It was a robust wild boar.
With tusks jutting out, thick and coarse fur covering its body, the longer and thicker bristles along its spine standing erect, it snorted forcefully through its nostrils after missing its first strike.
It was highly aggressive, as if it had been lying in wait nearby for quite some time. Xu Yi tightened his grip on the sickle in his hand, unable to spare any attention for the bamboo basket not far away. Compared to the thin, flexible sickle, the machete in the basket was far more crucial.
Knowing that wild boars have very small eyes and rely mainly on their keen sense of smell, Xu Yi carefully shifted his position.
While staying on guard, he worked his way closer to the basket. Just then, the wild boar twitched its snout, raised its thick, short front hooves, and assumed a stance for another attack.
This was the moment! Xu Yi’s eyes flashed sharply as he quickly rushed to the basket, grabbed the machete, and swung it at the wild boar charging toward him.
The blade struck its head. The wild boar howled in pain, and the tremendous recoil numbed Xu Yi’s wrist. He immediately tightened his grip on the handle.
Its hide was too thick. This strike hadn’t inflicted much damage at all; instead, it only enraged the wild boar, its eyes turning red as it seemed determined to trample him right there.
The ramming force from several hundred pounds of weight was truly alarming. Xu Yi had practiced martial arts, but the first real battle he encountered was against such a heavyweight opponent.
He wasn’t sure whether to call today lucky or terribly unlucky.
The joy of finding premium agarwood had largely dissipated. Now facing him was the question of how to safely escape from this wild boar that was snorting and glaring at him.
“Roar, roar!”
Escape? The wild boar gave Xu Yi no chance. It kept ramming violently, determined not to stop until it knocked him down.
Both of Xu Yi’s arms were numb and aching. If this continued, he might not be able to hold out much longer.
He glanced to his left at the agarwood, then to his right at the shrub forest. The densely growing shrubs would be an ideal place to evade and escape. If he could just run into them, it would be much harder for the wild boar to catch him in the narrow, dense forest.
Sunlight filtered through the canopy, falling to the ground in dappled patterns across his face. Xu Yi exerted force with his wrist and fiercely yanked the machete from the wild boar’s head.
At the same moment, as it charged at him, Xu Yi rolled to the right on the ground, scrambled to his feet, and sprinted quickly toward the forest.
Behind him came the sounds of the wild boar crashing into trees as it gave chase. In his ears was his own heavy, labored breathing.
As Xu Yi ran, he circled around and returned to his starting point. Turning back, he swung the machete in his hand once more, this time aiming for the wild boar’s flank.
He used his full strength. This time it wasn’t like striking stone; the blade sank in halfway. Foul-smelling blood spurted out, scalding hot as it splashed onto the back of his hand.
Xu Yi remained unmoved, pulling out the blade and swinging again at lightning speed. Now it was his turn to give the wild boar no chance to escape.
At this moment, the male wild boar realized something was wrong. This human who looked much weaker than him was not lacking in either strength or speed. It sensed the threat and wanted to flee.
A series of howls rang out. Xu Yi’s expression turned cold.
It was calling for companions!
He had to end this quickly. Otherwise, if another adult wild boar came to the rescue, he would have no confidence in escaping.
Xu Yi kicked the wild boar fiercely. After several full-force strikes, it tumbled into the soil covered with decaying leaves. Before it could stubbornly struggle to charge at him again, he drove his blade into its belly.
This strike hit a vital spot. The wild boar finally lost half its strength, its heavy body convulsing as it collapsed to the ground.
It still hadn’t completely lost its fighting ability. Xu Yi didn’t dare relax. Without any blade technique training, he could only rely on brute force, hacking repeatedly at the same spot.
Eventually, when Xu Yi’s hands could barely lift anymore, the wild boar’s belly, mixed with fur and flesh, had become a gory, horrifying mess, and it stopped moving.
He sat down beside the wild boar’s carcass, gasping for breath, his eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings, though his mind was somewhat dazed.
Narrow escape from death, desperate counterattack…
Whichever it was, these were thrilling scenes he had never experienced before.
In that moment, Xu Yi felt as if he had no time to think of anything. His brain held only one thought: I must survive!
…
After resting for about fifteen minutes, Xu Yi recovered some strength. He lowered his eyes to check his condition. While blocking the wild boar, his arms, the backs of his hands, and his legs had all suffered varying degrees of abrasions. The severe areas had already formed scabs with purplish bruises.
He grimaced as he untied the cloth strips bound around his legs, meticulously wrapping them around his inner elbow, which was still bleeding.
