Winter Hunt Rules, Arriving on Horseback
Leaking Bottle Alley's hunter, Li Father, had run up an enormous gambling debt before he died. Everything valuable in the house had already been plundered.
The most valuable things were the hunter's bow and arrows.
Back then, unable to bear the thought of the bow and arrows falling into someone else's hands, Li Xian buried them in a mountain forest.
Now, following his memory, he made his way to that forest.
After making sure no one was nearby, Li Xian crouched down and brushed aside the dirt with his hands. He dug for over a quarter of an hour...
"Found it!"
He spotted a wooden box.
A bow and arrows buried in the soil would be corroded and eaten by insects. They needed to be kept in a wooden box to be buried for a long time.
He pulled out the box and knocked open its iron clasp. A longbow came into view, as familiar as ever.
"Old friend, I never thought I'd see you again."
Li Xian sighed.
The trees in the surrounding forest all belonged to someone. Li Xian had thought he would never be able to draw a bow and hunt again in this life.
He hadn't expected... One Accord Manor to have an event like the Winter Hunt.
The wooden bow was decorated with animal fur.
They were all furs from the beasts Li Xian had hunted, which he had stuck onto the bow as keepsakes.
Li Xian raised the wooden bow.
[Skill: Archery]
[Proficiency: 997/1000 Proficiency]
[Description: You can shoot standing, on the run, or while jumping without difficulty. You can strike accurately even in complex terrain. Hunting deer and tigers is a piece of cake.]
Li Xian had mastered Archery long before activating "Heaven Rewards Diligence."
The moment he picked up the bow, a strange sensation welled up within him. With every breath, it was as if he and the bow had become one.
"To shoot well, one must first train the body."
"The body is the bow, the tendons are the string."
"Keep your breathing steady..."
"The eyes are actually secondary."
There were three wooden arrows in the box as well. Li Xian nocked one with practiced ease and let it fly. With a whoosh, it shot away.
The arrow flew several miles and accurately struck a falling leaf.
[Natural Arrow Intent, a born sharpshooter, Proficiency +15]
[Skill: Archery]
[Proficiency: 12/1500 Minor Accomplishment]
[Description: Your arrows fly like shuttles, becoming more accurate, faster, and fiercer! You have comprehended Arrow Breathing. By controlling your breathing rhythm, you can sharpen your Five Senses.]
Li Xian's eyes lit up. He nocked another arrow and drew the bow, slowing his breathing... Everything in his eyes seemed to move more slowly.
His ears twitched, and he could hear the faint buzz of a fly's wings. A glance was enough for him to spot the muscles contracting and the shifts in posture of a distant elk as it ran...
From that, he could predict where it would next set its hoof.
His fingers relaxed, and the arrow flew from the string, shooting straight into the arrow he had fired before.
With a crack,
The second arrow split the first.
The gap between the two arrows could not have been greater. It looked like a step from [Proficiency] to [Minor Accomplishment], but in truth, a chasm lay between them.
Li Xian's Archery had been stuck at this point for years. He had been unable to reach Major Accomplishment, held back by a bottleneck.
Now, that bottleneck had been broken through with such ease.
Seven days later, dawn broke over Bear-Tiger Mountain.
The sky looked somewhat gloomy, with wisps of dark cloud seeming to gather.
The terrain here was unique, a geomantic configuration that nurtured fierce beasts and savage creatures.
Though it was the depths of winter, the forest here grew thick and lush. Even beneath the snow, the greenery had not withered.
Standing at the entrance to Bear-Tiger Mountain,
He gazed inside, at a loss for words. The scenery of spring and winter had melded together. It seemed breathtakingly beautiful, but when he looked farther into the dim depths of the forest, he couldn't help shivering.
Not to mention...
The roars of bears and tigers that rang out from time to time made his heart and lungs tremble.
"Last time, you asked me how to get into the Idle Martial Pavilion."
"Now you have your answer."
Pang Long wore fitted clothes and carried a massive bow on his back. His rugged features were full of excitement.
The Winter Hunt was the liveliest event at the manor each year.
