Chapter 20：Danger And Harvest (1/2)

Lin Mu stood up and stretched his limbs, and as he did that a series of cracks and pops could be heard from his body. The first thing Lin Mu felt different was, now that he had broken through to the 5th stage of the body tempering realm, he did not feel as cold as he did before. With his skin's resistance increased, Lin Mu would be able to withstand the harsh climate with much greater ease.

”I'm one more step closer to becoming a qi cultivator. Now I just have to keep up this pace and not falter.” Declared Lin Mu firmly.

Lin Mu entered the hunting shack to cook some food. Now that he had plenty of condiments, the only things he lacked were vegetables and meat. Lin Mu just hoped he would be able to hunt a beast tomorrow.

After eating dinner, Lin Mu lied down on the makeshift bed and slipped into a deep sleep. He found himself in the same black space as before and just waited for his body to wake up naturally. Lin Mu woke up in the morning feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.

Lin Mu went to the stream to bathe, after which he washed the clothes he was wearing and then wore a new black set of clothes. He then entered the forest to check the traps. Lin Mu checked all the traps and could only find one snare that had caught a black-horned rabbit which he took and went back to skin and prepare for his breakfast.

He roasted the rabbit and applied plenty of spices and condiments, which made his meal very enjoyable. After his stomach was filled, Lin Mu felt like he had the energy to last the entire day now. As today would be the first time he will be hunting in the forest, Lin Mu felt excited.

He entered the forest and chose a different path than before this time. This path headed towards the north into the deeper parts of the forest, where stronger and larger beasts lived. Lin Mu still felt a little nervous, so he tried to make as little noise as possible, to not alert any of the beasts.

Lin Mu had walked for an hour, during which he had seen many beasts, most of them being smaller beasts like the thorn tailed rats. With others being larger herbivores such as the stone-hoofed deer, which he would not be able to chase after. He thought he was a little lucky that he did not encounter any large carnivorous beasts.

He was searching for a suitable prey that he could kill without putting himself in much danger. Another hour later he found a beast that he could hunt, it was a hook winged swan that had caught his attention. It seemed like it was separated from its flock and was currently pecking at worms and bugs in the grass.

Lin Mu approached the beast silently. Even though the beast was not that strong, being roughly around the 3rd stage of the body tempering stage, if it chose to fly away Lin Mu would not be able to do much.

He sneaked behind the beast with his short sword drawn and approached it. But just as he was about to slash at the beast, a bush behind Lin Mu rustled, which alarmed the beast.

The hook winged swan cried in surprise and unfurled its wings to take flight upon spotting Lin Mu behind it. Seeing that his prey was about to escape, Lin Mu shot forward with startling speed and stabbed the beast in the base of its neck. The beast screeched in pain and struggled as life drained from its body.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu came to his senses, as his instincts completely controlled the entire process that happened before. Lin Mu quickly stored the carcass of the hook winged swan in the ring and turned around to check the bush where the sound came from. Lin Mu knew that it was absolutely necessary to be aware of one's surroundings when they were hunting. One wrong step and they could be injured or worse, killed.

But before Lin Mu could even start moving towards the bush, he heard a loud squeal coming from it, and then a large boar came charging out of it. The boar was tall enough to come up to his waist and seemed extremely angry with its eyes crimson red. The boar was a mid-tiered beast called Red-snouted boar, its snout was red as one could tell from its name and they were highly territorial; even attacking beasts much larger than them without blinking an eye.

Adrenaline surged through Lin Mu's blood as he broke into a sprint, running away from the boar that was now chasing him. He knew that the Red-snouted boar was much stronger and faster than him, so he had to find a way to get rid of it quickly.

He kept on running, but the Red-snouted boar only got closer and just when the beast was about to ram him, Lin Mu jumped and grasped a low-hanging branch to pull himself up on a short tree.