Chapter 16: Hunter's Alley Buys Arrows (Part 1)

  All the way galloping, Gong Sun Hong exhausted his spiritual power to search along the way. Before entering Guzhuang Town, he indeed discovered some clues through his spiritual power.

  The energy fluctuations on Li Ya's bow were too weak. If Gong Sun Hong wasn't so familiar with his son's half-spiritual instrument, it would have been impossible to discover the location of the hole.

  In front of Gong Sun Hong, it seemed as if he saw the murderer standing triumphantly in this place, testing the power of that short crossbow and then excitedly putting it away. Gong Sun Hong's face twisted, and the more than 30 people behind him finally caught up with him, panting.

  Gongsun Hong gritted his teeth and shouted with a forceful wave of his hand:

  "The murderer must be hiding in Gǔ Zhuāng Town, let's surround the roads leading out of town and I'll personally search for him, even if we have to dig three feet underground to catch him."

  The guards responded with a loud shout and formed a semi-circular shape, fiercely surrounding the ancient village of Guzhuang not far away.

  Guzhuang Town is slightly larger than Wanghe Village, with houses lined up on both sides of the street, mostly made of bluestone, with an old and simple style. The vast majority of people in the town are hunters who make a living in the mountains.

  It's just after nightfall, and everyone who went into the mountains has returned. The streets are at their busiest time of day.

  Li Ruo Knife quietly searched along the street corner and found a secluded alley, where he found an obscure inn and rented a room.

  The house was a bit damp, but Li Ruoze didn't care, sitting on the bed and taking a deep breath.

  He took out the cloth bag he had received from Gong Sunli and poured out more than 70 taels of silver from it.

  Li Rando was secretly excited, and as the young master of a large family, he had a lot of loose change with him. He wrapped all the silver in his own money bag, and now he had nearly 100 taels of silver on him again.

  Li Ruo took Gong Sunli's purse and looked at it, then resolutely stuffed it into the beast skin bag. After some thought, he didn't take out the two sharp arrows from the beast skin bag either.

  The beast skin can isolate the divine sense to a certain extent, Li Ran Dao knew that this short crossbow and two sharp arrows had the energy fluctuations on Gong Sun's body, which were likely to be discovered by people, it was too unsafe to put them on his body.

  Li Ruo quietly moved the bed away, took out a short dagger and dug a deep hole in the ground, buried the animal skin bag inside, stomped the soil flat with force, then moved the bed back.

  Li Ran felt a little more at ease in his heart after doing all this quietly and unnoticed.

  Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he took out the short bow and poured his energy into it, repeatedly infusing it with his own power. Li Ran wanted to use his own energy to completely purify the residual aura inside the short bow.

  For a whole half an hour, the pure energy in Li Ran's dagger had been washed away countless times in the short crossbow, and there was no longer any aura of Gong Sunli left. Only then did Li Ran put down his guard and carefully stored the short crossbow in his bosom.

  This will never be discovered by the Gong Sun family again.

  Li Ruo was secretly calculating in his heart, tonight he would spend the night here, prepare some dry rations and clear water, tomorrow he would set off to Misty Valley, so many days had passed, it should be open by now.

  However, before that, Li Rengdao still needs to go buy some arrows. The valley is treacherous, and the short crossbow is Li Rengdao's strongest defensive weapon, so he must make full use of it.

  Arrows are a necessity, fortunately there are many hunters in Guzhuang Town, and arrows are common items.

  Li Ruo touched the purse in his bosom, tightened his clothes and walked out of the inn onto the street. He asked for directions along the way and found a tall bluestone building on a main street with bright lights inside. The walls were lined with hunting weapons.

  It is a hunter's shop specializing in mountain climbing equipment.

  There was no one in the room, only an old hunter sitting in the corner of the wall, carefully wiping a machete on the wall. Li Fuel Knife walked in, his eyes scanning the walls for arrows he could use.

  Machetes, long swords, hard bows, short crossbows, iron caltrops for setting traps, thin iron wires, defensive leather armor, gauntlets... everything a hunter needs is available.

  On a wooden chopping board, Lirán saw three arrows of different styles lined up. He walked over quickly and found that they were just three wooden arrow shafts with black iron arrowheads, the kind hunters often used. Lirán was not satisfied and slowly shifted his gaze elsewhere.

  The old hunter in the corner raised his head and looked at the young man with a faint smile.

  Li Ranno is now only thirteen years old, slightly thin and weak, his clothes are bought from a second-hand store, with several broken corners, just like a young hunter who has just grown up.

  On Li Ruo's face, the old hunter seemed to see his own excitement and tension when he first entered the mountain with his father, who had chosen a set of hard bow and tight string for him, which cost seven silver coins.

  However, he did not lose his father's face that year. After entering the mountain with the team, he made a good harvest in the first hunt, using the bow and crossbow to hunt back a wild boar, a deer, several mountain hares and birds, which also caused a sensation among the nearby hunting teams.

  It is rare for a young man to hunt and kill large wild beasts on his first trip into the mountains. He was hailed as a genius hunter, exciting his father for a long time.

  A warmth rose up in his heart, it was a long time ago, Li Ruo's east-west look made the old hunter recall the past days. Seeing that Li Ruo came alone, the old hunter smiled and stood up, hung the axe on the wall and walked towards Li Ruo, greeting him proactively:

  "Little brother, is this your first time entering the mountain? What kind of equipment do you want to buy? Let me help you pick one out. Alas, I'm old and can't enter the mountain anymore, but my eyesight has been honed sharp over these decades, if you trust me, I'll definitely help you choose a suitable weapon that fits your hand."

  Li Ran Dao turned around with a puzzled expression and nodded slightly:

  "I just want to buy a few arrows."

  The old hunter smiled again, Li Ranno's appearance was still a bit green, but his tone was firm and unwavering, obviously born to be fearless, full of confidence in his first trip into the mountains. The old hunter also became interested, this kind of child was too similar to him when he was young.

  The old hunter walked past Li Rou's knife and came to the wooden counter where the arrows were displayed, picked up a feathered arrow and said proudly:

  "Little brother, I'm not kidding you, the arrows sold here are famous for being good to use. This arrow shaft is slender and long, with balanced wings, suitable for a longbow. One shot will guarantee accuracy. Five coins per arrow, take a look at this one..."

  Li Ran shook his head and interrupted the old hunter: "Isn't there something better?"

  "Better?"

  The old hunter was puzzled and didn't expect this child's heart to be so high, planning to spend a lot of money to buy a good match, and also wanting to return with a full load on his first outing?

  The old hunter smiled and nodded, using force to lift the wooden case, making a "click" sound, opening the inner layer, two iron arrows appeared before his eyes.

  "Haha, of course there is. This kind of arrow has a strong killing power, guaranteeing that one shot will bring down the beast with a loud thud. However, this kind of arrow is also very expensive, costing 70 coins per branch."