Chapter 019 - Hiding Away

“Papa! Papa! Papa!”

“Noooo! Don't go!!”

Outside Auntie Wang’s home, two little ones were bawling their eyes out, tears rolling down their red, frozen cheeks, looking utterly pitiful.

Uncle Wang, meanwhile, had been conscripted and was trailing silently behind the bailiff.

The county needed 5,000 new recruits, all taken from the poorer villages without mercy. The bailiffs showed no hesitation in dragging people off.

Uncle Wang, a quiet and honest man, was holding back his grief and anger, but he didn’t dare look back.

Auntie Wang followed at a distance, trembling as she held out the family’s meager savings to the bailiff, forcing a smile. “Sir, our family depends on him. Can’t you make an exception...”

The bailiff dismissed her with a wave. “Go back, go back. Which family isn't like that?”

Auntie Wang struggled to keep smiling, her eyes pleading. “But the children are still so young...”

The bailiff retorted, “Isn’t that what you’re here for?”

Another bailiff snapped, “Stop wasting time. Move.”

Auntie Wang tried again, but the other bailiff impatiently reached for the hilt of his blade and slammed a hand on it, glaring fiercely.

She went pale with fright. The two little ones behind her were so terrified they stopped crying.

That was when Uncle Wang turned and said, “Go home. Take care of the kids.”

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

“Husband...” Auntie Wang knew it was hopeless. She began to cry, rubbed her eyes, and choked out, “Take care.”

Life and death could come at any moment. Who knew if they would ever see each other again? Once a man was taken to fight, it was as if he were already gone.

After Uncle Wang left, Auntie Wang clutched her children and broke down in tears.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

One of the bailiffs headed next door, roster in hand, and shouted, “Li Yuan, come out!!”

Yan Yu hurried out, her face pale and puffy with makeup. She looked haggard with her eyes red like peaches from crying.

The bailiff, uninterested in her looks, didn’t bother with a second glance. Impatiently, he asked, “Where’s Li Yuan?”

Yan Yu’s lips quivered; she tried to speak but only managed a strangled sob. She lowered her head, wiping away tears as muffled cries slipped out.

Growing irritated, the bailiff barked, “What’s going on?”

Yan Yu took several gulping breaths, trying to contain her grief. “M-my husband went up the mountain the day before yesterday and still hasn’t come back.”

Suddenly, her tearful eyes lit up with hope. “Bailiff, please... Please be kind and help me look for him in the mountains. I’m begging you.”

The bailiff gripped the hilt of his blade and glared at her, forcing Yan Yu to stop in her tracks.

He exchanged a few words with the bailiff next to him, then sneered, “Maybe he ran off to the mountains to dodge the draft?”

Yan Yu froze in fright. “No, never! Two days ago, you weren’t even here yet... How could he have known about this?”

The bailiff continued menacingly, “Desertion is punishable by death. If you know anything and don’t report it, you’ll share his fate. Think carefully.”

Yan Yu shook her head over and over, babbling in panic, “He didn’t know about the draft. He really didn’t...”

The first bailiff glanced at his partner, who nodded, then went around asking the other conscripts. He returned shortly. “Seems she’s telling the truth. That Li Yuan is a skilled hunter, roams the mountains on his own. Got roughed up by a bear a few days back, tore off a big chunk of skin on his leg. It snowed the day before yesterday, and after he went up the mountain, he never came back. People say he might’ve died up there.”

The bailiff gave a curt nod, shoved Yan Yu aside, and searched her house. Finding no one, he continued on to the next home.

Yan Yu collapsed to the ground, weeping. After a long moment, she propped herself up against the fence and dragged herself back inside. The instant she was in, she shut the door tightly, gently pressing the spot on her chest bound tight by cloth.

She turned her head. Outside the window, the mountains lay blanketed in white. In such harsh, freezing weather, there wasn’t a bird in sight. Who knew if he was still alive out there?

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Fwoosh! Swish! Howl!

