Plastic Catapult

The toy shop was filled with a dazzling array of toy weapons.

But Li Daoxuan scanned row after row and found almost nothing he could use.

Children's toy guns were out of the question. Once he put one into the box, it would be hundreds of meters long.

He finally found a Rubber Band Gun, but even that was ten centimeters long. Inside the box, it would become twenty meters long, far too large for the little people to use.

If he really couldn't find any usable "modern weapons," his only option was to split toothpicks into thinner strips, then snap them into pieces about a centimeter long and put them into the box for the little people to use as spears.

But the villagers had never practiced martial arts or trained in battle formations. Even with spears in their hands, they would still be combat weaklings.

They needed "projectile" weapons to fight their enemies safely.

Projectiles, projectiles...

Li Daoxuan's eyes suddenly lit up!

On an inconspicuous shelf in the farthest corner of the toy shop, there was actually a box of Miniature Plastic Catapults. (See the picture in the paragraph comments.)

Each was only three centimeters on a side, crudely made and entirely plastic. Even the Trigger Mechanism was extremely simple: the Stone-Thrower relied solely on the plastic's flexibility. A child pressed the "throwing arm" down with a finger, and when they let go, the plastic's springiness sent the "throwing arm" snapping upward.

Li Daoxuan grinned. What fun! How come I never saw such interesting little toys when I was a kid? He simply picked up the whole box and walked to the counter. "Boss, how much are these Stone-Throwers?"

The shopkeeper glanced at them. "One yuan each."

Li Daoxuan couldn't help complaining. "One yuan for this tiny bit of plastic and this workmanship?"

The shopkeeper said, "Then take the whole box. Fifty of them, and I'll only charge you twenty-five yuan."

Li Daoxuan took out his phone, scanned the code, and paid.

Back home, he had barely sat down in front of the Scenery Box when he saw Gao Family Village bustling with activity. Every little person was working hard.

The little women had split into two groups. One group was cooking, making sure the men had a full meal before going into battle. The other was heating oil, with rapeseed oil bubbling in tiny pots two millimeters across.

The little men were doing the heavy work. They carried leftover stone and timber from the construction of the Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable Cave to the city wall to use as rolling logs and falling rocks.

Another group of little people stood on the city wall, listening attentively to Mister Bai.

Li Daoxuan pricked up his ears. "Hold your spear like this... keep your grip steady... when a bandit climbs up from below... you do this... thrust downward..."

What fun!

A group of elderly people and children were also kneeling before the sacred image inside the newly completed Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable Cave. They prayed sincerely, begging the Heavenly Venerable to keep everyone safe and spare them injury.

This bustle inside the box was exactly what Li Daoxuan loved watching.

He secretly congratulated himself on not reaching in and swatting all the bandits dead. Otherwise, he would have missed such an entertaining sight.

All right!

Time to give them a little help.

Li Daoxuan said, "Gao Yiye, tell everyone to get ready. I'm sending weapons down."

Gao Yiye jolted at his words, then lit up with joy. She hurriedly announced at the top of her voice, "Everyone, pay attention! The Heavenly Venerable is going to bestow weapons upon us!"

At these words, the hundred-odd original residents of Gao Family Village all grew solemn. The young men who had been listening to Mister Bai explain how to defend the village stopped listening entirely and looked up, their faces filled with reverence.

Mister Bai was furious. I'm teaching you lot how to fight! You should be treating me with the utmost respect, yet halfway through my lesson, you suddenly turn to stare at the sky. Outrageous!

And that cult witch claims some Heavenly Venerable is going to bestow weapons on them? What a fraud! She'll put on a mystical performance, dance about like a shaman, then haul a pile of rusty, broken swords and sabers out of the storehouse and distribute them, claiming they were bestowed by her evil god.

Mister Bai had heard so much about tricks like these that his ears had grown calluses.

Just as he was thinking this, Gao Chuwu shouted beside him, "It's coming, it's coming! Look!"

"It's coming down!"

"We pay our respects to the Heavenly Venerable!"

The original inhabitants of Gao Family Village dropped to their knees one after another with a succession of thumps. The people Mister Bai had brought stood there blankly, with no idea what was happening.

Mister Bai focused his gaze on the sky and finally saw it.

At some point, a low cloud had appeared overhead, only about seventy zhang above the ground. An enormous object was slowly descending from within it.

It was green!

It was square!

It had a gigantic spoon attached!

For a moment, Mister Bai couldn't even tell what it was.

No, what it is doesn't matter anymore. The real question is, how is it slowly descending from the clouds? How is that possible?

Could it... truly have been bestowed by an immortal in heaven?

He was utterly dumbstruck.

The enormous object slowly touched down and settled securely. Only then could Mister Bai see it clearly. Its main body was two zhang long and two zhang wide, perfectly square, while the spoon on top was mounted on a long arm held in place by a Trigger Mechanism.

"A... a Stone-Thrower!" Mister Bai exclaimed in shock. "This is a strangely shaped Stone-Thrower."

He could recognize a Stone-Thrower at a glance, but the others couldn't. The villagers of Gao Family Village and the tenant farmers of White Family Fort were still staring blankly, completely unaware of what the Heavenly Venerable had bestowed upon them.

Gao Yiye raised her voice and shouted, "Listen carefully, everyone! This thing the Heavenly Venerable has bestowed upon us is called a Stone-Thrower. First, put a stone into the spoon on the throwing arm. Then release the Trigger Mechanism beside it, and it will launch the stone."

Everyone: "???"

Gao Yiye called loudly, "Li Da, the Heavenly Venerable commands you to bring your hammer and stand beside that Trigger Mechanism. When I tell you to strike, swing your hammer and hit the Trigger Mechanism hard."

Li Da hastily answered, then carried his large iron hammer over and stood beside the Stone-Thrower.

Li Daoxuan gently picked up a stone and placed it in the Stone-Thrower's spoon.

To him, the stone was adorably small, like a Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill. But what the villagers saw was a huge rock floating into the air out of nowhere and flying into the spoon.

Everyone: "Wow!"

Mister Bai: "!!!"

Only moments ago, his head had been filled with contempt for the cult. Now, he felt as though his brain could no longer keep up.

Gao Yiye shouted, "Strike!"

Putting all his strength into it, Li Da swung the large iron hammer in his hands and struck the Trigger Mechanism with a bang.

The Stone-Thrower's Trigger Mechanism released, and the enormous throwing arm sprang up with a whoosh. The boulder in its spoon flew into the air, cutting across the open sky with terrifying force. It soared from one end of the village to the other and smashed into the ground with a boom, sending sand and stones flying in a heart-stopping display.

After a moment of stunned silence, the villagers cheered in unison. "Incredible! An immortal's magic treasure! An immortal's magic treasure!"

Mister Bai didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "A bunch of ignorant fools. Stone-Throwers on the battlefield are every bit this powerful."

Despite his words, he glanced at the sky, and awe rose in his heart. There truly was an immortal within that cloud overhead. This Stone-Thrower looked so strange that it might genuinely be an immortal's magic treasure.