AN UNEXPECTED CRISIS (3)

'Roar!' The boar roared again and began to run towards Long Ming.

"I need to kill it quickly, a prolonged fight will only be dangerous and risky for me," the young man reflected internally as he saw the boar running towards him. Long Ming was somewhat afraid to see such a large creature coming his way; moreover, the boar was quite fast for its size. But he managed to temporarily suppress his fear and gathered all his courage to perform a move that should be deadly for the creature.

When the boar was less than a meter away from colliding with Long Ming, the young man leaned his body slightly, avoiding the boar's head, and took a step forward, positioning himself right beside where his spear was stuck.

Quickly, he grabbed the spear shaft with both hands and tried to pierce even deeper. 'Roar!' The boar roared in pain and slammed its body into Long Ming.

"Damn it!" Long Ming was unable to retreat this time and took the blow head-on, being thrown several meters before regaining his balance. Before he could think about what to do, the boar ran towards him again, this time even faster!

Hastily, he jumped as far as he could, dodging the giant boar's charge once again.

"Tsk, it's too strong, and its body is also resilient. If it hadn't run directly towards my spear, I wouldn't be able to pierce it. If I want to retrieve my spear, I'll need to immobilize it first..." countless possibilities ran through his head as he tried to formulate a plan to kill this creature.

"Hey! Over here!" His thoughts were interrupted when a familiar voice sounded in the distance.

"They've arrived!" They were the other hunters from the village, all wielding their spears and running towards him.

Long Ming felt relieved to see more help arriving, even though internally he questioned how useful they would be in this fight.

'Roar!'

The boar seemed to have become even more agitated upon realizing the approach of other people and, with a snort, charged in their direction.

"Dodge!" They were initially shocked by the size and speed of the boar, but quickly regained consciousness and dodged the monster.

"No...!" Once again, the boar didn't stop running just because its targets had dodged, and it continued running straight ahead, right towards the village wall.

Long Ming and all the others began shouting to try to attract the monster's attention, but it wasn't enough, and in a matter of seconds, it collided with the wall.

'Noise!'

A resounding noise echoed, and accompanied by a crack, the wooden wall broke, creating a huge opening. The boar seemed stunned by the impact, and all the hunters took this opportunity to run towards it and redirect its attention away from the village.

Long Ming ran as fast as he could and within seconds reached the hunters, skillfully grabbing a spear from one of them and throwing it with all his strength towards the boar, aiming at its back.

The air whistled as the spear tip began to cut through the wind and, like an arrow, sped towards the boar. From a distance, Long Ming could see that the spear got stuck in the boar's skin, although he doubted it had pierced its flesh.

Long Ming didn't stand still watching his throw and continued running as fast as he could towards the boar.

At the same time, the boar turned and also charged at Long Ming, apparently even faster than usual.

When they were close to each other, the boar lowered its head in a clear attempt to headbutt Long Ming. Taking advantage of this movement, Long Ming lightly jumped and spun his body in the air, hanging on top of the boar and facing its head.

'Roar!'

The creature began to shake from side to side, trying to throw Long Ming off, but the young man firmly grasped its fur and didn't let the boar's erratic movements knock him down.

The hunters, who had been running towards the village all this time, finally reached the boar and tried to surround it. Unfortunately, the size of the creature was extremely intimidating, and none of them seemed to have the courage to really confront the monster.

But when they saw Long Ming hanging on the creature's head, they gathered all their courage and advanced towards the monster, aiming the tips of their spears at seemingly weak points of the monster.

"How tough!" All the hunters felt as if they had tried to pierce an iron plate, and their hands became slightly numb because of it. They then looked with admiration at the two spears stuck in the creature's body before being forced to retreat when the boar began to move frantically again.

"Tsk," Long Ming became stressed when he noticed that the monster didn't seem affected at all by their efforts, but he contained his frustration as much as he could, and when he managed to regain some balance, he brought his hands to the creature's eyes and pierced them with his fingers!

'Roar!!'

The creature began to roar even louder and raised its front paws before starting to run towards one of the village houses.

Noticing this, Long Ming dug his fingers even deeper and tried to lift its head with his hands. The boar began to grunt in pain but didn't stop running, and within seconds crashed into one of the houses, breaking through its walls and falling to the ground.

Before the boar was knocked down, Long Ming jumped away, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the weight of the creature.

After landing, Long Ming ran instantly towards the boar and grabbed the spear stuck in its chest again. Then, using all his remaining strength, he drove the spear even deeper, piercing the heart and reaching the other side of the body.

The boar let out a few more cries of pain and writhed a few times before losing all its energy and dying.

Long Ming sat near the boar's body, trying to recover a bit from the exhaustion. At that moment, the adrenaline began to fade away, and he began to feel a lot of pain all over his body, especially on his side from that blow.

