Chapter 7: Hundred Feet Piercing
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Su Yu became famous after he won his first match against Chen Feng. The news had spread among the martial arts training institute in the blink of an eye. Among the silver students, a ruthless figure had appeared and crippled the Poisonous Widow.
"Oh, Brother Su has returned. Please take a seat, little brother will serve you tea." When Su Yu returned to the dormitory, Wu Song became a lackey, ready to be at Su Yu's service. He poured Su Yu a cup of tea, continuously complimenting him.
Su Yu could tell that Wu Song's neck was dripping with cold sweat. Su Yu's victory against Chen Feng had instilled complete fear in Wu Song. Su Yu's abilities had increased and he was too lazy to deal with the spineless Wu Song, who bullied the weak and feared the strong.
"Get out! Stop acting in front of me!"
Not only was Wu Song not angry, he was overjoyed that things were not as bad as he expected. "Understood, little brother will not bother Brother Su again."
As Wu Song exited, he wiped off his sweat and his face was full of happiness. "Pff! Luckily Su Yu isn't a person to hold a grudge. Otherwise, with his ruthlessness and ability that crippled Chen Feng, I might not even get to sleep in the corridor anymore."
Su Yu sat quietly for a while and was deep in thought.
"I have managed to fight my way up to the top 100 silver students, effectively freeing myself from the predicament of being eliminated in the assessment. However, since Qin Feng is watching me closely, I can't even take it easy." Su Yu was grinding his teeth.
He did not have any intention of winning back the feelings of the practical Jiang Xueqing. However, Qin Feng was unwilling to let the matter rest and had tried multiple ways to put him in a difficult situation.
This grudge of his, he would one day return to Qin Feng twofold! As such, he must frantically strengthen his cultivation base! It was for his self-protection, as well as to take revenge of what had happened today.
"Qin Feng, just you wait!" Su Yu clenched his fists.
Not only had Qin Feng stolen Su Yu's girlfriend, he also wanted Su Yu's life. If Su Yu did not have his revenge, he would forever be a good-for-nothing!
However, Qin Feng's abilities or his family background, both were powerful and Su Yu needed to work very hard to strengthen his own abilities!
I, Su Yu, am persistent! At this coming silver assessment, I will put on a dazzling performance! Su Yu had been deep in thought for a long time. He took a deep breath and set an impressive target for himself.
This decision was somewhat ambitious. However, even if he had to put his life on the line, he was determined to do it!
Time and tide wait for no man. Qin Feng realized that Su Yu had been improving drastically, and he would not sit back and give Su Yu enough time to train.
Su Yu's only chance against Qin Feng was to fulfill all his potential like his life depended on it and work very hard to strengthen his own abilities so that he could achieve a new level of martial arts before the next predicament befell him.
At the same time, after he had made a name for himself and become a promising talent, he would be valued and protected by the students. This was better than staying as a silver student who was of little significance to the training institute. As a silver student, the training institute would not be concerned whether he was dead or crippled.
"Wu Song, for the next eight days, I will be going out. If there are any challengers, you shall accept them on my behalf!" Su Yu had prepared his food, stepped out the door and headed for the training institute's weapon pavilion.
In order to practice The Secret Book Of Hundred Steps Piercing Arrow, he needed arrows and a bow.
The weapon pavilion was a place built by the training institute to provide weapons for students to train. However, it was similar to the Depository of Buddhist Scriptures. Every student was entitled to pick one weapon once every year. If students wanted to have a second weapon, they would need to pay two taels of silver.
Su Yu had never chosen a weapon before. Since the first weapon was free, he was able to save some money. In the training institute, each silver student would receive one tael of silver every month to pay for their daily expenses. Hence, they could only save a few copper coins and were unable to pay for anything else.
When he entered the weapon pavilion, it was full of people scattered around everywhere. Su Yu took a quick look around the weapon pavilion and found that there were four kinds of mainstream weapons: knife, sword, gun and rod. Besides the weapon pavilion having a great number of these weapons, there were also many types of them.
There were so many mainstream weapons that Su Yu had to walk into the deepest part of the pavilion before finding a few big bows that were impaired and had traces of dust on them. He did not know whether to or laugh or to cry.
Su Yu weighed the bows and chose a lightweight bow that had an elastic bowstring and was easy to pull. His body was not very strong. Hence, a bow with a tight bowstring did not suit him.
