Unknown Knight

After seeing off Niza and the other two, Aix, lying on the wool felt, was still uneasy. There were too many things he couldn't let go of, which made him manic.

He was so unsettled that he had no choice but to take out the martial arts book "Nine Swords and Thirteen Styles" from his arms and study it carefully.

This is a book on the basic Tang sword fighting techniques. The Tang Dynasty valued martial arts, and even the great poet Li Bai was an expert in swordsmanship. So although this book on fighting techniques is only basic, it is simple and practical, especially focusing on explaining how to exert force when using a sword. Even a layman like Axe was fascinated by it and finished reading the book in just one morning.

At noon, they still made porridge, but the little girl Sophia was cooking in the cave, and Aix was next to her. He saw clearly what kind of tubers she put in the porridge, so he asked her:

"Is this the stem you put in the porridge before?"

"Yes, my sister told me personally."

If the little girl hadn't looked at Aix with a pair of innocent big eyes, he would have even suspected that the little girl was secretly doing something bad. Although Aix had basically never eaten the things she put there in the original world, any Chinese with common sense would recognize this thing. It was clearly a forked ginseng, which forced him to continue asking:

"Why did your sister tell you to do that? You can't just eat this."

"Hehe, sir, do you think it's bitter? Sister said that when brother Niza was injured, I gave him this bitter root. That's why brother Niza recovered so quickly. Don't underestimate this bitter root. Although it tastes a bit bitter, it's a good thing.

When I was a child, my grandfather told me that there was a famine in our area one year. He was so hungry that he had no other choice but to dig up this bitter root and eat it. Not only did he not starve to death, but he became more and more energetic. From then on, this bitter root became a special ingredient in our family. Whenever there was a shortage of food in winter, we would come here to dig some as dry food. Since we had this thing, no one in our family has starved to death.

But there is one thing, you can't eat too much of this. If you eat too much, you will feel uncomfortable in your stomach, and you will easily get ulcers in your mouth, and even have nosebleeds. And it doesn't taste very good. It's not that we have no food, but we usually don't eat it. Even if we do, we only put some of it with the food. "

Seeing the girl telling the story of the bitter root in her hand with certainty, those who didn't know her would think she was being Versailles. The root was almost as thick as a thumb and must be at least several hundred years old. She used this thing to replace food for no reason. She needed to nourish herself a lot. No wonder she had mouth ulcers and nosebleeds.

Only then did Axe understand an important reason why his family was so strong. Admittedly, genetic factors and carrying cows up the mountain every day played a big role, but the timely intake of high-quality ginseng was also indispensable. Chinese medicine says that ginseng can replenish qi. If you replenish qi and blood in this way for a long time, it would be strange if you don't have strength. Moreover, their family has been consuming ginseng for a long time, and the practice of stacking duff has been passed down from generation to generation. It is the mutual promotion of these reasons that has made this family so strong.

Ginseng also has the effect of invigorating the spirit. Looking at the girl's energetic, cheerful and lively personality, she is very different from most of the dull and wooden people in the Middle Ages. This may be due to the ginseng she ate.

"Don't worry sir, the bitter root is most effective for injured people like you."

Seeing her confident look, Aix felt amused. It was not a big deal. A ginseng that was several hundred years old could save the life of a dying person. Besides, it was just his injury. No wonder his head didn't hurt so much in just one night. This was a good thing. He then asked the girl:

"Are there many bitter roots like the ones you mentioned on this mountain?"

"Not a lot. This thing only grows in shady places. You need experience to find it, like me."

The little girl pointed at the tip of her nose, looking very cute.

Aix smiled and said to her:

"Can you help me dig some thick ones back? I want to recover from my injury sooner."

"Okay, but if it's too big, it depends on luck. I'll try it later."

The girl agreed without hesitation. When the old ginseng digger from Changbai Mountain, who hoped to make a fortune by digging ginseng, heard this, he was so angry that he vomited three liters of blood. The ginseng that she was cutting randomly in her hand was enough for an ordinary family to eat for more than ten years.

Finally, feeling bad, Aix thought of a food tonic recipe and asked the girl:

"How much can you sell your cows for?"

"Well, three silver coins, but the cattle are not fattened now, so we usually sell them in autumn, so that we can get a good price of three silver coins."

After hearing what the girl said, Aix took out five silver coins from his pocket and handed them to her, saying:

"Give these five silver coins to your family and ask them to help slaughter a cow. I only want the meat from the leg, brisket, and tenderloin. The rest is for you to eat."

"No way. Even the strongest cow can't be sold for five silver coins. Besides, cowhide, bones, and offal can all be sold for a lot of money. This is too much money. How about I take three silver coins from you?"

The kind-hearted girl couldn't bear to see Aix suffer, so she gave him two silver coins. Aix closed her hands for her and said:

"No, just consider it as your hard work fee. After all, it's very hard to bring it up the mountain."

"Then I will go down the mountain and tell them now."

