Bujutsu match 208

  The Gu Gong Fu here is actually just the Xiyuan of the Xu family, which is a garden. The area is not very large, but it's close to the bustling Fuzi Temple, so the people in the mansion like to live here.

  Now that we're going to have a martial arts competition, the courtyard is naturally not big enough. The Duke waved his hand and shouted at the servants: "Bring all my armor and helmets, let's go to the training grounds to compete!" His tone was extremely excited.

  "Your words are wrong, sir. Why must we go to the training grounds for a martial arts competition? On the battlefield, one wears full armor and rides a warhorse with a long spear or halberd in hand - that is a fair and glorious fight. But in reality, the enemy may not give you such an opportunity. Not to mention close combat, even if you encounter an assassin, you must fight back even if you're not wearing armor, or even clothes, and without any weapons. So, my intention is to have our competition here." said Liu Ziguang.

  Today, after a long and tiring journey by boat and carriage, even if I'm not tired myself, the two young ladies and the servants are all exhausted, so it's best to hurry up and finish comparing things and then find a place to rest.

  "Alright, let's do it your way. Bring two precious swords here." As long as it was a duel, the location didn't matter; Duke Guo agreed to Liu Ziguang's suggestion.

  Before long, two goose feather knives were delivered. The Duke and Liu Ziguo each held one, went out the door, stood in the garden, and paid respects to each other with their knives.

  Three young ladies stood in the corridor watching, Peng Jingrong said anxiously: "Weapons have no eyes, let's stop at a certain point." The other two little maids were whispering to each other on the side, seemingly betting on who would win or lose.

  The country's uncle carefully observed his opponent with the eyes of a seasoned military veteran, slender waist and back, sharp eyes, sunken temples not inward, long fingers, no signs of practicing boxing on the joints, walking down the road is not solid enough, should not be a person who has been practicing martial arts for many years, may be born with divine power, brave and fierce, can make a big splash on the battlefield, one force can defeat ten wills, such people are still very useful on the battlefield, but when encountering strong opponents, a little carelessness will lead to failure. At a young age, he became the deputy general of the iron factory guard, which may not be a good thing for young people, should let him suffer a bit, and make him understand that there are mountains outside the mountain, and there are people outside the person.

  Having made up his mind, he beckoned to Liu Ziguang and said: "Make your move. I'll let you have three moves, after that I'll counterattack."

  Just as he was observing Liu Ziguang, he was also being observed by the other party. Since his transformation, Liu Ziguang seemed to have developed a kind of sensory ability that allowed him to detect his opponents' combat strength. Among all of Liu Ziguang's opponents, Song Qingfeng had the strongest combat strength, and was absolutely a high-level martial artist, with a combat strength equivalent to that of about fifty ordinary warriors. However, in front of him, it was just one round. The current national duke and Song Qingfeng were not on the same path, belonging to the standard warrior category, skilled in archery and horseback riding, strong enough to lift a tripod, and able to strategize and win battles from afar. The pressure or aura that had been formed over many years as a general was transmitted to Liu Ziguang, conveying the information that this opponent was formidable but not very difficult to deal with.

  Liu Ziguang's hypocritical politeness, ancient people were like this, even if they were martial artists, they had to be polite and courteous, especially when competing in martial arts, not only did they let their opponents make the first move, but also declared that they would yield a little bit beforehand, it was more like showing off their superior martial skills rather than being polite.

  Guo Gongye's identity and age were both higher than Liu Ziguo, so it was still up to Liu Ziguo to make the first move. He looked at the knife in his hand, the golden peach wood skin wrapped scabbard, the intricately carved white jade handle, pressed the trigger, a crisp sound, the long knife came out of its sheath, like a autumn water. Against the light, you could still see the patterns on the blade.

  "Good sword." Liu Ziguang was also a connoisseur who had used several knives. This knife not only had a good steel edge, but its mounting was also quite valuable.

  "That's natural, I'm a knife enthusiast, and it seems General Liu is also a fellow enthusiast. Alright, if you can withstand my ten moves, this White Rainbow will be yours." The old man was using his beloved knife as a stake, looking like he had already won.

  "Very good, Duke Guo has seen it, I'm going to make my move." With a tempting bet, Liu Ziguang decided to let Duke Guo lose convincingly. He hung the scabbard on the branch behind him, held the knife with one hand, and took an attacking stance.

  "Come on." The Duke of Guo still stood in his original position, the sword in its scabbard and not yet drawn. He was calm and composed, seemingly at ease.

  "It's you who is underestimating, don't blame me when you lose face later." Liu Ziguang thought to himself, his figure flashing as he pounced on the Duke like a ghost, all in the blink of an eye.

  Although the Duke didn't draw his sword, his eyes were fixed on Liu Ziguang. He was fully confident that he could draw his sword in an instant and subdue his opponent. As for who had the fastest sword, among the hundreds of thousands of troops in the capital, the Duke acknowledged only one person as second to him, and no one dared to claim first place.

  But this time he miscalculated, seeing the opponent's footsteps move, but they moved too fast, completely not at a normal person's speed, and couldn't see the figure, only saw a white light, then the opponent was already in front of him, while his White Rainbow Sword had already been placed on his own shoulder. And he himself hadn't even had time to fully pull out the sword.

