Shushan: Extinction

Chance Reappears
Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, Gong Tianwu put away the weapon and slowly walked towards the stone in front.

The stone was about the size of a millstone. Hasar and Cui Ziyang looked at each other in astonishment, then walked forward and searched for a while before they found a small hole on the stone!
Then both of them took a deep breath at the same time. This small hole seemed to be only the size of a soybean, but when they looked closer, they found that they could see the scenery on the other side of the millstone.

In other words, at the previous moment, the attack launched by the two-headed wolf sword had already shot out silently and directly pierced through the huge rock in front of it that was more than half a meter thick.

Such power!!!

But the next second, Gong Tianwu sighed with regret, because the strange weapon in his hand began to emit smoke and then spontaneously combusted. He could only throw it to the ground.

Cui Ziyang hurriedly comforted:
"It's already very powerful, Seventh Brother. I don't think anyone can withstand this power."

Gong Tianwu nodded and smiled:

"I know. I called you here this time so that you can have a direct understanding of this thing. I call it the Wolf-Head Arrow."

Then he turned and went into the house, took out two other identical wolf-head arrows and handed them to Cui Ziyang and Hasar.

"These two are brand new. I'll give them to you to test fire. The operation is very simple. They can only fire about four rounds. Once their service life is up, they will spontaneously combust."

"One thing is very important. When you are carrying it or keeping it safe, the wolf head must be facing the ground, not towards yourself or others."

The two men nodded, and then Cui Ziyang took a wolf-head arrow. After playing with it for a while, he found that this thing was actually a crossbow arrow, but with a wolf head as decoration in the front and gloves on the back.

There is a crossbow hidden in the throat of the wolf head. The trigger mechanism is shaped like a wolf's tongue, and you need to press the depression at the root of the tongue with your fingertips.

The crossbow arrow slot is hidden deep in the wolf's snout. When the arrow is shot out, the fangs will open slightly, like the moment when a vicious wolf bites its prey.

The surface of the steel handle held in the right hand is covered with fine concave and convex patterns, imitating the texture of wolf skin. It is non-slip when held, but also gives a faint tingling sensation, as if the skin is being gently rubbed by wolf teeth.

Gong Tianwu gave some instructions from the side, and then asked Cui Ziyang and Hasar to conduct the test firing. After all, they were both mortals, so their opinions were very important.

The reason why this wolf-head arrow is so powerful is because it uses the latest core inscription developed by Gong Tianwu: Stone-breaking.

It was derived from a very common formation method in the world of cultivation: stone breaking.

In the sects of spiritual practice, one thing that is important is to have an immortal atmosphere, so the palaces and Taoist temples must be magnificent and have an extraordinary appearance, so a series of formation methods came into being.

The purpose of this formation is to mine stone. Draw this formation in the designated stone production area and then activate it. You can then chisel out stones of specified shapes and sizes according to pre-set parameters.

After miniaturizing it, the five generals Gong Tian concentrated the huge force generated by the "Stone Breaking" formation at one point and used it as the thrust for the crossbow arrows.

The specially made crossbow arrow will fly for a period of time in a specially made threaded tube. When it is officially shot, it is already in a high-speed rotation state. This ensures accuracy and greatly enhances its penetration.

When the trigger is pulled, a drop of spiritual fluid placed inside will fall, activating the stone-breaking inscription inside, and then shooting.

At the same time, the power of the stone-breaking inscription can be determined by adjusting the amount of the falling spiritual liquid. For example, if the amount of the dripping spiritual liquid is 1 gram, then the crossbow arrow shot out will have extremely strong lethality within one thousand meters.

But the amount of spiritual liquid dripping is 0.5 grams, so the power of the crossbow arrow will definitely decrease.

According to Gong Tianwu’s plan, he will develop two standard weapons based on the wolf-head arrow as the prototype.

The first one is the regular model, with a killing power of about 300 meters, called the Wild Wolf model. A total of fifty were produced, mainly for use by Hasar's selected guards.

The second one is an enhanced version. Not only has the crossbow itself been improved, but the crossbow arrows used are also specially made, with the lethality maximized. It is called the Sirius model.

