Traveling back to ancient times to determine the zodiac

The three brothers, Lei, Yun, and Dian, were young men and were also very dissatisfied with Qiu's behavior, so they said in unison: "It is indeed inappropriate for the cave master to do this. How can you stay indoors when a herd of cattle is attacking you? Since everyone is following Brother Dong to fight, the three of us are willing to follow him."

Dong was overjoyed when he heard this, so he ordered the three men to pack up their weapons and belongings, then opened a cave door, and the group set off quietly.

Dong led his people to track down the wild buffalo. Less than a mile away, they heard the roaring and clattering of the cattle in front of them. It turned out that the bull king, seeing the light of day, could not wait any longer and led the cattle to attack Tianju Cave. The two armies of man and cattle met, and they were only an arrow away from each other. Both sides stopped and confronted each other.

The Bull King saw that the enemy had only 200 to 300 men, and he immediately raised his head and laughed wildly, "Moo, moo! I'm not bragging, but if you don't surrender quickly today, I will annihilate all humans and flatten your caves."

Dong heard this and responded sternly, "Hey! Your grandmother's old bull king, stop being so arrogant. If you retreat obediently, we will let it go. If you insist on attacking us, we will definitely destroy you all and turn you into our roast beef."

"I never thought that these monkey-like humans could brag more than me, an old bull. Yesterday, I beat them miserably and they suffered a great defeat. Today, they are still bragging here, saying that they want to turn us into roast beef. It's really ridiculous." The Bull King laughed again.

"Humph! Yesterday we were caught off guard and were not fully prepared. Today we are determined to fight you, the wild bull, to the death!" Dong said loudly, holding a bow and drawing an arrow, and then shouted to the Bull King, "Old Bull, watch out for the arrow."

When the bull king saw people starting to attack, he naturally did not show weakness. He roared softly and ordered the herd: "Attack! Charge!"

The Bull King led the bull army and rushed forward immediately. Dong Ye immediately ordered everyone to shoot arrows quickly. Hundreds of arrows were fired at the herd. The wild bulls were like crazy, just rushing forward without fear. Because the distance was very close, in the blink of an eye, the herd rushed to the people.

Dong hurriedly ordered everyone to abandon their bows and pick up spears, sticks and other long weapons to fight. The wild bulls were indeed swift and powerful. No matter how hard the people hit them, the wild bulls just kept their heads. There was a huge difference in strength between people and bulls, and the difference in the number of people was huge. The Bull King's side had more bulls and more power, while Dong's side had fewer soldiers and generals. Soon, everyone was at a disadvantage and began to retreat step by step.

The five people from the east, south, west, north and center joined forces to deal with the Bull King. The combined strength of the five people was more than 8,000 kilograms, which was not much different from that of the Bull King. Everyone was an experienced hunter, and they were not afraid of the powerful Bull King. They evaded and dodged flexibly, jumped up and down, and maneuvered cleverly, avoiding the Bull King's long horns while fighting back. The two sides fought hard, but although they could not hurt the Bull King, the Bull King could not hit them either. The fight was a stalemate. The roots, leaves and Guo originally joined forces to deal with a water buffalo spirit, but unexpectedly, the three were suddenly separated by another yellow bull spirit. Guo held a sharp axe and chopped at the yellow bull spirit fiercely. The yellow bull spirit used its horns to hold him back. Just as he was about to retract the axe and chop again, another yellow bull rushed over and knocked Guo four or five feet away. Guo suddenly saw stars in his eyes and fell to the ground. The yellow bull was overjoyed when he saw this, and just as he was about to rush up to hit him again, the crowd suddenly shouted to kill and shook the sky. While the ox was stunned, a spear came from a distance with a "whoosh" and hit its head. Although it did not hurt it, it was in so much pain that it quickly turned around and ran away.

