Nighttime.
Da Liushu Village, the Fang Mu residence.
In the dim room, Ms. Chen tossed and turned, unable to sleep at all.
Then, she reached out and patted Father Fang, who was beside her.
"Dear, do you think Zhi'Er will be alright on this trip? You don't think anything will happen, do you?"
"He's never been so far from home before. Xiahe County Town is so far away. What if something happens to him on the road? What will we do?"
"Sigh... I never should have agreed to it yesterday. What possessed me? How could I have been so foolish as to let him go..."
She murmured worriedly, but after a long while, she received no response.
"Are you even listening to me?" Ms. Chen's voice rose sharply.
"Huh? What did you say? ...Right, right, you're right!" Father Fang's voice was laced with confusion, but he seemed to snap to attention and quickly replied.
"Then what did I just say?"
"You said... um, you said... that..."
Father Fang stammered, his eyes flying open. He was wide awake now. He could feel a cold sweat breaking out on his body, even though the last vestiges of the late-autumn heat still lingered in the air.
"You definitely weren't listening! Zhi'Er is all grown up, but this is his first time traveling so far. How can you not be worried at all!"
"You heartless man!"
Ms. Chen gave Fang Mu a vicious pinch on his back, making him suck in a sharp, pained breath.
He didn't dare make a sound, afraid of waking Fang Cheng and Fang Lan in the other two rooms.
He couldn't lose face in front of the children.
'Right, I'll just have to bear it.'
"Zhi'Er is with Fang Hu. You know how capable he is. He goes to the county town every month. Traveling with him is even safer than going with anyone else from the village."
Father Fang winced, still sucking in cool air and rubbing the spot she had pinched, as he explained in a low voice.
"Mm, I know, but I can't help worrying. My Zhi'Er is still so young…" Ms. Chen naturally knew it was safe to be with Fang Hu, but she was just worried.
A mother always worries when her child travels far. It's been that way since the beginning of time.
"Go to sleep, go to sleep. Zhi'Er will be back in a few days."
"Are you okay? Does it still hurt? Let me rub it for you."
"I'm fine, it's fine now. Let's get to sleep..."
* * *
The wilderness, a campsite.
The firewood gathered from the riverbank was a bit damp, and the bonfire CRACKLED AND POPPED.
"Mr. Fang Hu, you've been up for most of the night. Let me take over the watch."
Fang Yue opened his eyes and glanced up at the stars, roughly estimating the time.
It was still more than two hours until dawn.
"Heh, no rush. Since you're awake, there are some things I should talk to you about."
Fang Hu smiled faintly. The firelight glinted off his white teeth, and his eyes were sharp, as if they could pierce the darkness.
"Please, speak," Fang Yue said.
"I had originally planned to take you to Xiahe County Town next month, but I brought you along this time. Do you know why?"
Fang Hu was very solemn, and his tone created a sudden tension.
Hearing this, Fang Yue immediately understood.
'This trip to Xiahe County Town with Fang Hu wasn't just to broaden my horizons. There was another purpose.'
'It must have something to do with my performance yesterday. After my Talent reached 'one in a hundred,' my practice of the Pile Skill and Breathing Technique seemed to enter a new level.'
'If I'm not mistaken, even Mr. Fang Hu seemed shocked at the time.'
'Also, back then, Mr. Fang Hu had me drink two bowls of medicinal tea. He even gave me Fang Ergou's share.'
'Although Mr. Fang Hu tried to cover it up, his actions were unusual. There's no way I wouldn't have noticed.'
'And that led to this trip to Xiahe County Town.'
'I remember hearing from Ergou that they only go to Xiahe County Town in the middle of the month, and it's only the beginning of the month now.'
'All signs pointed to there being another reason for this trip.'
Thinking of this, Fang Yue spoke up. "Is it because of what happened yesterday?"
He was not like an ordinary village boy.
He had gradually revealed this over the past few months, and the people around him had slowly come to accept it.
Therefore, his current behavior was seen as normal, so he didn't have to worry about people thinking he was possessed.
"Yes, that's right. You're very smart. If Ergou were half as smart as you, I wouldn't have to worry."
Fang Hu sighed softly and continued:
"But, do you know why I'm the only one in the village with the best hunting skills, while almost no one else hunts?"
Upon hearing this, Fang Yue was about to say it was because Fang Hu knew Martial Arts, which was why his hunting skills were the best.
But he realized that argument didn't quite hold up, because there really didn't seem to be any other hunters in the village.
'Is it that they don't become hunters simply because their hunting skills are limited?'
'After all, even when the village kids imitated his fishing, a few of them were determined to stick with it.'
'It was only later, when the water level dropped—a natural phenomenon beyond human control—that they were forced to stop.'
'But you can enter the mountain forests in any of the four seasons.'
'So why isn't there a second hunter?'
'Could it really be just because they have little success that they give up hunting?'
'It's not like fishing, after all. You can only eat the fish yourself or trade it for some grain in the village.'
'But with hunting, certain pelts and beast bones can be used to pay taxes.'
'The significance is different; it should be enough to attract many people to specialize in it.'
'But in all of Da Liushu Village, for all these years, it seems... it seems Fang Hu has been the only dedicated hunter.'
He had never thought anything of it before, but now, hearing Fang Hu's words, doubt sprouted in his mind.
"I... I don't know," Fang Yue said, shaking his head.
"To go hunting in the mountains, the minimum requirement is to be able to skillfully use a Five-Stone Bow. A Five-Stone Bow requires a thousand jin of strength!"
Fang Yue couldn't help but gasp upon hearing this.
He knew that in this world, a One-Stone Bow required one hundred and sixty jin of strength, which meant a Five-Stone Bow would require a minimum of eight hundred jin.
And that was just to draw the Five-Stone Bow to its full extent. You would surely be exhausted after just a few shots.
So, to use it proficiently, you would definitely need even greater strength.
Naturally, you would need more than a thousand jin of strength.
But in this day and age, ordinary people can't even eat their fill, so they have little strength for work. Even if they could eat all the food and meat they wanted without worrying about hunger, it would still likely be impossible to train up to a thousand jin of strength.
'So, the requirement is naturally extremely high.'
As Fang Yue saw it, only those who practiced Martial Arts could possibly meet this requirement.
'And if that's the minimum requirement for hunting, then there can only be one reason: the prey is incredibly ferocious!'
"If you can't draw a Five-Stone Bow, going into the mountains is suicide. Those tigers and leopards won't show you any mercy."
"And to achieve that, you must learn Martial Arts."
"The reason I'm taking you to the city this time is to formally accept you as my disciple."