Chapter 28: More Triple Crossbows
Translator: Tuiwen Editor: Tuiwen
Once the tiger was almost fully healed, Shen Ling had the surrounding farmers head back to the camp wall.
He opened the door to the cage and backed away.
"Roar."
The tiger roared ferociously and slowly got up from its position on the ground.
Chunks of meat were still in its mouth, leftover from the meal Shen Ling had ordered his men to feed it. It looked at the camp wall and cautiously made its way out of the cage.
The tiger stared at Shen Ling for a very long time before leaving this place far behind.
Shen Ling released a long sigh of relief.
What he was most worried about was that the recovered tiger would launch another attack on them.
Although he was capable of defeating the tiger once more, all his hard work to heal the tiger would have been in vain.
However, soon after this…
Shen Ling had a whole new understanding of the fifth level of the Longevity Technique's inner energy.
Compared to his fourth level standing of the technique two months ago, the current inner energy, whether it was for healing speed or healing effect, saw an obvious improvement. After his fight with the tiger, the Longevity Technique's inner energy had also reached the upper grade of the seventh rank.
Watching the tiger's figure retreat into the distance, Shen Ling turned his body around to give the people on the camp wall a look and said.
"Everyone, it's okay. Everything's fine now."
"Yes, it is."
The old village chief nodded his head.
At this very moment, the farmers who were making their way down the wall were still heatedly discussing what had happened just now.
"Young Master Shen is really too strong!"
"When I heard the tiger's roar just now, I felt my legs go weak. Young Master Shen didn't even bat an eyelash."
"Though it's such a big tiger, this is nothing to Young Master Shen. I just knew Young Master Shen would come out of this alive. Not only that, he actually won and came out with very little injuries."
"However, Young Master is such a kind soul. He actually healed the tiger's wounds."
"In regards to that, I heard from Xiao Liu that Young Master Shen's inner energy has a special ability. The last time Xiao Liu fell off the roof, it was Young Master Shen who cured him using his internal energy.
As the group of young farmers spoke about this, their discussion entirely revolved around Shen Ling and his startling abilities.
They were all mesmerized by Shen Ling, who was clearly only 17 or 18 years old but had done so many extraordinary things.
After the farmers discussed this, the matter of Shen Ling defeating the tiger slowly began to spread…
But pretty soon, the matter of the tiger passed and faded from the farmers' minds.
The farmers all went back to their normal everyday way of life. Everyone from man, woman, to young and old busied themselves with their work on the fields. Under everyone's cooperation, carts filled with food were being pulled from the village.
The joy of the harvest could be seen on each of the villagers' faces. Even the children could not help but look at the plentiful food and smile.
They might not know about much, but they knew that an abundant harvest meant they did not have to starve.
Being able to eat was a blessing.
"Young Master Shen."
While Shen Ling was busy harvesting the crops, a young farmer went up to him once again.
"What's the matter?"
Shen Ling wiped the sweat off his forehead as he looked up to receive the farmer with a puzzled expression on his face.
The young and strong farmer had a strange look on his face. "The tiger from this morning has returned…"
"It's returned?"
There was a frown on Shen Ling's face. He turned around and headed back. "Then let's quickly go back. No one's guarding the village right now. Don't let this become a bigger problem."
"No."
The young and strong farmer shook his head back and forth and said in a slow voice, "The tiger left a wild boar and then went away."
"Hmm?"
Shen Ling stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the young and strong farmer with confusion on his face.
He knew what had happened when he heard the young farmer's words.
However, he had released the tiger just this morning, and in the afternoon, the tiger had presented them with a wild boar as a gift…
Was he doing this to repay his debt or merely to thank him?
"It's a good thing that it didn't hurt anyone."
While smiling and nodding, Shen Ling then asked, "That can't be right. Then why did you come to see me just now?"
The young and strong farmer said with a strange expression on his face, "The village chief asked me to come to see you. The wild boar that the tiger left is still breathing. We're having some difficulty catching it…"
"Ah?"
Shen Ling was startled for a moment there.
