Days Were Getting Better

The bright moon hung high as Li Beichen walked alone.

Clear Creek Village was not large. Before long, he had walked from the western side of the village to the south, where his shabby thatched hut stood quietly not far away.

After returning home, he first lit a simple fire.

Li Beichen rinsed a handful of rice and added water to cook it.

In the past, he would not have eaten this evening meal.

But now, with skills under his belt and the proficiency panel proving real beyond doubt, he could naturally treat himself a little better.

As the water in the earthen basin bubbled away, Li Beichen did not sit idle. He took out several pebbles.

Although materials for Locust Stones could be found everywhere, the stones in Li Beichen's pouch were all pebbles picked up from the banks of Clear Creek. They were hard enough, but far too round.

A superior stone should be sharp on top and broad at the bottom. Only then would it carry greater killing power when thrown.

Now that he had time, Li Beichen planned to polish several such specially made throwing stones.

When he usually entered the mountains, rabbits and pheasants were one thing. But if he encountered jackals or wolves, such Locust Stones could smash their heads bloody with a single strike.

First, he heated them over the fire, then abruptly plunged them into cold water. Finally, he struck and polished them with another stone.

Clang, clang. Li Beichen polished them carefully. After being heated and soaked, cracks appeared in the pebbles, making it easy to shape them as he needed.

Amid the rhythmic sounds, waves of rice fragrance drifted from the earthen basin.

Li Beichen took the wild vegetables he had casually gathered in the mountains earlier, tore them into several pieces, and tossed them into the rice porridge. After sprinkling in a little salt and pouring in some sesame oil, he had a bowl of fragrant vegetable porridge.

Finally, he cracked in a pheasant egg to finish it off.

After enjoying a satisfying meal, Li Beichen finished polishing the remaining pebbles.

Out of six pebbles, he fashioned four special throwing stones, each about two inches long, sharp on top and broad at the bottom. The other two had shattered into pieces too small to use after heating and soaking.

Once he was done, Li Beichen went outside and continued practicing with his Locust Stones beneath the moonlight.

Summer had not yet arrived, and the cicadas and frogs had yet to awaken. The night was silent as all creation held its breath, broken only by the repeated whistles of Locust Stones tearing through the air.

Only when the moon stood at its zenith and the night had grown deep did Li Beichen stop. He put away the throwing stones, then stretched his arms.

After doing all that, Li Beichen returned to the hut and went straight to sleep.

The next day, while dawn was still dim, Li Beichen rose early again and plunged headfirst into Small Gravel Mountain.

As the sun rose and the moon set, three days passed in the same fashion.

After Li Beichen brought down another wild rabbit in Small Gravel Mountain,

a line of small words appeared before him.

[Skill: Hunting (First Glimpse of the Way)]

[Progress: (0/200)]

[Traits: Skinner, Prey Processing Proficiency, Keen Observation, Prey Tracking Proficiency, Stealth Proficiency, Minor Constitution Boost]

At once, Li Beichen felt his energy return in full, and the strength in his body increased somewhat as well.

Looking at the wild rabbit in his hand, the steps for skinning, tanning, and processing animal hides naturally surfaced in his mind.

Li Beichen raised his gaze toward the dense forest and discovered that his senses had become sharper. He could clearly notice the faint traces left behind by birds and beasts in the woods, and could even identify the direction from which birdsong came.

With the sensation of having grasped everything within the forest, Li Beichen strode deeper into the woods.

Before long, he found bite marks on the leaves within a patch of thick green shrubs.

They were serrated, with uneven edges.

Mountain goats!

"There are mountain goats active nearby!"

Li Beichen's gaze shone like torches. Suppressing his excitement, he picked out an animal trail amid the tangled grass.

Following the trail for another hundred meters, he found dark brown mountain goat droppings.

They were not far now.

Li Beichen continued onward. Before long, three to five black mountain goats abruptly appeared before his eyes.

Mountain goats were swift and possessed great endurance. Li Beichen knew he had only one chance.

He took out a specially polished throwing stone, sharp on top and broad at the bottom.

The Yang Hand was for long-range attacks, but lacked some force. Though the Yin Hand bore the word yin, its actual explosive power was stronger.

To kill with one blow, Li Beichen needed to get within ten paces of the mountain goats.

Fortunately, there were several clumps of shrubs ahead that could conceal his body.

One step, two steps.

Li Beichen slowly drew closer.

The distance was enough!

