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‘Dang!’

With an ear-splitting clear ringing noise, both the arrow and the iron shield shattered into pieces at the same time.

As if nothing had happened, Xu Ziling brushed away the debris on his clothes and said with a smile, “It is indeed a divine bow.”

Watching that, Ren Jun and Jian Dashi were dumbstruck. Before then, they never would have thought that Kou Zhong could shatter an iron shield five hundred paces away. Such archery method, and the strength behind it, could be considered unrivaled in the world.

This was the wide archery practice field next to Jian Dashi’s factory. After unearthing the divine bows he buried at the rear court, Jian Dashi move the troops here to test the bows.

The Extinguished Sun and Perished Moon bows were not made of ordinary wood. The body of the bow was reinforced using special strands of steel wire twisted around it, which not only increased its elasticity, but made it incomparably solid as well. The best feature was that it could be folded into three sections, so that it was easy to store. The bowstring was made of fine steel wire. It was indeed the work of seizing-the-heaven skill; no wonder there were people willing to bid a thousand taels of gold for it.

Ordinarily, a bow requiring thirty stones of force to pull could already be considered extraordinary. The Extinguished Sun and Perished Moon were two-hundred-stone strong bows; those with a bit less strength would not be able to pull. Yet Kou Zhong was able to casually pull the bow into a full moon, which already stunned Jian Dashi.

Kou Zhong loved it so much that he did not want to part with it. Playing with the divine bow in his hands, he clicked his tongue in wonder and said, “Unexpectedly there is such an amazing bow in the world; it is really beyond anybody’s expectation.”

Xu Ziling walked over toward the three men, “Extremely formidable,” he commented, “If I did not use the power to protect my body, I am afraid I would have been shocked to injury. But if I injected my true qi into the shield, the one shattered would be the arrow.”

Kou Zhong said, “If I have an endless supply of arrows, even if the opposite side has many men, a great force, caught off-guard, they would surely suffer a big loss. In the desert, on the prairie, combined with the horses’ speed, the shooting range will be twice as good as the enemy’s, I guarantee we will be able to kill Shen Mohuan’s Sha Bang, turning them into rivers of blood, in utter defeat.”

Jian Dashi came back to his senses. He sighed and said, “Only two gentlemen are worthy to use my Extinguished Sun and Perished Moon. If two gentlemen can use these to shoot dead Shen Mohuan, I will be very grateful.”

Kou Zhong patted his shoulder and spoke earnestly, “Since Dashi has this desire, we will definitely give consideration to your wish.”

It was as if Jian Dashi has become a different person. Excited, he said, “You wait here for a moment, I will be back soon.”

Finished speaking, he returned to the factory. Kou Zhong handed the Extinguished Sun to Ren Jun and said, “Treasured bow is not easy to find, Xiao Jun, you give it a try.”

Ren Jun raised the bow and pulled the string; straining, he pulled only halfway, and already he had to stop since his strength was exhausted. The bowstring vibrated back and forth on the bow, creating a buzzing noise.

His face turned beet-red, he said in disgrace, “I still do not have the qualifications to use this bow.”

Xu Ziling raised his own Perishing Moon Bow and said with a smile, “Pulling the bow, you can’t used your arm’s dead force; you must use true qi concentrated through the whole body, using the strength of the entire body to pull the bow, like this.”

Just like Kou Zhong, he effortlessly pulled the bow into a full moon.

Ren Jun calmed his qi down, he was quiet for a moment, and then slowly pulled the bow. This time, sure enough, he managed to pull the bowstring open. In his great delight, his qi immediately leaked out, he hurriedly let go, while blurting out, “Xiaozi benefits from the instruction!”

Seeing how he was receptive to their teaching, Kou Zhong cheerfully said, “The only thing you lack right now is some real combat experience; when we get to Shanhai Pass, you must give Du Xing a nice surprise, let him know that it’s a mistake to assume that there is no talent under Da Xiaojie’s command.”

Ren Jun wanted to say something but then hesitated. Xu Ziling said, “Whatever it is you wanted to say, you might as well say it.”

