The Arrow Flies, the Heart Flies

Ji Ning stood on a clearing in the mountain forest, holding a bow and arrow in his hands, staring into the distance.

Ten thousand li away.

In another part of the forest on Mount Innerheart, the black-robed Ji Ning stood there. With a wave of his hand, an archery target appeared beside him.

“I have to hit the bullseye of a target ten thousand li away.” The black-robed Ji Ning shook his head gently.

The trial of Houyi’s Archery Technique: he was not permitted to use his divine sense, nor was he allowed to manipulate the arrow with elemental ki or divine power. He had to rely on pure, raw brute strength to shoot an arrow and hit the bullseye of a target ten thousand li away. The bullseye itself was merely one cun in size. He had to hit it ten times in a row to succeed.

This trial was incredibly difficult.

Without the use of divine sense, even ordinary Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals could barely see ten thousand li away with their naked eyes. As for the bullseye of the target? They couldn’t make it out at all. Moreover, because of the ten-thousand-li distance, there would normally be trees, mist, and other obstructions in the way. Even with excellent eyesight, one could not see clearly.

In other words, to complete this trial, one first needed a divine ability like the ‘Thousand Li Clairvoyance’!

The divine ability ‘Thousand Li Clairvoyance’, when cultivated to its peak, allowed one to see clearly even across a distance of millions or billions of li.

Ji Ning naturally hadn’t cultivated this divine ability, but he had cultivated the even more formidable ‘Candle Dragon Eye’. Back in the Grand Xia’s imperial treasury, Ji Ning had obtained the first half of the Candle Dragon Eye, which was enough to train up to the Void Fiendgod level. During his years on Mount Innerheart, whenever he had time to relax, he would gather the Nine Heavens’ Aurora into his eyes, refining it to form his own innate candlelight.

Although it was difficult to train, he had already reached the second level of innate candlelight.

Once he activated the divine ability, his naked eye was sufficient to see an ant within a hundred thousand li.

“Let’s try it.”

Ji Ning stood in the forest and activated the divine ability ‘Candle Dragon Eye’. Instantly, a light like the glow of a candle flame appeared in both of his eyes. If an ordinary cultivator were to lock eyes with Ji Ning when he was deliberately releasing his might, it would cause their vision to flash white, followed by complete darkness, leaving them unable to see anything.

They would be temporarily blinded; weaker cultivators might even be permanently blinded.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~” As soon as he activated the divine ability, countless rays of light from distant locations converged into his eyes.

The light reflected from countless objects was all gathered by Ji Ning’s eyes.

Tall trees, small streams, lakes, mountain paths… everything was under his observation.

Ten thousand li away, there was an archery target. Beside the target stood his second true body, the ‘black-robed Ji Ning’.

“Not allowed to use divine power or elemental ki to control the arrow, huh?” Ji Ning flipped his hand, producing a black arrow. He nocked it, drew the bow, and was ready to shoot.

Swish!

Ji Ning’s raw strength was astonishing. He could toss a massive mountain around like a toy. The Heaven-ranked purple greatbow was instantly drawn to a full crescent.

Ji Ning sensed the wind…

The wind was blowing…

When shooting an arrow, sensing the wind was the most crucial part; the wind greatly influenced the arrow’s flight. Ji Ning had trained hard in archery as a child, but after embarking on the path of cultivation, he hadn’t practiced it much. After all, his archery skills had been sufficient. In critical moments, he could use his elemental ki to subtly adjust the arrow’s direction mid-flight. Even if he missed due to the great distance, he could course-correct.

But now, he couldn’t use elemental ki, nor was he allowed to control the arrow with divine power.

“The wind’s speed… the wind’s changes…”

“It’s about right.”

“Go.”

With his innate candlelight burning in his eyes, Ji Ning stared fixedly at the distant target. The fingers of his right hand released instantly.

Thwang!

The arrow transformed into a streak of light, tearing through the air.

