 Six years later , Zhou takes the group to visit his old friend , the abbot of a small Buddhist temple on the " Hill of Dripping Water " . Thirteen @-@ year @-@ old Yue wanders behind the temple and finds the " Cave of Dripping Water " , in which lives a magical snake . When it <unk> at Yue , he <unk> to one side and pulls on its tail with his supernatural strength , causing it to turn into an 18 @-@ foot @-@ long ( 5 @.@ 5 m ) , gold @-@ plated spear named the " Supernatural <unk> of Dripping Water " . When they return home , Zhou begins to drill all of his students in the military arts — eighteen weapons of war , archery , and hand @-@ to @-@ hand combat . After three years of practice , Zhou enters them into a preliminary military examination in Tangyin in which sixteen @-@ year @-@ old Yue wins first place by shooting a succession of nine arrows through the <unk> of a target two hundred and forty paces away . After his display of <unk> , Yue is asked to marry the daughter of Li Chun ( <unk> ) , an old friend of Zhou 's and the county magistrate who presided over the military exams . Father and son then return home to their village . 
