Chapter 7: Shooting a Leopard! Returning Fully Loaded!

It was late afternoon.

The sun had already begun to set.

Duan Yu sat on a massive fallen tree.

Three fox pelts hung from his waist.

Two were fire foxes, and one was a white fox.

Not a single scratch marked his body.

There were also two unskinned hares and two pheasants.

This haul would be out of reach even for an experienced hunter.

But clearly, Duan Yu sitting on the fallen tree was not satisfied.

Because up to now, he had not hunted any large animals.

Such as tigers, leopards, or black bears.

He had encountered a wild boar.

Unfortunately, the distance was too great at the time, and the bow in his hand was too weak; the shot did hit, but it was not fatal.

Wild boars have tough hides and thick flesh; without a direct hit to a vital spot, such a flimsy bow and arrow were simply insufficient to kill.

The escaped boar also took away one of Duan Yu's scarce arrows.

After most of the day, only sixteen of the thirty arrows in his quiver remained.

The rest were either lost or already broken and unusable.

Duan Yu looked down at his arrow quiver. He drew an arrow.

His expression was thoughtful.

"If only I could hunt a tiger or leopard."

"A tiger or leopard's pelt would definitely fetch a good price."

"Those prominent families and powerful clans would probably all like them."

Duan Yu nocked the arrow on his bow, then stood up and glanced at the sun that had already begun to set.

"Let's head home, looks like today will just be like this."

"Tomorrow I'll go into the city to buy some equipment, then enter the mountains again."

Saying this, Duan Yu lowered his head to pack up his spoils, then retreat.

Right at that moment.

On a tree only about two meters away from Duan Yu.

A leopard covered in spots.

Its muscles, which had been tightly coiled, suddenly relaxed, followed by a forward pounce, its two massive front paws spread wide, heading straight for the top of Duan Yu's head.

Duan Yu, whose head was lowered, flashed a cold gaze, raised his arm, drew the bow fully, and shot.

In one fluid motion.

"Beast, I've waited for you so long, you finally took the bait!"

Duan Yu wore a cold sneer.

The arrow in his hand had already been released.

The arrow, carrying a fierce wind, went from bottom to top.

It shot directly into the spotted leopard's lower jaw, then exited from the crown of its head by the left ear.

Just as the first arrow hit, Duan Yu had already drawn a second arrow and fired another shot.

The positions hit by the two arrows were nearly identical.

The spotted leopard, still in midair, landed on the ground with a thud, then twitched twice.

"Hehe."

Duan Yu laughed.

He stepped forward and kicked the spotted leopard's body twice with his foot.

Confirming there was no reaction, it was completely dead.

Duan Yu bent down and lifted the spotted leopard's two front paws, looking at them with satisfaction.

"With this spotted leopard, going into the city tomorrow will probably earn a big profit." Duan Yu was very happy.

When he was sitting here just now, Duan Yu had already sensed the danger.

As a mercenary, running around on battlefields year-round.

A sense of crisis had long since become second nature.

It was just that the spotted leopard was very wary.

And its speed was fast.

Duan Yu was worried that if he took the initiative to attack, he might very well startle the spotted leopard away.

So he put on this act to lure the spotted leopard into taking the bait.

When he stood up, the arrow was already nocked on the bowstring.

Bending over and lowering his head was deliberately exposing a flaw to the spotted leopard lying in wait in the tree.

Only this way could he catch it off guard.

The strategy succeeded.

The spotted leopard took the bait, and so it died.

Tying the spotted leopard's two front paws with a rope, then directly carrying it on his back, Duan Yu satisfied, took strides heading down the mountain.

Two rabbits, two pheasants, and three foxes, plus a spotted leopard.

This was Duan Yu's harvest for the day.

If the old hunters in the mountains saw these prey, they would surely die of shame.

Accompanied by the setting sun, Duan Yu's footsteps were light.

"With these prey, I can exchange them for money in the city tomorrow, and also buy some clothes and rouge for Diaochan."

"This little girl has had it too hard these past few years."

Duan Yu thought to himself.

As for those matters of fighting for supremacy over the world, Duan Yu did not want to think about them for now.

After all, that was too far from him.

Right now, he was at best an unregistered resident.

No household registration, no identity.

Not to mention comparing with people like Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, even compared to Liu Bei, he was far behind.

So whatever fighting for supremacy over the world, let's put it aside for now.

First survive, and live life well.

This was what needed to be done most right now.

Keep his feet on the ground and walk steadily step by step.

As for the future, that could be discussed later.

He didn't have some heaven-defying system either.

The kind that starts you off with a hundred thousand troops or a million-strong army.

This system also required bit-by-bit effort to earn returns.

"Let the little girl live a good life first, so she doesn't fall to the point of becoming a singing girl in someone else's house, then we'll talk."

The setting sun was fiery red, its glow filling the sky.

Diaochan stood before the dilapidated fence of her yard, looking up toward the distance.

Just like a young wife waiting for her husband to return.

From the thatched cottage behind her, curling cooking smoke rose.

The water vat left outside was already filled to the brim.

Beside the water vat sat a wooden basin.

Inside the wooden basin, hot water was giving off steam.

A rooster and a hen were pecking at the gravel and newly awakened bugs on the ground in the small yard.

"Why isn't Big Brother Duan back yet?"

Diaochan's eyes showed some anxiety, her tone tinged with worry.

Her tiptoes and gazing figure betrayed her urgent feelings at this moment.

Her uncle had been gone for a day, yet Diaochan was not worried.

Because Diaochan knew her uncle had probably gone drinking.

Or he might be drunk somewhere.

But Duan Yu was different.

Duan Yu had gone into the mountains to hunt.

Diaochan had heard before that whenever someone went into the mountains to hunt, they either got lost in the hills or never came back.

Everyone knew meat was delicious.

But the wild beasts in the mountains weren't something just anyone could hunt.

So Diaochan was very worried.

Just as Diaochan was gazing at the far end of the village.

A little boy wearing ragged, coarse cloth clothes ran quickly past the front of Diaochan's small yard.

"Sister Diaochan, Sister Diaochan, come look! A wandering knight came to the village entrance, and he's carrying a big spotted leopard, it's this big!"

The little boy spread his arms wide to gesture.

Shouting as he ran toward the village.