Mysterious Qi Flow

Someone was practically begging to give him weapons and equipment, so there was no reason for Zhang Chen to refuse. However, Zhang Chen was a little worried that these weapons and equipment would cause trouble.

Especially the saber. In a backward agricultural civilization, it was a strictly controlled weapon. If the government found out, it could cost you your head. But if he had an extra knife for self-defense, he could go further into the mountains in the future and have some confidence to resist if he encountered jackals, wolves, or tigers.

"Take it all! With these things, you can hunt bigger prey," Blacksmith Cui said with a smile, patting the box.

Zhang Chen didn't stand on ceremony when he heard this. He directly put the knife into his back basket, then carefully wrapped the dozen or so arrowheads with his clothes. Only then did he look up at Blacksmith Cui with a serious expression: "Uncle Cui, there's something I don't know if I should say."

"What is it? With our friendship, just say whatever you want," Blacksmith Cui said with a smile.

"Knives and swords are prohibited items. I wonder if the other party asked you to forge many of them. If something goes wrong in the future, I'm afraid your customer will kill you to silence you," Zhang Chen said in a low voice.

Actually, Zhang Chen's question was redundant. Of course, he knew that they must have been forging knives and swords in large quantities. Otherwise, how could Blacksmith Cui have had the opportunity to keep some iron ore for himself to forge a long saber and arrowheads?

"Do you think I don't know how dangerous it is?" Blacksmith Cui said with a bitter smile when he heard this. "You don't think a mere village blacksmith like me would have the chance to refuse, do you?"

Zhang Chen's heart sank when he heard this. As expected, the worst-case scenario had happened.

"The arrowheads are too conspicuous. It's better to melt them down into iron beads and forge a powerful slingshot," Zhang Chen said, looking at the arrowheads in his hand. He was a little afraid of causing trouble, so he put down the sharp arrowheads and looked up at Blacksmith Cui: "Using steel beads to hunt some roe deer, pheasants, and rabbits is enough. As for hunting those jackals and tigers, I still have to rely on traps."

Blacksmith Cui looked at Zhang Chen when he heard this, a smile spreading across his lips: "You're still so cautious, kid. I'll forge it for you tonight. Just come find me tomorrow. But you'll have to figure out the elastic band for the slingshot yourself. It's not easy to find a slingshot band that can shoot iron beads."

"Leave the slingshot band to me, I have a way to solve it. Also, please prepare some more iron wire for me, Uncle. Traps for hunting in the mountains consume too much iron wire. Also prepare a few iron pipes for me," Zhang Chen seemed to have thought of something and said to Blacksmith Cui.

Blacksmith Cui nodded when he heard this: "This is not difficult. I'll just add it to your tab."

Zhang Chen said goodbye to Blacksmith Cui, but a shadow rose in his heart. Someone coming to a blacksmith to forge weapons for no reason was definitely not a good sign.

"Could it be that someone is going to rebel?" Zhang Chen muttered to himself as he walked in the night.

Unfortunately, he had never been more than ten li outside the village, had no understanding of this world, and was a genuine country bumpkin. He had no idea what the general situation in the world was like, but he was already wary. He always felt that the outside world was not peaceful.

Zhang Chen returned to his house quietly, closed the doors and windows, and did not light the oil lamp. Instead, he used the moonlight to take out the long saber and examine it in his hand:

"It's somewhat similar to the Embroidered Spring Blade of later generations. The blade is very thick, focusing on being sturdy and durable. However, in my opinion, Blacksmith Cui's craftsmanship is not bad, but he didn't do heat treatment, so it's a little lacking. It's just an ordinary iron saber, not treated into a steel saber! But it's temporarily enough for me. I just need to heat treat it, and I can improve the performance of the iron saber."

Zhang Chen stroked the iron saber. The saber had been sharpened and gleamed with a cold light, giving off a hint of killing intent.

Zhang Chen tore off a strip of cloth, carefully wrapped the iron saber, and then put it in the back basket beside him. He absolutely dared not let the villagers see the iron saber. If they did, someone would definitely report it, and he was afraid his life would be in danger.

In the bureaucratic era, the control of weapons such as knives and guns was extremely strict. Even the yamen runners only used iron rulers. Weapons were basically not seen outside of military camps.

Zhang Chen wrapped up the weapons. At this time, the fragrant smell of claypot rice came from next door, which made Zhang Chen frown slightly. He felt quite uncomfortable in his heart. After all, the person and beast next door were enjoying the fruits of his labor. It would be strange if he was happy.

