The Arrow Flies, the Heart Flies

Ji Ning grew even more puzzled as he watched his senior apprentice-brother, the Woodcutter, depart. “An arrow flying—that, I understand. But what does it mean to say the heart is flying?”

Twang! Twang! Twang!

Ji Ning drew and loosed a few more arrows, but only grew more confused.

“Young master.” The black-robed youth appeared at his side, an excited look on his face. “What your senior apprentice-brother said—‘the arrow flies, the heart flies’—I think I understand a bit now.”

“Oh?” Ji Ning’s eyes lit up with anticipation.

The black-robed youth hurriedly continued, “I’ve served several masters in my time and watched many of them practice archery. I’ve also seen them instructing younger disciples. I remember they often said, ‘Use your heart. Let your heart be on the arrow.’ When I was teaching you earlier, I didn’t think much of it—I assumed it was just a casual saying. But thinking back on it now, I believe there’s a special meaning.”

Ji Ning was extremely intelligent. The black-robed youth had only hinted at it, not even fully voicing his own conjecture, yet ideas were already forming in Ji Ning’s mind.

Use the heart?

The heart on the arrow?

The arrow flies? The heart flies?

“I think ‘the heart flies’ means the heart and the arrow fly together,” the black-robed youth said quickly. “This ‘heart’ might be a formless power.”

Listening to the black-robed youth’s words, Ji Ning found his own thoughts aligning. After all, in the past three years, he had shot tens of thousands of arrows daily. Practice makes perfect, and Ji Ning had already vaguely touched upon the artistic conception of “the arrow flies, the heart flies.” He had only needed someone to pierce through that thin membrane of understanding.

Ji Ning immediately drew the bowstring once more and nocked an arrow.

“The void…”

“The wind…”

In that moment, the entire world existed within his heart. Ji Ning began to pour all of his mind and intent into the arrow.

Soon, he entered a subtle state of “self-oblivion.” Though the world remained within his heart, everything around him grew hazy. In his consciousness, there was only the arrow in his hand.

TWANG!

The bowstring let out a thunderous ring.

The arrow shot through the air with incredible speed. Ji Ning’s formless mind and intent fused into the arrow, and he felt a wondrous sensation—he himself had transformed into that arrow! The arrow tore through the air. When it pierced through a tree, it felt as though he himself had pierced through that tree. This feeling of oneness between heart and arrow was incredibly profound…

But when the arrow flew a hundred kilometers, that formless mind-intent dispersed, and he could no longer maintain that wondrous feeling of “being the arrow.”

WHOOSH!

The arrow ultimately embedded itself into a target ten thousand kilometers away—though it was still quite a distance from the bullseye.

“That’s it! Yes, that’s the feeling!” Ji Ning let out an excited laugh, raising his great bow in exhilaration. “Right! The arrow flies, and the heart flies too. I feel as though I’ve become the arrow… It’s an incredible sensation. And in this state, it seems I can even control the arrow’s direction.”

“Let me try again.”

Ji Ning drew and loosed again. TWANG! The arrow tore through the air, and Ji Ning felt as though he was that arrow, his heart completely attached to it.

Change direction! Change direction!

The arrow actually began to change its trajectory mid-flight. The change was slight at first, but Ji Ning strained to guide it again and again. The arrow carved an arc through the air, then flew off into the distance, ultimately missing the target by thousands of kilometers.

“The arrow flies, the heart flies…”

“This is the feeling. But I can only maintain it for a hundred kilometers. Once the distance grows, my mind-intent dissipates and I can no longer remain attached to it.” Ji Ning nodded to himself. This formless mind-intent was indeed very mysterious. Yet, this power of “mind-intent” truly did exist. Consider the Rahu Bow’s previous owner—the corpse of that ancient Fiendgod.

That Fiendgod had been dead for so long, its soul scattered and gone, yet the lingering formless intent of “Kill! Kill! Kill!” still caused Ji Ning’s heart to tremble.

And that was the power of “mind-intent.”

A formless power. The power of the heart! It was different from divine power, elemental ki, or the soul. It was an extremely ethereal, intangible force, yet one that truly existed. And a true divine archer had to master this power of the heart. Only by mastering it could one become a truly formidable divine archer of the Three Realms—and this was merely the first step!

“Use the heart.”

“The heart.”

“Let the heart be on the arrow!”

Ji Ning began to train, again and again.

He understood this clearly: his Dao-heart was incredibly firm and resolute, and logically the “power of the heart” should be very strong within him. Yet his mind-intent could only attach itself to the arrow for a hundred kilometers. The reason for this was simple—his heart was not sincere enough. He possessed a heart of absolute sincerity toward the “Dao of the Sword,” but not toward the “Way of the Bow.”

Only through absolute sincerity could one’s heartforce truly become strong!

Fortunately, he had a solid foundation built on nearly three years of bitter training. As Ji Ning’s attitude shifted, his mind-intent grew stronger, and his heart toward the “Way of the Bow” grew more unwavering. Legend said that truly extraordinary figures, no matter what they practiced, could maintain a heart of absolute sincerity as long as they focused entirely on the task. With such a heart, their progress would be astonishing.

The power of the heart was sometimes even more important than “natural talent and comprehension.”

“A thousand kilometers.”

“Two thousand kilometers.”

“Three thousand kilometers.”

As the days passed, the mind-intent Ji Ning could attach to his arrows grew stronger and stronger.

“Wow, young master. When you draw and loose now, there’s a certain… flavor to it. A flavor that only the divine archers of the primordial era had!” The black-robed youth watched from the side, growing more excited.

Ji Ning now possessed a heart of absolute sincerity toward archery.

