Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

Her mother always treated her as her savior and as a cold-faced witch who never smiled, so she pretended to be an indifferent woman.

From Zhuang Xing's perspective, it was clear that when her mother spoke to her, she tried her best to maintain the persona her mother had in mind.

But in reality, it's not like that at all.

Zhuang Xing understood this deeply; Miss Huai'an was actually a simple, lovely girl who was very afraid of being alone.

Similar things often happen: when Zhuang Xing opens his eyes, he will happen to see her squatting next to the crib, staring at him without moving.

When her mother was cooking in the kitchen, she would always sneak up to Zhuang Xing's crib, her footsteps silent and her presence concealed.

If she deliberately conceals her presence, no one can detect her at all.

One time, I was startled by her.

As soon as you open your eyes, you see a huge face appear in front of you.

Miss Huai'an seemed to have a keen sense of emotions. At that moment, she must have realized that Zhuang Xing was frightened by her. She immediately shrank back, like a kitten, and lay on the crib railing, only revealing a pair of evasive eyes.

If Zhuang Xing bursts into tears, she will quickly slip into her room and pretend nothing happened.

No...maybe she'll bury her head under the covers and secretly cry, feeling like she's messed things up.

Zhuang Xing felt this was very likely to happen; in some ways, Miss Huai'an gave him a feeling that she was more fragile than glass.

If he hadn't reached out for a hug, Miss Huai'an would probably have really broken.

When Zhuang Xing realized what was happening, he immediately crawled out of the covers, wailing, and asked Miss Huai'an for a hug.

Although he was the one who wanted a hug, the one who truly needed it was someone else.

After Zhuang Xing hugged Miss Huai'an's neck and kissed her, she breathed a sigh of relief, probably thinking to herself, "Thank goodness I wasn't disliked."

She only shows this side of herself when she's alone with Zhuang Xing.

She probably felt that a three-month-old baby whose intelligence was not yet fully developed was within her capabilities. When the two of them were alone, she exuded a relaxed atmosphere, with her face saying "I have everything under control."

She's such an easy woman to understand. It's just that there aren't any professional male escort clubs in this world. If a male escort were assigned to her based on her personality, she would definitely become addicted and keep opening champagne towers every day under the encouragement of the staff, until she was burdened with debt.

Women's hearts are indeed tender and delicate.

Zhuang Xing felt that he had grasped the true meaning of being a male escort. It was a pity that he hadn't applied for a job in Kabukicho in his previous life. Maybe he could have created a male escort myth and become the legendary "that man" who would bewitch women.

This wasn't just empty boasting; he had already put it into practice. At three months old, he got along with Miss Huai'an with ease.

This peaceful routine lasted for half a month, until it was deep winter.

When it snows, it's a heavy snowfall with howling winds, and the weather is not suitable for going out at all.

This was Zhuang Xing's fourth month of life. On this day, he felt something new in his mouth.

He reached out and touched two tiny baby teeth.

Generally speaking, babies will start getting their first teeth between six and eight months old, and all their teeth will be in by around two years old. However, if they develop exceptionally well, it is not unusual for babies to get their first teeth at three or four months old.

Zhuang Xing was in a good mood; he felt that he was growing stronger.

After his baby teeth came in, his mother started trying to feed him some solid food.

The mother ground the dried red dates into a paste and fed it to him with water.

These red dates aren't from my home; they were given to me by the village chief.

To curry favor with the demon slayer, the village chief would send him things every now and then. Since Lord Yan said he preferred quiet, he would always ask his mother to take the things back.

The things my mother brought back in the past two weeks included, but were not limited to, dried fruits, candied fruits, brown sugar, and lard.

Occasionally, when the old hunters caught fresh fish and game such as pheasants and rabbits, they would come to visit.

The village chief's goal was to build a good relationship with Yan Huai'an, while the old hunter wanted to learn martial arts from Yan Huai'an.

The fire in the old hunter's heart seemed to have been ignited by Yan Huai'an and the tiger spirit, or perhaps that fire had never been extinguished.

Although he was the older one, he humbly sought advice from Yan Huai'an. Although Yan Huai'an said he preferred quiet, he did not refuse his request.

Miss Huai'an seemed to enjoy it. She didn't like communicating with people verbally, but she seemed to be able to accept communicating with swords.

Today, the old hunter brought a river fish about half a meter long. Every time he sought advice from Yan Huai'an, he would bring his prey to pay for the lessons.

Zhuang Xing liked to listen to the old hunter's footsteps; in this era, meat was no cheap commodity.

He remembered clearly what his mother ate during the previous three months.

Basically, it was just cooking some millet in a wood-fired pot, along with some pickled radishes and cucumbers. When my mother was alone, she ate very casually, with the sole purpose of filling her stomach.

Come to think of it, Zhuang Xing had never seen anyone in the village eat noodles. It seemed that they didn't eat wheat, only that kind of yellow millet.

Perhaps the stone mill hadn't been developed yet. Zhuang Xing recalled that he had indeed never seen a stone mill.

Before the invention of stone mills, wheat was not commonly eaten because it had a husk. People at that time only knew how to steam and boil it, and they couldn't remove the husk, making it a very laborious process to eat.

In addition, wheat has more demanding growing conditions than millet; under the same conditions, it requires almost twice the rainfall to grow.

It was only after stone mills were invented that wheat could be ground into flour that this thing gradually became popular.

Let's write down this key point: building a stone mill is very simple. If there really were no stone mills in this world, perhaps he could have earned his first pot of gold by relying on the difference in vision.

