The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

"Ascending step by step!"

Zhao Jun’s voice drifted downwind.

In the gully, Liu the Fifth and Jiang the Third, who were digging for dandelions, were both stunned.

"Elder San, listen to that!" Liu the Fifth couldn’t tell which direction the voice was coming from and just shouted to Jiang the Third, "It’s been no time at all, and he’s already found another Lantern Platform!"

The "Ascending step by step" that Zhao Jun had shouted was the call for a Lantern Platform. It was just that, like with a Second-class Ginseng, when you made a mountain call, you couldn’t shout "Lantern Platform." You had to shout "Ascending step by step."

Jiang the Third stopped digging for wild vegetables. He stood up, straining his ears and looking around, but after a long while, he still couldn’t figure out where the voice was coming from.

This was normal. Many hunters who went into the mountains would hear a bear roar in the distance but be unable to pinpoint its exact location.

This was called "failing to read the mountain."

Jiang the Third turned in a circle, still unsure of the Mountain Man’s location. But when he remembered that the calls for the "Mountain-Opening Key" and "Ascending step by step" were less than five minutes apart, he said bitterly, "Is this motherfucker just playing games in the mountains? He’s gotta be bullshitting, right?"

You had to understand, this wasn’t July or August. Right now, the foliage was dense, the grass was just sprouting, and the Ginseng seedlings had only just begun to bud. You couldn’t even see the Red Hammer, so how could anyone find Ginseng?

There was a Mrs. Elder Xiao who had come with Jiang the Third and Liu the Fifth to gather wild vegetables. Her husband, when he was alive, had possessed this kind of skill. But since the old man died, Jiang the Third really didn’t know anyone in the surrounding villages who had such an ability.

"Brother, how on earth did you find this?" At this point, Zhang Yuanmin had forgotten everything else, rushing over to Zhao Jun to ask.

Zhao Jun had already cleared away the layer of soil covering the Ginseng. He was using a small stick to gently push aside the dirt clinging to it. This soil was tangled with fine Ginseng roots, and if they broke, the plant’s form would be incomplete, and it wouldn’t fetch a high price.

After all, a Ginseng’s value wasn’t determined by its size, but by its overall form. A good Ginseng plant had to have a complete Rush Head, roots, shape, and body—not a single part missing.

Normally, one should use a Deer Antler Key and a deer bone pick at this stage. But Zhao Jun didn’t have those tools on hand, so he simply picked up a small wooden stick and began working with it.

This didn’t faze Zhao Jun. In his past life, when he was a Mountain Man in Lesozavodsk, in the Rakshasa Country, he would spend a month at a time alone in the primeval forest.

That was true wilderness survival. He often went hungry and was barely clothed. The only essential item he carried was one thing: US Dollars.

While US Dollars couldn’t be eaten or drunk, at a moment of life and death, they could be used to buy his life.

Because in those mountains, there were local Elder Russians. The moment these Elder Russians encountered a Mountain Man from the Divine Land, they would immediately raise their guns. If you wanted to live, you had to raise your hands high and shout, "Dolla! Dolla!"

Hearing the word for US Dollars, the Elder Russians would approach. They’d take the money, along with all the harvested Ginseng and living supplies, but they would spare your life.

But if you had no US Dollars, it was a bullet to the head. Then, they would loot everything from the corpse.

Especially the Ginseng.

Although these Elder Russians had no Mountain Man culture, they knew they could take the Ginseng to the city and sell it to people from China.

Getting money was secondary; the main prize was Chinese white liquor. To them, that was the best thing in the world.

Zhao Jun survived in those mountains for five years. For those five years, he lived in constant fear, with his life hanging by a thread every single day.

And among the people Zhao Jun knew, no fewer than ten had entered those deep, old forests and were never heard from again.

Therefore, whenever he dug up a Ginseng, he would wrap it carefully and hide it, only retrieving them one by one when it was time to leave the mountains.

This harsh environment had forced Zhao Jun to master the skill of unearthing Ginseng without any tools.

