After making his decision, Xu Zifan didn't venture into the unknown. Instead, he went to dig up the thirty-year-old wild ginseng. He was extremely careful, as a virtual screen was monitoring the ginseng's image in real time. When Xu Zifan loosened the soil and dug it open by hand, he barely damaged a single root! He preserved the ginseng's appearance to the greatest extent possible. He took out a piece of clothing he had prepared beforehand, wrapped the ginseng in it, and carefully placed it in a bamboo basket.
He had just reached the second wild ginseng when Shaohua suddenly warned him: "[Two rabbits ran past in a hurry, probably startled. It's likely there are wild animals lurking about 500 meters away, out of the surveillance network. This place is dangerous.]"
Xu Zifan frowned, glancing at the wild ginseng so close by, and immediately followed the safe route chosen by Shao Hua. Safety first, and besides, he had only been into the mountains a few times; one wild ginseng was already quite eye-catching. He'd better find some other similar medicinal herbs. Xu Zifan went to a safe area and quickly dug up five or six kinds of herbs, all of which weren't found outside the mountains and could fetch a decent price, though not very cheap.
But after digging all that out, he looked at his hands and frowned. "This won't do; it's too hard on my hands. I still need to take the imperial examinations and become a doctor. This preparation was far too inadequate. Let's go, down the mountain."
It took Xu Zifan an hour and a half to dig up these medicinal herbs, and it was already afternoon. His legs were numb, so he simply grabbed a thick tree branch as a walking stick and took the shortest route out of the mountains. Actually, he had startled quite a few animals by running around in the mountains all day. No one usually came in, so the sudden appearance of a person darting around naturally attracted attention. In particular, animals could sometimes sense someone's presence by the scent left on the ground, so the animals in the deep mountains were already a little restless.
Especially since the place where Xu Zifan caught the snake was only 500 meters from the tiger's den! Just as Xu Zifan was about to reach the big rock, he suddenly heard the tiger roar! Xu Zifan quickly ran, [Oh no, the tiger must have noticed a stranger in its territory. It probably won't chase us this far, right? Shaohua, be careful!]
Shao Hua suddenly said, "[Zheng Chuan is moving rapidly about 400 meters ahead. He's run into the deep mountains, in the direction from which the tiger roared!]"
Xu Zifan cursed under his breath, put down the bamboo basket, grabbed a sickle, and ran towards Zheng Chuan. [Shaohua, keep a close eye on Zheng Chuan. He must think something happened to me and is going to rescue me. I can't let anything happen to him!]
There were many wild beasts in the mountains, and the tiger had already been frightened. Xu Zifan dared not shout, and could only try to run as fast as he could. But he was exhausted after most of the day, and Zheng Chuan was a hunter with excellent stamina. Not only did he fail to catch up, but he actually widened the distance between them, and it looked like Shao Hua was about to disappear from his sight!
Left with no other option, Xu Zifan risked his life to shout, "Zheng Chuan! Zheng Chuan, I'm here! Zheng Chuan—"
Whether he was too far away to hear him or mistook him for someone shouting elsewhere, Zheng Chuan actually ran even faster! Xu Zifan was panting heavily and could only chase after him closely. There were not only tigers over there, but also poisonous snakes on the road. The longer it went on, the more worried Xu Zifan became. He desperately sped up, the wind rushing past his ears. He had never run this fast in a 100-meter race.
Zheng Chuan had indeed rushed in because he was worried about Xu Zifan. He'd noticed in the morning that Xu Zifan hadn't come looking for him, so he went outside and found new footprints leading up the mountain, leading him to guess that Xu Zifan had gone deep into the mountains on his own. He'd waited by the large rock ever since, and even looked around the area. He wanted to leave and ignore it, but his heart couldn't find peace. Perhaps it was because Xu Zifan was the only person in all these years who had taken the initiative to approach him, or perhaps it was because his master had died deep in the mountains, and he had promised his master not to go deep into the mountains. So he waited by the large rock for most of the day.
Upon hearing the tiger's roar, he immediately rushed over. No one understood the terror of wild beasts better than him. Xu Zifan was just a scholar; how could he escape the tiger's jaws? He had at least killed two wolves before and had experience in fighting enemies. If he rushed over, he might still be able to fight for a chance of survival.
The situation was urgent, leaving Zheng Chuan no time to think. He ran straight towards the tiger. Halfway there, he vaguely heard Xu Zifan's shouts. He was extremely anxious and ran with all his might. In a quarter of an hour, he reached the place where Xu Zifan had caught the snake! There were traces of people walking on the road, but they stopped there. Zheng Chuan held his long knife and walked forward cautiously. After a few steps, he saw the shadow of the tiger in the distance!
