"Crack!" With the sound of a breaking branch, Li Xiu fell down.
"Oh, dear mother!" Li Xiu let out a startled scream.
He was lucky.
Li Xiu got caught on a lower tree branch.
If he had actually fallen to the ground, he probably wouldn't have possessed the martial prowess of Wu Song fighting the tiger.
He would have gone straight into the stomach of the mountain bear.
He calmed his racing heart.
An intense wave of anxiety gripped Li Xiu; if he didn't resolve this swiftly, once the big tree completely collapsed, his chances of survival would be slim indeed!
Suppressing the fear gripping his heart, Li Xiu once again reached into his waist and pulled out three Flying Darts.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
The Flying Darts shot toward the mountain bear.
Finally, when Li Xiu's sixth Flying Dart was released, the mountain bear let out a miserable scream and crashed to the ground.
"Huff, huff, huff!"
Li Xiu panted heavily, his clothes already soaked in cold sweat.
He slowly slid down from the tree trunk, his legs feeling a bit weak.
When watching the television drama *Wu Song Fighting the Tiger* in modern society, it seemed like child's play, but actually encountering this situation in real life was a matter of life and death!
He lowered his head and was shocked to see that the large tree he had previously hidden behind had been directly smashed by the mountain bear's impact into a forty-five-degree tilt, and right there on the trunk was a huge gouge!
"Holy crap, what a terrifying impact!"
Li Xiu touched his chest, a lingering fear washing over him.
If he hadn't reacted quickly and scrambled up the large tree, he really would have been smashed to death by this mountain bear.
Though his whole body was exhausted, seeing the two mountain bears lying before him brought a surge of joy to Li Xiu's heart.
Those two mountain bears must have weighed at least seven or eight hundred catties combined!
This meat would be enough to feed his family of three for a long time!
"Not a bad harvest!"
Li Xiu grinned, revealing his white teeth, wearing a look of smug satisfaction.
He made up his mind to hurry back down the mountain, gather a few helpers, and carry the two mountain bears back home.
He couldn't possibly carry two such massive creatures by himself.
...
Xiaoshan Village.
At the village entrance.
Yang Ruixue and Yang Ruixue's sister, Yang Ruiling, were anxiously gazing down the path leading into the deep mountains.
Many kind-hearted villagers had also come over to comfort the two sisters.
"Ruixue, Ruiling, I heard your husband went into the mountains with the bandits?"
"Mmm." Yang Ruixue nodded slightly. "My husband said that when he went into the mountains to gather herbs last time, he accidentally discovered a millennium-old ginseng, so he took Boss Long there..."
A farm woman said, "What kind of person is this Boss Long? If they don't find the millennium-old ginseng, will Boss Long just let it go?"
"Exactly, exactly!" another woman chimed in. "Your husband must have made up that story on purpose just to protect you two sisters!"
"I advise you two sisters to run away quickly, or else..."
"..."
The villagers chattered amongst themselves, all believing that Li Xiu was going to meet a bad end this time.
Hearing this, Yang Ruixue and Yang Ruiling felt an even greater sense of foreboding.
Both sisters bit their lower lips tightly, their hands trembling slightly.
Sister Chunhua had arrived by this time as well.
Hesitating for a moment, she walked up to Yang Ruixue and Yang Ruiling, and said softly, "Ruixue, Ruiling, y-you should run away quickly."
"Ah?" Yang Ruixue and Yang Ruiling were momentarily stunned in unison. "Elder Sister, w-what do you mean by that?"
Because this time Boss Long had been lured over by Li the Scoundrel, and Li the Scoundrel was Sister Chunhua's husband.
Sister Chunhua sighed and lowered her voice. "Boss Long is after you two sisters. Regardless of whether there's a millennium-old ginseng or not, in the end Li Xiu..."
She didn't finish the rest of the sentence, but Yang Ruixue and Yang Ruiling both understood.
Mountain bandits like Boss Long might initially drag the two sisters up the mountain to be their bandit wives, and once they got tired of playing with them, who knows, they might end up selling them to a brothel...
The other women all nodded in agreement, believing that Li Xiu was truly finished this time and that sisters Yang Ruixue and Yang Ruiling wouldn't meet a good end either.