Hanging his head down, Ren Jun said, “Being together with two Ye’er for some time is the happiest moment in Xiao Jun’s life; if two Ye’er bestow permission, Xiao Jun wishes to come with two Ye’er outside the Pass to gain experience, while also serving two Ye’er in everyday life and take care of the horses.”

Kou Zhong said, “If we let you coming with us taking risks outside the Pass, we will only bring harm to you. If you can strive untiringly, in two years your saber technique will achieve small success; besides, Da Xiaojie needs a martial art master like you by her side. Trust us! This is your best choice, going to Shanhai Pass is enough for you.”

Ren Jun could not hide his disappointment, but he still bent his head and received the instruction, “Xiaozi follows your orders,” he said.

This moment Jian Dashi came back; his steps were light and quick, his left and right hands each carried a bulging bag, he said, “These are my specially cast hollow iron bullets, very difficult to aim accurately, but of course to you guys there shouldn’t be any problem. Each pouch contains three hundred pieces, they could complement the arrows if you don’t have enough.”

Greatly delighted, Kou Zhong picked one bullet from the pouch. Lifting it high in front of his eyes, he laughed aloud and said, “This time there will be a lot of people outside the Great Wall who are going to encounter disaster!”

Xu Ziling folded the Perished Moon Bow and hid it in the pocket inside his robe. Clapping his as-empty-as-anything hands, he said, “We might as well don’t carry any arrows, use the iron bullet to take the enemy, and when the iron bullets are exhausted, we could randomly find some tree branches and use them as arrows.”

Sneering, Kou Zhong said, “Why make so much trouble? After killing the enemy, won’t we have an endless supply of arrows?”

Jian Dashi threw his head back and laughed heartily; his extreme delight swept away his deep gloomy air.

Successful in acquiring the bows, they returned to the Mansion. Xing Wenxiu, Zhuang Gong, and Liu Datian naturally did not expect it. Seeing the ghost-axe miracle of the two folding bows, they were even more amazed.

Kou Zhong remembered something. He explained the Da Dao She affair to Xing Wenxiu, and asked whether he had a way to scout some information.

Xing Wenxiu said, “Yuyang and Beiping are escort agencies’ two big stations standing side-by-side left and right of the border fort; they will always stop either here or there. Such a big escort agency like Zhong Ye described, you only need to check guest houses and inns, you will immediately find what you are looking for. Let Xiuwen go to investigate immediately.”

The three took this opportunity to freshen up. Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling went to see their two beloved horses to spend some time to pet them, before going to the small hall in the inner residence to talk.

After sitting down, Kou Zhong said, “It looks like our trip outside the Great Wall this time is specifically on an assassination mission. On the list, other than Du Xing, Hu Yanjin and Han Chao’an, there is also Shen Mohuan, this ”

Xu Ziling said, “Shen Mohuan is a man whose death cannot wipe out his crimes. If Du Xing is really the Tujue’s hunting dog, he also must die. As for Hu Yanjin and Han Chao’an, whether they are related to the sheepskin robbery, even Da Xiaojie herself is still unclear. We must proceed with caution.”

Kou Zhong said, “Hu Yanjin is Qidan horse thief. Just look at Ku Ge! A grandiose son of a king, unexpectedly he went to the Central Earth as a bandit to kill people and rob their belongings. The rest can be imagined.”

Xu Ziling said, “Old Ba was also a horse thief; is he a good person or a bad person?”

Scratching his head, Kou Zhong said, “Honestly, until now, I am still unclear whether Old Ba is a good man or a bad man.”

Xu Ziling said, “I just want to remind you that although we must not be softhearted toward those who ought to be killed, we should not presumptuously kill the innocents as well. To Han people, Hu Yanjin is a horse thief who is wicked beyond redemption, but to his own tribesmen, Hu Yanjin could very well be a national hero. How many good things have we, Han people, done for them? Just think about Yang Guang sending military expedition far away to Gaoli, majestically leading his mother’s more than a million strong army, setting off from Zhuoxian, their route took them across Qidan, Shiwei, and other places where these outer tribes roam and live; how enormous was the damage and destruction that they caused? I heard that when the Sui Army entered Gaoli capital Pingrang [Pyongyang], due to Sui Army wantonly raped and plundered the people, the discipline of the army was so bad, unexpectedly they were unable to regroup and form battle formation, the ambushing Gaoli army in the middle of the city seized the opportunity to strike back, and dealt serious blow to the Sui Army. Niang coming to the Central Plains to assassinate Yang Guang, it was precisely because Gaoli people’s hatred toward us was as deep as the ocean.”

