Chapter 16 - Fainted?!
An Xin and Wei Bai merrily dashed back to the camp while dodging all the beasts they met along the way, reaching the camp barely 40 minutes after they left. Going into the forest and searching for prey, plus the fight took about 35 minutes, and the dash back to camp after the fight took only 5 minutes.
When they reached the camp, the 2 coachmen were surprised that the pair came back so fast.
"You're already done? We barely had enough time to eat a meal! We just finished eating, that was fast!" One of the coachman spoke, shocked at the speed of the pair's First Hunt.
"Isn't this going to be difficult? Now your daughter has to finish her Second Hunt within the time it takes to eat a meal..." The other coachman commented.
"Hehehe, we were very lucky this time around! My husband and I were just silently dashing through the woods when a mutated shadow wolf ambushed us. Even though it was only a tier 1 savage beast, it was a little faster than my husband and surprised us when the shadow that appeared at first was a decoy. I nearly died." An Xin smugly bragged about their fortune.
"We think that the wolf was just a normal beast when it swallowed a natural treasure with shadow Qi. It may not have digested the treasure completely because it had a sliver of intelligence. It might've been on its way to becoming a demonic beast." Wei Bai chipped in his thoughts as he brought the black wolf out of his space ring.
"Wouldn't that mean... Since you almost died, your daughter has to hunt a beast, at least on the level of peak tier savage beast, within the time it takes to eat a meal...?" The first coachman who spoke hesitatingly asked.
"...Eh. My daughter will figure something out. I think. Yeah. It'll go swimmingly. We'll teach her all we know and then some. Right, Bai Bai?" An Xin nudged Wei Bai with her elbow as she winked.
"...Yeah." Wei Bai taciturnly said.
"At any rate, could you get a clay pot? I want to drain the blood from this wolf. Bai Bai, help me take off this armour, will you?" An Xin politely asked.
"Will do." the coachmen said
Wei Bai just nodded and proceeded to remove the armour from An Xin's body.
An Xin, having removed the armour, checked up on Yan Yan, using her healing technique and ensuring that she's is safe before taking out her deboing knife and sharpening it with her Qi.
"Here's the pot, 2 of them to be sure." The coachmen said.
"I'll only need 1, since the black wolf isn't very big." An Xin mentioned.
"It's okay, since Cousin Jiang will need 1 too." the first coachman said.
An Xin nodded and started tying the wolf's legs to 2 parallel sticks, then leaned the body forwards with its head facing the ground and placed the pot underneath the wolf, and slit the neck of that wolf. As the blood flowed into the pot, she then stabbed into the flesh underneath the fur at the neck straight down towards the anus and gently skinned the black wolf of its pelt. Cutting the fur away smoothly from its sides first, then the 4 limbs to its paws, stripping the tail fur, moving to the back, and finally, to around its head, a nice looking black wolf pelt has been skinned from the now 'naked' wolf within the time it takes to drink 2 cups of tea.
"En. Looks very nice. I should use this to make a scarf for Yan Yan." An Xin nodded as she admired her work, waiting for the blood to drain away.
"What do you think? Bai Bai?" An Xin asked.
"En." Wei Bai agreeably nodded his head.
Carefully, An Xin took out a bone tool to scrape off the little bits of fat that she missed when skinning the wolf. After checking and making sure no fat or meat is left, she then took out a small knife and started cutting around the claws to remove them from the wolf's paws. After the claws have been removed, the claws were thrown into the pot of blood.
Double-checking the whole pelt to see if she missed anything, she nodded after being satisfied and kept the pelt in her space ring.
After confirming the blood was completely drained, she then skillfully deboned the meat from the wolf with an experienced hand, and separated the meat into several, easy to eat chunks, which are placed on a metal skewer. The clean bones are then left in the pot of blood to soak.
"Bai Bai, could you get a metal pot? I'll make a soup with the blood, organs and the small pieces of meat too small to place on the skewer. Don't forget the vinegar and flour~ Oh, and also the blood treatment solution." An Xin sweetly asked.
