Heishan Prefecture was known as the Land of a Hundred Thousand Mountains.
The forests were dense and endless, shrouded in drifting mists.
Deep within the wilderness, vines intertwined like giant webs. Beneath layers of decaying leaves lurked venomous snakes and poisonous insects. Between the mottled shadows of the trees, the eerie green eyes of wild beasts could occasionally be seen watching from the darkness.
Even the locals rarely dared venture into the depths of these mountains.
Only experienced hunters like Qin Ming possessed the courage to enter such dangerous territory.
Rustle… Rustle…
Qin Ming’s pace grew faster and faster as he climbed.
Surprisingly, he felt almost no fatigue.
After crossing two hills in succession, he had not broken a sweat. His breathing was only slightly heavier than normal.
With physical abilities like these, he would have been considered an Olympic-level athlete in his previous world.
Suddenly, a slight twitch in his eyelid alerted him to a pair of eyes hidden behind a tree dozens of meters away.
Without the slightest hesitation, Qin Ming drew an arrow and nocked it to the bowstring.
After a brief moment of concentration, he released.
Whoosh!
The fully drawn two-stone horn bow unleashed astonishing force.
The arrow tore through the air with a sharp whistle, and the hidden prey immediately dropped to the ground.
In the next instant, Qin Ming charged forward with his machete in hand.
After hacking through several clumps of weeds and branches, he found a large wild rabbit lying among the fallen leaves.
“Nice!”
The rabbit’s head had been completely pierced by the arrow.
It lay on its back, legs twitching violently as life rapidly left its body.
This was the first prey Qin Ming had caught since his transmigration.
A rabbit of this size could fetch at least one hundred and fifty copper coins at the market.
Converted into grain, that was enough to buy fifteen jin of rice.
As the saying went, overwhelming strength could overcome all techniques.
Even without extensive hunting experience, Qin Ming could easily secure prey with his incredible marksmanship.
He hung the rabbit from his waist, retrieved the arrow, and continued deeper into the forest.
Rustle…
When he reached the slope of another hill, a faint sound reached his ears.
Following the noise, he searched the surrounding area but saw no prey.
Instead of moving forward, Qin Ming relied on instincts developed in his previous life.
He crouched down, slowed his breathing, and remained perfectly still.
An entire stick of incense’s worth of time passed.
The forest remained silent.
Qin Ming did not move a single inch.
He seemed to have become part of the surrounding landscape itself.
Finally, a small head poked out from beneath a pile of leaves in the distance.
“A fox!”
Only then did Qin Ming clearly identify the animal several dozen meters away.
He immediately drew his bow.
Whoosh!
The bowstring vibrated with a deep and powerful hum.
The arrow exploded forward, producing a shrill scream as it tore through the air, a testament to the terrifying force behind the shot.
The moment the animal collapsed, Qin Ming sprinted toward it.
Soon, he found a brown fox lying in a pool of blood.
The arrow had passed directly through its eye socket.
Death had been nearly instantaneous.
“What a pity…”
After seeing the color of its fur, Qin Ming couldn’t help sighing.
If this had been a white fox, he would have become rich overnight.
In this era, a single white fox pelt could sell for at least a thousand taels of silver.
The Third Princess of the imperial family, renowned throughout Great Zhou for her breathtaking beauty, was said to own a rare white fox fur cloak.
Legend claimed it had been crafted from three or four white fox pelts and decorated with precious jewels.
Its value exceeded ten thousand taels of gold.
Unfortunately, white foxes were extraordinarily rare.
Neither Qin Ming nor his father had ever encountered one despite years of hunting in the mountains.
As for ordinary fox pelts like this one, even in perfect condition they were worth only about two taels of silver.
Though two taels was still a considerable sum, enough to support an ordinary family for several months, it remained a far cry from the hundred taels Qin Ming needed to avoid military service.
Tucking the fox carcass into his belt, Qin Ming pressed onward.
Throughout the entire morning, relying on his keen perception and extraordinary archery skills, he successfully hunted two more pheasants and another rabbit.
His waist was now loaded with game.
As he walked, he calculated his earnings.
A pheasant could sell for fifty copper coins.
A rabbit was worth one hundred and fifty.
The fox pelt alone was worth at least one tael of silver.
Altogether, he had earned approximately two taels and four qian of silver in a single morning.
For most hunters, catching a rabbit or pheasant every few days was already enough to exchange for grain and vegetables and keep their families fed.
