Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

Wei Chen's gaze quickly swept across the entire deer herd, assessing his targets. The adult male deer were the largest, with glossy fur and nascent antlers, and were the most valuable; followed by the robust female deer. He automatically ignored the half-grown fawns and calves.

His target was the nine largest deer—this would guarantee a bountiful harvest without devastating the entire herd. In the long run, it also protected his "hunting grounds."

Wei Chen selected an excellent sniping spot—a half-person-high, moss-covered boulder located about 20 to 30 meters uphill from the deer herd, offering a wide field of vision and low shrubs for cover.

He slid silently behind the boulder like a gecko, revealing only a pair of calm, almost cold, eyes.

Draw the bow and nock the arrow.

Target locked—a large male stag by the stream, its head bowed as it drank. Its neck was fully exposed to Wei Chen's view.

He held his breath. He released the bowstring! "Whoosh—!" The bowstring vibrated deeply and powerfully. The arrow transformed into a streak of dark light, almost invisible to the naked eye, tearing through the air! *Thud!* A dull thud of a sharp weapon piercing flesh rang out. The stag didn't even have time to utter a mournful cry before a spray of blood erupted from its neck, and its massive body crashed into the stream, splashing water everywhere.

"Yoo—!" The deer herd erupted in chaos! Panicked cries echoed through the valley. The outer deer raised their heads in alarm, looking around frantically, trying to pinpoint the source of the danger.

Wei Chen's movements were fluid and seamless! He drew the bow, nocked the arrow, aimed, and fired! The three arrows flew almost in a straight line, striking three adult does that had briefly exposed their vitals (neck or chest) in their panic. The arrows pierced their targets precisely, and three more does collapsed in their tracks.

The deer herd was thrown into complete chaos and began to scatter and flee, instinctively rushing away from the direction from which the arrows came—that is, into the depths of the valley.

Wei Chen had been waiting for this moment! He sprang up from behind the boulder like a cheetah, ignoring the dead prey, and cut down the hillside at an astonishing speed, directly intercepting the fleeing deer herd!

He was much faster than the startled deer herd, and in just a few breaths he had circled around to a relatively open slope to their side.

Draw the bow! Nock the arrow! This time, he no longer sought a precise, one-shot kill, but instead, while moving at high speed, he unleashed arrows like a torrent of water at the chaotic running deer herd! The targets remained the largest, leading adult deer!

"Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!" The sound of arrows piercing the air was incessant! The running deer herd was as if they were being swept away by an invisible scythe of death.

A stag was shot through the heart, charged forward a few steps, then rolled to the ground; a doe was shot in the hind leg, cried out and fell, and was followed up by Wei Chen with an arrow; yet another stag tried to change direction, but was pierced in the neck from the side by a tricky arrow...

His figure flickered among the trees and rocks, each brief pause accompanied by the whirring of the bowstring and the resounding crash of a mature deer. His movements carried an inhuman precision and ruthless efficiency, as if he were not hunting, but conducting a pre-programmed harvest.

When the last arrow pinned a robust deer attempting to escape across the ravine to a rock by the stream, the entire valley returned to an eerie silence, with only the dust kicked up by the lingering deer herd and the strong stench of blood filling the air.

Wei Chen stopped, slightly out of breath. Even with his current physique, such a high-intensity chase and continuous firing had exhausted a lot of his strength.

He looked around and saw nine large sika deer lying haphazardly by the stream, on the grass, and on the hillside. The other surviving deer had long since vanished without a trace.

He stepped forward and inspected each prey. The arrows mostly hit vital organs such as the neck, heart, or lungs with precision, ensuring the prey died quickly, reducing suffering and preserving the quality of the meat.

He pulled out the arrow, washed the blood off in the stream, and put it back in his quiver.

Then came the most crucial step—bleeding. He pulled out his hunting knife and skillfully made an incision in the artery of each deer's neck. Warm, rusty blood gushed out and flowed into a large earthenware jar, which he had bought from the commune earlier for eight cents each. He had bought 100 of them and kept them in his backpack.

Bleeding is key to ensuring the meat doesn't have a fishy smell, and deer blood is highly nutritious. He collected whatever was in his backpack, leaving it as it was. The nine-headed deer collected five large jars.

After bleeding him out, a thought struck him. In his backpack, a new slot lit up, its icon a majestic sika deer, with the number "9" clearly visible below. Another slot for the bloodletting jar displayed "Deer Blood," with the familiar "5" below.

Looking at the figure representing immense wealth, Wei Chen felt somewhat reassured. But he didn't linger; the scent of deer blood would soon attract other predators.

He took a few bites of the mixed grain pancakes his mother had made, now cold but still fragrant with wheat, and gulped down some sweet stream water. Wei Chen's gaze drifted towards the deeper mountain hollow.

Wild boars were his ultimate goal for this trip. Their thick hide, tusks, and ferocious strength were the most valuable currency in the city, and a "generous gift" for getting things done.

