A life of two souls traveling through time

Chapter 125: Fighting the Jackals

"When I went hunting with General Da Xi, when I was hungry, I would just skin the prey and roast it."

After having his fill, Arnold patted his belly and laughed in satisfaction. He then picked up the long knife in front of him that was stained with oil and blackened by the charcoal fire and was about to wipe it on the hem of his skirt when he was stopped by Si Yao. She took out a cloth from her sleeve and wiped the knife clean for him.

"Thank you, Sister Yao." Arnold retracted the long sword that had been polished to a bright white color and smiled at Si Yao.

"Let me take a look at your foot. If it's not swollen, I'll help you down the mountain." Si Yao also squatted beside Arnold with a smile and peeled off the herbs on his injured foot. The swelling gradually subsided. She replaced the medicine with new ones and stood up and continued, "Let's go back."

"Sister Yao, my foot injury has healed a lot and it doesn't hurt anymore, but you haven't collected enough medicine yet. I can continue with you..."

“Ahh….”

Before Arnold could finish his words, a sharp howl suddenly sounded in the forest.

"Ahh...Ahh..." Before Si Yao and Arnold could react, the same howl rang out again from all over the pool.

"Is this... a pack of wolves?" Si Yao frowned slightly as he heard the wild howling of wild beasts all around him.

"No, it's a jackal." Arnold stood up alertly, handed the bow and arrow to Si Yao, picked up his long knife and looked around. He saw a small cave on the left side of the pool, and continued: "Sister Yao, we may have encountered a pack of jackals. We heard quite a few noises. Now they are hiding in the dark waiting for an opportunity to act. We can't stay in this open area. There is a cave behind us on the left. Let's hide there first."

After hearing what Arnold said, Si Yao turned around and saw the cave. He hung the bow and arrow in his hand on his back and hurriedly helped the limping Arnold to the cave. At Arnold's instructions, he picked up some stones to pile up the entrance of the cave.

There were more and more howls outside the cave. Si Yao squatted at the entrance of the cave and saw a few brave jackals rushing out and exploring the extinguished fire step by step. They looked like wolves but were slender and smaller than wolves. Except for the white abdomen and the inside of the limbs and the black tail lip, the rest of the body was brown. These jackals sniffed around the place where Si Yao and Arnold had just stayed. They howled a few more times as if they were sure it was safe. Not long after, another group of jackals came out from all around. At this time, they all looked at the cave with fierce eyes.

"Usually there are only about ten jackals in a pack. This is the first time I've seen a pack of nearly thirty. It may be difficult to get rid of such a large group..." Arnold came to Si Yao's side at some point and looked worriedly at the jackals outside the cave who were eyeing him hungrily.

"Don't worry, there will be a way." Si Yao also saw so many wild beasts for the first time. Although she was scared, she quickly forced herself to calm down. Fortunately, they hid in the cave in time. Compared with being surrounded by enemies in an open area, this cave provided them with a geographical advantage.

Seeing that Sister Yao, a girl, was so calm, Arnold was ashamed of his disappointment despite his young age. He regained his confidence and looked around the cave in front of him. The cave was not deep but a little damp, with some water seeping out from the rock walls. Following the water flow, he found a white rock in the corner and smiled with his eyes wide open: "Sister Yao, there is saltpeter."

It was already the afternoon and Sanxiu Pharmacy was closed. Xiuming was a little worried when he saw Si Yao had not returned from the mountain after collecting herbs. But then he thought that she had Arnold with her so nothing should happen. Although Arnold was very young, he grew up with the prince and his skills were not bad.

"It's already 3 p.m., why hasn't A Yao come back from collecting herbs yet?" Mr. Sanxiu was also worried.

"Master, don't worry. With Arnold following me, I shouldn't be... "

"He's just a kid, what can we expect? I'm afraid he'll get into trouble for A-Yao because of his playfulness!"

It would have been better if Xiu Ming didn't mention Arnold. But after mentioning him, Sanxiu became even more worried. Without waiting for his disciple to finish speaking, he hurriedly called a few medicine boys to go up the mountain to look for him.

"Arnold hasn't come back yet?"

At the same time, after Yan Zong finished his work and inspected the military camp, he also asked Yu Cheng who was following him with concern.

"Not yet. General Daxi was looking for him just now." Yu Cheng shook his head and replied.

"You go to Sanxiu Pharmacy and check. It's so late, he should return to the camp." Yan Zong looked up at the setting sun and frowned slightly. It was okay if Arnold was at Sanxiu Pharmacy, but he was worried that he and Si Yao were still in the mountains. Dusk was approaching and it was the time when the ferocious beasts in the forest came out to look for food.

"Yes." Seeing the worry on His Highness's face, Yu Cheng responded and hurriedly rode his horse towards Sanxiu Pharmacy.

"Although saltpeter can be used as medicine and can also be used to make gunpowder, saltpeter alone may not be enough."

After Si Yao scraped the fine white saltpeter off the rock, he suddenly thought of something. He hurriedly took off a purse from his waist and poured out some yellow powder and mixed it with the saltpeter powder.

"Sulfur!" Arnold was instantly surprised when he smelled the pungent smell.

"Well, it was originally used to prevent snakes and insects, but I didn't expect it could be used for this." Si Yao nodded, but then looked outside the cave where they had just made a fire and sighed: "It's a pity that the charcoal ash can't be taken outside."

"It's okay. Jackals are most afraid of fire, and they are also timid and afraid of loud noises. As long as there is saltpeter and sulfur, they can still make a noise when they are lit on fire. Although the power is not great, setting off a few more can always scare them away." Arnold looked at the jackals outside approaching the cave step by step. While comforting Si Yao, he tore off a large piece of cloth from the corner of his clothes, divided the mixed saltpeter and sulfur into several portions, wrapped them up, and then used thin cloth strips as fuses.

Si Yao also stood guard at the cave entrance with a bow and arrow. She would shoot arrows without hesitation if any jackal dared to rush forward. Months of persistent training had improved her archery skills. All the jackals she shot screamed and died on the spot. After four or five companions died in a row, the jackals retreated a few steps in fear, growling but not daring to move forward.

"Hmph, do you think a mere pack of jackals can defeat a young master like me?" After Arnold had made the gunpowder, he threw out three of them at once, leaving only a piece of cloth at one end to start the fire.

Perhaps a few jackals smelled the pungent odor of the cloth that rolled to their feet, and they turned away vigilantly.

"It's almost sunset. We have to hurry, otherwise more wild beasts will appear once it gets dark." Si Yao looked up at the sun setting in the distance and said worriedly to Arnold beside her.

Arnold nodded, took out a tinder and lit the ignition strip of cloth. The faint flame ran along the cloth strip towards the gunpowder.

"Bang... Bang... Bang..." Three consecutive loud noises startled a large number of birds in the forest. The gunpowder wrapped in cloth exploded one after another, emitting a pungent smell. Although the power was not great and only injured a few jackals, the jackals that had gathered together were frightened and fled in all directions when they heard the loud noise.