The little girl was in a hurry to go down the mountain. Seeing her lively temper, Aix was amused and hurriedly called her:

"Wait, I'm hungry, you have to prepare lunch."

This sentence made the little girl blush with embarrassment.

After lunch, the girl hurried down the mountain. Aix continued to study his "Nine Swords and Thirteen Styles" out of boredom. Liu Tang took the remaining four cavalrymen to make some targets and practiced archery.

At around four or five in the afternoon, Sophia and a young man carrying beef came to the mountain. The young man's name was Gris, and he was Sophia's brother.

The young man hung the skinned and drained beef on a wooden rack, and used a knife to skillfully cut the meat into pieces of similar size. He handed it to Sofia to put on another wooden rack to air-dry. It only took half an hour to complete the cutting. It was obvious that this Gris was an expert.

When Sophia finished preparing dinner and it was not yet dark, the brother and sister politely declined Aix's offer to stay for dinner and hurried down the mountain to go home for dinner.

Aix, Liu Tang and others enjoyed a delicious meal of nutritious ginseng beef stew with bread.

The next day, Aix was awakened by bursts of shouting. Outside the cave, Liu Tang and several others were practicing thrusting together.

Maybe it was because he had eaten ginseng stewed beef last night, he really couldn't sleep, so he took the light of the campfire and studied the book "Nine Swords and Thirteen Styles" carefully, word by word.

The ancients cherished words like gold, and every word they wrote was full of profound meaning. After this study, he really gained a lot of insights, which kept him reading until late at night. If his body allowed it, he really wanted to get up and practice with the sword.

The girl Sophia had arrived early in the morning. She stuck her head out of the cave and peeked in. Seeing that he had woken up, she blushed and went back out. Then Axe felt something was wrong. He stood up and saw something standing tall and strong in his lower body, holding up a large piece of blanket, as if it was about to break through any obstacles and soar into the sky.

This made him extremely embarrassed, and he quickly sat up with his knees bent. It seemed that excessive tonic might not be all good, and too much of it might as well be a deficiency. With the dual blessing of beef for invigorating blood and ginseng for replenishing qi, this kind of abnormality would definitely occur. No wonder Liu Tang and the others were shouting so loudly outside, it turned out that they had no place to use their energy.

After a long while, during which he thought about many bad things, little Aix's high morale was extinguished. He stood up and suddenly his eyes went dark, the world was spinning, and he felt chest tightness and nausea. Fortunately, he held onto the wall next to him and managed to stand firm.

He just felt that there was nothing wrong with his body, and he felt relaxed and strong, his chest was no longer stuffy, and his head didn't hurt so much. Then he stood up so suddenly that he almost fell down. It seems that concussion is not so easy to recover from.

He took a long time to catch his breath, and was still catching his breath when the girl came in carrying a bucket of milk.

Seeing him like that, Sophia hurriedly put down the wooden barrel, ran over and helped him sit on the big rock next to him. However, as soon as he sat down, he wanted to stand up and insisted on walking around outside the cave. The knowledge from the original world told him that more activity and aerobic exercise would be beneficial to the body's recovery. Sophia had no choice but to help him out of the cave.

Sophia helped him walk around the platform. He sat down on a big rock to rest when he was sweating slightly. After walking around, he felt much better. As long as he didn't do too strenuous exercise, he wouldn't feel dizzy. There would be no problem with general light exercise.

He let the girl mind her own business, then called Liu Tang and asked him to bring his sword. They then practiced the moves in "Nine Swords and Thirteen Styles" here, trying each move one by one.

Although he couldn't practice with all his strength, practicing each move with a weapon was much better than just imagining it. Gradually, he got a real feel for this martial arts book, and after practicing and exploring, he had become familiar with the simple and plain moves.

He just gestured at first, then increased the strength little by little, and when he felt a little dizzy and uncomfortable, he reduced the strength. By the time Sofia came over to help him have breakfast, he was already sweating profusely. However, he did not feel tired or uncomfortable. Instead, he felt more relaxed and energetic, and his mind was not as groggy as before.

After breakfast and a short rest, Axel took his sword to practice outside the cave again. The girl Sofia was afraid that something might happen to him, so she had to come over to support him and stay with him the whole time. There were steep cliffs all around, and it would be troublesome if this gentleman fainted and fell down.

Although "Nine Swords and Thirteen Styles" is a sword manual for the Tang sword, the Tang sword is a straight, single-edged sword. There is nothing wrong with practicing it with Aix's broad-bladed sword. On the contrary, this kind of fighting technique that focuses on exerting force is more suitable for the heavy sword in Aix's hand.

As the strength increased little by little, he gained a deeper understanding of this martial art. He began to dance with it, from being stiff and clumsy at the beginning to slowly becoming smooth and free. Occasionally, he would use his full strength to penetrate the sword body, causing the sword to emit a clanging sound. There was a hint of power in each move.

The little girl Sophia who was standing by was so fascinated by the scene.