บท 5: Wild Boar
บรรณาธิการ: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The lentils pretty much grew an inch every day, and Chi Qiaosong was happy to see that.
He repeated the same routine of practicing, teaching, reading, and taking a stroll around the city, asking about the war that Commander Zhu had partaken in. He kept wondering when the instructors would be back.
After a few days, the owner of the newspaper stand yelled, "Headlines! Headlines! The opponent has decided to surrender! Commander Zhu has won another war!"
The stand was now surrounded by people.
With a huge grin on his face, Chi Qiaosong squeezed through the crowd and grabbed a piece of the freshly printed Right Bank Morning Post.
He didn't buy one but only read it.
The headline was indeed about the victory of Commander Zhu and the retreat of the Ou enclave.
The Jiangyou Province was an inland province. There were a total of 11 cities in the province and were ruled by four different warlords.
Fuliang City, Guangxin City, and Geyang City were ruled by Commander Zhu. He established the Great Striding Region around those three cities.
That was why Commander Zhu was also known as the Great Striding.
The Ink Ridge County was inside Fuliang City.
Next to the Great Striding Region was the Ou enclave. Those two powerhouses often waged wars against each other. However, this time, a third party had joined the war between them, which was the Shen family. The third party thought that it was an excellent chance for them to expand their region and stabbed the Ou enclave in the back.
Commander Chen of the Ou enclave had no choice but to retreat to defend his cities, and Commander Zhu was able to benefit from them.
Now, the Great Striding was hoping to use that chance to conquer one of the Ou enclave's cities.
After reading the news, Chi Qiaosong put the newspaper down and squeezed his way out of the crowd. "I hope the instructors return soon." That was all he could think of at that moment.
He then visited the television tower of Ink Ridge County. The tower was the tallest building in the entire county, standing 150 meters tall. The tower's stairs to the top were open to the public as well.
Not many people would climb the stairs just to get a great view.
However, Chi Qiaosong had already reached the Wrestler Plane, and his body was filled with strength and energy. He wasn't even worried that he would wear himself out from all the climbing and went straight up to the top.
With his hands on the rail, he looked toward the west.
He could see the entire Great Striding Lake and the countless boats floating on the water.
The lake was in its low tide season. When the rain arrives in May, the water level will rise to the point where it will reach the foot of the wall around the county.
"Big brother! You're finally back!" Chi Qiaowu exclaimed.
"What's wrong?"
"A wild boar ran into our farm and ruined a lot of the lentils!"
"A wild boar?"
Chi Qiaosong hurried back to the farmhouse.
He immediately noticed an opening in the fence and his father standing next to it with a set of freshly chopped bamboo. Mr. Chi was about to fix the hole. The wild boar had eaten a lot of the lentils, but they didn't suffer many losses.
"I'll make you a few traps later so that this won't happen again," Mr. Chi said.
"Where did the boar go?"
"We chased it away. It should be in the mountain by now. Be careful."
"The boar is the one that should be careful. Dad, lend me a machete."
"Why do you need a machete?"
"To hunt a boar."
"Stop joking around!"
"Don't worry, Dad. I can handle it."
Chi Qiaosong took the machete and headed straight into the mountain. Now that he was a Wrestler Plane martial artist who could bring a tree down with a punch, he had been itching to try hunting with his new power.
Since his family had no hunting rifle or bow, he had no choice but to use a machete.
"Big brother, I want to go!" Chi Qiaowu, riding on his bamboo horse, pleaded.
"Go back!"
"Hmph!"
After sending his brother back, Chi Qiaosong entered the forest and started to roam aimlessly. He had no hunting experience and no idea how to track an animal down. However, the ridge wasn't too big, and he was sure he could find the wild boar if he wandered for a while.
After an hour, Chi Qiaosong, who had yet to find the boar, was by a spring and was drinking from it.
The ridge he was in wasn't a gorgeous place, but there weren't any dangerous spots. There weren't a lot of types of trees there, with most of them being conifers, bamboos, oaks, and apricot trees. However, there were a lot of vines all around the ridge.
Most of the animals that could be found there were weasels, porcupines, and foxes.
The only thing special about the ridge was that there were a lot of springs. So water would flow in every direction, and the sound of water filled the entire area.
It was then that Chi Qiaosong suddenly heard a grunt.
He immediately reached for the machete by his waist and turned to look around. He spotted a huge black beast among the trees, rubbing its body against one.
"The wild boar!" Chi Qiaosong was able to recognize what kind of animal it was.
He speculated that the boar weighed around 150 kilograms, making it a grown boar but still far away from being huge.
There were a lot of wild boars in Thousand Emerald Hill. Some were even old enough to attain knowledge. These boars were spirit beasts known as the Mountain Drums, weighing more than 500 kilograms.
The seasoned hunters would always say that eating the meat of a Mountain Drum could increase a person's lifespan by at least a year.
However, hunting in Thousand Emerald Hill was not an easy feat.
"You'll be my prey today!" Chi Qiaosong thought as he approached the boar. Although he had fully mastered the Crazed Bull Heavy Fist, he only had the experience he had received from the fruit.
He had zero experience in using the skill in a real fight, whether with another human or a beast.
As the leaves moved under Chi Qiaosong's feet, it alerted the wild boar. Despite it rubbing its body comfortably against the tree, it was still in full alert mode.
Now, the young man and the boar stared at each other.
Without any hesitation, Chi Qiaosong charged forward, resembling a charging bull, and swung the machete at the bull from above.
Perhaps the boar had noticed that Chi Qiaosong was a young boy. It did not run away and met the attack head-on instead.
The boar opened its mouth and flashed its pair of sharp fangs.
With a loud clang, the machete cut through the boar's head. The attack was so powerful that it split the beast's head in half, spilling its blood and brain all over the place. The boar died instantly.
Chi Qiaosong then moved to the side to evade the boar's charge that did not stop with its death.
The beast did not stop moving forward until it hit a tree. Although it was dead, its legs were still twitching.
The young man patted his knees before letting out a sigh of relief.
He thought he was going to have a hard fight and did not expect that he would be able to kill a 150-kilogram boar with a single swing of the machete. The feeling of achievement filled his mind almost instantly.
"This is easier than I thought. It looks like I don't even need the machete. I can just defeat beasts like that with my fist." Chi Qiaosong had finally found out how powerful he really was now.
He could tell that he had reached the High-grade Beginner Rank Wrestler Plane, but he had no idea how strong that was.
After the fight with the boar, he now finally understood.
He didn't even spend any energy on the hunt. His strength had already far surpassed that of an adult. He was sure that even Mike Tyson's punch was not as strong as his.
Chi Qiaosong then headed back to the farmhouse while dragging the boar behind him.
His father was still fixing the fence while Chi Qiaowu was helping out by handing his father all the tools he needed.
Both Chi Qiaosong's father and younger brother widened their eyes when they saw the boar behind him.
"Wow!" Chi Qiaowu ran toward his older brother and circled him. "Big brother! You really killed a wild boar! You're amazing!"
"You killed it?' Mr. Chi asked.
"Dad, now that I'm a martial artist, killing a boar is a piece of cake for me," Chi Qiaosong calmly said.
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