Evening.
Lady Yan lay in her man's arms, chattering about the day's household trifles.
Li Yuan listened with great interest.
In the village days without phones, computers, the internet, or even electricity, this was probably one of the only two things to do after dark.
If they moved to the county and lived by Silver Creek with some spare money, they might go out for a drink in the evening, but that's clearly not possible now.
"That silly girl Feng'Er, Brother Xiong is obviously playing her, and she still gave herself to him. Today during the day she was dreaming again, saying she wants to wait for Brother Xiong, to marry him as a concubine... it's driving me crazy."
"Brother Xiong... isn't he quite nice? Didn't you praise him a few days ago?"
"Brother Xiong is restless, not a man to settle down with."
"Then am I one?"
"You..." Lady Yan mumbled, wanting to say something like, "If you could hunt more prey, then you would be," but recalling how she had spurred him to practice martial arts obsessively before, she changed her words, "You are, I adore you especially."
...
The night was long...
After a while.
Lady Yan fell asleep from exhaustion.
Li Yuan lay comfortably on the bed.
Honestly, if it weren't for the poor quality of life, even struggling to make ends meet, he quite liked the life here.
Before his time travel, he was a butcher; where else could he find a girl as caring as Lady Yan...
At this moment, the winter wind outside occasionally blew the bamboo gate with a creaking sound, which was quite piercing in the night.
But conversely, it highlighted a sense of tranquility.
Li Yuan recalled Yan Yu's words and couldn't help but feel grateful once again.
Thanks to Zhang Mazi; otherwise, he might have been fooled by Brother Xiong's sincerity and joined their little group.
Brother Xiong isn't adventurous; he hadn't even secured a superior position before showing off.
In just a few days, he already started fooling around with women outside.
Li Yuan shook his head, hugged his lovely lady, and soon fell asleep too.
...
The days that followed were steady.
Li Yuan avoided Brother Xiong and Qian Er, occasionally going up the mountain, and rotated between "bird eggs," "canned meat," and "wild chickens and rabbits."
In the eyes of outsiders, it seemed like he could only catch a wild chicken or rabbit every two or three days.
Such small prey didn't have much meat, so no one bothered asking about it for now.
One day amidst all this, news came from the county town that "Monk Pan got beheaded."
This chivalrous person ended up dying quietly, nothing unexpected happened.
In the village, upon hearing the news, Sister-in-law Cai Hua offered a distant worship in the direction of the county but didn't say anything more.
...
In the blink of an eye, it had been more than half a month since Li Yuan acquired the Willow Return Technique.
That morning, Li Yuan opened his eyes and glanced at his information.
[Name: Li Yuan]
[Add Points: 104 points]
[Realm: Unranked]
[Cultivation Skill: Willow Return Technique (1/100)]
[Skills: Expert Level Archery (0/80); Advanced Tracking (0/40)]
[Divine Techniques: Immortality]
[Equipment Bar: Unlocked]
He gently withdrew his arm from under Lady Yan's head, got dressed, and stepped into the courtyard.
As the saying goes, you reap what you sow,
Today is finally the day of harvest.
Li Yuan targeted the "+" sign after [Willow Return Technique (1/100)] to start adding points.
As points were added, strands of memories floated up from the depths of his mind.
Those were the days of diligent practice, where the young man worked hard during the day to earn silver taels for nourishing meals, and in the moonlight, he trained, resolute eyes never admitting defeat through failures.
And finally, he succeeded.
A sense of growing stronger emerged from within his body.
It was a feeling unlike anything before.
Li Yuan distinctly felt a warm current like little mice running through his muscles; it didn't seem like airflow but a kind of powerful blood.
As this blood circulated, his body, skin, tendons, and bones felt like they were soaking in a hot spring, warm and extremely comfortable.
If only there were more of this blood, it would be even more comfortable beyond measure.
Suddenly, Li Yuan remembered Lady Yan's words, "Pig blood for pigs, dragon blood for dragons." This blood must be a special kind of blood. And as for Entry Grade, its power seems to stem from this special blood.
Soon after, Li Yuan noticed his muscles swelling, becoming solid like stone.
He walked over to a large boulder in the courtyard, lightly grabbed and lifted it, effortlessly.
He lifted it several times up and down, surprisingly without feeling a twinge of soreness.
Glancing at the numbers beside him, they had transformed to "9~10."
And that's without holding the bow!
He was only at "1~2" before.
"Great, great, great!"
Li Yuan was in high spirits, ran back to the house, grabbed the Earth Bow from the wall, and looked at the numbers again.
"24~25"!!!
These numbers already exceeded those of the county's plainclothes swordsman!
And naturally, his panel changed as well.
[Name: Li Yuan]
[Add Points: 5 points]
[Realm: Ninth Grade (Muscle Training)]
[Cultivation Skill: Willow Return Technique (100/100)]
[Skills: Expert Level Archery (0/80); Advanced Tracking (0/40)]
[Divine Techniques: Immortality]
[Equipment Bar: Unlocked]
"Ninth Grade!"
"As expected, upgrading the realm increases the threat level of the bow and arrow, so when I hold the bow, the numbers increase even more."
"But it seems the Willow Return Technique has reached its limit?"
This left Li Yuan slightly frustrated, but it wasn't a big issue.
"From now on, I can finally hunt openly, hahaha."
The young man stood under the sunlight, feeling joyous, knowing to conceal seven parts of his strength and reveal three for self-preservation.
Hearing her man's laughter, Lady Yan knelt at the window, quietly pushed it open a bit to get a worried look at him.
It's over...
He's delusional again.
This slight movement immediately brought Li Yuan back to his senses, and he glanced sideways at Lady Yan, saying, "Sister Yan, starting today, we'll have plenty of meat at home."
After speaking, without waiting for Yan Yu's reaction, he grabbed a sack, slung the Firewood Blade on his back, and walked out with big strides.
Now that his comprehensive strength reached "24~25," there's no harm in exhibiting strength similar to "Brother Xiong catching with a dog and bow," right?
...
...
Erchong Mountain.
Li Yuan had long been familiar with exploring it.
However, he didn't want to overshadow Brother Xiong, so he bypassed a few wild pigs and, upon reaching the deeper parts of Erchong Mountain, spotted a roe deer.
Quickly, he nocked a stone arrow on his bow.
Crack... creak, creak...
The Earth Bow's limbs groaned under strain, as if they would snap in two with any more force.
This forced Li Yuan to slightly hold back his strength.
Meanwhile, the distant roe deer, hearing the noise, curiously turned its head to see what the sound was.
And at that moment, Li Yuan suddenly let go.
Whoosh!!
The stone flew, striking the roe deer's forehead directly.
With a dull thud, the roe deer fell, twitched a few times, and lay still.
Li Yuan quickly approached in a few strides and stuffed the roe deer into the sack.
He weighed it a moment; over thirty pounds, good enough.
On the way back to the village, there was a mysterious silence.
Passersby, upon seeing the bulged sack, refrained from teasingly taunting him. Occasionally, one or two spoke with an odd tone.
"Yuanzi, what did you catch today? So big?"
"Could you spare some for me? My family's pots are almost empty."
"We're all in the same workshop... mountain wealth, mountain share, finders are keepers."