Seeking Life

The 621st year of the Liang Dynasty, in the season of early spring.

Jiangnan Circuit, on the outskirts of Ram City, Clear Creek Village.

Inside a dilapidated thatched hut.

Li Beichen tightened his patched clothing, leaned against the earthen wall, and looked out through the crude window with a slightly frail expression.

Fortunately, the weather had begun to warm up; otherwise, he didn't know when his cold would have finally improved.

Get well soon...

Li Beichen sighed softly. Ever since he had suffered a high fever and convulsions, awakening the memories of his past life, he had been lying at home recuperating for half a month.

Outside the window, a dark-skinned man with a Pig-Slaughtering Knife tucked into his waistband entered Li Beichen's line of sight, carrying a string of pig offal.

Before long, he walked straight up to the front of the thatched hut.

Thump, thump, thump!

The knocking on the door sounded right on cue.

"Come in! Brother Wang Er, the door isn't latched!"

With a creak, the butcher pushed open the wooden door and walked inside.

Li Beichen went to pick up the kettle, found a relatively intact ceramic bowl, poured a bowl of hot water, and handed it over.

"Brother Wang Er, I have nothing in the house to treat you with, so please just drink some hot water... As for the three silver coins I owe you, I will pay you back as soon as I recover."

"No, no need to rush. Just focus on getting your health back first. I have two catties of pig offal here; although it's not prime meat, it counts as a meat dish. Brother Li, you should eat it to nourish your body."

The butcher, who looked somewhat fierce, revealed an honest smile as he placed the pig offal on the table.

"No, Brother Wang Er!"

But the butcher didn't give Li Beichen a chance to refuse. Without even drinking the water, he turned around and left in long strides, pulling the wooden door shut behind him.

"Many thanks..."

Li Beichen whispered his gratitude toward the departing butcher.

In this life, he was a native of Bing Province. Last year, when disaster struck the province, his family fled to the Jiangnan Circuit as refugees. His parents had given their last bits of food to him, the youngest, before collapsing on the road.

Eventually, Li Beichen walked all the way to Ram City. While passing a haystack in the wilderness, he saw a wolf confronting this butcher, Wang the Second, while another wolf attempted to sneak up from behind. He shouted a warning, and the two wolves retreated only after seeing another person arrive.

Li Beichen had saved Wang the Second, and in turn, Wang the Second had saved him. Seeing that he was a refugee, the butcher had brought him home, treated him with great hospitality, and found him this hut to provide shelter, allowing him to survive the winter.

Unexpectedly, when the snow in the mountains began to melt some time ago, Li Beichen had gone into the mountains to hunt and caught a cold, suffering from a persistent high fever. Fortunately, the butcher had hired a physician and fetched medicine for him, which was the only reason he had slowly started to recover.

Great kindness cannot be repaid with mere words.

Li Beichen kept the butcher's kindness in his heart. He then picked up the pig offal from the table, cleaned it simply, found a ceramic basin, and submerged the offal in water.

He sprinkled a handful of coarse salt over it and lit a fire to boil it.

Half an hour later, a rich, meaty aroma rose from the ceramic basin, making Li Beichen, who hadn't smelled meat in a long time, unable to stop his mouth from watering.

He took out his chopsticks and poked the meat, finding it was already cooked.

Ignoring the heat, he hurriedly fished it out, quickly rinsed it in cold water to cool it down, and began to feast.

"Delicious!"

This simple meal of meat made Li Beichen feel satisfied in both body and soul.

In his past life, such offal, boiled simply in water, would have been incredibly foul-smelling and difficult to swallow, but to Li Beichen now, it was a delicacy.

Of the two catties of offal, Li Beichen ate half and drank a good portion of the broth as well.

The rare feeling of fullness made his whole body feel warm, and his cold felt much better all of a sudden.

He continued to add water to the ceramic basin and let it simmer over a low flame.

"The remaining meat is enough for my meal tomorrow..."

But Li Beichen also knew that it would only last until tomorrow.

The rice jar and oil jar at home were completely empty; there wasn't even a mouse to be found.

He had to take advantage of these two days while he still had food to solve his survival problem for the future.

Born into troubled times, it was difficult to survive, but fortunately, Li Beichen had a skill he could rely on.

Feeling a bit of strength return after his meal, he picked up the heavy, tattered cloth bag by his bedside and walked toward Small Gravel Mountain behind the village.

In the fourth month of spring, all things were reviving, and the activity of wild animals in the mountains was becoming more frequent.

Small Gravel Mountain was not large and lacked large predators like tigers, leopards, or black bears, but jackals did roam there; the jackals that had attacked Wang the Second previously had come from this mountain.

At the same time, however, there were plenty of herbivores like pheasants and wild rabbits. As evening approached, it was their most active time of day.

Li Beichen's targets were these small game animals.

Passing through the winding mountain paths, Li Beichen entered the outskirts of Small Gravel Mountain. Clutching his tattered cloth bag, he carefully observed everything around him.

Pheasants and wild rabbits liked to move through the bushes, especially pheasants, which were prone to leaving feathers behind on the shrubs. As long as he found these traces, he would likely be able to track down the prey.

Li Beichen moved lightly and cautiously, searching along the edge of the forest.

At this distance, the shrubbery was lush; it was a place where pheasants and wild rabbits frequented, yet it was not so deep within the dense forest as to increase the danger.

Before long, Li Beichen's eyes lit up. In a thicket about ten meters away, a grey-brown female pheasant was pecking at the ground.

Although the female pheasant lacked the vibrant plumage of the male and was smaller in weight, April was the egg-laying season for them; there was a possibility of finding an unexpected harvest in the area where she appeared.

Li Beichen quietly approached the female pheasant while his right hand reached into his tattered cloth pocket to pull out a walnut-sized pebble.

Three steps later, the pheasant was already within ten meters.

Swish! Thud!

Li Beichen gripped the stone tightly between his thumb, middle finger, and index finger, then suddenly flicked his wrist. The stone tore through the air and struck the pheasant directly in the neck. The bird only had time to let out a whimper before its neck went limp and it collapsed to the ground, motionless!

"Hit!"

Li Beichen excitedly stepped forward and picked up the pheasant, weighing it slightly in his hand; it was about two or three jin.

Suddenly, Li Beichen froze.

Because several lines of small text had appeared before his eyes.

Skill: Locust Stone (Elementary)
Progress: (181/200)
Trait: Slightly increases wrist strength. Within ten paces, fixed targets: nine hits out of ten; moving targets: one or two hits out of ten.

Holy crap, a cheat?!

Li Beichen's heart suddenly surged with excitement.

Previously, seeing his incredibly difficult start, he had sometimes hated why he had awakened the memories of his past life; how much better it would have been to just live out his life in ignorant bliss.

But now, with a cheat, the situation was different.

However, looking at these lines of text, Li Beichen had not expected that his skill with throwing stones, which he had practiced since childhood, would only be considered "Elementary" on the panel.

One had to know that back in Bing Province, he had specifically spent half a year learning from a master of the Locust Stone.

Li Beichen calmed his emotions slightly and regained his composure, roughly figuring out the function of the system.

Simply put, it was about grinding proficiency; as long as he kept working hard, he could keep improving!

It was simple, practical, and also powerful!