Chapter 6: Archery And Herbology
Shooting arrows, reading books, eating meals.
In the five days, Su Yan focused solely on these three things.
After the Yin Water Centipede finished eating two scorpions and one toad the size of a head.
Su Yan let it patrol and hunt in the surrounding area, whether it was poisonous creatures hidden in the forest or animals passing by, all became food for the Yin Water Centipede.
Su Yan did not meddle in other matters, devoting himself entirely to honing his bow and arrows.
He didn’t know how many times he had shot arrows, the bark of the old tree trunk on the purple birch tree had long been worn away, with wood chips scattered messily as if ravaged by a woodcutting knife.
Thirty arrows shot again and again, the arrowheads had been sharpened on the nearby stones several times, and it was clear they wouldn’t last much longer.
Su Yan held his breath and focused, two hundred steps away, the tree trunk seemed no more than an arm’s length before his eyes.
A “whoosh” of light sound, the tail feathers hummed softly, the arrow flew like a meteor, steadily embedding into the tree trunk.
Body, breathing, and spirit coordinated as one.
‘It’s done.’
With this arrow shot, Su Yan knew it was achieved.
Concentrating his spirit to look, the information had already appeared before his eyes.
【Tier 1 Insect Master:3/100】
【Insect Realm:1 cubic meter】
【Mountain Hunting:25/200（Minor Accomplishment）】
【Basic Archery1/200（Minor Accomplishment）】
【Herbology1/200(（Minor Accomplishment）】
【Yin Water Centipede27/100(）Newborn】
‘Once the skill is achieved, the world opens wide, the realization after manifestation is indeed more comprehensive, though not like adding points, it cannot be underestimated, this is good news.’
After five days of dedicated practice, after completing the skill manifestation breakthrough for the first time, Su Yan had new insights in his heart.
For him, this was indeed good news.
Apart from his insect taming abilities, he now had solid capital for his own growth.
‘Archery initially achieved, Herbology fully memorized, but the Yin Water Centipede has been cut off from poisonous creatures for food, its growth now relies entirely on being driven, progress has slowed.’
‘It’s time to enter the mountains, accumulate more silver, hunt more wild beasts, and blood sacrifice the Fierce Insect Cauldron.’
Su Yan took out the Mountain-splitting Dao, stepped forward, and chopped at the notch on the purple birch tree.
After days of practice, under muscle fatigue and nourishment from strands of Insect Yuan, his strength had increased significantly.
Now, chopping the tree with the Dao sank three inches into the wood each time, even better than an axe.
In just seven or eight strikes, the purple birch tree could no longer hold, creaking loudly as it fell.
He then swept around chaotically, covering everything with shrubs, concealing most traces, so no one could easily tell that someone had practiced archery here.
After handling these chores, Su Yan returned to his home.
He prepared wheat cakes as dry rations, sharpened the arrows and Dao, and once everything was ready, at dawn the next day, Su Yan entered the mountains again.
This time entering the mountains, Su Yan was vastly different from a few days ago, feeling like a flood dragon entering the sea.
His figure agile, steps light and quick, easily covering three or four li of mountain path, crossing over a mountain peak.
No need to mention his physical state, after several enhancements, it already matched two or three adult strong men.
The Minor Accomplishment in Basic Archery brought him agile steps and flexible movements, walking even more freely on these narrow mountain paths.
Of course, in terms of gains, it had to be the Herbology skill and Mountain Hunting Skill, complementing each other, elevating Su Yan’s knowledge of the many plants in Yunling Mountain to a higher level.
In these three or four li of road, the backpack was already half full, snakeberry fruit, yellow essence, Dan Zhi Mushroom, plenty of herbs collected into his bag.
Though not as good as decade-old wild ginseng or Treasure Plants, their value was still not low.
In the past, he might not have noticed even faint traces to find these medicinal herbs, but now it was like taking something from a pocket.
One hand holding the bow, he bent down to pick a large piece of truffle mushroom from a fallen log, preparing to put it into the backpack.
Suddenly, the shrubs rustled, the branches and leaves swaying like hands, spreading toward him.
Su Yan immediately retreated, nocked an arrow, fixed his gaze, a gray shadow quickly shuttling through the shrubbery, panicked and directionless.
‘Perfect timing.’
Without thinking, he shot the arrow like the wind, with a whoosh, it directly embedded into the gray shadow’s body.
The plump gray rabbit, carrying the long arrow, rolled out of the shrubs, body twitching nonstop, yet unable to move.
Su Yan walked forward, grabbed the gray rabbit, and weighed it in his hand.
“Good rabbit, must be four or five jin.”
He reached out to pull the arrow, fingers pressing the wound, the gray rabbit’s blood immediately drawn out quickly from the corpse through contact with his fingers.
In his sea of consciousness, the Fierce Insect Cauldron was faintly glowing red, the little insect on the cauldron legs now had an additional red blood thread, barely extending to a small appendage at the tail.
Soon, this gray rabbit was drained of blood, leaving only fur and corpse.
“One gray rabbit’s blood is less than half a jin, the condensed beast blood essence is only about two taels, a bit little.”
“Rustle rustle rustle”
The Yin Water Centipede suddenly lunged toward the shrubbery, raising its body, issuing a threat.
Su Yan immediately took the hardwood bow, looking toward the source of the sound.
Pattering footsteps passed through the shrubs, a pair of glowing green beast eyes slowly emerged.
A fierce wolf half a person’s height, fangs bared, charged out from the shrubs straight at Su Yan.
That gray rabbit was likely its prey, but now this lone wolf had clearly switched targets, even trying to bypass the Yin Water Centipede to kill Su Yan.
‘Good beast!’
