‘Swish!’

The powerful arrow left the Extinguished Sun Bow, like a streak of lightning it shot toward Xu Ziling, standing five hundred paces away, holding a shield in his hand.

‘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

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