The people who came to rescue were Qiu Heping, Zhi, Xiaoxing, Chen and others. It turned out that Qiu had not slept the previous night, so he got up early. As soon as Dong and Xi and others left the cave, they were discovered by Qiu. Qiu knew something was wrong, so he immediately woke up all the warriors including Pinghe, Zhi, Xia, Xiaoxing, etc. Everyone picked up their weapons and hurriedly followed. So they saved Guo's life.

Thanks to the reinforcements, the cattle herd retreated slightly, thus reversing the disadvantage for Dong and others.

Xiao Xing quickly ran to Guo and helped him up, and asked, "Brother Guo, how do you feel? Are you okay?"

Guo struggled to get up, shook his head and said, "I'm fine!" After that, suddenly a mouthful of blood came out of his mouth.

Xiao Xing was startled and quickly called Qiu to help. Qiu said, "Xing, quickly return the fruit to the cave."

Xiaoxing carried the fruit on his back and walked back. Qiu sighed, "Ling was injured yesterday and has not recovered yet, and today another person is injured."

After sighing, Qiu held up his spear and rushed to the Bull King, fighting with the six men from the east and west. The Bull King's eyes turned red, and he kept mooing. In an instant, a water buffalo and a small yellow ox came to help. The six men were immediately in a panic and could not resist. Seeing that the situation was not favorable, Qiu shouted to everyone: "Listen, warriors: if you can fight, then fight. If you can't fight, just hide in the trees."

The Bull King got help from the other three wild bulls and suddenly became powerful. He rushed towards Dong. Dong couldn't dodge and kept retreating, in danger. At this moment, Xi and Bei, Qiu and Zhong were rushed away by the two bulls and had no time to care. In order to save Dong, Nan hurriedly swung his stick to hit the Bull King's back foot. The Bull King was in pain and kicked back, hitting Nan's chest squarely, sending Nan flying ten feet away.

"Nan——" Dong shouted.

Qiu heard the shout and knew something was wrong. He shouted and hit the calf that was attacking him with his spear, but the calf kept charging forward. Qiu dropped his spear, jumped up, and actually rode on the calf's back.

The calf was ridden and jumped up vigorously, shaking its head and tail to throw Qiu off. Qiu, like a bullfighter, held the calf's neck tightly with both hands and clamped his legs around the calf's belly tightly, and refused to let go no matter how the calf was shaken. The calf jumped for a while, but when it saw that it could not throw Qiu off, it stopped helplessly. Just as it was "huffing and puffing" to rest, Qiu took out a sharp axe he carried with him, hit the calf's head with all his strength, and knocked the axe handle off. The calf rolled its eyes after being hit so hard, and its huge body fell to the ground with a bang, gasping for breath, and died.

Qiu jumped off the calf, picked up the spear, and helped Dong fight the bull king. Zhongze rushed over to rescue Nan. He helped Nan up and found that except for a few broken ribs, the other injuries were not serious. Zhong saw that the battle situation was extremely dangerous and said to Nan: "Brother Nan, you are injured, and the cattle are so many and fierce, I will save you and put you on the tree."

After Zhong finished speaking, he pulled Nan to a big poplar tree. Zhong first climbed up a branch, then reached down and grabbed Nan's left hand, pulling him up the tree. As soon as the two climbed up the tree, a buffalo spirit rushed over, and the two shouted, "That was close!"

While beating the Bull King with all his might, the hill on the other side shouted, "Dong, let's all retreat quickly, retreat to the tree."

Dong was out of breath after being attacked by the Bull King, and reluctantly agreed: "Yes, Cave Master." Then he called on the other brothers: "Brothers, everyone retreat to the tree."

So everyone retreated towards the tree while fighting, just like yesterday, and all climbed up the tree to avoid the beast. Qiu and Dong climbed up the tree. Qiu looked at Dong and angrily said, "Dong, why did you disobey my order and lead the people to fight privately? You see, if I hadn't led the people to rescue you in time, you would probably have died under the bison's hooves."

Dong was scolded, terrified and ashamed, so he had to apologize: "The cave master is right, and I know I was wrong."

