On the first day of October, the day of ancestor worship.

Before dawn, in the ancestral hall of the Qin family's village, offerings had already been placed on the ebony offering table, one of which was a sheep's head, and the front three were lined up with five bowls of vegetables, five bowls of rice, five-color dim sum, as well as a pair of jujube cakes, a two-foot steamed bun, and a burning candle in the front accompanied by a brass incense burner.

Three feet below the offering table, stood Qin Fen, the patriarch of the Qin family, who was over the age of eight, followed by more than a hundred men of the Qin family.

Everyone stood up according to their age and age, from drooping young children to old people, no matter how big or small, all of them looked respectful and solemn, and the dolls dragging their snot looked confused, but they didn't dare to make a trace of movement.

In the solemnity, a bell rang in the distance, and Qin Fen, the patriarch of the Qin family standing at the front, his eyes lit up, he took a deep breath, and sang: "Salute." ”

As he spoke, Qin Fen lit the three incense sticks in his hand, and his slightly hoarse voice sounded again, and a sentence of sacrificial texts came out: "The year is in Dingwei, the first day of October." The heavens and the earth are clear, and all things are clear. Ancestral ......"

After the tea, with a sentence: "Please." Everyone followed the patriarch Qin Fen and knelt down.

Three bows and three bows, worship the ancestors.

In the ancestral hall, all the men worship their ancestors, and many female relatives gather in the open space under the big locust tree outside the ancestral hall.

What is a little strange is that almost all the female dependents, regardless of size, have something in their hands, not something to worship, but a long knife and a short bow, arrows, daggers, ropes, and other things that can only be used in hunting.

Of course, I didn't want to commit murder against my own family, just because today is not only the day of the corpse sacrifice to the ancestors, but also the day of the autumn hunt.

This has been the tradition of the Qin family village for many years, compared to the Qingming Festival means the beginning of a year of hunting spring hunting, the autumn hunt on October 1 is more important, you know, the harvest of the next month is related to the livelihood of the whole clan in a winter.

Listening to the hoarse voice of the patriarch in the ancestral hall for the last salute, everyone under the big locust tree looked towards the gate of the ancestral hall.

The first to show their heads were seven or eight little dolls dragging their noses, who couldn't stand the solemn depression inside, and jumped out as soon as they crossed the threshold.

The women who had been waiting for a long time immediately greeted them, ignoring the little doll, and walked straight to the crowd that came out later, and handed many things in their hands to their men, sons, brothers, and younger brothers.

The adult men who left the ancestral hall were no longer serious, and they smiled and took the things and equipment handed over by their families, all of them with full confidence in their firm expressions.

The Qin family village has a set of ancestral three ding formations, relying on this set of combined attack formations, the Qin family hunters were originally known for their toughness within a radius of hundreds of miles, which was originally nothing, and several other villages also had similar inheritances. The real confidence of everyone in the Qin family village is the long knife that they just held in their hands.

Since more than ten years ago, the people of the Qin family village have used these iron long knives that are far tougher and sharper than ordinary swords, and with such weapons, such fierce beasts such as wild wolves that they did not dare to provoke easily are not the opponents of the Qin hunters.

A teenage boy in the crowd suddenly slowed down as he walked, and when he saw the old patriarch at the back, the young man came to the front and pleaded with the old patriarch: "Third grandfather, let me go too, I will definitely not be a burden with my own long knife, otherwise you will punish me when you come back." ”

The old patriarch knew no more than the strength of his family, and naturally knew that although the junior named Qin Que next to him had just passed the age of fifteen, he had already surpassed his clan three or four years older than him in terms of skills, and compared with an adult strong man in his twenties, he could also support dozens of rounds. However, the ancestors have rules, only if they are familiar with the Sanding Formation and have a tacit understanding to join hands with the clansmen, can they go into the mountains to hunt, otherwise they can't be a little stronger.

Qin Que's strength was far superior to that of his peers, but there was only one problem, he couldn't use the iron long knife freely. The iron long knife is extremely sharp, but there is also another strange magic, other clansmen will also have a difficult situation when they use the iron long knife for the first time, but at most a moment and a half will pass, not like Qin Que, more than half a month has passed, but day by day is getting worse and worse. Others can exert fifteen percent or even higher than ten percent of their strength with the iron long knife, but in Qin Que's hands, they can only exert fifty percent or even less.

Bound to the iron long knife, Qin Que has no time to practice the Sanding Formation with others these days, so naturally there is no tacit partner, and he has no qualifications to enter the mountain.

Sure enough, hearing the young man's words, the old patriarch immediately shook his head and refused: "Don't mention it again, I told you a few days ago, the rules in the clan can't be broken." Practice for a few more days, and when you use the iron long knife, you won't be able to go into the mountains next year. ”

I knew that the patriarch had a rigid temperament, and there would not be much hope this time, hearing the words of the old patriarch, Qin Que still showed a little disappointed, so he could only nod and respond in a low voice.

A young man who was walking in front turned around and winked at Qin Que proudly, and said with a smile: "Sparrow baby, practice hard." When you enter the mountains next year, I will take care of you. ”

Glaring at the young man at the interface, the old patriarch shouted: "What is the mountain baby croaking, don't hurry up and prepare." ”

The young man stuck out his tongue with a loud shout, and hurriedly trotted out of the ancestral hall a few steps, running towards his mother, who had been waiting for a long time.

