Chapter Fifteen: Sharpening the Knife

  Liang Xin's youthful nature, as soon as he heard there was a 'fun thing', immediately came with interest, Liu also sat beside him, on the one hand fiddling with the crossbow 'widow', also made a gesture of listening attentively.

  Qu Qing's expression was slightly arrogant: "That Mr. Grass Shoes, under the pursuit of the Mountain Institute, escaped into the roots of Kunai Mountain and finally dug a tunnel that disappeared in front of the Jade Tablet. Previously, we thought he had been swallowed by the Jade Tablet, but now I think he wasn't swallowed by the Jade Tablet."

  Liang Xin listened with some confusion, although he knew that Qu Qing Shi would soon give an answer, but still asked: "Then where did he go?"

  Qu Qing's face was full of satisfaction, and he slowly said: "The straw sandals weren't swallowed by the jade pendant, because the straw sandals are the jade pendant!" Then, he stretched out two fingers: "If that's the case, then two things can be easily explained!"

  Following that, without waiting for others to ask again, he continued downwards and said: "Firstly, as soon as the Jade Disc and Stone Pulse were connected, they immediately clashed fiercely, even going so far as to exhaust their energy to protect the 'battlefield', these two evil objects must have had a deep-seated vendetta!"

  With a loud "Ka-chong" sound, Fatso Liu finished loading the first widow's crossbow, slung it over his back and laughed as he nodded: "Makes sense! Earlier, Cao Xue was trying to steal Shi Mai's magical powers in the mountain valley, but Shi Mai had already suffered at his hands before. Now that he has the chance to take revenge, he'll definitely go all out!"

  Qing Shi smiled and continued, "Secondly, if the jade disc wasn't transformed from a grass shoe, then the tunnel behind it is also too coincidental! Suffering Mountain is so big, where can't you dig, but you just happen to dig at the location of the jade disc?"

  Things were just as Qu Qing Shi had expected. Three hundred years ago, Cao Xue was suddenly ambushed and killed by a master from the Jiulong Temple. After a fierce battle, although he severely injured his enemy, he himself was also seriously wounded and barely escaped into the mountains.

  The straw sandals themselves were refined from spiritual stones, and after entering the mountain, not only could they connect the terrain with their own body, but also dig holes at an extremely fast speed, even more convenient than escaping by seizing the road. However, he was too seriously injured, and in the end, he failed to escape into the sky, but instead suffered a violent explosion of his injuries deep within the mountain roots, revealing his true form as a Jade Stone Demon. From then on, he rested and recuperated, sleeping for three hundred years.

  Qu Qing Shi didn't understand the Heavenly Way or magic, but relying on his intelligence, he had also guessed the truth of the matter. Liang Xin's gaze towards him was full of reverence. Since they dug up the Jade Token demon, Qu Qing Shi had made decision after decision, with strong martial arts skills and a bold heart, his thinking was even more meticulous, as if nothing in this world could stump him.

  Qu Qing Shi glanced at him and chuckled: "You're not bad either, connecting the jade disc and stone pulse, I wouldn't have thought of it no matter what!" Then, he stretched out his arm, took three silver crossbow arrows from Liu Yi, and casually inserted them into the ground.

  Liu was overjoyed at the sight, and his tone no longer had the stiffness of a superior and subordinate: "Become sworn brothers? You never mentioned it, I thought you regretted it, and I didn't dare to bring it up..."

  Qu Qing smiled and laughed: "You and I have been through many adventures together, now we only lack the final test. At this moment, let's make a pact, it's just right!"

  His loud laughter burst from his dantian, wrapped in thick internal energy, and for a moment suppressed the barbaric howls outside the dense forest!

  Among the laughter, Qu and Liu knelt side by side...

  A moment later, Qu Qing Shi glanced sideways at Liang Xin, who was full of envy and wanted to speak but stopped herself, and frowned, saying: "What's wrong?"

  Liáng Xīn rubbed his palms together and asked a silly question: "What should I do?"

  Liu Yi stretched out his hand to grab Liang Xin's wrist, and with a slight effort, he pulled him over to his side, pressing him to kneel beside him. He pointed at the three widow arrows and shouted: "Kneel down!"

  Liāng Xīn only felt an indescribable joy, from his little belly straight to the top of his head, his delight was beyond measure, his mouth grew bigger, but his voice was smaller than a mosquito's: "I... guilty..."

  Before he could finish speaking, Qu Qing's stone-white eyebrows furrowed, and he bellowed: "Shut up! I don't care if you're a criminal or a noble..."

  Liang Xing knocked his head on the ground, interrupting Qu Qing's lengthy speech. The old man looked embarrassed, swallowing back all his heroic words.

  Liu smiled and whispered: "Actually, from Mr. Liang's identity, I am the one who is overreaching."

  Following the three people, they reported their names, parents, hometowns, and eight characters of birth. At this time, Qu Qing Shi's body suddenly shook, slowly turned his head, and looked at Liu Yi with a not-so-benevolent expression: "How... you're one year older than me?"

  Liu Yi replied respectfully: "When I was young, in order to be admitted to the Jiulong Temple, I lied about being two years older."

