After a night’s sleep, Li Xuejian felt that his whole body regained its strength.

He got out of the room and heated up the leftovers from yesterday's dinner. He slowly chewed the vegetables in the bowl and ate a pheasant wing. Even though it was a little soggy it still tasted good for him.

Then Li Xuejian started to prepare everything that he should take for a hunt. 

He sharpened the knife until the edges became round and smooth. He was right-handed thus he fastened the knife on the right side of the belt.

As for the bow, Li Xuejian securely strapped it across his back. This way it won't hinder his arm movements or slip off while carrying it out. After doing that, Li Xuejian went to the courtyard and chopped one of the bamboo canes very thickly. He cut off a large bamboo tube to put arrows in it. 

Having finished all of these, Li Xuejian set off to the mountain.

When he went into the forest, the first thing he heard was the birds chirping loudly in the undergrowth. The slopes of the trees were overgrown with a dense, tangled mass of leaves and twigs, a perfect place for bird’s nesting. Not surprisingly, it was teeming with those colorful animals. Some of them trilled loudly, others twittered and gave out ringing vink-vink every now and then. 

In the company of the birdsong, Li Xuejian went deeper and deeper into the woodland, occasionally marking trees with an x-shaped cut of the knife. 

He was moving very slowly, listening out for unusual sounds and carefully observing his surroundings. If Li Xuejian came across anything that might threaten him, he would reach for a bow or a knife without a second thought.

He's been walking for a very long time but nothing caught his eye. It was quiet and peaceful to the point of indolence until the brushwood crunched and a twig snapped. 

Snap! Another twig cracked. Li Xuejian held his breath - finally!

Li Xuejian adjusted his posture and saw the tiger crouching in the bushes. With its head drooping, tail hanging, clenching jaws, it was positioned to strike at him. 

It wasn't that he was expecting that the wild animal won't attack him just because he didn't attack it first. He knew that coming here was gambling on his life. And in a way, it was the gamble of his life, not the best, perhaps, but hopefully not the last.

The big cat lurched forward Li Xuejian and he did the same. He leaped for the tiger with a desperate bound, grabbing its neck and pulling it tight. 

The tiger aimed its fangs at his throat, however, Li Xuejian had already drawn the knife and didn’t hesitate for a second. Seizing the weapon halfway down the blade, he flung it and stabbed the tiger which looked at him with eyes of utter astonishment.

The fervor of the two of them was somewhat cooled by the blood which spurted over Li Xuejian. But he didn’t have time to catch his breath because the one stroke was not enough to kill it. 

With no other choice, Li Xuejian caught the ferocious animal by the neck, but couldn’t throttle him as the tiger struggled and slipped out of his hands, gashing his cheek with its claw. He tried to dodge aside but suddenly felt a piercing pain in his left hand.

Before the tiger’s teeth could bite deeper into his body, Li Xuejian hit him over the head with the knife's hilt, and taking advantage of its momentary blackout, he threw off the tiger and pinned it down with his entire body. With the elbow on its throat, the other Li Xuejian’s hand reached out to the arrow bamboo tube to take out one. 

Li Xuejian pierced the arrow right through the tiger's neck. Afterward, the dreadful cry of an animal being killed drowned out in the thicket of trees.

Li Xuejiaan struggled to his feet and bent down to dig up some dirt and smeared it on the wound, then he tore off a shirtsleeve to wrap it around the arm.

Although it was painful, it wasn't deep enough to let him bleed out.

He survived! That was also a piece of good news! 

The bad news was that he had no idea how to carry the tiger weighing over 200 jin’s¹1 jin = 0,5 kg back to the village. He was afraid that the prey was too big for him to bring it back.

The tiger’s skin is not the only valuable thing, its meat was too sour for people to eat, but also there was wine made from tiger bone used in traditional Chinese medicine. As for its phallus, when consumed it is said to be a potent aphrodisiac. And the last, the tiger’s tooth could be carved as an amulet and protective charm pendant. 

Telling Li Xuejian to peel skin on the spot in the mountains and leave the rest was like asking him to willingly lose money. 

He already planned to sell it all and earn a great fortune.

Li Xuejian seized the heavy animal by its tail and tied it around the waist. This way he slowly dragged it back to the village. Fortunately, he was coming down from the mountain and the land slope was helping him along the way. 

