…
More than ten days passed in a flash.
These days, Fang Zhengzhi lived a comfortable life. Working together, the Southern Mountain Village hunting squad’s efficiency was much higher than him alone. Their shovels moved rapidly, digging pitfalls that were big and round.
Fang Zhengzhi on the other hand took up the role of an overseer. Here… Here needs to be dug a little towards that direction, this rock should be slightly higher, this piece is too small…
Other that that, he stood guard at the tiny piece of land he dug himself and lived a free and leisurely life of reading books and waiting for prey.
"This mountain is opened by me, this tree is planted by me, if you wish to pass… you must lay down your life."
The ancestors usually likened guarding a tree and waiting for rabbits to knock into it [1] to reaping without sowing. But now, Fang Zhengzhi was evidently living such a life.
Except, what he guarded wasn’t a tree, but instead was a piece of land.
The results were also entirely different. They weren’t even able to finish collecting the prey they caught each day. Considering solely green furred rabbits, they could already collect at least two each day. Along with a few other animals, Fang Zhengzhi even thought of gathering some feed and turning this into a natural farmland...
The booming success of the Southern Mountain Village naturally attracted the envy and jealous hatred of the Northern Mountain Village hunting squad.
Further considering the leftover anger from being robbed by Fang Zhengzhi…
Raid, raid, another raid!
Three times in a row.
The Northern Mountain Village hunting squad over and over again learnt their lesson, improvising on their raiding tactics. Direct raiding, surrounding them, groups of three and groups of two…
Zhang Yangping had to invest a lot of effort and racked his brains.
But ultimately…
They were completely useless!
Under the assistance of the rock formation, the Southern Mountain Village villagers were as sly as black foxes hiding in the shadows, each of them appearing and then disappearing unpredictably. When attacks came from one direction, defences came from all four directions.
After three attempts, it could be said that the Northern Mountain Village had suffered a double loss trying to trick the enemy.
Not only did they not manage to snatch the animals, their weapons were seized in each attempt. The originally razor-sharp spears and scimitars now mostly became huge worn-out metal swords.
Without weapons, the animals they killed became lesser and lesser.
It could be said that their lives were quite miserable.
In comparison, the Southern Mountain Village lived each day as if they were celebrating the new year. Everyone was happy and joyful, the hunting squad came back with more and more game, and every single household was able to enjoy meat, how could one not be happy?
…
The night was calm as water.
Fang Zhengzhi sensed within his body which he could control more and more freely everyday, there was a faint yet mysterious sensation. It felt as if there were some schools of thinking, or something else, which were about to conflict. The control he had over his body’s flesh also seemed to had become finer.
Or…
Could it be that the way he thought previously was wrong? What he controlled wasn’t at all flesh? Was it blood? That was unlikely… what was it?
Hence, unable to understand, he could only employ the most primitive of methods - accumulating vast amounts of knowledge! Continuing with his reading and memorising, increasing his powers. Once he reached a certain level, when a breakthrough was supposed to happen, wouldn’t a breakthrough naturally occur?
…
While Fang Zhengzhi was reading his books at ease, within the neighbouring courtyard, Mrs Li was pacing around continuously in her room, restless and agitated.
And beside Mrs Li, Li Zhuangzhi’s expression also seemed to be somewhat dark.
"Can you go think of something? You have been studying in the Hall of Dao everyday, you haven’t seen… the gaze in the village chief’s eyes whenever he looks at Fang Zhengzhi, are always glinting with light!"
"That nonsense trap he drew, who knows what divine assistance shone on it. It was really able to divert the animals to run along the pathways he formulated, and one by one jumped into the trap as if they were queuing up to do so!" Mrs Li’s saliva flew all over the place.
"No matter what, this is a good thing!" Li Zhuangzhi folded his legs and sat on the bed.
"A good thing? Don’t forget, when the Divine Constabulary gave the Southern Mountain Village an extra entrant spot, that spot was snatched right from the hands of Fang Zhengzhi. Even though it had already been reported up, but, does this mean it can’t change? Even though village chief indeed has no plans to do so, but, how about a month later? A year later? Who can ensure that the village chief wouldn’t think of a way to swap Li Huer!" Mrs Li became rather anxious.