Staring blankly, Kou Zhong said, “You are right. I was only thinking of spreading out my divine might, to test the Extinguished Sun Bow’s formidable power. We see them as robbers, perhaps they are just protecting their own people. Ay! The moment the blades are clashing against each other, must we still speak about compassion, duty, propriety and integrity with them, to elaborate the reasons why they shouldn’t be killed?”

“Don’t overdo it,” Xu Ziling said, “I am just pointing out that we should act cautiously and must not randomly open the monastic discipline against killing. Currently, it is only because the Central Earth’s nation is in chaos, its power weak – that one after another various outside tribes are striking back at us, Han people. This kind of dispute and hatred is not something that can be resolved in one morning or half a night. In the future, if you become a hegemon in the Central Plain, you must try to build good relations with outside tribes; everybody live and coexist in peace, then I won’t be worried when you become the emperor.”

Kou Zhong dejectedly said, “The emperor! Ay! The night before yesterday I dreamed about Luoyang being captured, everybody died except me, alone, I staked everything to escape, but my pair of legs refused to obey my order. Fortunately, I woke up before Li kid managed to overtake me.”

Xu Ziling was silent and did not say anything. Kou Zhong was puzzled, he said, “Turns out wanting to be the emperor, I can’t even have a good dream; why didn’t you take the opportunity to persuade me to give up contending over the world?”

Xu Ziling stared at him fixedly for half a day. He shook his head and said, “Although your mood fluctuation is easy to rise and easy to fall, but coursing through your body is ambitious and aggressive blood. No matter what blow you receive, you are able to recover very quickly. This time you are going outside the Great Wall, the main purpose is to stealthily learn cavalry battle skill from the Tujue, simply because you have witnessed the Tang Army’s formidable might, realizing that if you don’t catch up urgently, you might fail and being wiped over the floor on the battlefield.”

Kou Zhong’s tiger-eyes shone, he laughed and said, “Nobody knows me better than Ziling. Precisely because no one thinks highly of me that I must bestir myself, to strive unremittingly. Ha! If my power is great and Li kid is weak, perhaps I would let him have the title as the emperor.”

Xu Ziling smiled bitterly without saying anything.

Xing Wenxiu came back at this time, sat by the two and said, “I found a secret society member who is familiar with Da Dao She’s affair. Unexpectedly he did not know about the escort job this time; evidently Da Dao She’s method in escorting the goods this time is unusual, very likely they are not going to enter any big city, to keep their route a secret.”

Kou Zhong said, “In that case we’ll settle the account with those swindlers when we get to Shanhai Pass.”

Xing Wenxiu said, “I also received another information: because of the Anle Tragedy, the section of the road from here to Shanhai Pass might surge like a gathering storm, fights break frequently.”

“What is Anle Tragedy?” Xu Ziling asked.

Xing Wenxiu replied, “Anle County is another big city north of Yuyang. The biggest secret society in the city is Anle Bang [gang]. The Bangzhu, Lu Ping, is a person of virtue and prestige, with a vast circle of friends, obtaining respect from others. Because he was tracking down a robbery case with violence, he offended Lang Gu [wolf valley] people. Unexpectedly the Lang Gu bunch of robbers, taking martial art masters with them, sneaked into the city, and in one night massacred Lu Ping’s family, from top to bottom, more than a hundred people, even young children and pregnant women did not escape. They also burned Lu home into ashes; the fire even spread to neighboring homes and destroyed dozens of houses. The number of innocent victims reaches several hundred. This matter provoked northern territory Wulin’s public indignation. For the first time in history, the gangs and societies who had always done things each in their own way – unite to seek justice for the dead.”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked into each other’s eyes, both could see the murderous aura in the other’s eyes. Unexpectedly there were such savage and brutal people in the world.

“Where is this Lang Gu?” Xu Ziling asked.

