Cultivating for Immorality: I Evolved Martial Arts into the Immortal Path – Chapter 14

Chapter 14: A Bountiful Harvest

“A-Liang?”

At the village entrance, Zhao Hu and his group spotted Chu Liang, who was heading into the mountains.

Seeing Chu Liang’s hunting gear, Zhao Hu couldn’t help but frown, saying, “He’s actually going into the mountains to hunt? Is his injury healed?”

“A-Liang’s complexion looks normal now,” a follower spoke up.

“Could it be that he wasn’t just putting on a brave face before?”

Zhao Hu was puzzled. What kind of miraculous medicine did Chu Liang take to recover so quickly?

He had originally intended to personally test Chu Liang’s condition.

But Chu Liang had dealt with the village bullies, and his reputation was currently good, so Zhao Hu couldn’t easily go looking for trouble with him.

“But his hunting dogs are all dead, and he has no help. He won’t be able to get much prey alone,” he mused.

“Yeah, if I were A-Liang, I’d go to the county town first to buy a few hunting dogs.”

“Purchased ones will never be as good as the ones he had before,” Zhao Hu said thoughtfully. “Those dogs were carefully trained by Master, much better than the ordinary hunting dogs in the county town market.”

Zhao Hu had always wanted Chu Liang’s hunting dogs; they were truly top-notch.

If they were in his hands, he wouldn’t have let them fight to the death with a wild bear.

“Brother Hu, should we follow A-Liang?” the follower asked. “It’s just him alone; we can find a way to deal with him!”

“No, we’ll go into the mountains from another direction, avoid him,” Zhao Hu shook his head.

“Why?”

“A-Liang is skilled in archery and has a treasure bow. The mountain terrain is complex. If he’s really recovered, it’s not wise for us to clash with him in the mountains.”

There were no rules in the deep mountains and forests.

Over the years, many villagers had mysteriously died in the deep mountains.

Were they killed by wild animals or by other villagers? No one could say for sure!

Zhao Hu believed his strength was not inferior to Chu Liang’s, but he didn’t want to fight him in the deep mountains for the time being.

Even with the help of a few followers and hunting dogs, he wasn’t absolutely sure he could kill Chu Liang.

“Let’s go. We’ll try to get as much prey as possible today. We can check the traps we set earlier. When we return tonight, we’ll make A-Liang green with envy.”

Zhao Hu waved his hand and led his followers into the mountains from another direction.

They all believed that Chu Liang would likely have a poor harvest today.

The mountain forest was dense with lush trees, a scene full of vitality.

Chu Liang walked among them.

Based on his past memories, he quickly left the outer mountain range and began to venture into the deep mountains.

“I wonder where that wild bear is.”

If he encountered the wild bear that had come down the mountain to the village again, Chu Liang was confident he could kill it.

Now, in this part of the mountain forest, there was nothing he needed to fear.

After entering the deep mountains, he began to set traps and place the evolved bait.

“Without the help of hunting dogs, it feels like I’m missing several pairs of eyes. It’s really inconvenient.”

Time flew by, and soon it was noon.

Chu Liang sat on the trunk of a large tree, casually biting a few pieces of dry rations and dried meat.

After resting for a while, he jumped down from the tree and continued deeper into the forest.

Not long after, he hunted a wild hare.

“Rabbit meat is too tough and has a strong gamey smell. It needs heavy seasoning to remove the smell… If there’s another option, I’ll just offer this thing to the Evolutionary Appraisal Mirror.”

Chu Liang shook his head and continued forward, carrying the rabbit.

Time quickly reached three o’clock in the afternoon. He glanced at the sky and began to retrace his steps.

“After most of the day, I only managed to hunt one rabbit. I hope the traps have yielded something.”

The return journey was much faster.

Soon, Chu Liang saw one of the traps he had set.

“Huh?”

Chu Liang’s eyes lit up. In the trap was a mountain pheasant flapping its wings.

He quickened his pace, ran over, and skillfully tied up the pheasant with a straw rope.

“This is a good start. Let’s check the other traps.”

To Chu Liang’s delight, more than half of the remaining traps had yielded results.

In the past, it would have been considered good if even one of these traps had caught something.

And this was only after half a day!

◈◈◈

Clearly, the evolved bait had worked, attracting the prey to Chu Liang’s traps.

◈◈◈

As evening approached, the sun began to set behind the mountains.

Zhao Hu and his group descended the mountain, chatting and laughing.

They had a good harvest today. Not only did they hunt a few rabbits and two mountain pheasants, but they also unexpectedly caught a mountain fox with intact fur!

Fox fur was not cheap; a single pelt was worth a month’s income for an ordinary tenant farmer.

“Haha, today was really lucky!”

Zhao Hu laughed heartily, feeling great.

Foxes were cunning and difficult to catch, and those with intact fur were even rarer.

“I wonder how A-Liang did today. He probably came back empty-handed. He’d be lucky to catch even one rabbit!”

Thinking of this, Zhao Hu felt even better.

His followers also laughed and flattered him.

Just then, Zhao Hu suddenly saw Chu Liang, who was also descending the mountain and returning to the village.

With a smile on his face, he loudly said, “Haha, A-Liang, you today…”

Before he could finish, his voice stopped abruptly, and his smile froze on his face.

“Brother Hu, why did you stop laughing?”

His followers were puzzled and looked in the direction Zhao Hu was staring.

Then, the smiles on their faces also froze.

There was Chu Liang, carrying a long wooden pole on his shoulder, walking slowly and steadily out of the forest.

On that pole were tied more than ten prey of various sizes, including two foxes with intact fur!

On his back, he also carried a whole muntjac, which must have weighed at least thirty jin!

“Huh? Brother Hu? You’re back too?”

Chu Liang smiled and greeted them before entering the village.

They passed each other.

Zhao Hu stared at Chu Liang, his eyes wide.

So much prey, and Chu Liang had hunted it all alone?

“This kid doesn’t even have hunting dogs anymore. Where did he find so much prey? Did it fall from the sky?” Zhao Hu couldn’t believe it. He even suspected that the mushrooms he had eaten at noon were causing him to hallucinate.

“Brother Hu, look at A-Liang’s prey. The fur is mostly intact, which means A-Liang didn’t use his treasure bow. They were probably all caught with traps.”

“Bullshit, whose traps can catch so much prey?”

Zhao Hu was a professional hunter after all, and he knew the efficiency of traps very well.

One of the followers said, “Brother Hu, maybe it’s luck.”

“Yeah, A-Liang hasn’t hunted for so long. Maybe he saved up all his luck for today?”

“…”

Luck can be saved up?

Zhao Hu rubbed his forehead, unable to say anything.

The facts were right in front of him. He couldn’t think of any other possibility, so he could only attribute it to luck.

After all, he had also caught a lot of prey in a short time when he was lucky in the past.

At this moment, Chu Liang was not far from his yard.

The prey he was carrying made the villagers who saw him gasp in surprise.

“That’s A-Liang. A-Liang is still so capable!”

“I’m so envious.”

“Heh, those relatives of the Chu family must be regretting it now, right?”

“…”

All of Chu Liang’s relatives were stunned. They had thought that Chu Liang, having lost his hunting dogs, would return empty-handed, but the result was completely opposite to what they had imagined.

So much prey, it was like a dream.

“A-Liang… he hunted so much prey again?” Fourth Aunt swallowed hard.

“He’s really something.”

Fourth Uncle stared at the prey, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He remembered the times when Chu Liang used to share his prey with them.

Would the current Chu Liang still share his prey with them?