Chapter 15 — Forty Stones and a Boar

CHAPTER 15

Forty Stones and a Boar

“Forty spirit stones, both tusks, and I keep the meat,” Shi Feng said.

Liao Yong looked from the hunting notice to the young man standing in his grain yard. The merchant wore a fine brown robe with straw stuck to one sleeve. Something had clearly chased him through his own fields that morning.

“You're the Shi clan's cripple,” Liao Yong said.

“I'm the man who read your notice,” Shi Feng replied.

“Can you kill a spirit boar?” Liao Yong asked.

“If I can't, don't pay me,” Shi Feng said.

That answer pleased the merchant. He pointed toward the far grain field and called for a worker.

Qiu Sheng arrived carrying a rake. He was an ordinary laborer, and his face went pale when Liao Yong told him to lead the hunter out.

“It's still there!” Qiu Sheng protested.

“That's why I hired him!” Liao Yong snapped.

Shi Feng lifted his damaged spear from his shoulder. He wasn't planning to rely on it today, but a long shaft was useful for checking deep mud.

“Show me the last fence,” Shi Feng told Qiu Sheng. “You don't have to enter the field.”

The worker immediately became more willing.

They left the grain yard by a narrow path between irrigation ditches. Two carts waited beside a storehouse. One wheel was broken, and the scattered sacks showed where the boar had struck.

Qiu Sheng pointed to a dark patch beneath the trees beyond the field.

“Big as an ox,” Qiu Sheng said. “It ate the millet, then chased the men who came to drive it off.”

“How long has it stayed?” Shi Feng asked.

“Since yesterday,” Qiu Sheng replied. “You really don't need me?”

“Go back,” Shi Feng said.

Qiu Sheng ran back to the fence, then stopped beside a broken millet stalk.

“Don’t chase it into the beans!” Qiu Sheng shouted. “Those are mine!”

Shi Feng looked at the hollow where the boar slept.

“Tell it,” Shi Feng replied.

Qiu Sheng considered the boar, clutched his rake, and hurried away. He wanted the beans saved by somebody else. Shi Feng waited until the footsteps faded, then crossed the damaged fence.

The Ironhide Spirit Boar lay in a hollow beside the trees. Its black bristles stood thick along its neck. One tusk had torn through a grain sack still caught around its mouth.

A broken tree branch lay across the edge of the hollow. Shi Feng moved it aside with his spear. The ground behind it was soft with spilled irrigation water.

He didn't want his foot sinking there when the charge came. He chose the dry strip between the trees and placed his pack against a trunk.

The damaged spear went beside it. Carrying two weapons wouldn't help if one got tangled around his legs. Then he walked forward with only the sword.

The boar grunted before lifting its head. Its ears twitched toward the sound of his boots. The grain sack tore free when it opened its jaws, leaving wet cloth upon one tusk.

Shi Feng watched the forelegs bunch beneath its chest. He'd spent years practicing against clan juniors. A beast gave fewer warnings, but this warning was clear enough.

Shi Feng struck his scabbard against the tree. The boar lifted its head and spat the torn sack onto the grass.

He could feel the strength in its body. An ordinary Qi Condensation hunter would need to be careful with that thick skull and plated hide.

Shi Feng drew his sword.

He thought: let's see whether plain steel is enough when I supply the strength.

The boar scrambled upright and charged.

It crossed the clearing with surprising speed, tearing soil behind its hooves. Shi Feng stepped right at the last moment. The tusks passed his hip. He cut downward across the exposed side of its neck.

The edge broke through bristles and hide, but struck the hard plate beneath.

A shallow wound opened.

The boar squealed and swung around.

Shi Feng didn't retreat to find a trap. He'd seen where the plate ended.

The second charge came lower. He caught the broken fence rail with one foot and kicked it into the beast's snout. The boar tossed its head, opening the softer fold beneath the jaw.

Shi Feng guided refined qi into his sword and thrust. The blade entered the fold and sank to half its length.

He stepped with the boar instead of letting its weight wrench the weapon from his hand. Then he turned the edge and pulled it free.

Blood struck the grass.

The beast stumbled past him, hit a tree, and tried to rise. Shi Feng reached its side and cut once more into the same wound.

The legs folded.

A moment later, it stopped breathing.

Shi Feng examined his sword. A little blood stained the fuller, but the blade was straight. Tan Tie hadn't cheated him.

He felt pleased with himself. That was a clean fight, won by timing and strength instead of barely escaping with his life. The Qi Condensation realm had changed what he could do.

He could still waste it by getting careless, but he no longer had to treat every angry animal as an unbeatable elder. After cutting out the tusks, Shi Feng removed a good piece of meat for supper. He dragged the rest of the body farther beneath the trees, where nobody in the yard could see him.

His palm touched the open wound.

The All-Devouring Physique began taking the beast's vitality. Heat entered his arm and spread through his body. He slowed the flow when the first rush grew strong, then let the strength settle before drawing again.

By midafternoon, a brittle shell of hide and bone lay beneath the trees. Shi Feng broke it apart, covered it with loose earth, and rested beside the ditch until his breathing was even. More refined qi remained inside him than before the hunt.

Not another realm. Not a new grade. Qi Condensation was a long process of refining and gathering strength, and he'd moved farther along it.

He wrapped the tusks and carried them back to the grain yard.

Liao Yong met him beside the storehouse.

“Already?” Liao Yong asked.

Shi Feng unwrapped the tusks.

The merchant's expression changed. He inspected the fresh roots and ran a finger along the curve of one tusk.

“Where's the body?” Liao Yong asked.

“Mine,” Shi Feng said.

“It ruined six sacks of grain,” Liao Yong said.

“Then collect the debt from it,” Shi Feng replied. “Our price was forty spirit stones.”

Liao Yong grumbled, but the boar was dead and the tusks were in front of him. He counted out the agreed payment.

Qiu Sheng leaned around the storehouse door. When he saw the tusks, he gasped.

“You killed it!” Qiu Sheng cried.

Shi Feng looked at the money in his hand.

“That was the job,” Shi Feng said.

The worker stared until Liao Yong ordered him to repair the fence.

Shi Feng returned to town before sunset and bought ginger, salt, and fresh greens. He could afford finished meat at an inn, but he wanted to try cooking the portion he'd kept. Bian Cui allowed him to use the little yard stove after he paid for fuel.

“Don't burn my pot,” Bian Cui warned.

“I won't,” Shi Feng said.

He cut the boar meat into small pieces and browned them before adding water and ginger. His first taste was too salty. He added more water and let it simmer while washing the greens.

The smell reached the doorway.

Bian Cui stopped there with a bowl already in her hand.

“The stove rent doesn't include feeding the owner,” Shi Feng said.

“I was checking the pot!” Bian Cui said.

He served himself, left the lid off, and watched her find another reason to stand nearby.

Eventually she bought a bowl.

Shi Feng sat upon the step with his supper and the forty stones safely inside his robe. He wasn't rich, but he'd earned money without selling his future or asking his aunt for another loan. From the main street came the beat of a gong.

A sect caravan was entering Yunze Town, its white crane banners rising above the west gate while Wei Kuo’s riders cleared the street ahead of it.

Bian Cui paused by the doorway and glanced back at Shi Feng. “Young Master Wei’s men were asking the gate clerks this afternoon which inn you stayed at. And that white carriage behind him has Qingshi Town’s tenth fairy inside.”

Shi Feng set down his empty bowl and picked up his sword.