Chapter 39: The Opportunity Arrives

"...Those two wolf kings were like the lion-haired monsters from Lion Camel Ridge, their manes standing on end. They looked, damn it, even sturdier than lions. When one plan failed, they let out a hiss, and with a dozen gray wolves on their left and right, they lunged straight at the three of us..."

"I was feeling panicked and terrified, when I heard the Master roar, 'Now... fire!' I forced myself to calm down and look, but I only had a single-edged blade in my hand; where would I find a bow and arrows? Hahaha..."

Wa Qingyun laughed to himself.

But the miners were getting impatient.

"Are you going to tell us or not? We’re dying to know, what are you laughing at? Hurry up and continue!"

"You son of a bitch, stop rambling on about yourself. Your damn blade doesn't even have a single notch, you're still a greenhorn... get to the main point!" Gao Conglong spat out directly.

This was too blunt and wounded Wa Qingyun's pride a little, but seeing it was Gao Conglong, he endured it.

He then continued: "The moment the Master finished speaking, he drew his bow and nocked an arrow. I suddenly felt his silhouette was incredibly dazzling. It turned out a golden poplar leaf had fallen from the sky, landed on the Master's shoulder, and vanished in an instant...

Then I heard a 'whoosh'—the Master had fired... That arrow was like lightning in the night sky. Oh my, it was so bright it made one’s eyes unable to open... When I looked again, the ground was covered in wolf corpses, and the two wolf kings were on their backs, legs in the air, whimpering in pain..."

"Shot eight with one arrow?"

Gao Conglong squinted at Wa Qingyun and said, "Did the wolf kings line up in a row with the other wolves? Were they specifically waiting to be shot?"

"Hey, why are you spouting nonsense?"

The wolf meat had made Wa Qingyun break into a sweat. He rubbed his face and said, "Use your brain. Everyone knows wolves aren't that stupid!"

"Then how did he shoot eight with one arrow?"

"Didn't I just say? The Master's arrow was like a bolt of lightning. Lightning! Lightning! Have you ever seen lightning? Never mind eight, it could kill eighty!"

Gao Conglong pursed his lips; he wanted to go over and hammer this guy for bragging so wildly!

"Master Wa, you said a golden poplar leaf fell on the Master's shoulder earlier. Why couldn't it have been some other leaf? Why that one?" Xiang Hui asked.

"Hey, kid Hui, do you know about 'piercing a willow leaf from a hundred paces'? If Yang Youji descended to the mortal world, wouldn't it have to be a poplar leaf? You’re unlearned, keep your mouth shut... Listen to me, don't interrupt. When Master Li fired that arrow, he immediately spat out three pints of blood, and his body just went limp. I saw that and thought, 'This is bad,' and since those two wolf kings were still whimpering and very vicious, I didn't say a word, grabbed my single-edged blade, and charged up..."

"Hey, Brother Wa, which part of 'Journey to the West' is Yang Youji from?"

Wa Qingyun thought about the fairy tales in 'Journey to the West' and frowned in contemplation: "This Yang Youji is an archer, so he must be in the same group as Hou Yi and Chang'e."

"Heh, Brother Qingyun sure knows a lot."

"This guy... is quite the talent!" Li You hadn't intended to listen, but hearing this, he couldn't help but be speechless. Yet, looking at most of their faces, they clearly believed it.

In this era, from the Emperor down to the commoners, everyone believed in such things.

The term "feudal" was a survival strategy for humanity before the Qin Dynasty, meaning "to enfeoff princes to build walled cities," a plan to expand territory and protect the people. It was only after the First Emperor of Qin, with the concept of "the world as one family," that the so-called "feudal ideology" emerged. To a certain extent, feudal ideology met the requirements of productive force development; that is, the economy and politics determined the nature and development direction of culture.

For Li You's past life, these were certainly dregs, but for the current ruling class, they were excellent walls of confinement. For those scholar-officials who claimed to hold the power of cultural interpretation,

it was an even better sharp weapon. It could be used to deceive the old Emperor above and fool the commoners below, attributing all unreasonable, illegal, and unethical rules to "Heaven" or the "Ancestral Laws."

Though absurd, it seemed logical, as the spiritual food of people in this era had been infused with this for thousands of years!

The next day, just as Li You finished braiding Little Orange's hair into a topknot, a personal guard under Niu Jinku ran over and said, "Master, the Great Leader invites you!"

Li You was truly overjoyed. Although Wu Zhuge had told him that day to come to the North Stockade whenever he needed anything,

that had been said for Cao Er's benefit, so Li You had never left the Nanshan mining area. Today, since Wu Zhuge had summoned him personally, he could finally go and take a look; however, he still felt a bit uneasy, as he had killed Old Three Gu last night.

After a quarter of an hour, Li You followed Wu Zhuge's guard to a large courtyard leaning against the cliff in the North Stockade. This time, he could finally take a good look...

The courtyard was semicircular and basically made of stone and wood. Although it looked rough, it covered a considerable area.