The mountains looked like frozen slabs of meat, and the wind slashed like a blade, scraping away layers of snow and ice in its path.

Beyond the second ridge, Li Yuan trudged forward, wrapped in a cloak made of deerskin, left arm raised to shield himself from the swirling snow, right hand gripping a cold hatchet with all his strength. Against the vast white backdrop, he kept a firm grasp on his blade as he pushed on.

Thanks to the 9~10 base combat power of his body, even without proper training, he could chop down the wild boar, bear, or tiger lurking in these mountains, relying on brute strength alone.

Li Yuan had powerful vitality and had already reached the level of a ranked martial artist. Coupled with the warmth of his deerskin cloak, it was possible for him to survive even in such harsh wilderness.

Over the past few days, Yan Yu had been quietly gathering information about the Red Lotus Rebels. When she learned they might head toward Gemhill County, Li Yuan decided without hesitation to hide in the mountains.

If the rumor turned out to be false, he’d stay in hiding for a few days, then come back.

If it proved true, he would avoid conscription.

Sure enough, it was true.

Early that morning, Li Yuan heard chaotic noises from the direction of Little Ink Village. He knew right away he’d guessed correctly. The authorities were really rounding people up to fight the rebels. Had he stayed home, they’d have dragged him off for sure.

His heart, which had been pounding in his chest, finally slowed. He let out a long sigh. Yes, hiding in the mountains to dodge the draft meant risking the death penalty, but it was still better than marching off to fight with no way out. It was a close call.

He glanced over his own status.

Ever since he and Yan Yu grew closer, he’d been earning seven stat points every day. It had been twenty days since he last allocated any.

“Starting today, I have to sneak home each night. If I’m discovered, I’ll have only two options. Silence them... or run away with Yan Yu. Well then, I’d better give it everything I’ve got.”

Focusing on the

+

sign next to

Advanced Tracking

, Li Yuan tapped it 40 times.

With each point spent, a flood of memories filled his mind.

He experienced days of relentless practice. He crawled through tall grass to track a beast, ignoring the sting of mosquitoes and the itch tormenting his body. He covered vast distances without sleep to gather intel on an enemy, only to approach with painstaking caution once he got close. Over and over, he pushed himself in real combat, reflecting on his weaknesses and fine-tuning his skills.

Finally, one day, his perseverance paid off. He had a sudden moment of clarity!

His tracking ability took another leap forward, entering a whole new stage. A wealth of experience flooded his mind, and subtle changes began to ripple through his muscles and nerves. His sensitivity to his surroundings sharpened, and he grew even better at concealing his presence.

Advanced Tracking(0/40) ➔ NEW! Expert Tracking (0/80)

Li Yuan glanced at his status window. He still had 105 stat points remaining.

After thinking it over, he decided to spend them all at once. After all, no one could be allowed to discover that he returned to the village in secret each night. Maybe he could hide for one or two evenings, but if this dragged on, could he really keep it up?

“It’s still not enough... If anything goes wrong, it’ll be too late for regrets. I have to be absolutely sure. Let's keep going!”

Li Yuan once again tapped the

+

sign 80 times in a row.

A new set of memories poured into his head.

He’d already been an expert in tracking, but no matter how hard he tried on his own, he couldn’t break through any further. He’d heard rumors of even more advanced forms of tracking, but that was supposedly beyond the reach of a mere novice martial warrior like him.

Yet one day, fortune smiled upon him. An old man whose face seemed shrouded in mist offered him a few words of guidance. In that instant, Li Yuan understood. His long-stalled bottleneck finally gave way.

He broke through. He grew stronger. He could now track beasts and enemies with ease and slip into every home in the village unnoticed. He was practically invisible, adept at every technique for hiding movement and masking his aura.

Li Yuan glanced over his own stats again. His overall combat strength remained the same, clearly because it only measured fighting ability, while tracking techniques were more of a soft skill.

Still, his status screen had changed.