Chapter 28: Chapter 28 Silver Fox But Gu Sheng was just thinking about it—his body was fragile, with no margin for error. A single punch from someone else might kill him on the spot. To put it bluntly, Gu Sheng right now was like a glass cannon—high attack, low defense. Back when his Chopping Wood skill reached Great Success, he could already cleave through wild wolves. Now that it had reached a level beyond Perfect, with a "tearing" special effect, he was confident he could split apart tiger bones and bear hides! However. Gu Sheng also noticed that after reaching this point, no new progress bar appeared for his Chopping Wood skill. "Has it already hit its ceiling...? Is the tearing effect beyond Perfect the absolute limit of Martial Arts proficiency grinding? Or is it simply because Chopping Wood counts as the lowest tier of Martial Arts?" Gu Sheng couldn't be sure which it was. However, the tearing effect of Chopping Wood was only First-level tearing, which made Gu Sheng develop a few hypotheses in his mind. "If there's First-level tearing, then perhaps there's Second-level tearing, Third-level tearing... And if I learn stronger Martial Arts in the future, perhaps I'll be able to grind out even more powerful special effects!" "I just wonder what kind of effect I'd unlock if I max out my proficiency in Archery..." A flicker of anticipation surged through Gu Sheng's heart. His Archery skill was already at 61% of Great Success, not too far from Perfect. Beyond that point would be the special effects. The tearing effect brought by Chopping Wood's First-level tearing was already this formidable—what about Archery? Perhaps it would be even more powerful! ... In the days that followed, Gu Sheng's life became even simpler and more routine. With no need to spend time on Chopping Wood anymore, he dedicated all his energy to practicing Archery. The progress in Archery was very encouraging. It was steadily approaching the Perfect realm. He maintained a rhythm of going into the mountains to hunt about once every three days. The rest of the time, he practiced his shooting and worked on his literacy. Gu Sheng also learned more and more about the state of the Da Liang Dynasty, particularly gaining some clarity about the conditions in Red Cloud Prefecture. Among the eight prefectures of Qing Province, Red Cloud Prefecture was neither the worst nor the best, ranking somewhere in the middle. It was located in the southern part of Qing Province and governed eleven counties, along with more than a hundred villages, towns, and manors. Its population was not small. From a rough calculation, Gu Sheng realized the population of the Da Liang Dynasty was in the hundreds of millions—much more than the ancient dynasties of his past life. During this time, Gu Sheng and Gu Erniu exchanged some grain again and heard that the war in Yun Province had already ended. The rebel forces had been defeated; most had been annihilated, while a small number scattered and fled. The price of grain had increased by about 10%, but it wasn't terribly outrageous. Though Gu Sheng knew this was only because Canghe County was far from the conflict and the harvest this year had been relatively decent. Otherwise, the situation would have been much worse. Even though the war in Yun Province was over, as Gu Sheng learned more about the surrounding circumstances, he could tell things weren't looking optimistic. Bandits were rampant, officials colluded with criminals, and gang factions acted with impunity. These problems had long gone unsolved. And that could only mean one thing. The Da Liang imperial court had completely lost control over the lower levels of governance—or at the very least, orders from above did not reach below, and the officials only gave the appearance of obedience. Gu Sheng was well aware of what it meant for a dynasty to reach this point. Without some extraordinary change, collapse was only a matter of time. He needed to continue working hard to become stronger. Otherwise, when the day came that disaster struck, he would have only himself to blame. Fortunately, everything seemed to be developing in a positive direction. "Next spring, I'll begin formally training in Martial Arts!" ... That day, a group of hunters from Gu's Manor gathered to drink and feast on meat together. At the center was a large iron pot, with a strong fire roaring underneath. Inside, boiling water churned, cooking large chunks of meat mixed with wild herbs picked from the mountains that could barely pass as seasoning substitutes. Seven or eight burly men sat around, eating