Desolate Era (Book 1 - Book 5)

“Master Blindfish, the rubble won’t hit or hurt anyone when it falls, will it?” Ning suddenly remembered to ask this question.

Yichuan shook his head. “Ning, your Master Blindfish is a Xiantian lifeform, and has infused his arrows with his own innate energy. When the arrows reached the tablets, they immediately blew the tablets into dust which will drift down slowly. How can there be rubble which would smash anyone?”

Ning was secretly shocked.

Formidable indeed.

“From today onwards, every morning, you will come train with your Master Blindfish for an hour in archery,” Yichuan said. “This can be considered your morning exercises. Blindfish, sorry to trouble you.”

“To be able to teach the young master is Blindfish’s glory.” Blindfish laughed loudly.

Yichuan nodded, then turned and left.

The entire training yard was very quiet. Only Blindfish and Ning were there. Not even a servant was present.

“Young master.” Blindfish looked at Ning. “To an archer, the most important thing is his bows and arrows. The arrow is divided into three parts; the arrowhead, the arrow shaft, and the feathers. As for the bow, it is comprised of the bowstring and the body. Arrows can be made in large quantities, but bows are far more precious!”

“There are two types of bows.”

“The first type of bow is made from an elastic bow body and a tough bowstring. When drawing the bow, the body of the bow will curve…and that is where the power comes from, the curving of the bow’s body. This is the most commonly seen type of bow, and is a fairly simple type of archery. It is easy to produce, and ordinary archers use it.”

“The second type of bow has a tough, inflexible bow body and an elastic bowstring. When pulling the bow, the bow’s body will essentially remain firm, while the bowstring will be pulled to an astonishing elastic length. This bow in my hand is that sort of bow!”

Blindfish handed the pitch-black greatbow in his hands to Ning.

Ning accepted this simple greatbow, and he instantly felt its weight. This greatbow was at least a hundred pounds heavy. He couldn’t help but stare at it carefully. The body of the greatbow was made from some sort of pitch-black metal which gleamed. The bowstring, however, was as thick as a finger, and carried a blue color. A terrifying fiendish aura could dimly be sensed as coming from the bowstring.

“This bow body was forged from ‘thunderwind metal’ and is incomparably tough. But the bowstring is even more precious… it was made from one of the draconic tendons of a Diremonster that was slain, a Dragonsnake. It possesses astonishing elasticity. Even if my strength was ten times greater, I wouldn’t be able to break it.” Blindfish laughed. “The name I gave my bow is ‘Thunderdragon Bow’.”

Ning’s eyes shone as he listened. A bowstring made from the tendons of a Dragonsnake, a Diremonster?

“Come, let’s begin to learn the proper stance.” With a flip of his hand, Blindfish produced an ordinary bow.

“Standing shot stance, crouching shot stance, backwards shot stance, falling shot stance, running shot stance!” Blindfish looked at Ning. “Young master, your training will be divided into two segments. The first is the basic segment. The second is the mental segment.”

“In the basic segment, you need to practice those five stances to the point where ‘hand, eye, and arrow become one.’ You must always hit your target. Only then can you move to the next segment.”

“In the mental segment, the stances are no longer important. The only thing you need is for your ‘mind and arrow to become one’. You no longer need to use your eyes to see. That’s simply too slow. You must rely on your mind! In the blink of an eye, you will draw your bow and fire your arrows upon your target as fast as lightning. In a truly critical situation, you only have a heartbeat to do what you need. Nobody will give you a chance to slowly aim. When you have mastered the mental segment, then you will have completed your apprenticeship.”

Ning listened and nodded.

And then, according to Blindfish’s instructions, he began to train in the proper stance.

“Waist straight! Left arm extended!”

“That’s the correct posture for drawing the bow. Stay in that posture!”

“Eyes! Eyes! Are your eyes blind?”

As soon as he began teaching in earnest, Blindfish began to roar at him. The ignorant Ning was like a piece of white parchment. Howled at again and again, Ning could do nothing but endure it and slowly learn.

A ten thousand meter high building is still built up from the ground floor. An expert archer had to start with the basics as well.





* * *





Book 1, Chapter 10 - Footwork


After practicing archery for an hour, the Sun had already begun to rise.

“Ning, child, I shall be the one to teach you footwork.” Yuchi Snow, clad in white furs, smiled as she looked at her son.

“Yes,” Ning said.

Although he had exercised to the point where his waist and his back were bitterly sore, because he had trained in the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens], his body’s regenerative speed was astonishingly high. Right now, his mind was clear, fresh, and full of energy.

“In close combat, footwork is every bit as important as sword techniques!” Yuchi Snow said solemnly. “When two people engage in a battle, the one with better footwork and agility can make it hard for the opponent to injure them, while they are able to easily injure the opponent.”

Ning nodded.

He understood this logic.

Close combat didn’t just mean standing there like an idiot, waving swords and sabers at each other. It was constantly changing positions like an unpredictable shadow. In his past life, he had seen taekwondo and karate experts. Those most elite competitors all valued footwork highly, and their footwork was exquisite, capable of causing ten enemy punches in a row to miss, or at least have their power reduced greatly.

The importance of footwork was arguably even higher than that of attacking techniques! Because he had been tormented by illness in his past life, Ning truly and ardently enjoyed watching those competitions, which made him understand the importance of footwork in those taekwondo and karate competitions.

In this world where spirits and monsters abounded, the basics were still the same.

Footwork was one of the most important things.

“I will teach you a footwork technique known as the [Shadewind Steps],” Snow said. “Don’t be fooled by its ordinary name. This is a very amazing set of footwork techniques. I am the only one who knows it in our Ji clan, and even amongst all five Prefectures, it is considered the highest type of footwork technique. Once you begin learning this footwork technique, you will understand how to dodge and move about in tight areas, while also learning how to easily flee.”

“First, carefully read the six basic movements.” With a flip of her hand, Snow made a thick yellow book appear out of nowhere.

Ning accepted it and began to read it carefully.

This book described the [Shadewind Steps] and its six basic movements. All six of the movements were exquisite and profound in their movements and usage of force and energy.

“Don’t just stare at it.” Snow pointed at a distant area. “Look over there.”

Ning turned his head and saw wooden pillars. There must have been thousands of wooden pillars there, and they were all of different height and at different distances from each other. Above these wooden stakes was a number of beast capes, thousands of them which dotted the area like ropes.

“That is known as the Thousand Star Array,” Snow said. “Through the usage of the Thousand Star Array, within ten years, you should be able to reach the ‘Ruwei’ stage of the Shadewind Steps. If it wasn’t for the Thousand Star Array… you probably would have to spend a hundred times the amount of time.”

“The [Shadewind Steps] technique has three stages.”

“First, the basic stage.”

“Second, the advanced stage.”