Su Yan’s eyes sharpened, breath steady as still water, not letting the Yin Water Centipede act, instead shooting arrows like meteors, swiftly nocking and firing two arrows in succession.
The first arrow, the cunning old lone wolf dodged to the side, but the second it could not evade.
The straight arrow pierced the neck, with a thud it fell, crashing into the shrubs.
Su Yan advanced with the Dao, in one strike, hand rose and blade fell, inserting into the wolf’s head, killing it instantly.
‘A lone wolf separated from the pack, no wonder.’
The wolf’s body was about one meter seventy-eight long, patchy gray-black fur uneven, blood foam constantly spilling from its mouth.
Su Yan didn’t mind, however many wild beasts came were good, just right to feed the Fierce Insect Cauldron’s blood, to let the fierce insect hatch.
One wild wolf fed about seven or eight jin of beast blood to the Fierce Insect Cauldron, condensing around four jin of essence.
The blood thread on the fierce insect on the Fierce Insect Cauldron became even more distinct.
Su Yan stored the wolf corpse, looked at the shadowy forest, his gaze now eager with anticipation.
Yin Water Centipede leading the way, Su Yan followed closely with bow and Dao in hand, beginning to explore the rarely trodden mountains.
Whether poisonous creatures hidden under broad leaves on branches, or wild pheasants flying in the forest, none could escape Su Yan’s attacks.
The former were captured by the Yin Water Centipede, even groups of scorpions could not match this wondrous Yin Water Centipede.
Su Yan with the hardwood bow, drawing and shooting from stillness to motion, arrows flying as if with eyes, not just wild pheasants, even flying birds could be hit in one shot.
Rather than calling it mountain hunting, it was more like continuing to hone his own skills, while also constantly strengthening the Yin Water Centipede.
The sun set in the west, light gradually dimming, Su Yan had traveled another three or four li before gradually stopping.
The backpack was long full, with three or four gray rabbits and wild pheasants hanging at his waist, even the Insect Realm Space was filled with poisonous insects, poisonous herbs, and relatively precious medicinal herbs.
【Tier 1 Insect Master:3/100】
【Insect Realm:1 cubic meter】
【Mountain Hunting:37/200（Minor Accomplishment）】
【Basic Archery 34/200（Minor Accomplishment）】
【Herbology21/200(（Minor Accomplishment）】
【Yin Water Centipede54/100(）Newborn】
Basic Archery and Yin Water Centipede grew the most, the other skills and abilities all increased somewhat.
‘Dan Zhi Mushroom with decade potency rivals wild ginseng, and the rare tendon yellow grass though not a Treasure Plant, is also a medicinal herb for practicing martial arts, Hundred Herbs Hall priced it high in past years.’
Tallying the gains, this trip though not as valuable as finding Yin Red Root, but counting poisonous insects, poisonous herbs, and hunted prey, it was quite bountiful.
‘Beast blood essence about twelve or thirteen jin now, a few more times and it’ll just be waiting for the second exotic insect, if luck is good’
The thought just arose, Su Yan dismissed it, pondering in his heart: ‘Relying on luck is worth little, better to save more money, improve strength at the same time, secretly inquire about exotic insect movements, if can acquire one, that would be best.’
Thinking this way, he stowed the hardwood bow, using the fading twilight, quickly descended the mountain.
The next morning, Su Yan did not enter the mountains but packed up and hurried to the Mountain Market, selling mountain mushrooms, hides, one wild ginseng, decade-old Dan Zhi Mushroom, and many other medicinal herbs.
Then went to the Weapon Shop for two barrels of arrows and two sharp handy boning knives and skinning knives, changed clothes, and returned to the village.
A body of silver, about ten taels remaining.
This time he didn’t conceal much, Hundred Herbs Hall’s shop assistant Bai Shan and steward Song Qi, seeing his gains in just five or six days, were amazed in their hearts.
Song Qi’s thoughts grew even more.
Su Yan returned to the village, rested two more days, continued to the forest to temper his archery, with no intention of saving rations.
Instead, eating heartily the wild pheasants, rabbits, and tough wolf meat hunted from the mountains.
With Insect Yuan continuously nourishing his body, and Su Yan’s own tempering constantly improving, his demand for meat was also rising.
Better to consume the prey himself than exchange for mere dozens or hundreds of copper coins.
After two days like this, the Yin Water Centipede finally devoured clean the over ten black scorpions, black fur spiders, bamboo leaf greens, ghost veil grass, see-blood green, and other poisonous insects and herbs hunted during mountain hunting.
【Basic Archery57/200（Minor Accomplishment)】
【Yin Water Centipede12/200(）Growth Stage】
Yin Water Centipede in Growth Stage, the accumulated energy seemed to release continuously at this time.
It first gradually curled up, then its body slightly grew, after half an hour, a small crevice cracked from its forehead.
The outer skin began to split, thousand legs and body struggling constantly, bit by bit squeezing out from the crevice.
First the ferocious head, then the sturdy body, finally the tail.
Fully two hours, the Yin Water Centipede then completed shedding its shell, appearing before Su Yan.
The current Yin Water Centipede was a whole circle larger, about fifty centimeters long, mandibles sharper like two black curved sabers.
‘Ranked up.’
Though just a feeling, the Yin Water Centipede before his eyes had definitely ranked up.
Compared to before, the current Yin Water Centipede even gave him a sense of danger.
‘Already ranked up in Growth Stage, so the so-called unranked exotic insects are only relative, really just one step away.’
‘Yin Water Centipede ranked up, even if I haven’t learned martial arts yet, it adds another layer of assurance.’
He threw out the remaining wolf meat, all given to the Yin Water Centipede to eat.
By the time the Yin Water Centipede fully devoured it, the new carapace had gradually hardened, gleaming with dark purple luster.
