Trees, their roots planted in the mountain soil, extended their jade-green hands towards the sky.
Thick and sturdy tree trunks faced each other from afar. Their lush branches and leaves intertwined in mid-air.
Surrounded by these trees, there was a wooden cabin.
The wooden cabin was entirely constructed from thick tree trunks, revealing a heavy and solid flavor. The cabin was not newly built, but already had some years to it, hence moss crawled over its surface, and tender young branches even sprouted from some of the trunks.
Around the wooden cabin was a tall bamboo fence made of green spear bamboo. In the front and back were vegetable patches, and in the center of the patches was a crafted well.
At this moment, a young and beautiful girl was drawing water by the well.
Although the clothes on her body were extremely plain, they could hardly conceal her facial features. She was just sixteen, possessing a pair of large, dark eyes, black and white distinctly demarcated, as pure as crystal.
Sunlight pierced through the overlapping, lush leaves, shining on her face and reflecting her skin to look like white snow, while also revealing a semi-transparent flush and moistness.
Her black hair carelessly hung down, half-covering her adorable earlobes.
Her pink lips were currently pursed, biting down on pearly white teeth, her face full of an expression of maximum effort.
With great exertion, she hoisted the fully loaded wooden bucket up from the deep well. Taking another breath, she moved the wooden bucket onto the gray brick rim of the well.
"Phew!" The young girl puffed out her tender pink cheeks, exhaled a breath of turbid air, and then extended her fair hand to act as a fan, fanning her own face.
Hearing the sound of the wooden bucket thumping on the ground, the door of the wooden cabin creaked open, and an old man walked out from inside.
The old man's hair was a mix of black and white, lines of wrinkles overlapped on his face, and although a pair of old eyes showed the vicissitudes of life, they occasionally flashed with a sharp light. He was like an aged tiger; even though he was old, the tiger's might remained.
"Girl, this water bucket is too heavy, I told you to let Dad carry it. Why are you secretly watering the vegetables behind my back again?" The old man looked at the young girl by the well, a look of doting affection showing on his face.
"Dad!" The young girl called out sweetly, "You came back so late from hunting yesterday, you should sleep a bit more this morning. It's just a water bucket, look, haven't I already pulled it up?"
"You ah, you just love to push yourself!" The old man's tone carried helplessness, yet his gaze held pampering.
He took large strides, walked to the well, extended one hand, and effortlessly grabbed the water bucket: "Come, girl, Dad will water the vegetables with you."
The air was filled with the fragrance of wild grass and wild flowers. The summer wind blew over enthusiastically, and after brushing past the treetops, it transformed into a refreshing and deeply secluded current.
On the vegetable patch in front of the mountain cabin, the daughter used a gourd ladle to scoop water, bending her waist and carefully watering the vegetables. The father was responsible for drawing water, and the two wooden buckets rotated in exchange. An atmosphere of family warmth permeated this small space.
"Sigh, I am old after all. After lifting a few times, I can lift no more." A moment later, the old man stood by the well, wiped the sweat stains from his forehead, and sighed deeply.
The young girl turned her head back, smiling like a flower, and lightly scolded: "Dad, you finally know it now. You are already up in years, yet you love to push yourself all day long. How many times have I told you, just let Second Brother go hunting. At your age, you should be lying at home, enjoying a peaceful life."
"Hehehe." The old man laughed, nodding his head. "With your Second Brother's skills, it is indeed enough to roam this mountain forest. Especially his archery, it's even better than mine when I was young. But there is one thing I am still not at ease about him; his heart is too wild. He relies on his martial prowess and single-mindedly wants to fly. Sigh, young people love to fantasize, they more or less all have this flaw."
"Dad…" The young girl dragged out her tone.
The old man laughed even more cheerfully and teased: "Right, and there's you. Your age is not small anymore, it's time to find a husband's family. Dad will properly look out for you. Our daughter is uniquely good-looking in this area, we don't have to worry about not finding a good family!"
Two red clouds abruptly rose on the young girl's face, and she was instantly too shy to speak.
The old man gazed into the distant sky, as if seeing a beautiful future. He sighed relaxedly: "Wait until your Second Brother suffers a bit of a loss and restrains his temperament, then I will wash my hands of this and never go up the mountain again. I will find a good husband's family for you, watch you marry and have children, best if it's a big plump boy, hehe, and your Dad will be satisfied just looking after my grandson. Being human in this lifetime is truly not easy. Among hunters, how many can have a good beginning and a good end? Sigh, the companions from my youth are all gone by now, only your Dad is left."
"Dad. You said that wrong." The young girl smiled to comfort him. "What do you mean only you are left, don't you still have us."
"Hehe… Mm?" The old man chuckled, just about to speak, when he suddenly heard a movement and abruptly turned his head back.
The small bamboo fence door was violently kicked open from the outside.
