Commanding Wind and Cloud

Chapter 165: Thrilling Arrows

The shooting range of the Reventment Battlefield was not spacious as it was only a small fortress filled with three thousand people which didn’t have much of a need for a shooting range.

General Wind was standing beside the target two hundred steps away. He pulled up some blades of grass and placed it on the target, “I’m clear on the power of a Seven Star, two hundred steps was the closest distance you could approach him from. If you came any closer and tried to hit him, you would easily be found out. But I think you can try shooting this grass.”

Fanta Kunge looked at Qian Jin with a doubtful look. As a descendant of the Fanta Family, he had been practicing shooting on the side arduously. However, to locate a blade of grass from two hundred steps away was not easy, let alone shooting it down.

Qian Jin looked at the target set by General Wind and then squinted to look around. But he didn’t cast an arrow at the target, instead, he walked directly toward General Wind under the puzzled gazes of the onlookers.

Yogi said to the Chiliarchy by his side in a low voice, “Is it too far away? Is it that he’s not confident and he wants to try from somewhere closer?”

After a short pondering, these two Chiliarchy wore a curious look as they tried to comprehend Qian Jin’s behavior.

Qian Jin kept walking and eventually stopped before General Wind. He then bent over, pulled out another four blades of grass and stuck them onto the other four targets and walked back without saying anything.

“What does that mean? ” Yogi eyes popped out of their sockets, making it look twice as big as usual, “Is he aware of what he’s doing?”

Fanta Kunge looked at Qian Jin with greater curiosity, wondering whether Qian Jin was good at shooting, apart from his mighty power as a powerful Demon Fighter and his unrivaled ability to read maps. Even those archers with the divine-shot bloodline of the Yuri Family couldn’t accomplish what Qian Jin was trying to do. Could he succeed?

Duren Burg kept wearing a smile on his face, holding an unlit cigarette in his mouth and folding his arms over his chest, as if watching an interesting play.

Qian Jin walked back to his former place, and then opened up the 108 warrior reservoirs among his body and had them circle around swiftly, by which the power of a Demon Fighter was emitted instantly. He separated his legs, twisted his body sharply, looked at the faraway target and pulled the bow into a full-moon shape, whose string was giving out creaking sound. With a bang of the arrow, the air was broken through with a screeching sound which resembled the chirps of a bird.

Bang bang bang bang…four sharp and continuous vibrating sounds rang, triggering four arrows to fly up. However, the arrows didn’t make chirping sound against the air, rather, they flew through the air and hit the grass on the target at roughly the same time in a silent and ghost-like manner.

The forceful moving of the bodies of the arrows gathered a wind pressure that crushed the grass into pieces. The heads and bodies of the arrows harshly stabbed into the wall, leaving the arrow tails sticking out on the surface.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! bang!

Five arrows were struck against the wall forcefully, stirring up a gust of dust and mud in the air.

General Wind had no time to wipe away the pungent dust flying over him since all his attention was drawn to the disappearing grass on the target as well as the arrow tails that were deeply stabbed into the wall!

“His archery…”The larynx of General Wind kept wriggling up and down, and his pupils were contracted to the width of a pin. He was deeply shocked by Qian Jin’s shooting skill, thinking that if the Secret Soldiers of the Dark Group who were sent to assassin him had such archery…no! If their shooting proficiency was seventy percent of that of Qian Jin…he would have returned to the stars.

The three Chiliarchies were completely dumbfounded. For the past ten short days, this young warrior had brought them numerous surprises. Was he here to increase his knowledge of the Demons, or to frighten the others?

Duren Burg was deep in silence, knowing that he was lagging behind Qian Jin in archery. He used to think that he had already known much of Qian Jin’s abilities, but now it turned out that even if he inflated his previous impressions of Qian Jin, he would still be underestimating his strength.

As a Demon Fighter, Qian Jin was not only good at analyzing maps but also an ace in archery? Duren Burg had started considering whether or not Qian Jin began exercising miscellaneous warrior skills when he was still in the womb having not been delivered to this world.

General Wind had a cold sweat on his forehand. Qian Jin was facing the target when he was about to shoot, and within a blink of an eye he nocked the arrow, pulled the bow and then released it, finishing all these moves without a stop! If Qian Jin was targeting at him, he would be pierced with five holes on his body…such archery…maybe…maybe they could accomplish this mission! Ah, what was the Dark Group looking for!

The silent shooting range was still filled with the buzzing of the bowstring as if it was boasting its might to the crowd.

[Chain Arrows]

Qian Jin looked at the buzzing bowstring and then gave a stop to its vibration. With his chest slightly bulging, he looked at the five chain arrows pricking deep into the cobbled wall, lamenting that he started forging his set of bow and arrow late into his time at Four Season Valley. The fact that he had just reached the level of [Chain Arrows] in five shots, which, in many other archers’ point of view, was already striking enough.