Soon after, the hunters approached Long Ming, completely tense, but when they confirmed that the creature had died, they visibly relaxed.

"Ah... is everyone okay...?" After catching his breath, Long Ming asked the hunters.

At his question, they fell silent and began to look at each other as if debating something mentally. Long Ming obviously noticed this and asked, tense, "What happened?"

"Wang Fei was trampled by the boar and unfortunately did not survive"

Long Ming froze completely, his whole body paralyzed, and it seemed like even his heart had stopped beating.

"My son!" At that moment, his father began to run towards him, shouting with obvious relief, desperation, and anger in his tone. Extremely complex emotions that no father would want to feel simultaneously.

As he approached Long Ming, his father seemed unsure of what to do, but in an instant, he moved closer to his son and hugged him. Long Ming mechanically returned the hug, and felt all the tension in his body drain away, making him instantly fall asleep.

His father, realizing this, lifted Long Ming's body and carried him to his bed before returning to help the others deal with the consequences left by the fight against the boar.

That same night, the village population held a celebration to commemorate the boar's death,

frying all the creature's meat, and afterward, they paid tribute to Wang Fei.

When everyone was already asleep, Long Ming left the village and began to wander through the forest, immersed in his thoughts.

Long Ming had many doubts about his encounter with that monster. To begin with, monsters are extremely territorial creatures and rarely leave their territories. Obviously, his community knew this and built the village in a strategic location, far from any monster territory.

Of course, monster attacks on villages were not a rare occurrence, and although far from common, they happened every year. So this wasn't an event to be suspected... that is, if it weren't for the bad omen that Long Ming had felt almost six months in advance.

It turns out that if he hadn't trained since then, creating that manual and training to this point, it wouldn't be impossible for his entire village to be wiped out.

Even though Long Ming hadn't come out with major injuries, it was only because of his strength, which had grown tremendously every day, and mainly because he was already prepared when he noticed the monster's approach.

So if the monster had appeared a few days earlier when he was still very weak, it was possible that he would have been seriously injured, and who knows if the boar wouldn't have killed him. On the other hand, if the boar appeared a few days later, Long Ming could be too strong to feel threatened by it and would be able to drive it away without much effort.

Therefore, the boar appeared at the right time to test him, acting as a rather serious challenge but not to the point of killing him. It was like...

"A machination of destiny..."

Obviously, thinking that his encounter with a boar was something planned by 'destiny' seemed quite absurd, and even Long Ming wouldn't take this theory seriously if it weren't for the perfect timing of all these circumstances. Be it that dream that motivated him to become a cultivator or his intuition that made him patrol the village shortly before the boar appeared.

"A destiny fraught with trials and opportunities... where dangers intertwine with rewards, and those capable of overcoming the adversities of destiny become immensely powerful..." he began to recite the information he remembered from that cultivation book, as well as his own musings on what it meant to tread the path of cultivation.

"When one begins to cultivate, the cultivator will undergo various challenges and tribulations, which serve as a kind of test to see if they are fit to remain on this path and, mainly, to progress. According to the book, this is what they call providence, a destiny granted by the Dao itself, of wealth and difficulties, to all mortals.

Those with great providence are destined for greatness, but they will also go through various trials and adversities. While those with little providence will remain in mediocrity for the rest of their lives, but this also means they will not suffer great tribulations.

Of course, the destinies of all mortals intertwine, and one's tribulation converges on the tribulation of others. Making even those with low providence go through great tribulations if they are affiliated with those with great providence..." at that moment, he had arrived at a lake, where they used to fetch water and even bathe.

Observing the darkness all around him, contrasting with the moonlight reflecting on the lake water, he decided to take a bath to try to clear his mind.

The lake water was obviously quite cold, but due to his trained body, he barely noticed this temperature change and, in fact, found it quite pleasant to be in that place.

"But this feeling of danger comes long before my encounter with that book, even if it was in an imperceptible dose. This tribulation, if it really is a tribulation, didn't happen because I decided to start cultivating.

In fact, this decision of mine can even be considered an unconscious attempt to prepare myself for this tribulation..." Long Ming began to observe the night sky. He didn't know why, but that landscape always brought him peace, although it was also laden with a feeling of melancholy.

"If I'm right... I'll go through other tribulations, perhaps even more dangerous than that boar..." he closed his eyes as he thought about it, and in his mind, a familiar face appeared.

It was Wang Fei's face, then the faces of other people also appeared in his mind, overlaying Wang Fei's face.

"I can't let my destiny kill those important to me," after speaking these words, he opened his eyes. In the depths of his gaze, there was an unwavering determination, along with a conviction that seemed capable of breaking a mountain with only his willpower.

So Long Ming left the lake, put on his clothes, and continued walking. But this time, he was walking even farther from his village, and possibly would never return.