After Lu Ling left, Yang Ji carried the arrow on his back and practiced silently in the mountains alone.
"Whoosh!"
An arrow was shot and landed on the ground. Not far away, a frightened wild badger fled in panic and quickly disappeared into the dense forest.
Yang Ji chased for a while and finally had to give up.
"It's a pity, it's still a little bit worse."
Yang Ji secretly felt regretful, walked over, pulled out the arrow on the ground, and showed a thoughtful look on his face:
"Although I have been practicing archery for a long time and have some accuracy, wild badgers and rabbits are living creatures after all, so it is not easy to hit them."
Although Lu Ling taught him the secret of archery, he did not teach him how to shoot live animals. It seemed that he had to rely on his own understanding.
"Simply aiming and shooting is not enough. The trajectory of the prey must also be included in the calculation..."
Thoughts flashed across Yang Ji's mind, he nodded secretly, picked up the bow, and continued walking deeper into the grass.
"Whoosh!"
Arrow after arrow, Yang Ji's hunting was not going very smoothly. The arrows were consumed very quickly, which made Yang Ji secretly feel distressed. Every arrow was worth money.
However, after repeated failures, Yang Ji gradually developed a feel for it, and his shooting became more and more accurate. Once, he even passed by a rabbit, leaving a blood groove on its body.
"I'm a few points behind every time. When I take action, I have to aim a little further ahead and a little higher. In addition, the rabbit's movements can be judged by the swing of its tail and the direction of its hind legs."
Yang Bi slowly summed up his experience according to his own method.
Looking back at the quiver, there were only three arrows left in it. Yang Ji took a deep breath and felt some pressure.
He tried his best to recover and reuse every arrow, but even so, he still had the last three arrows left due to inevitable consumption. If he failed to hit the prey again, his hunting would be a complete failure.
"Let's go and find the next target."
Yang Ji continued to walk forward.
"call!"
Suddenly, the grass trembled, and on the hillside half an arrow away, a white shadow flashed quickly, running towards the top of the mountain.
"Buzz!"
Yang Ji didn't even think about it. It was like a conditioned reflex. He bent his bow and arrow, drew it for a full moon, and quickly aimed at the prey in the distance.
"Elevation is one foot, target is front left."
Yang Ji calculated the movement trajectory of the prey in his mind like lightning, and was about to open his bow and release the arrow. However, at the moment before shooting, Yang Ji suddenly remembered what Lu Ling had taught him, and the arrow in his hand stopped for a moment.
"The hand and the bow are one, the eyes and arrows are one, the heart and the spirit are one..."
Lu Ling's words passed through his mind, and Yang Ji suddenly felt blessed and had a feeling of enlightenment:
"I calculate the movement trajectory of the prey with my heart. Isn't it what Lu Ling said, 'the mind and the spirit are one'? When shooting with your eyes, there will always be deviations. If you shoot with your heart, how can there be deviations?..."
In the distance, Bai Ying had already reached the top of the slope and was about to climb over the top of the mountain and disappear from sight in the next moment, but Yang Ji felt unexpectedly calm in his heart.
collapse!
As soon as his fingers were loosened, the bowstring vibrated, and a long arrow flew out with a sharp whistle and pierced the top of the mountain. In the distance, the white shadow immediately became motionless.
"Shot!"
Yang Ji was overjoyed, and a joy he had never experienced before welled up in his heart. Without thinking, he rushed to the top of the mountain in a few steps, pushed aside the grass, and saw a big fat rabbit nailed to the ground, struggling non-stop.
——Yang Ji’s arrow hit its neck without any bias, but the rabbit did not die immediately.
"Successful."
Yang Ji's eyes were sharp as he grabbed the fat white rabbit and lifted it out.
After being in the mountains for so long, practicing for so long, and using up so many arrows, this was the first one he hit.
"This rabbit definitely weighs more than two kilograms. After removing the skin and bones, it will definitely be enough for Uncle Liang and I to eat for several days. The meat can be dried and made into rabbit jerky. It will be delicious for winter."
Yang Ji looked happy. Looking at the rabbit, he felt that all the 48,000 pores in his body felt comfortable.
This is not as simple as a rabbit. For Yang Ji, it also represents a hope and the future life of him and Uncle Liang.
"Teaching a man to fish is worse than teaching him to fish." Mastering a hunting skill means that he and Uncle Liang will no longer have to be controlled by the clan in the future.
"Take it back and surprise Uncle Liang!"
Yang Ji was not greedy for more. He looked at the sky, carried his bow and arrows on his back, and carried the fat rabbit down the mountain.
At the door of the woodshed, the old housekeeper stood in the darkness with a worried look on his face.
"Uncle Liang, I'm back. - Look what this is."
Yang Ji raised the rabbit in his hand with a look of joy on his face.
"Rabbit...rabbit!"
The old housekeeper looked astonished. He only remembered that Yang Ji said he was going to the market to sell couplets. Unexpectedly, when he came back, he had a bow and an arrow on his back, and he also brought back a big rabbit.
"Hahaha, Uncle Liang, we don't have to worry about food anymore. I bought a bow and arrow. From now on, we can all go hunting in the mountains to make a living."
As Yang Ji spoke, he told him about his hunting.
"Great, great..."
After the initial shock, the old housekeeper reacted. His lips trembled with excitement, his face flushed, and his hair seemed to be trembling with silver threads:
"Master, you have really grown up. The old lady and the master will be happy to know this. - Give me that rabbit...it's so fat. Master, wait here, I will take care of it. In the evening, we
Eat rabbit meat!”
The gloom of the past few days was swept away, and the old housekeeper was beaming with joy and walked away carrying the rabbit meat.
After a while, a wisp of smoke rose from the darkness.