Next, he stood up to observe his surroundings. After this fight, much of the vegetation around him had been destroyed. The wild boar had knocked down quite a few shrubs, opening up a winding, curving space.
Xu Yi picked up the machete and simply wiped the not-yet-dried bloodstains with leaves. Then he removed his outer short jacket, wrapped the three pieces of agarwood he had harvested inside it, pressed them to the bottom of the bamboo basket, and covered the fragrance with the medicinal herbs on top.
After finishing these tasks, Xu Yi looked at the wild boar weighing over two hundred pounds and decided to bring his spoils of war down the mountain.
–
At the foot of Yilu Mountain.
A wooden ox cart was parked there, its driver chewing loose tea leaves. Mountain tea leaves had a strong flavor and were refreshing; chewing two leaves and washing them down with a mouthful of spring water left the mouth sweet and the spirit invigorated.
Two people were already sitting on the cart, both having come to work at the Yilu Mountain temple today. They came nine out of every ten days and could earn twenty-eight wen each time, so life wasn’t too difficult.
They waited left and right, but even when the time came, they still hadn’t seen the young man who had gone up the mountain to dig medicinal herbs.
One of them peered around and said to his companion, “Could this young gentleman have really gone deep into the mountains?”
“I see him acting properly every time; he doesn’t seem like someone who would take such risks. It must be some other matter delaying him,” the other person waved dismissively in disbelief, then called out to the driver up front, “Old man, are we waiting or not?”
The driver turned around, revealing blackened teeth in a smile. “We’ll wait. Another fifteen minutes. If he still hasn’t come, then we won’t wait anymore.”
One more person meant one more copper coin; the driver was unwilling to give up this regular customer.
The scorching sun hung in the sky. Those waiting couldn’t stand it and removed their straw hats to use as fans.
Time dragged on. The people on the ox cart grew impatient, thinking resentfully that when they saw him arrive, they would definitely say a word or two…
Before long, they heard the sound of something heavy being dragged.
Several people simultaneously looked toward the small path at the foot of the mountain. A few seconds later, they saw someone emerge from the shrubs with disheveled hair, blood marks on his face, his outer jacket missing, and something wrapped around his arms… If not for the bamboo basket on his back, they wouldn’t have recognized who this person was!
Where had he escaped from? The driver was old and ran toward him slowly. When he reached Xu Yi, the other two cried out in shock in unison.
The driver followed their gaze and saw with horror a fierce and terrifying wild boar head! The wild boar was being dragged by Xu Yi, its thick fur covered in bloody, mangled flesh. Looking further back, my goodness, the entire path he’d dragged it along was covered in blood!
“This… this… did you encounter a wild boar?” Everyone swallowed in astonishment, coming to their senses, and asked in disbelieving, raised voices.
Xu Yi was utterly exhausted. He dropped the pig’s trotter from his hand, sat down heavily with a thud, gasping for breath, and nodded at them.
“You went into the deep mountains?” the driver asked nervously.
“How else would you encounter a wild boar?”
After catching his breath for a while, Xu Yi said in a hoarse voice, “Yes, I accidentally ran into a mountain pig.”
“Hiss!” After drawing in sharp breaths, everyone competed to ask questions.
“You killed this mountain pig? That’s incredible! How did you do it? This mountain pig doesn’t look small; it must weigh two or three hundred pounds.”
“Good lad, have you studied martial arts? You look so thin, yet you have such ability!”
“My goodness, who would believe this if we told them?”
“…”
To them, this was no less extraordinary than witnessing something earth-shattering. A youth who looked to be in his teens could single-handedly kill an adult wild boar; surely only someone with supernatural strength could accomplish such a feat.
With their wild imaginations running, the way they now looked at Xu Yi had changed once more.
Even though they had waited quite a while for Xu Yi, they enthusiastically asked if he was injured and whether he had thought about how to handle this wild boar.
Xu Yi blinked and asked, “I was just about to ask you uncles and brothers, is there anywhere in the county willing to buy wild boar?”
The driver replied, “There is. The butcher in the western section of town will buy wild game like this, but mountain pig meat is gamey and tough, so it won’t sell for a good price.”
“Ah, mountain pig meat is quite troublesome to cook well. I once had the misfortune of eating it. The money spent on spices for cooking the meat was equal to several pounds of regular pork!” another person complained, sighing. “I’m afraid only those wealthy families can afford to use such ingredients to eat this rare wild game.”
That made sense. The wild boar’s body reeked, and it was covered in a thick, bloody stench that became nauseating if smelled for too long.