Xing Wenxiu replied, “Lang Gu is just a small village where the ‘Hungry Wolf’ Cui Wang came from. The wolf-bandits under his command’s whereabouts is stealthy, they come and go like the wind, their specialty is robbing the traveling merchants coming and going through the border, those who resist will be killed without mercy, during their operation they always wear black hood and mask, afterwards they simply scattered everywhere, so they could be anybody around you. Although Gao Kaidao is offering huge reward, he still fails to arrest them and bring them to justice.”

Knitting his brows, Kou Zhong said, “How many are they? They can’t possibly have smooth sailing each time they make their move; as long as we can catch one or even half, won’t we be able to track down the rest?”

Xing Wenxiu said, “No one knows for sure how many they are, so much so that whether Cui Wang is a real or fake name, no one knows. And every time they are making their move, it was always well-planned; therefore, until now, not even half has been caught.”

Kou Zhong said, “I heard that Gao Kaidao is not loaded; how much reward he can afford to offer?”

Xing Wenxiu replied, “The bounty is donated by the rich merchants of various towns, anyone with information that leads to Cui Wang’s arrest could get three thousand taels of gold, plus will be exempted from any liability.”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were stunned. Under such a heavy reward, unexpectedly there was no brave soul?

“This matter is highly unusual,” Xu Ziling commented, “If the robbers under Cui Wang’s command are only after wealth, inevitably there will be someone coveting these three thousand taels. From this, it could be seen that these wolf-bandits are really not simple; they are robbing not just because of money.”

Xing Wenxiu was shaken; he said, “Ling Ye’s way of thinking is unique; nobody has ever thought about that aspect, we thought that it was because Cui Wang’s men are afraid of reprisal that no one dares to report.”

Muttering to himself irresolutely, Kou Zhong said, “How did Cui Wang deal with the goods that they robbed? Eventually he must attempt to unload it. This way there would be a trace that could be followed. Since he provoked public anger, it shouldn’t be that easy for him to get away.”

Xing Wenxiu sighed and said, “This is the point that Cui Wang gives us the most headache; no one has ever able to touch even half of his edge.”

Xu Ziling said, “If we lay out all the cases that he has done and examine it, there must be a thread that we can draw. For example, what kind of goods he took a fancy on, the time of the crime, the frequency, and so on. There must be some spider’s thread and horse track that can be found.”

From the bottom of his heart Xing Wenxiu admire the two boys’ unique views; he said, “After listening to two Daye’s analysis, I suddenly feel that Cui Wang is not without any trace that we can follow. Next step, perhaps the Zong Xunbu [Chief Constable] Qiu Nanshan, whom Gao Kaidao appointed to be in charge of Cui Wang’s case, would be able to tell clearly how many robberies he had committed and the details surrounding those cases.”

Heaving a deep sigh, Kou Zhong said, “I hope we would have the luck to come across him head-on along the way! That would be called Lao Tian [God/Heavens] has eyes.”

Daybreak the next morning, the city gate was open wide. Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, and Ren Jun, three men rode their horses out of the city, to continue on their journey.

The weather suddenly changed. Dark clouds were low in the sky, heavy rain was brewing; it was quite different from the lovely spring sunshine of the last several days.

Kou Zhong spoke out his mind, saying, “No wonder Bai Laofuzi [see Book 1 Chapter 1] often said than reading ten thousand scrolls of book is not as good as traveling ten thousand li of road. How did we know that in the city of Yuyang there is a great master [orig. jujiang – great master of literature/music, art] in making bows and arrows? We even obtained fine bows that can be folded into the same size as Old Hou’s folding fan, the Fan of Beauty. This is called you can’t gain knowledge without practical experience; at least we know that there is a place called Shiwei.”

Xu Ziling nodded, indicating that he had similar feeling. Turning to Ren Jun, he asked, “On the way to Shanhai Pass, what other places are we going to pass?”

“It depends on what two Ye’er have in mind,” Ren Jun replied, “We could go straight along the official road; if we don’t want to go into Anle then we could pass Yin Ma Yi [not sure if it is a name, literally means the relay station to give the horses a drink], and straight into Shanhai Pass.”

Xu Ziling mused inwardly that even if they went to Anle, they could not catch that savage hungry wolf anyway; in order to avoid a new branch growing out of a knot, he said, “In order to stay ahead of Da Dao She, we could spend the night in any town.”