"Will do." Wei Bai said as he moved to grab the pot and the metal stand to hand the pot on. He then grabbed a lot of firewood and shot a small fireball with his Qi into the pile of wood, making a new fire for the pot. Afterwards, he grabbed the flour, vinegar, and salt and placed it near An Xin, and dropped 10 drops of the blood treatment solution from the jade bottle into the clay pot of blood and mixed it around with his finger.
An Xin then made some water with her Qi and placed it in the pot, together with the entrails and pieces of meat. She then threw a few large pinches of salt into the pot and hung the pot over the fire.
Salt was lightly sprinkled on all sides of the meat on top of the fat, and then placed on a square, that is shaped from 4 wood pieces, above the fire, with another 4 wood pieces supporting that square from below.
The meat prepared is roasted above a small fire within the wooden frame. A fragrant smell starts to spread around the camp, with the sizzling sounds of fat dripping down onto the fire ringing out.
"Oooh~ Smells great! What's going on?" An excited male voice sounded out from the direction of the forest.
"As expected of nephew and niece. You 2 are very fast." An older voice called out from the same direction.
"...Wait. You mean.. Cousin Bai and Cousin Xin already caught their prey and are cooking their prey??" Cousin Jiang dumbfoundedly spoke.
"I suppose. How long did they take?" Uncle Lin asked the coachmen.
"Reporting, Elder Lin. They took about the time it takes to eat a meal. We just about finished cooking and eating our meal when they came back." The first coachman that replied said.
"Yes. And they met a tier 1 mutated savage beast that is as fast as an early 1st stage Foundation Establishment cultivator." The second coachman chipped in.
"They said that the savage beast could use a skill that allowed the beast to use a shadow decoy." Coachman A continued.
"A skill? But only demonic beasts and above are able to use skills." Uncle Lin muttered while raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, but the savage beast had a demonic core that was growing due to a treasure with shadow Qi that it ate. It probably mutated from just a normal beast. Look. I found the core beside the heart, and inside the stomach, I found a black pearl filled with shadow Qi. Bai Bai was right!" An Xin cut in.
"Here. See the Qi in the core. It's the amount that a mid 1st stage Qi Cultivation cultivator would have. The bones and blood have the amount of Qi that a tier 1 savage beast that just broke through would have. Including the meat, all the Qi would add up to the level a peak tier 1 savage beast would have." Wei Bai showed the evidence.
Uncle Lin probed the blood with his Qi and checked what he said for himself. Stroking his chin, Uncle Lin asked, "Did you place some blood treatment solution in??"
"Yeah, that's why the bones are a little stronger than before. We just started the process though." An Xin mentioned while scooping all the scum off from the soup in the pot with a ladle and flipping the skewers on the frame around.
"I see. Considering all factors, a peak tier 1 savage beast with a demonic core, as fast as an early 1st stage Foundation Establishment cultivator... The Second Hunt has to be at least a Peak tier savage beast, within the time it takes to eat a meal. Your daughter has a hard trial ahead." Uncle Lin contemplated.
"We know." An Xin and Wei Bai replied together.
"Fine then. Nephew Jiang, prepare your prey and bring it back for your wife. We shall rest here for tonight and go back at dawn." Uncle Lin instructed.
"Yes, Uncle." "Yes, Elder" All of them replied.
Wei Bai collected the pot of blood, covered it and placed it in their tent, while An Xin took a few cups of blood from the pot and mixed it with vinegar and flour. She then took the pot away from the fire and cooled it with her water made from Qi. After ensuring the blood and flour was well mixed, she slowly stirred the blood into the cold soup.
Thoroughly mixing the blood and entrails soup, she then hung the pot back on top of the fire, and added a few pinches of sugar, simmering the soup.
"And done. Now, we wait for the soup. Let's have a few skewers while we wait." An Xin said as she grabbed a few skewers and handed some to Wei Bai.
"Thanks."
"No problem~" An Xin sweetly smiled.
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A strong delicious smell wafted throughout the air around the camp.
