Chapter 45: The Brother-in-Law... Hua Rong of Mount Liang Shoots Down a Wild Goose

Hua Rong's trip up the mountain naturally earned him a warm and enthusiastic reception from Liangshan.

After all, the man possessed genuine skill, and there were plenty of heroes on Liangshan. The two sides hit it off immediately, quickly finding much in common and chatting like old friends.

As for Hua Yun, nobody knew what she had said to Hua Rong, but in the end, the brother and sister had decided to come together. Hua Rong stated that he wanted to take Hua Yun and Pan Jinlian back to Qingfeng Fortress first to pay their respects to their deceased parents, after which he would let her return here in due time.

Hua Yun originally had no desire to agree, but Hua Rong argued that running away from home in such a manner had almost caused a catastrophic disaster. If her elder brother hadn't stepped in to rescue her, she would have no idea what kind of unimaginable hardships she might be suffering by now. Therefore, she absolutely had to go home first and offer a sincere apology before the ancestral tablets of their parents.

Furthermore, he reasoned that since she had already taken in Jinlian as a sworn sister, Jinlian was now a part of the Hua family and naturally had to go and kowtow to their parents as well.

What could Hua Yun possibly say to that? She had no choice but to agree.

Ren Yuan was even less in a position to object, seeing as he was now nothing more than an outsider.

"Elder Brother Ren, my brother is taking me away. Are you secretly very happy about it?"

Hua Rong had been dragged off to another area by the chieftains to share some drinks, leaving Hua Yun to run back to Ren Yuan with a puffed-up, indignant expression to lodge a complaint.

"I am not, I did not, don't talk nonsense."

Ren Yuan issued a triple denial. He was only joking, of course—when he first heard that Hua Rong was taking people back with him, his heart had suddenly felt utterly hollow and desolate.

"Then go tell my brother to let me stay!"

"Huh? Isn't that a bit too fast?"

Ren Yuan was somewhat startled. Wait a minute, my dear young lady, isn't this moving just a little too fast?

"What do you mean, 'too fast'? I am a commander of Liangshan now, and you are my chieftain. Why shouldn't you let me stay right here..."

As Hua Yun spoke, her face suddenly flushed crimson, and she raised her fist to punch Ren Yuan lightly.

"Elder Brother Ren, what on earth were you thinking just now? What did you mean by 'too fast'? What did you think I was talking about?"

Ren Yuan hurriedly waved his hands in defense.

"Ah, well, I just thought you meant letting Commander Hua stay behind..."

"Hmph, I'm not talking to you anymore."

Hua Yun spun around and darted away. This Elder Brother Ren was simply impossible—hmph, what a giant blockhead!

(?`~′?)

Meanwhile, on the other side of the gathering, Hua Rong was deep in conversation with the other Liangshan chieftains.

He was discovering that this stronghold of Liangshan was truly unfathomable.

Aside from Ren Yuan, the mountain actually housed several other top-tier martial artists. Judging by the overwhelming aura emanating from those individuals, Hua Rong realized he might not even be able to defeat them in a duel.

"Brother Hua Rong, I heard our chieftain say that your archery is matchless under heaven. Can you please let us open our eyes and witness it?"

Mo Sheng, that great simpleton, possessed a booming voice so loud that everyone present heard him clearly.

"That's right, that's right! It's a rare occasion for Brother Hua Rong to visit today, you simply must show us a trick or two!"

"Indeed! And I heard our chieftain once had an archery contest with Brother Hua Rong. Why don't you two have a rematch today?"

The chieftains were mostly driven by curiosity, eager to see why Hua Rong was hailed as the greatest divine archer in the Great Song. Moreover, their own chieftain was supposedly an archery expert as well, yet none of them had ever witnessed it firsthand. Seizing upon Mo Sheng's thunderous prompting, everyone was eager to watch the spectacle.

Hua Rong did not suffer from stage fright in the slightest. He knew that he indeed needed to display his prowess in order to command the respect of the crowd.

Besides, the Liangshan chieftains suggesting a joint archery exhibition with Ren Yuan was like someone offering a pillow just as he grew drowsy—it suited his exact wishes!

As for Ren Yuan, he had nothing to fear, so he simply asked:

"If Brother Hua Rong has no objections, then neither do I. But how shall we compete?"

Suddenly, several wild swan calls echoed down from the high sky. Everyone raised their heads to look, only to see a flock of wild geese flying past above the mountain.

"I have an idea! Elder Brother, and you too, Lord Hua—why not take these wild geese as your targets and shoot down one each?"

Zhu Wu seemed to have been struck by a sudden inspiration, stepping forward immediately to make the suggestion.

"Very well. Then I shall shoot the third goose in the formation, and my arrow shall pierce clean through its forehead. What does the chieftain think of that?"

Hua Rong was thoroughly satisfied with this proposal.

"As for me, I'll shoot the sixth one. Of course, I'm afraid I lack the skill to perform such delicate work."

Ren Yuan never expected that the classic scene from the original tale—Little Li Guang shooting the wild geese at Liangshan—would manifest itself so quickly, let alone that he would actually have to participate in it.

No sooner said than done, both men retrieved their respective bows. Ren Yuan made the first move, drawing his iron-reinforced bow until it formed a full moon. With a sharp whiz, a wolf-tooth arrow soared up into the firmament, striking heavily right through the belly of the sixth goose! The bird had only enough time to emit a single mournful cry before plummeting straight down.