The power of the bow and arrow was dependent on many things: first, the quality of the bow, its material, flexibility, strength and toughness; second, the bowman's arm strength to determine the range and the speed of the arrow; and finally, the bowman's eyesight.
If a bowman possessed very strong and powerful arms, it was no use if he couldn't hit his target. On the other hand, another bowman might have weak arms and his arrow could only travel slowly. However, as long as the arrow hit its target, it would be counted as being more powerful than the previous bowman who shot many arrows and yet missed all his targets.
Su Yu's arms were not that strong, but his eyesight was first-class. As such, with him, the power of the bow might not be weaker than that of a very muscular man.
Suddenly, Su Yu heard a sound which pierced through the silence. When he turned his head to take a look, he found a graceful and beautiful white-shirted lady standing in the empty and spacious weapon pavilion square practicing archery.
That square was given to the students who chose bows as their weapon to test the power of their bow.
Behind the lady there was a big fellow with a rough face. He was holding a quiver and teaching her archery skills with a smile on his face.
"Ah, Miss Xia, you are naturally gifted; your archery skills are extraordinary. As your instructor, I have nothing more to teach you." The big fellow was an archery teacher.
Su Yu had a few impressions of this person. The martial arts training institute had lessons that taught students how to wield a weapon. Su Yu had seen this instructor teaching some students archery from afar.
However, he used to have a very bad temper. He would frequently beat and scold students who were stupid, which was completely different from how polite he was now.
Moreover, this teacher's surname was Jiang, and he was brothers with Jiang Zhishi.
Su Yu recalled the day when Jiang Zhishi wanted to look good in front of Duke Qin. Without any concern for the pain of his frail body, Jiang Zhishi grabbed him and brought him over to Duke Qin. As Su Yu recalled this scene, he felt unhappy.
Su Yu stopped looking at them and started to recall The Secret Book Of Hundred Feet Piercing Arrow on the spot. Rather than saying this was a cultivation technique, it was better to say that this was knowledge of archery. As such, it was easy to comprehend.
Although an hour had passed, in the time turbulence that Su Yu was in, he had been recalling the content of The Secret Book Of Hundred Feet Piercing Arrow for 10 hours and he was then able to recite it by heart.
He looked for a few ordinary iron arrows and went to the shooting area, eager to try out his skills. He took a deep breath and calmed down.
He squatted down a little, and was as firm as a rock. This was to reduce the recoil when shooting an arrow, so that the accuracy of the arrow could be increased.
One hand was holding the bow, while the other hand placed the arrow on the bowstring. He concentrated all his strength onto both of his arms and held his breath while his eyes focused on the target that was 100 meters away.
The essence of The Secret Book Of Hundred Feet Piercing Arrow was that when shooting an arrow, the practitioner must become one with nature, concentrate deeply and channel all their energy on the iron arrow.
This process required the practitioner to harmonize the inner strength within his body repeatedly, so that he could achieve a state of tranquility. At this stage, the practitioner would then be able to concentrate all his energy into the arrow and fire it off without being affected by any forms of interference from the surroundings.
When Su Yu released his fingers, the iron arrow made a whizzing sound which pierced through the silence and turned into a fragmentary shadow, striking the target that was 100 meters away.
However, Su Yu was not satisfied with the outcome.
The arrow had landed on the edge of the target, and it was quite a distance away from the bull's eye.
His actions attracted the attention of the white shirted lady who was engrossed in practicing her archery skills, as well as Master Jiang who was teaching her archery.
Master Jiang raised his black eyebrows. "Where did this kid with no manners come from? What do you think you are trying to do when we are practicing archery?"
Su Yu had nothing to say.
It was obvious the lady was very prestigious. In order to win her favor, Master Jiang did not tolerate anyone who disturbed their practice.
However, the target where Su Yu shot his arrow was on the other side of the weapon pavilion square, and it would not affect the lady in any way.
"What am I trying to do? I am trying to practice my archery skills. If there were rules that students cannot practice their archery skills here, then I would leave this place immediately." Su Yu was calm and collected. He leisurely took up another arrow and started to aim at the target again.
Master Jiang put down the quiver that he was holding and quickly headed towards Su Yu with an angry look on his face.
"Master Jiang, you need not do anything. Let's continue," said the lady softly. Her voice was soft and delicate, making it pleasant to listen to.
