Qi Zhiheng suddenly opened his eyes, and saw a red curtain in front of him. The color of the curtain seemed somewhat familiar. He rubbed his temples and sat up.

This is his room, where he lived for thirteen years.

"Young Master, you're awake." Liu Shan pushed open the door and walked in, carrying a basin of warm water.

Qi Zhiheng sat up naturally and washed his face with warm water.

After getting dressed, I stood up and walked outside.

"Are Mother and Father coming out for dinner today?" Qi Zhiheng, though young, asked in a much more childish voice.

Liu Shan replied, "Young Master, you got up too late. Master and Madam have already eaten."

Qi Zhiheng yawned: "Never mind then, I'll eat by myself. Go and prepare it for me." He walked into the dining room, sat down, and waited for the maid to bring him breakfast.

"What's going on today?" Qi Zhiheng picked up his chopsticks and began to eat.

"Young Master Li, Young Master Zhang, and the others invited you to go horseback riding and hunting in the countryside today. You can set off after you finish breakfast," Liu Shan reported respectfully.

Qi Zhiheng nodded and said, "Understood."

After having breakfast, Qi Zhiheng went out, and Liu Shan, his servant, followed him out.

Qi Zhiheng, holding a bow, mounted a fine horse. Liu Shan carried the quiver for him and followed behind.

The group agreed to meet at the city gate.

When Qi Zhiheng arrived, two people were still missing.

Qi Zhiheng looked at the people in front of him. Although they were familiar faces, he felt a sense of unfamiliarity.

The daze lasted only a moment; he quickly regained his senses.

Qi Zhiheng said with some dissatisfaction, "Why are there still people who haven't arrived?" He never liked waiting for others, and these people were still arriving after him.

Xu Jin stepped forward and said, "Young Master Heng, Young Master Chen and the others will be here soon."

Qi Zhiheng was not interested and couldn't recall why he had accepted such an invitation.

The remaining two arrived late. Qi Zhiheng originally wanted to reprimand them, but he couldn't remember their names for a moment, so he swallowed back the words he was about to say.

The group rode together on horseback, leaving the city and entering the outskirts.

"This forest has the most wild animals, but I've heard there are also wolves, black bears, and tigers here, so we have to be careful when hunting here," a boy said.

Qi Zhiheng seemed to have forgotten his name as well. Well, such a nobody wasn't worth his attention. He took the quiver that Liu Shan had bought, slung it over his shoulder, and said to the others with a touch of arrogance, "What are we waiting for? Let's split up and go hunting!"

"Qi Zhiheng is right, let's go hunting quickly, I can't wait." Qi Zhiheng vaguely recognized the speaker; he seemed to be surnamed Zhang.

"Don't forget, when we get back we'll have to compare who has the most prey."

Qi Zhiheng thought to himself, shouldn't hunting be something he's good at? He should definitely win.

Qi Zhiheng spurred his horse and galloped off in one direction. His hearing was sharp, and he could hear the whispers of people behind him from afar.

"What's with Qi Zhiheng's arrogance? Is he just relying on his grandfather being a master?"

"So what? He's just an ordinary person like us anyway."

“There are many wild animals in these mountains, and he went there all by himself. Who among you wants to travel with me?”

"I'll go with you."

...

Qi Zhiheng rode away, and the sounds behind him gradually faded away.

As he walked, even Liu Shan, who was following behind him, disappeared without him noticing.

Upon hearing the sound, Qi Zhiheng reached out, took out an arrow, drew his bow, and shot the arrow in one swift motion.

"Whoosh—" After the sound of something cutting through the air, the noise in the bushes stopped.

Qi Zhiheng originally wanted to ask Liu Shan to go check, but when he looked back, there was no one there. He frowned unhappily and muttered, "Where did Liu Shan go? He's always hanging around when we don't need him, but he's nowhere to be found when we do need him."

He had no choice but to dismount and walk behind the bushes, where a large rabbit, killed by his arrow, lay dead.

"It's a bit small." Qi Zhiheng was clearly not satisfied with this haul. But he still hung the trophy on his horse.

He continued on his journey, killing two more rabbits. Although he was a crack shot, these spoils were clearly not the prey he wanted, and his gaze turned to the depths of the mountains.

The fierce prey are all hidden deep in these mountains.

People like them, who have practiced martial arts since childhood, naturally possess a certain amount of courage and arrogance. They are not content with hunting a few rabbits. If they were to return with a string of rabbits, they would inevitably be ridiculed by the young masters who had come with them.

The entrance to the deep mountains was densely shaded by trees, and somewhat dark inside, resembling the gaping maw of a giant beast, inspiring fear in those who saw it. Qi Zhiheng was also somewhat apprehensive; with his strength, if he were to encounter a pack of wolves, the chances of injury or even death were extremely high.

Qi Zhiheng's palms were slightly sweaty as he held the bow and arrow. It would be a lie to say he wasn't nervous. He wasn't a spiritual cultivator; no matter how well he practiced his skills, he was still just an ordinary person.

