Chapter 16: The New Recruits' Big Comparison (Part 1)

  At midnight, there will be two more explosions.

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  Xiao Se's skepticism towards the new recruits of the Third Battalion was mainly because she had observed their training with a discerning eye, discovering that the First and Second Battalions had many talented new recruits who could control their arrows within a certain range, even if they couldn't hit the mark at 200 paces. In comparison, the quality of the new recruits in the Third and Fourth Battalions was noticeably inferior, despite Battalion Commander Mouri's decent leadership skills. Unfortunately, talent trumped all else. A few short months of training wouldn't be enough to change the balance of power.

  Zhou Weiqing was now standing beside Captain Ma, saying in a low voice: "Captain, point out the most eye-catching new recruits on the opposite side to me."

  Maori looked at him suspiciously and said, "What are you doing?"

  Zhou Weiqing chuckled and took down the Purple Heaven Bow from his back, whispering: "Give them a show!"

  Maori's eyes lit up, and he was also worried in his heart. He didn't think much of Zhou Weiqing participating in the new soldier competition. In his opinion, Zhou Weiqing was just a cultivator who had achieved some success with his Heavenly Power and had a bit more strength. However, archery was a technical skill, not just a matter of having great strength. But when he heard Zhou Weiqing say the words "point name", he was greatly surprised, because these two words were terminology used by archers, meaning to shoot and kill. Generally, only archers who had a master would know this kind of terminology. It was clear that this new soldier, the camp commander, was not an amateur at archery.

  "Alright, I'll tell you now, remember it. Starting from the left side of the opposite, count the fifth one, the ninth one..."

  Shangguan Bing'er stood at the side of the new recruits' archery competition venue, coldly observing from a distance. What she paid most attention to was naturally Zhou Xiaopang, and now seeing him whispering with Mao Li's team leader couldn't help but make her somewhat curious about what they were saying.

  "Captain, which company's soldiers will win in the end?" Xiao Se's voice habitually appeared discordant in Shangguan Bing'er's ears.

  Shangguan Bing'er turned her head and said, "Of course it's our three battalions. I have confidence in Maoli Zhongdui's ability to command the army."

  Xiao Se rolled his eyes and sneered, "This is just a new recruit camp, they're all a bunch of new recruits who haven't been on the battlefield, haven't seen blood, simple training can have what effect? It's still up to innate talent. Of course, you, as the camp commander, haven't watched them train, so naturally you wouldn't know which ones are more outstanding."

  Shangguan Bing'er's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly as she stepped forward and shouted loudly, "The new recruits' competition is about to begin."

  The new recruits of the three regions occupied a vast area, but when Shangguan Bing'er shouted out, her clear and pleasant voice was heard clearly by every soldier on the battlefield. The eighth level of Tianjing's cultivation had already given her a solid foundation in her heavenly power.

  Xiao Se listened to Shangguan Bing'er's voice, clenched her fists tightly, and the greatest regret of her life was that she had not awakened her innate pearl and become a Pearl Master. Despite her desperate efforts in other areas, this fact could not be changed.

  With a single order from Shangguan Bing'er, the new recruit competition officially began. The light infantry and heavy infantry had already started their charge. The four archer new recruit squads also launched their first round of simultaneous shooting.

  After all, after three months of new recruit training, this first round of simultaneous shooting was still quite impressive. Two hundred arrows with white powder on the feathers shot out from both sides, flying straight towards each other.

  The new recruits had been training for three months, but this was the first time they were facing real opponents, and their emotions were running high. As a result, many of their arrows flew off target, and after shooting, they simply stood there stupidly staring at the arrows they had shot out.

  Zhou Weiqing blended in with the crowd of new recruits and didn't stand out, an arrow shot out, when the other new recruits were still stunned, he quickly retreated backwards, hiding his figure behind the backs of the other new recruits, while crouching down to minimize the chances of being hit by the enemy.

  "Ah, ah……" The cries of surprise rose and fell one after another. One by one, new recruits were hit by arrows with white feathers attached to them. Under the command of each platoon leader, those who were hit had to immediately leave the battlefield and were not allowed to continue participating in the new recruit competition.

  Zhou Weiqing listened to the successive cries of surprise at the same time, he had already stood up again, the purple bow was full moon, when others were still looking for arrows, his second arrow had already shot out with a whizzing sound, with the speed of the purple bow's strong shooting, how could these new soldiers dodge?

  "Xiao Pang, good archery." Mao Li exclaimed with surprise, just like Zhou Weiqing had said earlier. With the first arrow shot, he successfully named a outstanding new recruit in the opposing camp pointed out by Mao Li.

  However, compared to Maori's surprise, Shangguan Bing'er's face looked much uglier. As a Tianzhu master, she naturally had extraordinary eyesight. In this round of shooting, she clearly discovered that the casualties on the side of the third and fourth battalions were as many as 40 people, while the opposite first and second battalions only had more than 10 people. Without a doubt, this meant a huge gap in the quality of new soldiers. No wonder Xiao Se looked so confident.

  After the start of the duel, Zhou Weiqing was like a changed person, agile as a civet cat. The strong and powerful Purple Heaven Bow in his hands kept flashing open and closed like lightning, every time he shot an arrow, he could always find other new recruits as his cover, only to reveal his head at the moment when the feathered arrow was shot out.

  At the beginning, the first and second battalions on the opposite side had not noticed him, but after four or five rounds of shooting, more than half of the new recruits from the third and fourth battalions had fallen. Zhou Weiqing's shooting speed, which was at least twice as fast as others, suddenly caught the attention of the commanding officers on the opposite side.

  In just a short while, eleven people had already been eliminated by Zhou Weiqing. The Purple Star Bow was incredibly powerful, and even without the arrowheads, being hit once would leave someone breathless for half a day. Moreover, its firing speed was clearly faster than an ordinary longbow. The new recruits from the third and fourth battalions were completely unable to dodge his arrows. Furthermore, every single one of Zhou Weiqing's arrows was extremely accurate, hitting their opponents right in the chest. Describing it as "hitting a willow leaf at a hundred paces" wasn't even an exaggeration.

  "Concentrate your fire on that slippery little devil!" a company commander of the Second Regiment bellowed.

  Zhou Weiqing's twelfth arrow had just been shot out when he felt something was off. Ever since the Heaven's Expanse Palace had awakened, he discovered that his perception had become many times more sensitive than before. The sudden attention from the opponent instantly made him feel a sense of foreboding. This guy didn't hesitate for even half a second, turning around and running away immediately.

  There were over 70 archers left from the three and four battalions participating in the new recruit competition. Suddenly, one of them turned around and ran away, naturally drawing the attention of the crowd of military officers watching the competition. Each battalion had at least two deputy commanders who came to participate, except for one who went to command the new recruit competition, the rest were all gathered around Shangguan Bing'er. Since the archery competition was definitely going to end first, they were all here to watch.

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  Tonight at 12 o'clock, there are two more updates. Today, a total of four explosive updates have been made. At 12 o'clock tonight, the "Add to Favorites" conference will be held simultaneously, and book friends are welcome to participate enthusiastically. At that time, there will be two more chapters to read, and a large number of rewards will be given out. Please accompany me, great brothers and sisters, as I rush to the top of the charts. Hehe, I'm waiting for you all.

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  It seems like we're just a little short, and our evaluation votes can reach two diamonds. Are there any book friends who have rewarded Xiaosan before still having free evaluation votes? If so, vote for Tianzhu's change. Let's reach two diamonds soon, and then rush to the crown sooner.