Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Cai Yingwu’s body had already become tight to the point where he could be an iron plate. His eyes were following Yan Liqiang’s movements while countless thoughts took form inside his head. At first, he was quite certain that he would win this duel. But now, he didn’t expect Yan Liqiang’s performance to exceed his expectations right from the beginning…
That was a 100-picul bow that no one throughout the entire northwest region could even draw. He was just a young man, so it would be impossible for him to pull the string of such a mighty bow! Regardless of whether it was in the Imperial Capital or Gan Province, Cai Yingwu had never heard that Yan Liqiang was capable of using such a strong bow before. If Yan Liqiang did have this sort of capability, he wouldn’t have had to hastily escape to Gan Province from the Imperial Capital from the start…
Right, he is trying to intimidate me. Right from the beginning, this must have been some sort of psychological attack to make me surrender without giving in for a fight.
I have trained in the art of archery for dozens of years and have already advanced toward the Sixth Heavenly Layer of archery. Even if he started training from his mother’s womb, how strong could he possibly be? Why should I fear him? I must not get intimidated by the stories and rumors about him…
Cai Yingwu continued to mutter those words to himself inside his mind. Eventually, his eyes gleamed with resolution before he slowly shifted his glance and stared at the 100-picul Horned Python Bow in Yan Liqiang’s hand.
…
“Why isn’t Elder Cai moving? What else is there for the both of them to talk about…” Jiang Tianhua said, eyes wide. He began to grow anxious when he finally realized after observing for a while that Cai Yingwu and Yan Liqiang were just standing around doing nothing. To him, the two of them who were currently thousands of meters in the distance were like two black dots standing in the middle of the icy snow of the Heavenly Lake. Other than those two motionless people, he wasn’t able to see anything else clearly.
“That… Yan Liqiang’s Horned Python Bow looks different…” Unlike Jiang Tianhua, Sect Lord Guo Yifei of the Soaring Heaven Sect could see more details than Jiang Tianhua could just by narrowing his eyes to observe the scene from a distance. Moreover, as he narrowed his eyes, the crow’s feet around his eyes became more prominent, which endowed him an enigmatic air of shrewdness instead. He continued, “You don’t need to worry, my lord. A duel between masters of archery is different than a duel between ordinary practitioners. The bow is a weapon — once hit, you will either be dead or wounded. It would be obvious for one to tell the winner apart with just one attack in most duels. That Yan Liqiang is quite interesting. Elder Cai seems to be saying something to him, and it seems like they are about to make a move…”
…
The members of the archery academy standing at the side of the Heavenly Lake, including Shi Dafeng, Shen Teng, Hu Haihe, Shi Changfeng, and others, were holding their breath as they followed the silhouettes inside the lake nervously. Most of them were clenching their fists.
“Don’t worry. The headmaster will definitely come up victorious!” Shi Changfeng shouted.
Yan Liqiang only brought a 100-picul Horned Python Bow back after a month of solidarity retreat, yet Shi Changfeng could feel a surplus of fathomless air surrounding him. Even though Shi Changfeng had never seen Yan Liqiang fight after his return, he felt an intense feeling of confidence toward Yan Liqiang that he could not understand himself, which was quite candid on his part. He knew that Yan Liqiang was not making fun of his life if he dared to come here on his own.
“Liqiang will not lose. He’s a man who is able to communicate with deities in his dreams after all…” Shi Dafeng muttered to himself.
Shen Teng, Shi Dafeng, and the others were staring at the middle of the Heavenly Lake from afar.
“No one can defeat Young Lord. These bad guys are not his opponents…” Yu Qing’s dainty face was already frozen red. Similar to Shi Dafeng, she was muttering those words to herself. However, unlike everyone else, Yu Qing’s gaze was fixated on where the Soaring Heaven Sect was as she gripped her fox-fur robe tightly.
A red flag with the golden words ‘Soaring Heaven Sect’ imprinted on it was majestically hoisted in the air alongside the Heavenly Lake where their members had gathered together. The flag fluttered amidst the cold wind. And because of that, Yu Qing knew that the members of Soaring Heaven Sect were in that direction even without others pointing it out for her.
…
As Yan Liqiang observed the increasing strain in Cai Yingwu’s gaze and expression, he knew that Cai Yingwu did not take the things he said to heart at all. He might even think that Yan Liqiang was trying to bluff him too.
Already at the Sixth Heavenly Layer, what a pity… Yan Liqiang subtly shook his head and grinned in his heart, “How conceited.”
However, at this moment, Yan Liqiang suddenly remembered the scene in a western movie from his previous life where the cowboys were standing in the streets of a town, readying their guns in a duel. However, the characters and backgrounds were different in the current situation. To be honest, this duel was quite similar to the scenes shot in those movies too.
The sensation of the 100-picul Horned Python Bow in his hand felt heavier and more authentic than that of a spear. Even in this freezing weather, the handle of the bow did not feel cold but somewhat warm instead, as if a pleasant sensation was flowing through the bow. This was also considered to be one of the Horned Python Bow’s peculiarities. The bow itself had already been infused with the blood essence of the Horned Python, which was quite extraordinary. Moreover, Yan Liqiang was the one who created it when he killed the Horned Python, a powerful creature born as a result of the toy capsule machine’s immense strength after he fed a sufficient amount of ‘materials’ into the machine. Subsequently, Yan Liqiang made the Horned Python Bow, which was customized specifically for himself. Coincidentally, this bow was a weapon that was able to harmonize Yan Liqiang’s current terrifying power and his archery cultivation base in a perfect balance. Yan Liqiang took upon himself and gave this bow the name Bi Tian—the desire to compete against God!
