The Northeast Land. Black Water and White Mountain.
The Black Water surges, the White Mountain stands majestic.
The Baishan Mountain Range. Great Summit Mountain.
On the South Peak North Slope lay a long, gentle incline. The slope was so gradual it felt like level ground.
It was late autumn, and the mountainside was covered in yellowed grass and withered leaves. Anyone, man or beast, who passed through would create an endless, crisp rustling with every step.
In the Northeast, this was known as "rustling leaves."
Today, within this very forest, the crisp rustling of trampled leaves was incessant, interspersed with barking dogs and strange snorts and roars.
There on the gentle slope, a massive wild boar weighing nearly three hundred jin snorted, coiling its body. A tremendous force surged from its spine, up through its neck, and into its head.
Its power fully gathered, the wild boar viciously swung its head. The immense force erupted, its head like a club and its snout like a chisel, sending a young man to its left front flying.
The young man didn't even have time to scream. Struck by the boar, his body went limp like a rag doll and was sent flying more than two meters before crashing heavily onto the ground.
He didn't stop upon landing, but continued to tumble some distance down the slope.
"WOOF WOOF WOOF..."
"AROO! AROO..."
On the battlefield.
The two barks intertwined, filled with fury. A yellow dog and a piebald one viciously charged the wild boar.
The Yellow Dog kicked off powerfully with its hind legs and leaped up, planting its forepaws on the boar's body. Tilting its head, it sank its teeth right into the soft flesh beneath the boar's right foreleg.
The boar squealed in pain and swung its head to attack the Yellow Dog.
Just then, the piebald dog arrived. With a few quick leaps, it was behind the boar. It deftly sidestepped, lunged forward, and sank its teeth into the boar's rear.
"SQUEAL... ROAR, ROAR!" The boar shrieked in pain. Forgetting the Yellow Dog, it whipped its head from right to left. Its two-hundred-seventy-odd-jin body spun violently, flinging both the Yellow Dog hanging from its side and the piebald dog at its rear away.
The boar turned, white steam jetting from its nostrils. HUFF, HUFF. Its small eyes locked onto the culprit that had attacked its rear end. Lowering its head, it charged the piebald dog.
With a flick of its tail, the piebald dog nimbly dodged the boar's ferocious charge, luring the enraged animal to the side.
The boar missed and gave chase, relentlessly pursuing the piebald dog. But then the Yellow Dog darted out from the side and snapped at it again.
Wild boars in the mountains spend their years rubbing their shoulders and backs against sandy soil and pine trees.
Over time, the mix of pine resin and sand forms a solid protective layer on their shoulders and backs. It's incredibly hard, difficult for even blades or axes to pierce. The mountain Hunters call this "boar plate."
But neither of these two dogs bit at the boar plate. One went for the soft spot under its leg, the other for its rear. Both were the boar's most vulnerable areas.
The piebald dog was particularly vicious. Its bite left the boar's backside burning as if on fire. The pain shot deep inside, making its very entrails ache.
The pain was unbearable. It sent the boar into a rage, but it wasn't fast enough to catch the two dogs. It repeatedly tried to close the distance for a melee, but to no avail.
Just then, not far away, the young man who had been sent flying by the boar slowly regained consciousness. He felt dizzy, his head throbbing. His body felt like it had been taken apart, and he couldn't muster an ounce of strength.
"Where am I...?"
"Didn't I die?" The young man forced his eyes open and stared blankly at his surroundings.
Suddenly, the sounds of the battle between the boar and the dogs reached him. The young man shuddered as a warm current appeared from nowhere, instantly coursing through his limbs. Strength returned wherever it passed, and soon, his body was full of life again.
"This..."
Just as the young man was wondering what had happened to his body, an agile figure appeared in his line of sight.
When he saw a large, piebald dog with a white coat and black spots clamp down on the boar's rear, biting so hard the animal's entire hindquarters jerked up, he couldn't help but cry out, "Hua Xiao'Er!"
The mountain wind swallowed his hoarse voice, but in the next second, a furious roar exploded like a clap of thunder.
"Hey! You beast! How dare you hurt my brother!"
"Baoyu?" Hearing the voice, the young man was overjoyed. He followed the sound and saw a tall, burly youth striding into the battle, a long blade in hand.
The youth was one-point-nine meters tall, with broad shoulders and a thick waist. He wielded a long staff carved from Fraxinus mandschurica, its tip fitted with a sharp, two-foot-long blade.
The blade resembled a butcher's knife, but was slightly shorter and narrower. Its tip and edge were both incredibly sharp, glinting coldly.
The youth roared as he charged forward, his yellow rubber-soled shoes crushing countless withered leaves. His presence was overwhelming, like the great warrior Zhang Fei, who could take an enemy general's head from an army of thousands as easily as reaching into his own pocket.
Perhaps because of his overwhelming presence, the moment he arrived, both the piebald and the Yellow Dog dodged to either side, leaving the wild boar to face the blade-wielding youth alone.
Strangely enough, upon seeing the youth, the wild boar stopped chasing the piebald dog. Instead, it lowered its head and charged straight at him.
