Chapter 1.3: The Youth with the Spirit Eyes
Although Huo Yuhao had the guidance of a map, this was still the first time that he’d left vicinity of the Duke’s Mansion. Due to this, he couldn’t avoid losing his way a few times, and he had to continuously ask for the help of other people to find the correct route to his destination.
This was the so-called ‘reading ten thousand books is not as good as travelling ten thousand miles’. He felt like he’d learned a lot of things after only a few days. His mood had also improved a lot without the oppression and restrictions that were usually imposed within the Duke’s Mansion. The interesting things that he’d seen so far during his journey caused him to be endlessly excited. He was still young after all. After his body had recovered, he didn’t feel tired while travelling. On the contrary, it could be said that he was a bird who’d left its cage. This was the first time that he’d had fun after his mother’s passing.
“I’ve been walking for six days, I should get there soon.” Huo Yuhao carefully inspected the paper map in his hands, and then looked in the direction where the trees by the roadside pointed to. He determined that he was already very close to the Great Star Dou Forest.
Huo Yuhao wiped the sweat off of his forehead as he walked into the woods by the roadside. As soon as he sat down in the shade of a tree, intending to meditate and recover his spirit power, the sound of flowing water suddenly began to reverberate through the air. This sound immediately caused Huo Yuhao to jump up in excitement.
The presence of water signified that he could improve his lifestyle!
Huo Yuhao quickly shut his eyes, and quietly listened for the source of the water. As someone who possessed a spiritual-type martial spirit, his six senses were much stronger than an ordinary person’s. This was especially true when he shut his eyes. When he shut his eyes, his other five senses would increase in strength by a margin.
He quickly identified where the sound of water was coming from, and carefully advanced through the forest. The reason why he was being so careful wasn’t because the forest’s ground was uneven, but because he was scared that his clothes would be torn by the brambles in the forest. These were clothes that his mother had personally made for him.
He found his target without walking more than two hundred metres, which turned out to be a small brook approximately three metres wide. The cold water within was so clear that you could see straight to the bottom, and it created both a relaxing and a refreshing feeling.
Huo Yuhao let out a happy cheer, rapidly took his clothes off, and then instantly jumped into the stream, which wasn’t even two feet deep. The last time he’d had a bath was two days ago. The past two days of travelling had covered his body in sweat, and taking a bath in this cold and clear water was simply a pleasure that couldn’t be any more relaxing.
After thoroughly bathing, a brilliant feeling was suffused throughout his whole body when he walked out of the stream. He inwardly thought, Since I’ve already arrived at the Great Star Dou Forest, I’ll simply have a good rest here.
He changed into a clean set of clothes, proceeded to washed his dirty clothes in the stream as well, and then hung them on a nearby tree branch. He then snapped off a tree branch that was approximately three feet long.
He used his right hand to pull a dagger from its sheath at his waist. The dagger was roughly forty centimetres long, and its scabbard was dark green in colour. The scabbard was made of tough leather, though he didn’t know whether it was leather from an animal, or from a spirit beast. He only knew that it was a present that his father had given to his mother. It had always been treasured by his mother, so much so that his mother had only given it to him the moment before she passed away.
The handle of the dagger was about seventeen centimetres long, and didn’t have any gorgeous decorations on it at all—it gave people a simple and unadorned feeling. Not only did it feel natural to hold, it also felt exceptionally comfortable.
It also didn’t make any noise when it was unsheathed. The twenty-three centimetre long blade was just like limpid autumn water, and seemed to be transparent. Huo Yuhao couldn’t help but shiver because of the dense, cold air around the knife, even though he seemed to be somewhat used to it.
The ‘White Tiger Dagger’. This was the dagger’s name, which his mother had told him.
As Huo Yuhao looked at the White Tiger Dagger, the excitement in his eyes instantly turned into a deep look of sadness. He seemed to see his mother’s figure in the blade’s reflection.
