Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

Big Yellow darted out like a yellow lightning bolt, circled the wild boar twice, and only after confirming that its prey was dead did it bark softly at Wei Chen and wag its tail.

Wei Chen put away his hunting bow, strode over to the wild boar, and crouched down to examine it. The arrow had penetrated extremely deep, almost entirely piercing the boar's skull. He grasped the fletching, gently pulled it back, wiped the blood off the boar's body, and placed it back in the quiver. The entire process was clean and efficient, without a single unnecessary movement.

Wei Chen glanced at the experience bar—

Level 22 (89652/90000).

This wild boar brought him a lot of experience. The number of monsters that spawn in the game world is limited, and leveling up is becoming increasingly difficult. Wei Chen hasn't paid attention to the experience bar for a long time; he's practically treating the game world as an endless hunting ground and farming base.

Besides fighting monsters and gaining experience every day, he also insisted on cultivating in the game world. Although it was slow, he did improve!

Before I knew it, my experience bar was almost full, and I should be able to level up again today.

He glanced up into the depths of the forest. About half a mile to the northeast, a small herd of deer was drinking at a stream. That was his next target.

He patted Big Yellow's neck: "Let's go."

The man and his dog silently blended into the night, hurrying northeast. The bushes and vines in the forest seemed to make way for him—he stepped very lightly, making almost no sound, his figure weaving among the trees like a ghost.

After a period of intense hunting and training, as well as the rewards from the recent upgrade, the true essence of the "Nine Heavens Sun Shooting Technique" has become increasingly abundant. Through repeated tempering of the true essence, the strength and resilience of the tendons, bones, and muscles have long surpassed the limits of mortals.

He could even use his true essence to sense the life force within a radius of several dozen feet around him, like an invisible net that brought all movement under control.

Sure enough, there was a herd of red deer by the stream. The lead deer was a male with magnificent antlers, drinking water. The does and fawns were scattered around, occasionally looking up warily. Wei Chen chose a downwind spot, crouching behind a clump of dense ferns, and slowly drew his bow.

He didn't use armor-piercing arrows; ordinary piercing arrows were more than enough to deal with these non-scaled prey. He focused his true energy on the arrowhead, adjusted his breathing, and aimed below the left shoulder blade of the lead stag—that spot would pierce the heart directly.

"Whoosh!"

The arrow shot through the air as fast as a meteor. Before the stag could even raise its head, the arrow had already pierced its shoulder and heart. It lunged forward with a short, mournful cry, then collapsed by the water's edge, its limbs twitching a few times before falling still.

Startled, the deer scattered and fled, disappearing into the depths of the dense forest in the blink of an eye. But Wei Chen had already achieved his goal. He walked to the stag, pulled out an arrow, and wiped the blood off the deer hide.

The stag gave him fifty experience points. Combined with the previous wild boar, he's still a long way from leveling up. Without high-experience prey, his progress will only slow down.

He planned to continue hunting to gain more experience, as the night was still long. The number of beasts in this game world was limited, but thankfully they respawned naturally over time; otherwise, he could level up and grow much faster!

After each hunt, he would stop, find a safe place to meditate and replenish his depleted true energy, while carefully sensing the subtle and profound insights gained from the hunt.

He gradually realized that leveling up required not only accumulating experience points, but also an understanding of the essence of power. And this understanding often quietly develops during the alternation of combat and rest.

Wei Chen took out his water pouch and drank a mouthful, then fed Da Huang a piece of dried meat. He then sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and regulated his breathing. His true essence flowed slowly through his meridians, like a warm stream, gradually cleansing away the soreness in his muscles and the fatigue in his mind.

He could clearly feel his body becoming stronger and stronger with each cycle of hunting and breath adjustment. His bones were denser, his muscle fibers were firmer, his reaction speed was faster, and his five senses were more acute. This change was subtle and gradual, but over time, it was enough to make his physical functions far exceed the limits of ordinary people.

When he opened his eyes again, he felt he had returned to his peak condition. He stood up, patted Big Yellow's neck, and the two of them disappeared back into the night.

As the last wild boar crashed to the ground, his internal energy suddenly trembled slightly. Immediately afterward, a strange, warm sensation surged from his dantian, rapidly spreading throughout his body. He felt his bones crackling slightly, and his muscle fibers seemed to be rearranging, becoming more compact and powerful. A surge of abundant energy welled up from the depths of his bone marrow, flowing into his meridians and merging with his existing internal energy.

Upgraded.

Wei Chen closed his eyes, quietly sensing the changes within his body. It was a transformation from the inside out, as if his entire body had been reforged by an invisible hand.