"Are you Old Man Wang?" Fang Yuan's face was completely cold and ruthless, his eyes deeply dark. His right hand held a lump of moonlight as he walked in first.
The old man was greatly shocked. Seeing the moonlight in Fang Yuan's hand, he hurriedly knelt on the ground: "This old man pays respects to the Gu Master lord!"
"Old Man Wang, your son actually dared to offend me and has already been killed by me. Bring his corpse up!" Fang Yuan stood high and looked down, staring at the old man kneeling on the ground, directly going straight to the point.
The moment his words landed, two young hunters walked in from outside the fence, one in front and one in the back, carrying Wang Er's corpse.
Seeing this corpse, Old Man Wang's body violently trembled!
"Second Brother—!" The young girl let out a mournful cry, immediately rushed over, threw herself onto Wang Er's corpse, and in an instant, tears streamed down her face.
"Wang family sister…" The two young hunters, seeing the woman they admired crying so bitterly right in front of them, felt very unbearable in their hearts. They wanted to persuade her but could not speak a word.
"Old Man Wang, I heard you are the head hunter, the most famous hunter among several surrounding villages. To be able to go up the mountain to hunt at such an old age and return with an abundant harvest every time. This is very good."
Fang Yuan paused here, then continued expressionlessly: "You will draw a map for me right now, marking the locations of all the traps on the mountains nearby, as well as the beast distribution situations you have observed and summarized during your hunting process over these years. If you draw it, I will pardon your son's major crime of offending me. If you cannot draw it—hmph."
These villages were all under the control of the Gu Yue village. The villagers in the villages were all serfs of the Gu Yue clan.
Now that Wang Er had rebelled against his superior and offended his master, according to the clan rules, the entire family had to be implicated!
Old Man Wang's body shook again, and he almost collapsed on the ground. Such a blow was truly too massive and too sudden for him.
"Murderer, you are the murderer who killed my Second Brother! You throw away human lives like grass, and you still come to condemn us? I want to avenge my Second Brother!!" The young girl screamed, her voice completely filled with hatred and anger towards Fang Yuan, as she fiercely charged towards him.
But while she was still on the way, a figure fiercely pounced out and blocked her.
The one who blocked her was not those two young hunters, but her old father.
"Bastard thing!" Old Man Wang let out a low, deep roar of anger, swung his hand, and with a slap and a smack sound, struck the young girl down to the ground.
"Your Second Brother is already dead, do you want to die too? Do you want me, your father, to live out my old age in lonely bitterness?!" As the old man said these words, his old tears flowed freely, his entire body trembling violently.
"Dad!" The young girl was slapped awake. Tears gushed from her eyes like a spring, and her voice was filled with a myriad of complex emotions: pain, unwillingness, grievance, pitifulness, hatred, and helplessness.
The old man turned around, faced Fang Yuan, his knees went soft, and he directly knelt down on the ground again. Furthermore, his forehead touched the ground, deeply bowing at Fang Yuan's feet. His voice choked with sobs and trembled: "The Gu Master lord is above, that son of mine offended you, he indeed deserved to die! This old one will draw the map for you right now, you are magnanimous, please spare us."
Fang Yuan's expression softened just a trace. He looked down at the old man from high above and said: "Rest assured, as long as you draw it truthfully, I will definitely spare you. However, you best not deceive me; if I discover even a shred of a doubtful point, your lives will be hard to preserve!"
"This old man understands, this old man understands." Head Hunter Wang kowtowed continuously. "Please Gu Master lord, allow this lowly one to go back and get paper and a pen."
"No need." Fang Yuan waved his hand, looked at the two young hunters he coerced to come along, and ordered, "You guys, go into the cabin, search out the paper and pen for me, and bring them out."
"Yes, Gu Master lord." The two youngsters' thighs trembled, and under Fang Yuan's deterrence, they did not dare to disobey in the slightest.
"Lord, the paper and pen are right on the square table in the kitchen," Old Man Wang said from the side.
Fang Yuan's gaze flashed darkly, and he did not speak.
The two hunters rushed into the wooden cabin and quickly came out holding paper and a pen.
The paper here in the Southern Border was specially made bamboo paper; the paper quality was very hard, and its color bore a faint green. ONLY this kind of paper was suitable for the humid climate environment of the Southern Border.
If it were rice paper, it would likely be dampened by moisture after just seven or eight days.
Holding the pen, the old man knelt on the ground, drawing out black lines one after another. Either curved or straight.
He fully drew on over a dozen sheets of bamboo paper, and a moment later, he offered these bamboo papers to Fang Yuan with both hands.
Fang Yuan took a hurried glance, then separated these bamboos into two halves and handed them to those two young hunters: "You guys take a look, is there anything improper. For every mistake you find, I will reward you with one primeval stone!"