Long Chen slowly opened his eyes . He didn't know how much time had passed, but seeing the light caused him to sigh in relief . He was still alive .
He realized he was lying on a simple bed . Although the bed was made from coarse wood, the bedsheets had been arranged very carefully for him and even had a faint fresh scent .
He was in a wooden room . The walls had a couple animal hides, bows, arrows, and spears on them . Not far from his bed was a small stove that was releasing warmth . The smell of freshly cooked rice floated out of it .
With a creaking sound, the door was opened . A maiden wearing a simple dress walked in .
That woman appeared around sixteen years old . She was slender and tall . Her arms and legs were both bare, and her skin gave off a healthy glow .
She wore her hair in a medium length ponytail . She wasn't overly beautiful, but her bright eyes gave off an extremely friendly feeling .
That woman first put down her backsack before hastily opening the iron cooking pot atop the stove .
That young lady let out a relieved sigh when she looked at the food inside . "Ah, close . I almost burnt it," she muttered to herself .
But she suddenly sensed something was a bit off and slowly turned to see that Long Chen was looking at her in confusion .
"Ah, you've awoken! Great!"
She quickly happily ran over to Long Chen and hugged him excitedly .
"Cough… miss, isn't this a bit unsuitable?"
Being hugged by a young lady, he could feel her chest against his as well as smell a fresh and energetic scent from her .
But being hugged by a stranger truly did cause him to feel uncomfortable and awkward .
"What's unsuitable about it? I pulled you back here, so now you're my man . That's the rule of our village, so who would dare criticize?" That maiden was still hugging onto Long Chen completely untimid, acting as if everything was as it should be .
"You? . . . pulled me back?" Long Chen was startled . His last memory was of the Cliff Leopard . He hadn't seen this maiden before .
Seeing his confusion, the maiden released him and said, "That day when you fought with the Magical Beast, at the last moment I shot it with my arrow . Frankly speaking, your life was saved by me . In the future you'll be my man and so your task in the future will be to go hunting and make babies with me . "
Looking at her serious expression, Long Chen's expression became extremely odd . Hunting? And making babies?
When she saw that Long Chen was still as puzzled as ever, she began to explain what had happened that day .
That woman was a huntress of the village . The village people all relied on hunting to survive . Other than some essential metal tools that they had to get from a distant place outside the mountains, they were completely self-sufficient here .
There were over a hundred people in the village . Most of them were all expert hunters . Even some of the children frequently went outside the village to set up a couple traps for smaller wild animals .
There weren't any true experts in their village . The majority of them were only at Qi Condensation . According to the maiden, their ancestors had escaped to this place in order to avoid the flames of war . They gradually became accustomed to living here, and now hundreds of years had passed .
The main food in the village was meat . They survived by relying on hunting and gathering . But their best targets were wild beasts .
As for the larger Magical Beasts, they had to treat them extremely carefully . If they wanted to handle a powerful Magical Beast, they required the entire village to participate .
This time they had noticed that there was a Cliff Leopard in the vicinities a while back . After a bit of investigation and after getting the approval of the village chief, they decided to kill this Cliff Leopard .
Although killing Magical Beasts was extremely dangerous, the benefits were also accordingly great . The core of a first rank Magical Beast was enough for the entire village to live off of for half a year if exchanged for goods .
In order to handle this Cliff Leopard, they had prepared for over a month . They had refined enough poisons to apply on their weapons and also stealthily set up many traps . They were prepared to ambush it .
But just as they were about to take action against it today, they watched dumbstruck as a youngster walked over to its territory .
That woman had been hiding in secret along with many other hunters . She hadn't dared warn Long Chen . That would have alarmed the Cliff Leopard and ruined all the plans their village had spent over a month preparing .
The result of failure was extremely severe . Many of their lives would be the price . That was why they had only watched stupefied as Long Chen was ambushed .
Originally they had all been feeling guilty about that . They could only hope that the Cliff Leopard would soon enter one of their traps so that they could take their revenge for Long Chen .
But the scene that played after that caused all of them to be astonished . Long Chen's sword almost killed the incomparably vicious Cliff Leopard in one blow .
They then realized that Long Chen had actually been wounded severely beforehand . The sword left his hands but he was still able to fight without a weapon, exchanging several blows that sent the Cliff Leopard flying .
At last they saw that Long Chen was unable to support himself anymore . She had been unable to bear it any further and shot out an arrow at the Cliff Leopard, killing it .
But when she said that she had killed it with one arrow and saved Long Chen, she was actually somewhat embarrassed .
Her archery skills weren't actually so great . In a moment of desperation, she had shot without even thinking that much . But in the end, her arrow which had been aiming for the Cliff Leopard's mouth actually went straight through its forehead .
