As for his conflict with the boy next door, it’s not just because of the Fox Spirit, but more so because the conflict had already existed between the two sides.
"Oh~"
It was at this moment that Zhang Chen, who was observing, suddenly noticed something unusual compared to the past. He saw the Golden Light in his abdomen suddenly shoot into his eyes, and then the Fox Spirit in front of him blurred and transformed, suddenly surrounded by a layer of azure airflow.
The azure airflow draped over the Fox Spirit like a gauzy garment, looking particularly conspicuous in its verdant hue.
"Is that... Qi?" Zhang Chen looked at the azure airflow and after a long while, seemed to ponder.
He looked at Zhang Chen, but saw that Zhang Chen was an ordinary mortal body with no flickering airflow around him.
"My eyes can see this Qi, is it demon Qi? Or some other kind of Qi? Or perhaps it’s only visible with all beasts?" Zhang Chen thought, sensing he might have stumbled upon something new.
Looking down at his own hands, he vaguely saw a stream of golden Qi flowing beneath his skin, shining brightly like the great sun, completely different from the Qi of the Fox Spirit.
"I understand now, this Qi represents the Power of the Strange. As long as you grasp the Power of the Strange, there will be Qi flowing around you. Zhang Chen is just an ordinary scholar, of course, he wouldn’t have Qi swirling around." Zhang Chen speculated in his heart, tentatively setting this theory of his.
After listening to Zhang Chen recite scriptures for a quarter of an hour without any Skill emerging, Zhang Chen carefully sealed the hole with sand and began to prepare dinner. Zhang Chen’s dinner was quite simple, just some roasted meat. After eating his fill, he enjoyed a warm bath and then lay down on his bed, contemplating his Dharma Eye as he slept.
The next morning
Zhang Chen packed his gear, ready to head into the mountains for hunting bright and early, fearing that the prey in the traps might be snatched by small animals if he was late.
However, his body being still young, at the stage where he craved sleep for growth, he groggily gnawed on the leftover roasted meat from last night in the morning.
"Zhang Chen, it’s time to go hunting in the mountains!"
Amidst Zhang Chen’s drowsiness, a familiar call suddenly came from outside the door. It was Hunter Wang Wu from the village.
Zhang Chen jumped up, quickly responding, "I’m coming."
With a piece of meat between his teeth, Zhang Chen mumbled a response and hurriedly grabbed his basket, packed his hatchet, and swiftly dashed outside.
A thought suddenly flashed through Zhang Chen’s mind: "It was five years ago that Wang Wu personally captured the Fox Spirit, nearly skinning it for a fur collar. Could it be that Wang Wu is some hidden master?"
Thinking of this possibility, Zhang Chen felt slightly excited. If Wang Wu was a hidden master, then if he sought skills from Wang Wu, their relationship would surely mean Wang Wu wouldn’t refuse him.
Wang Wu was a hunter in the village, never married, and treated Zhang Chen like his own son. If it weren’t for Wang Wu taking pity on him over the years and often helping him out, he might have already starved to death.
At eight years old, Zhang Chen’s biological father went hunting in the mountains, was bitten by a beast, and without anti-inflammatory and disinfectant medicine, he couldn’t hold on past three months and died, leaving his mother to care for the three siblings.
However, his mother was a stepmother. As for Zhang Chen’s biological mother, the previous memories were blurry and unremembered. From memories of childhood, he only remembered the family seemed to be a branch of a large clan, banished to a bitterly cold place due to wrongdoing. The stepmother was a widow from the village, whom his father married after drifting into the village, in order to take root there, mediated by a village matchmaker, thus settling and becoming half a villager.
Among the three siblings, Zhang Chen was the second, with an older sister five years senior, and a younger sister born two years later after his stepmother married his father.
After Zhang Chen’s father’s death, the household’s fields were grabbed by the village’s landowner, leaving the widow and orphans with only a dilapidated old house and some worthless jars and bottles.