Li Beichen sharply inhaled, gathering all his strength into his fingers. He suddenly whipped his arm, flicked his wrist, and snapped his fingers, using the Yin Hand technique with all his might.

Whoosh! Bang!

The Locust Stone, sharp on top and broad at the bottom, struck the mountain goat directly in its eye socket.

The black mountain goat, only about a meter long, suffered this severe blow and immediately fled. The other goats scattered in all directions as well.

Li Beichen hurried after it.

The wounded mountain goat was merely a spent arrow at the end of its flight. Struggling to run only made its blood pour out faster, draining its life away all the more quickly.

Sure enough, Li Beichen had not chased it far before he saw the mountain goat lying beside a shrub, barely clinging to life.

He casually lifted a rock as large as an earthen basin from nearby.

Then he smashed it down viciously.

The mountain goat's suffering came to an end.

Li Beichen strained to lift the mountain goat. It weighed more than fifty jin.

This was his greatest haul so far.

But if he wanted to carry it down the mountain, even if his current strength could manage it, he would collapse from exhaustion.

After thinking briefly, Li Beichen found vines and branches and made a simple wooden frame. He secured the mountain goat and his other prey to it, then dragged it down the mountain with vines.

Rather than heading toward Clear Creek Village, he dragged the mountain goat straight to the market.

Although dragging the wooden frame saved him considerable effort, Li Beichen still spent more than half a shichen stopping and starting before finally arriving.

In front of the wild game stall.

"Ho, what a fine mountain goat!"

"Mm, fifty-four jin. At thirty-eight copper coins per jin for the whole carcass, that comes to two thousand and fifty-two copper coins."

"The rest weighs ten jin and four liang, three hundred and twelve copper coins... Let's round it off. Two thousand four hundred copper coins. What do you say, Little Brother Li?"

Shopkeeper Zhang gave him a price readily enough, and Li Beichen did not hesitate.

Taking the money pouch, he found two ingots of Snow White silver inside, along with a string of copper coins.

Feeling the heavy weight in his hand, Li Beichen could not help smiling.

Including what he had earned over the previous days, he now had more than three taels of silver saved up.

With money in hand, it was naturally time to improve his living conditions.

Clothing, food, housing, and travel—clothing came first.

What Li Beichen wore now could not exactly be called ragged, but it was still a torn, worn-out padded jacket.

Before, when he had no money, he could only make do with enough to cover his body. But now, he could go a step further and pursue comfort.

As it happened, right beside the wild game stall was a stall selling cloth and ready-made clothes.

When the Cloth Guild shopkeeper saw Li Beichen approach, his eyes immediately lit up.

He had just watched Li Beichen sell an entire mountain goat and knew he had money in hand. He promptly came forward with great enthusiasm.

"Customer, are you looking to buy cloth or ready-made clothes?"

Generally speaking, when villagers of Clear Creek Village needed new clothes, they bought cloth and had the women of the household make them. That was the most economical way.

But Li Beichen was alone, and he did not want to trouble himself. Spending a little more money was no great matter.

He looked over the neatly arranged garments on the stall.

"How much are hemp clothes, cotton clothes, and brocade clothes?"

"Hemp clothes cost several dozen coins, cotton clothes several hundred, while brocade clothes cost several thousand coins."

After thinking for a moment, Li Beichen chose a short cotton outfit and a hemp outer robe. After bargaining a little, he bought them for four hundred and twenty copper coins.

Using the curtain as cover, he changed out of his patched clothes on the spot.

He wore the short cotton outfit underneath and the hemp robe outside. It was both comfortable and durable, and fit him perfectly.

Afterward, Li Beichen went to the blacksmith's stall and spent six hundred copper coins on a fine iron dagger with a leather sheath. He wore it at his waist, where he could draw the blade at any moment.

His outfit had not exactly turned heaven and earth upside down, but he looked like a completely different person.

Having shed his former slovenliness, Li Beichen now carried something of a young man's spirited air.

The next day, Li Beichen unusually did not enter the mountains to hunt. Instead, he found the village mason and repaired his shabby thatched hut together with him.

Previously, the hut's windows let in wind, its roof leaked whenever it rained, and its table and chairs were merely two chopped wooden stumps used to make do.

Now that the repairs were complete, with bamboo stools, a wooden table, and a wooden bed added, it looked entirely renewed. It could no longer be called shabby at all.

Looking at everything before him, Li Beichen felt, for the first time, what it meant to have a home.