Holding the branch that he’d just snapped off in one hand, Huo Yuhao used the White Tiger Dagger to shave the front of it. When the blade, which was releasing a faint blue light, cut into the tree branch, it felt like cutting through tofu. After two or three cuts, the front of the tree branch had been sharpened.
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He sheathed the White Tiger Dagger at his waist, and walked back towards the stream with the sharpened branch in hand.
After taking a deep breath, his eyes immediately lit up. All of the minute details in the clear water were magnified within his eyes. He was now able to see the minute changes in the water’s ripples—even the small shrimps that lay in-between the cracks in the ground at the bottom of the river couldn’t escape the notice of his Spirit Eyes. Furthermore, everything seemed to slow down as he looked at it.
Suddenly, Huo Yuhao made a lightning fast move, and stabbed the sharpened branch he was holding into the stream.
“Pu—” When he raised his hand back up, and turned the tree branch upwards, a half-feet long mackerel had appeared on the tip of it.
To ordinary people, stabbing a fish was definitely something that required technique. However, this was something extremely easy for Huo Yuhao, who had the aid of the Spirit Eyes to help him accurately determine the position of the fish.
A single small fish was naturally not enough for him. After a few moments of casual labour, he’d stabbed ten mackerels that varied from seventeen centimetres in length, to thirty-three centimetres in length.
“This is good, it can last me for two days at the least. It won’t rot very easily if I roast it too.”
Huo Yuhao happily squatted down next to the stream, and used the White Tiger Dagger to gut the mackerels. The sharp White Tiger Dagger easily managed to cut through the fish, no matter if it was its scales, chest, or belly. This was no problem at all to Huo Yuhao, who’d been doing manual labor with his mother since he was young. The ten fish were all gutted after fifteen minutes.
He looked for some big leaves in the forest, and rinsed them off in the river. Then, he placed the gutted fishes on the wet leaves. After that, he found some dry twigs to use as firewood, and started a fire next to the stream after a moment of work.
Huo Yuhao only had salt available as a seasoning, but that was enough for something like roasted fish. He stuck the clean mackerels onto a thin branch, and rubbed some salt into their bellies. Then he took some leaves known as Purple Basil out of his bag, which he’d gotten in the forest a few days ago. He washed and separated the Purple Basil before pushing it into the bellies of the fish. Only after this did he start to roast the fish on the grill that he’d created using some thick branches.
It didn’t take long for an unusual smell to spread from the fire that he’d created. The smell was very heavy, and it contained a certain attraction that belonged solely to it. As Huo Yuhao slowly rotated the mackerels, they gradually turned golden. This, accompanied with that heavy aroma, was exceptionally enticing.
At first, he only roasted two of the fish, and set aside the others. If he had roasted too many of the fish in one go, it would’ve been quite easy for problems to occur while he was controlling the fire.
“How fragrant!”
A happy and delicate cry echoed out at that moment. The cry sounded both clear and pure, but it still startled Huo Yuhao.
He looked towards the source of the sound, and saw two people walking along the side of the stream. The person walking in front was a girl who looked to be around fifteen or sixteen, and had long black hair that was tied into a ponytail behind her. She wore a set of light blue, form-fitting warrior’s robes, which seemed to outline her budding and delicate body that was filled with youth.
She had phoenix-like eyes, which were both big and bright. She also had a raised nose, an almost perfect oval face, and a pretty and delicate face that was slightly happy as she fixed her gaze on Huo Yuhao’s roasted fish.
The person following behind her was a youth that seemed to be of the same age as her. His slender body was tall and straight, whilst his short, deep blue hair shone with a jade-like luster under the sunlight. Although he wasn’t old, he gave people a sort of scholarly feeling. His handsome face had a lazy yet warm smile on it, and his hands were rested on the back of his head. He also gazed in Huo Yuhao’s direction with an interested look. However, he wasn’t looking at the roasted fish, but at Huo Yuhao himself.