Compared to [May’s Shower], [July’s Rainstorm] and [Disorderly Arrows Strikes], [Chain Arrows] in Divine Shot was not worth mentioning.

According to Divine Shot, the activation of [May’s Shower] would make a sound which resembled that of a thunderstorm. And when someone reached the level of July’s Rainstorm, the falling arrows would force people to look up to the sky to see whether a rainstorm had already come. At that level, a batch of arrows would be shot all at once, releasing incredible power.

As for [Disorderly Arrows Strikes], Divine Shot made quite a simple explanation, saying that only those who had performed it would be aware of its true power.

“I will have to increase my shooting skills if time permits.” Qian Jin made up his mind that the next time he had the opportunity, he would forge another strong bow and piles of arrows so that when he again had the opportunity to search for some objects in the West Mountain, he would continue practicing shooting intensively.

“Wonderful!”

Duren Burg broke the silence of the shooting range with a loud applause and was then followed by Fanta Kunge, who rejoiced over his earlier pleading to Qian Jin, which, in other people’s eyes, was adorning Qian Jin as his teacher. Given that Qian Jin’s archery was enough to terrify many experienced veterans, he saw no shame in his actions.

The three Chiliarchies walked toward the target blankly and then softly touched the five arrows struck into the wall while uttering voices full of admiration.

Seeing Qian Jin’s movements of releasing five arrows, which all hit the target precisely and then pierced the wall, even General Wind couldn’t make up any opposing claims. But how strong would the Seven Star Demon Warrior of the Dark Group be? Maybe they could only refer to the files in the [Holy Capital] Army.

But as for the might of these five arrows! General Wind was quite clear that they were smashing! Especially the later four arrows that were soundlessly and forcefully released all within a blink of an eye. If he was the target of Qian Jin just now, even if he had five lives, he would have returned them all to the stars.

“Maybe you can make it.” General Wind uttered a sigh, “This mission was once handed to me. Frankly speaking, someone in the upper echelons wanted to frame me. If the borderline is attacked during the time I slip into the Demons’ territory as general of the Reventment Battlefield, I would be suspended from my post and put under investigation.”

A bitter look spread on Fanta Kunge’s slightly rugged face. At this moment, he understood that why grandpa had always said that internal strife was more detrimental than external threats. If things were like this in the small Reventment Battlefield, how about the larger and more significant places? Maybe only by presenting to the emperor or ultimate bloodline warriors would such conflicts be temporarily solved?

“My original plan was finding three Thousand Man captains and having them try their luck rescuing the targets the Dark Group was looking for.” General Wind spoke out his opinions frankly, “But now that we have you three young warriors, whose appearance are so rare in the Reventment Battlefield…”

“I want to have a try.” Qian Jin touched his bow, “If I can get the Seven Star’s head, my chance of winning the mayoral election will be larger right?”

General Wind looked to Qian Jin in astonishment, feeling it unbelievable that this young warrior was dreaming of the mayor’s position. Could this be could confidence, or lack of awareness?

A mayor in the Zence Empire was a high-ranking official in charge of a whole region, which not only entailed the imperial edict reached and released by the court, but also required a lot of other means as well as the backup of political factions from both inside and outside to attain and maintain, making it an extremely difficult thing.

“It’s true that your chances of winning the mayoral election will be largely increased if you can put down a Seven Star of the Dark Group.” General Wind laughed loud and said, “In fact, successfully rescuing the target the Dark Group is searching for will also be recorded as a huge merit. Even if I’m not a high-ranking official, I won’t lower myself by scrambling for merits with the younger generation! The merit goes to the one who gains it!”

Qian Jin felt admiration for General Wind’s acuteness, as the Reventment Battlefield was, after all, under his control. Consequently, whatever outcome they gained in the end, the one who wrote a report to the army headquarters would be the commanding officer of the Reventment Battlefield, rather than him, a nominal warrior apprentice from Oakland Mage and Warrior Academy. Such exploitation of his merits was exactly what Qian Jin was worrying about.

From the immense number of books he had read, Qian Jin drew that when the interests of something became tempting enough, few people who could resist it.

[ [The so-called code of brotherhood appears only when the profits from betrayal is not large enough; similarly, the alleged loyalty between brothers continues only when the lure is not appealing enough.]

Qian Jin wasn’t really aligned with this sentence he saw in the book, yet he knew it made sense to some extent. At least for the time being, his relationship with General Wind was not as firm and faithful as could be, thus they had to make everything clear and understood in advance.

“The position of a mayor…” General Wind sneered for a while, “Can’t be attained merely by one military merit. Unless you are from an advanced academy, have joined the army and established countless merits, and are backed up by strong individual abilities and a well-connected network, your pursuit for the mayor’s position will prove nothing but a daydream.”