Shoot Leaf Cup

Shoot Leaf Cup

Three days later.

Ji Xinghuo wore the Power Shoes Zhong Ming had given him and glided swiftly along a park walkway.

The roller assembly installed in the soles was powered by miniature motors and could reach a top speed of fifty kilometers per hour. An intelligent control system inside the soles not only maintained the wearer's balance at all times, but also keenly sensed how much force they exerted, assisting with speed and direction control.

Go when you wanted to go, stop when you wanted to stop; simple to operate and smooth in motion.

Power Shoes were the best choice for short-distance travel! In less than three minutes, Ji Xinghuo arrived at Qishan Wutong Archery Hall.

The Archery Hall was especially bustling today. Besides it being the weekend, the Shoot Leaf Cup competition was also about to begin.

Most of the people coming and going nearby carried bow cases, gathering in twos and threes to chat.

Like Ji Xinghuo, they were all contestants.

"Yunhai."

Ji Xinghuo stopped, and the rollers retracted into the soles, turning them into an ordinary pair of sneakers.

As soon as he entered the Archery Hall, he spotted Lu Yunhai among the crowd. He wore clothes marked as a referee's uniform today, making him very conspicuous.

Many trainees surrounded Lu Yunhai, asking him about the competition.

Hearing someone call him, Lu Yunhai turned and saw Ji Xinghuo. He walked over and asked, "How's your preparation going?"

Ji Xinghuo nodded and gave him a confident smile.

Over the past few days, he had deliberately increased his archery practice, especially for moving and random targets beyond fifty meters. He felt more confident now.

"You understand the schedule, right?" Lu Yunhai confirmed.

"Of course."

Ji Xinghuo had received the Shoot Leaf Cup competition procedures on the day he registered and read through them carefully twice after returning home.

The competition consisted of ten rounds, with the difficulty increasing each round.

The first three rounds were group stages, held separately at the seven Archery Halls jointly hosting the competition. The contestants would compete in groups over the course of a morning, and the top three hundred scorers out of nearly three thousand participants would advance to the fourth through sixth elimination rounds.

For the afternoon elimination rounds, the contestants would gather at an archery range on the outskirts of Chang'an and use three rounds to determine the top thirty-two.

From the seventh to the ninth rounds, half the contestants would be eliminated each round.

The final four contestants would enter the tenth round to compete for the championship!

The entire schedule lasted only one day and was extremely tight.

After saying a few words, Lu Yunhai left. As one of the referees, he had a heavy workload today.

Ji Xinghuo found a corner in the Archery Hall and sat down, taking out his compound bow to calibrate it once more. The Shoot Leaf Cup emphasized practical combat. Sights were allowed, but stabilizers could not be installed, and every shot had to be completed within a time limit. Any score obtained after the time limit would be invalid.

He observed the other contestants around him. More than eighty percent used compound bows like his, but most of them were Target Bows rather than hunting bows.

After all, this was a competition. There was no requirement for lethality, so Target Bows had the advantage.

Among the remaining twenty percent were traditional bows and barebows. There were dozens of different models and forms combined, along with many obscure bow types that were difficult to identify.

Traditional bows and barebows tested one's archery skills even more. Anyone who dared to compete with those two types of bows could not be weak.

Several highly sought-after contestants used traditional bows.

Fans surrounded them, and they kept signing autographs.

However, Ji Xinghuo had only been learning archery for two or three weeks. Other than Lu Yunhai, he did not know anyone in this circle, nor did anyone know him.

"The competition is about to begin."

The Archery Hall's broadcast came on, and a woman's voice said, "All contestants, please proceed to the appropriate venue according to your group assignments."

Qishan Wutong Archery Hall had over four hundred contestants, divided into five groups, with each group assigned its own floor of the archery range.

Ji Xinghuo went to the fifth floor, where the seventy or eighty contestants in his group gradually arrived.

Several referees maintained order.

"The first round of shooting begins now." A referee called out loudly, "Contestants whose names and numbers are called, please come forward. Four at a time, and stand in the designated shooting area. Please keep quiet so as not to affect the contestants on the field."

The venue quickly fell silent.

The referee called out four contestants' names. They stood in a line, with the first-round targets fifty meters ahead of them. A timer stood beside each person.

"One minute to prepare."

The contestants had one minute to make their shooting preparations. Once the time was up, they had to fire the first arrow within three seconds; then they had another ten seconds to prepare before firing the second arrow. Every interval was ten seconds, followed by three seconds to shoot, until all ten arrows had been fired.

The minute passed quickly. With the beep of the buzzer, the three-second countdown began.

Thwap! Thwap! Thwap!

The bowstrings snapped in unison as the four contestants fired their first arrows almost simultaneously.

Three minutes later, that group had completed their ten-arrow shooting.

Ji Xinghuo looked at the targets opposite them. The first round had the lowest difficulty, but perhaps because they were too nervous to go first, only one of the four contestants had achieved a perfect score of ten bullseyes. The other three scored between ninety and ninety-seven points.

Judging from their frustrated expressions, they had clearly underperformed.

The referees counted the rings and recorded the scores.

"Second group, come forward."

Group after group completed their ten-arrow shooting. Ji Xinghuo noticed that most contestants scored around ninety-five points, while very few managed a full hundred.

These exceptionally skilled contestants were almost all Aberrants. They were either Rangers like him or Trackers.

Half an hour later.

Ji Xinghuo heard his name and stepped onto the field with three other contestants.

