Hunter

Jin Prefecture.

Wuxi County, beneath the Five Hundred Mile Great Mountain.

The sky was dim and gray. A bitter wind carried goose-feather snow, which kept finding its way into Li Yuan's tattered padded coat.

With a bow on his back and a quiver at his side, Li Yuan trudged through snow that already came halfway up his shins.

"I heard the fighting on the border is getting fierce. We just paid two taels in taxes a few days ago, and now everyone can barely afford to eat."

"I haven't caught a thing these past two days. I set a trap a day early this time. Please, Heaven, throw me a scrap to eat. I'll burn you two extra sticks of incense for the New Year."

Before heading down the mountain yesterday, Li Yuan had set a trap in one spot and placed a piece of dried meat on it to lure in animals.

To keep anyone from getting hurt, he had even marked off the area with red string.

In weather this cold, aside from hunters, hardly anyone would venture up the mountain.

Before long, Li Yuan reached the spot where he had set his trap.

At the sight of a bright red bloodstain beneath the blanket of white snow, Li Yuan's eyes lit up.

He snapped off a branch and used it to poke around.

The dried meat was gone, but so was the little animal!

Li Yuan's face darkened. He hadn't seen a soul around.

He couldn't think of any explanation except that someone had beaten him to it.

Just let me find out who you are.

He had no time to dwell on it. Now, Li Yuan could only go in search of prey.

After an unknown stretch of time...

A rustling sound from nearby put Li Yuan on alert.

With practiced ease, he lowered his bow, nocked an arrow, and crouched.

He crept forward cautiously.

As he drew closer, a fluffy white rabbit came into view.

Li Yuan's heart leaped, and he swallowed involuntarily.

In his eyes, that rabbit had already become a mouthwatering, spicy roasted rabbit.

Turning sideways, he twisted his head, nocked an arrow, and drew his bowstring back behind him.

The bowstring was the cord that propelled the arrow when released.

He planted his feet and steadied his lower body, then aimed the arrowhead at the rabbit.

Rabbits were highly vigilant animals.

Even the slightest sound could alert them to danger.

Watching the startled rabbit bolt, Li Yuan didn't panic in the slightest.

A thought stirred, and a pale blue panel appeared before his eyes.

[Skill: Archery (Novice)]

[Progress: 200/200 points (Breakthrough available)]

[Prompt: Heaven Rewards Diligence. As long as you put in the effort, you will be rewarded.]

This had come along with his Past Life Memory three days ago. In other words, it was his Golden Finger.

The meaning was simple: as long as Li Yuan kept working at any "skill" he had mastered, he could continue to improve.

Effort wasn't frightening. What was frightening was being unable to see the progress you'd made.

So for most of the past few days, he had devoted his time to practicing archery.

If he'd had this Golden Finger in his previous life, Li Yuan would have passed English ages ago!

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Yuan thought, Give me... a breakthrough!

The panel shuddered.

[Skill: Archery (Minor Achievement)]

[Progress: 0/800 points]

[Effect: Within forty meters, five or six out of every ten arrows will hit their mark.]

Li Yuan's body showed no obvious changes. Perhaps the increase in his level wasn't great, so he didn't feel much different.

But the fruits of his daily practice had already become part of him.

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes and angled the arrowhead slightly upward.

Whoosh!

The arrow flew, and the bowstring quivered.

Dozens of meters away, the rabbit was struck squarely by the arrow.

It struggled a few times, then went still.

Li Yuan's face brightened. He hurried over and pulled the arrow from the snow.

"Not bad. Compared with yesterday, I'm in better luck today."

An hour later, his face flushed and with nothing else to show for his efforts, Li Yuan could only shake his head and head back down to the village.

Even with his archery improved, he still had to find prey before he could put it to use.

Everyone in the village made a living by hunting. When they occasionally caught a more valuable animal, most chose to sell it in the county town, provided they had enough food for their own families.

After all, there were plenty of Martial Arts Halls in the county town. Many martial artists who trained their bodies and tempered their blood and qi needed large quantities of meat.

At the village entrance, several children in threadbare padded clothes, their little faces rosy, were gathered around building a snowman.

One child with braided pigtails spotted Li Yuan passing by with a rabbit in hand and shouted,

"Brother Yuan, my dad brought home a Wild Boar after two days of hunting. How come you've only brought home one rabbit in two days?"

Li Yuan smiled at that but didn't reply.

Children said whatever came to mind. He had no intention of arguing with one.

"Wow, look! It's Uncle Chen. He brought back a wild deer!" The child with pigtails pointed into the distance.

"Uncle Chen, you're so amazing! You found an injured wild rabbit yesterday, and today you've caught a wild deer."

Several children crowded around the village head's youngest son, Chen Qing, and shouted excitedly.

Hearing them, Li Yuan's expression didn't change as he continued on his way. Only his hand tightened slightly around the bow grip.

Before long, Li Yuan reached the earthen house where he lived.

The entire house had been built from yellow mud mixed with straw and tamped into place. A thick layer of wheat straw covered the roof.

Inside, there was only a battered table and a few stools with chipped corners.

Nearby stood a rice jar, an earthen basin, and other odds and ends.

He shut the door and put away his gear, then quickly lit a fire in the stove. He scooped up a ladleful of snow from outside the door and waited for it to boil.

There was no one else at home, just him.

Li Yuan was an only child. His father had died after being attacked by a Grizzly Bear while hunting on the mountain, and not long afterward, his mother had passed away from illness.

By his reckoning, there were still three months left before the mourning period for his parents ended.

By then, he should have saved up enough silver.

Even before awakening his Past Life Memory, Li Yuan had decided to find a Martial Arts Hall and learn martial arts.

That was even more certain now that he had awakened his Past Life Memory and gained a Golden Finger.

People climbed toward high ground while water flowed downhill. That was an unchanging truth.

As Li Yuan thought, he fed more firewood into the stove until the water bubbled and boiled.

He poured the boiling water into a bowl, took out a wheat cake frozen hard as a rock, broke it into small pieces, and soaked them until they softened.

Wheat cakes were made by mixing a little water with ground wheat flour and baking the dough into thick, hard cakes.

Their advantage was that they kept well and were extremely filling. One cake could last several days.

If he tried to eat one dry, he'd spend an hour choking it down, and even then his saliva would run dry.

"Now I'm thinking of the roujiamo and lamb paomo from my previous life. They were so good I wouldn't let go even if someone slapped my ears..."

After filling his stomach, Li Yuan let out a long breath. The warmth spreading through his belly made him feel wonderfully comfortable.

Ever since he'd gained his Golden Finger, his mind had grown much more active than before.

He now lived in a village whose main livelihood was hunting. It was called Blue Stone Village, had roughly fifty or sixty households, and belonged to Wuxi County.

Wuxi County had roughly ten thousand households. Tenant farmers, fishermen, merchants, and farmers all worked and made their living there.

The government's taxes, the powerful clans' oppression, the gangs' exploitation.

For ordinary people to scrape by in this world with enough to eat and wear was already something to thank Heaven for.

If misfortune struck, men were conscripted and women sold to brothels. It was all too commonplace.