"Hit!"
Deng Chanyu released the bowstring, looking disgruntled. She had missed.
The bow did not sit comfortably in her hands. She preferred pelting things with stones-fast and accurate, though such concealed-weapon tricks were hardly fit for polite company.
Deng Chanyu squeezed her long legs, and the horse beneath her shot forward as though pumped full of chicken blood, chasing the White Tiger into the Mountain Forest.
She liked stones, and King Zhou was an enlightened ruler who also liked the Flower and Stone Transport. They shared an interest. Thinking of it that way, entering the palace as his consort to secure wealth and honor for the Deng family sounded rather good. In any case, she did not think anyone else in the world was worthy of her.
If it were anyone else, even if they coveted her beauty and tried to force her, she would never yield.
After Deng Chanyu, Yin Jiao, Yin Hong, E Shun, and the other officers and soldiers all entered the Mountain Forest.
Yin Jiao rode for a while before suddenly discovering a pool beneath the sheltering trees.
The pool was small, its deep blue surface as smooth as a mirror.
Dense trees surrounded it, and the water lay hidden amid layer upon layer of emerald greenery, like a piece of translucent jade.
Several slanting beams of sunlight pierced the green foliage, instantly making the water look as though clusters of fiery sparks were burning across it.
Looking from afar, Yin Jiao saw a point of light at the center of the pool. Many animals had been drawn to it, and he, too, unconsciously walked toward it.
One step, then two. He saw a tuft of fletching above the point of light.
"Is that the arrow Father shot-threw? It seems to have struck something."
Yin Jiao