The eyes of the contestants present all turned toward them. However, they were watching the female contestant beside Ji Xinghuo. She seemed rather famous, and many people recognized her.

"One minute to prepare."

Ji Xinghuo's mind was calm. He drew an arrow and nocked it on Yi Feng, waiting for the preparation time to end.

Beep!

The instant the buzzer sounded, he quickly fired the first arrow. Thwap! Bullseye.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the target beside him. It was also a bullseye, and the shot had been fired almost in sync with his own.

Only then did Ji Xinghuo notice the person beside him, but he did not let it distract him. As soon as the ten seconds passed, he fired his second arrow.

Bullseye.

Bullseye.

Bullseye...

Ji Xinghuo's hands were fast and steady, like precisely programmed mechanical hands. Every shooting motion was completely identical, without the slightest deviation.

After ten arrows, he had scored a hundred points.

When the referees confirmed the ring counts, a wave of admiration rose from the sidelines. Three of the four contestants in this group had scored full marks, while the remaining one was no slouch either, with ninety-nine points.

Ji Xinghuo exchanged glances with the other two full-score contestants. They nodded to one another before leaving the field.

It took an hour for all contestants to complete the first round.

The second round followed immediately after.

This round involved fixed targets at seventy meters. The difficulty increased considerably, and every contestant's score dropped to varying degrees compared to the previous round, averaging around eighty points.

Of course, the Aberrants with superb archery skills still maintained a high standard.

Ji Xinghuo's second-round score was still a hundred points.

In the third round, the targets were moved out to one hundred meters. The difficulty increased dramatically, and quite a few contestants missed the targets entirely. Most scored below fifty points.

Ji Xinghuo still scored full marks!

After three rounds, only a handful of contestants could still score a hundred points. They were basically all Aberrants, and Ji Xinghuo consequently drew some attention as well.

"Let's get acquainted."

The female contestant from his group approached and introduced herself. "My name is Fang Yinping. I'm from Chang'an, an intermediate Ranger."

She looked around thirty. Her features were valiant, and she stood about one meter sixty-five tall. Her balanced figure was dressed in a white archer's uniform, with a barebow slung across her back, emphasizing her capable air. She radiated an agile, athletic vitality.

Ji Xinghuo shook her hand and released it immediately, nodding. "Ji Xinghuo, junior Ranger."

"Mr. Ji is quite young!"

Fang Yinping had already looked him over several times. She laughed and asked, "With archery skills this good, how come I've never heard of you before?"

She had already regarded Ji Xinghuo as a formidable opponent in this competition.

Ji Xinghuo answered honestly, "I haven't been learning archery for long. This is my first competition."

Fang Yinping froze for a moment. A trace of displeasure flashed across her face. She clearly did not believe him and thought he was feeding her nonsense.

"Then I wish Mr. Ji a good ranking." With that, Fang Yinping turned and left.

Ji Xinghuo watched her retreating back and shook his head helplessly.

I was telling the truth...

After the first three rounds, the contestants all had a good idea whether they could advance.

Most had only come to join in the fun and see high-level archers in action. They had never expected to advance to the elimination rounds, so after finishing the three rounds, they left the Archery Hall.

Ji Xinghuo waited at the entrance for half an hour before Lu Yunhai finally finished his work and came out. The two went to lunch together.

Lu Yunhai asked, "How were your results?"

Ji Xinghuo picked up the new phone he had only used for a few days and held the screen up for him to see. It displayed his competition results and a notice that he had advanced to the elimination rounds.

"I knew you'd have no problem!"

That afternoon.

After returning home and resting for an hour, Ji Xinghuo set off for Zhongnan Mountain in the southern outskirts of Chang'an, arriving at an outdoor archery range built in a valley.

The venue was huge. A tall screen had been erected beside the entrance to the assembly area, playing a promotional video for the Shoot Leaf Cup. A podium had been set up beneath the screen, and every shooting position in the venue was equipped with a hovering camera for live broadcasts, making the event look very official.

The three hundred contestants who had advanced to the elimination rounds gradually arrived.

At two in the afternoon.

The Hall Masters of the seven Archery Halls stepped onto the podium, five of whom were Aberrants.

Ji Xinghuo immediately noticed Yang Tianqing, the Hall Master of Qishan Wutong Archery Hall. Lu Yunhai often mentioned him to Ji Xinghuo. Yang Tianqing was a Super Esper, and his Class Template was also Ranger. His archery skills were exceptionally brilliant, and he was extremely powerful. Only those who enrolled in his courses could meet him.

Yang Tianqing was of average build, neither tall nor short, with empty hands. Yet anyone could tell at a glance that he was no ordinary middle-aged man.

His gaze was extraordinarily sharp, like blades.

Many contestants below the stage recognized Yang Tianqing and looked at him curiously, but none dared meet his gaze.

Ji Xinghuo looked at him twice before turning away.

"Good afternoon, archers!" Standing on the stage, Yang Tianqing spoke on behalf of the seven Archery Halls, offering a few formal remarks and encouraging the contestants to show their strength and strive for a good ranking. The rewards for this competition were generous. The top eight would all receive prize money, and the champion could win two hundred thousand! This was somewhat more than in previous years, but the contestants were not surprised. Many had come precisely for the prize money.

"Let's begin."

Yang Tianqing did not waste words and immediately announced the start of the fourth round. The contestants entered the venue according to their newly drawn groups.