Chapter 187: Archery Skills
In the Tai Ah Divine City, there was an archery range for practicing.
When Yi Yun came to the range, he found a few people there.
The range was rectangular; it was 300 meters wide and 3000 meters long. On one end of the long edge were the archers, and on the other end were the targets. These targets were made of purple tungsten, similar in material to the purple tungsten wall that Yi Yun had previously encountered.
The purple tungsten left a deep impression on Yi Yun. It was a very hard substance.
In the Tai Ah Divine City’s range, there were rows of targets, and even the thinnest ones were half a foot thick.The thickest targets were six feet thick, almost as long as the Thousand Army Saber’s blade!
The thickest target was even more ridiculous than the purple tungsten wall Yi Yun had previously tried piercing with the Primal Arrow.
These targets were secured on the ground with thick black iron frames that were shocking!
When Yi Yun really saw the targets, he took a cold breath of air.
At the center of the target, there were many arrows. Each arrow had pierced all the way inside only leaving the arrow fletching, almost like a fully embedded nail!
These arrows were the standard arrows at the range. It was specifically used with longbows and they were four foot two inches long.
How much energy was needed to fully insert a four foot two inch arrow into the purple tungsten wall?
Furthermore, Yi Yun noticed that a few arrows had fully pierced through the target, with an arrow head appearing on the other end of it!
Yi Yun felt scared. Almost ten days ago, he had charged with the Primal Arrow at the purple tungsten wall and he could only carve a foot long hole in it. The arrow was not even inserted stably.
But the people who shot these arrows were using light arrows and yet, they were still able to penetrate it so deeply.
They were really powerful!
Yi Yun felt penitent. “Brother, who was the one who shot through the target?” Yi Yun asked a cultivator beside him.
“Oh, those arrows… They were shot by Li Xiao, who is third on the Heaven rankings!”
“Third on the Heaven rankings? Li Xiao!”
Yi Yun remembered the name. He had memorized all the top-ranking people on the Heaven, Earth and Man rolls.
In the Divine wilderness, there was a vast expanse of Desolate Lands. Powerful desolate beasts lurked within the Desolate Lands.
There were many elite desolate beasts, beast generals or even beast king desolate beasts!
Not to mention the primordial species, who were deep within the Divine wilderness!
The strongest cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City did not do odd jobs like being a sparring partner or forging. There were two ways for them to earn dragon scale runes.
First was to trade with others or gamble in a fighting match!
These cultivators were particularly Desolate Heaven Masters, blacksmith masters or master alchemists. They could buy materials and then create relics, elixirs or amazing weapons in exchange for dragon scale runes.
And for those who did not have these skills, and only knew how to fight, their main dragon scale runes income came from hunting desolate beasts!
After killing a desolate beast, they could turn in the desolate beast’s bones, meat and all sorts of tendons and horns to the Tai Ah Divine City, and the Tai Ah Divine City would make a comparable compensation in dragon scale runes.
At the same time, based on how many and the type of desolate beasts the cultivators killed, their rankings will be formed, and that was the Heaven Roll of Honor!
The three rankings in the Tai Ah Divine City were: Man roll, which was ranked based on the total amount of dragon scale runes a cultivator spent and earned. Earth roll, based on the arena rankings. But from the way “Heaven, Earth and Man” was ordered, it meant that the Heaven roll, the hunting of desolate beasts, was ranked above the other two!
The Dragon scale runes ranking was a symbol of wealth. Although being rich in resources was of utmost importance for a warrior’s cultivation, many warriors in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had their family clans or sects supporting them. As long as they had sufficient talent, they would be provided with resources.
To earn resources by oneself usually happened after entering the sage realm.
As a result, the dragon scale runes ranking, which was a symbol of a warrior’s wealth, was listed at third place.
As for the arena ranking, that was related to the battles with other warriors. But the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom believed that the main threat against humans came from desolate beasts.
The desolate beasts occupied a large swath of the wilderness. But it just so happened that in that wilderness, there were endless amounts of treasures waiting for people to find them.
Hence, the Divine Kingdom did not encourage killing between warriors, but it encouraged the killing of desolate beasts.
Therefore, the Heaven ranking was given to the desolate beast hunting, and the corresponding rewards were higher!
“Haha, you must be new here. I see you have a bow on your back, oh? It’s even a good bow. It’s made by the Zhang family!” Yi Yun had casually chatted up a warrior, but that person had great judgment and could tell the quality of Yi Yun’s bow’s at a glance.
