Chapter 19: Being Tricked by a Fellow Villager
The man in black is Ding Zhaolan, and the man in green is his younger brother Ding Zhaohui.
The two had just entered the martial arts world. A few days ago, they met the famous Five Rats at the Songjiang Ferry. The two sides had a good chat, but they saw that the second rat, Han Zhang, had an arrow hanging on his foot.
After inquiring about the situation, it was learned that it was the court's lackey Zhan Zhao who colluded with a young man of unknown origin to carry out a sneak attack.
The Five Rats were famous for their righteousness in the martial arts world. After hearing this, the two of them said on the spot that they would come to Bianjing City to teach Zhan Zhao and the kid on the hill a lesson.
The Five Rats advised them not to go, but the two remained unmoved.
They first arrived in Bianjing City, and were disappointed to hear that Zhan Zhao had left, so they came to Aishan to take a look.
The two men also considered themselves chivalrous, so when they saw that there was only a little girl in the yard that the Five Rats mentioned, they had no intention of taking action.
Then he went to Bianjing City to have some drinks, and came back to look for someone in the afternoon, but missed Lu Sen again.
But he happened to see Jin Lingqin practicing archery.
At first Ding Zhaolan just watched, but as time went on, he became more and more surprised. He found that the frequency of this little girl's archery was a bit exaggerated. He was afraid that she might hurt the muscles and bones of her right arm, so he asked her.
After his younger brother Ding Zhaohui went to the woods to pick up the scattered arrows and calculated that Jin Ringo's arm was still intact after shooting more than a hundred arrows, they both thought of taking him as a disciple.
There’s nothing I can do…my talent is really too high.
It's almost unbelievably high.
In the martial arts world, top masters are those who have great internal strength and unique skills.
But almost all people who are good at using long-range weapons have a nickname.
Moreover, almost all masters have one or two hidden weapons, or long-range kung fu.
For example, Zhan Zhao has a special skill of using sleeve arrows which he would not use unless it was an emergency.
Bai Yutang also has a finger stone in his cuffs, but he rarely uses it.
The Northern Hero Ouyang Chun is also very accurate when throwing stones.
This shows that in the martial arts world, the skill of long-range attack is extremely important.
It can be used for containment, pursuit, etc.
But why can't the masters of hidden weapons become among the top ones?
The reason is simple: lack of talent.
In fact, most of the hidden weapon masters don't have any "long-range" talent, and they don't even have close combat talent, so they try to deal long-range damage.
Just by relying on your experience, you can become famous.
Besides, long-range attacks are very expensive!
If you practice for a few years, the lost or damaged darts or hidden weapons you throw away will be enough to buy a dozen good swords and knives.
Not to mention using wooden hidden weapons instead, long-range attacks require abnormal skills in hand feel. The texture, weight and size of the hidden weapons will affect the final hit rate.
Therefore, the talent and financial conditions required to practice hidden weapons are actually higher than those required to practice swords and internal strength.
Just like in the modern military, snipers are the most difficult to train.
A true long-range master is actually invincible.
For example, even if it was the Northern Hero Ouyang Chun, when the top archer of Western Xia was aiming at him with a hunting bow from ten meters away, he would have only one choice... escape!
Use the terrain to escape and pray that the opponent will fail.
Otherwise the chances of survival are slim.
Also, don't think you can win by just attacking the archers at close range.
Reality is not a game, there is no such thing as a balanced army. Archers are not weak in close combat, they practice bows every day to develop strong arms, and they are extremely powerful. When they see you approaching, they will take out their knives and chop you into doubt.
And now, a young talent who is naturally good at using a bow is right in front of them.
This is definitely a bow-using genius that only appears once in a century.
If you miss him/her, you will never meet another one in this life or the next.
Ding Zhaolan suppressed his inner excitement. He ignored the arrows aimed at him and smiled, "Little girl, we are both from the Songjiang Ding family. Some of our family members are officials. We can't say we are rich, but we have no problem raising a little girl. You are a servant now, a lowly person. But as long as you take us as your teachers, you will immediately become a daughter of our Ding family and you will have no worries about food and clothing."
The Ding family had an elder who was a military officer, and the two of them were quite familiar with military affairs.
They knew very well that hidden weapons and poison darts were actually unorthodox methods, and being able to hurt someone from a distance of ten feet was already quite amazing.
The only thing that can truly kill someone from a hundred feet away is a bow, and only a strong archer can do it.
This little girl in front of me, as long as she is taught properly, will become a real archer in the future, maybe even better than that.
They have private soldiers at home, and if they have one more archer, their strength can be greatly increased.
Ding Guanglan threw out the words of recruitment and waited for the other party to agree.
The bright sunlight shone on Jin Lingqin's face. She shook her head vigorously: "I will not leave you. You saved me and gave me food and a place to sleep."
