Mao County is abundant with mountains and water, and the area where the Lin Family Manor is located is even more rugged and steep.

Closely adjacent to the three connected mountains east of Lin Family Manor is territory belonging to Lin Wanwan, granted to her by the court, facilitated by Xiao Chong.

Her armed base is built in her mountains, with Baye Feng overseeing the daily operations.

The elevation of these three mountains is not high, and they feature considerable valleys and mountaintop plains. The terrain is not particularly dangerous.

Although these three mountains are relatively easy to climb and collect mountain goods from, since the court designated them as Lin Wanwan’s private property, and government officials have set boundary stones, the local people within a ten-mile radius naturally avoid entering them.

As the area of nobility, the instinctively cautious and risk-averse populace naturally keeps a respectful distance.

Therefore, the place where the Lin Family Manor clan members plan to hunt this time is not within Lin Wanwan’s mountains, but located in the deep forests northwest of Lin Family Manor.

The mountains in the northwest are much steeper and more perilous than those east of Lin Wanwan’s mountains, with much denser vegetation.

From Lin Family Manor, they are within visible distance but will exhaust a person traversing them.

Unless everyone rides horses, if relying on foot, they must circumvent quite a bit of mountain road.

Unlike modern times, where opening tunnels for convenience is common in the mountains.

In the Great Tang, the concept of tunnels through mountains was indeed a fantasy.

To have a well-maintained mountain road for everyone to navigate is already a result of Lin Wanwan sparing no expense.

Speaking of which, the geographical location of Lin Family Manor is extremely remote and poor.

Not only is it in the mountain gorge, but it is also closest to the sea, surrounded by saline and alkaline land, with very few arable fields.

It’s the typical seven mountains, two waters, and one field situation, with poor land resources, destined for poverty.

The direct distance from Lin Family Manor to Wanghai Town is merely three kilometers, yet including Lin Family Manor within Shangao Village, going to Wanghai Town is difficult, requiring crossing mountains and ridges.

Due to difficult mountain roads and lack of transportation, if walking purely, a round trip to Wanghai Town takes half a day’s time, not to mention going to the county seat’s Xiaoxi Town.

If encountering any poisonous insects or fierce beasts along the way, it becomes even more dangerous.

Based on such transportation conditions, there are many people living in the mountains and by the sea who never leave their village or enter a town in their lifetime.

Before Lin Wanwan repaired the road, seventy to eighty percent of Lin Family Manor’s people had never been to a town. To buy any living supplies, they entrusted clan members who went into town to bring them back.

Only after Lin Wanwan came to Lin Family Manor, repairing roads and docks, leading the entire clan to prosper, did the clan gradually begin to have the first donkey carts, ox carts, and other transportation tools.

With a spacious mountain road and convenient transportation tools, people’s connections to the town began to increase.

When Lin Wanwan first came to Lin Family Manor, she rode a small single-horse carriage which couldn’t even enter the village entrance.

But now, beyond the carriage, even the spacious two-wheeled cart pulled by a donkey can freely enter and exit the village road.

Those big merchants vying to collect cotton cloth all come with donkey carts and even forbidden large horse-drawn carts.

With spacious mountain roads, the group quickly reached the foot of West Mountain.

This mountain is full of beasts, and at night you can always hear the eerie cries, so few people usually enter here.

Fewer people have walked this mountain path, making it even less clear, as the world’s paths are often established by people over the years.

Currently, Lin Mengbo and Lin Mengjin, leading the way in front, need to occasionally wield sickles to open a path by cutting through overgrowth.

As for why they must hunt in this steep and treacherous mountain, just look at this short stretch of road at the foot of the mountain. The team’s two hunting dogs, along with the lynx from Lin Wanwan’s family, have already brought several red-bellied squirrels and two wild chickens to their owners.

The absence of human intrusion, the greatest threat, means the animals in this mountain have nearly overflowed.

Where there are squirrels, there will certainly be chestnuts, hazelnuts, and wild walnuts hidden in tree holes for winter.

Lin Mengbo, with great experience, leads everyone to catch red-bellied squirrels while also digging into their tree holes.

Aside from hunting dogs and the lynx, even the Qingyu falcon in the sky contributes by stunning several birds as offerings.

This includes the crested tern, a protected animal in later times.

If these crested terns hadn’t been killed outright by Qingyu, Lin Wanwan would never have thought of roasting, dipping, or steaming them.

She would likely release these rare animals to the modern world through the Space-Time Gate, thus protecting both animals and environment while upgrading the Gate.

Lin Wanwan observed the squirrels bitten to death by the lynx and hunting dogs, and watched the clan members swiftly skinning and bleeding them, feeling offended, as her seemingly morally superior tendencies acted up.

She just isn’t suited to mountain hunting; these are just squirrels and birds, yet she already feels guilty. How will she hunt innocent and adorable sika deer and clumsy bear cubs later?

Which is why Lin Wanwan can sometimes appear hypocritical; seeing squirrels and protected animals killed, she feels it’s cruel, yet she shows no hesitation eating pork, lamb, beef, chicken, duck, goose, and even roasted pigeons.

She’s the kind who will exclaim how cute little bunnies are, while turning to the chef discussing whether to braise or spice them up.

Heading into the mountain, Lin Wanwan completely lacked opportunity to fire a gun and barely needed to shoot arrows.

The lynx and Qingyu falcon, trained by A-Jing and A-Li, are simply perfect hunting tools.

With this duo appearing, it spells disaster for the small animals in the mountain.

Entering the mountain, Kun Lun specifically carried prey, having already successfully hunted two little white rabbits.

The lynx, as a member of the Qingyu animal army, was specially trained by hunters before being given to Qingyu by Xiao Chong. With its stage set in the mountain, its hunting instincts and skills engraved in childhood memories were triggered, making it unstoppable.

Moreover, this lynx seems almost intelligent, preferring to sneak up quietly after locating prey, observing without a sound, then finally launching a thunderous attack to surprise and conquer.

It has a somewhat sinister and cunning feel, yet is impressive nonetheless.

Lin Mengbo and others, witnessing the lynx’s effortless hunting posture, were enviously red-eyed.

The hunting dogs they raised pale in flexibility and intelligence compared to the lynx.

"Wanwan, your lynx is truly impressive," Lin Mengbo remarked.

Lin Wanwan thought: indeed, and it was personally given by the nobles.

Nobles worldwide always have many people serving them.