M49S Vol 1 Chapter 40. Arrowstorm

How could a bow be used in a Life-bound Weapon Duel?

After Wang Changlin finished introducing Xiao Yu’er, Chen Wujie looked toward Meng Qiqi with interest and asked, “Brother Meng, how do you think this round will turn out?”

The question came so suddenly that Meng Qiqi was momentarily taken aback. A thousand thoughts flashed through his mind. Zhong Wu’s master was seated not far away. Was Chen Wujie asking with some hidden motive? But since he had not recognized him, he naturally did not know that the Little Martial Uncle of Gushan Sword was the very same youth from back then. Perhaps he was only asking out of curiosity. As for whether Zhong Wu’s master was present, and who that person actually was, it was possible that Chen Wujie did not take it seriously at all.

To outsiders, because of Chen Boyan’s presence, Gushan Sword and the Chen family appeared to be deeply connected.

Meng Qiqi thought for a moment, then smiled and asked, “Brother Chen, are you perhaps interested in my young disciple’s bow?”

“I am indeed,” Chen Wujie replied with a nod.

“Then take another close look. Does that bow seem familiar to you?”

“Familiar?” Chen Wujie narrowed his eyes and stared intently. The bow was completely black, its shape no different from a standard boxwood hunting bow.

No. Wait.

A bow? A name suddenly burst forth in Chen Wujie’s mind. At that moment, the duel between Xiao Yu’er and Zhong Wu had already begun. Zhong Wu did not hold back just because Xiao Yu’er was a child. The greatest weakness of archery was its ineffectiveness in close combat. As long as he could suppress Xiao Yu’er early and prevent him from drawing his bow, he would have the match in hand.

Thus, as soon as the round started, Zhong Wu controlled his saber and aimed it directly at Xiao Yu’er’s bow. In such a short time, there was no way Xiao Yu’er could manage to draw it.

Xiao Yu’er had no opportunity to activate the bow properly. The moment was too short, and he had no choice but to wield it as an ordinary weapon. He swung the slender bow hard at the blade, his face full of focus and determination. The senior disciples of Gushan Sword watched with worry, each one anxious for their junior brother.

He was such an adorable little junior brother. He had not even had a chance to enjoy the love and care of his seniors yet. Their Little Martial Uncle was truly heartless to let someone so young take the stage.

In the blink of an eye, bow and saber had clashed several times. Throughout the entire exchange, Xiao Yu’er had not managed to fire a single arrow and remained entirely suppressed by Zhong Wu. But what surprised everyone was that Xiao Yu’er’s bow, despite directly clashing with Zhong Wu’s saber multiple times, showed no signs of damage. It was clearly no ordinary weapon.

Just as the crowd was discussing the mysteries of this bow, a sharp, resonant note swept past their ears.

Zheng—!
The soundwave struck their chests like a blow, sending their blood and qi surging.

“It’s the bowstring!” A sharp-eyed cultivator immediately called it out, and everyone turned to look at Xiao Yu’er. He raised his right hand and plucked at the string from a distance. In the next instant, a bright, ringing note reverberated through the dueling platform, sharp and unceasing.

There was only a single bowstring. Its sound was scattered and did not form a melody, but the force behind it was formidable. Both bow and saber were life-bound spiritual constructs. The sound was formed by condensed vital force. Though intangible, it carried the substance of reality. Each vibrating note sliced swiftly and fiercely toward Zhong Wu’s saber like a gust of wind.

Zhong Wu was caught completely off guard. Under the bombardment of wave after wave of sound, his saber was forced to retreat repeatedly. Worse still, he took a direct hit from the soundwave. His sea of consciousness turned turbulent, and his vital force grew chaotic.

The opportunity lay before Xiao Yu’er. This was his moment!

The string fell silent.

Xiao Yu’er lifted both hands in a drawing posture. As he moved, the small black bow in midair was instantly pulled open. A glowing arrow, formed from pure vital force, appeared with it.

Whoosh!
Xiao Yu’er released his grip. The glowing arrow shot out at high speed, striking Zhong Wu’s saber blade.

