Torrential Rain Pear Blossom Needles, Flying Claw

Zhou Qingyan said worriedly, "How about I pick for you? But it doesn't look like there are any treasures in here."

Bows snapped in two were piled in the corner. Some had long since lost their strings, and wide cracks ran through their limbs.

Rusty arrowheads and crooked iron frames lay scattered on the ground. None of it looked usable.

Zhou Wanwan rummaged through the pile for a long time. Everything she picked up was either broken or rusted beyond recognition, nothing but discarded junk.

She finally dug out a crossbow, but when she picked it up, she saw that its string hung so loose she couldn't even draw it. A chunk of iron had been knocked off the stock, and the sight was crooked. It was completely unusable.

She didn't give up. She kept searching and suddenly felt a small wooden box beneath a pile of old cloth.

She opened it to find rows of iron needles neatly arranged inside, each as thin as an embroidery needle. Their tips glinted coldly.

Zhou Wanwan's heart skipped a beat. "Could these be Torrential Rain Pear Blossom Needles?" she murmured.

She turned the box over in her hands several times, growing more certain the longer she looked. These were the Tang Sect's Torrential Rain Pear Blossom Needles. She hadn't expected to find them in a dump like this!

As she was celebrating inwardly, she felt a bow beside the box.

The bow was in slightly better shape than the crossbow. It was neither broken nor cracked, but its limbs were covered in a thick layer of dust that obscured their color, and they felt very rough.

An old quiver hung from the bow's tip, with a few arrows still inside. Their arrowheads had rusted black.

Still, it was barely usable. The bow and arrows would be quite good for her brothers; she only needed to make a few adjustments when she got home.

After rummaging through the pile of scrap metal for half a shichen, Zhou Wanwan's arms were aching. Suddenly, in the shadows of a corner, she felt a small, cold, solid object.

She pulled it out and wiped off the dust. It was a lump of iron the size of her palm, with a tiny trigger on it.

It looked unremarkable. Most people who saw it would take it for a useless old ornament at best, but Zhou Wanwan recognized it at once as a hidden weapon.

She held it and tried it out. The instant she pressed the trigger, a small iron chain tipped with a slender iron hook sprang from the lump with a click. The hook's point still gleamed.

This thing wasn't used to hurt people. All one had to do was aim at a tree trunk and pull the trigger, and the hook would latch firmly onto a branch, allowing one to climb up the chain with ease.

It was something only people who roamed the jianghu used. She hadn't expected to find one here.

Zhou Wanwan made a few more rounds of the room, searching through the junk. First she found a dagger, then, a little while later, she felt two more in a corner.

All three daggers were covered in a thick layer of verdigris. Dull and inconspicuous, they wouldn't have drawn a second glance if left lying to one side.

She didn't stop, but kept looking, and eventually dug out a broadsword as well.

Its blade was also covered in patches of verdigris and looked old and dull, but Zhou Wanwan picked them all up, one by one.

Lin Shouyi coughed and said:

"Girl, you ought to pick out some good things! Everything you've chosen is completely useless, and it's all covered in verdigris.

"Look at this kitchen knife I picked. It'll be ready to use once it's sharpened. It's pretty good."

Zhou Qingyan pulled out a woodcutting knife. "I think this one's pretty good. It'll be handy for chopping firewood at home."

Zhou Wanwan didn't say much. They soon settled the bill, paying 300 copper coins outright.

Zhou Qingyan looked pained. "We spent 300 copper coins on this pile of scrap metal? What a waste!"

Zhou Wanwan said nothing. After they got home, she took everything out: a crossbow, the Torrential Rain Pear Blossom Needles, a bow, a Flying Claw, three daggers, a large broadsword, and a woodcutting knife.

Buying all of it for 300 copper coins had been a tremendous bargain. To others, it was all scrap metal, but to her, every piece was a treasure.

Take the crossbow, for example. Others might not know how to handle it, but she had played with one like a toy when she was little.

And there were the Torrential Rain Pear Blossom Needles. Such a rudimentary version was far too simple; she could improve it and make it more formidable.

As for the daggers and broadsword, those were even simpler. Lemon juice and salt, or plant ash and water, could both remove the verdigris.

Zhou Wanwan found lemons right in the courtyard. The teacher had planted two lemon trees, though people in ancient times generally didn't eat lemons. They were far too sour and were only nice to look at.

Zhou Wanwan dripped lemon juice onto the daggers and broadsword. After quite a while, sure enough, much of the verdigris was gone.

Zhou Wanwan grinned. "Dad, the verdigris is mostly gone. Just polish these up, and I'll figure out how to improve the crossbow and bow."

Zhou Wanwan first found a sturdy animal sinew, removed the old crossbow string, and replaced it. She used a whetstone to make the sinew an even thickness, then pulled it taut and secured it. Now the string was stretched straight and had strength when drawn.

The sight was crooked, so she tapped it gently with a small hammer, checking it against a distant tree trunk as she worked. It took her a long time to straighten it.

Finally, she dipped a cloth in plant-ash water and wiped the rust off the stock. The crossbow was usable again.

There was nothing seriously wrong with the bow itself; it could be drawn and fired. There were simply too few arrows. However she searched, there were only a handful, nowhere near enough.

Zhou Wanwan planned to go to town when she had time and ask the people at the smithy to forge some more arrows.

Zhou Fusheng stroked the bow and arrows. "I once wanted a bow and arrows like these too. I even made a set before, but unfortunately I could never get the arrows to fly."

Zhou Wanwan looked at him. "Dad, you know how to make bows and arrows?"

"I do, but the ones I made weren't very good. When I was young, I always wanted to go to war.

"My aim was quite good. Back then, I found ways to practice every day. I'll show you." Zhou Fusheng settled into a horse stance and shot at a tree not far away.

To their surprise, he actually hit it. Zhou Wanwan hurriedly clapped her hands. "Dad, you're amazing!"

Zhou Fusheng laughed heartily and said:

"When I was young, I heard an old hunter say that to practice archery, you had to start with the horse stance. Only when your stance was steady would your footing be firm.

"Then you trained the arm strength to draw the bow. When aiming, you had to keep your eyes fixed on the bull's-eye without looking away. Only by practicing day after day could you gain the accuracy to pierce a willow leaf at a hundred paces.

"Back then, I practiced my horse stance every day before dawn. My arms ached so much from drawing the bow that I couldn't lift them, but I still didn't dare rest.

"If there were nothing wrong with this leg, my aim could be even better."

Zhou Wanwan looked at his lame right leg and asked softly, "Dad, how exactly did your leg become lame?"

Zhou Fusheng let out a heavy sigh, a touch of bitterness appearing on his face:

"That year, I was helping someone repair a house in town. The house was built especially high, and the beams were several zhang above the ground.

"Several of the family's relatives egged me on, saying I was nimble and telling me to climb up and fix the roof tiles.

"I was eager to prove myself, so I went up. I never expected the wooden rafters to have rotted from the rain. When I stepped on one, it snapped with a crack.

"I tumbled down from the roof and broke my leg bone on the spot.

"Later, we had no money to hire a good doctor, and the bone wasn't set straight. That's how I was left with a lame leg."