Hack, Hack, Hack!

Morning, at the edge of the forest.

Whoosh—

A breeze stirred the fallen leaves and bits of debris as Chen Guan's footwork carried him through a blade dance.

Chen Guan held a rusty broken blade and practiced a set of basic blade techniques.

In other words: "lift, hook, thrust, slash."

The first manual Constable Yan had given him was a blade technique manual.

And he had found this broken blade in the forest.

It was a little over thirty centimeters long, with a hilt about twenty centimeters long.

Judging by the thickness of the blade and its spine, it had probably been an ordinary tang dao or something similar before it broke.

In his previous life, Chen Guan had enjoyed reading about different kinds of blades, so he had some basic knowledge of how to tell them apart.

"I was in such a hurry to run away from home yesterday that I forgot to grab a blade on the way out."

Chen Guan practiced for a while, but stopped when he saw [Proficiency +1].

He was out in the forest now.

He needed to conserve his strength, not train until he was completely exhausted.

But the talent for Basic Blade Technique also gave Chen Guan a hard-to-describe new feeling of control over blades.

It was like how, in his previous life, a blade might feel awkward when he tried to use it. He would never know how to make his moves, and the blade always felt a little "heavy."

Now, though, he felt a strange sense of extension.

It was as if the blade in his hand had become part of his body.

Like a blade master who had trained for years and built a solid foundation in blade techniques.

It matched the first effect listed in the trait: [You have a natural familiarity with ordinary bladed weapons.]

More importantly—

When Chen Guan had been a black bear and tried to read Constable Yan's blade technique manual, he had found it impossible to focus.

It was like memorizing schoolbooks or doing reading comprehension exercises.

But now that he had the Basic Blade Technique talent, it was as if his attention had been boosted.

That was the second effect: [You learn ordinary blade technique manuals slightly faster.]

With this effect—

He could read a complicated manual with relish, like playing a game and being willing to "focus" on understanding its mechanics.

And because he was interested—

He naturally got twice the result with half the effort, and learned faster.

In a way—

His "comprehension" had improved.

Add in the first effect, his mastery of ordinary blades—

This Basic Blade Technique talent was genuinely outrageous.

It had turned him into a "little genius of the blade" in one leap.

And this wasn't something that would last for "just this one life." He could keep "passing it down," and keep training it to higher levels.

Chen Guan was brimming with excitement. When he realized he still had plenty of strength left, he practiced another set.

Noon.

Chen Guan was lost.

He really couldn't remember how he had gotten to the Dilapidated Temple before.

Back then, he had been at the edge of the forest, being chased by the constable and the others.

Then he had just run around blindly. Even when he'd later looked for the Dilapidated Temple, he'd wandered aimlessly.

And in the end—

During the half month he'd spent at the Dilapidated Temple, he hadn't gone very far. At most, he'd traveled within a ten-li radius.

So—

Now—

Chen Guan stood atop a high mound outside the forest, gazing deep into the mountains.

Looking out over the rolling wilderness—

He truly couldn't make anything out.

"Should I... go look for Constable Yan?"

Chen Guan had come up with a solution that wasn't much of a solution.

As for what to say when he found him, if all else failed, he could reveal that he was the reincarnation of a Black Bear Spirit, or that he could transform into human form.

Chen Guan didn't know if that would work. He just felt like it would probably cause plenty of problems.

After all, he wasn't very capable of defending himself right now.

At the end of the day, he was only a seven-year-old child.

"Forget it!"

Chen Guan thought it over, then decided he should look for the Dilapidated Temple himself first. Otherwise, if he really ran into Constable Yan, the man might think he'd run away from home and was making up a whole story.

Then Constable Yan would take him back home, wasting even more time.

The following night.

Chen Guan sat in a cave in the forest, staring at the fire that stubbornly refused to catch. He found himself missing home a little.

"Rubbing sticks together to make a fire is so hard.

I should've brought a fire starter when I left home."

Chen Guan was very frustrated.

