Chapter Fifty-Three: Seizing the Bow and Burning the Plains

  (Thanks to "Zhao Wu Xu 2014", "Tian Han Wu Liang", "Hu Ye Bu Huo", "Ka Ka Ka" and many book friends for their rewards and support!)

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  The night is as black as ink, the crescent moon is like a hook, under the dim moonlight, the iron-gray Raohe River flows quietly.

  The two banks of the Rao River, with people's shadows looming, the sound of iron hooves echoing, and from time to time, a group of Xianbei patrol cavalry could be seen, holding torches, patrolling back and forth, guarding extremely tightly. This is just a tour of duty, and there are also hidden sentries in the grass, ditches, treetops, etc., distributed within a radius of ten miles around the Xianbei army camp, with such strict vigilance that even an old mouse would find it difficult to sneak in without alarming the sentries.

  The Xianbei people would not normally be on such high alert, but this time they had provoked a disturbance. Several thousand people chased and killed over a dozen men, only to be beaten until their heads were cracked open and bleeding, with even the adults suffering serious injuries. The entire tribe was in a state of panic, and to prevent someone from taking drastic action, they had no choice but to put on an unprecedented show of force.

  A patrol of thirty riders had just galloped past the south bank of Rao Le Shui, when a black figure suddenly darted out from the grass thicket, swiftly running tens of yards before disappearing into the opposite grass thicket.

  The black shadow had just crouched down, and from behind a large tree not far away, a Xianbei scout emerged, looking over here in confusion for a while, shaking his head, and slowly leaning back against the trunk to sit down.

  A figure crept forward, its dark silhouette emerging from the tall grass. Suddenly, a hand shot out and grabbed something from the underbrush, twisting it sharply to break its neck. The figure raised its face slightly, eyes scanning cautiously around, the faint moonlight illuminating a pair of gleaming eyes - it was Ma Xun.

  No mistake, Ma Hong is back! Since crossing the Three Kingdoms, this is his first loss, almost losing his life. This debt must be paid back!

  Either don't move your hands, or if you do, go all the way! This is Ma Hu's motto.

  The Xianbei's defense was indeed tight to the extent that birds could hardly get in, Ma Xiao was not a bird, he just had a mysterious mechanical arm.

  A mechanical arm worth hundreds of millions of dollars, of course, is not just about brute force and sharpness. Because when the mechanical palm cuts objects, the thumb is too short to cooperate with the other four fingers to participate in cutting, it's almost useless. Therefore, clever developers have given it another function. The thumbnail cover is not a special alloy that can cut steel bars, but a thin heat source detector made of stainless steel, which can detect all warm-blooded animals within a radius of one kilometer. The heat source points detected will be directly reflected on the thumbnail screen, and can be zoomed in and out using the touchscreen. The power source for the detector has two sources: one is solar energy; the other is the mechanical arm's kinetic energy converted into electrical energy, stored in a sesame-sized nano-micro-solar/electric dual-use battery.

  When Kruber Corporation installed this device, it was to ensure that Martha could safely reach the cannibal tribe deep in the jungle and complete her mission. Since arriving in the Three Kingdoms, Martha had never used this function before. In fact, there were only two uses for this heat source detector in this era: one was to detect whether there were any ambushes during marches; the other was to sneak into camps at night.

  Ma Xun had never encountered either of these situations before, so he naturally didn't need to use this function. But tonight, he must use it.

  The Xianbei people thought of themselves as a heavenly net, with bright and dark sentinels. In Ma Yun's eyes, they were like fireflies on a dark night, shining brightly, eye-catching, and harmless.

  Ma Hu'an settled down after leaving Li Ji, and he single-handedly killed his way back to the Xianbei's tent. He had two plans for revenge: first, he wanted to get another strong bow, as the Xianbei people had destroyed his previous one, and this matter would have to be settled with them. Did the Xianbei people have a strong bow? Of course they did, and there was only one - the Mo Tong Bow. As for the second plan, well, it was closely related to the first one, and he would talk about it after getting the Mo Tong Bow.

  With the super-strong technology, plus Ma Xian had assassinated many figures before, he was good at sneaking and hiding. Not to mention strolling in the courtyard, at least the defense of the Xianbei people was useless against him. It wasn't until they reached the foot of the mountain where the ancestors of the Xianbei were worshipped that they encountered a bit of trouble.

  In front of the ancestral temple of the Xianbei people, there were two Tibetan mastiffs. A few days ago, Ma Xun had seen them when he came up the mountain to test his bow. How could he prevent these two dogs from barking? Ma Xun was well-prepared. He crouched in a thicket at the foot of the mountain, untied the bundle on his back, and took out a fluffy little dog - this was something he had obtained from a herdsman's tent.

