The further north they went, the more rugged the mountains became, and the harder the road became. The straight line distance from Hetuala to Ehekulun was 200 kilometers, but the actual distance had to be doubled.
Chu Ying escorted Zhou Qingfeng and Abahai on their journey day and night. They either passed through dense forests and canyons, or crossed deep and dangerous rivers with rapid currents. Along the way, birds chirped and beasts roared. From the perspective of modern tourism, this was an extremely beautiful and strange scenery. However, if they lacked clothes and food along the way, it would be difficult for them to rest.
Abahai was delicate and frail, and she fell ill within two days.
Chu Ying did not know how to take care of people. He had only captured Abahai to relieve her anger. Now that he saw her sick and listless, he almost threw the Jianzhou Grand Concubine into the river and drowned her. The usually radiant and beautiful Abahai had suffered a lot, but her will to live was very strong. Although she was unkempt and her clothes were tattered, she still tried to please Chu Ying as much as possible. She no longer had the airs of a Grand Concubine.
Zhou Qingfeng looked on coldly from the sidelines and did not have the slightest intention of helping. He was much stronger than Abahai. Not only did he grit his teeth and persevere, but he also became stronger in the face of adversity. A long march without logistics was the best way to hone one's will, and it was also the best way to grow. In just two days, his performance made Chu Ying look at him in a different light.
"Kid, you're a fast learner."
During the evening break, Chu Ying camped by a river bank. Zhou Qingfeng was in charge of setting up the campsite, digging a stove, lighting a bonfire, cleaning up the water, and even trying to hunt. Chu Ying had only demonstrated these things once, so he silently remembered and put them into practice. Chu Ying saved himself some trouble. He subconsciously treated Zhou Qingfeng as a servant to serve him.
Abahai curled up by the bonfire and did her best to gather some dry wood to make the fire stronger. In the damp mountains, dry firewood and hay were not readily available, so it was rather strenuous to collect them. Everything depended on Zhou Qingfeng. He put in a lot of effort, and his patience was extremely strong. Whatever Chu Ying told him to do, he would do it, as if he was really a slave.
"Kid, the bow arm is not roasted like this." Chu Ying felt that Zhou Qingfeng was quite obedient. Seeing that he was busy, he couldn't help but give him some pointers. "The wood you're using isn't right. You should look for birch wood that's of high quality. The one you cut is pine. When the wood is cut down, it needs to be dried in the shade. If you directly use fire to roast it, it will be burnt to a crisp. "
Chu Ying had been locked up for two years. After he was released, he was very interested in talking to people. When Zhou Qingfeng saw him carrying a bow and arrows out to hunt, he also wanted to learn and get a bow. However, Chu Ying's bow and arrows were snatched from Hetuala. He used a military knife to cut a small tree and thought about making it himself.
In the face of Chu Ying's joke, Zhou Qingfeng shamelessly asked, "Chu Ying Baylor, what is birch wood?"
"Hahaha … You don't even know what birch wood is, and you want to make a bow?" Chu Ying was so happy that his stomach was about to burst, and his head was unsteady. But he didn't continue to teach him. Instead, he got up and grabbed his bow and said, "You stay here, kid. I'll go get some prey."
In just two days, Chu Ying's body recovered extremely quickly. He went hunting at night when the beasts were out, and he never came back empty-handed. He had a huge appetite and ate a lot. His digestive ability was very strong, and his skeleton-like body became strong like a balloon. In the past two days, he had eaten two deer and a wild boar, and his weight had increased by at least 30 kilograms.
Zhou Qingfeng secretly opened his Heavenly Eye to observe Chu Ying. His original intention of escaping was completely extinguished — this humanoid monster had become stronger than Yuan Qingying, and this was not the peak of his strength. It was not a wise move to gamble and escape while he was away.
As soon as Chu Ying left, Abahai hurriedly moved closer to Zhou Qingfeng and said in a deep voice, "I'll teach you how to make a bow and arrows."
Zhou Qingfeng rolled his eyes and ignored him.
Abahai continued, "I can teach you a lot of things. Archery, fighting, riding, from living in the mountains to marching and fighting, and even the way of cultivation. I can teach you everything."
Hearing Abahai's eager words, Zhou Qingfeng said disdainfully, "You're a weak woman. What do you know? Don't make trouble for me. "
"It's not that I don't know, I just don't know." Abahai moved closer to Zhou Qingfeng, grabbed his arm, and said, "Which of the men around me aren't skilled in martial arts? Is Nurhachi strong? Are the five ministers strong? Are the elite soldiers and generals of Jianzhou strong? I have their protection, so I naturally don't need to become strong. But what I hear, see, and experience every day is bad? "
Sigh … What she said seemed to make sense.
Zhou Qingfeng turned his head to look at Abahai. Abahai pointed to a forest not far from the riverbank and said, "You're smart, but you don't have any common sense. You don't even know what birch is. Here, that's birch, the best material for making bows. "
Previously, Zhou Qingfeng did not work and did not know how to distinguish between grains, so how could he know what birch was? Since Abahai did not tell him, he could only tinker with it. Now, he looked in the direction of Abahai's finger, retracted his gaze, and asked, "Do you really know how to shoot arrows, fight, and fight on horseback?"
