Li Xiaoxiao soon reached the foot of Qifeng Mountain.
Because everyone in the village was busy working in the fields, there was not a single person at the foot of the mountain.
Just what she wanted.
She carried the woodcutter’s knife and headed into the mountains.
A narrow path at the foot of the mountain had been worn down by villagers who came to gather firewood and medicinal herbs. She followed it for a while until she reached the end.
Beyond this point lay the deep mountains, the very place she had been repeatedly warned never to enter. But she did not stop. With no path ahead, she simply raised the woodcutter’s knife and hacked her way through the undergrowth.
In truth, saying she had come to chop firewood was merely an excuse. She had come here to hunt.
If she wanted to open the necklace, she needed her supernatural ability. And if she wanted to restore that ability, she had to absorb enough energy. Ordinary food could not provide nearly enough.
Animal blood could.
This went back to when she had first crossed into this world. Her body had been in terrible condition, and her supernatural ability had been on the verge of disappearing, barely enough to keep her standing. She had not had a single penny and was unbearably hungry, thinking she was going to die in the flood and torrential rain.
She still remembered how she had barely managed to make it ashore, only for a wild boar to suddenly crash into her field of vision.
Amid the pounding rain, her teeth had bitten through the wild boar’s throat. Its warm blood had poured down her throat, and her racing heartbeat had gradually returned to normal.
Later, she learned that the flesh and blood of animals could provide her with energy, but cooked food was far less effective than a living creature.
But in this world, eating raw flesh and drinking blood was not acceptable. She would be treated as a freak, so she had only drunk fresh blood to stay alive. She did not want to attract anyone’s attention.
But now, in order to open the necklace, she had no choice. The deep mountains were the perfect cover.
Li Xiaoxiao carefully observed her surroundings and searched for a long while. Finally, she discovered some wild animal droppings.
She crouched down and examined them carefully. The droppings were both large and small, which meant they likely belonged to a litter of wild boars.
Following the trail, she tracked them for roughly the time it took to burn an incense stick before finally hearing the faint grunting of piglets. She hid behind a large tree and cautiously poked her head out.
It was a black sow, with seven or eight piglets following behind her as they foraged. Each piglet weighed only three or four jin, so they should have been born less than a month ago.
She remained motionless behind the tree while the piglets grunted and snuffled around the sow, rooting through the grass for food. One of them gradually made its way in her direction.
The sound of tiny feet stepping through the grass came closer and closer. She slowed her breathing. Sure enough, a little black piglet rooted through the grass until it reached her. When it saw the enormous creature in front of it, it even raised its head and looked at her curiously.
Li Xiaoxiao struck as swiftly as the wind, quickly gripping the piglet by the lower jaw and choking its startled cry in its throat.
In less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the piglet had gone still. Li Xiaoxiao wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and gently placed the piglet on the ground.
The sow’s footsteps gradually faded into the distance, so she quietly followed it and repeated the same process.
Gradually, the sow went farther and farther away until it finally realized something was wrong.
Why were there only four of her seven or eight piglets left?
It immediately became frantic, crying out incessantly as it raced back the way it had come.
By then, Li Xiaoxiao had already tied the four piglets together with a vine and hung them from her waist. She had also climbed up into a large tree.
When the sow anxiously led the remaining piglets past the tree, it did not notice the slightest movement above.
Once, twice, three times, the sow tirelessly ran back and forth, searching for its missing piglets.
Li Xiaoxiao knew she could not attract its attention at a time like this. A sow that had lost its young had astonishing attacking power, and she could not digest so many wild boars all at once. She had no intention of killing it today.
After running back and forth several times, the sow finally accepted the fact that its piglets were missing. It stretched out its neck and began crying out, its calls long and mournful.
Before long, a rustling came from the grass ahead, and an even larger wild boar appeared in Li Xiaoxiao’s line of sight.
This boar had long tusks, a sturdier and more formidable build, and powerful limbs. It weighed roughly three or four hundred jin and was a male.
Excellent. The husband and wife were reunited.
