Volume 1: Wind Rising From the Mountains and Swamps Chapter 6: Small Crossbow
The morning mist filled the valley lightly, and the top of the immortal's head was like a thin veil.
For some reason, the master didn't call him today. Xiaoyi didn't care. He drew his sword and ran outside the yard to practice the eight-style Xuanyuan sword technique. Still unsatisfied, he wanted to try the last five sword techniques. However, there was no body shape or footwork in these five sword techniques, so he couldn't perform them at all. He had to memorize the five mysterious sword techniques in his mind, and then he gave up unwillingly.
After practicing sword, Xiaoyi went to the kitchen to wipe his face with clean water, ran into his room, and hung the sword on the wall again. He moved the big box next to the bed. Under the box was a small hole that Xiaoyi dug, which was one foot square, and there were a few books and a small bundle in it.
All the valuable belongings of the master and apprentice were here. Since Xiaoyi turned thirteen, the master gave these to Xiaoyi for safekeeping. But he couldn't always carry these things with him on weekdays, for fear of losing them, so Xiaoyi dug such a small hole in a unique way. Even if someone really came to the mountain, no one would notice that there was a secret hidden under the box of the shabby and simple hut. For this, Xiaoyi was secretly proud of himself for a long time.
Xiaoyi took out about twenty taels of silver and put it in his arms, covered the wooden box on it, then patted the dust on his palm and returned to the yard. Seeing that the master still didn't move, he ran down the mountain.
There is a mountain road more than three miles long from the top of the fairy to the foot of the mountain. Xiaoyi's legs were light and he ran to the foot of the mountain in a short time, turned around the crooked mountain gate, and went straight to the back of the mountain.
The trees behind the mountain were tall and dense, and the huge tree canopy covered the sky and the sun, wrapping the valley behind the mountain tightly. Going in along the path, it is a different world. There are two paths at the entrance of the valley. The left path goes through the foot of Xianren Peak and goes deep into the valley. The right path leads to a small hill not far from Xianren Peak, where Lao Lu lives.
Lao Lu is now over 50 years old. His ancestors were also disciples of Xuanyuan Temple. After Xuanyuan Temple gradually declined, Lao Lu's ancestors could not bear to abandon the mountain gate, so they built a hut here. From then on, Lao Lu's ancestors became hunters in Taiping Mountain. He has a son, but he is unwilling to die in the mountain cave like his ancestors. After Lao Lu's wife died, his son went to work as a blacksmith outside the mountain, leaving Lao Lu alone to live here.
Lao Lu usually takes care of the young master and apprentice when hunting wild animals and pickling wild game. When the master and apprentice leave the mountain, Lao Lu will also go to the mountain to take care of them. The master and apprentice get along very closely with Lao Lu.
Although Lao Lu is free in the mountains, his life is also poor. Therefore, since Xiaoyi and his apprentice had some money in hand, it was only natural for them to come to Lao Lu to help him.
Xiaoyi ran up the hill and approached a wooden house.
The wooden house was built next to several towering trees, and there was still morning mist floating nearby. In this season, it was cool under the trees, and the treetops occasionally swayed. The morning light penetrated the gaps between the trees and sprinkled on the wooden house. Mottled shadows moved in the open space in the forest.
This is a quiet place.
"Uncle Lu, is Uncle Lu here?"
Xiaoyi howled with his neck stretched, then rubbed his nose and smiled mischievously, looking around.
"It's Xiaoyi!"
With a slightly hoarse voice, a slightly old man walked out of the hut. He had a short beard mixed with black and gray, and his red face was full of wrinkles. He was not tall, his back was a little hunched, but his waist was strong. He held an axe in his big hands full of blue veins, and looked at Xiaoyi with a smile.
"What are you doing, Uncle Lu? My master asked me to come and see you!" Xiaoyi also answered with a smile, but his eyes were curiously staring at Lao Lu's axe, and a trace of blood red on the axe was clearly visible.
"Is the Taoist priest okay? I haven't seen the old Taoist priest for a while!"
Lao Lu smiled and waved the axe in his hand, and then said: "Haha, you have a good meal today! Uncle, I killed a wild goat this morning, and I will bring half of it to your master later. Xiaoyi, come in and take a look!"
Xiaoyi followed Lao Lu into the wooden house, which was a little dim inside. On the ground at the back door of the wooden house, a wild goat with its head chopped off was placed on a bluestone. When Xiaoyi came, Lao Lu was preparing to skin the goat.
Xiaoyi didn't like bloody scenes, so he looked around the hut. When he saw a small crossbow hanging on the wall, he took it down and fiddled with it.
Lao Lu continued to skin and debone the goat. When he turned around and saw the crossbow in Xiaoyi's hand, he smiled and said, "This is made by your brother Lu with the deer tendons I hunted. He just gave it to me two days ago. But I'm old and my eyesight is not very good. How about giving it to Xiaoyi if Xiaoyi likes it?".
Xiaoyi took it in his hand and couldn't let it go. His childish habits were fully revealed. He heard Lao Lu say this and replied happily, "Haha! Thank you, Uncle Lu, and thank you, Brother Lu!"
After that, he looked at the small crossbow in his hand again with joy. The crossbow was made of red hardwood and was very small and exquisite. Xiaoyi saw that there was a fine steel ring in front of the crossbow. He tried the deer tendons and felt very tough. So he stepped on the ring and gently pulled his arm to hang the bowstring. Old Lu looked back and said to Xiao Yi, "There are a few arrows in the leather bag on the wooden bench. Xiao Yi can try shooting them."
How could Xiao Yi be impatient? He picked up the equally exquisite leather bag and saw ten arrows inside. He quickly hung it around his neck. Then he seemed to remember something and put the silver in his arms on the bench. He said to Old Lu, "Uncle Lu, I'll take a walk first. The silver on the bench is the silver my master gave you." Then he ran out.
Old Lu heard the voice and saw that it was a small pile of silver. He quickly stood up and said, "This is not possible!"
My son worked as a blacksmith for a year and only earned a few taels of silver. Twenty taels of silver was a great fortune for a poor family. Old Lu, who knew the situation of Taoist Qingyun and his apprentice, could not accept so much silver from him.
"It's okay! My master has made a fortune, Uncle Lu, you can take it! Just accompany my master to drink a few more times."
Xiaoyi ran down without looking back.
Old Lu hurriedly shouted: "Don't hurt yourself! Remember to come back to get the goat meat!"
Xiaoyi couldn't hear it, and ran away in the blink of an eye.
Looking at Xiaoyi's back, Old Lu smiled helplessly and shook his head.
Xiaoyi ran to the fork in the road just now.
Looking at the path leading to the depths of the valley, he thought that there was no one in the deep valley, and there were many birds and beasts. It was a good place to practice with a small crossbow.
Xiaoyi took out an arrow from the deerskin bag and placed it in the quiver. The fine steel arrowhead flashed silver and was extremely sharp. He laughed happily: Uncle Lu is so nice! Haha, I wonder how powerful this small crossbow is.
Raising the small crossbow in his hand, Xiaoyi pulled the trigger towards the tree trunk about 40 to 50 steps deep in the valley. He only heard the sound of the string "bang" in his ears, and the arrowhead shot out with a "swoosh" sound, and "ding" sounded deeply wedged into the tree trunk.
Haha! It shot so far! Xiaoyi jumped to the tree trunk and saw that the arrowhead had penetrated three inches into the wood. He marveled at the power of the small crossbow, and a little regretted the accuracy of his hand, so he pulled out the arrowhead with force and walked towards the valley where he rarely went deep.
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