That's a bit of a tangent, let's get back to the old hunter.

The river fish was still alive, held tightly in the old hunter's hand, its tail thrashing as it tried to break free.

The old hunter threw the river fish into the large pot in the kitchen and poured water into it.

Zhuang Xing liked this fish; the flesh was very delicate, and he could eat it if it was mashed into fish paste.

He likes to eat meat; a balanced diet is essential for him to grow up quickly.

After releasing the river fish, the old hunter bowed.

"Thank you for your help today, sir."

Yan Huai'an nodded and drew his sword.

"Let's go to the yard."

When she holds the sword, she's like a completely different person.

Although she still has difficulties communicating with people, she can handle sparring with the old hunter with ease, and she can also point out the old hunter's shortcomings during the sparring.

There's going to be a good show today. There's another reason why Zhuang Xing is looking forward to the old hunter's footsteps: he can watch the battle from the sidelines.

Yan Huai'an is not on the same level as the old hunter, both in theory and in practice.

If the old hunter was a self-taught maverick who figured out his own methods, then Yan Huai'an was like a professionally trained expert who had cultivated his skills in the industry for many years.

She could immediately grasp the weaknesses and shortcomings that some veteran hunters didn't understand or weren't even aware of themselves.

Zhuang Xing never missed a single sparring match; he always watched every single detail with complete focus.

I hope to gain something today as well.

Chapter 17 Flowers Bloom Again (Please continue reading)

The old hunter removed his felt hat, exposing his dry, black and white hair to the cold air.

His youth has long since faded in the river of time. His face is covered with wrinkles, and his skin is dull. His thick, scarred arms reveal the hardships he has endured.

In this village, he was undoubtedly among the highest-ranking people.

The village chief consults him on many matters. He has a hunting team, which includes elderly people around his age as well as young people. Although there are many people, he undoubtedly holds the highest authority in the team.

Zhuang Xing only learned later from his mother's conversation with the village chief that on the night the tiger demon attacked the village, it was the old hunter who first noticed the abnormality, organized the villagers, and established a team for night watch and defense.

If the village chief is Hashirama Senju, then the old hunter is Madara Uchiha; one is the village chief in charge of decision-making, and the other is the leader of the guard.

Of course, this is just an example. The relationship between the village chief and the old hunter is much healthier than that of the other two. Although the village chief and the old hunter have limitations in some aspects, they are both very qualified leaders.

The two men each had their own responsibilities: one was in charge of internal affairs, and the other was in charge of external affairs. The village chief was responsible for interpersonal relationships and logistics in the village, while the old hunter was responsible for protecting the village's safety, detecting dangers in a timely manner, and eliminating them.

Zhuang Xing believed that although the old hunter's strength was far inferior to Yan Huai'an's, he should be considered a pillar of strength in this world.

The old hunter's technique in digging out the tiger demon's core was very skillful, indicating that it wasn't the first time he had ever dug out a demon core.

Although it's rare to encounter a powerful and unreasonable demon like the Tiger Spirit in the countryside, he must have faced dangerous individuals over the years.

He had fought fiercely with beasts that had become spirits before, and he won, standing until the end, and dug out the demon cores of those beasts, which is why his technique was so skillful.

If he hadn't met Yan Huai'an and hadn't seen that house-sized tiger demon corpse, he certainly wouldn't have been so eager for progress and advancement.

Only when the frog jumps out of the small well will it discover that the moon, which almost fills the well opening, does not actually occupy the entire sky.

Beyond the moon, there is the dazzling Milky Way, where countless stars flow.

How can we stop here?

"My lord, I apologize for the offense." The old hunter took a deep breath and drew his skinning dagger from his waist.

It was a very distinctive weapon; in appearance, it somewhat resembled the classic Nepalese kukri from a certain FPS game.

Of course, it's the basic version, not the later, gleaming, golden dragon-slaying sword.

The blade of this scimitar is a smooth black-gold color, with a faint hint of blood red.

The blood-red color appeared and disappeared intermittently, and even upon close inspection, it was not very clear.

Zhuang Xing felt that the old hunter must have a unique method for forging his weapons. Perhaps every time he killed a powerful prey, he would use the prey's blood to baptize and worship this skinning scimitar.

If you cast an Appraisal spell on this knife, you might get an entry like, "This knife thirsts for blood: bathing it in the blood of a powerful prey through a special ritual will permanently increase the weapon's damage."

This is clearly the old hunter's most reliable weapon, his old companion that has been with him for a long time. The fact that he uses this knife shows that he takes every sparring match very seriously.

The old hunter took a deep breath, and his presence became extremely faint again. He had a special way of concealing his aura.

I can almost picture him hunting, concealing himself, quietly approaching his prey, and then slitting its throat before it even realizes what's happening.

Fast, accurate, and ruthless—that's his fighting style. He must have a lot of experience in backstabs, but probably because he often resorts to sneak attacks, he's not very good at head-on combat.

In the previous matches, he lost in basically the same way.

After launching the initial attack, they lost their footing and were defeated in just a few moves.

Even when Yan Huai'an unleashed a massive flood, Yan Huai'an always gave him the first opportunity to attack, never taking the initiative or using any special sword techniques.

During their sparring, Yan Huai'an only used straight strikes and parries.

She wielded and sheathed her sword with the ease of a leisurely stroll, her movements clean, crisp, and pleasing to the eye, without a trace of tedium.