"These two sisters are really so pitiful."
"The best way out is to run away, hiding for as many days as you can."
"..."
The village women's gossip gradually grew grating to the ear.
The hearts of Yang Ruixue and Yang Ruiling grew even heavier.
No!
They absolutely could not run away!
They had to see a person in life, or a corpse in death.
They must wait for their husband!
The sisters secretly resolved themselves.
"Look!"
"It's Li Xiu!"
"Li Xiu is back!"
Someone suddenly shouted.
Everyone was startled and looked in the direction of the voice.
They saw Li Xiu carrying two hares in his hands, walking toward the village with a leisurely expression.
"Husband!"
"Husband!"
Seeing Li Xiu, Yang Ruixue and Yang Ruiling immediately hurried forward.
"Husband, are... are you all right?" Yang Ruixue and Yang Ruiling grabbed Li Xiu's arms, looking at him with worry.
"I'm fine." A smile appeared on Li Xiu's face. "Look, this time I even managed to catch two hares."
He raised the hares in his hand.
"This..."
Yang Ruixue and Yang Ruiling were both dumbfounded.
They never expected that not only would Li Xiu return safely, but he had even hunted two hares!
Where did Boss Long and his gang go?
"Li Xiu, what happened to Boss Long and the others?"
"Those fellows..." Li Xiu sighed, a flash of regret in his eyes. "They were just unlucky, running into a pack of mountain bears..."
"They ran into mountain bears?"
"An entire pack of mountain bears?!"
"..."
Gasps of astonishment rose from the crowd.
"Yeah." Li Xiu nodded, putting on a look of pity. "At the time, I saw it with my own eyes—Boss Long was swallowed whole by a mountain bear that was well over two meters long..."
"What about the others?"
"The others..." Li Xiu shook his head. "They all fed the mountain bears; not even their bones are left now."
"What about my husband?" Sister Chunhua shook violently. Was her husband eaten by the mountain bears too?
Even though Li the Scoundrel beat and cursed her every day, and she had even wanted to sneakily kill him in his sleep on several occasions.
Yet now that Li the Scoundrel had been eaten by mountain bears, a pang of sorrow still washed over her heart.
"This..."
An uproar broke out among the crowd.
"Then why are you completely unharmed?"
"Me?" Li Xiu revealed a faint smile. "Just because I run fast and didn't get caught by the mountain bears!"
Everyone was left speechless.
They all stared at Li Xiu with skeptical gazes.
Boss Long and his gang of bandits were all strong and sturdy; could it be that they couldn't run as fast as Li Xiu, a loafer who usually drifted through life?
Only a ghost would believe that.
When abnormal things happen, there must be a demon afoot!
Li Xiu added a few more lines:
"Oh, right."
"At first, when Boss Long and the others ran into the mountain bears on the mountain, they didn't just wait to die; they fought a desperate battle to the death with the pack of mountain bears."
"In the end, Boss Long and the others were all eaten by the mountain bears."
"Most of the mountain bears left after eating their fill, but two huge mountain bears stayed behind, still hungry and unwilling to leave, so I beat them to death!"
Hearing this, the villagers felt as though they were listening to a fairy tale.
Was he trying to fool little kids?
"Just how big were they?"
"Huge!" Li Xiu made a simple hand gesture. "Altogether seven or eight hundred catties!"
"Seven or eight hundred catties?"
He beat mountain bears weighing seven or eight hundred catties to death?
You had to know that these mountain bears were naturally ferocious with thick hides, and once they went berserk, even tigers and lions would give them a wide berth!
Especially the gigantic ones—when humans ran into them, weren't they just swallowed whole into their bellies?
"I'm not talking nonsense. Hurry up and go up the mountain to carry them back; anyone who joins in will get a share of the meat," Li Xiu said righteously.
Everyone fell silent.
Judging by Li Xiu's demeanor, he didn't seem to be talking nonsense.
They hadn't realized before that he knew how to practice medicine, and it turned out he was a divine doctor!
Now that he claimed he could beat mountain bears to death, it wasn't entirely impossible.
The looks the villagers cast at Li Xiu were as if they were looking at a ghost!