On both sides of the courtyard were rows of stone and wooden houses, low and short; it looked like they hadn't been repaired for several years. There were two simple watchtowers at the northeast and southwest corners.

Li You followed the guard through the wooden gate, past the gatehouse, the gate tunnel, the waist screen, and the mounting stone. He looked up suddenly and discovered that the courtyard was actually divided into two sections. Looking over the wall, he could see that the inner courtyard was pressed against the cliff and even had wooden pavilions, their red paint quite small and beautiful.

This outer courtyard faced south. The largest main room was on the north side, built on a brick and stone foundation, larger in scale than the other houses. The houses on the east and west sides were slightly smaller and were likely side rooms. The south house had several side chambers, and the kitchen was among them.

As soon as Li You entered, he smelled the fragrance of rice. This scent alone made him swallow his saliva repeatedly; since he had transmigrated, he hadn't even seen a single grain of rice, let alone eaten it.

"Master Li, the Leader is waiting in the Justice Hall. It's cold, the door is closed, just push it open!"

"Alright, thank you, brother!"

Li You nodded to the guard in thanks, then stepped onto the stone stairs. Before he could push the door, he heard laughter inside; it sounded like Zhang Zhuanggen.

"Creak..."

Li You pushed the door open, and the room suddenly went quiet. Everyone looked at Li You standing outside the threshold. Li You was neither humble nor arrogant, smiled and gestured to everyone one by one, then cupped his hands toward Wu Zhuge in the main seat. Just as he was about to speak, Wu Zhuge, who was sitting with his legs crossed, laughed loudly: "Scholar, come quickly, don't bother with those empty courtesies of the literati!"

"As the Leader says!" Li You then entered the room.

"Why don't you call me King anymore?" Zhang Zhuanggen teased loudly.

The room erupted in laughter.

"Sigh!"

Li You sighed and said, "That day, I was full of scholarly spirit and didn't know that the stockade had a hundred tasks waiting to be done. After thinking about it for a few days in Nanshan, I still feel that Mr. Fenglin's 'Build walls high, store grain widely, and claim the title of King slowly' is the true path to hegemony!"

"Right, build walls high, claim the title of King slowly... that's exactly what I've been doing... haha..."

Wu Zhuge laughed heartily: "Come, come, sit here!"

"Build walls high, claim the title of King slowly... that's even smoother than the original..."

Li You curled his lip secretly and walked quickly to the head table. There were no decorations in the room, only eight large octagonal tables and chairs. It was time to eat, so the table was packed full.

Only the table at the front north had few people. In the seats of honor were Wu Zhuge and Da Yun'er, with Shi Dayong and Zhang Zhuanggen on either side. The lower seat was perhaps Cao Er's place, but he hadn't returned yet, so it was empty.

Niu Jinku and Wu Nai were standing behind Wu Zhuge.

Li You hesitated slightly and sat in the lower seat.

"I heard the Master went to the west slope yesterday and showed off his might, killing over a dozen big dogs by himself?"

Wu Zhuge asked casually, but his eyes were fixed tightly on Li You.

"That is indeed true, but I just happened to pick up a bargain!"

Li You said with a smile, thinking that Wang Qiong must have reported this to the North Stockade early in the morning.

"Picked up a bargain and got so many? How did you pick it up?"

Shi Dayong, reeking of alcohol, seemed interested and asked abruptly: "I heard you drew that iron-backed bow?"

Li You was very surprised to hear him speak suddenly. From Wa Qingyun, he knew that this Shi Dayong was a complete drunkard who lived in a stupor, and besides drinking, he never asked about anything.

"I know some medical theory and intended to go to the west slope to pick some herbs to prepare for winter. Just as I passed the mountain hollow with Wa Qingyun and the others, I saw two wolf packs fighting over a muntjac. They started fighting in a moment, and it was extremely brutal.

Later, the three of us gathered our courage and killed two or three, then drove the wolf pack away, which is why we had the harvest last night... As for that iron bow, I could just barely manage to draw it."

Li You lied as easily as he breathed. He didn't know why he wanted to lie; subconsciously, he wanted to hide his strength and the fact that he was so powerful.

"Heh, what good luck!"

Zhang Zhuanggen said with a crooked smile.

Niu Jinku, Wu Nai, and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief. They had been truly shocked when Wang Qiong relayed the message that Li You had killed them all by himself.

Wu Zhuge was about to speak, but soon brothers walked in carrying buckets and basins. A rich aroma of rice and cured meat filled the entire hall.

First, they served the food to the north table: jade-grain rice, steamed buns, pickled vegetables, white flour pancakes, steamed pastries, honey cakes, bamboo shoot chicken breast, roasted mushrooms, and a large bowl of cabbage and egg soup. The table was filled with a colorful array of dishes.

Li You didn't pay much attention to the food, because his attention was drawn to a thin, dark girl serving the dishes. Looking at her features, she looked exactly like Liu the Lame; this must be his daughter, Liu Scissors.

"Come, eat, eat, eat first. Today we are going to Mao'er Dam!"

Li You's heart warmed; he finally had a chance!