His true essence surged from over two hundred years to three hundred years, his meridians were further widened, and the flow of true essence became smoother and more profound. His eyesight became sharper, able to see the veins on a leaf a hundred paces away; his hearing became clearer, able to catch the rustling sound of an ant crawling across a dead leaf dozens of feet away. His strength, speed, and reaction all saw a significant leap at this moment. The range of his mental power also expanded to 300 meters.

Wei Chen opened the attribute panel, and lines of text appeared before his eyes:

Attributes:

Name: Wei Chen (Hunter)

Level: 23 (1/90000)

Cultivation Technique: Nine Heavens Sun-Shooting Technique

True Yuan: 300 years

Skills: Piercing Arrow; Armor-Piercing Arrow

Pet: Dog (Big Yellow) lv23

Life skills: Fishing, Planting, Gathering, Tracking

Wei Chen noticed that the experience required to level up to level 24 was as high as 90,000, while the experience from various prey in the game world was only a few dozen points, which was a long-term accumulation process!

He'd finished clearing out all the monsters for the day, and it was getting late. He glanced at the real-world time—nearly 11:30 PM. Time to go back. He still had a lot to do.

Wei Chen stood up and stretched his shoulders and neck. Da Huang immediately stood up and followed him. He looked up at the starry sky above. In this world, stars were everywhere, and everything was so quiet and peaceful. But he clearly remembered that this was only his own little world; the outside world was in a hungry, cold, and endless abyss. He had to go back.

Wei Chen stood up and stretched his shoulders and neck. Da Huang immediately stood up and followed him. He looked up at the starry sky above. In this world, the moon hung high, the stars were numerous, and everything was so quiet and peaceful. But he clearly remembered that this was only his own little world; the outside world was in a hungry, cold, and endless abyss. He had to go back.

I closed my eyes and vanished from the game world.

The real world was like emerging from deep water. Wei Chen opened his eyes, his pupils quickly focusing in the darkness. The room was pitch black, with only the thin moonlight filtering in from the window outlining the tables, chairs, and cabinets. He listened intently—the courtyard was deathly silent, even the wind seemed to have frozen.

He sat up, got out of bed, and stood barefoot on the floor. His internal energy circulated, warm and abundant. The internal energy he had consumed in the game world had been completely restored through that hour of meditation, and was even purer than before.

He moved his wrists and shoulders, his bones crackling slightly. Three hundred years of true essence had tempered his body to a level far beyond that of ordinary people—he could see clearly in the dark, hear breathing from three hundred meters away, and walk on snow without leaving a trace.

He walked to the window and lifted a corner of the curtain. The courtyard was empty and silent under the moonlight. The windows of Yi Zhonghai's house were pitch black, the lights in Liu Haizhong's house had long been off, and there wasn't a sound from the Jia family's house. The entire courtyard was completely asleep.

it's time.

Wei Chen lowered the curtains, and with a thought, a gray coarse cloth bundle appeared in his hand. He opened the bundle, inside was a short jacket and trousers made of thick, dark gray coarse cloth, simple in style but looser than ordinary clothes. He took off his pajamas, put on the clothes, and then pulled out a black coarse cloth belt from the bottom of the bundle, tied it around his waist, and tightened it.

Then, he closed his eyes and circulated his true energy.

The simple application of the True Essence in the "Nine Heavens Shooting the Sun Technique" can temporarily change the shape of bones and muscles, thereby altering body shape and appearance.

Wei Chen slowly channeled his true energy, and wisps of heat seeped along his meridians to his face, neck, shoulders, chest, back, and limbs. First, his face—his cheekbones rose slightly, his jawline widened, his nose became straighter, and his eye sockets deepened slightly.

Next came his physique—his shoulders broadened, his chest muscles thickened, and the muscles in his arms and thighs swelled, making him appear significantly larger. He also grew two inches taller, transforming from a slender and upright young man into a burly man with broad shoulders, a thick back, a muscular build, dark skin, and a rugged face. He opened his eyes, walked to the small mirror on the wall, and glanced at himself.

The face reflected in the mirror was completely unfamiliar.

Thick eyebrows, deep-set eyes, high cheekbones, a square jaw, and a faint scar at the corner of his mouth—which he deliberately added to give him a fierce look.

With his broad shoulders and thick chest, his entire demeanor underwent a dramatic transformation, turning him from a quiet, refined young man into a burly, unapproachable figure. Even Yi Zhonghai or Yan Bugui, the most familiar people in the courtyard, would never recognize him as the young man from the east wing.