Locust Stone

Li Beichen was very satisfied. He suppressed the urge to grind himself into the dirt on the spot; pheasant eggs were still waiting for him. Li Beichen began searching carefully through the taller shrubbery within several dozen meters.

Usually, pheasants chose places like this to build their nests.

Before long, beneath a tall bush, Li Beichen spotted a hollow padded with grass, leaves, and feathers. Eight pheasant eggs lay neatly arranged inside.

"Two shots, two rings!"

Li Beichen cleaned up his prey, humming a little tune as he continued searching ahead with light steps.

Perhaps his luck had run out. Not until the sky began to dim did Li Beichen discover the tracks of another prey animal—a wild rabbit.

Unfortunately, the rabbit was highly alert. Before Li Beichen could get close, it had already noticed him.

He struck again and again, but his flying stones still failed to hit it.

The progress on the panel, however, advanced another stretch.

But night was approaching, and the mountains were dangerous after dark. Li Beichen had no intention of continuing his search, so he carried the pheasant and hurried down the mountain.

By the time he returned to the dilapidated thatched hut, the sky had completely darkened. Fortunately, the bright moon hung high, scattering its clear radiance, and he could still barely see.

Estimating the hour, Li Beichen took out half the pheasant eggs, shut the door, and headed west through the village.

Wang the Second's family lived in the western part of the village.

"Brother Wang Er! Sister-in-law Wang!"

Seeing that the lamp inside was indeed still lit, Li Beichen knocked on Wang the Second's door.

Upon hearing his voice, a woman with a slightly swollen belly opened the door and leaned out.

"Oh, it's Little Brother Li. What do you need? Wang Er isn't home. There's been a funeral in neighboring Hongshang Village, and they asked him to slaughter a pig."

"Oh, Sister-in-law, I picked these pheasant eggs up in the mountains today. You're with child, so take them and nourish yourself."

Li Beichen handed four pheasant eggs to Sister-in-law Wang.

"Then rest early, Sister-in-law. I'll be heading back now."

With that, Li Beichen took his leave directly.

Sister-in-law Wang did not urge him to stay either. Wang Er was not home, and as a woman alone, it would be inconvenient for her to keep Li Beichen around.

Li Beichen naturally understood that as well.

After returning home, Li Beichen stirred through the firepit where he had cooked the pig offal. A few sparks still remained inside, so he fetched some thin, dry kindling.

He rekindled the dying embers.

Lamp oil was precious. Being poor as a church mouse, he naturally had none.

By the firelight, Li Beichen gutted and cleaned the pheasant he had caught. He planned to smoke it dry so it would keep longer.

Early the next morning, Li Beichen reheated the leftover offal from yesterday. Though it had sat overnight and its gamy stench had grown even stronger, he still ate with great relish.

However, Li Beichen ate only half of it. He drank a large bowl of meat soup and filled his belly with water.

He wanted to save the other half for the afternoon.

In this era, he had long grown accustomed to eating two meals a day, or even just one.

After breakfast, Li Beichen felt that the nourishment from the meat had left his body almost fully recovered from the cold illness.

Originally, according to Li Beichen's plans from yesterday, he should have gone up Small Gravel Mountain again today, continuing to struggle for survival.

But now, Li Beichen looked at the words on the panel.

[Skill: Locust Stone (First Glimpse of the Way)]

[Progress: (185/200)]

He was only a little short of advancing to the next realm.

Sharpening the knife did not delay the cutting of firewood. He planned to grind out this last bit of progress first.

Using charcoal scraps, Li Beichen drew circles of different sizes on the ridge outside the thatched hut. Carrying a tattered cloth sack full of stones, he walked ten paces away and narrowed his eyes.

With a whoosh, he hurled a pebble with a whipping motion, striking dead center in the circle.

A nameless insight surged into his heart. Li Beichen felt that the pebbles in his hand had become even more obedient to his will.

He began repeating the process—throwing stones, picking them up, throwing stones...

When the sun stood at its zenith, Li Beichen's arms were already aching and even beginning to tremble. He put all his strength into throwing the last Locust Stone.

[Skill: Locust Stone (Threshold of Mastery)]

[Progress: (0/500)]

[Trait: Wrist strength greatly increased, physique slightly increased. Within twenty paces, ten out of ten hits against stationary targets; five or six hits out of ten against moving targets.]

In an instant, it was as though some kind of power had been poured into Li Beichen's body. His stamina rose, his cold illness vanished completely, and even the hand that had just been trembling from exhaustion was once more filled with strength.

As for Locust Stone, he had entered another realm as well. Complete insights emerged in his mind.

"Yin Hand, Yang Hand..."

With the Yin Hand, one held the stone with the palm facing down and secretly sent it forth from before the abdomen. It was a close-range technique, sudden and impossible to guard against.

The Yang Hand flung the stone diagonally outward from before the chest toward either side. It was a long-range technique, and also the method Li Beichen had currently mastered best.

Li Beichen immediately retreated another ten paces, switching between Yin Hand and Yang Hand. The stones flew through the air like locusts, striking wherever he pointed, their force greatly increased.

Strong!

With this Locust Stone technique, he would surely gain more when he went hunting on Small Gravel Mountain again.

Li Beichen even felt that if he encountered jackals or wolves, he would have the strength to fight them.

He stopped practicing, gathered the scattered stones from the ground back into the tattered cloth sack, then returned to the thatched hut and wolfed down all the remaining pig offal. He even added an egg for himself.

After eating and drinking his fill, Li Beichen planned to enter Small Gravel Mountain again and test his skills.

It was now noon, and cooking smoke rose from every household in Clear Creek Village.

The farming families who had been working outside had also returned home.

Quite a few people greeted Li Beichen warmly when they saw him.

"Have you eaten? Come have a bite with us!" an old uncle said with a smile.

"I have," Li Beichen replied with a smile.

Even if he had not eaten, he would still have answered that way. If he ate someone else's bowl of food, one person would go without food.

Before entering the mountains, at the eastern end of the village, Li Beichen ran into Zhao Si, a hunter from the same village. They had met before in the mountains.

"Ah, Little Brother Li, you're looking much better. Your cold illness has healed already, then?"

"Yes. Thank you for your concern, Uncle Zhao!"

"Are you planning to head into the mountains to hunt again?"

"That's right! Are you too, Uncle Zhao?"

"I set some traps in the mountains this morning. I'm going to take a look at them now."

Since a chance encounter was better than a planned meeting, the two chatted as they walked up the mountain together.

Suddenly, Li Beichen remembered something.

"Uncle Zhao, I'd like to ask you something. How can one catch more prey while Hunting? You don't need to go into too much detail—just tell me what I ought to pay attention to."

Zhao Si did not make things difficult for him after hearing the question. He took a puff of dry tobacco, pondered for a moment, and said,

"Hunting is nothing more than tracking, concealment, setting traps..."

As Li Beichen walked, he listened to Zhao Si's insights. Before long, several lines of text appeared before his eyes.

[Skill: Hunting (Novice Practice)]

[Progress: (15/100)]

[Trait: None]

"Just as I thought!"

A look of understanding appeared on Li Beichen's face. This panel truly needed a trigger before it could be activated.

Yesterday, he had gone into the mountains to hunt as well, but the panel had not reacted in the slightest. Today, after hearing Zhao Si's insights, [Hunting] had been triggered.

Thinking back on it now, [Locust Stone] had also been recorded in the panel only because he had learned it from someone when he was young.