Along the way they came across several traveling merchants, with whom they exchanged some friendly greetings, as well as some news about the road ahead.

The two had begun their study in Tujue language, so under Ren Jun’s, this fine teacher’s guidance, the three have been able to chat in simple Tujue language.

By dusk that day the three branched off of the official road, and stopped to rest at the foot of a small hill, to let the horses eat grass. Surprisingly, although the sky was overcast all day long, there was no rain. But the weather turning nasty was an indisputable fact.

After building bonfire, the two chewed on the vegetable and meat steamed buns prepared for them by Xing Wenxiu. Kou Zhong brought up Cui Wang, he analyzed, “Lu Ping was the Piao Bazi [gang leader (Courtesy of Akolaw)] of Anle County’s biggest gang; his martial art skill couldn’t be too bad, in his mansion there must be martial art masters as numerous as the clouds, plus Anle was his territory, how could they be massacred that not even half a person slipped away? This matter does not make sense at all.”

Ren Jun said, “Could it be that Cui Wang is an expert in using poison? That way, other than genuine martial art masters who were able to expel the poison out of their bodies, the rest could only get trampled on and were unable to escape.”

Kou Zhong praised, “Xiao Jun finally display your talent. In everything, as long as we think deeply, we will be able to spin silk from cocoons [fig. to make a painstaking investigation], we will always obtain some unexpected result.”

Xu Ziling said, “Is it possible that they were using some firearms that can release poison gas like the Divine Fire Flying Crows like the ones the Sha Family manufactured?”

“That possibility is indeed great,” Kou Zhong said, “If the firearm was shot into the house, certainly its formidable power was endless. At that time the weather was still extremely cold, anybody would close the doors and windows tight.”

Ren Jun said, “Too bad we must hasten on with our journey. Otherwise, with two Ye’er undertaking the task, I guarantee that Cui Wang, who is strung through and filled with evil, will be difficult to escape the wrath of Heaven.”

Pointing to the northwest direction, he said, “Anle is over there; taking a straight line about a hundred li in the northeast direction is the Yin Ma Yi, the last relay station for post horses before Shanhai Pass. The hot spring to water the horse is famous throughout the northern territory. Yin Ma Shack is the lodging place that the traveling merchants praise; the Laobanniang [lady boss] in charge of that place is called Sao Niangzi [lit. flirty (older) woman]. Although she is a bit old, her flirtatious charm enters deep into the bones, there is no man who met her that is not swooned by the billow.”

Pleased beyond his expectations, Kou Zhong said, “Unexpectedly there is such a good place here; before dusk tomorrow we ought to reach Yin Ma Yi, we should copy An Long, soaking our bodies into the hot spring water, to see whether inside the spring water, our training will have another strange efficacy.”

Xu Ziling casually asked, “What is the main diet of the people outside the Great Wall?”

Ren Jun replied, “For the most part their food and drink have something to do with goat; from the goat’s milk, they make foodstuff of each color and each form. There’s milk tofu, milk skin, milk fruit, milk liquor, milk tea; the smell is very strong. Personally I’d rather have air-dried goat meat and wild garlic chives [Allium tuberosum, aka Chinese chives] to stuff the steamed buns.”

Greatly interested, Kou Zhong said, “Xiao Jun is more experienced and knowledgeable than us; how’s the weather outside the Pass?”

Ren Jun said, “The best time in term of weather north of the border is the transition between spring and summer. Right now it’s a bit cold, and in the summer it’s going to be too hot.”

Xu Ziling’s pair of eyes emitted the galloping-spirit expression as he said, “I heard that outside the Great Wall, not only there is a great desert, there is only a great prairie; is that right?”

Ren Jun replied, “The terrain outside the Great Wall is unusual. All the prairies are on the plateau, the Great Gobi Desert is to the west of the prairie. The eastern part of the prairie is the widest. The locals say that the sun raises from the eastern part of the prairie, and it will take the entire sichen to illuminate the entire prairie.”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling drew out a mouthful of cold air. It was only then did they realize that in such a vast area that they were not familiar with, finding a group of horse thief like Shen Mohuan’s that come and go like the wind, would be extremely uncertain and would cost them so much mental and physical efforts.