Two taels and four qian was sufficient to support a household for two or three months.
And Qin Ming had earned it all before noon.
These were troubled times.
Wars raged constantly.
Bloodshed never ceased.
Countless commoners wandered homeless, while starving corpses littered the countryside.
In some remote border regions, famine had become so severe that reports of cannibalism had begun to emerge.
Under such circumstances, merely having enough food to survive was already a blessing.
Yet even these gains were only a drop in the bucket.
If Qin Ming wanted to gather one hundred taels within five days, he needed far more valuable prey.
Large animals such as roe deer, mountain antelope, tigers, leopards, and black bears generally stayed deep within the wilderness.
They were rarely seen on the outer fringes of the mountains.
Just then, Qin Ming happened to glance toward the direction of the village.
A column of thick smoke was rising into the sky.
His expression immediately changed.
“Could it be… a fire at home?”
The thought sent a jolt through him.
The moment Fan Niang came to mind, Qin Ming abandoned all thoughts of hunting.
Turning around, he sprinted down the mountain at full speed.
…
Meanwhile, chaos had already engulfed Qin Family Village.
More than a dozen mounted bandits, operating in groups of three, rode through the village.
Their faces were covered with black cloth.
Each carried a long saber and a burning torch.
The moment they entered a home, they began looting, smashing, and setting fires.
Grain.
Livestock.
Anything valuable.
Nothing escaped their grasp.
Within a short time, their horses were loaded with stolen goods, leaving behind only destruction and ruin.
“Father, they’ve taken our ox!”
“Village Head, let’s fight them! We’ve got over two hundred people in the village!”
“That’s right! They’ve even stolen our cattle. How are we supposed to farm now? They’re leaving us no way to survive! If we’re going to die anyway, we might as well take a few of them with us!”
Several young villagers were so furious that they could barely contain themselves.
Fortunately, the bandits had been spotted early.
The entire village had fled to a forested slope halfway up the mountain.
“Fight them? With what?”
The Village Head, Qin Hui, shot the young men with a cold look.
“These are desperate criminals. They know martial arts.”
“The woman from Yu Family Stronghold still follows certain rules. As long as we don’t resist, they won’t kill anyone.”
Qin Hui was the Village Head.
In his fifties, he was a sturdy man with a weathered face lined by years of experience.
Though not the oldest resident, his intelligence, cunning, and skill at currying favor with local officials had earned him the position.
“But Village Head…”
“The bandits from Yu Family Stronghold have survived eight years of government suppression. If we kill one of their people, that female demon won’t just burn down the village, she’ll slaughter every last one of us. Have you forgotten what happened to Zhu Family Village?”
The words Zhu Family Village hit like a bucket of icy water.
The fiery determination in the young men’s hearts vanished instantly.
Their faces turned pale.
Their lips trembled.
Not one of them could utter another word.
Six years ago, Yu Family Stronghold had raided Zhu Family Village.
One villager had secretly set up an ambush and killed the bandit leader, Liu Dahu, with a single arrow.
His wife, Yang Yulian, then seized leadership of the bandits.
To avenge her husband, she slaughtered more than a hundred villagers and burned the entire settlement to the ground.
From that day onward, no village within a hundred li dared resist Yu Family Stronghold.
Yang Yulian became infamous throughout the region as a ruthless female demon.
The government bounty on her head had reached three thousand taels of silver.
“Village Head! Someone’s running back into the village!”
A villager suddenly shouted.
“What?”
Qin Hui’s face changed.
“Who is it?”
“I think… it’s Qin Ming!”
“That fool! Does he have a death wish?!”
Looking down the mountain, Qin Hui immediately spotted a familiar figure racing along the narrow path toward the smoke-filled village like an arrow released from a bow.
The distinctive two-stone horn bow was strapped across his back.
A sharp machete hung in his hand.
Without slowing down for even a moment, he charged straight into the chaos of galloping horses and shouting bandits.
“Should we go save him?”
one villager asked cautiously.
“Save him?”
Qin Hui glared at the speaker.
“If he wants to die, that’s his choice. Do the rest of you want to die too? The entire village is hiding here. If we provoke those bandits, none of us will survive!”
The crowd immediately fell silent.
No one dared speak again.
“That idiot is on his own.”
Qin Hui narrowed his eyes as he watched the lone figure disappear into the village below.
“Whether he lives or dies depends entirely on his own fate…”