The fierce combat and long journey left him physically exhausted, not to mention his numb back.

Li Xuejian slumped down with fatigue on the stool in the courtyard to rest for a while. He closed his eyes and softly cursed the pain that was once again pulsing through his arm. But when he opened his eyes and took a look at his torn and tattered clothes covered in blood, he swore again, this time more bluntly.

Li Xuejian didn’t bring any water this morning and now carrying the heavy buckets was impossible in his condition. To avoid being seen by the villagers and scare them, he could only sneak away to the river to bathe. 

If he went now, he shouldn’t meet anyone along the way as it was already dark when he came back from the hunt. 

He went over to the river and there was really no one there.

But even so, Li Xuejian still entered the water fully dressed and started to bathe himself and wash away the blood on his body. He didn’t care about his clothes since they were no longer wearable. It would be hard to remove dried-in blood stains out of fabric even if he used soap which he didn't even have in the first place.

As Li Xuejian came out of the water, it mirrored the image of an ordinary-looking young man with a place face and somewhat poor complexion and bluish lips. Even from distance, there was a visible diagonal scar deforming his forehead, eyebrow, nose and cheek. The sharp-edged vacant eyes interfered a little with the taste of the moonshine and were glowing in the dark with a silvery-like light.

Li Xuejian was not in the mood to look over at himself, there were more important things to be done. He needed to see if the wound became infected so he sat on the riverbank and rolled up his sleeve. He took off a scrap of clothing tied around his arm and at once the blood started to spurt out from it. He must have bandaged it too tightly.

Li Xuejian was about to wipe the blood off but suddenly felt someone watching him and raised his head. At a glance, there was no place where someone could hide… apart from the tree nearby.

Li Xuejian obviously didn't expect that there may be anyone around here in the middle of the night. 

He could feel that the other party was not malicious but just staring at him.  

Li Xuejian raised his eyebrows and spoke, looking directly at the place where someone was hiding: “Show yourself.” 

The yellow head stuck out from behind the tree and hide again after taking a peek.

The corner of Li Xuejian’s mouth twitched. It seemed that he needed to be more direct. He kept a straight face and beckoned: “Come here.” He recognized the person as one of the villagers the instant he saw the hair color. 

The boy walked out and approached Li Xuejian cautiously. He was very thin with almost no flesh on his body and the pair of big round eyes stood out even more. 

Although the young man lowered his head quickly and did not speak, Li Xuejian at glance knew from his sniffing nose that he was crying a moment ago.

Li Xuejian frowned: “What’s the matter?” He didn’t look so tragic to cry over it. 

The boy raised his head and looked at him pitifully, then shook his head in response. 

He ​​didn’t want to speak so Li Xuejian wasn't going to ask again.

Involuntarily He Anran glanced up at Li Xuejian’s arm and said: “You are bleeding…” His eyes widened in shock as he saw the wound on his arm. 

Li Xuejian swept his dark eyes over him in turn: “It’s nothing, only a scratch.” He covered it quickly and clumsily. 

The boy looked confused and his surprise did not fade. The small lips opened slightly but no sound was coming from them. 

All of sudden, the young men turned around and ran away without looking back. He moved so fast that he disappeared in the blink of an eye, running as his life depended on it. 

Li Xuejian thought that the boy must have been scared by his current appearance. He shifted his attention to the injury on his arm and slowly cleaned it with water. It's lucky that the wound did not fester however it will need some time to heal properly.

Li Xuejian took a deep breath and stood up ready to go back home, but by that time, he suddenly saw that the boy was sprinting towards him. 

He Anran was running so fast that he could barely stop in time before crashing into Li Xuejian. Gasping for air, he grabbed Li Xuejian’s hand and placed a tiny small box made of wood on it.

“What it is?” Li Xuejian asked puzzled.

He Anran immediately retracted his hand and jumped away like a frightened rabbit. As he was extremely nervous it was even harder to overcome his stuttering: “Th-this is a herbal ointment th-that will help to close up your wound quickly.”

After saying this he once again fled without even waiting for Li Xuejian's thanks.

Li Xuejian stood there alone. His finger was lightly tapping the back of the box, only adding energy to the silence surrounding him.