This sudden strike startled the entire flock of geese, but Hua Rong remained completely unperturbed. Before they could break formation, he drew his magpie-painted bow to its limit, and a feathered arrow shot into the sky like a falling star! One could only witness the scene:

The magpie-painted bow was drawn like a full moon, the feathered arrow bursting forth like flying stars. The pull was mighty, the release exceedingly swift. The geese arrayed in the sky like scattered white swans, the men loosing their shafts like unspooled bamboo poles. The shadows fell amid the clouds, the sounds echoed through the grass. The heavenly procession of geese was broken and snapped apart in terror, while the heroic array joyfully linked their skill.

True to his reputation, that single arrow struck the third goose dead on. This time, there wasn't even a mournful cry before the bird dropped out of the sky.

Early on, minor scouts had already sprinted up the hillside to retrieve the two fallen geese.

As for Ren Yuan's target, the wolf-tooth arrow had pierced straight through its abdomen. Due to the immense force behind the shot, the arrow itself had vanished without a trace, leaving only a clean, piercing wound in the goose's body.

"Our chieftain's arrow is truly tyrannical indeed. No wonder you subdued Liangshan with just three arrows back then. If that arrow had struck a human body, it would have left a massive cave of a wound."

"Ah, Brother Du Qian, we aren't talking about you."

Having previously heard Hua Rong praise the tyrannical nature of Ren Yuan's archery, and having heard Yuan Lang recount how Ren Yuan secured Liangshan in three shots, the others had suspected a degree of exaggeration. Now, however, it was clear that Ren Yuan had simply been far too modest.

Du Qian had the most right to speak on the matter. He offered a wry smile and rubbed the lingering scar on his arm, which still hadn't healed properly to this day.

However, when everyone laid eyes on Hua Rong's goose, the level of shock deepened exponentially.

That feathered arrow had struck with absolute precision, piercing vertically upward straight through the very center of the goose's forehead!

The crowd was struck dumb with awe. One had to remember that Hua Rong had shot second; by that time, the flock was already in total chaos, and the flight path of the birds was erratic and unpredictable. Yet Hua Rong had still managed to hit his mark with such flawless accuracy!

This uncanny ability to hit whatever he aimed at truly proved that he was the number one divine archer in the entire Great Song!

"You see? I told you so. There's no way I could ever win against Brother Hua Rong."

Ren Yuan shrugged his shoulders, treating the outcome as perfectly normal. After all, it wasn't as if he had never lost before.

Zhu Wu, however, seemed to have other thoughts brewing in his mind.

"Our chieftain's arrow was tyrannical, and Lord Hua's arrow was precise; both represent the absolute pinnacle of the Great Song. Since Lord Hua has come from afar as our honored guest, let us take these Liangshan wild geese and present them to Lord Hua as a memento of his visit. Come, go prepare these geese properly so that Lord Hua can take them back with him."

Zhu Wu looked at Hua Rong with a beaming smile, then waved his hand, prompting several minor scouts of hunter origin to step forward and carry the two geese away for processing.

"Then I thank the military strategist."

Hua Rong returned Zhu Wu's salute with clasped hands. After all, Zhu Wu's gesture was undoubtedly a clear signal of goodwill.

Having witnessed Hua Rong's extraordinary archery, the rest of the chieftains held him in even higher regard. Being martial men themselves, they could readily perceive that Hua Rong's archery skills were truly peerless—arguably even surpassing their own chieftain.

Consequently, for a time, the chieftains enthusiastically raised their wine bowls to toast Hua Rong one after another.

"Elder Brother, this younger brother is going to go check on those two geese for a moment."

Zhu Wu approached Ren Yuan and spoke with a somewhat mysterious air.

"Military strategist, when we give gifts, we shouldn't be stingy. Aside from the geese, you can feel free to add a bit more substance to the token."

Ren Yuan was busy chatting amiably with the others about various martial arts legends and rivers-and-lakes anecdotes, so he didn't pay too much attention to Zhu Wu's expression, merely instructing him to be generous.

"This younger brother understands."

Zhu Wu gave a mysterious smile and then stepped back.

However, he hadn't walked far before he was intercepted by Hua Yun.

"Military strategist, why are you giving those wild geese to my brother?"

Hua Yun had clearly witnessed the competition earlier and found Zhu Wu's actions rather puzzling.

Zhu Wu smiled faintly, lowering his voice as he spoke to Hua Yun:

"My esteemed young lady, this younger brother is doing this for the sake of both you and our chieftain."

Hearing this, a blush crept across Hua Yun's face once again. Still somewhat perplexed, she asked Zhu Wu:

"Military strategist, is there some hidden meaning behind this?"

Seeing that there was no one else around, Zhu Wu addressed Hua Yun directly:

"What does the young lady think of our chieftain?"

"He... he's quite good." Hua Yun glanced over at Ren Yuan, who was still drinking with her brother in the distance, and silently added to herself in her heart: *Except for sometimes acting like a block of wood.*

"Well then, that settles it. This younger brother has been observing the astronomical signs at night, and it is clear that the young lady and our chieftain are destined by Heaven to be joined in matrimony."

"Therefore, today Zhu Wu has boldly made a decision on our own accord. Those wild geese serve as the formal betrothal gifts from our chieftain to the young lady."

Zhu Wu gently waved his folding fan with an expression of absolute certainty:

"The young lady must on no account expose this. As long as Lord Hua accepts those wild geese, it is tantamount to consenting to the betrothal proposal. From here on..."

Zhu Wu gave Hua Yun a knowing look that clearly said *you know what I mean*, and then turned to go inspect the processing of the geese.

"But military strategist, aren't traditional betrothal geese supposed to be kept alive?"

Hua Yun suddenly remembered something.

"Ah, that's true! But I never said I was giving her those exact two live ones, did I? Hahahaha."