More Stone-Throwers

Mister Bai was genuinely stunned.

Just like San Shier when he first entered the village, he had not believed in any "Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable." He had assumed this was another figure of the same ilk as the "Unborn Venerable Mother," but now he was beginning to believe.

Ultimately, not a single person in ancient times was a true atheist.

Even the faintest glimpse of a miracle could shake an ancient person's beliefs.

By then, Gao Chuwu, Zheng Daniu, and the others had gathered around the Stone-Thrower, chattering about its throwing arm, which now stood upright.

Gao Chuwu said guilelessly, "This thing threw once, and its big spoon stood straight up. Looks like we can't use it anymore, can we?"

As an official craftsman, Li Da had seen more machinery than anyone else. He spotted the crux of the problem at once. "We have to pull the big spoon down and lock it into this Trigger Mechanism before we can use it a second time."

"How do we get it down?"

"Isn't that obvious? Gao Chuwu, you're good at climbing trees. Climb up first and tie the Divine Rope around the spoon's neck. Then a few of us can pull together and bring it down until it catches on the Trigger Mechanism."

"Good idea!"

Gao Chuwu climbed up the throwing arm like a monkey.

Standing upright, the arm was over twenty feet tall, but to him it was just another big tree. He scrambled up to the spoon in no time, tied on the Divine Rope left over from building the gate, then slid back down.

Several villagers grabbed the rope and pulled together as though playing tug-of-war. "Heave-ho! Heave-ho! One, two, three!" Chanting in unison, they hauled on the rope and actually brought the throwing arm down. The two blacksmiths, Li Da and Gao Yiyi, swung their hammers together. Clang! The throwing arm locked back into the Trigger Mechanism.

"It worked!"

The villagers cheered. "We've learned how to use an immortal's weapon!"

Mister Bai came out of his stupor. Now he no longer cursed them as a wicked cult, either aloud or in his heart. He waved to the villagers. "More people over here! Everyone, help push this Stone-Thrower into the open space behind the gate and aim it outside the walls. When the bandits attack, we'll launch stones and crush them to death."

The villagers cheered. "All right!"

A large crowd ran over to push. Li Daoxuan was still worrying that they would not be able to move it when the villagers fetched branches as thick as a child's arm and laid them out in rows on the ground to serve as rollers. Once they pushed the Stone-Thrower onto the branches, they could move it quite easily.

Well, these villagers might have been uneducated and ignorant of the wider world, but they had plenty of experience when it came to "heavy labor." They needed no intervention from Li Daoxuan. They were even more professional than he was.

Watching the villagers push the Stone-Thrower, Mister Bai thought, An immortal's Stone-Thrower might be useful, but with only one... it doesn't feel like nearly enough.

The thought had barely formed...

Gao Yiye called out, "The Heavenly Venerable says that since everyone has learned how to use it, he'll bestow a few more on us. Those people behind the wall, please move aside."

Mister Bai started violently and hurriedly turned to look.

The villagers behind the wall scattered in every direction.

Another Stone-Thrower descended from the sky. This time, it was set directly into position for them, raising a cloud of dust as it landed. Then came another, and another, and yet another...

In the blink of an eye, a whole row stood behind the wall: twenty Stone-Throwers in all, each in a different color.

There were green ones, blue ones, gray ones, and red ones...

A riot of colors, every bit as gaudy as that absurdly colored wall.

Mister Bai: "!!!"

Such a wondrous sight truly opened his eyes.

Once he saw the colorful Stone-Throwers, he immediately understood. Gao Family Village's inexplicable great wall must also have been bestowed by an immortal. That explained their matching rainbow colors and strange materials.

By then, the villagers had begun kneeling out of habit again. The people of Gao Family Village dropped to their knees in a great wave and worshipped the sky. "Our thanks to the Heavenly Venerable!"

Mister Bai turned and only then discovered that his own tenant farmers had also knelt in droves, shouting toward the sky alongside the people of Gao Family Village. "Our thanks to the Heavenly Venerable!"

Even his dozen or so household guards had trembling knees and were on the verge of kneeling.

While Mister Bai was still dazed, San Shier tugged at his sleeve. "Mister Bai, we now have twenty more Stone-Throwers, and they need people to operate them. You'll have to adjust your arrangements."

"Ah?" Only then did Mister Bai's mind clear. He stuffed the exclamation marks floating above his head back into his brain, rallied his spirits, and began issuing loud orders. "You two blacksmiths! When the fighting starts, don't go up onto the wall. Stay behind it and man these Stone-Throwers. When I shout for you to fire, strike their Trigger Mechanisms hard with your hammers."

Li Da and Gao Yiyi promptly acknowledged the order.

Mister Bai frowned in thought for a moment, then pointed at a group of elderly villagers and women. "You there, join the blacksmiths' group. You'll be responsible for putting fresh stones into the Stone-Throwers' big spoons."

The elderly villagers and women were a little bewildered. They were the old and weak, women and children. Where were they supposed to find the strength for such work?

Mister Bai pointed at the Divine Rope tied to the Stone-Thrower. "You may not be very strong, but if you pull this rope together, you should still be able to bring it down. Then you only need to carry a smaller stone over and put it in the spoon."

The group hurried over to try it. Sure enough, as long as enough people pulled on the rope, it actually worked.

Li Da and Gao Yiyi looked at their new positions, then looked up at Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu on the front line atop the wall. The two blacksmiths simply stripped off their Two-Panel Armor and called out, "Chu Wu, Daniu, come over here! You can wear these two suits of Two-Panel Armor."

The two young men did not stand on ceremony. Beaming, they put on the Two-Panel Armor.

They were already young, strong, and tall. With armor on, they really did look rather imposing.

Watching from beside them, Mister Bai muttered inwardly, Privately possessing iron armor is a capital offense. But... Then he thought of the rebel troops attacking White Family Fort. What crime was that? No one was doing anything about it! The Governor himself had said, "The plundering will settle itself by next spring."

Even if the Governor learned of these two suits of iron armor in Gao Family Village, he would probably offer nothing more than, "The villagers forged armor to fight bandits. Once the bandit troubles settle themselves next spring, the matter of forging armor will be settled as well."

Time ticked steadily away...

By evening, the sun was sinking in the west, performing drunken boxing across the sky with stumbling steps, liable to tumble below the horizon at any moment.

Li Daoxuan's takeout arrived: fish-fragrant shredded pork over rice, once again accompanied by a complimentary little 300-milliliter cola. Alternating mouthfuls of rice with sips of cola, he was having the time of his life.

The little people in Gao Family Village suddenly grew noisy, their clamoring voices drifting out of the box.

Li Daoxuan looked into the box. Well now, the main bandit force had arrived!