Inside the house, Xu Xuan's mind moved, and the mirror flashed with light.
The ground was littered with various pieces of tiger meat as well as an album.
"The first fish has arrived."
Xu Xuan thought for a moment, reflecting the text of the Calming Technique and the Hunting Talisman, Fire Summoning Talisman on the mirror.
It's still not a good idea to send everything over, otherwise, there would be nothing for next time.
Having done this, he picked up the album, which bore the title "Li Family's Divine Archery Technique" in five big characters.
He flipped through it casually, finding that it was primarily illustrated, with annotations below the drawings.
With just one glance, Xu Xuan knew that the Mirror Realm's level was higher than here, at least in terms of martial arts.
While this side was still training muscles, the Mirror Realm had begun to pay attention to breathing and the transformation of qi and blood.
There was still no such thing as inner strength, but through cultivating qi and blood, one could push the physical body to its utmost peak state.
The white tiger meat was stored in a warehouse behind the courtyard, to be consumed when practicing the Divine Arrow Technique, as the cultivation of qi and blood required a large amount of meat, and the tiger bones could be used to steep in liquor.
Xu Xuan put away the album and took advantage of the night to move the tiger meat to the storage room next door.
This was his own courtyard, not the Xu Family's, so usually, no one would come in.
Having tidied up these things, Xu Xuan sat on the bed.
"The Mirror Realm can cultivate spells, that much is certain. This side must be lacking in spiritual energy."
Xu Xuan had an idea.
The other world must have things that contained spiritual energy. If the other side could bring items with spiritual energy, could he then cultivate?
If that were the case, he would be invincible in this world.
"Let's let those two grow first; good thing the flow of time is one to ten."
Spells are effective, and this ignited a fire in Xu Xuan's heart.
"Eternal life is within reach!"
Unfortunately, he was unable to pass through the mirror, perhaps because he lacked the strength to go.
One month later.
In the forest on the hill behind.
A gentle breeze blew, sending leaves scattering.
Xu Xuan stared with wide eyes at the trajectory of the falling leaves, without blinking. In his left hand, he held an Ox Horn Bow.
Suddenly, he moved.
A warm surge erupted within him, warming his limbs and body, conjuring immense strength out of thin air.
The Ox Horn Bow was drawn to its full extent instantly, archery!
Whoosh!
The arrow flew swiftly, hitting one of the leaves and nailing it firmly to a tree trunk.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Two more arrows followed, accurately hitting their targets.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Then five consecutive arrows, this time the accuracy was a bit off, but the big targets were still hit.
After all this, Xu Xuan was sweating profusely.
"Phew, it's both strenuous and draining. Archers are truly an elite unit."
Name: Xu Xuan
Lifespan: 18/73
Cultivation Level: None
Cultivation Technique: None
Technique: Mount-breaking Blade Technique (12% proficiency), Squatting Skill (21% proficiency), Eagle Claw Technique (2% proficiency), Li Family's Divine Archery Technique (35% mastery)
"The lethality range is eighty steps, the range is one hundred and fifty steps. With a 70-jin Ox Horn Bow, one can shoot eight arrows in one breath, the first three arrows can hit precise locations, and the last five arrows can hit random spots in the target. If shooting a hundred arrows, it would take about half an hour to finish."
This was the power of just entering the threshold.
Xu Xuan took a deep breath. After a month of breathing and meat consumption, his qi and blood had become significantly stronger, and his vision and senses were enhanced.
As his proficiency increased, his eyesight, strength, archery range, and bow strength would all greatly improve.
If he could rapid-fire twenty arrows with a 150-jin bow, he would basically be a war god of the Magicless World.
This refers to rapid-fire; if one were to draw the bow forcefully, the number would definitely be more.
Going further up to two hundred jin, three hundred jin, one would basically be no different from a humanoid cannon, and at this stage, it would be beyond this world's level.
So, in the absence of spells, this archery technique is worth cultivating.
Xu Xuan packed up his things and walked out of the forest.
He came to rest at Pear Manor for a moment.
Li Hu was clad in a robe, accompanied by five guards.
"Let's go."
They went to the mountain where they performed the ritual last time.
Xu Xuan greeted his cheap father and second brother when he saw them.
"Mm, you and Feng er are together this time; make sure you protect your brother well," Xu Guangting said.
"Yes."
Xu Xuan glanced at the eight-foot-tall barbarian guard beside Xu Feng, thinking that he hardly needed protection.
The two stood beside Xu Guangting.
The Xu Family sent out three people, the Mountain Barbarians three people, plus the three people brought by Li Hu, making a total of nine people posing as corpses.
