Chapter Eleven: Azure Cloud Bow

  (During the new book period, collection is very important, brothers and sisters who think it's good collect it)

  A pale blue battle aura circulated within the body, connecting the two heavenly meridians, and seeping into the blood, flesh, and skin. Faintly visible, a jade-like green glow emanated from the skin, and in the mind's eye, the image of the ferocious elephant grew clearer, as if it had come to life. Piece by piece, the green scales flashed with a metallic luster, sharp as knives and swords, with razor-sharp edges.

  Xiao Yi weighed the broken spear in his hand, still a thousand jin, or one jun. His cultivation had only passed through two heavenly veins, but his body's energy had surged to ten jun, equivalent to an ordinary Bloodstone Clan member who had passed through ten heavenly veins. This was the power of the Barbarian Elephant Fist, which required several times more energy and blood than an ordinary soldier's fist, or even nearly ten times as much. However, once it broke through, the boundless energy would open up the heavenly veins, and the gains would be several times greater. Xiao Yi dared not imagine what kind of power he would possess when he passed through 108 heavenly veins and condensed the Zhou Tian Qi Hai. Would it really be the power of a barbarian elephant?

  At this time, some of the Bloodstone Clan members who were initially attracted by Xiao Yi's breakthrough momentum couldn't help but feel disappointed. The Heavenly Pulse Thunder Sound wasn't something that just anyone could trigger, and those who knew Xiao Yi's background shook their heads in dismay. In their opinion, it was already a blessing from heaven that this sickly kid could recover so quickly and even embark on the path of cultivation. To think that he would achieve anything remarkable was simply a fool's dream.

  Thousands of feet away, Shi Zhenxuan sat cross-legged beside the Wanli Colt, with two thousand-man commanders sitting upright in front. The three almost simultaneously withdrew their gaze, and Shi Zhenxuan slightly furrowed his brow, saying: "The Barbarian Elephant's Great Strength Technique's Blood Volume was something we three had all borrowed to study before, but unfortunately, we couldn't comprehend the Barbarian Elephant's divine rhythm, unable to enter its gates. We could only retreat and seek secondary options, bitterly cultivating the Heavenly Fire Ignition Soldier Technique. This person has only opened up two heavenly veins, but I reckon it won't stop at that."

  Two chiliarchs nodded, one of them hesitated for a moment and said: "If it's possible to see his true heart, we'll let him stay in the tribe later."

  ……

  At night, the moonlight is crystal clear, and the full moon is like jade. Behind the Bloodstone tribe's mountain, on the edge of a cliff dozens of feet high, Xiao Yi grasps his broken spear, standing tall. The dark spear body emits a cold glow, and there are several dark red spots on the broken spear tip, revealing a few degrees of coldness and killing intent.

  Boom!

  Suddenly, Xiao Yi's Broken Gun burst into the air, its body wrapped in a layer of pale blue crystal-like battle energy. It tore through the air, directly piercing a massive boulder half the height of a person in front of him. The battle energy shook, and the boulder was instantly blasted into dust. Next, Xiao Yi walked along the edge of the cliff, his Broken Gun striking out repeatedly, shattering and piercing massive boulders one after another. After a short while, he suddenly stopped, beginning to breathe heavily.

  "The momentum is still abundant, the energy and blood are full, the physical strength is long-lasting, but the spirit can't take it anymore." Xiao Yi gritted his teeth, grasping the broken spear tightly. "Before on the battlefield, my spirit was captured, which means my willpower wasn't strong enough. I once heard a martial arts master say that a warrior must often stand under the wall of danger, with precise techniques, and also be able to suppress the situation, relying on willpower and temperament. Even a cat in danger can instantly fluff its fur. When I practice spear on the cliff edge, I'm always walking on the edge of life and death, which can solidify my willpower, and the battle technique that's been tempered is also one of life and death."

  The bright moon was high in the sky, and two hours later, Xiao Yi's face turned pale, with sweat dripping from his nose, but his eyes became increasingly sharp. This was a transformation of consciousness, walking out of the mechanical life of the technological era, unlocking human potential, and condensing the will of our ancestors.