To the naked eye, even magnified ten thousand times, his movements might seem identical to before. But the intangible “resonance” was different. At the very least, the Rahu Bow, which had served many divine archer masters, could sense it.

TWANG!

WHOOSH!

The arrow embedded itself directly into the bullseye of the target.

Yet Ji Ning calmly continued shooting. Now he could hit the bullseye from time to time. Even when he missed, the arrow still struck the target itself. Being able to hit a target from ten thousand kilometers away, through obstacles of trees and rock, relying only on brute force, was already an astonishing feat. But the trial’s requirement was ten consecutive shots into the bullseye.

Five thousand kilometers… six thousand kilometers…

The distance Ji Ning’s mind-intent could maintain on the arrow continued to grow. Through this tempering, even his Dao-heart began to strengthen. His eyes grew brighter. There was a certain quality to his gaze when he drew and loosed—anyone he fixed his eyes upon would feel as though they were being stared at by Death itself. It inspired a formless fear in the onlooker!

This was the “threat” that a true divine archer could project onto an enemy’s soul.

Ji Ning’s heart had transformed into an arrow, seeking to pierce the hearts of his foes.

His enemies could sense this danger on a subconscious level!

Eight thousand kilometers… nine thousand kilometers…

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

One arrow struck the bullseye. A second followed. Then a third, a fourth… The arrows continued without end. Ji Ning fired off a full one hundred arrows in a single breath, and every single one of them pierced the bullseye. The inch-wide red center of the target was now densely packed with arrows.

“Whew.” Ji Ning, ten thousand kilometers away from the target, let out a long breath.

Attaching his mind-intent to each arrow came at a significant cost to his mental energy. Firing a hundred consecutive arrows like this had left him with an unpleasant feeling of exhaustion. If he had been shooting simple arrows without adding mind-intent, he could have fired ten thousand without the slightest fatigue. But “the arrow flies, the heart flies” was mentally draining! It tired the heart!

Yet the power of these arrows was also tremendous, and their accuracy was equally terrifying.

“Young master, you’ve done it! You’ve done it!” the black-robed youth exclaimed excitedly.

“Thank you, Rahu Bow.” Ji Ning smiled, grateful.

In the past three-plus years, although he had also studied the archery secret manuals within the Immortal Palace, the most important factor had been the Rahu Bow’s guidance! The Rahu Bow had witnessed the growth of many a divine archer. Although it was not a true archer itself, its ability to guide him had been astonishingly helpful.

Without the Rahu Bow, even given ten years, he might not have been able to complete the trial.

“Heh heh, young master, now that you’ve become a true divine archer, I, the Rahu Bow, can shine once more!” the black-robed youth said excitedly. “If you’re truly grateful, find me a better bowstring.”

“Mm.” Ji Ning nodded with a smile. “Naturally.”

He did have some inferior bowstrings.

For example, the bowstring of the purple great bow in his hands could be removed, but that was far too low-quality. The Rahu Bow was, after all, a top-grade innate spirit treasure; it required a truly excellent bowstring.

At the entrance of the Three Realms Palace, a small, mere-zhang-tall building within the Tristar Crescent Abode of Mount Innerheart, the eccentric Ji Dian was still lying there, snoring as he slept.

“Second senior apprentice-brother.” Ji Ning walked over.

Ji Dian didn’t even open his eyes. “The complete version of the Houyi Archery Art is on the long table. Take it yourself.”

“Thank you, second senior apprentice-brother.”

Ji Ning immediately strode inside. Amidst the rows of bamboo slips on the long table, a single rolled-up scroll was quite conspicuous—the complete edition of the Houyi Archery Art. Ji Ning walked over and immediately extended his divine sense into it.

BOOM!

A vast amount of information surged into his soul.

A long, long time passed. The sun rose and set. When the sky began to lighten once more, and the distant Golden Crow was already revealing half its head, Ji Ning finally awoke.

“Such a powerful archery art,” Ji Ning murmured to himself.

He was shaken.

Completely shaken.

According to the descriptions in the Houyi Archery Art, if one could truly train it to the absolute peak, reaching the same realm as the ancient god Houyi who had created this supreme divine ability, then the arrows one loosed would be truly terrifying. Its power would actually exceed the sixth-level Starseizing Hand!

If an Empyrean God trained it to its peak, a single arrow from that god could gravely wound a True God, or even slay one!

The reason this Houyi Archery Art was so outrageously powerful when fully mastered was threefold.

First, this peerless archery art consumed an enormous amount of heartforce. For a wielder who had mastered it at the grand perfection level, even an Empyrean God would likely be completely mentally exhausted after loosing a mere three to five arrows, unable to shoot another. In contrast, Ji Ning could use the Starseizing Hand freely in battle without any mental drain whatsoever.

Second, this archery art placed extremely high demands on the bow and, especially, the arrows. For example, the Houyi Archery Art’s most terrifying strike could even slay a True God. Such power had to be channeled through a single arrow. If the arrow’s material was insufficient, the sheer force would cause the arrow itself to collapse.

Thus, to unleash such archery, one needed an excellent bow and also had to specially forge incredibly powerful arrows!

One needed a bow and arrows.

And at that level, one could only loose a few arrows. A slightly weaker archery art might allow for hundreds of shots, and a lesser one still for tens of thousands. In other words, the more top-tier the archery art, the greater the consumption of “heartforce.”

“Such a peerless archery art, capable of being used only a few times… is still more than worthy of being ranked as one of the top ten divine abilities since Pangu split apart Heaven and Earth!” Ji Ning was filled with admiration. He also felt great respect for Houyi, the number one divine archer of the Three Realms.

Then, Ji Ning stepped forward and picked up the bamboo slip for the Candle Dragon’s Gaze.