He turned to look at the young man with a strange expression on his face and decided he would personally head back and see for himself what had happened.
Wild boars were very different from domestic pigs. Though with the same body size, this thing had the fighting spirit of a tiger.
Shen Ling came back to the sharecroppers' village.
He was met with the sight of a fleeing boar running around the village, followed closely behind by a few young and cautious farmers.
"Young Master Shen has come to our rescue!"
Seeing Shen Ling appear before them, the villagers were quite surprised.
To them, as long as Shen Ling was here, nothing could stand in their way.
"This boar…"
Looking at the wild boar running around, Shen Ling finally understood why the young and strong farmers all had strange looks on their faces.
This wild boar did not have any fangs. Therefore, it was a given that it was a female wild boar.
Even though female, this didn't mean the wild boar wasn't dangerous.
But the young and strong farmers couldn't even catch themselves a female wild boar, which was the less aggressive out of the two genders, so this was obviously a little embarrassing.
"This proves problematic."
Shen Ling let out a long sigh as he made his way towards the female wild boar.
Seeing that Shen Ling was approaching it, the female boar right away assumed an offensive stance.
After staring right into Shen Ling's eyes with its two dark ones, the female boar suddenly turned its body around and ran at top speed in the opposite direction.
"Hmm?"
Shen Ling looked down at himself.
He recalled that he had bathed after fighting with the tiger that morning. Could it be that the tiger's scent was still on him?
Why did this wild boar flee all of a sudden…
'I can't let it get far!'
In the next moment, Shen Ling recovered and chased crazily after the wild boar. He somehow managed to corner the boar and watched as it rushed right into the pigsty's gate.
"Forget about it. Just close the gate."
This was different from the way they handled the tiger situation. Wild boars let loose on the farm were very harmful to the fields. To avoid such a catastrophe, the wild boar had to be contained.
After some careful consideration, Shen Ling did not choose to release the wild boar back into the forest.
For the farmers of the village, the most important thing they had to focus on was the autumn harvest. With the harvest season in full swing, they had no time to consider the fate of this wild boar.
If this wild boar wanted something to blame, then blame the tiger for bringing it here.
All of a sudden, Shen Ling smiled.
On his way back to the fields, Shen Ling stopped by the village's school.
He saw that Yang Jian had brought his kids here to study. He looked into the school's entrance and chose to not go inside in order not to disturb them.
A school did not take up a lot of space, but for the people of this village, they had never imagined before that, one day, their children could learn how to read and write at this place.
Shen Ling sighed heavily in his heart.
Inadvertently, he had changed the trajectory of this village's life.
Unlike what he experienced when he first came here, the villagers now had a more positive outlook on life.
The pessimism they used to have when all they could do was survive was long gone.
Now, they took on a more human look. They no longer walked around like zombies.
Two days later.
On the third floor of the Chennan Trading Company.
Miss Qin turned to look at Shen Ling and said word by word, "Young Master Shen, what brings you here today?"
"I've naturally come here to buy some items," Shen Ling said with a smile on his face.
Miss Qin smiled back and said, "And what exactly is Young Master Shen looking for?"
"Crossbows and arrows. As much as I can get," Shen Ling said in a deep and rumbling voice.
Miss Qin's beautiful eyes studied him as she asked in a doubtful voice, "Young Master Shen wants so many crossbows. Whatever do you need so much for?"
While smiling, Shen Ling said, "The autumn harvest will be over soon. Our Shen family owns a lot of fields, so it's perfectly normal for bandits to target us."
Miss Qin asked quizzically, "Is that the gist of it?"
Shen Ling nodded his head. "I'll be frank with you. This year will be a good harvest. So I can surmise that the bandits will definitely fight us for control of the food."
Miss Qin nodded her head. She clearly understood Shen Ling's meaning.
Miss Qin smiled and said, "Young Master Shen, don't worry about it. I will have someone deliver these items as soon as possible."
"That would be good. The Green Mountain Bandits have a grudge against me, and I want to make sure the village will be well protected against them in case they ever come down Green Mountain."
-- Gift
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