That was coincidentally the same place that Long Chen had hit it with his sword . His slash had already caused the Cliff Leopard's skull to crack, so her arrow had managed to coincidentally pierce through that crack, killing it .
When everyone had rushed forward to check out her attack, they couldn't help taking a cold breath . If it weren't for that luck, then the villagers which had angered a Magical Beast would definitely lose many lives .
An injured Magical Beast was the most frightening . They would become crazy because of their fear and do their best to attack .
"Many thanks . " Only then did Long Chen finally learn what had happened . He respectfully cupped his hands at her .
"You'll be my man in the future, so there's no need for that . " She giggled and supported Long Chen at the shoulders . "Before, I would send prayers to the forest divinity everyday in hopes of him bestowing me a powerful man who would go hunting and make babies with me . Heehee, the forest divinity has finally heard my prayers and sent you to me . "
She was completely infatuated with him . Looking at his heroic and handsome appearance, she was extremely satisfied .
"Cough, miss…"
"Call me Xiao Hua . "
"Uh, miss Xiao Hua, as for the matter of a man, let's discuss that later . Can you tell me just how my wounds were healed?" asked Long Chen . That was because he had noticed his miraculously recovered completely . But according to Xiao Hua, this was only the third day after encountering the Cliff Leopard .
Without eating a single medicinal pill, not only had he miraculously healed in just a short three days, but even his body's cracked meridians had completely recovered . That greatly startled .
"The forest divinity helped heal you," replied Xiao Hua .
"Forest divinity?" Did this world really hold divinities?
"That's too many questions for right now . Let's eat first . "
Xiao Hua cut off Long Chen's questioning and brough the large pot from the stove outside .
Long Chen didn't want to fake being injured, so he hastily went to help . He found that the large pot was filled with merely thin porridge .
Only after carrying the pot outside the wooden house did Long Chen realize this was a village built against the side of a mountain .
Thick fences made of thistles and thorns ten meters high surrounded the village . Those thistles and thorns were a very poisonous plant . Most wild beasts would generally avoid them .
Within the village were dozens of simple wooden houses . After Xiao Hua's call, all of them walked over to her house . There were a dozen children and five or six seniors .
But the majority were all youths or adults in their prime . Since they survived through hunting, it would be extremely dangerous if their physical strength lagged behind . A single person's carelessness could lead to a loss of life .
That was why the majority of the people in the village were all in the prime of their lives . That was due to a natural elimination over time . Life was simply heartless .
A healthy old man walked up to Long Chen and nodded . "Excellent . A person capable of fighting against a Magical Beast on his own . "
Long Chen swept his senses out and found that this senior was a Blood Condensation expert . However, he was only at the early stage .
If Long Chen's guess wasn't wrong, that old man should have only managed to enter Blood Condensation very late in his years . His Blood Qi had already started to decline . Despite stepping into Blood Condensation, his combat ability probably hadn't increased by much at all .
"Senior flatters me . " Long Chen bowed slightly .
"I don't dare be called senior by you . Even in my prime, I was unable to compare to . " That old man was filled with admiration for Long Chen .
"Grandpa, hurry up and eat!"
Xiao Hua had already split up the porridge for everyone . She brought two bowls for Long Chen and the old man .
"Let me introduce you two . This is my grandpa, the village chief . Oh right, I still don't know your name," suddenly asked Xiao Hua .
"Thanks . My name is Long Chen . " Long Chen laughingly received his bowl of porridge .
Everyone from the village, young and old, male or female, now came over to welcome Long Chen . He had to hastily put down his bowl to greet them all .
They had saved his life . That favor had to be remembered . This people were all very simple and sincere people . Their etiquettes were a bit strange to him, but the friendly warmth in their eyes already said everything to him .
There were over a hundred people in the village . There were only thirty females in the village, and Xiao Hua was the only young maiden amongst them . The rest were all still babies .
"Big brother, I heard you're really strong! Did you really send a giant leopard flying with a single punch?"
A small child that didn't even reach his knee hugged Long Chen's leg . He looked at Long Chen with worship .
"Of course it's true . My dad told me big brother is a true warrior . Once he's with big sis Hua, their babies will be the strongest fighters in our village!" Long Chen didn't even know how to respond before another child scrambled over .
That child then looked at Long Chen eagerly . "Big brother, when are you going to let our village's strongest fighters be born?"
Long Chen's expression stiffened and the surrounding people all laughed heartily . Even Xiao Hua laughed, making Long Chen feel more embarrassment .
He quickly changed the topic, "Didn't you guys kill the Magical Beast? Why aren't you eating its meat?"
As soon as he said, the joyous atmosphere immediately became strange . They were all looking at their village chief .
He was just about to say anything when Xiao Hua interjected, "I should be the one to tell you about this . "