Chapter 31 – The Stone Splitter Bow (2/2)
“Don’t even think about it!” Li Qingshan declined firmly. “The words of men of the mountains weigh heavily just like the mountains. How can you just take it back so easily?”
“Then fine!” Huang Binghu said with a long face, which led to a roar of laughter in the surroundings. It was rare to see their hunting chief like that.
“Li Qingshan, will you be coming back?”
“I’m just going to the Crouching Ox village to take a look. There are still some matters I need to resolve there. And, I want some peace to myself so that I can practise my martial arts. I want to see if I can make a breakthrough.”
After drinking the spiritual alcohol these days, Li Qingshan felt like he had already touched on a critical juncture of the Ox Demon’s Fist of Great Strength. He planned on going on a retreat alone to achieve the strength of an ox. Once that happened, there was no longer a reason for him to hide in the mountains and forests. He would be able to go and check out the outside world.
He remembered the fatty he saved yesterday, who seemed to refer to himself as some district magistrate of Qingyang. He wanted to complete his promise to Xiao An. He had no idea just how far south Xiao An was referring to, but he had to take a first step.
“Another breakthrough?!” Huang Binghu had sensed long ago that the current Li Qingshan seemed completely different once again compared to a few days ago. His aura and energy had changed drastically. His rate of improvements was simply alarming.
Yet, in the blink of an eye, he said he was going to make another breakthrough. Huang Binghu could not help but think about what Li Qingshan had said before, where Li Qingshan told him he wanted to become an ‘innate master’. Back then, Huang Binghu had only shrugged it off with a smile, but now, he suddenly felt that perhaps he might truly achieve it.
“But what about the prey that you caught?” Li Qingshan’s haul from the past few days could almost rival the entire village’s haul.
“I don’t really care about the others. I just want the bones of the tiger. And, please collect some more tiger bones for me. I want to brew some medicinal alcohol with it. I will buy it according to the market price.”
The reason why he had chased the tiger relentlessly was not just to look good before the village. Instead, the black ox had told him that once he had attained the strength of an ox with the Ox Demon’s Fist of Great Strength, he could begin practising the Tiger Demon’s Fist of Bone Forging, which required another type of medicinal alcohol. One of the central materials to it was similar to ginseng, valuable and rare. It was tiger bones.
Hunters treated tigers as their arch nemesis. Individual hunters were afraid of tigers, but once a tiger created too much of a disturbance, there would definitely be a large-scale search of the mountain. They hunters would obviously set down many traps. Wild beasts were vicious, but they were still unable to defeat humans. There should have been quite a lot of tiger bones accumulated in the Drawn Reins village.
Huang Binghu said, “Is it also a formula that your master left behind?”
“Yes.”
“Are the men of our Drawn Reins village supposed to be stingy while you’re so generous? I can make the medicinal alcohol for you, but could we use your two formulas as well?”
Huang Binghu secretly tested Li Qingshan’s formula, and the medicinal alcohol he brewed was much better than the medicinal alcohol the village originally used. Moreover, there was no need to purchase the items that went into making it from other people. The village could gather all it by themselves. If he used it to nurture the future generation, the strength of the Drawn Reins village would reach a whole new level before long.
Li Qingshan found no reason not to. The two formulas only created medicinal alcohol that went overboard. They were not particularly valuable, so it was no issue even if he gave it to someone else. It would also save him the trouble of making the medicinal alcohol himself, so it was perfect.
He gave the formulas to Huang Binghu before taking the Stone Splitter bow, mounting the ox and riding off slowly.
Only when Li Qingshan’s figure disappeared around the corner of the mountain path did grandpa Zang whisper to Huang Binghu, “Hunting chief, why didn’t you make him stay earlier? The spiritual ginseng is most likely on him, and the alcohol you drank was most likely steeped with spiritual ginseng. The spiritual ginseng is probably in the gourd on his waist.”
Li Qingshan never mentioned the matter of the spiritual ginseng, but in the eyes of this experienced, old hunter, there were just far too many aspects that gave it away. Meanwhile, to Huang Binghu, who had once roamed through the jianghu, these aspects only appeared clearer and easier for him to understand.
Huang Binghu gazed at the mountain path that Li Qingshan vanished on. After a long moment of silence, he turned around and said, “At the end of the day, we’re different from those ginseng foragers, aren’t we?”