“Practice well. If you practice your bow and arrow well, it will be a great advantage on the Heaven ranking! Senior Li Xiao’s archery skills are superb! I have seen Li Xiao use an arrow the thickness of a thumb to rip apart an Armored Rhinoceros with my own eyes!”
The cultivator was about fifteen years old. From the way he described the scene excitedly, one would think that all that glory belonged to him.
It also made Yi Yun feel a surge of emotions.
An Armored Rhinoceros was famous among desolate beasts for its defense. Li Xiao used one arrow, not only to kill it, but to rip it apart!
His archery skills were terrifying!
A warrior’s accuracy at shooting an arrow was not the most important thing. With a warrior’s eyesight and mental prowess, shooting an arrow accurately was not difficult!
The difficult part was to inject within the bow and arrow Yuan Qi and strength!
The really terrifying archers did not pierce a willow leaf with an arrow from a distance of a hundred paces, but crumbled a small hill from a hundred paces away!
In fact, those who were good at bows were usually very strong warriors. Their primary weapons were not bows, but either a sword, saber or spear, etc. Bows were just one of their weapons. Their melee attacks were equally strong and their bodies had terrifying strength.
Yi Yun knew that Li Xiao was also within the top ten of the Earth rankings!
In ancient myths, there was the legend of Hou Yi shooting down the Sun. And the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s cornerstone treasured bow was named the Star Shooting Bow.
When someone’s archery skills reached a certain divine level, they could shoot down the stars and the Sun! Although there were some elements of exaggeration, it also illustrated the power of the bow and arrow.
For the current Yi Yun, the bow and arrow was a great advantage for him against desolate beasts. The hunting speed of a bow and arrow was naturally something melee weapons could not compete with.
Seeing Li Xiao’s arrow, what else could Yi Yun say? Practice!
In less than a year’s time, Yi Yun wanted to use his bow and his saber to obtain a spot on the Heaven and Earth rankings!
To enter the top 1000 in a year meant he was one of the human pinnacles, and would gain the attention of the Divine Kingdom’s various factions! But Yi Yun’s goal was more than that!
…
The Tai Ah Herb Mountain stretched out endlessly. There were countless of wonders throughout it, with unknown number of treasures waiting to be discovered!
At this time, the Sun was hanging in the sky. A youth dressed in linen was travelling through the mountain as agile as a cheetah.
He held a black long bow by his shoulder, and a quiver of arrows on his back. The quiver was about the size of an adult’s waist, and in it was a bundle of shining arrows!
Although he had a lot of luggage, it did not impede the youth. The steep mountains and dense foliage was powerless against the youth.
“Peng! Peng!”
The youth’s footsteps were heavy. Every foot on the ground was like a ten thousand pound sledge hammer slamming into the ground.
If he landed on a rock, the rock would explode!
If he landed on a tree trunk, the trunk would be crushed!
Suddenly, the youth pulled out a long sharp saber. With a swish of the blade, three thick trees were cut as if they were grass. The cut was clean, it was as if it had been buffed by sandpaper.
The youth picked up one tree trunk and with both feet on the ground, he flung it out with all his strength!
“Whew!”
With a shrill scream, the thick tree trunk flew out like a meteor directly into the sky!
The youth did the same for the remaining trees in an orderly manner.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
The three trees traveled across the sky. Yi Yun leaped and with the Tai Cang Bow in hand, he strung the bow!
Peng! Peng! Peng!
The bow string, which was made from the ribs of a Giant Python desolate beast, vibrated thrice. Yi Yun had shot three consecutive arrows!
The three arrows immediately created an explosive sound. The arrows formed visible ripples in the air, creating a misty haze around them!
These bows broke the sound barrier forming a sonic boom. Yi Yun’s body had not reached the speed of sound, but it was easy to shoot out supersonic arrows!
The three arrows chased after the three trees.
“Peng! Peng! Peng!”
Three consecutive thunderous claps! The tree trunks that had flown far into the sky were pierced by the three arrows and burst open, sending countless pieces of wood and leaves flying!
Yi Yun took a breath of air when he saw this scene.
Yi Yun had been practicing with his bow for ten days.
In the ten days, Yi Yun had pulled the bow countless times, which cut his fingers into a bloody mess.
And today, although Yi Yun’s archery skills were incomparable to the senior cultivators, there were very few rookies who could compete with him.
“In another four to five days, after I make my final preparations, it will be time to capture that primordial herb!”
Yi Yun had come up with a complete plan to catch the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. He had just this one shot at success!