Ding Zhaolan snorted: "But he only treats you as a servant. If you follow him, you will always be a slave."
Jin Lingqin pulled the bow and slowly retreated towards the wooden building: "I don't care if I am a slave or a lowly person, I am happy to follow you, my lord."
Ding Zhaolan frowned: "Self-degradation."
His younger brother Ding Guanghui snorted, "Brother, why bother saying so much to her? Just take her away. When she grows up, she will naturally understand that we are doing this for her own good."
"That's true." Ding Zhaoguang in black nodded: "The little girl is indeed still immature, and we can't let her do anything about it."
"Then I'll go in and bring her out." said his younger brother Ding Zhaohui with a smile.
Upon hearing this, although Jin Lingqin was nervous, he remembered Lu Sen's instructions and immediately let go.
A light golden arrow shot out and headed straight for Ding Zhaohui's face.
It can be said that the shot was quite accurate.
But unfortunately, the short bow was not very powerful, and Jin Lingqin was still small and could not fully pull the bow.
The arrow flew in front of Ding Zhaohui, who flicked it aside with his sleeve.
"I really came! Wow, the little girl is quite fierce."
Ding Zhaohui laughed out loud. He quite admired Jin Lingqin's behavior.
He is not only the descendant of a martial arts family, but also a man of the world. He naturally likes people who dare to fight and contend. The little girl is exactly what he likes.
Then he leaped forward and was about to jump over the wooden fence to pull the little girl out.
As a result, as soon as he jumped up, he hit an invisible wall with a bang, as if he was stuck to an invisible object in the air for a while before falling down.
Ding Zhaolan widened his eyes, not knowing what his younger brother was doing.
At this time, Ding Zhaohui covered his aching nose, climbed up with tears streaming down his face, and shouted, "Brother, this place is weird."
Just as he finished speaking, another arrow flew towards him from the yard.
Ding Zhaolan stepped forward, rolled up the arrow with his sleeve, and asked, "What happened to you just now?"
"There is a magic spell above this fence." Ding Zhaohui covered his nose and rubbed it continuously: "You can't go in."
There is no way. The nose is one of the vital parts of the human body. No matter how strong the internal strength is, it is difficult to make the skin of this place thick and tough.
At this time, another arrow flew in from the yard, and Ding Zhaolan reached out to block it again.
He looked into the yard. At this moment, the dark-skinned little girl's face no longer showed much fear, but more anger.
In Jin Lingqin's heart, her husband was kindhearted, good-tempered, handsome, and a god on earth. How could these two ugly guys have the right to judge him?
He talks about magic all the time, it's annoying to hear him talk about magic.
Her face was stern and she drew the bow again.
Ding Zhaolan grabbed the broken arrow and reached forward, and sure enough, he touched an invisible wall.
Then the arrow shot by Jin Lingqin flew out again, and he broke it again.
Since there is an invisible wall, how did this little girl shoot the arrow?
He looked at the bow in Jin Lingqin's hand in confusion, then looked at the arrow in his own hand, and then threw the arrow into the yard.
As a result, the arrow hit the invisible wall as soon as it was thrown and bounced back.
"this!"
Ding Zhaolan was shocked.
Ding Zhaohui stared in a daze as Jin Lingqin continued to draw his bow and arrow in the yard.
After blocking the arrow shot by Jin Lingqin again, Ding Zhaolan couldn't help but ask, "Little girl, who is your husband?"
"snort."
Jin Ringo ignored him and drew his bow again.
"Little girl, tell me what's going on." Ding Zhaolan dodged another arrow and said with a lewd smile.
Seeing the other person's playful appearance, Jin Lingqin became even angrier.
At this moment, a loud sound of breaking through the air suddenly came from their side.
The two men jumped back subconsciously, and a golden light flashed across their foreheads.
This force is much greater than the one shot by the little girl in the yard.
And it felt very wrong. Judging from the sound of the wind, they should have jumped far away from the arrow's trajectory, but why was the arrow still so close to their bodies?
The two Ding brothers were puzzled, and when they turned around, they saw a very handsome young man on the left side of the road, holding a golden longbow and facing them with a very cold expression.
The bow was fully released and another golden light came towards him.
At this time, the Ding brothers had already pulled out the daggers from behind.
The arrow was aimed at Ding Zhaolan. He subconsciously dodged to the left. Logically, he should have avoided it, but just as he moved to the left, he saw that the golden light also moved slightly to the left, and then shot straight at his heart.
He subconsciously raised his hand and used the short knife to knock the golden light away.
Ding!
The golden arrow bounced to the side, and Ding Zhaolan was knocked back two steps by the impact.
He steadied himself and called to the side, "Be careful, that guy's arrow will turn."
As soon as he finished speaking, he fell back in panic, and an arrow flew past his nose almost silently.
This arrow was shot by Jin Lingqi in the yard.