Because the Madam liked it.
Li Xian had seen the Madam once. Judging by her appearance alone, she was dignified and graceful, serene and noble—not someone who seemed to enjoy hunting.
"Commander Pang, you mean..."
"That's right, the Winter Hunt. You'll find out soon enough."
Pang Long stretched his muscles and bones. His flesh and blood popped all over. He had put his all into preparing for this Winter Hunt.
"By the way, your bow looks rather unusual."
Pang Long noticed Li Xian's wooden bow. "Does it have a name? Mine's called the Giant Stone Bow. It has a draw weight of five stone."
Li Xian clicked his tongue inwardly.
Wouldn't an arrow from that bow split a tree and turn its prey into minced meat? How could that count as "hunting"?
"My bow is called the Deer-Shooting Bow. It's only two stone, but that'll do," Li Xian said with a smile.
"A two-stone bow... A little weak, but not bad."
The two chatted a little longer. They saw that the manor's Guards taking part in the Winter Hunt had all arrived one after another. Pang Long shouted three times, gathering all the Guards before him.
Every year, the Guards could take part in the Winter Hunt.
But the Grade-D House Guards had to go in batches. They couldn't all rush into Bear-Tiger Mountain at once.
Li Xian spotted several familiar faces.
Hua Hanying, Fang Tianyu, Jiang Yun, and the others had all arrived. They carried different bows and arrows, all of rather fine quality.
"The Madam has issued her orders."
"The rewards for this year's Winter Hunt are generous."
"Shoot a deer, and you'll be rewarded with seven hundred copper coins. Shoot a tiger, and you'll receive one tael and two mace. Shoot a bear, and you'll receive one tael and five mace."
"As for ordinary small beasts, the reward will depend on the circumstances."
"Those who shoot three deer will receive an additional Deer Blood Pill."
"Those who shoot three tigers will be allowed into the Idle Martial Pavilion to choose a martial art, and will also receive a Tiger Blood Pill."
"Those who shoot three bears will receive an additional Bear Gallbladder Pill, and their Guard rank will be raised by one grade."
"If you're already a Grade-A House Guard, you'll receive a different reward."
Pang Long read out the Winter Hunt rules. The Guards' eyes burned as they listened.
"Wild deer are rare, and every part of one is useful. They're worth at least a dozen taels. When all's said and done, these so-called rewards are just a little grease trickling out from between the Madam's fingernails."
Li Xian kept thinking about the reward money.
But then he thought about it: the entire mountain belonged to the Madam. The deer, tigers, and bears in the mountain... naturally belonged to the Madam too.
"Commander Pang, tigers, deer, and bears are huge. Even if we hit one, it'd be difficult to carry it back from the mountain, wouldn't it?" Li Xian asked.
"That's no concern. Just listen to the rest."
Pang Long continued, "According to the Madam's rules, Grade-A House Guards will receive twenty Swiftfeather Arrows, Grade-B House Guards fifteen, and Grade-C House Guards ten."
"As for Grade-D House Guards, they only get five Swiftfeather Arrows. Only prey struck by a Swiftfeather Arrow counts as a true catch."
"But you can bring your own bows and arrows to harass the prey. Whoever kills it first with a Swiftfeather Arrow gets to keep it."
"The Madam doesn't like cheating, so don't think you can fool her. Who is the Madam, you ask? Just by looking at the arrow marks, she can tell where you shot from and how you killed your prey."
Pang Long praised the Madam some more.
At last, he took out dozens of small "pouches."
"These are called Meat-Shrinking Bags. They're made from the stomachs of Gluttonous Pythons. Once you've caught your prey, just wrap it in a Meat-Shrinking Bag. Then use your Inner Qi to activate it, and the prey will shrink to the size of a fist."
Li Xian was stunned when he heard this.
He remembered that when the Madam had killed the Snow Demon Monkey in the snowstorm last time, its corpse had vanished in the blink of an eye.
She must have used one of these to pack away the Snow Demon Monkey.
As they were handing out the [Meat-Shrinking Bags], the Madam rode up from a distance.