Chapter 293 - Saving a Life (1/2)
Before Yu Hai had finished speaking, Zhu Junfan interrupted, “How can purchased pork be better than meat hunted by oneself? Don’t worry, this prince’s imperial bodyguards can all single-handedly fight with a ferocious tiger. I’m afraid we won’t encounter them, but if we do, I’m certain that they won’t be able to return!”
With no other choice, Yu Hai could only take the ‘heir of Prince Jing’ and his party to walk around the periphery of the West Mountain. Yu Xiaocao was also conveniently taken along by Zhu Junyang.
The drought was still on going. The grass and trees on the mountain that had been eaten by the locusts had all withered. The entire West Mountain was like an old man with a scalp full of lumps. Yu Xiaocao’s initial worries weren’t superfluous. The herbivores who lost vegetations as their source of food were faced with hunger, and some had died because they couldn’t find food. In a gap between stones not far from the road, Yu Xiaocao found a dead wild hare that was scrawny and had mottled fur. It looked very miserable.
The group didn’t travel for long before encountering a family of wild boars—two adult boars came out to search for food with three young boars. Fortunately, the wild boars could use their tusks to dig out the grass roots in the soil and gnaw on the tree barks. Although they looked slightly thin, they still appeared quite spirited.
The imperial bodyguards of the ‘heir of Prince Jing’ surrounded the boar family as their master pulled back his bow and shot his arrow at the male boar’s eyes. Wild boars had thick and rough skin, so it was usually very difficult for ordinary arrows to penetrate their thick skin. In order to kill it in one shot, one had to aim for its weakness—the eyes.
The male boar seemed to have noticed the upcoming danger, becoming grumpy and restless. With the female boar and his children, he was about to leave this place that made him uneasy. Just as he blinked his little eyes and wanted to find a way out of this dangerous situation, Zhu Junfan shot an arrow through the wild boar’s eyes and penetrated deeply into the boar’s head. The male boar instantly died before he could even make a sound. Seeing this, Yu Hai inwardly complimented, ‘Excellent skills!’
When the female boar realized that her husband had been killed, she became crazy and ran aimlessly through the forest. Coincidentally, she was charging directly towards Yu Xiaocao.
Due to the little divine stone, Yu Xiaocao had an affinity with taming animals, but she had no way to deal with a crazy boar that could allegedly defeat a bear!
As the tusk of the wild boar was about to penetrate her body, Yu Xiaocao felt her body becoming light and found herself on top of a tree in a blink of an eye. She looked at the arm that was around her waist, and then turned to see the young royal prince’s icy face. It turned out that at that critical moment, Zhu Junyang had hugged her waist and jumped up on a big, slanted tree nearby.
“Qinggong, you know how to use qinggong?” Yu Xiaocao’s pair of big eyes twinkled with light. Her apparent admiration made Zhu Junyang very confident about himself.
He feigned indifference and faintly said, “It’s a basic skill for martial artists to be able to raise their qi and lighten their bodies. It’s nothing special!”
Yu Xiaocao continued to look at him with admiration and asked, “After practicing qinggong, can one really leap onto roofs and vault over walls? And climb cliffs and mountains as though walking on flat ground?”
Zhu Junyang nodded slightly and said, “In theory, it’s possible. As long as one can find the right foothold, there shouldn’t be any problems with climbing a cliff.”
“Wow! So amazing!! Young Royal Prince, can you teach me qinggong?” Yu Xiaocao had long forgotten that there was a large boar attacking them under the tree, and was completely focused on her desire to learn the qinggong.
Zhu Junyang looked at her weak and frail body and said with lips curled up, “You? Let’s forget it! qinggong isn’t a specific type of martial arts. It’s supported by one’s inner energy. If you start learning now, you will have to practice for at least ten to twenty years to achieve moderate success. At that time, you should be able to jump up a tree this tall.”
Yu Xiaocao’s desire to become a chivalrous heroine, who could leap on roofs and vault on walls, instantly disappeared by half when heard that she also needed to cultivate inner energy. Moreover, after practicing for ten to twenty years, she could only jump up a three to four meter tall tree. She was capable of climbing up such a tall tree without learning qinggong, okay?
As they spoke, Zhu Junfan had already killed that wild boar that was crazily charging at the tree. The three younger boars should have been born recently, but they were very difficult to tame. However, they weren’t opponents to the imperial bodyguards and were soon captured alive.
“Don’t kill those young boars. We can raise them at home and slaughter them when they get fatter!” Yu Xiaocao nimbly got down from the tree and suggested as she looked at the screeching boars in the guards’ hands. These young boars didn’t even add up to twenty catties in total, and they were so thin that their stomachs were shriveled. There was barely any meat to eat. It was better to raise them at home, and then slaughter them for meat a few years later!
Zhu Junfan made a ‘listen to her’ expression to the imperial bodyguards, and then teased his younger cousin, “Junyang ah! Where’s your bow? It’s not like you to go hunting without your bow and arrows and hide on a tree when encountering danger ah!”
Zhu Junyang glanced at the emperor with his long, charming phoenix eyes and had a look of indifference to his provocation. But Yu Xiaocao jumped out and said, “The young royal prince suffered an injury on his arms. He can’t lift heavy things or use a bow for half a year. What kind of older brother are you? You don’t know anything about your younger brother’s injury, moreover, you’re also teasing him?”
“Impudent!” Zhu Junfan’s personal imperial bodyguard glared at her with large, copper bell-like eyes and hollered.