"Xiao Chen, where is this place you're talking about? We've already left the village and gotten close to the back mountain. There could easily be wild beasts roaming around!"
Although Old Man Qin had been driven by his lower body to follow Widow Chen out here, he was a forty-year-old man, not completely out of his mind, and a sense of alarm began to stir in his heart.
"Old Qin, it's almost here, right up ahead!"
Widow Chen shook Old Man Qin's arm, using her unique feminine charm to coax him along step by step:
"Actually, I wanted to come in broad daylight too, but you know the principle that harboring a treasure makes one a target if someone sees us in the daytime. This way, we can secure the treasure!"
"What kind of treasure is it anyway?"
Old Man Qin pressed further, half-believing and half-doubtful.
"It's a chest of gold, and I can't carry it all by myself."
As soon as Widow Chen said this, Old Man Qin's eyes lit up, but a cold glint followed immediately after.
Greedy and stingy as he was, he was certainly no fool.
Even if there was a chest of gold, it wouldn't be in one single solid piece; Widow Chen could easily take it away bit by bit.
Deep as his relationship with Widow Chen was, and well as they knew each other, he didn't believe for a second that she would split the gold with him if she found it.
"Ouch!"
Old Man Qin suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground, clutching his lower back and wailing:
"My back! No, I've sprained my back!"
"Xiao Chen, quickly help me back!"
Widow Chen's gaze turned cold, and the surrounding temperature dropped right along with it. Old Man Qin shivered, a deep sense of foreboding welling up from the bottom of his heart.
Valuing his little life above all else, Old Man Qin dropped the act entirely, scrambled to his feet, and bolted back toward the village.
"Roar!"
A gold-cracking, stone-shattering tiger roar shook the air, deafening in its intensity. Old Man Qin felt as though his eardrums were about to burst; his head spun and his whole body shuddered.
A bloody, gaping maw rapidly expanded in his field of vision, filling Old Man Qin with terror.
"No..."
***
The night was deep, the mountains shrouded in a hazy dusk like a crouching fierce beast waiting to devour anyone who crossed its path.
The roar of the beast and Old Man Qin's miserable screams failed to draw the attention of a single soul in Dahe Village.
Wild beasts roared in the mountains every night; it was nothing out of the ordinary.
The mountains at night were at their most dangerous, and the villagers generally never went near the back mountain after dark.
"Good man, no more, please!"
Around the fifth watch, the shameful nocturnal commotion finally began to subside.
Qin Hongyu's pretty face was flushed, her body trembling as if struck by an electric current. Breathing rapidly and delicately, her breath sweet like orchids, she murmured:
"Brother Chen, I feel like your strength has grown even stronger again?"
"Because I train hard every day, sparing no effort day and night. Of course my strength keeps getting stronger!"
Zhou Chen instinctively massaged and kneaded Qin Hongyu's bones with both hands, while his consciousness checked his personal stat panel.
After an entire afternoon and late into the night of hard work, his Fengyue Points had increased by fifteen.
"Tracking, add points."
The familiar, profound sensation washed over him once more as his Tracking Technique advanced to Minor Accomplishment.
Not only were various tracking methods now second nature to him, but his five senses had also grown considerably sharper.
[Fengyue Mirror]
[Master: Zhou Chen]
[Cultivation Technique: None]
[Realm: None]
[Supernatural Power: Thunder Light Ruyi Hand]
[Skills: Archery (Minor Accomplishment 0/80), Tracking (Minor Accomplishment 3/80), Trapping (Proficient 2/20), Throwing (Proficient 18/20), Fishing (Novice 6/10)...]
[Fengyue Points: 0]
"If the required points double every time, reaching Perfection will take one hundred sixty, and Consummation three hundred twenty. Plus the eighty needed for Minor Accomplishment, that's five hundred sixty points in total..."
Based on Zhou Chen's experience over the past two days, if he didn't go hunting during the day and instead stayed glued to Qin Hongyu all day long, he could earn about thirty points a day.
Which meant it would take him only nineteen days to elevate his Tracking Technique to Consummation.
Yet it was impossible for him to stay stuck to Qin Hongyu around the clock; he still needed to hunt to make a living. By his calculations, a month should be plenty.
"A month to grind a skill all the way to Consummation!"
Zhou Chen felt a surge of mental excitement, thinking of Old Man Cao, who had practiced archery his entire life, yet whose archery skills seemed to have remained stuck at Minor Accomplishment, forever falling just a fraction short of Perfection.
Let alone reaching Consummation!
That wasn't something mere hard work could achieve.
It required raw talent and serendipity.
