Chapter 20: Breakthrough

The next day, Lin Xiao decided to ration the fishes left. If they didn't do that, there was no doubt that all 11 fishes would be eaten with nothing left in just a few seconds.

"Are you going to go today, Brother?"

"Yes. After my practice, I'll go out and try to hunt." Lin Xiao stretched his body. It didn't feel sore even after he ran a long time yesterday. Not bad at all. "I have Old Man's old bow and I can make simple arrows with woods."

"Okay."

As Lin Xiao practiced with Wenren Yu's guidance, Lin Yun was following the same movement. It has been some time since Wenren Yu came, so his wounds were mostly healed. The medicine that he brought along with him was proven to be very good.

Crack! Crack!

The faint movement of Qi along with the sound of cracking attracted Lin Xiao's attention. He turned his head to look at his brother and grinned. "You're now Body training rank 5."

"Yes!" Lin Yun exclaimed happily.

Wenren Yu nodded his head. There were a lot of medicine within Lin Yun's body that was not absorbed properly. He had taught Lin Yun the basic cultivation method to absorb them all, which led to Lin Yun getting better. Now that the young boy had broken through, Wenren Yu felt happy.

Still, with the medicine inside Lin Yun's body, it should have been enough for him to reach rank 6 with no problem.

Or even higher.

He didn't know how much herbs Lin Yun had consumed all this time to make it possible, though.

"Now that you're already at rank 5, I don't need to worry so much when I'm leaving," Lin Xiao said with a grin. The stronger Lin Yun was, the less worried he would be. After all, it was always his concern whenever he left the house for a long time. If there were some villagers who wanted to create trouble, he had to defend his brother.

Lin Yun nodded. "I'll be even stronger than you, Brother."

"Heh, big talk! I'm stronger!"

"Not for long!"

Wenren Yu shook his head and spoke out, "If you don't hurry and finish your training, you'll be too late if you want to try hunting."

"Ah! I nearly forgot about that!"

Lin Xiao quickly finished his training and then collected some strong branches before he skillfully used his knife to shape them. The tip of the arrow needed metal, but since they didn't have one, Lin Xiao used thin yet sharp stone to replace it. It was not as strong as metal, but it could cut.

The process didn't take a long time and Lin Xiao only made 10 arrows. He just had to make do with this number for now.

"I'm going now."

"Be careful. There might be people who are pursuing Taiyi Sect disciples out there too," Wenren Yu reminded him.

Lin Xiao nodded. "I'll take note of them. Luckily, I'm not part of Taiyi Sect."

Yet.

That was what he wanted to say since he originally planned to join the sect. If he was lucky enough, he would be able to advance to body training rank 6 this year, so it would increase his chance to get accepted into the sect.

But now, Lin Xiao didn't even know where he wanted to go anymore. All he knew was that he had to grow stronger and stronger if he wished to survive in this cruel and harsh world. It was always the common knowledge that only the strong could possibly survive in this harsh world.

The saying was very much true.

And Lin Xiao didn't want to take the risk.

Swish!

This time, Lin Xiao didn't head to the north forest like yesterday. He had no intention to go there in case there were more beast he would encounter. It would be better for him to just ran in the opposite direction. To be exact, he was heading to the river and beyond that.

Rivers were the best place for animals to come because they needed water to stay alive. Lin Xiao thought that heading there might increase his luck to find some animals that were roaming around.

He only hoped to find some rabbits, though.

A boar might be a bit too strong to defeat all by himself.

Venturing deep into the forest, Lin Xiao paid close attention to his surroundings. He wanted to know what he could possibly meet right here, but it was very quiet. The area near the cliff has always been devoid of life, so Lin Xiao traveled even further.

He wouldn't be able to get anything if he didn't.

'There are some animals mark on the ground.'

Lin Xiao stopped and crouched down. The ground was a bit soft and there were some marks of animal crossing by. Based on the size of the nails and the likes, it was likely that the one passed by here was a deer.

Deer was an extremely common animal to found in this area. Many hunters also preferred to hunt deer if they were not brave enough to face faster and more powerful animals such as tiger, wolves, or others, or even the higher ranked beasts.

When beasts absorbed the Qi in the world, they could grow stronger and possibly evolve. At that time, even the seemingly harmless animal could kill an adult man easily.

'Hmm, it's over there.'

Lin Xiao used the method to conceal his presence that he did yesterday as he travelled in the forest while hoping that he would see a prey he could try to catch.