This thing is threatening enough even for cultivators in the early stages of Qi Refining, so Gong Tianwu only produced five of them as trump cards, and they are not distributed on a regular basis.

When the Wild Wolf model is successfully improved, Gong Tianwu will let Hassar lead the team to start collecting data on the Wild Wolf model in actual combat to facilitate his adjustments.

This is because they are afraid that this thing is too powerful and will attract unnecessary attention from the cultivation world so as to avoid being exposed.

After all, Gong Tianwu's strength is still weak. As a son of a marquis, it is reasonable for him to control an armed force composed of grassland people who are quite powerful in long-range archery.

After all, it is a universally acknowledged fact that the barbarians of the grassland are good at shooting. But if a group of barbarians of the grassland can even shoot a Taoist practitioner to death, that would definitely be unacceptable.

It took about a month for Khasar to go to the grassland to "forage and grain" twice, and he returned with a full load each time. In total, he brought back nearly 3,000 cattle, sheep, and horses, as well as a large amount of wealth such as leather, gold, silver, salt bricks, etc.

Gong Tianwu was a little worried at first. After all, it seemed inappropriate for Hasar to lead the grassland people and herdsmen to rob the herdsmen. Would it cause damage to their loyalty?

This seems somewhat similar to forcing the Japanese to carry out the Tokyo Massacre. Even if guns are pointed at their heads, morale will inevitably drop sharply.

But later I realized that this worry was unfounded. It turns out that the most important resource on the grassland is grassland, and every tribe will have huge conflicts over this thing.

After all, if you occupy more grassland, I will occupy less, so extremely bloody fights will occur between tribes.

The defeated tribe suffered a tragic end; all the men taller than the wheels were chopped to death, and the women and children were swallowed up.

The grassland people and herdsmen taken in by Gong Tianwu, including Hasar himself, were all losers on the grassland. Each of them had a blood feud with certain tribes, so doing such things was not only easy for them, but also boosted their morale.

At the same time, Hasar and his gang also rescued more than eighty slaves.

These shepherd slaves were homeless, poor people with nothing. Without exception, they were all young and strong men, because the old and weak had already been tortured to death.

Among them, only a small number of women will be sent to the farm's cooperative. Men are strictly prohibited from harassing them. If caught, they will be whipped ten times.

They would first do light work such as cooking, weaving, feeding poultry, etc., while recuperating at the same time.

When someone under his command made a contribution, he could take a woman away from the cooperative to start a family.

The Cui family warehouse will also give three silver coins as wedding expenses, allowing loyal and courageous soldiers to start a family and have a stronger sense of belonging. This system is the most popular among the soldiers.

Among the remaining people, there were eight craftsmen who were able to make leather and bows, all of whom were sent to the workshop opened by Cui’s warehouse.

As for those who have no special skills, they will also be questioned and screened. Those who are brave and good at fighting will be recruited as soldiers, and those with ordinary abilities will be sent to farms outside the city to be tenants.

Of course, before assigning these slaves, Gong Tianwu would do one more thing, which was to observe these people first, so as to maximize the benefits of his bloodline ability: the ability to identify people, and put those with special skills in the most suitable positions.

Although no talents have been discovered for three or four months, Gong Tianwu still insists on doing this.

After all, he felt that with his 41 points of luck and the divine favor that still lingered around him, as long as he persisted, he would definitely be rewarded.

***
At noon the next day after bringing the slaves back, Gong Tianwu arrived at the temporary camp where the slaves lived. Accompanying him at this time was the powerful man Tazan, and of course, the two dogs, Big Ears and Red Hair, who were very attached to him. At this time, Gong Tianwu was about to turn sixteen years old. With adequate nutrition, his body had grown a bit tall, and he had a beard, so he could barely be considered a young man.

The weather was already quite hot, so the camp was filled with a mixture of sweat and herbal odor.

The makeshift tent was made of rough linen and wooden poles, barely able to block out the sun and rain, but the light leaking through the gaps was still dazzling. More than 80 herdsmen sat or lay inside, with numb expressions and empty eyes.

These shepherd slaves were dressed in rags, their clothes had long been torn into strips, barely covering their bodies. Their skin was dark and rough, with protruding joints, like dead wood dried by the wind.

