Chapter 93: Chapter 72: Blood Shadow in the Mountain
Translator: 549690339
After attending a meeting at the county government, Sun Siwen started busying himself with his teaching plan.
He summoned all the scholars in the county and gathered them into a separate class, where he began an intensive course on all the knowledge points related to the imperial examination.
Although Sun Siwen’s own scholarship was limited, he had just barely consolidated his juren level after two years of intense study. But when he took the imperial examination, he had received guidance from an immortal soul in his dreams.
As a result, Sun Siwen might have been deficient in other areas of knowledge, but he was not lacking in the various knowledge points of the imperial examination.
Although it had been two years since his last examination, there were not many changes in the two years with the current pace of society.
The knowledge and experience from before were still valuable and applicable.
Thus, Sun Siwen, as the grand tutor, was dedicated to teaching for his own career and achievements. The scholars he had recruited were also striving for their own futures and studying with all their energy.
Especially when they found out that the knowledge points taught by the Teaching Assistant were so incredibly valuable, they listened obsessively and intently, not daring to miss a single point.
After all, it was guidance from an immortal. No matter how Sun Siwen understood and processed it, it was still extraordinary.
Recently, Sun Siwen had been busy teaching students and had no free time.
Lu Yuan didn’t rest either.
While Sun Siwen was giving lectures at the academy, he took advantage of this time to venture deep into the mountains and begin his hunting trip.
With the experience from the last time and Gu Songyun’s reminders, this time he ventured into the mountains much more smoothly.
However, unlike last time, during this hunting trip, Lu Yuan did not go after small prey like wild chickens, rabbits, mountain goats, or wolves.
Although these prey were good, they wouldn’t fetch a high price, so they were not his target.
After entering the mountains, Lu Yuan’s goal was clear: He went straight to the extremely dangerous area where Fierce Tigers and wild bears were active, as mentioned by Gu Songyun last time.
What were rabbit and mountain goat worth?
The real value lay in hunting tigers and bears, with tiger whiskers and bear paws being the delicacies pursued by the wealthy. Tiger skins and bear skins were symbols of status, and these items were worth a fortune.
As for hunting the king of the mountain forest, Lu Yuan already had a lot of experience.
He would lock onto their range of activities, track their traces, and after finding the target, use a long-range bow to shoot them down. If they could be dealt with directly, it would be the best outcome.
If not, getting close and smacking them with his third-rate Cloud Palm would be enough to take them down in one blow.
After several days, the few fierce tigers and big bears active within a hundred miles of the nearby mountains had basically all become Lu Yuan’s prey.
And those wealthy families in the city suddenly found that the previously hard-to-find tiger whiskers and bear paws, as well as tiger and bear skins, had become readily available in the market.
Of course.
They bought them all.
If they missed this opportunity, they wouldn’t know when they would see them again.
Of course, such a high-profile sale of mountain goods naturally attracted the attention of the local gangs.
There was a local gang made up of Miao and Yue people that was the largest Jianghu force in Changning County.
When they found out that the goods were being sold by the close friend of the popular Grand Tutor Sun Siwen, their original plan was instantly extinguished.
Having produced several scholars and even starting a scholar crash course to cultivate one or two jurens, Sun Siwen was seen as a saint sent by heaven to change the situation of weak literary atmosphere in Changning County by the local gentry.
Anything Sun Siwen wanted to do could receive the support of the entire county.
Being his friend, attacking Lu Yuan was almost like attacking the entire county’s gentry.
Even if they were a Jianghu gang, offending the local forces of the whole county would be a situation they could not handle.
So with this official relationship, Lu Yuan could carry out some activities in Changning County without worrying too much, as long as they were not too outrageous.
Of course, with his current strength as a third-rate martial artist, he wouldn’t be afraid of anyone coming after him.
The tigers and bears on the outskirts of the deep mountains were soon hunted clean.
After selling them all, Lu Yuan quickly made a profit of more than 800 taels, and together with the savings in hand, his wealth once again surpassed the 1,000 taels mark.
But perhaps it was because he hadn’t hunted for a long time.
After picking up his old skills again, he became somewhat addicted.
So after hunting down the tigers and bears in the outer mountain areas of Changning County, he continued to hunt further afield, extending his hunting area to the nearby Xiaxi County.
This mountain area belonged to another region, and the common knowledge and taboos he had learned from Gu Songyun had less influence here.
Wanting to move here, he could only slowly explore step by step, and as a result, it became much more dangerous.
Of course.
As a child of the mountains, even if the terrain was different, as long as he was in the mountains, Lu Yuan had nothing to fear.
Some swamps and poisonous barriers were no obstacles for him.
As for dangerous fierce animals, encountering them was actually a pleasant surprise, as his savings would become more substantial.
So traveling between mountain ridges, Lu Yuan only felt at ease, filled with a sense of freedom that suited his nature.
Until this day.
While traversing the dense forest, avoiding areas possibly inhabited by poisonous insects, Lu Yuan followed the tracks of a wild bear, preparing to hunt the prey he had been stalking for a few days.
The early-stage activities of narrowing down the range and tracking scents were completed. He had already confirmed the location of the bear’s lair.
Now, he simply needed to go there and finish off the bear with the bow and arrow in his hand, then claim his spoils.
Plows of dense forest fell behind him, and after a while, a dark cave entrance appeared before him.
As the king of the mountain forest, the wild bear did not conceal its lair in any way. Its own scent was the greatest deterrent to the mountain hunters and shielded it from all danger.
Except for the hunters who targeted it.
At this moment, the hunter had arrived.
Stepping forward quietly, Lu Yuan prepared to move into the cave.
But as he approached the cave, still three steps away, his hunter’s intuition kicked in, his body raised all its hair, an alarm went off in his body, and his sixth sense sensed imminent danger.
Without any hesitation, his advancing body instantaneously retreated.
Almost at the very moment of retreating, a pale red shadow streaked past where Lu Yuan was just standing at an electrifying speed, making his eyelids twitch.
With a hissing sound, he retreated several more steps, only stopping when he was about ten meters away from the cave entrance. At this point, the sense of danger had mostly subsided.
Turning his gaze back, he saw a blood-red centipede wriggling its body, gnashing its teeth, and hissing a terrible, frightening noise at the spot where he had just been standing..