Volume One, Chapter Three: Feel Free to Eat This Bird

“What are you doing?” Li Chen asked in shock.

“My lord, isn’t it still early? You wanted to… to shoot…” The young maid lowered her head, removing the last layer of her undergarments, her face flushed crimson, her voice barely a whisper, stammering.

Li Chen was momentarily stunned, then realized with a laugh, “You heard wrong. I said I wanted to test this bow and arrow a few times!”

“Ah?!” The young maid suddenly covered her face and crouched on the ground.

Li Chen felt a surge of temptation but held himself back. He walked over, picked up her clothes, draped them over her, then opened the door and stepped outside.

Inside, the young maid hurriedly dressed, recalling her humiliating misunderstanding. She let out a soft whimper, her face burning bright red as she turned and stomped her foot in embarrassment—she was utterly mortified.

Outside in the courtyard, Li Chen looked down at himself. His body was surprisingly healthy, almost excessively so.

It seemed that after transmigration, his condition had improved. Tonight, perhaps he could ask the young maid to help test it further?

If he truly recovered, he could eat well!

At the thought, a vivid image of Yu Qingwan’s graceful figure—her icy skin and jade-like bones—flashed through his mind.

He shook his head vigorously to clear the distracting thoughts and refocused on the bow in his hand—a tendon-and-antler composite recurve bow.

The craftsmanship was fine, though the design was outdated and the power average. This bow had been made by his father for Zhang, the hunter from the neighboring village.

Unfortunately, Zhang had been killed by a wild boar shortly after receiving it, and the bow was left abandoned here.

It was a stroke of luck for Li Chen.

As a master of both melee and ranged weapons, Li Chen had especially loved archery in his previous life.

Many times, when he ran out of bullets deep in the primeval forest, he survived by crafting bows and arrows by hand and hunting his enemies.

Though this was a simple recurve hunting bow, its sturdy limbs allowed an effective lethal range of nearly forty paces.

That was just acceptable.

He fashioned a target from scrap wood and propped it against a distant tree outside the yard. Then he began testing.

Drawing the bow and nocking an arrow, the instant he focused intently, the target seemed to suddenly enlarge in his vision!

Such super-perception only appeared when his soul was utterly empty and fully concentrated.

Perhaps only one in ten thousand snipers possessed such a skill.

He released the string—twenty paces—and the arrow struck dead center!

Li Chen raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Even at his peak before, it took at least ten seconds to enter such a focused state for precise sniping.

But just now, the moment he drew the bow, he instantly entered that state.

This meant his precision killing ability had greatly improved.

To verify his suspicion, he quickly ran another ten paces, turned, drew, and released.

Thirty paces—bullseye!

He sprinted another ten steps, rolled on the ground, instantly drew and released again.

Forty paces—another perfect hit!

He was able to instantly enter that seemingly all-controlling super-focused state each time, much to his delight.

But the limit was forty paces—the effective lethal range of this bow. Beyond that, the arrow would drift off course.

The young maid leaned against the door, holding her face, watching Li Chen with a shy blush.

Li Chen returned to the yard and was about to speak when suddenly he looked up and saw a bird flying through the air.

He instantly notched another arrow, drew, and held the string taut.

The little bird in his sight instantaneously enlarged, and despite the distance, he could clearly see its gray feathers.

“Twang!”

The bowstring snapped, the bow trembled, and the arrow flew like lightning.

The bird let out a pained cry as the arrow pierced it, dropping almost straight down.

Exhaling deeply, Li Chen felt a stirring within.

This instant-sniping ability, even in this cold-weapon era, must be the pinnacle among archers.

“Like drawing a great bow like a full moon, gazing northwest, shooting the heavenly bird…”

The young maid at the door watched with fascination and softly recited the verse.

She ran over and picked up the fallen bird, timidly offering it to Li Chen.

“My lord, your bird.”

Li Chen felt a wave of embarrassment. Something about her words just didn’t sound right.

“There’s still some fire left in the kitchen stove. You can cook it and eat it. I’ll go wander in the mountains.”

He pulled the arrow out from the bird and handed it to her.

It was a native iron-billed bird, quite large; after plucking, it would yield about two taels of meat.

“My lord, you want me to eat this bird?” The young maid stared at Li Chen in disbelief.

Li Chen nearly stumbled, quickly sheathing the arrow and heading out.

From behind him came her voice, “My lord, feel free to eat the bird!”

“Thank you, my lord…” the maid said, moved to tears.

Li Chen left in silence.

It was already late in the afternoon. Li Chen quickened his pace into the mountains, lest he be forced to spend the night there, which would be very unsafe.

Not far from the village entrance, several women carrying baskets returned from the mountains, each basket full of wild vegetables.

Seeing Li Chen heading out with his bow on his back, the women exchanged surprised glances.

“What is Li family’s eldest son doing?” asked one woman of about forty years old.

Li Chen recognized her as Liu Jincui, the wife of village head Xu Jiang.

“Hunting,” Li Chen replied simply.

“The eldest son actually going hunting? Let’s hope the bear won’t lick that pretty face of his—such a shame,” laughed another woman named Wang Caifeng, around thirty.

Li Chen had always been handsome since childhood, and now as an adult, many young women and wives found themselves drawn to him.

If not for his notorious reputation, many would have willingly thrown themselves at him or even become his wife.

“Tsk, tsk. If he really brings back some game, he should call on me. I’ll trade him some meat buns,” teased a third woman named Ma Lian, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, bold and playful, even cupping her chest with a wink.

Though not strikingly beautiful, her figure was undeniably good.

With the ongoing war, most able-bodied men from the villages had been conscripted to the Northern Wild Goose Pass, either as soldiers or laborers—exceptions being only the only sons, men over fifty, the disabled, those under twenty, or registered craftsmen.

Thus, young men were scarce in the village, and the women, especially the married ones, were restless and wild in spirit.

Yet, to them, this idle, thieving little rascal claiming he was going hunting was nothing short of a joke.

Li Chen ignored their chatter and pressed on up the mountain.

“An uneducated, good-for-nothing like Li family’s eldest son actually going hunting? What evil spell is he under?”

“He may be good at beating his wife, but hunting? Forget it! Anyone can go up the mountain, but in recent years, there have been bears, wild boars, and even a tiger that killed many people. No one dares to hunt there anymore. Isn’t he asking for death?” two women sneered as they watched Li Chen’s retreating figure.

“Enough. The boy’s heart isn’t bad. Let’s hope for the best,” said kind-hearted Liu Jincui with a frown.

She glanced at Li Chen’s disappearing back, her eyes filled with concern.

...

Half an hour later, Li Chen had entered the deep mountains.

He had already drawn five arrows in succession, each at full draw. With his current body, it was somewhat taxing, and his hands trembled slightly.

After some time in the mountains, he finally began to recover.