Qi Zhiheng couldn't help but think how wonderful it would be if he could awaken his spiritual body.

"Qi Zhiheng, what are you doing here?"

Qi Zhiheng turned his head and saw a thirteen-year-old boy, whom he only remembered by his surname: "Young Master Zhang, what are you doing here again?"

"I just looked around from the outside. It's too dangerous inside, so I didn't dare to go in." Young Master Zhang also had quite a haul. Compared to Qi Zhiheng, he hunted a roe deer as prey, which was clearly better than Qi Zhiheng's.

Qi Zhiheng frowned unhappily, clearly dissatisfied with the result.

"Qi Zhiheng, you don't actually want to go deep into the mountains, do you? It's too dangerous in there. With your skills, you'd just be food for those wild beasts." Young Master Zhang clearly didn't think highly of Qi Zhiheng.

Qi Zhiheng became even more displeased by this remark: "How could my abilities be dangerous!" Although he was just an ordinary person, Qi Zhiheng always felt that he could fight against those ferocious beasts.

He was just an ordinary person, and to be honest, he didn't know where his confidence came from.

Young Master Zhang couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Hahaha, you actually ask how your skills could be dangerous? Have you forgotten that you almost got pecked by the rooster during the cockfight last time?"

A memory surfaced in Qi Zhiheng's mind. In the memory, he and the other young masters raised roosters for cockfighting. After one of their roosters defeated his, he kicked his own rooster in a fit of anger. Unexpectedly, the rooster did not greet its owner and instead chased after him, pecking at him.

Qi Zhiheng recalled this incident with a mixture of shame and anger, and retorted, "How can they be the same! The chicken I bought was a spirit chicken, and spirit chickens are naturally more powerful. How can the wild beasts here be compared to spirit chickens?"

Young Master Zhang found it even more amusing: "You call it a spirit chicken? It's not even as good as my ordinary rooster. You must have been fooled. How can something like that be called a spirit chicken?"

Qi Zhiheng shouted angrily, "Do you want to fight?!"

Young Master Zhang waved his hand and said, "No, no, I didn't come here to fight you. I just wanted to advise you not to go in. It's dangerous inside. Don't be ungrateful for my kindness!"

"Whether I go in or not is none of your business!" Qi Zhiheng instinctively felt that he shouldn't be like this. How could a rooster be his match? He should be a pretty formidable character.

Young Master Zhang snorted and said, "No good deed goes unpunished. Do whatever you want!"

Qi Zhiheng felt a lump in his throat. He looked at the dark entrance, spurred his horse, and rode it into the dark gate.

Just then, he could still hear someone behind him shouting, "Qi Zhiheng! Don't regret going in!"

Qi Zhiheng didn't even turn his head; he couldn't be bothered with someone like that.

There are more trees inside, and less light. Without sunlight, it's much colder inside than outside.

Young Master Zhang watched as Qi Zhiheng's figure disappeared into the darkness.

There were indeed more wild animals in the deeper parts of the mountains and forests, and Qi Zhiheng soon encountered a sika deer. Seeing that the prey was so docile, Qi Zhiheng lost interest. Such prey was too big and inconvenient to put on his horse. He needed to find more suitable prey, so he continued to walk in. Along the way, he encountered several more docile prey, but he did not choose to attack them.

Perhaps he was just unlucky, or perhaps the rabbit on his horse smelled of blood, which attracted his enemies.

A pack of over thirty gray wolves stopped in front of him, poised to pounce on Qi Zhiheng at any moment.

Perhaps sensing danger, the horse took two steps back. Qi Zhiheng felt a chill run down his spine, subconsciously swallowed, and a bead of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

A gray wolf attacked with incredible speed, biting the horse's neck.

The horse neighed and thrashed about, trying to shake off the gray wolf. Qi Zhiheng was thrown from the horse by this struggle, rolling twice on the ground. Then, he rolled again, dodging an attack from a gray wolf.

After he dodged a few times, several gray wolves had already bitten the horse. The horse struggled and soon collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

Qi Zhiheng stepped back a bit, took out his bow and arrow, and shot at a gray wolf that was pouncing on him.

An arrow pierced its throat, and the gray wolf fell backward, lifeless.

The attack was like a torch lit in the hay, with one gray wolf after another pouncing. Qi Zhiheng dodged left and right, shooting down several more wolves. This action completely enraged the pack, and they even abandoned their fallen horses.

Qi Zhiheng leaped into the air, landing on a tree trunk, and did a 360-degree backflip, dodging another attack.

Such exercise was quite strenuous, and Qi Zhiheng was panting heavily. The continuous dodging left him feeling somewhat powerless. In a moment of carelessness, his right arm was scratched by a wolf's claw, and blood soaked his clothes.

Qi Zhiheng vaguely sensed that something was wrong; he shouldn't be so weak.