Chapter 42: Travelers in the Snow
The cold wind howled, sharp as a blade. Though it was already late spring, the weather at the western borderlands remained gloomy and chilly. Just days ago, a sudden cold snap brought a heavy snowstorm to Snowhawk City, a small town bordering the snowy plains. While the snow brought many matters to a standstill, it stirred excitement among those who lived by hunting. They left the warmth of the city and returned to the wilds once more.
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"The snowfall is heavy, but in a few days it will melt completely," someone remarked. "Once the snow melts, the snow wolves, snow foxes, snow leopards—"
On the snowy ground, Eritu, leading a team of hunters, suddenly broke off his words. He crouched, sniffing the white droppings in the snow, and made a gesture to the others, indicating prey was nearby.
"Snow wolves are close, not far from here," he whispered. "About a dozen of them. Everyone, spread out and search!"
As the team dispersed, Eritu ordered preparations to encircle the snow wolves, his voice low and cautious:
"This will likely be our last chance this half-year to hunt snow wolves—once the snow melts, they’ll no longer come south! So, everyone, be careful! Fresh snow wolf pelts are fetching a high price at the Four Seas Trading Company!"
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The Four Seas Trading Company had established a branch in Snowhawk City more than a decade ago. Its arrival brought unprecedented vitality to this town of less than ten thousand souls. Thanks to it, many things once considered worthless in Snowhawk City now sold for prices never seen before. Many people, seizing the opportunity, started businesses in this borderland.
Eritu, a hunter’s descendant, lacked a merchant’s cunning but gathered a team of hunters through his skills. The prey he caught could be traded directly with the Four Seas Trading Company.
"This time, they’re offering a gold coin for each complete, fresh snow wolf pelt," he mused. "If we kill all a dozen or so, as leader I’ll get at least five gold coins! With these, plus my savings, I can finally buy the Bow Strength cultivation method—this will be my family’s legacy!"
Bow Strength, at its peak, allowed one to muster eight times their body’s strength. Though considered a superior method even in the Central Plains, the Zhang clan of Central State, who created it, hailed from the military—so Bow Strength’s cultivation techniques became widespread. Most ordinary soldiers, once they trained in archery, would be taught this method. Thus, the Four Seas Trading Company always sold Bow Strength for a single gold coin—mainly because it was bundled with matching bows and arrows. Otherwise, it wouldn’t sell at all.
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"A hundred gold coins! Never imagined I, Eritu, would gather such a fortune in my lifetime!" he marveled. "It’s something I never dared dream of in my youth!"
Gold coins only became popular in Snowhawk City after the Four Seas Trading Company arrived. Before then, most residents had heard of gold coins but rarely saw them. Eritu’s father, a famed hunter in his day, managed to save merely six gold coins in his lifetime—most earned from selling old trophies after the Trading Company came.
"One gold coin equals ten strings of cash, all together making ten thousand. A hundred gold coins—that’s a million! A millionaire—that was once the mark of the wealthiest in Snowhawk City! Hard to believe I, Eritu, could join their ranks!"
Though nowadays the wealthiest in Snowhawk City owned over ten thousand gold coins and more than a hundred people possessed at least a hundred, Eritu was still elated. He was finally about to amass enough to buy Bow Strength.
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"Bow Strength is a method for drawing the bow and forging power," he reflected. "For us hunters, nothing is more suitable! With it, my son will surely be stronger than me and earn even more gold coins!"
His family lacked any inherited cultivation method. Eritu’s father, though trained in a martial hall, never dared pass his own power-forging method to his son. Eritu, in his youth, had to return to the same martial hall for training, where he learned the Sharpening Strength method.
This method, said to be created by the legendary Knife King of Long River, could, at its peak, grant ninefold strength, making it a supreme technique among power-forging arts. Yet Eritu never felt its allure.
"Sharpening Strength, Sharpening Strength… all it did was make me sharpen blades!" he grumbled. "Six or seven years of grinding, and I only managed to forge sixfold strength!"
Recalling his youth, Eritu harbored resentment: "If I hadn’t spent years as a blade-sharpening laborer for the martial hall, perhaps I would have become a true martial artist! My son must train in Bow Strength!"
Not being able to cultivate inner energy and become a true martial artist was Eritu’s greatest regret. Now, past thirty, with no chance to achieve that himself, he placed his hopes on his ten-year-old son:
"Morgen is gifted with bow and arrow. Once he trains in Bow Strength, he’ll surely be able to generate inner energy!"
Thinking this, Eritu’s weary body found new motivation, and he pressed onward, following the tracks of the snow wolves.
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A piercing cry echoed overhead. A snow-white eagle soared above Eritu and his hunters.
"It’s a Snowhawk!" someone shouted. "Take cover!"
The Snowhawk was the most common beast near Snowhawk City, and the origin of the city’s name. Legend said Snowhawk City was built as a forward outpost to resist a powerful Snowhawk beast. Now, the occasional Snowhawk born in the western mountains was said to be its progeny.
For those not martial artists, its attack could be fatal. So, upon seeing it, Eritu immediately ordered everyone to hide.
"It’s gone. That Snowhawk didn’t spot us," remarked a hunter named Hulegen, relieved.
The Snowhawk, inheriting its ancestor’s bloodline, was enormous, its feathers hard as iron. Ordinary arrows were useless against it. Thus, Eritu’s team, upon spotting a Snowhawk, never considered shooting but instead hid, lest it notice them.
Fortunately, this one merely swept past overhead, not attacking them.
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"It didn’t notice us? How could it not!" Eritu muttered. "Snowhawks’ eyes see for over ten miles! It flew so low, and we scrambled to hide—how could it not spot us?"
He tapped Hulegen’s head and ordered, "Quick! We must leave here at once!"
He led the group away in haste.
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"Someone’s coming! Judging by their garb, they’re hunters—their target must be the wolf pack," a tall, robust young man murmured in a nearby snow cave.
This was Lu Sheng, who had once fallen into the belly of the Dragon Whale beast. By some means, he had traveled from the sea to this place! The Snowhawk just now was under his control, sent out to search for others.
"This region is nothing but snowy mountains and plains! I wonder exactly where I am. At last, I’ve found people—time to meet them!"
With this thought, Lu Sheng changed his attire, hefted a broadsword, and strode toward the wolf pack.