Long weapons

Wenlong and Seventh Uncle walked out of the hall, leaving the clansmen exchanging bewildered looks. The uncles and aunts hurried off to train as well. Becoming a master at the Huaxia Sect was a matter of the utmost importance.

After that, the uncles and aunts, including the Clan Chief, could always be found at the Martial Arts Training Ground. Unless something important came up, they trained there without fail, come thunder or lightning.

Wenlong thought that making gunpowder would save him even more trouble. But did this world have the necessary materials?

After listing the materials, he had the Huaxia Sect send people into the city to search for them. Wenlong knew nitric acid would not be hard to find, and charcoal went without saying. Sulfur, however, would not be so easy.

Sulfur was probably called stone sulfur here. It could be found near volcanoes, but he had no idea where any volcanoes were.

His eldest and second maternal uncles were also at the Huaxia Sect, where they had taken disciples and become masters, so he would leave it to them. If they could not find sulfur, they could ask around about the locations of volcanoes.

Then he found Shitou and told him to take men on covert raids against Wan Family Town at irregular intervals. That would keep the Kai too busy to trouble the Wen and buy time for the Huaxia Sect to grow rapidly.

Once they had enough strength, it would not be too late to deal with the Kai. Still, he reminded Shitou to send only their best fighters, so they could break away at any moment even if their pursuers caught up with them.

They were not to bring too many people. It would be disastrous if they could not escape. They should quit while they were ahead and never get greedy for credit.

Shitou agreed to everything. Wenlong trusted that Shitou was no fool and should understand what was at stake. If he lost clansmen while launching sneak attacks on others, he would be utterly useless.

Wenlong entered the Secret Passage to cultivate. He did not want to neglect either medicine or martial arts. These were the foundation of the Lineage and the hope for the Wen's rise.

Recently, happy occasions had been approaching for the Wen. Long'er's mother's matchmaking efforts had also borne fruit. Wenlong's two maternal uncles married two young widows from the Wen.

Several other widows also married his clan uncles. The remaining widows did not wish to remarry, preferring to devote themselves to martial arts and medicine while living with their sons.

Of course, they could not be forced. This could be considered a satisfactory resolution to their requests.

None of those getting married wanted a lavish banquet. An ordinary meal with the whole village gathered together would do. Wen Tiancheng did not insist either. As long as they were happy, that was enough.

On their wedding day, Wenlong was still in the Secret Passage and knew nothing about it. Wen Tiancheng and his wife had not waited for him. They chose an auspicious day and hurriedly arranged the weddings.

Only after several days had passed did Wenlong emerge from the Secret Passage. He discovered that his clan aunts had become his maternal aunts. Knowing that the matter of his widowed aunts had been settled made him happy too.

The Martial Arts Training Ground was as lively as ever. With some time on his hands, Wenlong went over to instruct the youngsters in martial arts.

Shitou, Linzi, and Daniu were teaching and leading training sessions at the Huaxia Sect. The youngsters of Wen Family Village learned martial arts under Wenzhu and Wenye.

Wen Tie and Wen Hua were now members of the Wen, and they did not go to the Huaxia Sect to train either. There were many unique Wen techniques they did not yet intend to teach outsiders.

Wenlong feared that one day the Huaxia Sect might produce an ungrateful wolf who would pose an enormous threat to the Wen. For that reason, the martial arts taught at the Huaxia Sect were all streamlined versions.

"Watch closely. I'll slow my movements down, so pay careful attention." Wenlong patiently taught everyone the essentials of martial arts.

What the youngsters liked best, however, were lightness skills and dart-throwing techniques. The girls liked swordplay, while the boys preferred saber techniques.

Wenlong did not turn them down and fulfilled all their requests. He demonstrated the movements over and over until everyone understood their secrets.

"Besides sabers and swords, you mustn't neglect training with long weapons. I'll show you their power now." Wenlong called Wenzhu over to help demonstrate.

"Eldest Sister, attack me with your sword at full strength," Wenlong told Wenzhu as he casually picked up a spear.

"Be careful, Long'er." Wenzhu naturally knew how formidable Wenlong was and immediately took an attacking stance.

Wenlong only defended with his spear, never attacking. Wenzhu simply could not break through and get within sword's reach of him.

The spear was like a wall guarding Wenlong. Her sword tip remained far from him.

Only when Wenzhu lowered her sword did Wenlong speak. "Did everyone see that? This is the advantage of a long weapon. With equal skill, the long weapon wins."

The uncles and aunts training nearby had witnessed the entire brilliant exchange. They all thought about how they had neglected long weapons and resolved to practice with them when they had time.

"Good. Now that you understand the advantages of long weapons, you'll also need to practice on horseback." Wenlong did not expect them to become especially formidable mounted fighters. At the very least, they should avoid being killed in an instant.

"Eldest Sister, I'll leave this to you. Ask me if there's anything you don't understand." With that, Wenlong walked over to Linzi's mother.

"Auntie, come to the meeting hall this afternoon. We'll discuss pharmacology and medicine. Bring the clanswomen with you. I'll wait for you there," he told Linzi's mother.

"All right, Long'er. I'll bring them over," Linzi's mother replied. Besides studying medicine, these aunts also worked hard at martial arts.

In the meeting hall, Wenlong explained pharmacology and medical techniques. His aunts listened intently, occasionally asking about the principles behind them.

Wenlong held nothing back, explaining all the techniques he had learned and understood so that his aunts could quickly master the skills needed to treat patients.

"From now on, we'll establish a Medical Hall at the Huaxia Sect to treat patients from both within and outside the sect. Treatment will be free for the Wen and our sect members. Relatives from outside will only pay for the medicine." The Medical Hall was important, bearing responsibility for everyone's health.

"What about our supply of medicinal herbs? With so many people, we'll need a great deal of medicine," Linzi's mother quickly asked.

"Auntie Linzi, I'll leave you in charge of this. For our medicinal supplies, we'll announce that we're buying herbs. Whether they're from the Huaxia Sect or Huaxia Village, we'll pay money for them," Wenlong said.

It seemed he needed to pick up the pace and get paper made. Drawing so many diagrams on bamboo slips was far too inconvenient.

The lime had been made long ago. He did not know how the bamboo they had cut was coming along in the soaking process. He would have to take a look.

Wenlong left the meeting hall and headed straight for the place where the bamboo was soaking. When he arrived, he found that the soaking was working quite well. The bamboo was already showing early signs of softening.

He told the clansmen responsible to continue tending it carefully and strive to produce paper as soon as possible.

Just then, Shitou hurried over to report to Wenlong. "Long'er, our raid on Wan Family Town successfully disrupted their arrangements. But they seem to have grown wary and strengthened their defenses."

Wenlong nodded. "Well done. Quit while you're ahead. We'll stop for a while now. Once we're stronger, we'll deal them a fatal blow."

Afterward, Wenlong went to check on the clansmen's progress in finding the materials for gunpowder.

His eldest and second maternal uncles told him that they had found plenty of nitric acid and charcoal, but still had no leads on sulfur or volcanoes.

Wenlong encouraged them to keep asking around. Without sulfur, a key ingredient, all they could do was wait.

By the time he had finished all of this, the sky was growing dark. Wenlong dragged his weary body home.

In his heart, he silently hoped that through his efforts, the Wen could rise as soon as possible and eliminate the threat of the Kai once and for all.

In the next few days, I'll go back to Wan Family Town and reap their wealth. The main goal is to weaken the Kai. All the better if I leave them frantic and overwhelmed.