Chapter 25 - Hunting(2)

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  After saying his piece, Gu Xuan didn’t ponder upon it further and walked towards the boar that he had sent flying.

  He checked the pulse of the wild boar and after confirming that it’s dead, he nodded to Lin Hua and Lin Heng.

  Understanding what Gu Xuan meant, Lin Hua replied with a nod of her own. Meanwhile, Lin Heng, who was the child he is, hopped around as he circled the wild boar and the tree nearby excitedly.

  Lin Hua reached into her inner robes and pulled out a sheathed knife and a neatly arranged rope.

  “You know how to butcher?”

  Lin Hua nodded with a chuckle, as she unsheathed the knife that revealed a sharp edge on one side.

  “Does Brother Gu think that us, brother and sister, can bring a wild boar this size to the city everyday we hunt?”

  Gu Xuan’s eyes widened, he didn’t expect Lin Hua to give him a somewhat sarcastic reply but he didn’t mind, he liked it better when people don’t treat him as if he’s some god just because he has a higher status just like back in the sect.

  He laughed and replied, “Well, I apologize for not being realistic, Sister Lin, but when did you start learning?”

  Lin Hua turned to Gu Xuan’s location first before she started patting the chest of the wild boar while replying, “Our family fell when I was the age of 8, Lin Heng was 1 year old back then. Until the age of 10, we had a guardian with us but due to internal injuries he had suffered when we were on-the-run from our enemy, he unfortunately died.”

  After skillfully determining the location of the boar’s heart, Lin Hua stabbed in one motion as if she had done it hundreds of times.

  And as expected, when Lin Hua slashed to widen the hole before pulling out, blood began to leak from the boar’s body.

  She walked towards the back legs of the wild boar and began tying both its legs tightly as she continued to share her life experience, “Because of that, I had no choice but to find a way for me and my brother to survive so I learned how to butcher from a neighbor, and when I was young, our elder brother would bring us out on a hunt so I knew some tricks and after testing for a while, I was able to hunt wild chicken easily and wild boars from time to time.”

  Gu Xuan who listened to her crouched down in front of the bleeding hole of the wild boar and asked in curiosity, “Did you cut the heart?”

  “Yes.” Lin Hua answered as she began to tighten the rope, with Gu Xuan’s observation skills, he was able to deduce her identity from simple clues, she wasn’t surprised that he was able to know which part of the wild boar she cut even if he wasn’t knowledgeable.

  “You’re very skilled, Sister Lin. You just went and stabbed in one go and you actually got it.”

  Lin Hua laughed slightly as she began to make it so that the long rope could be stretched, “Well, after doing it for 8 years even if it’s not everyday, I got used to it. Brother Gu used to live in a recluse sect, right? So there should be a forest? I’m surprised you don’t know how to hunt.”

  Gu Xuan replied as he stood up and offered to help with the rope, he knew what to do even without saying, “Well, I was training and didn’t find the time to learn. I always find the meat a bit gamy when I cut it myself, so I just went on a swim when I took a bath everyday and caught some fish to sustain myself… furthermore, I didn’t have seasonings and I was too focused on training to spend my time on such, fish meat tastes better without seasoning.”

  Lin Hua smiled seeing Gu Xuan offering to help, she nodded and handed Gu Xuan the rope and pointed at a tree branch wherein Gu Xuan could hang the boar to.

  She then replied with a nod, “It’s indeed gamy if you don’t bleed the meat before deboning.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Bleeding? Does it make that much of a difference?” Gu Xuan asked as he pulled onto the end of the rope and jumped into the sturdy tree branch he was going to hang the wild boar to.

  Lin Hua wasn’t very surprised that Gu Xuan was able to jump so high, after all, travelling from the city gates to the forest within a few minutes was more surprising.

  She then answered Gu Xuan’s question with a bit of embarrassment, “I don’t really know the details but it indeed tastes better.”

  Gu Xuan, who had returned to the ground after jumping through a tree branch, replied, “Is that so? At least we know it tastes better that way, we don’t necessarily have to know everything in the beginning, we just need to know that it works.”

  He then circled through the tree, and as the wild boar was hovering above ground but not too high, he tied it for the blood to come out of the wild boar’s body.

  “Done.” Gu Xuan nodded to himself in satisfaction seeing the stably hanged wild boar.