"I just don't know how much my Second Order Righteous God's Light has increased its restraint on the Fox Spirit," Zhang Chen leaned against the wall, took out a small brush made of rabbit fur, and gently brushed the crack in the wall. After a while, a crack appeared before his eyes, and a faint ray of light projected through, illuminating the dark room.

Zhang Chen lay at the crack and looked. He saw Zhang Chen sitting at the low table reading, and the Fox Spirit stood on the table swaying its head, seemingly engrossed. Zhang Chen looked at the person and the fox, listening to the sound of reading. It was a classic he had never heard before, but unfortunately, it did not give him any skills.

"If I hadn't hunted a rare sparrowhawk back then, he wouldn't have had the chance to use the sparrowhawk to please Master and be accepted as a disciple, thus having the opportunity to study," Zhang Chen muttered to himself as he lay at the crack in the wall. He had originally wanted to use that sparrowhawk himself, but who knew it would be snatched by the Fox Spirit next door.

"Damn Fox Spirit, one day I will make you pay the price," Zhang Chen cursed in his heart, his mind full of indignation.

As for the conflict between him and the young man next door, it wasn't just because of the Fox Spirit, but more because there had been conflict between them for a long time.

"Huh~"

Just then, Zhang Chen, who was peeking, suddenly discovered something unusual compared to usual. He saw the golden light in his abdomen suddenly burst into his eyes, and then the Fox Spirit in front of Zhang Chen suddenly blurred and changed. A layer of green qi flow actually appeared around its body.

The green qi flow was like a veil, draped over the Fox Spirit's body, looking particularly conspicuous with its green color.

"Is that... qi?" Zhang Chen looked at the green qi flow and said thoughtfully after a long time.

He looked at Zhang Chen, but saw that Zhang Chen was just a mortal body, and there was no qi flow flickering around him.

"My eyes can see this qi. Is it Demonic Qi? Or something else? Or does it only target all beasts?" Zhang Chen was surprised in his heart. He seemed to have discovered something new in a trance.

He lowered his head to look at his hands, and vaguely saw a golden-yellow qi flow circulating under his skin. That qi flow was bright and upright like the Great Sun, completely different from the Fox Spirit's qi flow.

"I see. That qi flow represents the power of the strange. As long as one masters the power of the strange, there will be qi flow accompanying it. That Zhang Chen is an ordinary scholar, so of course he won't have qi flow surrounding him," Zhang Chen made a guess in his heart and tentatively set this theory.

After listening to Zhang Chen read scriptures for a quarter of an hour, no skills were born. Zhang Chen carefully sealed the hole with mud and sand again, and then began to prepare dinner. Zhang Chen's dinner was relatively simple, just roasted meat. After eating and drinking his fill, he took a hot bath happily. Zhang Chen lay on the bed and went to sleep, while thinking about his Dharma Eye.

Early the next morning

Zhang Chen packed his equipment and was going into the mountains to hunt early. If he went late, he was afraid the prey in the traps would be taken advantage of by the small animals in the mountains.

However, Zhang Chen's body was still young after all, and it was time for growth and sleep. He started gnawing on the leftover roasted meat from last night in a daze after waking up in the morning.

"Zhang Chen, it's time to go into the mountains to hunt!"

Just as Zhang Chen was in a daze, a familiar shout suddenly came from outside the door. It was Wang Wu, the hunter in the village.

Zhang Chen jolted and quickly got up: "I'm coming."

Zhang Chen responded vaguely with meat in his mouth, quickly picked up his back basket, packed his woodcutting knife, and rushed out the door.

A thought suddenly flashed in Zhang Chen's mind at this time: "Five years ago, Wang Wu personally captured the Fox Spirit and almost skinned it to make a fur collar. Could it be that Wang Wu is some kind of reclusive master?"

Thinking of this possibility, Zhang Chen felt a little excited. If Wang Wu was a reclusive master, then if he sought guidance from Wang Wu, with his relationship with Wang Wu, Wang Wu would definitely not refuse him.

Wang Wu was a hunter in the village and had never married in his life. He treated Zhang Chen like his own son. If Wang Wu hadn't seen how pitiful he was all these years and often helped him out, he would have starved to death long ago.

When he was eight years old, Zhang Chen's biological father went into the mountains to hunt and was bitten by a fierce beast. Because there was no anti-inflammatory and disinfectant medicine, he ultimately didn't survive after three months and passed away, leaving his mother to make a living with her three children.

However, his mother was his stepmother. As for Zhang Chen's biological mother, his previous memory was also vaguely unclear. In his childhood memories, he only remembered that his family seemed to be a branch of a certain large clan, and was demoted to a bitter cold place because of a mistake. After his father drifted to this village, in order to take root here, he married a local widow through the village matchmaker, thus settling down here and becoming half a local.