  After confirming the safety around, Ma Xian's body stretched out and she hugged the little dog, rushing down the mountain path towards the Ancestral Temple at the halfway point. Just after running out of 100 meters, a burst of frantic barking was heard from the top of the mountain. Ma Xian didn't stop her footsteps, but instead rushed forward with her head down, sensing two rapidly moving red dots coming towards her from afar. She immediately threw the little dog to the side onto a tree and quickly climbed up the big tree.

  Suddenly, four faint lights appeared in the darkness, getting closer and closer, rushing towards the tree with a loud howl. The little dog on the tree was trembling with fear, whimpering and wailing.

  Before long, two temple servants carrying torches came over, raised the torches to shine on the tree and let out a sigh of relief: "It's just a small dog, how did it get up in the tree?"

  One of the servants said: "Hold the torch for me, and I will take down this little dog."

  When the servant climbed up the big tree, the Ling Temple patrol guard also came upon hearing the sound and inquired about the situation.

  The leader of the hundred men heard the explanation from the servant under the tree, raised his torch again and looked up to see a vague figure on the tree, and asked: "What's going on?"

  The servant on the tree replied: "Nothing, just... just a small dog."

  A hundred people nodded in agreement and said to another servant: "Don't let these two dogs bark again, disturbing the peace within a radius of ten miles."

  "The beasts are like this, if they don't catch that little dog down, they won't be quiet." The servant also had no choice.

  After the hundred men and the patrol guards left, the servant under the tree couldn't help but complain: "Why hasn't it come down yet? It's just a small dog, is it that hard to catch?"

  "Come on!" A strange voice came from the tree, and then a person rushed down. The servant under the tree dodged too late, was pressed heavily to the ground, the torch flew out, and the mournful cry was covered by the fierce barking of the Tibetan mastiff.

  A black shadow suddenly leaped down from the tree, heavily trampling on the backs of two servants who were piled together. After a cracking sound, the miserable cries disappeared. As for the two Tibetan mastiffs, one was slapped flying tens of feet away, its skull shattered to death; the other was strangled to death by a tree vine.

  After easily getting rid of the Tibetan Mastiff, Ma Xian threw the human and dog corpses to the side of the forest road and rushed up the mountain quickly.

  After a stick of incense, the ancestral temple was filled with blood and stench, with the bodies of the sacrificial officials and attendants lying horizontally and vertically. When Ma Xun walked out of the temple gate, he had already added a large red bow to his hand, which would be his new weapon, the terrifying twelve-stone super-strong bow - Mo Tong Bow.

  A pull of as much as 700 jin, from ancient times to the present, it's probably impossible to find a person who can use it, so the Xianbei people said that this is a divine bow that only gods can use.

  In fact, Ma Huan can only barely use it normally. His mechanical arm has no problem drawing the bow, but his flesh arm is a bit weak. Last time he drew the bow and shot an arrow, he knew that his left arm could at most support twenty arrows before exhausting its strength. That is to say, he can only use it normally, and it's basically impossible for him to use it exceptionally like the leopard bow. However, if this bow is improved, this problem might be solved. Ma Huan has already thought of a solution, but it can't be done at present, and he can only wait until he returns to the Han Gou Department and finds skilled craftsmen in the tribe to help him.

  Ma Feng had to use this bow tonight, and after using it, he still had to have enough physical strength to escape, so he could only take some temporary auxiliary measures, just like the leopard bow he used during the day at Bai Zhang Gorge...

  Standing on the top of the mountain, looking far into the distance, on the vast plain, the Xianbei people's main tent is like a cabbage core, surrounded by layers of deputy tents in circles, layer upon layer, like tightly packed Chinese cabbage. From time to time, one can see the patrolmen's twinkling lights moving back and forth, almost without any pause or gap, three times more stringent than the outer defense. Such strict tent arrangements and patrols, even if Ma Han had a thermal detector, it would be extremely difficult and dangerous for him to sneak silently into the main tent.

  It's okay, Ma Xun didn't plan on doing so, he had a simpler method.

  He took out the military compass, began to measure distance and wind direction, wind speed. Half a moment later, the data obtained was that from here to the outer tent of the Xianbei tooth account, it was approximately between 900 meters to 1 kilometer. He had previously pulled the magic pupil bow to try shooting an arrow, and afterwards found his own arrow at 700 meters away. At that time, he was shooting into the sky, so based on this inference, as long as the bow and arrow's angle of elevation is lowered, with a high and low position, in a nearly flat shooting way, it can be shot to targets over 1 kilometer away.