  “……”

  The sworn brothers in the world are all of one style. Liu Yi, Qu Qing Shi and Liang Xin's three people use arrows as incense, but they have only added a bit of murderous intent!

  After the swearing-in ceremony, Lao Da Liu and Lao San Liang were both delighted, but only Old Man Bai with the white beard, Qu Er, was sulking... After holding it in for a while, the three of them suddenly burst out laughing together.

  Liu Yi was thrilled to have become the leader for the first time, and his hands and feet were so excited that he didn't know where to put them. He walked up to Liang Xin with a smile and asked, "Old Three, your surname is Liang and your name is Xin, do you have another name?"

  Liang smiled bitterly and shook his head: "I was born into a family of convicts, it's already good that I have a name."

  Liu Yi listened to Liang Xin's silence, and excitedly said: "In a predicament, as an elder brother, I don't have anything to offer, so let me give you a courtesy name! I'll say one word, Second Brother will say one word, and together it will be your courtesy name, how about that?" Then he turned his head and patted Qu Qing Shi: "Second Brother, what do you think?"

  Qu Qing Shi didn't expect that Lü Yu would enter the role so quickly, and he was stunned for a moment before realizing that he was following himself. He shook his head and laughed scoldingly: "He's only twelve, what kind of character can he take! According to Da Hong's customs, one must be twenty years old to receive a courtesy name and become an adult. However..."

  Qu Qing Shi seemed to think that Liu Yi's proposal was not bad, the two brothers giving their younger brother a pen name as a gift for meeting wasn't common, and continued: "Although it's still early for a formal title, but it can be used as an alias, later even if they are separated, there will still be a sense of nostalgia in their hearts."

  Liang Xin himself was quite happy, after the discussion, Liu and Qu, the two brothers, began to think of a nickname for him. Liu Yihua insisted on doing it with Qu Qing Shi, each thinking of one word, without discussing beforehand, saying that this would be in harmony with heaven's will, very auspicious.

  It was another round of heated debate, and in the end, they still followed Master Liu's idea. The two Taoist priests turned their backs to each other and wrote a character on the ground respectively.

  Liu also wrote a 'grind' character, calling Liang Xin over and saying seriously: "I'm just an unrefined person, I can't see what your talent is like, but since we've been through thick and thin together, I can sense that you have some cleverness and spirit. This 'grind' is for you, hoping that in the future you'll be able to grind and polish yourself more, not fear hardship, and eventually have a day of great accomplishment!"

  Liang Xin nodded solemnly and walked around to Er Ge Qu Qing Shi's side, where he saw a single character "knife" written on the ground.

  Qu Qing Shi also has his own reason: "From the time of Liang Daxia down to three hundred years, your ancestors have been wronged and become guilty citizens. Men in this world have favors to repay and grudges to settle. This 'knife' character is written for you as a vendetta! With the knife as our emblem, we stand tall between heaven and earth."

  Liang Xin took a deep breath, his expression somewhat dazed: "Then my nickname... is it going to be Liang Mo Dao? Liang Xin, Liang Mo Dao?"

  Liu Yi Ha laughed loudly: "It's all over, from now on it's either a woodcutter or a butcher!"

  ……

  Three people chatted and laughed, Qu Qing Shi was still the same, occasionally smiling faintly. Liu Yi busied herself adjusting the strings and loading arrows onto the crossbow, while carefully explaining to Liang Xin how to use this powerful tool. The widow's crossbow could shoot three arrows in succession or one by one. Although its power was great, its range was not too far, only about 40 steps. Its close combat power was extremely strong, but because it was too heavy, the green-clothed warriors generally wouldn't carry it with them.

  Relying on Liu Yi's strength, when loading arrows, all four limbs must be used to tighten the bowstring.

  Qu Qing Shi held a strong crossbow in his hand, aiming at the outside and making gestures. He opened his mouth to say to Liang Xin: "To be honest, this kind of crossbow has limited power in the hands of a single soldier, after all, there are only three shots. However, you can imagine that if a thousand people use crossbows, ten hundred people take turns shooting, what kind of power will it have! Even gods would have to retreat and avoid it."

  As he spoke, he handed over the crossbow in his hand and slung it onto Liang Xin's back. Liang Xin felt a sudden weight and immediately sensed something was off.

  They set out from the nameless wilderness and walked for a night, barely waiting for dawn. Before they had time to gather firewood to roast meat, they encountered barbarians. After that, it was one case after another, and then they became sworn brothers, busy until now, having only drunk a few mouthfuls of water.

  Liu also took out the water bottle filled with bird's blood and handed it over: "You can't eat raw meat, so drink a little of this. We'll make a break after dark, and we can't avoid another trek then. Now drink some more, and you'll be able to run further later!"

  Liang Xingang stretched out his hand, but the water bottle was snatched away by Qu Qingshi. The latter smiled and said, "Silly, the blood has been stagnant for more than a day, it's already coagulated!" As he spoke, he held the bottle with both hands and activated his internal energy to dissolve the blood clots inside. At the same time, he frowned at Liu Yi: "Why did you encounter Xiang Chanman? Is it just a coincidence that can't be explained?"

  Just as he shook his head, the outside suddenly became quiet, the barbarian's angry roar disappeared, and an unexpected silence filled the valley in an instant.