Tong Bow

The Tong Bow is Xu Yourong's lifelong legendary weapon. Besides firing the Wu Arrows, it can transform into the defensive Tong Palace, form protective barriers, and store small objects while remaining exclusively associated with her custody. (Chapters 276–342, 606–613, 873–901, and 1127–1140)

History

The bow becomes a refuge

Xu Yourong carries the Tong Bow into the Garden of Zhou and repeatedly uses it while protecting herself and Chen Changsheng. Under pressure, she plants it in rock and transforms it into the leafy Tong Palace, whose roots stabilize her and whose foliage shelters them from cold and violent wind. The transformed artifact can still be overwhelmed by sustained force, so Chen reinforces its defense with the Yellow Paper Umbrella during the mausoleum's collapse. (Chapters 276–342)

Lifelong weapon of the Holy Maiden

After the Garden, Xu sometimes conceals the bow's presence but never transfers it. She uses it in the capital and at Mount Han to create barriers and mask Chen's blood scent, then combines it with the Wu Arrows in later battles. By the northern war the narration confirms that she has carried it since childhood; it remains both her strongest ranged weapon and a storage place for small bottles. (Chapters 503–613, 873–909, 1035, 1108–1129, and 1140)

Abilities and properties

• As a legendary bow, it launches Xu's Wu Arrows and supports high-level ranged attacks. Even combined with her allies' strongest methods, however, it can wound rather than necessarily defeat an overwhelmingly strong enemy. (Chapters 901–909 and 1127–1129)
• It transforms into the Tong Palace, appearing as a wutong tree or ivy whose roots anchor to stone and whose leaves form a sturdy shelter and defensive array. Heavy wind and flying rock can make the transformation totter and shed leaves. (Chapters 310, 342, and 873–874)
• Its Qi forms barriers that dampen outside noise and can be incorporated into an array that prevents the scent of blood from spreading. (Chapters 606 and 613)
• The bow can hold small objects such as medicine bottles, though the source does not define the full extent of that storage. (Chapter 1140)

Ownership and custody