The uproar outside the courtyard was like muffled thunder before a summer downpour, each wave louder than the last as it slipped through the old wooden door into the house.
Ning Chuan leaned against the door. The soreness and numbness in his right arm had eased by more than half under the nourishment of the First Soul Skill, but the mental exhaustion still came over him in wave after wave.
His mother, Liu Lan, paced restlessly inside the room, occasionally peering through the crack in the door. The color had yet to fully return to her face.
His younger sister, Ning Xiaohe, pressed tightly against Ning Chuan. One moment, she peeked through the gap at the noisy courtyard; the next, she looked at the completely dead boar on the cart.
Ning Chuan closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. The air still carried the heavy stench of blood from the boar, mingled with the sweat and earthy scent of the villagers outside.
All kinds of voices reached his ears clearly:
"Unbelievable! Truly unbelievable! That Ning Family boy is going to soar into the heavens!"
"Look at those tusks! Good heavens, that beast must have become a spirit!"
"Dazhuang, give us the details. How did you bring it back? Did Xiaochuan do it alone?"
"How much meat must that be... Enough for a family to eat all winter, right?"
"The hide is worth money too, and those tusks could fetch a good price..."
Envy, jealousy, curiosity, calculation... all kinds of emotions surrounded the small Ning Family courtyard.
Ning Chuan knew that today's matter would not end easily.
That boar had brought more than just meat. It had brought a storm.
If they handled it badly, the Ning Family might be pushed from being an unnoticed farming household straight into the eye