The two pigs bumped their heads together and paced back and forth beneath the tree, searching everywhere. They almost trampled an entire patch of weeds flat, yet still failed to find the four missing piglets.
Finally, they gave up. Crying out as they went, they surrounded the remaining four piglets and slowly headed deeper into the forest.
Li Xiaoxiao still did not move.
She had hunted and killed tusk beasts in the apocalypse. The creature’s mutated form had probably originated from wild boars. They were extremely alert by nature, and their characteristic was that they loved to catch their prey off guard before making a sudden return attack. She wanted to see whether this male boar had the same habit.
She quietly waited in the tree while also feeling the gradual warmth spreading through her dantian. Her supernatural ability, which had been absent for so long, was beginning to stir.
She closed her eyes.
The sun gradually slanted westward. Li Xiaoxiao opened her eyes. There was no longer any movement beneath the tree. After so much time had passed, those two pigs should have gone far away.
She jumped down from the tree. The four piglets hanging from her waist bounced when she landed.
It was getting late. She needed to go back.
Who would have thought that the moment she turned around, she would hear the violent snapping of grass and branches behind her, followed by the rushing sound of wind cutting through the air?
She did not turn around. Instead, she ran two steps forward before abruptly turning back, using the momentum to race several steps up the tree trunk. She leaped into the air, grabbed a branch, and swung herself up, narrowly dodging the male boar’s ferocious attack.
The boar’s charge struck empty air. It huffed and puffed heavily, quickly turned around, and impatiently pawed at the dirt beneath its feet, preparing to launch a second attack at Li Xiaoxiao.
Li Xiaoxiao swung herself upward with both arms, spun around, and jumped directly onto the tree, standing on a branch and looking down at the enraged boar.
It had quite a lot of patience, waiting this long.
But she could not drink any more today. Perhaps she should tie this male boar up here and come back for it tomorrow?
Li Xiaoxiao sensed her dantian and figured that if she drank blood for another four or five days, she should have enough energy stored up to open the necklace.
The male boar pawed at the dirt and glared up at Li Xiaoxiao in the tree, fury blazing in its eyes. Then it charged straight toward the large tree.
The tree, which was about as thick as a person’s body, actually shook from the impact. But the boar had clearly overestimated its own strength. It was knocked back by the rebound and cried out in pain, yet refused to give up and charged again.
The large tree shook once more. After two vicious impacts, the trunk had actually been smashed to the point where a hole as large as a bowl had appeared.
Li Xiaoxiao was a little surprised. “You really don’t know when to give up? Interesting.”
This male boar had probably never had its authority challenged before, which was why it was so furious. But the blood of such a fierce beast should be much more effective for restoring her supernatural ability than that of the piglets.
Li Xiaoxiao calmly watched as the male boar repeatedly rammed the tree. The gap in the trunk grew larger and larger, and the entire tree began shaking violently. The more the boar rammed it, the more confident it became, determined to knock down the tree and bite to death the murderer who had killed its offspring.
Finally, the tree was knocked down, and Li Xiaoxiao jumped away before it fell.
The male boar furiously fixed its eyes on the four piglets hanging from her waist and charged toward her.
Li Xiaoxiao did not move. She simply punched it squarely on the nose as it charged at her.
With a bang, the charging boar was struck head-on by her fist. Its three- to four-hundred-jin body stopped in midair, then crashed to the ground with a boom and lay there motionless.
The force of its impact had pushed Li Xiaoxiao nearly half a meter backward, leaving deep marks in the ground.
It had already expended so much strength ramming the tree, yet it still possessed such power. It truly was not to be underestimated.
Her hand was covered in the boar’s nosebleed. She shook it off unconcernedly, then pulled several old vines from the surrounding area and firmly tied up the boar.
She even bound its mouth tightly shut.
She had not killed it. She had merely knocked it unconscious, intending to use it as a blood bank for the next few days.
After drinking wild boar blood for several days in a row, she should have enough energy to open the necklace.
After nearly two months of eating delicious cooked food since coming here, she was now returning to the days of eating raw flesh and drinking blood. She genuinely felt sick just thinking about it. But what could she do? She was going all out for the medicine that could save Magistrate Meng.