  Lin Hua nodded to him and turned to Lin Heng who might wander somewhere far again but seeing that he wasn’t playing too far away, she asked in curiosity, “Brother Gu was able to jump but why didn’t your body glow a faint blue light like earlier?”

  “Hm? You don’t know what it’s called? It’s called inner qi. Although hidden sects are rare, aren’t martial artists a thing in the mortal world? 1st layer… well, in the mortal world, it’s probably comparable to a martial arts master? They are able to use it too.”

  “Ah!” Lin Hua then exclaimed as she remembered something, “Now that Brother Gu mentioned it, our previous guardian was the head guard of our family in the past and his body was able to glow.”

  “Right? It’s not very rare.”

  Lin Hua’s lips twitched as she replied, “Does Brother Gu think that martial masters are like cabbages that dime a dozen in the market? In the entire Blue Cloud City, there’s only less than 20.”

  “What?” Gu Xuan couldn’t help but feel surprised but now understood why some bandits were able to disrupt the balance of power in the South of the Blue Lotus Continent.

  But thinking about it again, it kind of… makes sense? Even in the hidden sect, there were less than 100, the Central District isn’t even full with quite some houses still available so there’s not much competition within the sect.

  Lin Hua then continued, “Furthermore, after our previous guardian slashed with tremendous strength, his arm dried up as if it was drained of blood, and he vomited blood.”

  “???” Question marks arose from Gu Xuan’s head but then understood, “Then your previous guardian hasn’t reached the threshold yet he dared to use inner qi? He was very courageous because that action of his, not only caused him internal injuries but also cut off his future in terms of qi cultivation but considering the life and death situation you were facing at that time, it was also understandable.”

  “He hasn’t reached the threshold? What does Brother Gu mean?”

  Gu Xuan saw a tree log and sat down, “Since the bleeding of the wild boar will take some time, although I can’t tell you the sect’s cultivation technique without permission, I don’t mind telling you some things, do you wanna know?”

  Hearing Gu Xuan’s statement, Lin Hua’s heart beat fast, and she excitedly nodded, “Please tell me more, Brother Gu!”

  Gu Xuan nodded, “Have you heard of the dantian?”

  “Dantian? I feel like I’ve heard of it from martial artists before but they didn’t speak more about it.”

  Gu Xuan couldn’t help but frown hearing this, ‘Looks like the mortal world is far worse than I thought. Even just the details about cultivation is completely well-hidden.’

  He shook his head as he thought how these mortals viewed the first step as some kind of treasure. He also judged that sects, after all, keeping these things secret does not do any good for the future of the Blue Lotus Continent, the only thing it does is withhold hidden talents among mortals from reaching their potential.

  In any case, it was none of Gu Xuan’s business so he didn’t ponder further and began explaining, “Well, the dantian is a mysterious space within every person but you can think of it as another organ. However, this organ is not accessible under normal circumstances, only when you’ve learned how to meditate properly can you detect it, along with spiritual qi.”

  He pointed his thumb in the gap between his chest and stomach and said, “To make it easier in case you ever cultivate in the future, you’ll feel the dantian, here.”

  Lin Hua listened properly and inquired, “How do you sense spiritual qi, Brother Gu?”

  “The minimum requirement is being able to sit still for an hour and feel comfortable with it. When you’ve begun to become comfortable with it, you’ll eventually be able to enter a meditative state and be able to feel the dantian. The feeling of the dantian and spiritual qi is quite the same so once you’re able to feel the dantian, you’ll eventually be able to feel the spiritual qi from the outside world.”

  “Everyone has dantian…” Lin Hua’s eyes flashed with hope, “Can I do it too?”

  Gu Xuan didn’t know how to reply but nodded, “Of course, but it’ll be difficult since you don’t have a cultivation technique. Not only that, the spiritual qi density in the Blue Lotus Continent is at least 10 times worse than in our sect so if you want to be a cultivator, you either have to find a master or join a sect. We are not naturally able to be able to take in spiritual qi so we must first establish a bridge, open the pores and let the mortal pathway adapt to the flowing spiritual qi from the outside world and into the dantian slowly. If you use inner qi prematurely, you’ll end up like your previous guardian and suffer internal injuries.”

  “10 times worse…?” Although Lin Hua didn’t know what that meant, she was able to determine that it wasn’t a good thing but she still asked in a downcast mood, “How long did it take Brother Gu to establish the bridge?”

  “2 years. Not only that, I cultivated day and night.”

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