Many people still had unhealed scars on their bodies, some of which were scabby and black, and some were still oozing pus and blood.

This is also because the herdsmen have suffered too much torture, and many of them are in a state of exhaustion. Take this group of rescued herdsmen for example, after waking up this morning, five of them died in their sleep.

Being able to follow the savior here, the breath in my heart was relieved and I died suddenly.

In a corner of the camp, several shepherd slaves huddled together, sobbing quietly. Their eyes were filled with confusion and fear about the future, as if they had lost hope in life.

Someone murmured:

"Where else can we go? What else can we do?"

There was endless despair in his voice.

“Bang bang bang bang!”

A series of wooden gong sounds rang out, and then the people nearby started shouting:

"It's time for dinner, get up and eat."

The shepherd slaves struggled to get up and came to the camp, where they saw a big pot of vegetable porridge on the temporary stove, which gave off a lingering aroma.

Everyone needs to bring a wooden bowl distributed last night and line up to receive porridge, and also get two big buns.

Such limited supply is not because Gong Tianwu is stingy, but there have been precedents that many pastoral slaves who were rescued died or were injured due to being hungry for a long time. Therefore, they have to eat light food in the first three days to recuperate.

When the slaves started to eat, a wooden platform was built with boxes nearby. Then Rossi, the supervisor of the camp, stood on it and shouted:

"Everyone, we are from the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion. Today, the young marquis came to see you all."

The Marquis of Zhenbei has been guarding here for three generations and has a great reputation. After hearing this, awe and gratitude flashed in the eyes of the shepherd slaves, and they all knelt down and kowtowed.

Gong Tianwu waved his hand, indicating that they did not need to be polite, then walked to the wooden platform and said loudly:

"Everyone, I came here today to tell you that you are no longer slaves. You are free! From today on, you must live for yourself."

His voice was clear and powerful, reaching everyone's ears.

The shepherd slaves looked at each other, as if they couldn't believe their ears.

Gong Tianwu continued:
"You can choose to leave, and I will give you money to go home; or you can choose to stay and farm or become a soldier. No matter what you choose, I will do my best to help you."

The shepherds were silent for a moment, and then someone asked in a low voice:

"Master, can we really stay?"

Gong Tianwu nodded:
"Of course. For those who stay, I will arrange for you to farm or train, so that you have food to eat, clothes to wear, and a place to live."

"If you are willing to work hard, you can have a wife, a family, and live a good life."

A glimmer of hope gradually ignited in the eyes of the herdsmen, but there was more uncertainty about the future.

Some people began to whisper, while others were full of longing.

When everyone lined up to receive the porridge, Gong Tianwu looked at the group of people and found no special talents. He nodded to Rossi next to him and said:
"Is there anyone who hasn't come to get the porridge yet?"

Rossi Road:
"Nothing."

Gong Tianwu said:

"Let's go then."

However, at this moment, a prompt appeared in front of Gong Tianwu:

"You have an opportunity. Do you want to pay 1 causal point to activate this opportunity?"

Gong Tianwu really has no shortage of cause and effect points now, and he was just bored, so he chose to pay.

After paying this causal price, Gong Tianwu turned around and left. When he reached the entrance of the temporary camp, a shepherd slave next to him suddenly fell to the ground and began to twitch, looking like he was having epilepsy.

Gong Tianwu immediately said to Rossi beside him:

"What's going on with him?"

Rossi said:
"This man is called Old Sheepskin, and he has an old problem."

So he ordered his men to hold him down, then use a dagger to let his blood flow, and at the same time pinch his Ren Zhong point hard. After about half a minute, he finally regained consciousness.

But looking at the old sheepskin's appearance, it can be said that he was breathing very painfully and hard, so someone nearby said:

"Bleeding like this is only a temporary solution, not a permanent one. I still need to see a doctor and get rid of the root cause."

Others also echoed, but someone said helplessly:

"Everyone is so poor now, how can we afford to see a doctor?"

As the saying goes, a penny can make a hero fall, and everyone immediately shut up.

After hearing this, Gong Tianwu said:
"I'll pay for it. I can't just watch him die like this. But is there any doctor who can cure his disease?"

(End of this chapter)