kept it secret, and so many people had seen him lift the Stone Lock, word that Chen Mo had become a martial artist had already spread through Chen Family Village, causing quite a stir.

This time, when he left through the village entrance, no one stopped or questioned him. The patrolling villagers looked at him with envy and awe in their eyes.

Chen Mo paid them no mind. He had only just become a Body Tempering Realm martial artist and knew he still had a long road ahead.

With yesterday's hunting experience and the markings he had made on the trees still in place, he quickly arrived at yesterday's area.

Several hours passed. By the time Chen Mo set out for home, his burlap sack contained two Wild Chickens whose heads had been blown apart.

"Together, they should weigh around seven pounds. That should be about enough to eat." Chen Mo sighed softly.

For him, hunting still depended too much on luck.

If he could not find prey, then no matter how accurate his arrows were or how strong he became, it would all be useless.

"Maybe I should enter the mountains with Uncle Chao and the others..."

If he hunted alone in the mountains, how much he gained depended entirely on luck. But if he followed the village Hunting Team, they could search for prey while Chen Mo killed it. Their efficiency would be astonishing, and their harvest would certainly be far greater than if he came out alone.

He could also learn techniques for Tracking prey. Why not?

If he went out for a few days, then if all went well, he could probably settle his food for half a month. After that, he could focus entirely on practicing his fists, reach Initiation early, and attain the Inner Strength Realm as quickly as possible.

The more Chen Mo thought about it, the more tempted he became. After returning to the village, he planned to discuss it with Chen Chao.

"Hm?"

Even as he pondered this, Chen Mo, who knew well that danger lurked everywhere in the forest, did not lower his guard. A faint sound of footsteps in the distance immediately caught his attention.

Following the sound, he saw a brown Giant Wolf with one blind eye, easily two meters long.

Fuck!

Chen Mo's heart tightened, but his hands did not slow in the slightest. He drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed at the Giant Wolf.

He also quickly found a tree that would take three people to encircle, pressed his back against it, kept his eyes on the Giant Wolf, and secretly scanned the surroundings.

Wolves generally moved in groups. He did not want to be ambushed from behind.

"Didn't they say the Wolf Pack that appeared in the outskirts had already been killed? Why is there still a wolf?!" Chen Mo inwardly cursed his bad luck.

Though he possessed plenty of strength, he had no Martial Skill to rely on. It was truly frustrating.

The only thing he could rely on now was his Archery.

The moment the Giant Wolf entered effective killing range, Chen Mo would strike immediately.

However, this Giant Wolf was extremely cautious. It did not rush forward, merely confronting Chen Mo from more than fifty meters away.

The good news was that he found no other wolves nearby.

If there was only one, Chen Mo was confident he could kill it.

"I thought Great Accomplishment level Archery was already enough, and I was planning to save an Epiphany. Too bad plans can't keep up with changes."

When a lion fights a rabbit, it must still go all out!

At a life-or-death moment like this, every additional shred of strength mattered. A person only had one life.

Judging by its behavior, the Giant Wolf would not come forward anytime soon. Chen Mo did not hesitate and decisively used today's Epiphany opportunity on his Archery.

Previously, using the principle of a Water Droplet, he had tested how long an Epiphany took and found that it only lasted around two seconds.

With such a short duration, and with more than fifty meters between him and the Giant Wolf, there was certainly no danger.

So he used it boldly.

The instant the Epiphany was activated, the familiar space appeared. This time, Chen Mo was not practicing the Health Cultivation Technique, but Archery.

One arrow after another!

He did not know how many arrows he shot. In the space, he no longer even needed to look at the rapidly moving target. With a casual lift of his hand, he gracefully loosed an arrow. The shaft flashed like a streak of light and firmly pinned itself in the very center of the target.

Once he completed this step, Chen Mo was forced out of the space. His consciousness swiftly returned, and he found the Giant Wolf still in the same spot, without moving an inch.

Compared to before the Epiphany, everything before his eyes had become clearer.

His eyesight had improved considerably.

After facing off for a while longer and confirming there were no other wolves around, Chen Mo no longer kept his bow drawn. He gripped the Hunting Bow in one hand and an arrow in the other, then directly approached. His gaze remained fixed on the Giant Wolf as he deliberately shifted toward the side of its blind eye.

Forty meters!

Thirty meters!

In an instant, Chen Mo raised his Hunting Bow without warning, swiftly nocked a Wooden Arrow, and seemingly casually shot it.

The entire process took less than a second.

"Awoo!"

With a pained howl, the Giant Wolf instinctively tried to dodge, only to discover that the arrow seemed to have grown eyes. It followed the direction of its dodge exactly and pierced its remaining good eye.

Before it could react, two more arrows tore through the air and plunged into its forehead and its other, already-blind eye.

Looking at the Giant Wolf sprawled on the ground, utterly devoid of life, Chen Mo let out a slight breath of relief.

Perfect Accomplishment Archery had greatly enhanced his eyesight. Not only had his accuracy improved further, but he could also predict an opponent's next move to a certain extent and make adjustments accordingly.

Three arrows killed the Giant Wolf—how could it be anything but effortless?

Smiling, Chen Mo walked to the wolf's corpse. "This wolf weighs over a hundred pounds, right? It should have at least thirty or forty pounds of meat. For the next week, I can focus on practicing my fists. Before leaving Chen Family Village, reaching Perfect Accomplishment in the Tiger Fist shouldn't be a problem."

If he could enter the County Town to develop as an Inner Strength Realm martial artist, it should be enough to protect himself... right?