Three wagons bearing coffins were also filled with salt.
Corpse driving is a legend from Western Hunan, and most people avoid it, even the officials shun such ill-omened things and do not search them.
Furthermore, given that Li Hu was a well-known old master, it was unlikely anyone would inspect them.
If someone really wanted to inspect, what would they do? They would have to resort to "bribery."
All in all, smuggling salt was no simple matter.
Which route to take, which checkpoints to get through, and who the buyers were—all of these were very important.
Therefore, the task was given to Li Hu who had widespread connections.
While the others were conducting the rites, Xu Guangting pulled Xu Feng aside and whispered:
"You must remember all the connections this time. In the future, let your elder brother assist you. Such vast wealth must be firmly in our hands."
As for the Mountain Li Tribe, their few salt wells were already making money while they sat back and relaxed.
"I understand, I will definitely keep it under tight control,"
Xu Feng assured confidently.
After the deceptive ritual concluded, as evening approached, nine "corpses" shrouded in thick robes, wearing conical hats, lined up and set out.
Now that they were not in public view, they didn't need to act so stiff.
Family Head Xu Guangting and Li Ming, the chieftain of the Mountain Barbarians, watched the departing silhouettes in silence.
Although Li Ming was a chieftain who ruled over thousands, he appeared more like a kindly wealthy patriarch.
Speaking in his strangely accented Chinese, Li Ming asked, "How much is the profit?"
"Father-in-law, things have been a bit chaotic outside lately, and the price of smuggled salt has skyrocketed. Running two trips a month, we make about three hundred thousand wen in revenue, equivalent to three hundred taels of silver."
The salt on the "corpses" was the most expensive refined salt, while the coffins in the wagons held coarse salt.
"Just average, not much," Li Ming was somewhat dissatisfied.
"I have no choice, father-in-law. We only have one salt well, producing thirty to forty dan per month. If we want higher profits, we'll have to find more wells." Xu Guangting paused before adding, "The Wei Clan of Mei Mountain also sells smuggled salt, and their output is slightly higher than ours. If we take them down, we could monopolize the smuggled salt in this area and the price would be even higher."
"We'll talk about it later."
"Yes!"
Night fell, and the mist thickened in the woods.
Clouds obscured the moonlight, and the village lay in eerie silence.
Ding ding...
The sound of bells rang out, accompanied by loud shouts.
"Dead on the road, the living clear the path!"
Nine figures in black robes marched in a line, their movements rigid, passing through the village.
Every household's doors were tightly shut, and even the dogs dared not bark.
Xu Xuan carried a bronze gong while Xu Feng held the bronze cymbals, striking them from time to time.
Following the procession were three carts marked with the character for the underworld, with Xu Feng's towering guard being one of the drivers.
The team traveled by night and camped during the day.
Wherever they went, the living hastened to avoid them.
They dared not take the main roads, usually sticking to smaller paths.
When they approached populated areas, they would put on the same airs as they were now.
There was no need to avoid anyone; others would naturally evade them. They never saw such a way of smuggling before.
"If only real corpse driving technique were possible."
This time, their journey to Yiyang involved three resting points.
Before the crowing of chickens at dawn, the group arrived at Righteous Villa.
Li Hu stepped forward to knock on the door.
After a moment, the thick door swung open, revealing an old blind man inside.
"Tiger!"
"Old Three, three rooms as usual, take care of the goods." Li Hu handed over a string of copper coins.
A flash of sharpness gleamed in Li San's eyes, but he took the money without a word and then directed the men to store the items.
He asked no further questions.
Righteous Villa was a place where coffins and corpses were stored. Officially, they didn't charge for this service, but the people there still needed to eat, thus a gray industry had developed.
During the day they slept, and come evening, they set off once again.
As they left the secluded area, they saw that the ground was littered with starved corpses.
"Has Great Ming really come to this?"
Xu Xuan thought to himself.
This Ming was not the other Ming; although the surname remained the same, most of the emperors were different.
The course of history was largely similar, the basic progress was the same, and the milestones roughly matched.
After more than two hundred years since the founding of the country, the Jurchens on the border were a constant nuisance.
He had not expected the Han lands to have also fallen into such a state. What would come next, peasant uprisings?
The night unfolded.
Stars formed constellations, and will-o'-the-wisps flickered.
The caravan entered the forest.
Xu Xuan suddenly became alert and looked toward a nearby thicket.
"Stop!!"
The next second, three figures burst out from the underbrush, brandishing sharp weapons at the group.