Two figures clad in white cloaks blended seamlessly with the snow-covered landscape, hidden within snowdrifts, waiting to ambush prey.
After a long wait, a brightly plumed pheasant emerged, rustling through the snow.
Gu Qingcheng and Mi Guo, having been lying in ambush for a while, were both feeling stiff from the cold.
Seeing the pheasant, Gu Qingcheng nudged Mi Guo's arm.
Mi Guo understood, quickly drew his bow, and with a single, fluid motion, shot and hit the pheasant.
Gu Qingcheng happily patted his shoulder, praising, "Well done, quick reflexes. Keep it up!"
Gu Qingcheng ran a few steps forward, pulled the arrow from the pheasant, and then placed the bird into her storage cabinet.
Mi Guo remained unfazed. After all, anything the "immortal sister" did was reasonable.
The two had skated all the way from home and then spent half the day in ambush in the snow. Finally, they had a catch, and they were overjoyed.
However, it was also approaching noon. Gu Qingcheng looked around, found a snowdrift sheltered from the wind, and said to Mi Guo, "Let's eat lunch here?"
"Okay."
It was truly cold that day. Hot food, once taken out, would turn cold quickly.
Gu Qingcheng, having learned from experience, had prepared several vacuum flasks at home: one for milk, one for coffee, and one for hot pork rib soup...
Basically, she had it all covered. After all, one shouldn't skimp on oneself when venturing out.
Gu Qingcheng ate a sandwich with hot coffee, while Mi Guo ate a Roujiamo with pork ribs.
Because they had to race against the temperature, they both ate quickly. After finishing their main meals in a flash, they slowly savored the hot soup.
"Let's search deeper into the woods. This area is too peripheral; we probably won't catch much here," Gu Qingcheng suggested.
"Okay. I'd be too embarrassed to go back having only caught a small pheasant. Let's see if we can find a big one in the woods," Mi Guo chuckled.
After more than a month of snowfall, the snow was knee-deep, and each step required significant effort to pull one's foot out.
An ordinary person wouldn't be able to walk far in such conditions; it would be too exhausting.
But these two were different. After consuming their strength pills, their physiques were extraordinary, and they walked with ease.
As if on cue, Mi Guo's wish was about to come true. Not long after they entered the deeper part of the woods, a nimble leopard suddenly leaped out from the dense forest opposite them.
The leopard appeared to have been starving for a long time. Seeing them, its eyes lit up, looking as if it were drooling over a delicious meal.
Gu Qingcheng immediately drew her bow and arrow. Mi Guo was not to be outdone. Although the leopard was much larger than him, he didn't want to be outmatched by his sister.
The two acted in unison, shooting their arrows almost simultaneously.
They were less than 20 meters from the leopard. Both arrows were shot with great force. Gu Qingcheng's arrow struck the leopard's eye, piercing its brain. Mi Guo's arrow hit its chest, directly into its heart.
The leopard never expected to die before it could even let out a menacing roar. It was killed by two arrows from these seemingly frail hunters before it could make a sound.
Seeing the leopard fall, the two approached to inspect it. Gu Qingcheng said with great satisfaction, "The leopard's fur is undamaged. We'll find a craftsman to treat it, and I'll make you a leopard-print leather coat."
Mi Guo's eyes lit up at the prospect, but he immediately said, "No, I want to give it to Mother to wear."
"Alright, Mother will surely be happy," Gu Qingcheng chuckled, storing the leopard in her cabinet. "That's enough for now. Let's head back."
Having successfully hunted a ferocious leopard and achieved their training objective, Gu Qingcheng decided it was time to return.
Mi Guo was curious as to how his sister never got lost, always finding her way precisely in the vast forest.
Little did he know that Gu Qingcheng possessed a precise navigation system.
As they walked out, they unexpectedly encountered a new challenge: a huge brown bear was rubbing its back against a snow-covered pine tree.
The brown bear, though seemingly clumsy, was actually ferocious and had thick skin, making it difficult to deal with.
Gu Qingcheng remained calm and instructed Mi Guo to split up with her, intending to flank the bear. This time, their goal wasn't a pristine bear hide, but rather the courage to slay a fierce beast.
Gu Qingcheng and Mi Guo unhurriedly discussed their strategy...
The brown bear also noticed them, stopped scratching, and lumbered towards them.
Gu Qingcheng fearlessly walked towards the bear, deliberately waving her bow and arrow and making provocative sounds.
Mi Guo, at this moment, shot an arrow that grazed the bear's ear.
While not fatal, it succeeded in enraging the bear. It couldn't see who shot the arrow, but it saw someone provoking it. So, it charged at Gu Qingcheng.
Gu Qingcheng swiftly dodged the bear's initial attack.
Missing its target, the bear turned and lunged at Gu Qingcheng again.
Seeing its rising fury, Gu Qingcheng didn't intend to kill it immediately but continued to provoke it as planned.
Just as the bear was about to unleash its rage, several arrows suddenly whizzed from somewhere, hitting the bear's head and chest. One arrow even pierced its heart.
The bear roared and crashed to the ground with a thud.
"Oh, it's dead!"
"Young Master Huo is truly a master archer."
Suddenly, over a dozen guards emerged from the edge of the woods, cheering and escorting a noble young man in white.
Gu Qingcheng looked closely and recognized him as Young Master Huo, whose life her father had saved from the brink of death.
Young Master Huo was surprised to encounter Gu Qingcheng in the wilderness. Upon realizing she was the daughter of his benefactor, he quickly stepped forward to greet her, saying, "Miss Gu, are you hunting too? I saw the brown bear attacking someone and rushed to its rescue. I didn't expect it to be the benefactor's daughter."
Young Master Huo, dressed in hunting attire, exuded an air of heroism. Gu Qingcheng thought that if he were in modern times, he could easily be a top-tier celebrity.
However, at that moment, Gu Qingcheng had no inclination to admire Young Master Huo's "beauty." Instead, she felt a pang of regret that he had so abruptly killed the brown bear.
She and Mi Guo had planned to enrage the bear, as its enlarged gall bladder when enraged was a valuable medicinal ingredient, and Gu Qingcheng didn't want to waste it.
Unexpectedly, before she could fully provoke the bear to its peak fury, it was shot and killed by Young Master Huo, much to Gu Qingcheng's frustration at the wasted effort.
Therefore, even seeing the handsome and dashing Young Master Huo, she felt no admiration for his looks. She was merely dejected by the loss of a valuable bear gall bladder and, out of politeness, engaged in a perfunctory exchange with him.
Unexpectedly, Young Master Huo was greatly struck by Gu Qingcheng's heroic and stylish hunting attire.
He had grown tired of the delicate, well-read, and refined ladies of noble families in the city. It was like having too many seafood banquets and then suddenly encountering wild game from the mountains, stirring up different emotions.
When he saw Gu Qingcheng's unrestrained demeanor, his heart skipped a beat, and he began to harbor different thoughts.