"Let's set a small goal first: elevate both Tracking Technique and Archery to the Realm of Mastery within two months!"
Suddenly, Zhou Chen's sharpened senses caught a rustling sound coming from outside.
It was the little fox!
It seemed to be gnawing on wood, letting out soft yips as it bounced back and forth inside its cage.
"Right, I forgot to feed the little fox!"
Zhou Chen pulled himself up from bed, left Qin Hongyu's warm nest, and went to the kitchen to fetch the leftover food for the little fox.
"Yip, yip, yip!"
Seeing Zhou Chen, the little fox cried out loudly. But the moment it saw the food, it immediately dug in with eager delight, having been so hungry its chest was practically touching its back.
A night breeze swept in, and Zhou Chen suddenly felt a chill down below.
It was much like taking a bath and having moisture cling to your skin; when a breeze blows past, the water evaporates, absorbing body heat and leaving you feeling freezing cold.
Especially in the middle of the night.
Zhou Chen placed the food inside the cage and hurried back to the bedroom, diving back into Qin Hongyu's warm nest. Pulling her soft, warm body into his arms, he warmed up all over again.
The two of them pressed tightly together, as one.
Zhou Chen had spent half the day hunting in the mountains and then labored with Qin Hongyu until now; at this moment, he felt his eyelids growing heavy.
Breathing in the delicate fragrance of the beauty in his arms, Zhou Chen fell into a deep sleep.
When the sun was high in the sky, the two of them finally sluggishly got up to fix something to eat.
Had their stomachs not been rumbling noisily, they probably wouldn't have gotten up yet.
Qin Hongyu washed the dishes and cooked.
Zhou Chen pulled the little fox onto his lap and gave it a few good pets.
With no cats or dogs around, he had to make do with stroking the fox to pass the time.
[Fengyue Point +1]
Zhou Chen noticed that the little fox seemed to be growing more accustomed to him; it lay on his lap with its fox eyes squinted in sheer bliss.
[Fengyue Point +1]
When Qin Hongyu finished cooking, Zhou Chen reaped yet another point. In high spirits, he placed the little fox back into its cage and gave it a large bowl of food.
After eating and drinking his fill, Zhou Chen watched Qin Hongyu washing dishes in the kitchen, stepped up behind her, and wrapped his arms around her soft waist.
"Quit messing around, I'm washing dishes!"
Qin Hongyu swatted away his wandering hands and asked doubtfully, "Brother Chen, aren't you going hunting today?"
"The game I hunted yesterday is enough for us to eat for seven or eight days. I'll rest a few days before going back out so we can have fresh meat then!"
Zhou Chen slipped his hands back under her skirt and chuckled:
"Besides, I haven't been properly keeping you company these past two days of hunting."
"Newlyweds as we are, and with no shortage of food right now, of course I have to make it up to you properly!"
"Brother Chen, you're so good to me!"
Qin Hongyu turned her head, her gaze full of lingering affection, keeping her legs pressed together as she whispered, "Good man, wait a moment, I'll be done right away!"
"No rush, you do your thing, I'll do mine!"
***
"My, it looks like we didn't see Brother Chen go hunting today!"
Down by the stream, a few women were washing clothes.
Cuihua, Erniu's wife, was there too.
Cuihua chimed in with a knowing wink, "It's not just that Brother Chen didn't go hunting; Sister Zhou hasn't stepped out of the house today either!"
"So that's how it is! Brother Chen bagged several wild hares and pheasants yesterday, plus a wolf. With no shortage of food now, there's no need for him to go up the mountain every single day!"
An older woman scrubbed a coarse cloth garment covered in patches and laughed mischievously:
"Brother Chen must be at home practicing horseback archery!"
"Back when Brother Chen followed Old Man Cao, nobody ever noticed his archery being this accurate. Getting a wife really changes a man!"
"Archery takes practical experience too. In the past, Brother Chen never practiced live-target shooting, so his archery was all show. Now that he practices live-target shooting every day, his skills are naturally advancing by leaps and bounds!"
"Let me tell you, Old Man Qin isn't home again today. He's definitely gone over to Widow Chen's place and hasn't come back!"
"Old Man Qin and Widow Chen are both living alone. Why sneak around like this? Why not just marry her outright?"
"I reckon that miser Old Man Qin can't bear to part with his silver!"
***
Time drifted away.
Three whole days passed.
Zhou Chen stayed at home practicing archery, hardly ever stepping out the door.
And with such hard work, he naturally reaped massive rewards.
No pain, no gain.
Through his diligent labor and countless drops of blood and sweat, his points broke through the milestone of ninety for the very first time.
"Add points to me!"