Li Zhuangshi’s face instantly sunk. After staying in the Hall of Dao for such long periods of time, he had begun to understand the outside world even more. One just had to pass the Law of Dao examinations to enjoy a good deal of favour from the royalties.
This tiny Southern Mountain Village is simply not somewhere people could remain for long.
Walking out, entering the county, or even the capital… this was the future Li Zhuangshi planned for himself.
"We cannot lose the spot in the Hall of Dao, Li Huer’s improvement within this period is still quite large. As long as he can continue studying in the Hall of Dao, he would definitely be able to pass the Law of Dao examinations in the future!" Li Zhaungshi’s gaze moved to Li Huer who was sleeping soundly in the next room.
"Then why don’t you think of an idea? Fang Zhengzhi’s position in the Southern Mountain Village is rising higher and higher, very soon he will be able to rise over our family. If it continues like this, this spot will definitely be snatched away by him!" Mrs Li was impatient.
"If I have to think of an idea… This kid Fang Zhengzhi is quite smart, furthermore, he did indeed contribute to the village. Our actions cannot be too obvious… Oh, I have an idea!" Li Zhuangshi’s eyes lit up.
"What idea?" Mrs Li immediately moved in closer.
"We will get somebody else to kill him!"
"What?" Mrs Li was taken aback.
"Stop shouting! You are indeed unnecessarily soft-hearted!" Li Zhuangshi was now educated, and began to learn from the words of his Sir. Invoking these words, then looking at Mrs Li’s shocked expression, began to explain in a low voice.
"I’m not planning to really kill him. Think about it, the Northern Mountain Village people definitely hate Fang Zhengzhi to the core. We will secretly give them the illustration he drew, the consequences will naturally be obvious. I wish to… kill him, but the Northern Mountain Village people will definitely not sink to such standards. After all, the mutual dependence between the two villages are quite strong. But, breaking an arm or a leg will definitely happen!"
"You mean?" Mrs Li became interested.
"All we need is for Fang Zhengzhi to have his limbs broken, then he will become just like Fang Houde. No matter how large his contributions are, village chief would still not pin the hopes and future of the village on him. Law of Dao examinations, the namelist of the Hall of Dao, would naturally not concern Fang Zhengzhi anymore. As for what else he can do, it would be continuously helping us to hunt animals, ha ha ha…"
…
Fang Zhengzhi’s plan for setting up a natural farmland was smoothly carried out. In order to save time, and at the same time minimise the killings between different species, he intentionally split the trapped animals into different groups.
A few days later, as per his usual routine, he carried his basket of already-prepared feed up the mountain alone.
With the protection of the rock formation, the outskirts of the mountain was typically very safe. Furthermore, there was also improvement to his abilities. The stronger one was, the more guts he had. Hence, he didn’t worry much.
After entering the mountain, he directly made his way over to his personal spot. Checking on the hungry animals stuck within the traps, Fang Zhengzhi threw down the feed.
Then, finding a large rock facing the sun, he took out his books and began to recite softly.
"T’ai Kung: "As for the ‘six thieves’:
"First, if your subordinates build large palaces and mansions, pools and terraces, and amble about enjoying the pleasures of scenery and female musicians, it will injure the king’s Virtue.
Second, when the people are not engaged in agriculture and sericulture but instead give rein to their tempers and travel about as bravados, disdain-ing and transgressing the laws and prohibitions, not following the instructions of the officials, it harms the king’s transforming influence..."
This was the chapter on Honouring the Worthy in the Six Secret Teachings, which mainly discussed the Six Thieves and Seven Harms.
Fang Zhengzhi was deeply engrossed in his book. He had no idea that all around him, there were currently over twenty people, wielding long blades and with wooden bows slung around their backs, lying in ambush, They were the Northern Mountain Village hunting squad.
"Deputy captain, the intelligence is accurate. The person has indeed arrived, and there is nobody from the Southern Mountain Village following him!"
[1] This is a Chinese idiom that describes a person who witnessed a rabbit running into a tree, then thereafter began to guard the tree daily waiting for rabbits to knock into it again. This is used to imply waiting idly for opportunities and hoping for things to happen without any practical course of action, rather than showing initiative.