"Alas..." Qiu looked at Dong with a long sigh and said, "Dong, you are just like the Bull King, you only have the courage of a common man but lack wisdom. As the old saying goes: If you don't use your brain, you can't do anything well. You must remember not to act recklessly in the future."

"Yes, nephew will remember the cave master's teachings." Dong nodded quickly.

Although Qiu was angry, he saw that he had a good attitude to admit his mistakes, and because they were uncle and nephew, he did not pursue the matter. At this time, everyone hid in the tree again, and the bison once again guarded the tree. The two sides were in a stalemate like yesterday, waiting for nightfall.

After waiting for a long time, the sun finally set and darkness began to fall around them. The Bull King had no choice but to announce to the Bull Army: "My people, it is getting late. Let's spare the humans today and return to the camp to rest."

Except for one bison that Qiu shot dead, the rest of the herd retreated. Qiu waited until the bison retreated before ordering everyone to get down from the tree. Then, Zhong carried Nan on his back, while the others hurriedly lifted up the dead bison. Under the moonlight, they returned to Tianju Cave. As soon as they returned to the cave, Qiu, Dong, Shugen, Yezi and others hurried to Guo's bed. In the dark, Qiu asked, "Guo, how are you injured? Is it serious?"

Guo was seriously injured and groaned non-stop. His wife Qing was sobbing beside him. When asked, she answered for him: "Master, Guo's ribs were also broken, and his internal organs are probably seriously injured."

"Oh! It's all my fault!" Dong heard that Guo was seriously injured and said with regret: "I shouldn't have been so aggressive and led the brothers to fight privately, causing Guo and Nan to get injured."

"We can't blame this entirely, brother Dong. We should blame the evil ox and the monster Nian for forcing and oppressing us and making us submit to it," said Bei.

"That's right! The source of the disaster is still the monster Nian. If we don't want to bow to it, let alone get hurt, even if it costs our lives, it will be worth it." Xi said excitedly.

"Cave Master, I, I'm fine! Brother Dong, I won't blame you. This is what we should do." Guo struggled after hearing everyone's conversation and said with difficulty.

"Guo, now you, Ling and Nan just stay here and recuperate, and don't worry about other things for now. Don't worry, I will definitely defeat the cattle herd and the Nian beast." Qiu comforted.

After everyone consoled him, they went back to their dormitories to sleep. As soon as Dong returned to his dormitories, his wife Li complained to him, "Dong, look at what you did today. The wild bull was so ferocious, but you secretly led only 300 people to fight the wild bull without the knowledge of the cave master, causing Guo Ge and Nan Di to be seriously injured. Fortunately, you are fine. If you were injured or killed, what would my mother and I do in the future?"

Dong interrupted Li irritably and rudely, saying, "What do you women know? I am eager to succeed, and it's all because of Xing. If I don't work hard to achieve achievements and establish my prestige, Xing will surpass me. By then, the position of cave master will undoubtedly be Xing."

"Cave Master, Cave Master, you just want to be the cave master. In fact, no matter who he is, as long as he can lead everyone well, there is nothing wrong with worshipping him as the cave master. Is being a cave master so enviable? Is it worth giving up your life for?" Li's voice became high-pitched and sharp because of anger.

"I don't want to pay attention to your womanly opinion." Dong let his wife scold him and went to bed angrily.

The cattle herd lost the second battle, and everyone was dejected, but helpless. Qiu came to the bottom of the cave and prayed devoutly to the statue of Nuwa on the stone wall: "Nuwa, Bai Ling Angel, you defeated the Nian beast last time, and now the evil bulls are attacking again. These evil bulls are extremely powerful and ferocious. Many of us have been killed and injured for two consecutive days. As long as the bull king's herd does not retreat, people's lives will not be peaceful. Please Nuwa, Bai Ling Angel, show up and tell me how to defeat the bull king and protect human safety?"

Qiu prayed again and again, but somehow Bai Ling did not show up, so he had to go back to his dormitory to rest.