As it flew, it pierced straight through large trees, rocks, and soil. However, under these external forces and the blowing of the wind… although these external forces seemed minor, by the time the arrow had flown ten thousand li, the deviation was astonishingly large. “Whoosh!” The arrow streaked past about three li away from the target.

“This…” Ji Ning’s eyes burned with innate candlelight as he saw the scene clearly. He couldn’t help but be stunned. “A miss by that much?”

A difference of three full li?

That was far too ridiculous!

“Let’s try again.” Ji Ning drew the purple greatbow and shot another arrow.

Thwang!

The sound of the bowstring echoed, and the arrow had already turned into a streak of light flying into the distance. This time, the arrow flew past about five li away from the target.

“Hmm?” Ji Ning frowned.

“Again.”

Arrow after arrow flew out.

Some missed by three li, four li, five or six li.

Sometimes, with a bit of luck, they could get within one li. His best shot flew past just several dozen meters from the target. Ji Ning shot over ten thousand arrows in one go before finally stopping. For someone whose strength rivaled a early-stage Void Fiendgod and whose body was comparable to an Immortal-ranked treasure, shooting ten thousand arrows was effortless. But his mind and spirit were exhausted!

“I guessed it would be hard, but I didn’t realize there would be so many problems.” After trying ten thousand times, Ji Ning had also discovered numerous issues.

Simply relying on brute strength to hit a bullseye ten thousand li away…

The first problem was the countless obstacles along the way, like trees and rocks. When the arrow passed through them, it would be affected, causing an extremely minute change in direction. Although Ji Ning’s raw strength made the arrow incredibly fast, the change in direction was minimal. However, the accumulation of countless obstacles might cause a very small deviation. And a small deviation, amplified by a distance of ‘ten thousand li’, would result in a significant miss.

The second problem was the wind!

Although Ji Ning had comprehended the ‘Dao of the Wind’ back during the Immortal Fortunes Assembly and his heart could completely merge with the wind, giving him an accurate sense of it, the wind he sensed was the wind at the moment he released the arrow. It was the wind around his current location!

As the arrow flew, the wind would change!

Especially since the wind at his location might be very gentle, but five or six thousand li away, there might be a fierce gale.

Even with a vague sense of the wind based on his feeling for it, and relying on the arrow’s speed, he would still be affected.

These two main factors made it incredibly difficult to hit the bullseye of a target ten thousand li away.

“What should I do? Right, I have the artifact spirit of that innate spirit treasure bow. He must know how the ancient divine archers trained.” A thought struck Ji Ning, and he immediately summoned the artifact spirit of the Luo Bow.

Whoosh.

A black-robed youth appeared beside Ji Ning.

“What do you want?” The black-robed youth saw Ji Ning holding a bow and arrow. “Oh, practicing archery.”

“Luo Bow, I want to train in the Houyi’s Archery Technique,” Ji Ning said directly. “But to obtain the Houyi’s Archery Technique, I must pass a trial. The trial requires that I not use my divine sense to look, nor am I allowed to use divine power or elemental ki to control the arrow. I must rely purely on brute strength to hit the bullseye of a target ten thousand li away, with the bullseye being just one cun in size. I must succeed ten times in a row to complete the trial.”

“Houyi’s Archery Technique?” The black-robed youth exclaimed in surprise. “Little master, you can get the Houyi’s Archery Technique?”

Ji Ning nodded. “But I have to pass the trial.”

“This trial is quite difficult. Shoot a hundred arrows for me first and let me take a look,” the black-robed youth said.

“Fine.”

Ji Ning immediately shot another hundred arrows. Although he understood the problems, he was still powerless to solve them. He failed every time, and the errors were significant.

The black-robed youth looked into the distance, silently using his intangible sense to cover ten thousand li, clearly seeing the target.

“How is it?” Ji Ning looked at the black-robed youth.

“It seems you have some foundation. I thought you would be off by a hundred li or more.” The black-robed youth nodded. “The art of archery, the most important thing is ‘accuracy’. The more powerful the archery technique, the more it will strive to make the arrow’s power increasingly great. As for accuracy? The more powerful the arrow, the harder it is to change its trajectory through divine power or elemental force. So ‘accuracy’ is very important.”