  Think well and act, this is Ma Yun's character, whether it succeeds or not, the arrow has already spoken.

  Ma Huan first used a hatchet to chop down a giant tree as thick as a bowl, sharpening the lower end and digging a three-foot-deep hole. He pounded the giant tree into the ground, tamping it firmly around the edges, creating a wooden stake as high as his chest. Then, he placed the Magic Eye Bow on top of the stake, securing it with a cowhide rope, just like he had done at the Hundred Foot Cliff.

  The bow is ready, the next step is the arrow. Ma Yan has an arrow bag on his back, with twenty arrows inside. These are not ordinary arrows, but giant arrows he made temporarily: each one is three feet three inches long, the arrow shaft is as thick as a thumb, the feathers at the end of the arrow are neatly arranged, but there is no arrowhead.

  Ma Xian didn't need arrowheads because these twenty arrows weren't for killing people, but for starting fires. Next to him was a large jar of fire oil, which had been found in the Ancestral Temple. The Long Life Lanterns in the Ancestral Temple burned brightly all year round, and fire oil was an indispensable thing.

  Cut the wool felt into strips, wrap it around the front end of the arrow shaft, soak it in fire oil, absorb the oil after taking it out to dry. Everything is ready, Ma Huo ignited the torch - from the moment the flame lit up, he had to shoot all 20 fire arrows within one minute and then quickly leave.

  The fiery rocket is already strung on the golden bowstring, the bowstring creaking with a mournful sound, in the desolate mountain top, it's exceptionally eerie. The flames flicker, illuminating the two blood-red pupils on either side of the bow arm, as if they have come to life, cold and bloodthirsty, ready to pounce on people.

  The thick tree trunk, pulled by a strong force, was tilted backwards, and the bowstring was gradually filled. Ma Hong felt the fusion of the mechanical arm and the arm, and there was no discomfort, feeling good. This means that he can use this bow freely in the future.

  "Kui Bei Neng, take this!" Ma Hong spat out, his two fingers releasing.

  A spark---a flash of fire like a meteor in the night sky, streaking across the endless darkness, flying towards the distant twinkling campfires.

  The flames had not yet fallen when the second wave of fire, the third wave of fire, was already in hot pursuit... Suddenly, a blaze broke out in the distance, followed by a second and third blaze...

  When the Xianbei cavalry were still gaping at the sky, one after another fireballs fell from the sky, igniting dozens of secondary tents outside the main tent. The fire borrowed the wind's power, and the wind enhanced the fire's might, instantly setting the prairie ablaze.

  On the night of August 11, the Xianbei chieftain Helian Bobo's camp was set on fire, one day after the annual Linshan Conference ended. The fire burned for twenty miles, killing or injuring over 20,000 people. Although two million casualties were not a significant blow to Helian Bobo's forces of over 200,000, the fire destroyed his headquarters and killed many of his nobles and elite warriors, cutting his strength in half. Moreover, the timing coincided with the Linshan Conference, during which livestock was being counted, and all the tribes had gathered large numbers of cattle and sheep. As a result, nearly one million cows, horses, sheep, and camels were burned to death, resulting in unprecedented losses.

  But Helian Bobo was unable to avenge, before that, the central Xianbei's strength was the strongest among the three Xianbeis, otherwise it would not have been possible to occupy the birthplace of the Xianbei people, Da Xianbei Mountain and Rao Le Water. But after a wildfire, the strength of the Central Xianbei suddenly fell to the bottom, the remaining two departments, especially the Western Xianbei led by Yanmen Stepdegree, had been eyeing Helian Bobo covetously, such a good opportunity, how could they let it go?

  On the northern grasslands, war clouds are gathering densely. The Xianbei people's war of unification is about to sound again. However, although Kui Bi was seriously injured and his troops suffered heavy casualties, their strength still remains. Bu Du Gen wants to swallow him up, but he may not have such good teeth.

  Ma Xian did not expect that his one move would set the three Xianbei tribes ablaze with internal strife, and this great chaos would not be settled in two or three years. Hmm, at this time, watching from the sidelines and focusing on development is the best strategy.

  In front of Bai Zhai Gorge, although it is separated by hundreds of miles, the red cloud at the horizon can still be seen clearly.

  Ma Xun and Li Ji each rode a horse, exchanged a glance, smiled at each other, whipped their horses fiercely, and rushed into the valley, heading south.

  The valley echoed with Ma Yun's loud laughter: "Return to Han Ge Inn, I'll marry you."

  "I'm just afraid you can't afford to marry..."