  However, just as Xiao Yi was sitting cross-legged and had just recovered about 80% of his fighting spirit, a cold air suddenly emerged from the spine, spreading throughout his body in an instant. It felt like he was standing on the edge of a cliff, and at any moment, he would fall into an abyss thousands of feet deep, with life and death hanging in the balance for just a moment.

  His eyes suddenly opened wide, as if he had grown eyes on his back. Xiao Yi's broken spear swept horizontally, with a fierce aura like a rainbow, and a pale blue crescent moon was drawn behind him.

  Boom!

  A black bone arrow exploded, Xiao Yi retreated half a step, his eyes gleaming like swords as he gazed towards the nearby dense forest and shouted: "Who's there!"

  After a dozen breaths, the surroundings were quiet again. Xiao Yi slightly furrowed his brow, and that feeling of being stared at by a venomous snake had disappeared, which meant that the person who had just made a move was already gone.

  What kind of person is this!

  Xiao Yi hesitated, the arrow just now had no intention of killing, but it contained a full six jin of power, as fast as lightning. If he hadn't been practicing his gun on the cliff edge, with his spirit and will sharp to the extreme, he might have suffered serious injury. His mind was racing, but there were too few clues, and Xiao Yi couldn't make a judgment for the time being.

  Dawn breaks, and the ancient land's sky is a vast expanse of blue.

  Xiao Yi returned to the tribe, inside the stone house, Shi Gong was sorting out the medicine basket, which contained many dried herbs. Seeing Xiao Yi return, Shi Gong nodded slightly and didn't say much.

  "Shi Gong, I want to go into the mountains and hunt," said Xiao Yi.

  At first, the tribal elder Shi Zhi Xuan proposed that he wanted to join the Tribal War Division and hunt for a year's worth of blood food for the tribe. This "year" of blood food was not referring to time, but rather quantity. Only when this point was reached would one have the qualifications to join the Tribal War Division. Afterwards, they would still need to pass a test of strength in order to truly become a human warrior. At that point, Xiao Yi would finally have the qualifications to join the Bloodstone Tribe and obtain the legacy of the military tactics.

  When Xiao Yi spoke, Shi Gong stopped his actions and turned around. He looked at Xiao Yi deeply and said: "A year's worth of blood food, with the population of my Blood Stone tribe not exceeding 100,000 people, an ordinary long-snouted pig is one jīn per head, one day needs 100 heads, a year would be 35,000 heads. That means you need to hunt enough blood food for 36,000 jīn."

  Xiao Yi nodded, the barbarian elephant's great power seal required a vast amount of blood energy, and after being absorbed by the stone mirror, only one tenth was left. If he were to cultivate in isolation, relying solely on the tribe's daily supply of blood food, it would be impossible for him to condense his Zhou Tian Qi Hai in this lifetime.

  Shi Gong didn't say anything else, he just stretched out his hand and threw a simple stone token to Xiao Yi, saying: "You can go hunting for the tribe's blood food, you can take a bow from the military department, after crossing the mountain behind, it is the desolate ancient forest, Pan Lei mountain range, remember not to enter within 100 miles, otherwise no one can save you."

  Xiao Yi walked out of the stone house, at this moment, inside the Blood Stone Tribe, there were children practicing martial arts, teenagers carrying bows, and warriors of the tribe's army. Having just experienced a great war, the entire Blood Stone Tribe was in high spirits. Many people had made breakthroughs, and the young men were all stirred up with bloodlust. They worked hard to cultivate themselves, hoping to soon master the ten heavenly meridians and become a warrior.

  The Bloodstone Tribe's Arsenal, located in the center of the tribe, was a stone temple over ten zhang high and covering an area of one hundred zhang. In front of the temple, four war soldiers stood guard at the entrance, their breathing deep and far surpassing that of ordinary war soldiers. Xiao Yi knew that these were four Wu Chang-level strongmen. Shi Gong had said before that the Arsenal was a critical location, and originally, the Bloodstone Tribe had three great Qian Fu Lang. When the three thousand celestial soldiers attacked previously, only two people took action because one person was guarding the Arsenal. Unless the tribe's survival was at stake, they would not easily reveal themselves.