Ji Ning nodded.

“Archery, take it step by step. First, practice at a hundred li,” the black-robed youth said.

Under the guidance of the ‘Luo Bow’, Ji Ning once again began his archery training. Although the Luo Bow had never practiced itself, it had watched its past masters train—they were ancient divine archers.

First, a hundred li.

Then two hundred li, three hundred li…

With the Luo Bow’s guidance, Ji Ning trained hard in archery for nearly three years. He could only, by relying purely on brute strength, hit the bullseye of a target at a distance of twelve hundred li. Twelve hundred li was already a limit. No matter how hard Ji Ning tried, he could not make any further progress.

“What’s going on? Usually, archery is trained this way. You’ve achieved your mastery over sensing the ‘wind’ and sensing the ‘heavens and earth’. Your arrow speed is also good. But I always feel you’re missing something.” The black-robed youth was puzzled.

After all, he had only watched; he was not a divine archer himself.

In these nearly three years, Ji Ning had also made a special trip to the ‘Divine Immortal Palace’. On the eighth floor of the Divine Immortal Palace, he had selected an archery technique for reference. Using his own insights and the Luo Bow’s knowledge, he had managed to reach this level in almost three years.

“What’s the problem?” Ji Ning sat on the ground, also puzzled.

“Little junior apprentice-brother, still practicing archery?” A laugh rang out. A woodcutter carrying an axe and a load of firewood walked over.

“Big senior apprentice-brother.” Ji Ning quickly rose and said with shame, “I’ve trained hard for nearly three years, but I still haven’t passed the trial for Houyi’s Archery Technique.”

“Houyi’s Archery Technique is indeed extremely difficult. The trial is also quite hard. Shoot a few arrows for me to see,” the woodcutter said with a smile.

“Yes.” Ji Ning was overjoyed.

Big senior apprentice-brother was, without a doubt, the absolute number one under Patriarch Subhuti. Even Second Senior Apprentice-Brother Jidian and the other senior apprentices all admitted they were inferior. Ji Ning had even heard from Senior Apprentice-Brother Silvermoon that ‘Big senior apprentice-brother must be at the Daofather level’. With his strength and having lived here in seclusion for so long, he would surely have studied the Houyi’s Archery Technique, one of the top ten great divine abilities of the Three Realms.

Although several of Patriarch Subhuti’s disciples had studied the Houyi’s Archery Technique, none of them had achieved anything remarkable.

But with Big senior apprentice-brother’s abilities, he would surely have some accomplishments.

Thwang! Thwang! Thwang! Thwang! Thwang! Thwang!

Arrow after arrow was shot.

Ji Ning gave it his all, sensing the wind and sensing the heavens and earth. At this moment, the world and the wind were all within his heart. It felt as if he had completely grasped the entire world and the countless winds. He even had a vague, mystical perception of the changes in the wind from afar. This state was the ‘Domain of the Dao’ for the Dao of Archery. It was mainly because Ji Ning’s realm was already extremely high, and the Dao of Archery involved many aspects of ‘Wind’ and ‘Heavens and Earth’, so he learned it quickly.

Arrow after arrow flew out, heading for the target ten thousand li away.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Each arrow remained within a ten-meter range of the target, whistling past. By luck, one arrow even hit the target itself. But hitting merely the target was far from hitting the bullseye.

“Alright, you can stop now,” the woodcutter said.

“Please instruct me, Big senior apprentice-brother,” Ji Ning said respectfully as he stopped.

The woodcutter said with a smile, “Your foundation is solid and well-trained. But you are still missing the most crucial point.”

“The most crucial point?” Ji Ning asked, puzzled.

“Yes.” The woodcutter nodded. “Remember, when the arrow flies, the heart flies. When you reach this state, you will be able to hit the bullseye of a target ten thousand li away.” Having said this, the woodcutter shouldered his axe and firewood and leisurely walked away.

Ji Ning stood there, murmuring to himself, “When the arrow flies, the heart flies?”