enthusiastically with their shirts off. They drank large gulps of liquor and ate big chunks of meat, relishing the experience. "Asheng, your idea is brilliant. Hotpot, hotpot—cooked in a big pot over woodfire—it truly lives up to the name. Eating meat like this just feels more satisfying!" Zhang Ze laughed heartily, unable to resist giving another word of praise. The surrounding hunters were full of compliments as well. It was an idea Gu Sheng had once casually suggested, a crude "Otherworld" version of hotpot, but the taste wasn't bad. Gu Sheng simply smiled and nodded, enjoying himself. After all the hard work, it was nice to occasionally relax. Everyone bringing some meat to share over a communal meal had a completely different feeling to it. The crowd chatted freely. All men—and hunters at that—their topics naturally revolved around women and hunting. Whenever the subject of a particularly striking woman in the area came up, the unmarried hunters couldn't help but show a bit of infatuation. Marriage was normal, after all. As the conversation carried on, a young man with a pockmarked face, red-faced and drunk, suddenly exclaimed: "Have you all heard? Over in Dahe Village, a hunter reportedly found traces of a silver fox in Cang Mountain!" At these words, the lively atmosphere immediately quieted down. Gu Sheng's heart stirred, his eyes flashing with clarity. He could hold his liquor well and never drank to the point of losing his senses, so he quickly realized what kind of silver fox the man was talking about. The so-called silver fox wasn't some kind of demon beast or exotic species. It was just an ordinary animal. However, its fur—silky, silver-white, smooth as satin, and exceptionally warm—was a favorite among wealthy families! Its pelt was extraordinarily valuable. At the very least, it was worth ten taels of silver, and if the fur was intact and undamaged, the price could be even higher with a generous buyer! 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞 The hunters present instantly felt their hearts grow hot. Whoever could catch a silver fox wouldn't need to hunt for a whole year! Zhang Ze, slightly drunk, shouted: "Three-Pockmarks, you're not pulling our leg, are you? Even if a Dahe Village hunter really did find traces of a silver fox, why would they spread the news? They'd definitely keep it to themselves and search for it quietly!" Three-Pockmarks immediately jumped up, bristling at the skeptical looks being cast his way. He loudly declared: "Why would I lie? My cousin married into Dahe Village, and she personally told me when she came back to visit Gu's Manor a few days ago. That hunter got drunk and slipped up—you guys didn't notice there's been an unusual number of hunters heading into Cang Mountain lately?" The hunters exchanged glances, murmuring in realization: "It really does seem like that. This month I've come across quite a few hunters from other places. I even ran into Li Yan from the Li family manor." Hearing Li Yan's name, Gu Sheng's expression shifted subtly. Last month, during a trip to the mountains with Gu Erniu, they'd run into Li Yan again. He glanced at Gu Erniu, only to find the latter's expression cold. Li Yan was, indeed, a man with a foul mouth and a spiteful heart. Three-Pockmarks spat angrily: "The Li family manor and the people of Dahe Village have known about this for a while and have been secretly searching for traces of the silver fox. I'm telling you this today because I don't want the folks of Gu's Manor to fall behind!" "Otherwise, why would I, Three-Pockmarks, go out of my way to share this news? If you don't believe me, treat it like I'm talking nonsense!" Gu Sheng knew this man was shrewd. Three-Pockmarks was mediocre with a bow; even if he encountered a silver fox on his own, he might not be able to catch it. So, he'd decided to "accidentally" spill the news while drunk, leveraging it to gain favor with the group. And sure enough, seeing his adamant and convincing demeanor, complete with logic and evidence, Zhang Ze felt a bit embarrassed. He quickly threw an arm around Three-Pockmarks, chuckling awkwardly: "Brother, calm down. My bad—I'll punish myself with a bowl of liquor!" "Brother Three-Pockmarks, your righteousness in not keeping this to yourself is admirable. In the future, when we go hunting, we'll make sure to include you more!" The hunters erupted into hearty laughter, and the atmosphere became lively again. However, deep down, each of them began making private plans. If they managed to hunt the silver fox, it would be an enormous payday!