Chapter 8: The Mountain Feast

Chen Wuji made full use of that little squirrel, setting up six traps.

If the little squirrel had knowledge in the afterlife, its small body could have hunted six large animals, and it would likely die without regret.

In life it only dared to sneak around those large animals, but after death it had a chance to kill them, which could be seen as indirectly making it big and strong.

After setting the traps, Chen Wuji strung his bow, searched for animal tracks all the way, and headed straight for the pond where he had caught crabs yesterday.

Since the local villagers ignored it, he wouldn't be polite.

Not eating crabs, not eating baby fish…

The local villagers are really too friendly.

The gains along the way were rather meager; Chen Wuji only encountered a pheasant taking a leisurely stroll after a meal, his two arrows both missed, and in the end he had to rely on sheer strength to chase it down and kill it with a rock.

Although he now had food for the day, at this rate earning a thousand wen was basically impossible.

He had reached the pond.

Beneath the clear water surface, he occasionally saw thumb-sized fish darting by.

But that was all; not a single baby fish or crab was in sight.

Chen Wuji's inner feelings were somewhat on the verge of collapse.

"Mr. Crab, Miss Fish, although I know you normally come out at night to move around, it shouldn't be that you all hide away and sleep in broad daylight like this? Don't sleep, come out quickly, let's chat."

Chen Wuji muttered to himself, making the best of a bad situation, rolled up his pant legs, and went into the water.

He began flipping the stones in the pond.

After flipping over four or five stones in succession, Chen Wuji finally saw a loving family of crabs.

"Thanks, thanks, a family should be whole, come all together." Chen Wuji, amidst the crabs scurrying sideways with their claws, quickly struck.

Four ran off, one remained; three plump mountain crabs were in hand.

He quickly bound them with grass in a five-fold tie, then Chen Wuji again plunged into the pond.

As he bent over to carefully examine the stones, he suddenly noticed a huge shadow flash by.

It seemed to be a baby fish weighing at least ten catties.

Chen Wuji quickly held his breath and tiptoed to reach the wooden spear placed at the pond's edge.

Then he assumed the standard pose of the boy Run Tu stabbing a hedgehog, and when eye, spear, and fish aligned, he thrust forward with great force, sending a huge splash across the water.

But the baby fish made a nimble tail-swing drift, escaping safely and gracefully from under the spear.

"You're already a dead soul under my spear, yet you dare to show off uselessly—look at the spear!" Chen Wuji shouted in a chuunibyou manner, then gripped the spear again and exerted force.

I thrust!

Thrust!

I thrust again!

I keep thrusting!

…

After almost working up a sweat from exhaustion, the baby fish seemed to think Chen Wuji this foolish kid was simply too stupid; after a splendid tail-swing drift it directly collided with the spear below, taking a shot to the head and meeting its end.

Chen Wuji lifted the baby fish with his spear, and the corner of his mouth instantly split into an arrogant grin like a crow after overturning a table.

He weighed the fish; ten catties was a conservative estimate.

This guy probably weighed fifteen or sixteen catties, enough for him and Huo Sanniang to eat for two days.

In the era of Da Yu, this thing, under the guise of a demonic incarnation, amounted to protecting animals.

That's why it could grow so fat!

Add one to the list of edible but unsellable foods!

Thousand-wen tax, progress completed, zero!

He strung the fish with grass rope and set it aside, then Chen Wuji again became a diligent stone-moving laborer, following the principle of rather mistakenly kill than let slip, he swept through the stones in the pond one by one.

Probably because the death of this baby fish, the demonic fish of Da Yu, gave him luck, his subsequent search for crabs went surprisingly smoothly, and in less than an hour he hauled up nearly twenty.

Moreover, he incidentally caught several yellow eels.

However, the limit of this pond seemed to end here.

If he came back tomorrow, even finding a crab leg might be difficult.

He had to change locations.

Chen Wuji looked up at the sun; it seemed roughly at its zenith, so it should be around noon.

As a modern person, he hadn't yet developed the ability to tell the time just by looking at the sun; he could only make a rough estimate, and having a judgment would suffice.

"There should be more than just this pond on the mountain; let's look around."

Chen Wuji followed the shallow stream upstream, and when he reached the gentle slope of the mountaintop, he saw the most unbelievable sight of his life.

It was like an animal convention from a movie.

Herds of animals were gathered by the stream, drinking water.

Chen Wuji suddenly had a very absurd thought: could it be that these animals also had a habit of dining at noon?

This was too shocking.

What's more extravagant, he even saw elephants.

The ecological environment of Xishan Village seemed a bit too good.

It is said that in ancient Huaxia, southern regions also had herds of elephants living, and Cao Chong once weighed them.

Yet seeing this in an inland region, Chen Wuji's meager knowledge still left him utterly shocked; this was truly a pure wild elephant, drinking water on the mountaintop.

By this narrow stream at the moment, the elephant of unknown breed should be the eldest.

Besides that, the second-largest in size was a wild ox with horns resembling those of the Bull Demon King.

Third, there were a few animals that looked little different from deer, but their name should be muntjac.

The fur is reddish, looking quite mythic.

Its call isn't pleasant to hear; after a couple of listens, goosebumps rise all over.

After a brief shock, Chen Wuji quickly nocked an arrow, aiming at the elephant.

Felling this big guy would settle a tax of a thousand coins.

Even though he likes this big guy, he must fight for his survival.

Whether a bicycle can turn into a motorcycle hinges on this moment.

Chen Wuji was looking for the elephant's weak spot, but before he could act, the animals by the stream scattered in panic.

Immediately, a strong wind blew straight from the forest, nearly making Chen Wuji stumble.

"Where does this evil wind come from?" Chen Wuji quickly lowered his body.

Even though his three views are more upright than his five features, and his mind mixes science with Daoism, he also sensed that this wind was off.

At this moment, it's not advisable to stick one's head out.

His worry didn't last long; in an instant he saw two striped fierce tigers flanking from left and right, lunging at the animal herd with extreme ferocity.

They didn't even glance at the elephant; their eyes were fixed on the plump, tasty wild oxen and muntjacs.

At the sight of them, the legend "clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger" took concrete shape in Chen Wuji's mind.

Damn, there's actually wind!

The tiger lives up to its reputation as king of the mountains; in a single round of strangling, a wild ox and three helpless muntjacs became its victims.

Chen Wuji huddled beneath the rock, shivering.

He didn't dare move at all; without Wu Song's skill, any movement would mean death.

But these two tigers also seemed to be "bright tigers"; after securing their lunch, they dragged off the wild ox and vanished into the dense forest in a few moments.

Chen Wuji didn't know if it was his imagination, but he felt that those two beasts glanced at him as they left.

Moreover, their gaze seemed somewhat human……