Alienated Martial Arts.

Chapter 22 Preparation
The sound of clanging came from the side of the road.

With a bamboo basket on his back, Wei Tao stopped in front of a blacksmith's shop.

Inexplicably recalling the previous night battle, his heart skipped a beat, he pressed down the bamboo hat he was wearing on his head, and turned to enter the shop.

It was hot inside, mixed with a choking smell.

Beside the fire in the inner room, a stout middle-aged man, wearing only a pair of blackened animal skin shorts, was vigorously beating an unformed narrow knife.

Outside, there was a smoky, equally strong woman packing her things.

"Shopkeeper, can I get you something?" Wei Tao deliberately asked with a hoarse voice, showing only a pair of eyes.

"What the guest officer wants to fight, in addition to armor and hard crossbows, we can make swords, farm tools, and kitchen utensils here."

The man was still beating the narrow knife with his head down, when the middle-aged woman heard this, she quickly put down the half-packed sundries and came up to him.

She spoke loudly, suppressing the sound of blacksmithing.

"What do you want to shoot..." Wei Tao took a few steps closer, looked around at the finished products hanging in the shop, "Do you guys shoot hidden weapons here?"

"Concealed weapons can also be made." The woman wiped her face with a wet towel, "But it's better for the guest officer to bring over a sample so that we can compare them carefully."

"No samples." Wei Tao shook his head.

"If there is no sample, the customer can draw the figure and mark the size, but it will take more time and effort to meet the customer's requirements, and the price will be higher."

"I have nothing."

Wei Tao looked at the dazed expression of the proprietress, and then said, "What hidden weapons do you all have, you can show me to have a look, and just choose one that works well."

"Here... we only have spear darts left over from the previous customers."

"No spear, the target is too big and too obvious, let me think about it." Wei Tao walked around the blacksmith shop, his eyes suddenly lit up.

He picked up a few jujube-sized pieces of iron from a pile of waste in the corner, "Do you know the barbed wire, it's about this big, and it would be great if you could add some spikes on it."

After seeing it clearly, the proprietress's expectant expression suddenly dimmed, but she still nodded and said, "Although I haven't heard of the barbed wire that the guest officer said, but according to the guest officer, we can do it."

"Well, have you seen my basket? How much will it cost to make me the first half of the basket?"

"It doesn't cost much. The key depends on how much the customer wants. The larger the quantity, the cheaper the unit price."

Wei Tao ignored the proprietress's answer, and his attention fell on a pair of iron wire gloves, and he said to himself, "It's a pity that the imperial court banned armor, or I would have to get a set of high and low for self-defense."

"Guest officer, guest officer?" The landlady's voice was extremely low, almost to the point where she couldn't hear clearly.

"Huh? What did you say?" Wei Tao asked.

"No, I just want to ask."

She took a few glances quietly, and said cautiously, "If the guest officer really wants to defend himself, we can also help the guest officer customize a pair of dark armor.
Although the protection range and defense ability are not as good as the chain mail and Mingguang armor controlled by the military town,

But it can also protect the chest, abdomen and back, greatly reducing the possibility of injury. "

Wei Tao was a little puzzled when he heard this, "Aren't you talking about breast protection?"

"It's better than the breastplate. What I mean is that the breastplate is part of the dark armor.

For the other parts, we will use soft iron wire to nest the nail plate, and then weave and sew it with high-quality animal skin.

Except for the head and limbs, the entire torso can basically be protected, and now that it is cold, the guest officer can still keep warm by wearing clothes. "

"The dark armor you are talking about, can you give me some spikes on it?" Wei Tao was very moved when he heard this.

The woman was taken aback again, "What does the guest officer mean?"

"What I mean is very simple. You can replace the small nail plate with a larger and thicker iron plate, and put raised spikes on the shoulders and chest. In a word, can you do it?"

As Wei Tao spoke, he drew a sketchy sketch on the ground.

The proprietress thought about it.

Then nodded slowly, "I can do it, but..."

Wei Tao didn't give her a chance to go down.

"Half a basket of barbed wire, twenty darts, two machetes, a narrow knife, and a dagger, plus a dark armor, two pairs of gloves, a pair of armguards, and the surface of the armguards is also pointed. If stabbed, how much will it cost?"

The proprietress thought for a while, then slowly stretched out two fingers, "20 taels of silver."

Although, Wei Tao started to bargain directly.

"too expensive."

The woman murmured, "It does sound expensive, but it's mainly the dark armor that is expensive.

Guest officer, think about it, when we make this set of dark armor, we must first make a model according to the size of the guest officer.
Then each process takes time, effort and materials to finally get the finished product.

More importantly, although this thing is not considered a real armor, we also take some risks..."

Wei Tao just shook his head, "It's still too expensive."

"If the guest officer really wants to do it, the leftovers can produce at least half a basket of barbed wire, and we will give it away."

