A New Crisis

Great Wilderness Mountain, eastern mountain range.

Between the mountains, morning light pierced the mist, gentle breezes melted the frost and snow, and a hundred flowers competed in spring splendor.

From the vast forested ravines came the sound of someone singing loudly.

"Azure clouds drift deep into the mountains, rainbow mists beyond the heavens hide the rivers.

Half a life bound by fame and fortune, better to sing aloud and drink in joy."

A ferocious beast with a wolf's head and tiger's body raced through the forest, pursued by five wolf-riding youths.

"Feng Xu, you're spouting nonsense again. You're only sixteen this year—how can it be 'half a life' already?"

Kunmu, riding at the very back, shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Hehe, it's better if you don't understand. If even you guys could understand it, how would it show how profound my learning is?"

The youth in the middle burst into laughter.

"Who said I didn't understand? You want to treat us to drinks, right, Jiang Ming?"

"That's right, that's exactly what it means. Feng Xu, you can't go back on your word."

Jiang Ming immediately caught on, and the others chimed in as well.

"Fine, you little brats have been eyeing it for so long. Alright, if you shoot this ferocious beast first today, I'll let you taste my Two-Liang Immortal."

The so-called Two-Liang Immortal was a liquor that would make an ordinary person lose their senses after just two liang, sending them into a state of shameless self-praise.

"We're counting on you, Lin Feng. You have to take down that pig thief before Feng Xu makes his move."

Tie Zhao, the youngest of them, shouted at the youth in front.

"Alright, leave it to me."

Lin Feng agreed confidently. He tugged the reins and lightly patted the gray wolf beneath him on the neck, urging it to accelerate.

The ferocious beast was gradually running out of strength. Once Lin Feng entered range, he drew his bow and nocked an arrow.

Whoosh—

Just as Lin Feng was about to fire, an arrow suddenly flew out from behind him, carrying a wisp of watery vapor as it grazed past him.

The beast was struck in the hind leg, abruptly lost its balance, and tumbled to the ground.

The arrow Lin Feng reflexively released sailed right past it.

Whoosh, whoosh—

Two more arrows struck its vital points in quick succession, and the beast finally stopped breathing.

"Feng Xu, you cheated!"

Lin Feng stopped beside the beast's corpse and shouted indignantly.

"Fair, just, and open. I shot that prey fair and square, so how can you call it cheating?"

Feng Xu spread his hands. Seeing Lin Feng's furious expression and the others' disappointment, he looked positively delighted.

"Looks like some people won't be getting any drinks."

With a casual gesture from Feng Xu, the three arrows pulled themselves free from the beast and flew back into his hand.

"The Dragon-Snake Bow and Mysterious Feather Arrows you use are both magical artifacts. Of course they shoot farther than mine."

Lin Feng was clearly unconvinced.

"You only figured that out now? I didn't shoot earlier because I was giving you a chance. Too bad I gave you a chance, and you were useless!"

"You!"

Lin Feng turned away, unwilling to keep arguing.

"Alright, alright. Let's just say you hunted it."

"What do you mean, 'let's just say'? Don't insult me like that."

Feng Xu jumped onto Lin Feng's mount and, before Lin Feng could react, took three arrows from his quiver.

He walked over to the beast and stuck them into its wounds.

"This beast was hunted by you. Happy now?"

Feng Xu said with a smile.

"Then it's settled. You have to treat us to drinks."

Tie Zhao said eagerly.

"Dream on. I'm letting you take the credit, and you still want my liquor? No chance!"

"Then there's not much point in you giving it to us."

Lin Feng muttered with a pout.

"Just tell me whether you want it or not. When we get back, we'll all keep our stories straight—this prey was caught by Lin Feng."

The others looked at one another before finally choosing to tacitly agree.

Lin Feng hoisted the beast onto his back and climbed onto the wolf again, filled with soaring pride as though he had truly hunted it himself.

"If Feng Xu hadn't cheated, this prey would have been mine anyway."

The young men rode their wolves back.

On the way back, Jiang Ming moved closer to Feng Xu and lowered his voice.

"What a fine method, Headmaster. Not only do you get others to do the work, you even make them do it willingly."

"Jiang Ming, don't slander me. Do I look like that kind of person?"

Feng Xu glanced at the people ahead. Seeing that they did not seem to notice their conversation, he deliberately slowed down.

"Bai Hao has powerful demon blood. Among the tribe's dogs, Bai Hao is the fastest and has the most endurance. Yet you stayed behind Lin Feng the whole time. You did that on purpose, didn't you, Bai Hao?"