One arrow followed another. Xiao Yu’er continued drawing and releasing without pause. Each shot flowed smoothly into the next, and every glowing arrow landed precisely on the saber. Though it had not yet reached the scale of a violent storm, the short distance and sudden increase in accuracy meant that every shot hit its mark with perfect precision.

“Good!” Cheers rang out in all directions. Everyone looked at the solemn expression on Xiao Yu’er’s face and, for a moment, completely forgot his age.

Tu Youqiong was especially overwhelmed with excitement. A surge of pride welled up within him. This was his junior brother. His junior brother! Look at him. Just look. How incredible he was.

“Go, Xiao Yu’er!” Tu Youqiong shouted at the top of his lungs. Song Ru and the others could not help clenching their fists as well, both thrilled and nervous on his behalf.

Xiao Yu’er continued drawing and releasing his bow, each arrow flying faster than the last. He repeated the same motion dozens of times, as if he did not know exhaustion.

Because he knew he could not stop. He was still hovering within the bounds of the first major cultivation stage. In terms of raw cultivation, he could not compete with Zhong Wu. If they were thrown into the same forest and forced to fight to the death, Xiao Yu’er would still be confident in winning. But this was a Life-bound Weapon Duel.

Just as his master had reminded him before coming here, he would only have one chance. What he had to aim for was complete surprise. Once Zhong Wu regained control of the fight and adjusted his strategy, he would never give Xiao Yu’er a second chance to draw his bow.

So he could not stop. He had to be fast. And faster still.

The barrage of glowing arrows left behind streaks of trailing light. One after another, they strung together into a visible stream of brilliance, drawing even more cheers from the crowd.

But Zhong Wu was not some nameless cultivator.

“Ah! The arrow’s been cut!” Suddenly, a voice cried out in alarm.

Zhong Wu’s saber flared with strength. In the midst of his desperate defense, he seized a brief window of time, twisted the blade, and sliced one of the glowing arrows clean in half. Although the next arrow arrived immediately, the rhythm of Xiao Yu’er’s arrowstorm had undeniably been broken.

Tu Youqiong felt his heart leap into his throat. He was more nervous now than he had ever been during his own battles. Somewhere in the crowd, an older cultivator shook his head and said, “This young disciple from Gushan Sword does have skill with the bow, but his cultivation is still a tier too low.”

The others nodded in agreement. In that blink of an eye, Zhong Wu’s saber sliced through another of Xiao Yu’er’s arrows. Just as the offensive seemed to falter, a gleam flashed in Xiao Yu’er’s eyes. He gritted his teeth, and three glowing arrows appeared on the surface of the black bow.

Three arrows loosed at once.

Zhong Wu could cut down a single arrow, but could he really manage to cut three in such a short span?

Zhong Wu pressed his lips together, the fighting spirit in his entire body ignited. The saber vibrated with a low hum as its force surged dramatically. In an instant, he managed to shatter two of the arrows in midair. But he failed to break the third one.

The tip of the third arrow struck the hilt of the saber, and the entire blade was knocked off course. Zhong Wu hurried to regain control of it, but in the next breath, Xiao Yu’er’s next volley of three arrows had already arrived.

One step behind led to step after step of disadvantage.

Zhong Wu counterattacked several times, but each attempt was crushed by Xiao Yu’er’s unrelenting arrowstorm. It left him with a suffocating sense of powerlessness, as though he had strength but nowhere to apply it. If this were not a Life-bound Weapon Duel, if he were holding the saber in his own hands, he was certain he could have fought for three hundred more rounds.

But there were no ifs. After the time it took to burn one stick of incense, the duel came to an end. Zhong Wu was narrowly defeated.

This outcome stunned everyone present. After all, this was Zhong Wu, the disciple of one of the Twelve Guests of Nandao. He was in a completely different league from nobodies like Lu Ming from some obscure little sect.

In that moment, the crowd’s gaze toward Gushan Sword shifted. Gushan was still Gushan. Even in decline, they were not to be underestimated.