A moment later, the hunters of Aki Hunt had already left.

When he left the west gate of the re-closed stockade and walked to the gate of his own courtyard, Qin Que was still a little depressed, and suddenly noticed a gaze passing over him, and when he turned his head to look, he saw the stern eyes of the old patriarch on the corner of the street, obviously warning himself to secretly follow the clansmen.

Qin Que was a little disdainful of the old patriarch's suspicions, if he really had this thought, he would not have pleaded before, pouting at the old patriarch's third grandfather, Qin Que stepped into his own courtyard.

As soon as you enter the door, your eyes are full of overgrown weeds, the east wing has collapsed, the broken gable wall will not stand long before it falls, the front hall is slightly better and better, several windows are covered with many large and small holes, just a big lock on the door of the middle room is rusty, I don't know how long it has not been opened, the whole yard is a dilapidated scene, not like a human habit.

Bypassing a clump of weeds, you can see a slightly neat west wing in front of the door, which turns out to be the house where Qin Que lives every day.

Qin Que didn't go back to the house, and walked straight to the south side of the west wing.

There is a stone mill on the side of the wall, the grinding disc is missing a corner, and when you get closer, you can see the palm-sized section is flat like a knife cut tofu, and the traces are new and bright, and it is clearly the appearance that was made not long ago.

Ignoring these, Qin Que walked to the other side of the stone mill, stretched out his hand, and with a bang, pulled out a long knife with a cold light, the famous Qin family village's iron long knife.

Looking at the iron long knife in his hand, Qin Que secretly screamed: "I don't believe it, a broken knife will stump me?"

Things were not satisfactory, holding the long knife, before he could pull out a knife flower, beads of sweat appeared on Qin Que's head, but after more than a dozen breaths, a knife technique had not yet been played, only a crisp sound was heard, and the iron long knife fell to the ground, and Qin Que on the side was already panting heavily, sweating profusely.

After resting for a while, Qin Que, who did not believe in evil, squatted down and held the long knife again.

Once, twice......

There was a constant sound in the Qin Que courtyard, and the clansmen who stayed in the village occasionally passed by, understanding that Qin Que was working hard again, listening to the movement in the wall, everyone shook their heads and did not forget to sigh: "It's a pity that the bird baby has good qualifications, why can't he hold the long knife refined by the elder?"

Two hours passed in a blink of an eye, and the iron long knife fell an unknown number of times, and Qin Que was finally too tired to continue, but there was still no progress.

After sitting on the side and resting for a while, Qin Que didn't stretch out his hand again, stared straight at the iron long knife beside him, and muttered: "Your sister, what is this repulsive force in this knife?"

From the first time he received the iron long knife more than ten days ago, Qin Que felt that there was a strange force in the long knife that faintly rejected him, it was good to just hold it still, if he wanted to wield the long knife, this force would increase. Qin Que has a lot of strength and has nine points to compete with this strength, and with one point of strength to use the knife, if Qin Que can play at a high level, it will be strange.

Qin Que had consulted with his elders, and had also communicated with his peers, knowing that others also knew that they had similar situations, but others only felt it at the beginning, and soon they couldn't feel it, and in more than ten years, there had never been a clansman like himself, and he hadn't crossed this hurdle for more than ten days, as if this long knife had its own mind and didn't want to swing it by himself.

No one in the village could tell what the strange origin of the long knives was, and everyone only guessed that the elders who returned more than ten years ago should know what they were, because these were originally ordinary long knives, and after passing through the hands of the elders, they became as extremely sharp and tough as they are now.

Speaking of the elder of the Qin family's village, Qin Que didn't know much about it, but he only knew that this elder was also a member of the Qin clan, surnamed Qin Mingjian, and Qin Que's grandfather and the old patriarch Qin Fen belonged to the same generation, ranking fourth, and Qin Que should be called his fourth grandfather.

This Elder Qin Jian left the stockade when he was young, and did not return to the stockade alone until more than ten years ago.

No one knows where he's been over the years. I only know that after coming back, Qin Jian and Qin Fourth Master have many magical methods, and refining the long knife is one of them. Other more powerful skills are only a few older figures in the clan who have been fortunate enough to see. It is said that after Qin Jian and Qin Siye came back to show their means, the old patriarch still wanted to give up his position as patriarch, but in the end it didn't work, and there was an additional position in the Qin family's village that had never been seen in thousands of years-elder.

Elder Qin Jian has always lived in a simple house in the village, and Qin Que has only seen the elder twice since he was a child, the first time was when he was three years old and didn't understand anything, and the second time was a few years ago, and he still glanced at it from a distance.

There is no qualification to meet, let alone ask the elders for advice on the strange things of the long sword.

After thinking about it, Qin Que could only think to himself, but what could a fifteen-year-old young man come up with even if he wanted to break his head?

This time it was no different, sitting on the ground and thinking about it for a long time, until the rumbling sound in his stomach sounded, Qin Que, who had come back to his senses, could only shake his head and mutter: "This year's autumn hunt is no longer in time, and I can't waste all my time on it." ”