The old housekeeper made four bowls of rabbit meat, which was a rare meat meal for the two of them in a year.
"Master, eat some, eat more... you have a lot of things to do, and you will have strength only when you are full."
The old butler was beaming with joy and kept adding vegetables to Yang Ji's bowl.
Yang Ji looked at it and suddenly felt a little uncomfortable in his heart. Once upon a time, he had lived a life of fine clothing and fine food, but now, for a mere piece of rabbit meat, he was so happy, as if he was celebrating the New Year.
"Uncle Liang, one day, I will let you live a good life. And it won't be too long."
Yang Ji secretly thought in his heart.
"Uncle Liang, come on, you should eat more."
Yang Ji didn't say anything, he just kept these words deep in his heart.
…
The next day, Yang Ji went into the mountains to hunt as usual.
He has a high level of understanding. He has learned deeply about the methods taught by Lu Ling, and his accuracy in archery has become higher and higher.
…
Whoosh!
In the dense grass, a snow-white rabbit ran as fast as the wind along the terrain, as if someone was chasing it. However, suddenly, the rabbit froze, as if it had hit an invisible wall.
Just like that, he stood there motionless.
It's too late to say it, but it will be soon then——
"Hmph! Ha!"
There was a thunderous sound in the forest behind, and then a long arrow shot out, instantly piercing the stupid rabbit and piercing it to the ground.
La Lai!
The grass parted, and Yang Ji ran over with a bunch of prey hanging on his back, holding a bow.
"strangeness……"
Yang Ji looked at the rabbit, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes.
According to his calculations, the arrow just shot should have been shot a few feet forward, but for some reason, the rabbit suddenly stopped without any warning.
If he hadn't already understood some of the key points of "unity of heart and spirit", if it were someone else, the arrow just now would have missed the target.
"Maybe I'm overthinking it."
Yang Ji shook his head, laughed secretly at himself for being suspicious, picked up the rabbit on the ground and turned around to leave.
In the next few days, Yang Ji would go into the mountains every day to practice "Tiger and Leopard Thunder" and hunt at the same time.
His hunting skills became more and more refined, and he brought back more and more prey, which was no longer limited to small animals such as rabbits, deer, and wild badgers, but also included large animals such as foxes, minks, and even wolves.
After all the prey was decontaminated, the fur was stored by Yang Ji. After the accumulation reached a certain level, it would be sold in the market.
As for the remaining meat, Yang Ji gave it to the old housekeeper to handle, preparing to dry it and make it into food for the winter.
…
"howl!"
A white fox suddenly wailed, its limbs stretched out, and its body shivered. A long arrow from behind was incredibly shot from the eye socket, pierced through the lower jaw, and was firmly nailed to the ground.
This arrow preserves the integrity of the fur to the greatest extent, showing superb archery skills.
"What's going on? Here again?"
From behind, Yang Ji rushed over from the woods, slowed down, frowned and looked at the white fox on the ground with confusion.
He has encountered this situation several times while hunting in the mountains these past few days. The prey ran away in a hurry, but once they reached this area, they seemed to have been greatly frightened and immediately stopped and remained motionless.
Once can be said to be accidental, but twice and three times cannot be explained so simply.
"Is there something weird here?"
Yang Ji frowned and looked forward.
He could clearly see the white fox just now, and its trembling movements clearly indicated extreme fear.
Yang Ji subconsciously wondered if there was any powerful beast in front of him. Only when he encountered a beast that was more powerful than him would the fox be frightened like this. But soon, Yang Ji shook his head again.
If there was really a ferocious beast hiding there, it would have jumped out and eaten these rabbits and foxes long ago without any movement. After all, ferocious beasts are not philanthropists.
"Go in and have a look."
Yang Ji still couldn't suppress the curiosity in his heart. He carried the bow on his back and carried the prey, and walked in carefully.
After passing dozens of feet, there is a cliff. The cliff is not high. Further forward, there is a depression, which is very common in deep mountains. There are deep vegetation inside, and a few large bare rocks are exposed on the surface. Others
Then there is nothing more.
"Strange, there is nothing at all!"
Yang Ji stood on the cliff with a surprised look on his face. From his position, he had a clear view of what was under the cliff, and there was nothing special at all.
If there really is any ferocious beast, it cannot be hidden in this depressed area.
"Go in and have a look."
Yang Ji had no clue, so he simply found a low place and slid down.
"His!"
Suddenly, without warning, a sharp sound came into his ears, which frightened Yang Ji so much that he staggered back and almost hit the cliff behind him with his back.
"what?"
Yang Ji was shocked and felt a sense of terror.
He asked himself whether he was a timid person, and he had never been afraid when facing the eldest lady and several clan elders. But just for a moment, he couldn't help but feel an extremely dangerous and trembling feeling, as if he was about to be fatally attacked.
.
However, the expected attack did not come, and there was silence all around.
It seemed like a moment, and it seemed like extremely long centuries had passed. Yang Ji quickly calmed down, raised his head and looked in the direction of the sound.
There was nothing in front of me, except for the roaring grass and a huge exposed rock. There were no terrifying "ferocious beasts" around.
However, when Yang Ji glanced at the bottom of the rock, he couldn't help but feel shocked and gasped.
Hiss!
"Crowned snake!..."
Yang Ji was in a trance and almost murmured the name in his sleep.
It was a small black snake, pinned down by a rock, with its body raised and staring at him fiercely. When he saw the crown sarcoma protruding on its forehead, Yang Ji recognized it almost immediately.
its identity.
Crowned snake!
The prey that Lu Ling pursued so hard and almost lost his life - the King of Poisonous Snakes, the Emperor of Ten Thousand Snakes!