She hid the tightly bound wild boar in a patch of bamboo so it would not be eaten by something else and decided to bring a small knife tomorrow to draw its blood. Four or five days should be enough.
After securing the male boar, she clapped her hands in satisfaction. Seeing that it was getting late, she finally set off toward the edge of the mountain.
She had gone somewhat deep into the mountains, and it took her nearly an hour to reach the foot of the mountain. It was already growing dark. The village head and his two grandsons were craning their necks toward the mountain. When they finally saw her emerge, the village head let out a sigh of relief.
“Young lady, why did you stay in there for so long…”
His voice disappeared when he saw the four little wild boars hanging from her waist. After a long while, he exclaimed in shock, “Th-those are wild piglets! How did you dare catch them?”
His tone became extremely anxious. “Piglets this small always have a sow watching over them. If the sow discovers them, it will chase you relentlessly. Young lady, you really are too bold.”
Li Xiaoxiao was unconcerned. “It’s fine. I only ended up staying until this late because I had to avoid the sow’s pursuit. Have you finished using the ox?”
She glanced at the bundle of firewood tied onto the ox cart, as well as the three bundles of tender grass. It was enough for the old ox to eat.
The village head hurriedly said, “Finished, finished! The firewood and grass are all ready. Are you coming again tomorrow?”
Today, Li Xiaoxiao had lent him the ox for the entire day. His family had plowed three mu of land, several times faster than before. The villagers were so envious that they all said that if all it took was one hundred jin of firewood and three days’ worth of grass, they could rent the ox too.
Li Xiaoxiao said, “Yes. I’ll come for at least another three days. Do you still want to rent the ox?”
The village head was overjoyed. “Yes, yes! Even if my family’s fields are all plowed, the others still want to rent it.”
“All right, then it’s settled. I’ll come around the same time tomorrow.”
The village head nodded vigorously. “Good. I’ll go tell everyone in the village now and have them take turns using it for half a day.”
One hundred jin of firewood and three days’ worth of fodder were not difficult for the villagers to provide. If they only needed to rent it for half a day, each person would only have to provide fifty jin of firewood and a day and a half of grass, yet they could plow at least one and a half mu of land. That saved them an enormous amount of effort.
Li Xiaoxiao jumped onto the ox cart and flicked the whip. “Old ox, let’s go home.”
By the time she returned to the rear courtyard of the county office, the sun was already about to set. Seeing that she had been gone all day but had only brought back one hundred jin of firewood and three days’ worth of grass, Mama Mao could not help feeling puzzled.
“Did it really take you that long to gather this little firewood?”
With a beaming smile, Li Xiaoxiao handed the four piglets to her. “Mama Mao, let’s roast suckling pigs!”
Mama Mao was startled. “What? Where did you get these?”
“I came across them while gathering firewood. I caught four, and the other four got away.”
Mama Mao happily picked up the piglets and looked them over, forgetting to scold Li Xiaoxiao for being gone all day.
“Piglets this small would have a sow watching over them. How did you manage to avoid the sow and catch them?”
Li Xiaoxiao replied happily, “I ambushed them one by one without letting it notice. By the time it realized what was happening, I was already far away.”
Only someone like her would have the nerve to do something like that. Mama Mao was amazed. Suckling pigs were easy enough to find in the capital, but they were exceedingly rare in Miyang County.
Mama Mao immediately heated water to slaughter the pigs and scald off their hair, then prepared honey and various seasonings, getting ready to roast them.
Mama Mao gutted the piglets and exclaimed in surprise, “Huh, you drained all the blood so cleanly. There isn’t even any residual blood in the organs or meat. I thought you didn’t know you had to bleed it out.”
Li Xiaoxiao did not respond and simply tossed another piece of firewood into the stove.
Mama Mao had only made the remark in passing. It was already getting late, and she had originally prepared other food, but now that she had four little suckling pigs, her enthusiasm for cooking was fully awakened.
In less than half an hour, she had roasted them until they were golden brown and glistening.
“Send one to Madam, one to the concubine, and one to the young miss. Shall we eat the last one between the two of us?”
…
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