Chapter 265 - 189: Shooting Practice

Chapter 265: Chapter 189: Shooting Practice

Yu Fei was about to apologize when he saw Xia Lan wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth. "Besides, you think it was easy?" she said. "It all happened in a flash. I had to control it in an instant. The only reason I’m injured is because I had to exert myself so suddenly!"

"Uh... sorry about that!"

Xia Lan let out a long breath and sighed. "Forget it. At least everything turned out okay. Still, how did you manage to charge the bullet until it exploded in less than a minute?"

Coming to her senses, Xia Lan’s eyes filled with deep confusion. ’How could he push a bullet to its limit in under a minute?’ The reactive agent hadn’t even had time to stabilize. It was clear that an excessive amount of Qi Blood had been injected in a short period, overwhelming the agent’s reaction time and causing the explosion.

"Er... I did what you said. I poured in my Qi Blood with all my strength, and it just... blew up!"

Yu Fei looked completely innocent, while Xia Lan’s face was a mask of suspicion.

"Was the bullet defective? No, that can’t be right. The explosion was clearly even more powerful."

As she spoke, a faint cyan light suddenly glowed in her pupils. She scanned Yu Fei from head to toe, having activated her Pupil Skill.

Yu Fei felt a slight sense of discomfort, as if something were probing him. His internal Sword Intent flared instinctively, and with a sharp SWISH, it severed something!

The more Xia Lan looked, the more astonished she became, her expression turning into a stunned daze. She had never seen anyone in the third realm with such terrifying reserves of Qi Blood—and it was incredibly pure, too. ’No wonder he made the bullet explode in under a minute...’

"Holy hell... Kiddo, you’re on another level! Your Qi Blood reserves are monstrous!"

Xia Lan cried out in subconscious amazement, but her words were cut short by a sudden, pained shriek. "Agh! My eyes...!"

She suddenly dropped into a squat, rubbing her eyes with both hands. It took her a moment to get back up, her eyes watery as if she were about to cry.

After standing up, Xia Lan stared at Yu Fei in silence for a moment. Though phrased as a question, her tone was certain. "Sword Intent?"

He nodded. "Yeah. It seems like something provoked it just now, and it reacted on its own."

Yu Fei was certain Xia Lan’s pained reaction had something to do with him; he had heard her shriek the exact moment his Sword Intent had flared.

To his surprise, Xia Lan waved her hand dismissively, her expression turning fervent. She stepped closer, looking Yu Fei over from side to side, her eyes filled with utter amazement.

"Yu Fei, I think you have the potential to become a Martial Saint! I’ve never seen Qi Blood reserves like yours before. No wonder I misjudged the timing. Do you know what affects the speed of infusion?"

Yu Fei shook his head. That wasn’t covered in his general studies.

"When a Martial Artist infuses a bullet, they’re essentially pressurizing their own Qi Blood to force it inside. The more abundant your Qi Blood, the faster the infusion. And you... your Qi Blood reserves are monstrous, several times larger than anyone else’s. That explains how you could hit the limit so fast."

Xia Lan’s eyes lit up. She turned and grabbed a case of bullets. "Come on, let’s test them one by one and find your optimal infusion time."

...

In the empty training grounds, Xia Lan had somehow procured a special blast-containment drum. It was the size of a large water vat, with an opening about thirty centimeters in diameter.

The grayish-green blast-containment drum was even heavier than his sword, Zhanming. Its walls were a full ten centimeters thick, and he’d had to haul it over himself.

"Ready?"

Xia Lan asked, unable to hide her eagerness.

"Ready. I’ll infuse at max speed for fifty seconds, then stop and observe. If anything feels wrong before then, I’ll toss it straight into the drum."

Yu Fei recited Xia Lan’s instructions. She intended to help him find the optimal infusion method.

"Okay, begin!"

Xia Lan waved her right hand and started the timer she held in her left.

Yu Fei circulated his Qi Blood. Veins bulged on his arm as his immense Qi Blood surged into the super-powered bullet.

Suddenly, a sharp, stinging sensation shot through Yu Fei’s hand. It was his [Dongyou] ability, predicting incoming harm. Without a second thought, Yu Fei tossed the bullet into the blast-containment drum and dropped into a crouch.

BOOM...

The blast-containment drum was thrown a foot into the air. A white wave of energy blasted out of the opening, and Yu Fei thought he glimpsed a black line flash past for an instant.

Xia Lan exclaimed in shock, "Forty-two seconds! You’re a beast! Let’s adjust the infusion time. We’ll aim for forty seconds for now!"

Yu Fei nodded, took another bullet, and repeated the process.

After forty seconds, Yu Fei stopped the infusion. Three seconds later, the bullet began to grow hot in his hand, but he didn’t toss it into the drum. His [Dongyou] ability hadn’t warned him of any danger.

Xia Lan stepped forward, took the bullet from him, and held it for a moment to feel it.

"Not bad. This timing seems to complete the infusion perfectly. But you can’t use it as a hard-and-fast rule. You have to account for inconsistencies in the bullet’s charge, variations in the purity of the Red Sulfur Powder, and even fluctuations in your own Qi Blood. I suggest you adjust the rapid-infusion time to thirty-five seconds, then ease up for three seconds before finishing the charge at the standard rate. That should be foolproof!"

Yu Fei was receptive to her advice; Xia Lan’s suggestion was perfectly reasonable.

He went on to test another fifteen bullets without any issues. On average, his total infusion time was around fifty seconds.

"Come on, let’s try some other types of bullets. In the future, if you’re on the battlefield and come across an unfamiliar type of super-powered bullet, you have to confirm the infusion time beforehand."

Yu Fei turned to see that Xia Lan had wheeled over a cart piled high with ammunition of all different shapes and sizes.

For the rest of the afternoon, with Xia Lan’s help, he practiced until he had memorized the charging times for every type of bullet.

Every so often, a deafening roar would erupt from the blast-containment drum. Once activated, a super-powered bullet’s destructive force was immense. On the battlefield, if one of these hit a third-realm Martial Artist anywhere but their limbs—a shot to the chest, abdomen, or head—they would be blown to pieces, with no chance of being saved.

「As the sun began to set」

Xia Lan suddenly asked a question.

"You’ve been at this for so long. Isn’t your Qi Blood getting depleted?"

Yu Fei checked his own condition. Far from being depleted, his Qi Blood was still filled to the brim.

After perfecting his Pure Yang True Body, the Yang Qi he passively absorbed and refined from the world was more than enough to cover the energy cost of infusing the bullets. On top of that, his upgraded Xuanxiao Spirit Body had gained a new "Qiankun" effect—a self-contained inner world that provided for all his needs and possessed its own regenerative properties. With the two combined, not only was his ’mana bar’ incredibly long, but it also recovered at an astonishing rate.