He hadn't eaten any cooked food in the past two days. He'd been getting by entirely on fruit that looked something like apples.

"I've got meat, but I can't eat it."

Chen Guan eyed the carcasses of two pheasants beside him, longing for a taste.

Eating them raw didn't seem like a good idea.

This body was too small, and he wasn't a bear anymore.

Who knew if he'd end up in his next life after eating them?

There were still plenty of things he hadn't dealt with in this life.

And he hadn't trained his talents much yet.

If his next life began as a baby again, or the young of some beast, that would only delay his development even more.

Thinking it over—

Chen Guan decided he should keep traveling. As long as he kept walking and moving, he wouldn't have so many idle thoughts.

"What? You can't find him?"

That night.

At the Zhao Family's main hall.

Patriarch Zhao glared angrily at the two household guards inside the hall.

"If you can't find him, then keep looking! Take more people with you!"

"Yes..."

The two guards didn't dare say anything. They could only bow and back away. Once they reached the hall's entrance, they gathered the servants and continued searching for the Fifth Young Master.

Just then—

Fourth Madam, who had been busy outside the hall, walked in with small, quick steps.

In the firelight—

Even though she had given birth, she still had an attractive figure and appearance. She edged close to Patriarch Zhao as if trying to coax him.

"My lord~

Perhaps the Fifth Young Master just went out to clear his head. Don't let it upset you."

Fourth Madam knew that her lord had never liked the Fifth Young Master because of "Third Sister" dying after childbirth. He even resented the boy a little.

She wanted to use the opportunity to bring up the matter and see if she could get the Fifth Young Master's little house for herself, too.

After all, the Fifth Young Master's sudden departure from home seemed to have infuriated her lord.

Earlier, she had also used her own child's lack of a caretaker as an excuse, coaxing him into giving her the Fifth Young Master's wet nurse and one of his maids.

And she'd succeeded.

She still had plenty of confidence.

But now—

Seeing Fourth Madam's pitiful, coaxing expression and the way she seemed intent on making an issue of the Fifth Young Master, Patriarch Zhao spoke each word distinctly:

"No matter how much I despise him, he is still a member of the Zhao Family. As long as I'm alive, he'll always have a hot meal to eat.

"But you...

"Want him dead?

"Get out!"

Late at night.

Somewhere in the forest.

"Awooo~"

The wolves' howls rang nearby, making the group of traveling merchants huddle together tightly in the clearing and pin all their hopes on the bonfire among them.

"Brother Wang... there seem to be wolves around..."

"Quick, get your weapons..."

"I've never heard of wolves around here..."

The merchants were panicking. They looked toward the direction the howls had come from.

"Brother Wang, should we... leave? We should stop taking the shortcut."

"Yeah, we're not far from the edge of the forest. Let's get out first and continue on at daybreak."

"Right... Even if we don't run into wolves, if we run into bandits, we'll have no chance of escaping."

As they spoke, they quickly got to their feet and hurriedly grabbed their goods and a few torches.

The wolves were getting closer.

If the pack caught up with them, they might need the torches to drive them away.

But just as they had picked up their baggage and torches, before they could leave—

"Awooo!"

The wolves nearby suddenly let out cries and low growls, accompanied by the chaotic sound of feet trampling branches.

As the merchants watched warily, the sounds grew fewer and fewer in a mere twenty seconds.

"What... is going on?"

"Those wolves... it sounds like they've all gone quiet. Did they run off, or were they killed by some other beast...?"

Before half a minute had passed, before the merchants could recover—

Rustle, rustle—

The bushes parted to either side, and a boyish-faced youth emerged from the forest, carrying a blood-dripping, rusty broken blade.

Beneath the clear moonlight—

Chen Guan's face was smeared with wolf blood. Only two rows of crooked baby teeth, still fairly white, were visible as he held the broken blade in reverse and cupped his fist. The bloodied blade rested against the inside of his arm as he smiled at the terrified merchants.

"My name is Chen Guan. Greetings, everyone."