And so, upon that mountainside.
One man, one boar, face to face on a narrow path.
Both were brave. Who would emerge victorious?
'It's over!' The young man watching from a distance felt his heart go cold. He couldn't help but shut his eyes, not daring to watch what would happen to his brother.
But in the instant he closed his eyes, a realization washed over him.
'This scene... isn't this from thirty-five years ago, the first time Baoyu and I went hunting in the mountains? Can people really see the past after they die...?'
As he was thinking this, another memory from the past surfaced in his mind.
The young man's name was Zhao Jun. He lived in Yong'an Village at the foot of the mountain. He had a full family with both parents, an older sister, and a younger sister, but he was the only son.
The youth charging the boar with the blade was named Li Baoyu. He was Zhao Jun's neighbor and childhood friend.
The two of them had been getting into trouble together since they were little. Wading into rivers to catch fish and shrimp or climbing trees to raid birds' nests was all child's play to them.
Now that they were grown men, they had set their minds on hunting in the mountains.
As the saying goes: you live off the mountains if you're by the mountains, and off the water if you're by the water.
Especially in an era when sparrows were still considered one of the "Four Pests," guns and hunting were not banned in the Divine Land, and there were no protections for wild animals.
In fact, wild animals like boars and Black Bears that damaged crops were targeted for severe culling.
As the autumn harvest approached each year, wild boars and Black Bears would descend from the mountains to ruin the fruits of the people's year-long labor. As a result, they were despised throughout the Divine Land, and villagers in Forest Farms and mountain areas were encouraged to hunt them.
To this end, higher authorities issued documents requiring all Forest Farms and villages to organize Hunter Teams to eliminate these wild animals, ensuring the people's hard-earned harvests would not be destroyed.
Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu were both members of the Yong'an Village Hunter Team.
Of course, this wasn't because they were particularly skilled. Any male who reached the age of sixteen automatically became a member of the local militia and the Hunter Team, duly registered by the village council.
Against this historical backdrop, the mountains and Forest Areas developed their own unique hunting culture.
Gradually, hunting came to be known locally as an "encirclement hunt," which was further divided into "large" and "small" hunts.
A "small hunt" was simple, really—it just meant setting traps and snares for small animals like Sable, Weasels, squirrels, pheasants, and roe deer.
A "large hunt," on the other hand, involved taking dogs into the mountains to hunt down large, dangerous beasts like wild boars, Black Bears, and brown bears.
When it came to hunting, both Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu came from a long line of hunters; their grandfathers had both been renowned hunters in their day.
But even so, Zhao Jun was only twenty years old at the time. And Li Baoyu had just turned eighteen.
While it wasn't uncommon for young men in the countryside to be fathers by twenty, you'd never let a kid that age go hunting in the mountains!
In truth, neither the Zhao nor the Li family had approved of the two boys' reckless plan. But you couldn't stop youngsters with their minds made up. While their parents weren't looking, Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu snuck out with the family dogs and headed for the mountains.
They say beginners have the best luck, and it's certainly true.
The two buddies hadn't been in the mountains long before they heard their dogs give tongue. They followed the sound all the way to a ridge and saw the two dogs had a wild boar cornered in a gully.
Seeing the hounds had the boar cornered, the two were both thrilled and frantic. Without a word, Zhao Jun pulled the handaxe from his belt.
Whooping, Zhao Jun brandished his handaxe and charged down the slope.
And what about Li Baoyu?
Before they left, Zhao Jun had told him to bring an Invasion Blade.
The Invasion Blade was an essential tool for any Hunter running the mountains. It could be used to chop and stab, to gut and bleed an animal, and to debone and carve the meat.
Most importantly, the blade could be fitted onto a long staff, much like the head of a hoe or shovel, turning it into a long-handled Weapon. In a blade hunt, it could deliver the fatal blow.
Watching Zhao Jun charge down the slope, Li Baoyu was anxious, but he had no choice but to quickly search the area. He spotted a Fraxinus mandschurica tree of just the right thickness, cut it down with his blade, trimmed it into a staff, and fitted the Invasion Blade onto the end.
Then, Li Baoyu also raised his long-bladed staff and charged excitedly down the slope.
Being greenhorns, they naturally had no experience.
The wild boar battled the two hounds in the gully for several rounds before breaking away and running up the opposite slope, with the dogs hot on its heels.
How could two legs ever outrun four?
By the time Zhao Jun got down into the gully, the boar and the dogs were already at the top of the opposite slope. He took a couple of deep breaths and, handaxe in hand, hurried up after them.
By then, his earlier momentum was completely gone.
The moment Zhao Jun reached the top of the slope, he saw the boar fighting the two dogs. Like a newborn calf that doesn't fear a tiger, the boy didn't hesitate. He swung his axe and charged straight into the fray, right at the boar!
Anyone who had ever been on a boar hunt would know.
It wasn't just that the hounds could tell who was in charge—even the beasts of the mountains knew.
No matter how many dogs surrounded it, if a human charged it head-on, a wild boar would always attack the person!
And so, the scene from the beginning of the story came to pass.