Until then, he showed a little emotion, "How many days can you do it?"

"It will take ten days at the earliest."

"too long."

"Guest officer, we have other work on hand."

"Stop all other work?"

"If we don't deliver on time, we need to lose money to other customers."

"What if I want you to do it for me first?"

"This, it will take about seven or eight days... No, it will only take six or seven... Guest officer, let's not sleep, it only takes five or six days to complete!"

The woman stared at the silver in Wei Tao's hand, and changed her words one after another.

"Within five days, finish everything, as long as I am satisfied, I will give you another five taels of silver."

pat!

A silver ingot fell into the palm of the proprietress.

"This is a deposit. When you're done, you seal the things up, and I'll find someone to pay the bill and pick up the goods." Wei Tao turned around and left without stopping for a moment.

The woman looked down at the finger mark that had just been squeezed on the silver ingot, and couldn't help but shivered. The polite words that were already on her lips were blocked immediately, and she hurriedly lowered her head and went back to the shop.

Wei Tao stayed in the newly bought house for four days. Apart from tidying up the house, he just moved his blood and worked up his body.

It wasn't until the fifth day that he changed his clothes and quietly left the house.

During this period of time, all the people who were being followed by the Silver Wolf Gang on Yufang Street withdrew, and it seemed that they would not appear again for a while.

Qinghehui suffered some damage, which is still within the expected range.

The city defense army was quite strong, Wuchang Bian personally led his men to attack, beat up several members of the Silver Wolf Gang who were in charge of tracking, and threw them all into the prison.

However, the effect that can be achieved by borrowing power is at most that.

The Qinghe Society does not yet have the strength to start a full-scale war with the Silver Wolf Gang.

As for the city defense army, because of their responsibilities, it is natural for them to clean up the ordinary members of the Silver Wolf Gang who are causing trouble on the edge of the inner city.

But they are not fools. Without a clear order from the Defense Department, it is impossible to really fight hard and confront the core members of the Silver Wolf Gang.

After all, the Mountain Wolf won't have many people to mess with.
But there are many people who are willing to beat the dog in the water.

Therefore, the most critical step must be done by himself.

It can only be done by himself.

Half an hour later, Wei Tao came out of the blacksmith's shop with a huge pannier on his body.

Turning left and right in the streets and alleys, after confirming that no one was following him, Wei Tao suddenly accelerated and went straight out of the city gate.

After leaving the city, heading west all the way, it gradually entered the deep forest of the Cangmang Mountain Range.

At this very moment, Wei Tao's traditional profession as a herb collector is coming into play again.

The poisonous weeds in his memory were picked by him, and the poisons were captured one by one, and they were all put into the medicine jar that he carried with him.

As the weather approached late autumn, the deeper the mountains and forests, the more gloomy and cold it felt.

A gust of mountain wind blows, and countless leaves fall from the trees, like countless colorful butterflies flying in the forest.

Eventually they will all cover the ground.

Yellow, red, gray, like a colorful carpet.

Unknowingly, the sky gradually darkened.

The afterglow of the setting sun is swaying the last rays of light, and it will disappear completely in a short time, letting darkness cover the entire world.

Wei Tao looked at the poisonous plants and poisons in the eyedrop jar, and carefully observed the surrounding environment with the help of the last light. After recalling and thinking for a while, he continued to move forward.

He speeded up along the rugged path stepped on by his predecessors, and finally came to a hidden cave that he had found before when night fell.

It was a safe base he had built for himself when he had to spend the night in the wild.

Wei Tao walked through the bushes that blocked the entrance of the cave, and quickly set up a fire, heated up the dry food, and ate it with water.

This place has long been beyond the range of his medicinal activities, and if he moves forward, he will enter the deep mountains and old forests that are truly inaccessible.

Except for those hunters who enter the mountain in groups, other people almost never enter the dangerous zone.

Wei Tao's real destination is Hanshuitan, which is about a day and a half away from the cave.

There are many places beside the pool where the seven-step heartbroken grass grows, and there are various poisons infested. These are the targets he focused on collecting during this trip.

After experiencing the night battle in the narrow alley, Wei Tao felt that his vision was suddenly opened.

If you want to protect yourself in this kind of world, it is useless to just endure and avoid. Many times, you will be regarded as a weak and deceitful meat bun. Whether it is a human or a dog, you want to jump over and bite.

So when it's time to make a move, don't hesitate to make a move.

Only dead enemies are the best enemies.

We must not stick to any rules and regulations. It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice, it is a good cat.

No matter what the method is, as long as it can kill the enemy, it is the most suitable method.

It was precisely because of the opening of his vision and thinking that he made a set of dark armor for himself, and prepared to boil enough poison to soak the hidden weapon, so as to add enough life-saving and killing methods for himself besides the practice of the red line boxing.

(End of this chapter)