  The three ladies standing on the steps, who were originally eager to watch a few hundred rounds, didn't even have time to react before the duel was over. Liu Ziguang smiled and placed his sword on the shoulder of the Duke, two inches away from his neck, the threat implicit, while the Duke's sword had only been drawn out one-third of the way!

  "Liu Mou thanked the Duke for the gift of the knife." Liu Ziguang and other spectators saw clearly who won, then put away the White Rainbow Sword, without turning around, casually threw it back, the long sword flew out, just right into its scabbard. This move alone was enough to make everyone gasp in amazement.

  The country master laughed loudly: "It's really that people can't be judged by their appearance, and the public has underestimated the enemy. This white rainbow sword will be given to the general. Use chicken oil and antelope skin to wipe the knife. The treasure knife needs to be well maintained. I'll have someone send you twenty pieces of antelope skin wiping cloth later."

  He is a generous and true hero, losing is just losing, no anger or pettiness. Liu Ziguang sincerely bowed his fist in gratitude.

  However, Guo Gongzi did not intend to let Liu Ziguang off so easily. "Today we didn't go to the training grounds to test our horsemanship and long-range combat skills, but we can still have a little competition in archery techniques. The garden isn't big, so we won't compete in shooting from a hundred paces, just see who shoots more accurately and skillfully."

  Liu Ziguang would certainly not dampen Master Guo's enthusiasm, it was as if they were winning prizes at an amusement park.

  As expected, the Duke again used a precious bow as a bet. This time, however, he shot first. He had someone hang an iron wire between the peaks of two fake mountains and then hung ten copper coins from it. The copper coins swayed gently in the wind. Everyone looked on in surprise, but only Xu Xiuyuan knew that her brother was going to show off his skill at shooting arrows through coins again.

  When it comes to archery, not only do you need to hit the target accurately, but also shoot far. The so-called strong bow and hard crossbow are not something that ordinary people can pull open. The Guo Gong's house has various types of bows, and the first two brought out were two relatively short horseback bows, with matching carved feather arrows that were also relatively short. The pulling force was moderate, lest it shoot too far and too strong, hurting people outside.

  The Duke of Guo first took a short bow, put a green jade thumb ring on his thumb, took an arrow, drew the bow and shot it out casually, hitting the copper coin right in the middle, and even passing through the square hole of the copper coin. The first arrow was shot, and the copper coin swung violently with the iron wire. The Duke of Guo continued to shoot slowly and steadily, shooting ten arrows in a row, each hitting the center of the coin, and the bowstring was adjusted to just the right strength, so that the arrow shaft was stuck in the copper coin.

  What a wonderful archery! The crowd applauded. Guo Gongye nodded and smiled without saying a word, this was his reserved program, he had performed many times in this venue, and was very familiar with it.

  The country master smiled and handed the bow to Liu Ziguang, indicating that he should shoot. At this time, the lower official had already climbed up the fake mountain and taken down all the carved arrows. There were still ten copper coins swaying in the wind, with the setting sun shining through the square holes.

  Liu Ziguang took the short bow, first placing an arrow on it, aiming for a while, then suddenly releasing the string. The crowd heard the sound and looked over, only to see the feathered arrow stuck in the fake mountain, about eight feet away from the copper coin.

  The crowd murmured in unison, and this archery was a bit too poor. Xu Xiuyuan, who had been hanging her head in defeat just now because of losing the bet, burst out laughing. "Is this the archery of the deputy general of the Iron Factory Guard? Even children playing with slingshots are better than him." The Duke also stroked his beard and smiled. This young man seemed to rely solely on a single word - "fast", but when it came to shooting arrows, he was completely an amateur. It's worth being happy to regain some face.

  But what happened next left them stunned. Liu Ziguang stretched out his right hand, pulled out three arrows from his fishing robe, and fired them off in a row with his bow laid flat. Then came another three arrows, slightly aimed before being released, firing nine arrows in three rounds, all of which pierced the coins. Finally, he loaded up three more arrows, spaced them out a bit, drew back fully, and shot them out. The middle arrow hit the last coin right on target, while the other two arrows respectively struck both ends of the iron wire, severing it. A string of ornamental arrows with coins attached fell to the ground. All around was silent, some servants were left agape, their mouths hanging open in shock.

  "What a great archery!" The Duke was the first to applaud. This is indeed an unparalleled archery skill, and the Duke had only heard of some Mongolian divine archers who could reach this level of three arrows firing at the same time. What he didn't know was that Liu Ziguang's archery skills were learned from a Mongolian philosopher.

  "I'm ashamed." Liu Ziguang put down his precious bow and cupped his hands in a gesture of respect.

  The three misses were also stunned, the Peng sisters knew that Liu Ziguang's knife skills were exceptional, but they didn't know that his archery skills were also so profound. Xu Yuhui lost again, and she lost very inexplicably, wondering how there could be someone in the world whose archery skills were better than those of the Crown Prince. It was simply unbelievable.

  "Archery skills are good, but one must also be able to draw a strong bow. Come, bring me my strong bow." The Duke of the State still wanted to continue the competition.