As the sun sank below the western mountains, the sky grew dim, and a blanket of twinkling stars soon dotted the pitch-black night.
Shen Xiu concealed his figure in a clump of bushes near the herb field, keeping his eyes fixed on the field ahead by the bright moonlight while periodically scanning his surroundings.
Not far away, in two other directions, two sturdy men from Lǐ Family Village were likewise hiding deep in the tall grass.
As time slowly passed and the night deepened, a biting chill began to wrap around them from all sides.
Half an hour went by. Having remained motionless for so long, Shen Xiu's body had grown somewhat stiff. Just as he was beginning to think the wild boar wouldn't show up tonight and that they would return empty-handed, a sudden flash of torchlight erupted to the south, swaying continuously back and forth against the night sky.
It was a signal sent by one of the villagers, who was using a torch to pass a message to Shen Xiu without making any noise.
Catching sight of this, Shen Xiu immediately lightened his footsteps and crept cautiously toward the spot.
When he drew near, he saw that somewhere deep within the dense, lush expanse of the herb field, the vegetation was twitching in a bizarre fashion, as if something was moving about inside.
Picking his way through the section, Shen Xiu finally caught sight of the culprit wreaking havoc on the herbs.
A massive, dark-furred body was thrashing through the waist-high medicinal plants. On either side of its enormous snout grew a pair of slender, razor-sharp tusks.
It looked exceptionally fierce and savage, and it was indeed much larger than an ordinary wild boar.
Shen Xiu held his breath and focused entirely, his body hunching slightly as he inched forward step by step. His hand drifted to the hilt of his saber, gathering strength for a thunderous strike the very next second.
Yet the wild boar, which had been feasting heartily on the sprawling herbs, suddenly twitched its ears and stopped chewing.
Its snout flared, and it abruptly jerked its head up to look right in Shen Xiu's direction.
The next moment, the wild boar's hooves began scraping frantically against the ground, and a low grunt rumbled from its throat as it assumed an attacking posture.
It had spotted them. This boar had a remarkably sharp nose.
Since retreat was no longer an option, Shen Xiu directly drew his long saber, lunged forward, and instantly slashed at the wild boar.
Yet the boar refused to yield; its hooves churned up the dirt as it charged straight at Shen Xiu like a mad beast!
Clang!
The long saber traced an arc through the air, sending a spray of cold light flashing across the massive boar's scalp before landing squarely upon its uptight rump.
The moment the blade connected, Shen Xiu felt something was amiss. The beast's hide seemed far too tough; the blow felt as though it had struck hard leather.
It truly was a mutated creature.
Even so, backed by his immense strength, the blade still managed to tear open a bloody gash.
Rip!
The wild boar's hindquarters jerked inward as a large jet of fresh blood spurted out.
Stung by the searing pain, the wild boar's eyes gradually turned bloodshot. With a shrill squeal, it charged back toward Shen Xiu, its bleeding backside trailing behind it.
It was truly peerlessly ferocious.
Shen Xiu swept his saber horizontally into a defensive stance, bracing to meet the ferocious charge, only to watch the boar swerve midway and bolt off in another direction.
Deciding that Shen Xiu looked like too much trouble, the beast simply made off.
Faced with such a massive wild boar barreling straight toward them, the two sturdy men on that side turned pale with fright and scrambled out of the way, forced to watch helplessly as the giant beast dashed into the mountain forest and vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.
Though this first hunt had failed, Shen Xiu felt no lingering regret; instead, he began scheming and waiting for a second chance.
Yet, having encountered Shen Xiu and suffered that attack, the wild boar seemed to have grown wiser. For two days running, it failed to show its face anywhere near the herb field.
Even when it finally reappeared, the moment it caught sight of Shen Xiu showing his head, it would immediately turn tail and flee without staying a single second longer.
Such a slippery opponent left Shen Xiu with nowhere to direct his strength.
A few days later, however, an idea struck him.
Shen Xiu sought out the villager with the surname Lǐ who had helped with the previous hunt, and laid out his plan step by step, along with the items he would need.
As he listened, the villager first slapped his thigh in astonishment, and the look he gave Shen Xiu grew increasingly peculiar.
"This plan..."
"Can those things be prepared..."
"It'll take some effort, but it shouldn't be too big of a problem. Still, we'll need to notify the steward about this."
Before long, the steward of Lǐ Family Village arrived. After listening to the plan proposed by Shen Xiu and the items that needed to be gathered, he looked at Shen Xiu with a rather strange expression as well, but ultimately nodded to indicate there was no issue.
...
Two days later, at dusk.
Shen Xiu and several sturdy villagers from Lǐ Family Village once again concealed themselves near the herb field.
This time, a ring of the medicinal plants favored by the wild boar had been piled up in the middle of a clearing beside the field.
And right next to the pile of herbs, a snow-white sow was tethered to a small tree.
This sow was pure white with a relatively slender and delicate-looking physique.
"Do you really think Shen's plan is going to work?"
Watching the scene unfold before them, one of the two sturdy men hiding on the other side asked his companion with the surname Lǐ.
"Let's just give it a try. They say even heroes have a hard time resisting a beauty's charm—why would this beast be any different? Still, for that brother to come up with a trick like this is simply brilliant; none of us would have thought of it."
The Lǐ villager looked out at the scene in the herb field, feeling rather uncertain in his heart, and spoke in a speculative tone.
After all, they had never tried or even witnessed such a maneuver before, yet listening to the young man's explanation, there was indeed a very high probability of success.
Still, that a youth of his age could come up with such a method felt a bit... too sinister. For a pig, it was downright vicious.
Even so, he rather liked this trick.
Night gradually descended. As the moon hung high upon the treetops, the chill in the air grew steadily heavier.
A faint, wispy mist drifted over the distant mountain peaks.
The men hiding near the herb field remained motionless in the nearby bushes, watching the movement toward the mountain edge with unwavering focus.
As time ticked by, a rustling sound suddenly drifted on the wind into everyone's ears.
The men immediately turned their gazes in the direction of the noise.
At the edge of the dark, dense forest, a bulky, pitch-black figure had just appeared.
The figure poked its head out with extreme caution, its bead-like eyes darting restlessly around the periphery of the herb field while its snout sniffed the air incessantly.
Because they had coordinated beforehand, everyone on Shen Xiu's side remained completely still.
The wild boar was quite shrewd. It inched forward step by step, stopping every few steps to test the waters. After repeating this caution several times, it finally relaxed its vigilance and trotted toward the pile of herbs they had prepared.
As soon as it rushed over, it spotted the snow-white sow tethered to the small tree in the background.
The wild boar's eyes instantly widened into perfect circles.
Yet the boar didn't act immediately; instead, its gaze swept the surroundings once before it first began to gorge itself on the pile of herbs, all the while keeping an eye on the white sow.
By this time, the sow had also laid eyes on the robust, strapping wild boar. With such a massive build and striking appearance, it looked just like the handsome young man every village maiden longed for.
Unable to help herself, she wriggled her dainty body and took a step forward, only to be halted midway because the tether was too short.
How could a hot-blooded young wild boar endure such provocation?
Its large eyes turned bloodshot. It swallowed down massive mouthfuls of herbs in just a few gulps, chewed hastily, and then sprinted excitedly toward the white pig...