Among the three siblings, Zhang Chen was the second oldest. He had an older sister who was five years older, and a younger sister who was two years younger, born after his stepmother married his cheap father.

After Zhang Chen's father passed away from illness, the family's land and property were cunningly seized by the village landlord, leaving the orphaned widow with only a dilapidated house and worthless jars and bottles.

After his father died, Zhang Chen's stepmother raised the three siblings through hardship, relying entirely on her sewing and mending.

Then, when Zhang Chen was a little older, after being raised by his stepmother for four years and being able to hunt game in the mountains with Wang Wu, he was driven out to separate and live on his own. Zhang Chen returned to his old, broken thatched cottage and became neighbors with Zhang Chen next door.

As for the deeper root of the conflict with Zhang Chen, it was because the thatched cottage Zhang Chen's family lived in originally belonged to Zhang Chen's family. However, after his father 'married into' his stepmother's family, it was abandoned. Coupled with years of disrepair and no one living there, when Zhang Chen and his mother came, they simply occupied it.

Zhang Chen was angry and went to reason with them, but they took advantage of his youth. Furthermore, since they had rebuilt the thatched cottage, they naturally wouldn't move out, and thus the enmity was formed.

After being driven out by his stepmother, Zhang Chen started to support himself, but life was very difficult and he almost starved to death. For all these years, he relied on the hunter Wang Wu for help. If it weren't for the hunting skills taught by the hunter Wang Wu, who often took him hunting in the mountains, he, a half-grown child, would have starved to death long ago.

Therefore, to him, Wang Wu was not his biological father, but better than one. Even the cured meat on the wall before was obtained by Zhang Chen hunting in the mountains with Wang Wu before his memory awakened, used as winter provisions.

The memory ended. Zhang Chen tried hard to keep his expression normal, took a deep breath, and slowly stood up. He pushed open the door and walked out, and indeed saw the old hunter Wang Wu waiting outside the main gate.

Wang Wu was over fifty this year, his face weathered by wind and frost, looking incredibly old. However, because he had a skillful way of setting traps, even in his old age, he could live a comfortable life, eating meat every day and having a strong body.

A golden light flickered in Zhang Chen's eyes, but he saw no mysterious qi flow around Wang Wu. Clearly, he was just an ordinary person.

Zhang Chen subtly looked at the courtyard next door and saw the fox spirit shrinking against the wall, grinding her teeth, looking at Zhang Chen and Wang Wu with some hostility.

"Let's go, let's hurry into the mountains to hunt!" Zhang Chen said with a smile.

Although he and Wang Wu were both hunters, they had their own unspoken territories and would not hunt in the same area to avoid competing for resources.

"I still need to go to Uncle Cui's house today to get some equipment, Uncle Wang, wait for me," Zhang Chen said to Wang Wu, then quickly ran to Blacksmith Cui's house in the village. Listening to the clanging of iron inside the house, he stood outside the door and shouted, "Uncle Cui, I'm here to pick up my things."

Blacksmith Cui heard the voice and walked out of the house, then beckoned Zhang Chen to enter the courtyard. After Zhang Chen entered the courtyard, Blacksmith Cui led him into the house and took out a palm-sized hemp rope bag. The bag was quite heavy and he handed it directly to Zhang Chen: "These are the iron beads you wanted, there are three hundred of them. Use them sparingly."

Zhang Chen opened the cloth bag, and inside were grayish-brown iron beads. The surface of the beads was not complete and they looked very unremarkable. Clearly, the casting technique needed improvement.

"And the iron shovel, and the slingshot frame. This slingshot frame was hammered out by me personally. It's enough for your descendants to use for a hundred generations." Blacksmith Cui took out an iron frame from the counter next to him. The iron frame was polished very smoothly. Although its shape looked a bit clumsy, as Blacksmith Cui said, it was enough to use for several lifetimes.

Moreover, the slingshot's structure was extremely well-designed. It felt quite heavy in his hand, weighing about a pound, and was very stable.

"Take it back and polish it yourself!" Blacksmith Cui said casually, "Last night, for your little things, I worked overtime until after midnight."

Zhang Chen didn't mind, directly put away the slingshot frame, then picked up the Luoyang shovel and ran towards Wang Wu with quick steps.

"Uncle Wang Wu, let's go into the mountains together." Zhang Chen carried the back basket and the Luoyang shovel on his shoulder, his eyes filled with joy, which was the joy and anticipation of experience points.