The tiger, more perceptive than a man, suddenly turned and roared at him, charging forward with lightning speed. Zheng Chuan was startled, searching everywhere for Xu Zifan, unsure if he had been killed or what had happened, while the tiger was already upon him. Zheng Chuan had no choice but to focus on the tiger. He swung his knife, and as the tiger dodged, he rolled away, running towards where the tiger had come from. He needed to see if Xu Zifan was there, if there was any hope of saving him.
When Xu Zifan arrived, panting, at the spot where he had caught the snake, Zheng Chuan and the tiger were already fighting, about 400 meters away. Ignoring his own breath, he tightly bound the sickle to his hand with a handkerchief, gritted his teeth, and charged forward to slash at the tiger!
"Xu Zifan!" Zheng Chuan exclaimed in surprise, slashing the tiger with his knife. "Are you alright?!"
Xu Zifan's arm was scratched by the tiger's claws, and he dodged away in a sorry state, staring intently at the tiger swinging its scythe. "I'm after you! Run!"
Zheng Chuan had no time to be upset. He aimed his bow and arrow at the tiger's eyes and said in a deep voice, "It can't escape. Kill it!"
Seeing that the man was unharmed, Zheng Chuan became unusually calm. He shot an arrow into the tiger's left eye, and the tiger roared in pain, lunging at Zheng Chuan in anger. Zheng Chuan grabbed his longsword, lay down on the ground, and just as the tiger leaped above him, he precisely slit its belly!
Blood splattered all over his face; the tiger's claws tore through his left shoulder armor and clothing, leaving deep wounds. Zheng Chuan rolled away swiftly, tossed his bow and arrows to Xu Zifan, and shouted sharply, "Shoot it!"
After saying that, he turned to noodles.
Without batting an eye, he charged forward to kill the tiger, as if the wound on his shoulder didn't exist. Xu Zifan had also used a bow and arrow before. Without a word, he aimed at the tiger, drew his bow, and fired with all his might. His archery skills weren't great, but he had Shaohua's aiming guidance on the virtual screen. He fired three arrows in quick succession towards the bullseye, his fingers throbbing with pain, but two of them hit the tiger! One of the arrows even struck its right eye, rendering it blind!
The tiger went berserk and knocked Zheng Chuan away. Zheng Chuan flew three meters sideways, crashed into a large tree, and fell to the ground. He scrambled a couple of times but couldn't get up. Xu Zifan hurriedly drew his bow again and shot the tiger in the chest as it pounced. However, this only slowed the tiger down. The tiger knew he was there and pounced desperately, as if it wanted to take someone down with it even if it meant its own death.
Seeing this, Zheng Chuan gritted his teeth, stood up abruptly, gripped his knife with both hands, and charged straight at the tiger. He plunged the long knife into the tiger's neck with such force that the tiger tumbled over, and Zheng Chuan was pinned to the ground! Xu Zifan rushed forward and slashed the tiger with his sickle before belatedly realizing that the tiger seemed to have stopped moving.
[The tiger is dead. Zheng Chuan has multiple injuries and is in a semi-conscious state, urgently needing to stop the bleeding and receive medical treatment.]
Hearing Shao Hua's voice, Xu Zifan untied his handkerchief, threw away the sickle, and used all his strength to move the tiger away. He dragged Zheng Chuan to a cleaner spot and saw that Zheng Chuan was covered in blood, and for a moment he didn't know where to start!
[Shaohua, quickly separate and label the tiger's and Zheng Chuan's blood!]
With the screen display covering it, the tiger's blood turned purple, and Xu Zifan could clearly see that Zheng Chuan's left shoulder, right ankle, and back were quite badly injured, along with seven or eight other scratches and claw marks, as well as internal injuries from being hit and crushed.
Xu Zifan pulled aside Zheng Chuan's tattered clothes on his left shoulder and saw two deep wounds on his skin. He then reached out to unbutton his clothes. Zheng Chuan grabbed his wrist and said groggily, "Don't touch me!"
Xu Zifan's face was serious. "Your injuries are too severe. We must stop the bleeding immediately."
Unexpectedly, Zheng Chuan gripped his collar tightly with his other hand. Despite his injury, his attitude remained defiant, as if he was using all his strength on this. Xu Zifan didn't have time to think much of it. Seeing that Zheng Chuan's boots were torn and bleeding profusely at his ankles, he simply let go and took off his boots. The next moment, he froze. Why did Zheng Chuan's legs seem shorter? And were there thick armor plates inside? He looked inside the boots and saw that they were platform boots. Were these popular in ancient times? Or did hunters need boots like these?