Finding wild boars requires more patience than finding deer. They have a wider range, are more destructive, and leave more obvious traces—uprooted bushes, deep hoof prints and mud pits left by rolling around, marks on tree trunks where bark has been scraped off, and a faint, earthy, and foul smell in the air.

Following these tracks, Wei Chen traversed several mountain ridges and passed through a dense hazelnut forest. The sun gradually set, bathing the forest in a warm golden hue. Finally, in a mountain hollow surrounded by mountains on three sides and with relatively sparse trees, he heard the long-awaited sound—a low, threatening "humph," and the "plop" of someone tumbling and rolling in the mud.

He quietly climbed onto a huge weathered rock with an excellent view and looked down.

Good heavens! This wasn't the small group we encountered last time, but a much larger family of wild boars! There were at least eighteen or nineteen of them. Leading them was an exceptionally large boar, its shoulder height almost reaching Wei Chen's waist, and its weight was definitely over 300 pounds!

Its black, needle-like mane stood on end, covered in mud and resin, like a heavy suit of armor. Two curved, outward-facing, pale fangs gleamed with a chilling light in the setting sun.

It was irritably nudging a pine tree as thick as a bowl with its tusks, scraping the bark off. Beside it were three smaller but still incredibly fierce sows, their tusks equally sharp, leading a group of about a dozen young piglets, rolling in the mud, fighting over some unknown tuber, emitting noisy grunts and screams. The entire valley was filled with a strong, pungent stench of wild animals mixed with the stench of decaying earth.

Wei Chen's eyes instantly sharpened like knives. He felt no fear whatsoever; instead, a powerful hunting instinct surged within him. This boar and those three sows were his greatest "trophies" of the day!

He clung to the rock like a gecko, slowly taking down his hard bow and nocking three specially made heavy arrows with specially polished arrowheads for greater penetrating power. Target locked—the giant boar arching against the tree, its side completely exposed, and the two equally robust sows closest to it.

His breathing became almost imperceptible. The bowstring was drawn taut, his arm muscles taut, his resolve as firm as a rock. Three arrows were released simultaneously! Whoosh—!

Three streaks of dark light tore through the air, emitting a piercing shriek! *Thud! Thud! Thud!* Three muffled thuds, almost simultaneously!

The first arrow pierced the giant boar's left eye with perfect accuracy, the arrowhead and brain matter emerging from a small hole in the back of its head! The boar didn't even grunt; its massive body suddenly stiffened, then collapsed to its side as if its spine had been removed, its limbs twitching.

The second arrow was aimed at a sow on the left, piercing her right eye and penetrating her skull! The sow let out a short, extremely painful scream and collapsed, dead.

The third arrow was aimed at a sow a little further to the right. But this sow seemed more alert; as the arrow whistled through the air, she suddenly raised her head and turned to the side! The fatal arrow missed her eye, instead embedding itself deep above her thick shoulder blade!

"Awooo—!!!" The excruciating pain instantly ignited the beast's ferocity! It let out a deafening howl, its blood-red eyes locking onto Wei Chen on the rock!

The other two sows and more than a dozen wild boar piglets of varying sizes were also startled instantly, and the entire herd was in an uproar!

After a brief moment of panic, the injured sow and the other healthy sow, which had not been attacked, roared angrily at the same time. Like two out-of-control dump trucks, they lowered their heads, bared their white tusks, and charged towards the rock where Wei Chen was hiding, bringing with them a stench of mud and dirt!

The heavy hooves pounded the ground with a dull thud, causing the ground to tremble slightly! Behind them, a group of half-grown wild boar piglets, their eyes red, charged forward, howling and roaring, their momentum astonishing!

Faced with this overwhelming onslaught, Wei Chen's eyes showed no panic, only a cold calm. Like a nimble ape, he leaped from the rocks, and the instant he landed, his body had already completed the movements of turning, drawing his bow, and nocking an arrow!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Two arrows, like the spitting of a venomous snake, accurately struck the wounded sow charging at the front!

One arrow was shot at its other intact eye, and another at the relatively vulnerable area behind its ear, exposed as it charged with its head down!

*Pfft! Pfft!* Blood splattered! The wounded sow let out an even more piercing scream, her charge abruptly halted, and she collapsed to the ground, writhing and convulsing in agony.

The tusks of another robust sow almost struck Wei Chen's leg! A stench of heat assaulted his senses! Wei Chen shifted his feet, channeling the true essence of the "Nine Heavens Sun-Shooting Technique" to his feet!

Like a weightless willow catkin, its body slid away from the sow's rough side, covered in mud and thorns, by the slightest margin!

At the same time, the bowstring in his hand tightened and then loosened again! "Swoosh!" A heavy arrow pierced the relatively vulnerable side of the sow's neck, exposed from her fall during the collision, at almost point-blank range! The arrowhead passed right through her neck!

"Ouch..." The robust sow's roar turned into a whimpering whine. The enormous inertia carried it several meters further before it crashed to the ground, its limbs kicking violently at the earth. Blood gushed out like a stream from the blood hole in its neck.