Chapter 42: The Power of Bows and Crossbows (Seeking Rewards)

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  "This is the crossbow!"

  Yang Wenguang's eyes lit up as he saw the bow made of a pile of wood, which didn't look like a bow or a mechanism, and he walked up to take a closer look.

  "Don't move!" A slap knocked away Yang Wenguan's outstretched paw, and he carefully placed the crossbow on the stone table, asking again: "Does the mansion have any bows and arrows?"

  Yang Wenguan thought for a moment and said, "There should be some. My older brother's room used to have many swords, spears, and clubs, but you know how it is, as soon as Father heard that I wanted to practice martial arts, he would get all worked up, so he didn't let me go into my older brother's room."

  Yun Qi smiled slyly and then deliberately teased Yang Wenguan: "Want to try?"

  "Really? But this thing is so small, is it really as powerful as you said?"

  Yang Wenguan had never seen a crossbow in his memory, only knowing about bows and arrows. The diameter of the bow was almost as big as his chest, and he always thought that length determined power. But looking at the crossbow, its length wasn't even as long as an arm, so he had some doubts about what Yun Qi said.

  He didn't say much, but instead pulled out several wooden sticks of varying lengths and widths from his pocket, similar to crossbow arrows. He picked up the crossbow from the table, loaded the arrow into the groove, tightened the bowstring, and placed it on the trigger. Standing up, he closed one eye, stretched out his arm towards the wall about 20 meters away, and pulled the trigger decisively.

  "Whoosh... Crack!" All that was seen was the wooden strip shooting out with a loud cracking sound, directly hitting the wall and creating a small hole in the thick wall before breaking under the force.

  "Alas! If only we had crossbow arrows." Yun Qi was deeply dissatisfied with this experiment, the wooden bars were too brittle, they had gained speed, but not enough power.

  He didn't see that Yang Wenguan's eyes had already lit up, and he also knew that the wooden stick was no match for the bow and arrow. At this moment, seeing the small weapon called a crossbow in Yun Qi's hand having such an unexpected effect, he excitedly ran over to touch the small hole on the wall, then ran back to Yun Qi's side and said with a flattering tone: "Master, let me try too."

  He furrowed his brow and threw up his hands, with a "what can I do" expression, saying: "There's no way to try anymore."

  Yang Wenguang felt greatly disappointed and hastily asked: "Why?"

  Yun Qi raised the crossbow in his hand and waved it back and forth in front of Yang Wenguan, saying: "No more arrows."

  Yang Wenguan listened silently, lowered his head to think for a moment, made up his mind, gritted his teeth and stamped his foot, saying: "You wait, I'll go get the arrow." After finishing speaking, he ran out of the courtyard gate.

  "Hey, aren't you afraid your old man will kill you?"

  By the time Yun Qi shouted out the words, Yang Wenguang had already disappeared from view, so he could only sit down on the stone bench, take out a cigarette, light it and wait quietly.

  After waiting for a long time, until Yun Qi lit his third cigarette out of boredom, Yang Wenguan finally returned with a disheveled and dirty appearance. Seeing that even the back of his clothes had been torn open with a very long slit, Yun Qi spat out a mouthful of turbid smoke and teased: "What? Did Young Master Yang get robbed in his own mansion?"

  But Yang Wenguan didn't care, and rushed to the table in a fiery manner. It was only then that Yun Qi noticed that his abdomen was bulging, obviously hiding something. When Yang Wenguan took out the object from his clothes, Yun Qi saw that it was a tube of arrows filled with arrowheads made of iron, shining brightly, with straight and round sword bodies coated with a layer of black lacquer, while the arrow shafts were made of snow-white feathers. This kind of bow and arrow looked like high-quality goods at first glance, better than those commonly used by military soldiers.

  Yang Wenguan put these down and rushed back to the house. Before long, he changed his clothes and came out again, with no sign of fine sweat on his forehead and dust on his face already washed away.

  Looking at the quiver with no less than fifty or sixty arrows, Yang Wenguan sat down beside Yun Qi with a thud, let out a breath, and said with a sigh of relief: "Ah! All the bows and arrows in my brother's room are here. You don't know, although my brother's courtyard is empty, there are still servants cleaning it up. I just went over and saw someone in the courtyard, so I could only sneak in from behind. That bastard, I don't know who was so vicious, but the whole backyard was planted with thorny roses, which killed me... Ah! Be gentle... What? There's still a thorn that hasn't been pulled out? Where? ... Ah! It hurts... it hurts... be gentle..."

  It wasn't easy for Yun Qi to finally remove the flower thorn from Yang Wenguang's hand, and after checking again to confirm that there were no more, he said: "Young master, you've had a hard time, I deeply admire you!"

  Yang Wenguan rolled his eyes and said, "Give me a break, you're talking nonsense." Then he saw the bow and arrow on the table and excitedly asked, "How about it? The arrows are ready, can I try now?" He was eager to pick them up.

  "Wait!"

  Yun Qi took the bow and arrow, then said: "This bow and arrow are too long to be used with a crossbow, I need to modify them!" After that, he pulled out a carving knife from his pocket, which he had been carrying with him since he made that wooden stake. The knife was sharp and convenient, and it would also come in handy for self-defense if he encountered another female thief like last time. He took out an arrow and compared it to the crossbow's arrow slot, using the knife to mark a line on the arrow as a reference point. Then, he poured out all the arrows and marked each one at the same spot. Yang Wen Guan watched from the side without interrupting, but was curious about what Yun Qi was doing. Next, Yun Qi cut off the marked end of each arrow, along with the arrowhead, and then ground the broken ends smooth. This had to be done carefully, as uneven stress points would not only affect the power of the shot but also cause deviations in accuracy. This was a delicate task, and even though it wasn't summer, Yun Qi's forehead was still covered in sweat.

  "Got it!"

  Finally, after finishing the last one, Yun Qi felt relieved and threw the carving knife aside. He then placed a 'bullet', which was originally an arrow but had been modified to be used with a crossbow and now only 30 centimeters long, into the original quiver, but inserted it upside down so that just a bit of the length stuck out.

  "Is that it? This is the crossbow arrow?" Yang Wenguan curiously took out one and placed it in front of his eyes for a closer examination. He thought to himself: Can such a crossbow arrow really have so much power? A good bow and arrow were ruined like this, and even the arrowhead was gone. Don't you need guidance? Thinking of this, he asked: "Master, why is your crossbow arrow so strange? The length has been shortened by so much, not to mention that you've also cut off the arrowhead. Aren't you afraid it will affect its accuracy?"

  "No way, watch this." With that, Yun Qi took the crossbow from Yang Wenguang's hand and placed it in the card slot as before. Then he raised his arm straight, closed one eye, and presented a three-point-one-line stance - this was actually the standard handgun shooting posture of later generations.

  "Whoosh... Thud!" The crossbow bolt shot out, leaving only a black afterimage. When he looked again at the wall, the bolt had already sunk in halfway, with only a small part of it exposed.

  What a huge force! If it hits someone, even if they wear armor, they will likely be injured. After half a ring, including Yun Qi, the two of them finally recovered from their shock.

  After a brief calmness, Yang Wenguan shouted and rushed up: "Let me try!"

  "Uh... don't rush... don't rush..."

  …………

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