Chapter 684: Archery Contest

Yan Liqiang waited calmly at the courtyard’s entrance as he ignored the extremely unfriendly gazes from the imperial guards. At this moment, he had no energy to care about the moods of those insignificant people. They might be regarded as the experts of the palace for being Martial Grandmasters, but they were hardly anything in Yan Liqiang’s eyes. Besides, Yan Liqiang’s thoughts were now occupied by his discovery of the demon’s tracks from earlier. He was thinking about how to sniff them out.

In just a short amount of time, he came up with many ways to determine that demon’s identity. But after much consideration, there was only one way he could find the demon through the least noticeable way. However, this method required at least another half a month to prepare.

After making his decision, Yan Liqiang’s restlessness gradually ebbed away as he calmly waited outside the courtyard.

In less than five minutes, the old eunuch came out with a man dressed like a guard and walked toward Yan Liqiang.

“This is Yan Liqiang?” The guard rudely scrutinized Yan Liqiang from head to toe, then bluntly questioned Eunuch He.

“Ahem, yes, this is Lord Yan!” the old man clarified. “Hm, Lord Yan, this is the Crown Prince’s bodyguard. Just follow him inside, His Highness is waiting!”

“Alright, thank you Eunuch He!” Yan Liqiang cupped his fist at the old eunuch.

“His Majesty has ordered me to bring Lord Yan to teach the Crown Prince archery. There’s no need to thank me as I am merely doing my job to serve the Emperor!” Although the old eunuch said that to Yan Liqiang, it was also meant for the guard who came out with him. After saying that, the old eunuch winked at Yan Liqiang.

When the guard heard the old eunuch, he controlled the expression on his face as expected.

Yan Liqiang nodded to the old eunuch with a smile, showing that he understood his intention.

“Let’s go…” The guard took a glance at Yan Liqiang, then turned around and walked into the Zhaowu Courtyard with Yan Liqiang calmly following behind him.

They went through the courtyard door, rock garden, and another winding corridor before a medium-sized training ground came into their view. The training ground was surrounded by a few lavish buildings. Yan Liqiang’s guide went through a porch and led him into a huge hall.

In the hall, a handsome young man with a sharp gaze sat in the master seat. He was dressed in black training clothes, and appeared to be less than twenty years old. Several guards stood calmly on both sides of him, and all eyes were on Yan Liqiang who had just walked into the hall.

It took Yan Liqiang one glance to immediately identify the youth as the Crown Prince, because there was no doubt that he was the Emperor’s biological son. He bore an uncanny resemblance to the Emperor, especially his eyes and nose. Perhaps because of his youth and noble identity, as well as the fact that he was accustomed to being placed on a pedestal, the Crown Prince didn’t have an amiable disposition. His gaze was condescending and judgmental.

“Your Highness, we have brought him here…” The guard who led Yan Liqiang inside bowed to the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince waved his hand, and the guard returned to stand by his side.

Yan Liqiang stood in the big hall as he calmly looked at the Crown Prince, making no attempts to move or speak. The Crown Prince was also looking at him. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Yan Liqiang’s age surprised the people in the hall. None of them had seen Yan Liqiang so they didn’t expect him to be this young. He even appeared to be slightly younger than the Crown Prince.

When a bearded guard standing on the Crown Prince’s right side saw Yan Liqiang remain motionless for more than ten seconds, he immediately took a step forward and bellowed at Yan Liqiang in rage. “How bold of you! You are in the Crown Prince’s presence! Why are you not bowing?!”

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Yan Liqiang chuckled and didn’t even look at that person. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the Crown Prince as he spoke calmly. “I am the master. There has never been any rules in the Great Han Empire where teachers bow to their students first!”

The Crown Prince’s countenance contorted slightly, but he remained seated and showed no intention of getting up. His gaze on Yan Liqiang turned sharper, but with more interest. He lifted his hand and instantly silenced the two guards beside him who were about to step forward.

“You are right. There is indeed no such rule in the Great Han Empire where teachers bow to their students first. However, you will need to have more than a sharp tongue to be my teacher. Your position may be appointed by Father, but I won’t acknowledge you as my master if you fail to impress me with your capability. I can make you leave and Father will not blame me. I have the final say in this matter…”

“So you would like to test my skills, Your Highness?”

“Of course. Father told me that you have extremely high cultivation in the art of archery and are fit to be my master, but I haven’t seen it yet. There are also archery experts among my personal guards. I hope you dare to compete with them.” The Crown Prince pointed to the two men standing beside him.

Yan Liqiang threw a glance at the two men. They were well-built and there were sparks in their eyes. They were exuding auras with well-concealed sharpness akin to arrows that just left the bowstrings. Anyone would know they were expert archers with just a glance. Yan Liqiang nodded. “How would you like me to compete with them, Your Highness?”

“I heard that you were going to have a blindfolded contest with someone else in the Imperial Capital back then but it was canceled. Why don’t we go with that today?” The Crown Prince smiled, but spoke with a rather mocking tone.

“Don’t you worry. No one will be losing their lives here today. If that happened, I’d have a hard time explaining to Father too. We shall replace the arrowheads with cloth instead, so you can rest assured!”

“No problem!” Yan Liqiang simply nodded.

“Good. A very swift response!” The Crown Prince laughed heartily, then clapped. “Someone, bring the bows…!”

As soon as the Crown Prince’s voice ceased, a series of footsteps rang out in the hall. In just the blink of an eye, a group of guards carried five bow racks into the hall.

Horned Python Bows that were extremely precious among ordinary people and armies instantly became common goods that were placed on supermarket shelves for people to pick out as they pleased. There were about forty to fifty Horned Python Bows of various colors on the bow racks.

“You get the first pick…” The Crown Prince told Yan Liqiang to choose first.

“No need, your men may pick first…”

The Crown Prince didn’t say anything and only nodded slightly at Yan Liqiang’s modest decline. His two expert archers quickly walked over and they each picked a Horned Python Bow from the rack in front of Yan Liqiang.

To most skilled archers, those who could draw a Horned Python Bow of more than ten piculs were considered experts. It was extremely rare to meet anyone who could draw more than twenty piculs. Those who could draw more than thirty piculs could be considered extremely powerful archers. Even among armies, there were only very few of such archers…

One of them picked a thirty-picul Horned Python, while the other picked one around thirty-five piculs. Both of them shot Yan Liqiang a glance and raised their eyebrows as they demonstrated their strength to him.

Yan Liqiang only went over when both of them were done picking their bows. He picked up a twenty-picul Horned Python Bow from the rack and examined it first.

When Yan Liqiang picked up the Horned Python Bow, the Crown Prince exchanged glances with the other two expert archers. There was some contempt in their eyes as they thought to themselves that this so-called expert archer was only someone who couldn’t draw more than a twenty-picul Horned Python Bow.

“Hmm, this is too light…” Yan Liqiang weighed the Horned Python Bow in his hand, brushed his finger lightly over the bowstring, then shook his head and returned the bow. The Crown Prince and the guards were slightly surprised.

Yan Liqiang took a few more steps, then picked up a thirty-picul Horned Python Bow and examined it. He shook his head again, “Too light…”

After saying that, he picked up the forty-picul Horned Python Bow beside it and examined it. He shook his head still and sighed. “This won’t do. It’s still too light. Your Highness, do you only have these toy bows here? I see that even the biggest one is only forty-piculs. I can’t perform my best like this…”

At this moment, the Crown Prince’s countenance had completely changed.