Chapter 18: Simple and Brutal

“What else can we do? Let’s take them back to Pingdu together! Don’t tell me you don’t plan to, I’ve seen through your little schemes.

I warn you, Xiao Youyou is mine, you’re not allowed to compete with me.”

Bai Changpu glared at Xiang Huaixin.

“Humph!” Xiang Huaixin didn’t argue much, just gave Bai Changpu a meaningful look.

…

The next day, Leng You and Xiang Wentian entered the valley early.

“We can hunt more game today.” The wild chickens they saw yesterday lingered in Leng You’s mind.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to continue exploring?” Seeing Leng You’s excited look, Xiang Wentian lovingly ruffled her hair again.

“We can hunt while we walk!

Look, a rabbit!”

Before Leng You finished speaking, a fat rabbit suddenly jumped out from the grass.

The slingshot in Xiang Wentian’s hand had already been fired, and the big rabbit fell to the ground.

Leng You looked at the slingshot in Xiang Wentian’s hand in surprise, wondering when he had magically prepared such a “heavy weapon,” was it another skiing trip?

“Here, I’ll teach you.” Xiang Wentian put the slingshot in Leng You’s hand.

“Here comes another one!” As if to cooperate with Leng You, another rabbit jumped out.

“Ready, fire!” Xiang Wentian completely enveloped Leng You in his arms, steadied her hand, aimed, and fired… the whole action was done in one go, a fat rabbit bounced and fell heavily to the ground, unable to move.

“Wow!” Leng You’s eyes lit up.

Putting the two rabbits by the stream, the two walked north.

When they reached where the large flock of wild chickens had landed last time, Xiang Wentian began to bend down and set one snare after another.

Leng You was stunned for a moment before helping, she had thought Xiang Wentian would throw stones or use a slingshot to catch these chickens like he did with the rabbits, she forgot, this wasn’t a martial arts drama, and young Xiang Wentian wasn’t a martial arts master who could use the One Yang Finger or strike from afar.

“That’s… a roe deer!” Seeing the deer-like creature that darted out of the forest and stood there dumbfounded, Leng You let out a soft cry.

Daheishan Village is poor and remote, let alone roe deer and wild chickens, even rabbits are rarely seen by the villagers, but this valley is so rich.

Leng You felt that her life with Wen Jiuyue would be more secure, especially after the first roe deer ran out, a large group followed.

Like the previous one, they stood there dumbfounded, staring straight at Leng You and Xiang Wentian, these strange creatures.

Leng You looked expectantly at Xiang Wentian and subconsciously handed him the slingshot.

“I can only try.” Xiang Wentian had never tried hunting this relatively large animal in this way.

He bent down, picked up a slightly larger stone from the stream, placed it in the slingshot pouch, aimed, pulled back, and released…

With a “thump,” the stone hit the forehead of a fat roe deer standing at the front, and the roe deer swayed a few times before collapsing.

The comical thing was that when they saw their companion fall, the other roe deer didn’t react at all, they still stood motionless, still staring blankly at Leng You and Xiang Wentian.

“Amazing!” Xiang Wentian’s skill once again exceeded Leng You’s imagination.

“Let’s hunt another one!” The usually indifferent Xiang Wentian’s eyes showed excitement.

 “Okay, let’s hunt more, we’ll have a good winter.” Leng You also had this in mind.

In this era, these animals were not yet listed as protected, and for ecological balance, they couldn’t be allowed to reproduce indefinitely, especially since it had been initially determined that there were no natural enemies such as tigers, wolves, and bears in the valley.

“Wait!” Xiang Wentian’s interest was completely piqued, he tightened his slingshot, although he couldn’t say he was a hundred percent accurate, he still knocked down three more.

“Amazing!” Leng You’s eyes were full of admiration.

“Let’s hunt only these four today, and continue tomorrow.” This deep valley aroused Xiang Wentian’s growing interest and curiosity, and he wanted to explore further.

“Okay.” Leng You nodded in agreement.

She ran to the roe deer that were still twitching on the ground, and even patted the head of another one that was standing nearby “eating melons.”

Thinking that the next hunting method might be simpler and more brutal.

The two continued to walk north, and the temperature seemed to rise as they walked, the area of the stream also became larger, and wisps of steam began to rise from the surface of the stream.

“Tired?” They had walked nearly ten miles, and Xiang Wentian had asked Leng You several times, and the answer was always no.

Although he didn’t see any fatigue on the little girl’s face, and knew that the magical blessing made their physical strength far exceed that of ordinary people, but “heartbreak” this rare thing still overflowed from Xiang Wentian’s heart.

He bent down, gently lifted Leng You’s small body, and put her on his back.

“Brother, I’m really not tired, hurry and put me down, otherwise you’ll be inconvenient when you hunt.” Leng You struggled.

“Be good!” Xiang Wentian gently patted Leng You’s little butt.

Leng You: …

The old woman’s soul was scorched again.

Along the way, besides roe deer, rabbits, and wild chickens, no other animals were found. The steam from the stream became thicker, and the air temperature was slightly higher.

Obviously, they were getting closer and closer to the spring.

“We’ve reached the end.” Putting Leng You down from his back, Xiang Wentian looked up at the highest mountain peak in the distance.

After walking about twenty miles, the deep valley was completely blocked by this mountain peak, and what appeared before them was a smooth, vertical cliff.

There was hot spring water with a faint smell of sulfur flowing slowly from a naturally formed hole about one meter wide and half a meter high at the bottom of the cliff, forming a water surface of about fifty square meters near the hole.

“So the end of the valley is at the foot of this mountain!

But how did those roe deer get in?”

The length of the valley exceeded Leng You’s imagination, and another question popped into her mind.

The valley was surrounded on all sides, wild chickens could fly in, rabbits could burrow in, but how the roe deer entered the valley was beyond comprehension.

“Maybe they fell from above the valley.” Xiang Wentian couldn’t find the answer to this question either.

“Maybe!” Even she, a living person, didn’t die when she fell, let alone roe deer. Leng You thought the explanation was somewhat reasonable.

“How long is this mountain range, where does it extend to, what villages are closest to it on all sides and Daheishan Village, and how far are they? Do you know all this?” Xiang Wentian asked Leng You, looking down.

A selfish thought suddenly arose in his heart, he just wanted this fresh and free space to belong to the little girl in front of him, and no one else would disturb them.