  Seeing Xiao Yi arrive, the four Wu Zhang were slightly surprised. They had heard of this young man, but didn't pay much attention to him. In recent years, there have been too many wandering humans on the mainland, and although someone like Xiao Yi was not commonly seen within a radius of ten thousand miles, it wasn't rare either. What surprised them was that Xiao Yi, who was once an invalid, seemed to have fully recovered.

  "Take the bow?"

  A middle-aged Wu Zhang took the stone token from Xiao Yi's hand, hesitated for a moment, and said: "The first floor of the Ministry of War is the War Bow Hall. You can go in now. You can only choose three lower bows: Black Stone Bow, Green Cloud Bow, and Purple Mist Bow."

  "Thank you."

  Xiao Yi took the token and walked into the Ministry of War, the first floor was the War Bow Hall, inside the gray stone hall, the beast oil crackled, the bright firelight illuminated the great hall as if it were daytime. This was a world of bows, in an area of over 100 square meters, there were tens of thousands of large and small bows, each bow placed on a special stone pedestal, with words carved on it. At this moment, there were dozens of people in the War Bow Hall, trying out bows in front of the stone pedestals.

  Xiao Yi walked up to a stone pedestal, on which was placed a black stone bow. The bow was entirely black, with two tiger heads carved at either end. In the tiger's mouths, a crystal clear bowstring was stretched taut. Xiao Yi looked at the pedestal and saw that it was inscribed: "Black Stone Bow, forged from the bones, tendons, and teeth of the ferocious Black Toothed Tiger. Requires three jin of strength to draw, can withstand nine jin of force."

  Xiao Yi knew that under the one-star Archaic Beast, the Archaic Beasts were divided into three ranks: upper, middle, and lower. The lower-ranked Archaic Beasts encompassed all ordinary wild beasts, with strength equivalent to humans who had cultivated one to thirty-five Heavenly Veins. The peak of these lower-ranked Archaic Beasts was almost comparable to the power of a Blood Refining Small Success. Black Tooth Tigers were considered a relatively common type among the lower-ranked Archaic Beasts and could occasionally be seen in the ancient forests. In this War Bow Hall, such black stone bows were also the most numerous.

  Without lingering in front of the black stone bow, Xiao Yi walked straight to a stone platform. On this platform was placed a green iron bow with a pure green body, ancient cloud patterns carved on it, and crystal clear bowstrings that shone with a cold light, as thick as a small finger.

  "Qingyun bow, cast from blue iron, with the lower part of the body made from the tendons of the qingyun leopard, requiring nine jin of force to draw, and able to withstand eighteen jin of force."

  It was just then! Xiao Yi's gaze locked in place, and just as he wanted to reach out and take the bow, a cold voice came from far away.

  "Wait!"

  Xiao Yi's eyebrows furrowed slightly, his movements swift and decisive as he directly took the Qingyun bow into his hands. The cyan iron bow was four feet wide and weighed eight hundred catties. As soon as he grasped the bow, a chill ran through his entire body.

  "Speak slower, you didn't hear!"

  At this time, a person walked in front of Xiao Yi. This was a young man that Xiao Yi recognized, who was the same person as Shi Qian when they entered the mountain to hunt together. His name was Shi Yuan. Yesterday, he had a great battle with the immortal soldiers and although he didn't manage to kill any of them, he did obtain half of an immortal soldier's skeleton. With this, his cultivation broke through and his five heavenly vein cultivation increased to six.

  Shi Yuan looked at Xiao Yi in front of him, and a inexplicable sense of disgust arose in his heart. Without any real ability, without even participating in the battle, he had already taken away one of the immortal bones, which belonged to Shi Gong, the tribe's pharmacist. But in Shi Yuan's eyes, this was unfair. An outsider, how could he share their spoils?