The Harvest Was Decent

A few miles away.

Dragging the tiger's corpse, Chen Guan headed leisurely toward the Dilapidated Temple beneath the setting sun.

Today's haul had been plentiful.

Three manuals, more than half a tiger's worth of meat, and all of its bones.

This meat would be enough to fuel two days of practice.

Training to increase his proficiency consumed a lot of energy.

As he trained more and more, Chen Guan had clearly noticed that he was eating more and more.

Especially at the moment his proficiency increased, and for an hour afterward.

He could feel his stomach and intestines churning, rapidly absorbing fat and the food in his belly.

His muscles were also tingling and itching as they grew.

Half a month ago, when the constable and the others had pursued him, he'd still been a little fat, and he hadn't hunted for food along the way.

As his proficiency increased and his physique improved,

his reserve fat had been used up considerably.

In other words, he'd slimmed down.

If I ever can't find food, I should start storing energy on ordinary days.

Chen Guan had already made a plan.

Eat, eat, eat; train, train, train.

A black bear's natural ability to store fat was a powerful inborn gift.

It could sustain high-intensity training.

Chen Guan had also noticed something else.

It seemed he'd grown five or six centimeters over the past half month.

He was now around two meters and sixty centimeters tall.

It looked like improving his physique could also make his body bigger.

Chen Guan thought that was pretty good.

Being big and tall made him look more imposing.

Over the next few days,

Chen Guan finished reading all the manuals.

Thanks to the annotations, they weren't too difficult to learn.

He just had to follow the instructions.

Although many of the methods for circulating inner force were written for ordinary people,

he could still learn the body-training and combat techniques.

Using those moves,

Chen Guan felt his fighting strength had increased a little, and the results of his training had improved significantly as well.

That meant he had to practice them until they were even more familiar.

If he ever reincarnated as a human, he could follow the instructions and train.

Grrr...

That day, while Chen Guan was striking strange poses in the courtyard behind the Dilapidated Temple, his stomach rumbled again.

At the same time, a notification appeared: [Talent Proficiency +1]

"Now it takes about twenty pounds of meat to increase my proficiency by one point."

Chen Guan glanced at it, then looked toward the Dilapidated Temple.

"Brother!"

Xiao Qing had been crouching by the doorway, watching her brother train. When she saw him looking over, she used her powers to send a large piece of wild boar meat in front of him.

It was cool inside the Dilapidated Temple, which helped keep food fresh for longer.

After hunting, Chen Guan usually left the food with his younger sister.

It also gave her a chance to practice controlling her abilities.

"Roar."

Chen Guan first thanked his sister, then grabbed the large piece of meat and began devouring it, savoring every bite.

Nowadays, to maintain a rate of seven or eight proficiency points a day,

he needed at least 160 pounds of meat.

But Chen Guan generally ate around 180 pounds, storing the rest as fat for energy.

With the deliberate effort, the rapid consumption of his proficiency, and the fat conversion he shared with bears,

after many days of storing energy,

Chen Guan's build had become especially strong.

Compared with the other black bears in the forest, which stood two meters tall, he was a whole size bigger.

With the strength of a burly, heavily built ancient warrior, he could easily knock the other black bears flat on their backs.

If he ran on all fours, he might as well have been a little tank.

Chen Guan liked the feeling of being so powerful.

Then he would keep training.

Ten days later.

The sky was cloudless.

Little Liuzi Town was bustling with activity.

"Wooden pendants, wooden pendants..."

"Fresh venison..."

Merchants with shoulder poles called out as they wandered through the streets and alleys.

"Shopkeeper, how much is this jewelry?"

Merchants and young masters and ladies also stopped now and then at roadside stalls.

"Fine weather today..." Seeing the beautiful weather, most passersby and locals were happily strolling through the market.

Today was the annual autumn harvest.

For the next few days, the lively market would continue.

Many unmarried young women and young men would also attend the autumn lantern-riddle festival that evening. Perhaps they'd meet the person they would spend the rest of their lives with.

This midyear "Autumn Harvest Festival" was a traditional holiday passed down through the generations, second only to the New Year at the turn of the year.

Amid the lively bustle, while almost everyone was in high spirits,

outside an inn on the edge of town,

Bandit Brother sat by the bridge, ignoring the flirtatious couples on it as he glowered at the inn ahead.

His buried treasure was beneath this inn.

But back when he buried it, this place had still been outside town. There was no bridge, and no inn.

Now, with the dynasty at peace and the town expanding and developing,

this area had become part of Little Liuzi Town.

"Damn it... Do I really have to dig it up?"

Bandit Brother was troubled. Based on his experience, he knew it wouldn't be easy.