As she was talking, her bright eyes shot a glance at Su Yu's posture. She felt that it was strange. "Is this your first time practicing archery?"
As Su Yu was engrossed in practicing archery, he lightly nodded his head and answered her unintentionally without lifting up his head. "Yes, this is my first time."
The lady smiled and nodded her head. "Not bad, you were able hit the hundred meter target on your first try."
Master Jiang looked Su Yu up and down, shook his head and laughed. "His posture is no good. He probably only learned the fundamentals and then came here to practice. I guess it's luck that the arrow hit the target just now."
Regarding Master Jiang's words, the lady decided not to comment. As for Su Yu, he did not hear anything.
He remembered the important aspects of The Secret Book Of Hundred Feet Piercing Arrow. However, he lacked the mastery of all those aspects. Hence, he needed to continue practicing to master those aspects.
The second arrow landed on the edge of the target like before, but it was slightly closer to the bull's eye.
"What?" The lady was stunned.
With Su Yu's posture, was it really by luck that he actually managed to hit the 100 meter target twice?
Each time after, the arrow landed closer to the bull's eye. The lady's face was full of astonishment. The first and second time could be by luck, but if the arrows landed on the target five times, how could it still be luck?
Moreover, Su Yu's posture became more refined and he started to have a style.
Master Jiang's rough and black eyebrows started to twitch, and he stared at Su Yu as he continued his practice.
Su Yu was wrapped up in his practice.
However, from the fifth arrow onwards, Su Yu found it difficult to get even closer to the heart of the target. Any arrows after that landed away from the red heart of the target.
At first, he became better as he practiced. His skills indeed improved, but for some reason, he became unable to progress; there was always a distance between the landed arrow and the bull's eye.
Instead, there were two times that his mind was unsteady and was not focused on the accuracy. However, this confusion actually made him hit the bull's eye.
The lady signed secretly as she thought that she had met an archery genius.
Master Jiang was surprised. He laughed a laughter that was secretly filled with contempt. "Seems like he is another lecher. He must have known that Miss Xia liked good archery skills and often came here to practice. As such, he secretly practiced a bit by himself and pretended to be someone new to archery to attract Miss Xia's attention; there had already been at least one or two of this kind of people."
The lady's eyes, that were as bright as water, lightly shot a glance at Su Yu. She could not help but feel a thread of detest towards Su Yu and went away in a flash.
"I shall take my leave now, my mind feels unsettled." The white-shirted lady lost interest in him and took light and graceful steps.
As she passed by Su Yu, she shot a glance at his bow by accident. She was startled and her face revealed an expression of astonishment.
"Let me see your bow." The lady's face had a strange expression.
When Master Jiang looked in their direction, his face revealed a strange expression as well. Su Yu initially turned his head to glance. However, he realized that the person standing beside him was a very beautiful lady.
She looked innocent and gave off the impression that she was indifferent to fame and gain, as though she was a female deity who had no faults. When she walked in this world, she was calm and noble. Any filthy beings that appeared in front of her would melt away.
A celestial beauty was what Su Yu could think of to describe her; she was a girl who did not belong with the human population.
Looking at her, she was about 14 or 15 years old, similar to Su Yu.
She had a pair of bright and snowy eyes which were so clear that they touched the heart of the people. It was as if within the extremely cold weather, a snow lotus, which was rare and difficult to find, had bloomed with a purity that did not belonged to the human population.
When faced with such a pure and fine pair of eyes that were free of any impurity, Su Yu's mind felt respect for her. She could be seen from afar and one should not be disrespectful to her.
Su Yu did not hide the fact that he became absent-minded for a split second. With his deep and bright eyes, which were magnanimous and natural, he gave an apologetic smile, "Sorry, please forgive me for being so impolite. This is my bow."
The celestial beauty gave off an expression that she was indifferent to fame or gain. She did not mind what Su Yu had done, as she had encountered similar situations, and smiled.
The generosity of Su Yu left her with a good impression. In the split second that Su Yu was stunned by her beauty, she could tell that it was the first time he had seen her; he was not a lecher who had an ulterior motive to attract her attention.
As the celestial beauty took the bow, her snowy eyes started to look at it. Her smooth and soft hands were like jade and they lightly caressed the bow. Within a short while, her eyes were filled with surprise.
Master Jiang went towards them and also looked at the bow carefully. He was also stunned. "It can't be…"