Zhong Wu put away his saber. The look he gave Xiao Yu’er was full of conflicting emotions. It was not that he could not accept the loss, but rather that this twelve-year-old boy had truly shocked him. It made him question whether all his years of effort could even be called diligence.

No one knew better than he how many arrows Xiao Yu’er had fired. Several hundred, and not once had he stopped. He had repeated the same motion over and over again while simultaneously preparing for counterattacks. That was not something sheer effort alone could achieve.

At that moment, Xiao Yu’er’s young face had gone pale. It was likely that the vital force in his dantian had been completely drained.

Tu Youqiong rushed forward in and pulled Xiao Yu’er back. Song Ru and the others also crowded around, some offering him pills, others showering him with praise. There was so much activity that even Qing Gu, the senior sister who was closest to him, could not get a word in.

Even Chen Boxi joined in. Despite his young age, he patted Xiao Yu’er on the shoulder with all the seriousness of an adult, offering his encouragement.

Xiao Yu’er held the little medicine bottle in his hands, smiling so brightly his eyes curved like crescent moons. His gaze instinctively swept toward the seventh floor, searching for the figure of Meng Qiqi.

Meng Qiqi was easy to spot. Among the crowd of tall men, he was the only one dressed in flowing white robes. Anyone could tell at a glance that he was Xiao Yu’er’s master.

“Master! I won!” Xiao Yu’er waved to him.

Meng Qiqi smiled and raised his hand in return.

Chen Wujie smiled and asked, “Pardon my poor eyesight, but is that bow a replica of the legendary Deer-Chasing Bow?”

“It is,” Meng Qiqi replied without concealment. There was no need to hide it. In another moment or two, someone else would surely recognize it anyway.

“They say the Deer-Chasing Bow can shatter mountains with a single arrow. Brother Meng, your young disciple has boundless potential,” Chen Wujie said.

“You flatter him,” Meng Qiqi replied. “He’s still young and far behind compared to Senior Nephew Chen.”

Chen Wujie paused for a moment before realizing that “Senior Nephew” referred to Chen Boyan. He said, “My nephew is fine, I suppose, but he’s far too serious. He rarely likes to speak.”

Hearing this, Meng Qiqi was no longer amused. It was one thing for Chen Wujie not to like him, but what right did he have to speak that way about his Senior Nephew? Chen Boyan was widely praised by everyone. Why did he suddenly fall short in Chen Wujie’s eyes, as though so many qualities were still lacking?

Meng Qiqi’s tone instantly cooled. He said, “Is that so? I have spent the past few days with Senior Nephew Chen. He shows great respect for his elders and gets along with me quite well.”

“Yes, exactly. Senior Nephew Chen may not say much, but all of us elders have seen it clearly. He is a good child, Brother Chen. You need not worry.” Tang Li, still unaware of the undercurrents in the conversation, voiced his full agreement. He had previously been concerned that their junior brother might not get along with Senior Nephew Chen, but now it seemed all was well.

Chen Wujie only smiled without replying. Could it be that the information he had received was incorrect? If Meng Qiqi thought so highly of Chen Boyan, then why had he refused to take him as a disciple in the first place? Chen Boyan was, after all, a member of the Chen family. With such a rare opportunity, Meng Qiqi had no reason to turn him away.

The more Chen Wujie thought about it, the more he felt he could not see through Meng Qiqi. And the more uncertain he became, the more curious he felt. He grew so absorbed in these thoughts that he failed to notice what Wang Changlin, seated to his left, had just instructed his subordinates to do.

Meng Qiqi, on the other hand, had not taken his eyes off Wang Changlin for even a moment. When he saw Wang Changlin issue yet another command, he could not help but wonder what it was about.

Before long, Song Ru, Mu Guinian, and Xiao Xiao each took the stage and completed their matches, all of them winning smoothly. It seemed that Gushan Sword’s streak of bad luck had come to an end with Xiao Yu’er. But Meng Qiqi did not believe it would last.

Perhaps what Wang Changlin had just done was to adjust the opponents listed against Gushan, so that everything appeared to go back to normal. Doing it too blatantly could make people suspicious.

