Harvest from the Wheat Field

The happier he was when hauling in the nets, the more troublesome the harvest became.

Those four funnel nets had all been bursting at the seams, but these nets were not picky eaters at all. They contained all sorts of things—fish, shrimp, crabs, eels, loaches, and even quite a few alien crayfish?

In the end, aside from keeping some large fish to make salted fish, Zhou Ye also had plenty of river shrimp that could be dried into shrimp jerky. Most of the rest was tossed back into the river, while a small portion was not kept for himself either. It was mainly used to feed the wild chickens and ducks.

At this moment, Zhou Ye decided to temporarily suspend his hunting plans. Any more would really just be a waste.

Other than setting traps for bamboo rats in the bamboo grove and occasionally putting out a few funnel nets... right? He would leave everything else until the autumn fishing season.

Next came the training of Basic Archery.

Zhou Ye carried bundle after bundle of finished bamboo arrows out of the storeroom. Using that eight-stone bow, he fired explosive shots into the empty air toward the great river.

The previous winter had been far too boring, so he had probably made several thousand bamboo arrows?

However, when practicing Basic Archery, one had to shoot with full force. In other words, the bow had to be drawn to its limit. Bamboo arrows simply could not withstand that tremendous speed and power; they burst apart and disintegrated midair.

The same went for those wooden-shaft arrows he had bought. They could not withstand the eight-stone bow either and would be ruined after at most two or three shots.

Therefore, in future battles, he would have to use iron-shaft arrows—arrows whose entire shafts were made of iron.

Those iron-shaft arrows were quite expensive. So he might as well put these bamboo arrows to good use as practice! Honestly, it would also reduce the stockpiled clutter in the storeroom.

By now, Basic Archery had reached perfection. In roughly another fifty days, he would be able to grind this martial skill to max level.

So while he had many bamboo arrows, he used several hundred every day. They would last ten-odd days at most. Fortunately, Little Homestead also had considerable stores of fish glue and feathers, which could likewise... reduce the inventory!

There had actually been many areas for improvement in that previous battle.

At such close range, and with his Basic Archery already at major accomplishment, the final result had still been one hit out of three? He really needed to grind it to max level as quickly as possible!

Then there were the fundamental skills. Zhou Ye had finally tasted the sweetness of having a solid foundation.

Take that saber-wielding bandit. His saber was sharper, his strength greater, his mastery of the Ten Military Saber Forms higher, and even his experience in life-or-death combat more abundant.

It was only because his Basic Chopping was maxed out. Well! There was also the fact that his agility far surpassed those ordinary Force-Entry martial artists, along with the bonus from Basic Shield Strike, that he had quickly gained the upper hand in the end.

Therefore, Zhou Ye planned to grind every basic martial skill to max level. Whether they awarded points or not, he would make his foundation even more solid.

In any case, experience for low-grade martial skills now rose much faster. Maxing out one basic martial skill took less than roughly four months. Spending two years laying a strong foundation was absolutely worthwhile.

Over the following days, Zhou Ye stopped fishing and catching birds. Instead, he began gathering medicinal herbs in the mountains and forests.

The areas around Little Homestead were already his own private plots, so he could leave them for later. The herbs were not going to grow legs and run away on their own. In the end, he chose more distant places and explored those relatively unfamiliar regions...

That night, Zhou Ye practiced the Small Wind-Thunder Stance in the courtyard, his qi and blood continuously striking at the acupoints in his spine.

The spine was also called the dragonbone, the great dragon, and so on. In a martial artist's cultivation, it was immensely important. As long as all the acupoints along the entire dragonbone were broken through, one would complete the beginner stage and enter proficiency.

After cultivating for two shichen, Zhou Ye smiled knowingly.

Sure enough, improving his natural endowment had worked wonders. He could now gain 1 experience point every four days, cutting a full day off the time!

Since the effect was so good, should he add another point to his natural endowment?

After thinking it over, Zhou Ye still hesitated somewhat. He only had 5 natural attribute points left. He certainly could add 1 point to his natural endowment, but spending them all at once and having no spare natural attribute points at all left him feeling uneasy!

So he would hold off for now. He would wait until he ground out a few more points, or until Basic Archery gave him its max-level reward.

Next came the autumn harvest season.

But Zhou Ye found it rather amusing. In truth, he no longer needed the wheat from these two mu of land. He was merely following old habits, wanting to see things through from beginning to end.

Since there was no need to continue crop rotation, the harvest took only one day. However, the drought had indeed had some effect. In the end, the grain harvested from the two mu did not even amount to 600 jin.

The matter of the farmland was finally wrapped up, and Zhou Ye resumed gathering medicinal herbs. Other goods were restricted in one way or another, but medicinal herbs could be turned into cash the fastest.

After all, Zhou Ye would no longer be so "careful and cautious" in his upcoming cultivation. He would definitely need plenty of supplementary medicinal ingredients, as well as medicinal baths to assist the Body Tempering Method. Added to that was the massive amount of food required to replenish his qi and blood—it was nothing but constantly burning money...

A few days later, Zhou Ye discovered a clump of Dragon Root on a hillside and happily gathered the herbs into his basket.

However, just then, he suddenly spotted several black dots at the foot of the mountain. They turned out to be a huge black bear, followed by two lively bear cubs.

Zhou Ye had no intention of hunting it. Mainly, he did not want to waste those few iron-shaft arrows.

Whenever Zhou Ye went into the wild now, the arrows he carried always included three iron-shaft arrows, five wooden-shaft arrows coated in snake venom, and more than twenty other wooden-shaft arrows.

Although wooden-shaft arrows could not withstand such tremendous force, he did not need to draw the bow fully. Much of the time, drawing it to seventy or eighty percent was enough.

Strangely enough, the big black bear hid the two cubs behind a boulder. It had clearly noticed Zhou Ye as well and let out several roars, as if issuing a threat. Yet after roaring a few times, the big black bear ran toward the forest behind it without even looking back?

"Hmm?"

Zhou Ye grew curious. Ignoring the two mischievous cubs, he activated his high agility and followed from a distance...

A quarter of an hour later, Zhou Ye nearly burst out laughing.

A swarm of bees buzzed and darted through the air, chasing after the big black bear and stinging it. To his surprise, even while fleeing, the big black bear did not forget to lick a few mouthfuls of honey from its paw?

It fled all the way back to where the cubs were hiding, then stuffed the honey into the mouths of the two little ones...

"Eh?" There was honey here?

After looking around, Zhou Ye discovered a valley in the mountains. Flowers bloomed throughout it, forming a sea of blossoms. There were actually quite a few beehives in the valley; this place had become a paradise for bees.

In that case, I'll be a honey thief for once too!