Bai Hao was Little White. Since Little White had grown into a large dog, Feng Xu felt it should have a more formal name.

Jiang Ming leaned halfway off his mount and lightly patted Bai Hao on the head.

Bai Hao gave a chuckle, which was as good as admitting it.

The tribe's spoils were all distributed collectively. If Feng Xu wanted to, he had authority over the distribution as well.

So it did not matter much who the prey belonged to. The power was in Feng Xu's hands, while Lin Feng could at most put on a show.

Meanwhile, Feng Xu could save himself the effort of carrying the prey back.

To let more people know about it, Lin Feng deliberately took a detour down the mountain to the rice fields, pretending to be merely passing by.

He also took the opportunity to mooch a lunch.

"Caught this pig thief today and happened to pass by here. Keep working, don't mind me."

"Oh, you have no idea how fierce this thing was. Luckily, my archery is so superb that I managed to take down this villain."

"Hehe, my archery is only so-so. I'm just a tiny bit better than Feng Xu."

"Sigh, such a large prey. How long will it take to finish eating it?"

As the sun set behind the western hills, the five returned to Vermilion Ridge.

Vermilion Ridge was Wild Boar Ridge. Feng Xu thought Wild Boar Ridge sounded unpleasant, so he changed the name.

They handed the prey over to the patrol team and hurried back to Bamboo Mountain Academy.

Bamboo Mountain Academy, as its name suggested, was planted full of bamboo.

The bamboo had been transplanted from near the Marsh Tribe. Six years later, it had spread across several nearby mountains.

Bamboo Mountain Academy, rear courtyard study.

Feng Yuqi looked at the four students who had skipped class for the entire day without saying a word.

Beside her, Feng Xu kept his head lowered as he flipped through a dictionary.

When the academy had been established two years ago, Feng Xu had already made white paper and bound it into books.

At present, there were only two books. One was the Record of the Great Wilderness, which documented all kinds of things from the Primordial World. It was both the first book in the Primordial World and the first encyclopedia.

The other was the Great Wilderness Dictionary, which mainly recorded the characters Feng Xu had created. It already contained more than five thousand characters.

It included not only annotations, but also relatively standardized pinyin.

The textbooks used at Bamboo Mountain Academy were all selected from these two books.

"Why is no one saying anything? Have you all gone mute?"

Feng Yuqi leaned back in her chair and looked at them. Though she was not angry, she exuded authority.

"Lin Feng, weren't you feeling quite proud just now? You skipped class for a day and hunted a ferocious beast. Think you've become impressive? Did you really kill that beast? I'll give you one chance. Tell the truth."

"Teacher, I really did kill it. I even made a bet with the Headmaster. If I won, I could drink liquor..."

"You still dare drink liquor!"

Feng Yuqi suddenly raised her voice, making the people beside her shudder.

Feng Xu covered his mouth and snickered. This fool. The academy rules forbid drinking, yet he still exposed himself.

"I said nothing about them mentioning you. Did you think that meant you were fine?"

Feng Yuqi turned to look at Feng Xu.

"Ah, how does this involve me too?"

Feng Xu replied awkwardly.

"As the Headmaster, it would be one thing if you failed to set an example, but you even led students into skipping class. Is that how a Headmaster should behave? How are we supposed to teach and nurture students when you act like this?"

Feng Yuqi slapped the table and pointed at Feng Xu as she berated him.

"Teaching students should not be limited to the classroom. They need to learn through practice and be taught through enjoyment. I took them out so they could personally experience the truth."

"So what did you learn?"

Feng Yuqi looked at the four again, her expression stern.

"Uh... well, we learned..."

Lin Feng turned to Feng Xu.

She's asking you. Why are you looking at me?

Feng Xu grumbled inwardly, but still answered, "Mounted archery techniques."

"That's right, mounted archery. We further deepened our understanding of mounted archery."

"What else?"

"And also..."

Lin Feng glanced at Feng Xu again.

Feng Yuqi stepped between them, looked at Feng Xu, and pointed toward the door.

"You, get outside and wait."

Feng Xu slunk out of the study. After the four had finished being scolded, he slunk back in.

"Don't take the students running around everywhere for a while."

Feng Yuqi sighed. In front of the students, she had to maintain the image of a strict teacher, but in private she was not so harsh with Feng Xu.

"Did something happen?"

"Feng Sui came today with news that a mid-stage Earth Immortal demon beast had appeared twenty li west of here. Its blood had been completely drained, and its body was covered in bite marks. It was likely some kind of venomous insect swarm.

Based on the locations of similar corpses, we can tell they are heading this way."