With Bi Tian in his hands, there was no need to refrain himself any longer. If he could not compete with the Heavens, how could he ever change his destiny?
The snow fluttered by and landed on Yan Liqiang’s eyelashes, prompting him to blink involuntarily.
In this split second where Yan Liqiang blinked his eyes, Cai Yingwu finally made his move after intensely staring at Yan Liqiang for a while. No one was able to see how Cai Yingwu retrieved an arrow. However, his Horned Python Bow had already reached a full moon when he howled. The arrow he instantaneously shot flew toward Yan Liqiang’s direction.
The arrow Cai Yingwu shot was not without form, but a white line akin to fumes in the air. From a distance, the white line resembled a slash mark cut from a shapeless sword, which cut through the air between him and Yan Liqiang ferociously. The moment the arrow left the string of the bow, it had already traveled to the front of Yan Liqiang’s face.
A long, pale, and forceful hand then reached out to grab the arrow, as if it was squeezing a snake by the body around seven inches. The arrow shot at Yan Liqiang was less than two feet away from his face when he grabbed it, causing the fierce flying arrow to abruptly stop in its tracks and remain motionless in the air…
“Impossible…”
Cai Yingwu and Sect Lord Guo Yifei of the Soaring Heaven Sect cried out simultaneously.
Half a second later, BOOM…
Even though thousands of people at the boundary of the Heavenly Lake had a slow reaction, a commotion immediately broke out after that. The expression on countless people’s faces changed. Some even had to rub their eyes as they thought they were still dreaming.
“An arrow as smoke. Being able to create a formless arrow to a tangible form is a skill of the Sixth Heavenly Layer in archery cultivation. For a person to be able to catch such an arrow, how… how can this Yan Liqiang… do it?” The young man by the name of ‘Jia Cheng’ was lifeless. He rubbed his eyes aggressively and realized that everything was real. The trajectory mark left by Cai Yingwu’s arrow was still a straight line in the air that had not vanished completely yet. However, the moment the arrow that came toward Yan Liqiang was firmly stopped with his bare hands, his feet did not move an inch. He was able to catch Cai Yingwu’s arrow with just one hand.
Sh*t, is Yan Liqiang still human? The young man bit his tongue, almost blurting out a series of curse words.
The Second Uncle beside him began to speak after he became agitated, “This would mean that the cultivation base of his archery skills is at least stronger than Cai Yingwu’s if he managed to catch the arrow with his bare hands. This is the only possibility…”
“Second Uncle, how can Yan Liqiang’s cultivation base be greater than Yingwu’s? How did he manage to catch that arrow…”
“There is only one explanation. The intelligence we gathered regarding Yan Liqiang’s archery cultivation base was all wrong. Yan Liqiang has been concealing his cultivation base from us all this time…”
“Ah…”
…
In the middle of the Heavenly Lake, Yan Liqiang examined his unharmed yet slightly scalded hand before turning to look at his heavy iron bow. He then smiled at the ashen-looking Cai Yingwu and said, “The power of the 10-picul bow in addition to the Sixth Heavenly Layer of archery cultivation are just so!” Soon afterward, the arrow shaft made of ironwood was instantly crushed into bits with a little bit of strength from his arm. The shards then fell from his hand and fluttered to the ground.
“Impossible… impossible… IMPOSSIBLE…!” Cai Yingwu roared. With his eyes filled with fear, hatred, and perhaps jealousy and disbelief, his body began to swirl upward. The Horned Python Bow was immediately drawn into a full moon, and two arrows quickly appeared on his bow as he aimed them toward Yan Liqiang…
However, while he was aiming at Yan Liqiang, he caught a glimpse of Yan Liqiang’s 100-picul Horned Python Bow turning to a full moon shape as well, with three pitch-black arrows armed at the strings of the strong bow.
He aimed at Yan Liqiang, and Yan Liqiang did the same to him as well…
This was the last scene Cai Yingwu ever saw in his lifetime…
That split moment he released his grip on the bowstring, Yan Liqiang released his as well. Two of his arrows flew through the air while three of Yan Liqiang’s arrows flew toward him…
A loud sound akin to a thunderbolt rang out in the center of the Heavenly Lake. At the same time, the shadows of three vicious-looking, 100-meter long intertwined Horned Pythons abruptly appeared…
The shadows of the Horned Pythons vanished as soon as the thunderous sound elapsed. Yan Liqiang remained motionless in the same spot. The aftersound reverberated in the air, whereas Cai Yingwu had vanished. To be more precise, Cai Yingwu’s upper half body was gone. There was only a pair of legs from the lower body remaining in the spot where the so-called best archer of Yun Province stood. The rest of his body from the waist up, however, was completely gone. A pool of bright red blood spanning a few meters away was seen on the snow white ice where Cai Yingwu’s feet remained. From a distance, the pool looked like a cruel yet splendid blood flower in full bloom…
Cai Yingwu, a well-known elder of the Soaring Heaven Sect in the northwest and a so-called best archer, was shot dead by Yan Liqiang with one bow in front of a spectacle on the Heavenly Lake…
Around the edges of the Heavenly Lake, thousands of people went silent instantly, leaving the sound of falling snow audible.