Now, he was using that small stick to push away the loose soil beside the Ginseng roots, his movements gentle yet swift.

What was even more impressive was that he could carry on a conversation with Zhang Yuanmin while unearthing the Ginseng. He pointed east, toward the spot where the two Second-class ones had been found, and said to Zhang Yuanmin, "Those old-timers, didn’t they dig up some Sixth-grade Leaves? It was right in that area."

"You even know that!" Zhang Yuanmin exclaimed in amazement. Squatting beside Zhao Jun, he said, "Brother, I won’t dig up that Second-class one. I’ll wait for you to do it."

"Alright." Zhao Jun’s hands were a little out of practice, but he was still fast at unearthing the Ginseng. Just as the Rush Head was exposed and he was about to dig deeper, his movements suddenly paused.

A small branch extended from the Ginseng. In the trade, this was called a "sea-crosser."

Right then, the sea-crosser was pointing directly at Zhao Jun. He stood up, walked around to the other side, and looked up the slope.

After watching for a moment, Zhao Jun shifted his gaze back to the spot where the two Second-class Ginsengs had been found.

"Brother, what’s wrong?" Zhang Yuanmin stood up and followed Zhao Jun’s gaze. He looked this way and that, but he couldn’t see anything besides a hillside covered in dead branches and rotten leaves.

"Big Brother," Zhao Jun said to Zhang Yuanmin very seriously, "after we go back today, you can’t tell anyone that we found Ginseng here."

"Right, right." Zhang Yuanmin nodded repeatedly. "Brother, I’ll listen to you."

"Good." Zhao Jun glanced left and right, then turned back to Zhang Yuanmin. "Big Brother, this place can produce a huge find!"

"Huh? Really?" Zhang Yuanmin was both shocked and delighted to hear this. Although he wasn’t a Mountain Man, he knew what a "huge find" meant.

"Really." Zhao Jun nodded. "There’s at least one more Fifth-grade leaf plant and one Fourth-grade leaf plant here."

"A Fifth-grade leaf... Really?!"

"It’s true." Zhao Jun looked around, frowning. "I can’t tell if there are any Sixth-grade Leaves yet. I’ll only know once I have the Fifth Grade one in my hand."

"Whoa, Brother, you can tell all that? How do you see it?" After speaking, Zhang Yuanmin scanned the surroundings, but all he could see were trees, dead branches, and rotten leaves.

Hearing this, Zhao Jun laughed heartily. "Big Brother, that’s something I can’t teach you. It can only be passed down to my son."

Zhang Yuanmin smiled, not taking it to heart. "Of course, of course. I was just curious."

"Alright, Big Brother, don’t be so curious." Zhao Jun pointed around them. "Go see if you can strip off some moss and pine bark. We’ll need it to wrap the Ginseng in a bit."

"Hey, you got it." Zhang Yuanmin agreed instantly. "That’s easy. Just watch me, Brother."

With that, Zhang Yuanmin left, and Zhao Jun squatted back down to continue unearthing the Ginseng.

By the time he had lifted the Lantern Platform out, Zhang Yuanmin, who had been waiting nearby, came over with the moss and pine bark. He set the bark aside and held a piece of moss in both hands.

Zhao Jun placed the Ginseng onto the moss and gently gathered its fine roots. Then, like rolling a scallion in a pancake, he used the moss to wrap up the Ginseng.

This was to prevent damage from bumps and, more importantly, to keep it moist and preserve the Ginseng’s natural water content.

Then, he wrapped the outside with pine bark. This was called a Ginseng Bun. From ancient times to the present day, this is how Mountain Men have always handled harvested Ginseng.

"Brother," Zhang Yuanmin asked as he tied the pine bark roll with a small, thin string, "we should sell this Ginseng quickly, right?"

Unlike Bear Gall, which can be stored, it was best to sell Ginseng as quickly as possible after it was unearthed.

"Yeah." Zhao Jun thought for a moment before saying, "Tomorrow morning, Big Brother, you’ll come up the mountain with me. I need to find someone."