After spending days scouting the area, he had realized it was far too busy.

There was not only an inn, but also a brothel, a music hall, a teahouse, and a fairly respectable gambling den.

This whole entertainment district had plenty of skilled martial artists keeping watch or looking for fun.

If he started digging and drew someone's attention, who would end up with the money?

No one could say for sure.

But he was even less willing to give up.

He hadn't heard of anyone finding the treasure, buried more than thirty feet underground, while the inn was being built.

That proved his fortune was still there.

"I'll have to think this through..."

After mulling it over for a few moments, Bandit Brother came up with a plan that seemed workable.

He would get a job at the inn as a waiter or servant.

Then he'd find a chance to dig, little by little.

"I dug a tunnel for three years. This stretch won't make a difference..."

Bandit Brother decided to keep his head down and carry on digging.

Especially since the constable had returned recently, increased patrols outside town and in the surrounding area, and posted notices in nearby villages and towns, seemingly looking for him.

He planned to keep hiding.

The most dangerous place was the safest.

Bandit Brother decided to hide in plain sight.

Whoosh...

He felt the short blade tucked in his sleeve, then leaned slightly over the bridge and looked at his bearded face reflected in the water.

Tonight, he would shave his beard, knock out a few teeth in the back on either side, and change his appearance.

Two more days passed.

Five hundred miles from the Dilapidated Temple.

Hulin Mountain.

Inside a cave,

a giant tiger, five meters tall, sat on a boulder, looking down at a trembling leopard.

"Wuwu..." The three-meter leopard trembled as if trying to say something.

"What?"

The giant tiger was astonished. It spoke in a human voice. "You're saying my white-browed concubine is dead?"

"Wuwu..." The leopard trembled and spoke again.

As it spoke, it took out a few scraps of cloth, each bearing the scent of one of two kinds of blood.

One belonged to an old man.

The other had been left behind when Chen Guan was injured that day.

Although the blood had dried on the soil and rocks,

the leopard cultivated water, so it could use water spiritual energy to extract some of the scent.

"A human, and... a bear?" The giant tiger caught their scents.

"Wuwu..." The leopard hurriedly nodded, explaining that it hadn't found Chen Guan at the time.

On the way back that day, Chen Guan had washed his wound in the river and applied medicine, dispersing his scent.

"Wuwu..."

After finishing its explanation, the leopard looked at its king in terror, afraid the king would kill it the very next second.

It was supposed to protect the king's concubine.

But a month ago, it had lost track of her.

It wasn't until more than ten days ago that it approached a narrow crevice between the rocks and followed the faint traces of her scent to the crime scene.

From the vast patches of blood, and the traces of brain matter that had long since dried up and been eaten by insects,

it determined that the king's concubine had left the world of the living.

"Wuwu... Please spare me, Your Majesty..."

It was begging for mercy now, gazing pitifully at the giant tiger.

But inside, it was on high alert. If the king so much as twitched, it would run.

Of course, it could have chosen not to come back in the first place.

But if it had, the king would surely have hunted it down.

The king knew its scent and commanded more than a dozen Chang Ghosts who could travel a hundred miles in a day.

Finding it wouldn't be difficult.

But after hearing it plead for mercy, the giant tiger shook its head and said:

"What kind of demon do you take me for?

I am Tiger Immortal!

So what if a concubine is dead? I still have seven others.

You needn't fear that I'll blame you.

We've been brothers for years. A concubine isn't worth this."

"Wuwu!" The leopard heard its king's words and kowtowed repeatedly. Its heart filled with gratitude, and its wariness fell by several notches.

But the next second,

Tiger Immortal suddenly sprang from the stone platform. Its sharp claws shot out, slicing off the leopard's head with a single swipe.

Grrr...

The leopard's head, still wearing a relieved expression, rolled a long way.

Tiger Immortal tore out the leopard's heart and liver and stuffed them into its basin-sized mouth.

"I only said I wouldn't blame you. I never said I wouldn't kill you."

After eating the leopard's heart and liver,

Tiger Immortal returned to his place on the stone platform and began refining the leopard's heart essence.

Two days passed.

Only then did Tiger Immortal let out a long breath, tinged with a fishy smell.

"I raised my concubine for decades. She was on the verge of gaining spiritual awareness and could have produced heart essence to serve as a medicinal primer for my cultivation.

"Now that she's dead, I'll just have to use you for my cultivation instead.

"Put yourself in my shoes, and I won't blame you. Don't blame me, either."

Tiger Immortal thought to himself. He took out a piece of rag, sniffed it, then looked toward the rocks the leopard had mentioned.

"Anyone who can kill my concubine is qualified to become my next medicinal primer—and to put yourself in my shoes."