At one quarter past noon, the first round came to an end. The second round followed immediately.

After the great wave of eliminations in the first round, the one hundred or so remaining cultivators were all more exceptional. As a result, the duels became increasingly difficult.

Once the cultivators had finished their midday meal in groups inside the tower, the second round began again. Chen Boyan of Gushan Sword was still the first to take the stage, and, as expected, he won without any trouble.

Dai Xiaoshan had already been eliminated and was no longer part of today’s competition. He went to the other four platforms to observe the matches and scout out potential opponents for his senior and junior brothers.

Everything Dai Xiaoshan observed was more or less in line with his expectations. As usual, sects like Tianlao and Futu Temple rarely suffered losses. They continued their advance without obstruction, defeating every opponent in their path. Beidou’s performance was also strong. Only one of their disciples had been eliminated in the first round, and even that had been due to facing a disciple from Ruizhu. No one could fault him for that.

This year’s rogue cultivators had also performed quite well. Dai Xiaoshan spotted several who had already stepped into the Second Great Realm. Their showing today might still be a bit lacking, but once the real combat began tomorrow, some of them were bound to shine.

He silently took note of their names, preparing to report back to his senior brother and senior sister. But just as he was about to leave, a sudden change occurred.

It had been a match between a rogue cultivator and a disciple from a small sect, so few were paying attention. Dai Xiaoshan had stayed a little longer only because the rogue cultivator’s cultivation was noteworthy, and his style of fighting stood out from the rest.

His techniques were more suited to killing than to sparring. This man had likely spent years walking the edge of life and death. Without that kind of background, there was no way he would possess such power.

But this was the Knock at the Immortal Gate, with many elders overseeing the event. Each dueling platform had members of the Wang clan present to keep things in order. Although Dai Xiaoshan had watched closely, he assumed the man knew his limits and would not go too far. That was why he felt safe turning away.

Yet just as he did, the disciple facing the rogue cultivator had his life-bound weapon shattered and coughed up a mouthful of blood before falling unconscious.

An uproar swept through the crowd.

A Wang clan steward immediately stepped in and rescued the injured disciple, pressing a life-saving pill into his mouth. Then he turned to the rogue cultivator and asked in a low voice, “Why did you strike to kill?”

Every eye turned toward the rogue cultivator. But the man showed not the slightest fear. His face remained calm, without a hint of regret. He spoke only six words:

“Swords and sabers have no eyes.”

At that moment, the unconscious disciple’s fellow sect members rushed over. After confirming he was still breathing, they all turned furious gazes toward the rogue cultivator.

The rogue cultivator’s name was Zheng Cheng. He always kept to himself, and no one knew where he had come from. Now, faced with the accusations being thrown at him, he simply closed his eyes and sat cross-legged at the edge of the dueling platform, ignoring every word no matter how heated the scolding became.

Both sides were at a stalemate. But if things really escalated, it would still come down to the same six words. Swords and sabers have no eyes.

The competition only explicitly forbade killing. Since the injured cultivator was still alive, no one had any grounds to punish Zheng Cheng. Dai Xiaoshan could not help glancing toward the tower. In the end, how this matter was handled would depend on the judgment of those above.

Before long, someone was sent down from the upper floors. The messenger leaned in and whispered a few words to the steward, who then ordered the wounded disciple taken away for treatment. After that, he announced that the competition would proceed as planned.

A junior disciple from the small sect tried to speak up again, but his senior brothers quickly held him back. “Don’t make a scene. Our junior brother simply wasn’t strong enough. Are you trying to embarrass us even more?”

The junior disciple finally left with a bitter glare, shooting one last look at Zheng Cheng. Zheng Cheng did not even open his eyes.

Dai Xiaoshan stood at the edge of the crowd and had seen everything. After a brief moment of thought, he turned around and headed back immediately. He had to report this to Senior Brother. That man, Zheng Cheng…

Today’s competition was full of hidden dangers. He could not let anything happen to his junior brothers and sisters.