A chill swept over him, and Zhang Ergou instantly woke from his dream.
It turned out it was all a dream!
Zhang Ergou slowly opened his eyes and saw Li Dayong looking at him with concern.
This warmed Zhang Ergou's heart.
"Ergou, you're finally awake, how do you feel?"
Seeing Zhang Ergou open his eyes, Li Dayong's heart leaped with joy.
"It hurts, it hurts a lot!" Zhang Ergou had no other feeling upon waking, only one.
That was pain!
Li Dayong didn't know how to comfort him; he had already done everything he could.
Now, they could only wait for the village doctor.
About half an hour later, Li Dazhuang finally arrived, panting, leading a group of people.
On the way, Li Dazhuang had already recounted Zhang Ergou's heroic deeds to them.
The villagers were half-believing and half-doubting Li Dazhuang's words.
Judging by Zhang Ergou's past behavior, although he had a bit of cunning, he had never shown such bravery.
This was because whenever Zhang Ergou went hunting, he only caught small game like wild rabbits and pheasants near the entrance of the back mountain.
No one had ever heard of him venturing deep into the back mountain.
But when they saw Zhang Ergou's clothes stained with blood.
They began to believe Li Dazhuang's words.
This was a stark contrast to their perception of him as the "villainous Zhang Ergou." Su Dan Novel Network
The village doctor was a dark-skinned middle-aged man in his forties, his complexion tanned from years of working in the fields.
"Uncle He Er, please quickly examine Ergou. He's seriously injured, is there any danger to his life?"
"He was unconscious for quite a while. If I hadn't given him a sip of water just now, he wouldn't have woken up!"
Li Dayong said to the village doctor.
"Come, let me take a look."
The village doctor slowly peeled back Zhang Ergou's clothes and examined his external injuries.
He took out his portable medicine box and retrieved a porcelain bottle from it.
He removed the stopper and sprinkled a white powder evenly onto Zhang Ergou's wounds.
"Ah!" Zhang Ergou couldn't help but cry out.
"Ergou, it's a bit painful, but it'll pass if you bear with it!" Uncle He Er smiled at Zhang Ergou.
After finishing this, Uncle He Er picked up Zhang Ergou's arm and took his pulse.
About half a minute later, Uncle He Er lowered Zhang Ergou's arm.
He slowly stood up and said, "There's no major issue. It's a miracle that Ergou is so lucky; despite such a dangerous situation, he only sustained superficial wounds. He'll be fine after a couple of days of rest at home."
Hearing the village doctor, Uncle He Er, say this, the Li Dazhuang brothers were relieved.
Then, Li Dayong organized everyone to tie up the dead wild boar and make a stretcher.
Two people were assigned to carry Zhang Ergou.
The others carried the wild boar towards Xinshan Village.
"Ergou, how do you plan to deal with this wild boar?"
At this moment, a young man from the village, around Li Dayong's age, asked.
In their eyes, the killing of the wild boar was entirely Zhang Ergou's achievement.
Therefore, the distribution of the wild boar naturally fell to Zhang Ergou.
Before Zhang Ergou could speak, Lin Zicong, who had been trailing at the back of the group, panicked.
"Why should Zhang Ergou get to distribute the wild boar meat? I was the one who finally brought the wild boar down, so if anyone distributes it, it should be me!"
The other villagers were naturally unaware of the full story.
All they knew was what Li Dazhuang had told them. Hearing Lin Zicong speak like this now, everyone was stunned.
Li Dayong's face instantly turned extremely grim.
He had warned Lin Zicong, and yet this Lin Zicong was still so ungrateful.
"Lin Zicong, you say you brought the wild boar down. Can you tell everyone what you did?"
Zhang Ergou had never taken a liking to Lin Zicong.
Now that this fellow was trying to steal his credit, how could he allow it?
"I, I tied a slipknot on the rope wrapped around the tree. The wild boar couldn't break free in the end and was brought down!"
Lin Zicong said defiantly.
"Then, who wrapped the rope you tied the slipknot on around the tree?"
Lying on the stretcher, Zhang Ergou knew Lin Zicong's expression without even looking.
"It was you!"
"Then let me ask you again, who wrapped the rope you tied the slipknot on around the wild boar's neck?"
Zhang Ergou continued to ask.
"Of course, it was you too," Lin Zicong mumbled.
"Then tell me, if I hadn't wrapped the rope around the wild boar's neck and the tree, would you have picked up that bargain?"
Lin Zicong was rendered speechless, his face flushing and paling alternately.
Listening to the exchange between Zhang Ergou and Lin Zicong, those people brought by Li Dazhuang now looked at Lin Zicong with disdain.
The people of Xinshan Village were straightforward. Apart from looking down on Lin Zicong's behavior, they felt nothing but contempt.
And especially contemptuous...
Upon returning to the village, Zhang Ergou asked Li Dayong and the others to help butcher the wild boar.
He gave half of it to the Li Dayong brothers, which filled them with gratitude towards Zhang Ergou.
Although he didn't like Lin Zicong, he had still accompanied them on the trip, so Zhang Ergou gave him a leg.
However, Lin Zicong showed no gratitude whatsoever, picked up the wild boar leg, and left without looking back.
"What's wrong with this Lin family brat!" Several villagers who hadn't left shook their heads at Lin Zicong's behavior.
Zhang Ergou then cut large pieces of meat for the villagers who had come to help.
Everyone praised Zhang Ergou for being fair and generous.
After distributing the wild boar meat, Zhang Ergou was carried by Li Dayong and Li Dazhuang and placed on the earthen bed in his house.
Li Dayong pulled the cart to take half of the wild boar meat back.
Li Dazhuang stayed to take care of Zhang Ergou.
By evening, Zhang Ergou felt that his body was no longer in so much pain. The medicinal powder sprinkled on him by the village doctor, Uncle He Er, had taken effect.
In reality, the cultivation technique he had practiced last night had been quietly operating, repairing his body.
Sitting on the bed, Zhang Ergou attempted to circulate the opening verses of the "Heaven and Earth Chaos Art" again.
What made him excited this time was that he no longer felt the clumsiness he had experienced during his first attempt at cultivation. Zhang Ergou was overjoyed.
He immediately calmed his mind and began to meditate on the bed.
As Zhang Ergou gradually entered a state of focus.
Closing his eyes, Zhang Ergou gently focused on his dan tian, feeling the changes within.
After meditating all night, Zhang Ergou felt the changes in his body. His body felt extremely light,
as if he could float up at any moment. Before he could savor the feeling, a wave of hunger washed over him.
Zhang Ergou felt as if he hadn't eaten for two days and two nights. The so-called refinement of essence into qi was not generated out of thin air.
Instead, it was through energy conversion, transforming the energy within Zhang Ergou's body into qi.
This was also the reason why Zhang Ergou felt so incredibly hungry.
Unbeknownst to him, Zhang Ergou had already entered the Qi Refining stage.
This was thanks to the injuries he sustained while fighting the wild boar.
Because Zhang Ergou was severely injured, the cultivation technique automatically operated, accelerating his meridians' familiarity with the technique.
It also allowed Zhang Ergou to enter the Qi Refining stage without realizing it.
Zhang Ergou did not understand all of this, as he had only been practicing cultivation for a total of two days.
He attributed the changes in his body to the aftermath of the great exertion from the previous day.
He thought the lightness in his body was merely his imagination.