"And done! Pass me 2 bowls please~" An Xin asked Wei Bai.
"En." Wei Bai complied
"Man, that smells great! I want some too!!" Cousin Jiang cried out as he sniffed the air.
"No way! You know very well that the prey from the First Hunt is always only eaten by the parents. Go ask your wife for some~" An Xin teased.
"B-but... she's not here..." Cousin Jiang depressingly said as he crouched on the floor while drawing circles in the dirt with a stick.
"Hahaha, it's okay, you'll get to eat her cooking after we get back. I'll just enjoy mine first." Wei Bai laughed as he patted Cousin Jiang's back, drinking the soup An Xin handed him.
"I can't believe I can't eat anything, that my meal after hunting has to be prey from the First Hunt... Who thought up of these kinds of rules?! Now I have to fast until tomorrow!" Cousin Jiang shouted, aggrieved as he stabbed the stick at the dirt, unknowingly infusing Qi into the stick like a sword.
"It was set down by the first Yun! The First Hunt was modelled after his experience with his child that grew up to be even more excellent than him. After his son was born, his wife recovered and wanted to go hunting with him. The moment they set foot into the forest, a tier 1 savage beast appeared before them. They hunted that beast and gave their son the spoils from the beast.
Wanting his son to be excellent, he gave his son a test, the Second Hunt, with the requirements of the prey to be as strong as the one they hunted, from which the spoils, his necklace was made. With wit and skill, the son managed to do it at 10 years old, even though his dantian just formed a year ago and he barely stepped into Qi Cultivation realm.
The son went on to grow up into the strongest ancestor of our Yun clan, and officially established the clan with his many wives, each having their own branch. You should respect the culture passed down by our ancestors!" Uncle Lin admonished.
"Yeah yeah, I've heard the whole story countless time already, I bet I could recite it in my sleep." Cousin Jiang rolled his eyes.
"You!" Uncle Lin flew into a rage with a red face.
"Hey, I'm just complaining, do you see me moving to eat anything?"
"Hmph. You better. We'll set off early tomorrow, so get some sleep, or meditate the night away. You hear me?" Uncle Lin snorted.
"Yes yes." Cousin Jiang nodded his head.
"Once is enough!"
"Yes."
An Xin and Wei Bai just sat down there and watched the drama as they silently enjoyed their meal, amused by their antics.
As everybody made merry while finishing their meal, they cleaned up and everybody went back to their tents for the night.
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Next morning.
An Xin woke up with her daughter in her embrace. Usually, by this time, her daughter would already be awake, pestering her for food, but today she showed no signs of that.
Worried, she shook Wei Bai awake and started panicking.
"What should we do?! Yan Yan isn't awake! Did something happened??!" An Xin frantically shouted as she tried using her healing technique on her daughter, but to no avail, as there were no injuries that she could heal.
Wei Bai sleepily opened his eyes, and calmly said, "Did she get any injuries?"
"No, I made sure she was alright yesterday! What's going on??"
"It's okay, she's just knocked out. Since there's no bodily injuries, she should be fine. If by the end of the day, Yan'er hasn't woken up, we will take her to the best physician in the city." Wei Bai comforted An Xin.
"...Fine. Then by sunset, if Yan Yan isn't awake, I will immediately bring her to Physician Li." An Xin swore with a worried expression on her face.
"...Okay." Wei Bai muttered while thinking of all his money sources.
"Is everything alright?" Uncle Lin's voice sounded out from outside the tent.
"Yan Yan isn't waking up. She isn't hurt anywhere, I've confirmed it, so we decided to wait until sunset for her to wake up. If she doesn't, we're taking her to Physician Li immediately." An Xin informed.
"...I see. Then let us head back quickly to the clan. Let's ask our clan physician how she's doing first." Uncle Lin spoke quickly.
"Come on, let's get a move on! We need to hurry back to the clan!" Uncle Lin ordered.
The other 3 men, having heard the conversation, shouted, "Yes! Elder!"
The expedition quickly packed up went back on the road to the Yun clan house.