After the father’s death, Zhang Chen’s stepmother lived a hard life with the three siblings, relying on her stitching and mending.
Then Zhang Chen, being a bit older, was raised by his stepmother for four years, and after he could often hunt with Wang Wu in the mountains, he was sent out to live separately, returning to his old, decrepit thatched cottage, becoming neighbors with Zhang Chen next door.
As for the deeper-rooted conflict with Zhang Chen, it was because the thatched house Zhang Chen’s family lived in was originally Zhang Chen’s. But after the marriage into the stepmother’s family, it was abandoned, and with no one living in it for years, it was repaired and occupied by Zhang Chen’s mother and son when they arrived.
Zhang Chen went to argue, but the other party bullied him for being young, and since the other party had rebuilt the thatched house, it was certainly not going to be vacated, and thus hatred was formed.
After being driven out by his stepmother, Zhang Chen had to fend for himself. Though life was extremely hard and he almost starved to death, he survived thanks to the help of Hunter Wang Wu. Without Wang Wu’s hunting skills and often taking him on mountain hunts, he, as a young teenager, would have starved long ago.
Therefore, to him, Wang Wu was not his biological father, but more than a father. Even the cured meat on the wall was what Zhang Chen got while following Wang Wu on mountain hunts before his memories awoke, meant for winter reserves.
With the recollection over, Zhang Chen tried to maintain his usual demeanor, took a deep breath, slowly stood up, pushed the door open, and indeed saw the old hunter Wang Wu waiting outside.
Wang Wu was over fifty years old, his face weathered and frail-looking, but due to his excellent trap-setting skills, he lived comfortably, eating meat regularly and staying robust.
Zhang Chen’s eyes flashed with Golden Light, but Wang Wu had no Mysterious Qi flowing around him, clearly just an ordinary person.
Zhang Chen discreetly glanced at the courtyard next door, seeing the Fox Spirit grinding its teeth by the wall, looking at Zhang Chen and Wang Wu with a bit of hostility.
"Let’s go, let’s hurry into the mountains for hunting!" Zhang Chen said with a smile.
Though both Zhang Chen and Wang Wu were hunters, they each had their own acknowledged territories and would not hunt in the same area, avoiding competition for resources.
"Today I still need to get some equipment from Mr. Cui, Mr. Wang, please wait for me." Zhang Chen said to Wang Wu, then quickly ran to Blacksmith Cui’s house in the village, listening to the clanging of iron from within the house, and called out from the doorway, "Mr. Cui, I’m here to get the stuff."
Blacksmith Cui heard the voice and came out from inside the house, gesturing for Zhang Chen to enter the yard, and after Zhang Chen entered, Blacksmith Cui brought him inside the house to get a palm-sized burlap sack, which was quite heavy, directly handed it to Zhang Chen: "These are the iron balls you wanted, three hundred in total. Use them sparingly."
Zhang Chen opened the bag, it contained many grayish iron balls. The surface of the balls was imperfect, looking quite inconspicuous, obviously, the casting technique needed improvement.
"And there’s the shovel and slingshot frame, I hammered this slingshot frame myself, it’s enough for you and your descendants to use for generations." Blacksmith Cui took an iron frame from the shelf, it was quite smooth despite its slightly clumsy appearance. According to Blacksmith Cui, it’s enough for several generations.
Plus, the slingshot’s design is very well thought out, it felt quite heavy in hand, weighing about a pound, very sturdy.
"Take it home and polish it yourself!" Blacksmith Cui said nonchalantly. "I worked overtime till late at night for these items for you, kid."
Zhang Chen didn’t mind, directly packed up the slingshot frame, then grabbed the Luoyang Shovel, and gleefully ran back to Wang Wu.
"Mr. Wang Wu, let’s head into the mountains together." With a basket on his back, carrying the Luoyang Shovel, Zhang Chen’s eyes were filled with joy, a joy and anticipation for experience points.