Abahai pursed her lips, and said with certainty, "My man is Nurhachi, who has fought in wars for 30 years. My son has been practicing how to kill with his adult brothers since he was young. My father is Man Tai, the leader of the Ula Tribe. I've been listening to men talk about how to strengthen the body and how to kill and exterminate tribes since I was young. I definitely know more than you. I'll say it again, it's not that I don't know, it's not that I don't know. "
Abahai's aura was strong, her voice loud, and her expression stern, once again revealing her identity as Jianzhou's Grand Concubine. She had wanted to rope in Zhou Qingfeng previously. Although Zhou Qingfeng had been ignoring her, she did not give up — she had to seize every opportunity to show herself.
"I said before, we have to work together this time, or we'll both die in Heculun. It'll be too late for you to work with me when you get there. "Abahai's persuasion finally had an effect. After a moment of silence, Zhou Qingfeng asked, "What do you want from me?"
"Give me some salt." Abahai stretched out her hand eagerly. "I know you have salt hidden on you, kid. I haven't eaten salt for two days, and my limbs are weak. Chu Ying, that bastard, just wants to catch me to vent his anger. He doesn't care about my life at all. "
Not only did the long journey consume a lot of energy, but it also caused the human body to lose a lot of salt. Chu Ying relied on drinking beast blood to replenish his salt, and did not care if Zhou Qingfeng and Abahai had salt to eat. Without salt, a person would quickly become weak.
Zhou Qingfeng could still secretly return to the Temporal Island to get some salt to eat, but Abahai was in trouble. When she crossed a fast-flowing stream, her limbs were weak, and she was almost washed away. She tried to please Chu Ying, hoping to drink some beast blood, but Chu Ying did not have enough for himself, so he refused without hesitation.
Salt had always been very precious in ancient times. The Han people had all kinds of trouble just to eat salt, and the Jurchen of Jianzhou could not eat it freely. At most, they could satisfy the needs of the nobles. Even if Abahai made it through the hard journey to Heculun, life in the Jurchen's territory was worse than in Jianzhou. Even the leader could not get enough salt.
Abahai did not know where Zhou Qingfeng got the salt, but she knew that if she wanted to survive, she could not rely on Chu Ying. She had to rely on Zhou Qingfeng. Seeing that Zhou Qingfeng was moved, she said again, "Kid, I know you don't really want to be Chu Ying's slave, but you can tolerate him ordering you around. But if you can tolerate him ordering you around, why can't you cooperate with me? At least we're more familiar with each other. "
"Alright." Zhou Qingfeng nodded after a moment of silence. His current thought was, "Since I can't escape, I'll think of a way to protect myself." The first person he learned from was Chu Ying. However, Chu Ying treated Zhou Qingfeng like a slave. When she was happy, she would casually say a few words to him. When she was unhappy, she would be too lazy to pay attention to him. This made it impossible for Zhou Qingfeng to gain much knowledge. As for Abahai … Both of them took what they needed.
Zhou Qingfeng took out a small bag of salt from his pocket and handed it to Abahai. Abahai's eyes lit up when she opened it. "Refined salt?"
Even though she was the Grand Concubine of Jianzhou, the salt that Abahai usually ate was not of good quality. Although it was not the bitter and astringent black salt, it was coarse yellow salt. Zhou Qingfeng took out snow-white refined salt. This kind of salt was the best in the Central Plains and could only be produced in Sichuan. It was difficult to transport it, and it was extremely expensive.
"How much more do you have?" Abahai looked into Zhou Qingfeng's pocket. "Do you have other good stuff?"
"Why do you care how much I have? I'll give you as many daily necessities as you teach me. "Zhou Qingfeng covered his pocket, not letting Abahai see. His clothes were tattered, but there were still some good stuff in his pocket. Other than salt, he also had some sugar.
An adult only needed ten grams of sugar a day to meet their daily needs. Although Chu Ying could bring back a lot of prey every day, sugar was still very precious as an emergency food.
There were only about ten grams of salt in the papyrus, which was about the amount an adult could consume in a day. Abahai carefully poured a third of the salt into her mouth, and the salty taste made her heave a sigh of relief.
"You Han cultivators really have a lot of strange things. The bejewelled nectar you made before was already very delicious, and now you can carry salt with you. You really can get whatever you want. I heard that you have a treasure called Sumeru Mustard Seed, which can store a lot of things inside. Do you have it? "Abahai asked.
"You can guess." Zhou Qingfeng didn't answer. Instead, he grabbed the broken bow and said, "Now tell me, how do I make a bow? I want to learn archery. "
"Go cut a birch wood, and pay attention to the tough trunk. Then we have to make a fire and dry the trunk. When the trunk is not deformed, you can cut it into a bow. " After Abahai finished speaking, she saw Zhou Qingfeng take out his Saber of Light, and use the sharp blade to cut a birch wood that was about ten years old.
When Chu Ying came back carrying a roe deer, Zhou Qingfeng was roasting a piece of wood about a meter long over the fire. He said with a strange smile, "Kid, you recognize birch wood?"
Zhou Qingfeng didn't look up, and his eyes were focused on the wood in his hand. "I tried all the trees around, and this wood has the best elasticity."
"Hahaha … You're not stupid, kid." Chu Ying laughed and dropped the roe deer. "Come, cut this roe deer and roast it. Serve me well, and you will be rich in the future. "
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