Chapter 33: Chapter 33

Looking at the neatly ordered arrows stuck in that tree trunk in the distance, Yan Liqiang was surprised with himself.

As he shot the second quiver of arrows, because they were scattered on the tree trunk, he thought it’d be best if he could shoot the third quiver of arrows close to the ones already in the tree trunk, in a way that they would form a circular target as that’d make it look nicer.

He ended up doing exactly what he was thinking in his heart. But, he didn’t expect that he could actually shoot the arrows in such a way that they really formed an orderly circular pattern.

He was feeling very relaxed and satisfied when he released the arrows but hadn’t expected for things to turn out exactly as he had imagined after he was done shooting.

After being in a daze for a while, Yan Liqiang made his way towards the big tree to retrieve all the arrows while muttering to himself, “It must’ve been due to this tree being too near. That must be it. It’s only this easy because of how near it is. Look at those great archers, they could even shoot an arrow through a willow leaf from a hundred paces away. It’s probable that even a child can accomplish this if the distance is merely a few dozen paces away…”

This whole experience was a little too outrageous, so Yan Liqiang’s reasoning to convince himself was that the target he had chosen was too near to him.

After putting away the arrows, Yan Liqiang rubbed his shoulders and took a short break, before searching for another target. His next target was a tree that was no less than fifty meters away from him. The distance between him and this tree was a huge step up when compared to his previous target.

Swoosh… The first arrow was released, only grazing the trunk of the tree on its left side.

Swoosh… The second arrow was released, grazing the trunk of the tree in a similar manner, except on its right side…

Swoosh… Thud!

However, the third arrow hit its target on the trunk of the tree. Like a nail, it was firmly embedded into the tree trunk.

Swoosh… Thud!

Swoosh… Thud!

Swoosh… Thud!

…

The subsequent thirty-two arrows all flew fifty meters to hit the tree trunk, not a single one of them missing their target.

Yan Liqiang had thought that increasing the distance to fifty meters might raise the difficulty considerably. However, after merely a few shots, he had a feeling that this distance of fifty meters didn’t really make much of a difference compared to thirty meters. They all seemed extremely easy for him.

Yan Liqiang retrieved all the arrows once again and after taking a short break, he picked up the Horned Python Bow once more.

His goal this time was the same as before; to shoot all the arrows into a circular pattern onto the tree that was fifty meters away.

Swoosh… Thud!

The first arrow hit its target accurately.

Soon after that, every arrow released by Yan Liqiang was arranged on the tree trunk like rice seedlings. Each and every single one of them surrounded the first arrow that he had released in a circular pattern, forming a complete circle.

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Looking at the arrows that were neatly embedded in the tree trunk, Yan Liqiang swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Being able to shoot like this was equivalent to being able to hit the target with a rifle with perfect accuracy. If that tree was a human, then it would be too easy for him to kill that person.

How could this be? Didn’t they say that archery was very difficult? And that every improvement came at the cost of much effort and many hardships. Nurturing a good archer was akin to nurturing a sniper as they needed to be fed with countless arrows. If that was the case, then how was he able to shoot so easily?

Yan Liqiang had a heart full of doubt, but he also had a strange feeling in his heart. The more he shot with this Horned Python Bow, the more relaxed he felt. Aiming for the target seemed to gradually get easier and easier for him. All he had to do was to lock onto a certain spot with his gaze, then the arrow he released would act as though it were alive and naturally fly towards the spot that his eyes were affixed on.

As soon as he nocked an arrow and drew back his bow, between the bow in his hands and the target that his eyes were locked on, he would automatically gain a natural sense of touch and feel that would tell him how to best to release the arrow.

Was this really because the distance between them was too close? Or was it due to the target he had picked being too big? Hmm, that must have been the case.

Yan Liqiang collected back all the arrows once again.

After round upon round of shooting, three out of the thirty-five arrows were inevitably damaged, leaving him with only thirty-two usable arrows.

The so-called ‘shooting an arrow through a willow leaf a hundred paces away’ referred to the act of penetrating a willow leaf from a hundred steps away. A hundred paces in this phrase referred to the distance, whereas the leaf of the willow tree referred to the target. The shooting part referred to the force that the arrow could still maintain when it made contact with the willow leaf. These were the signs of a great archer.

The people from the ancient times considered the lift of a foot to be half a pace, whereas one pace was when both feet had taken a step forward. Hence, ‘a hundred paces’ from the phrase, ‘shooting an arrow through a willow leaf a hundred paces away’ that ancient people talked about was the distance of a hundred meters based on the strides of a normal person.

According to the standards from Yan Liqiang’s past life, if a person was able to shoot an object that was as tiny as a willow leaf over that distance with a gun, that person had already attained the qualification of being a sniper.

The third target that Yan Liqiang had chosen was a willow tree about seventy meters away. The trunk of that willow tree was a lot slimmer than that of the previous two trees, so much so that it wasn’t any thicker than Yan Liqiang’s thigh.

After he was settling on the target, Yan Liqiang stared at that willow tree as he took a deep breath, and picked up the Horned Python Bow.

Swoosh… The first arrow was released. It grazed the willow tree on its left side, leaving behind a mark.

Swoosh… The second arrow was released. It grazed that willow tree on its right side, leaving behind a mark.

After releasing two arrows, a strange feeling overcame him all of a sudden, feeling as though he had just released two birds. Yan Liqiang was suddenly able to feel that strange sensation between the bow in his hands and the target that his eyes were locked on again.

Swoosh… Thud!

The third arrow upon release immediately hit the direct center of the target, seven centimeters of the arrow buried in the tree trunk. With the immense force that the arrow had carried, it shook the willow tree, causing a few of its leaves to fall.

Yan Liqiang’s mind stirred as arrow after arrow continuously fired from the Horned Python Bow that he held.

Upon the release of the final arrow, there were three rows of arrows all neatly and vertically arranged on the trunk of that willow tree, seventy meters away. Each row was made out of exactly ten arrows and the distance between those arrows were all completely the same. From a distance, the three rows of arrows looked just like soldiers that were lining up for practice.

He reckoned that this was the same standard of that so-called ‘shooting an arrow through a willow leaf a hundred steps away’.

Could it be that he was a genius?

Just when this thought emerged within Yan Liqiang’s mind, he sensed a surge in the energy of the Heaven and Earth and Spiritual Qi around him all of a sudden. Following that, an aura of red light appeared around him. The silhouette of a white longbow manifested within that red light for more than ten seconds before it was immediately absorbed into his body, along with the red light.

An advancement! The First Heavenly Layer in the art of archery!