The small power also has its advantages. At least the sound of breaking through the air is not that loud, making it easier to use it for sneak attacks.
Ding Zhaolan was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat and shouted, "This place is weird, let's go."
The two of them jumped high at the same time and jumped between the trees in a blink of an eye.
Lu Sen shot another arrow at the back of Ding Zhaohui in green.
But then Ding Zhaohui actually turned sideways in mid-air and avoided the arrow with its own tracking effect.
Just as he dodged Lu Sen's arrow, another arrow came from the yard and hit his left buttock with a swish.
With a slightly muffled hum, the Ding brothers' figures quickly disappeared among the woods.
If it was a flat space, Lu Sen could have shot at least three or four more arrows, but the woods served as a protection for them to hide their bodies.
Lu Sen felt a little sorry and put the longbow back into the system backpack.
Heizhu walked over carefully, holding a box wrapped in gray linen.
There was a constant buzzing sound coming from the gray linen bag.
When Lu Sen returned to the yard, Jin Lingqin ran over and said fearfully, "My dear, those two ugly ghosts are here again. They just said they wanted to kidnap me."
Looking at Jin Lingqin's little body trembling with fear, Lu Sen's expression felt a little cold.
On the other side, the Ding brothers relied on their excellent martial arts skills to run more than ten miles away, and then hid in a farmer's house.
My younger brother Ding Zhaohui was lying on the wooden bed with half of his buttocks exposed.
Ding Zhaolan used a scalded knife to cut open the buttocks, then pulled out the arrow hanging on it and threw it aside.
Ding Zhaohui let out a scream.
"Luckily, that girl wasn't very strong, she used a short bow, and the arrow hit our buttocks, so it only went three-tenths into the flesh." Ding Zhaolan said in a frightened voice, "If we had been shot by the longbow of the young man in white, we would have been seriously injured if not killed."
As Ding Zhaolan spoke, he sprinkled gold medicine on his brother's wound.
At this time, Ding Zhaohui felt that the wound was not so painful. He took a breath and said, "The little girl's arrow also turned. I listened to the wind to determine the position. I obviously dodged it, but the sound chased me again, and then I was hit by the arrow."
Ding Zhaolan was silent. He recalled the previous vision and said, "Brother, do you feel that we have been fooled by the Five Rats?"
"How could they play tricks on us? You know, we are all from Songjiang (old Shanghai), and we are from the same hometown."
The people of the Song Dynasty attached great importance to the friendship among their fellow townsmen and villagers.
"Since the Five Rats have fought with Zhan Zhao and the young man in white, they must have encountered the invisible wall and seen arrows that can bend. The arrow in Han Lao Er's leg is exactly the same as the one you pulled off your hip." Ding Zhaolan snorted, "But have they ever talked about these two things?"
“No, they didn’t mention it at all.” Ding Zhaohui shook his head, his expression gradually turning cold: “They only said that Zhan Zhao and that young man were despicable and shameless, and attacked them by surprise.”
"So we brothers are stupid. We believe whatever they say." Ding Zhaolan sighed, looking depressed. "Two against five, even if it's a sneak attack, it's reasonable, right? Why do we believe whatever they say before?"
Ding Zhaohui's eyes widened: "That's right, two against five, so what if it's a sneak attack!"
The atmosphere in the room became quiet.
The two grown men had embarrassed expressions on their faces.
Especially Ding Zhaohui, besides feeling ashamed, he just wants to curse.
Less than half a month after he entered the martial arts world with great enthusiasm, he was tricked and almost died for someone else.
Fortunately, they thought that they, the two brothers, would soon make a great name for themselves.
Reality is like a hard slap in the face.
The two were silent for a long time. After a while, Ding Zhaolan said, "Brother, what do you think is going on in that young man's yard?"
"Witchcraft!" Ding Zhaohui said angrily. His nose was still aching slightly.
"Can't it be a Taoist magic or a fairy magic?" Ding Zhaolan asked in return: "Can a magic that can appear under the blazing sun be a sorcery?"
Ding Zhaohui was stunned for a moment: "That's right, it could be a Taoist magic. It doesn't seem unfair for us two brothers to lose to such an alien."
Ding Zhaolan's eyes were full of anticipation: "I want to learn."
"Will that young man be able to teach? We have just offended him."
Ding Zhaolan shook his head and said, "I don't know, but I know that there are very few people in this world who truly understand magic. If we miss it, it will be difficult for us to encounter such an opportunity again in our lifetime."
"I want to learn, but I know that young man can't teach me."
"Then let's go and beg him." Ding Zhaolan stood up, his eyes shining as he said, "Let him see our sincerity. If one day doesn't work, then one month. If one month doesn't work, then one year. If one year doesn't work, then a lifetime."
So the next day, when Lu Sen got up, he found two grown men kneeling outside the yard.
Both of them were shirtless and tied with a bundle of thorny vines.
