Huo Gen's Archery

Early the next morning, Huo Gen and Lu Feng appeared together at the entrance of Worryfree Village.

Huo Gen had prepared a light bow for Lu Feng. In his words, Lu Feng could not draw a heavy bow—and that was indeed true. For Lu Feng, a "beginner" at the One Soul Realm, a light bow with a lower draw weight was the most suitable choice.

"Have you used a bow before?" Huo Gen asked.

"I have, but I'm not proficient," Lu Feng answered honestly. Back when he cultivated the sword, he had dabbled in other weapons and tools as well. But his heart had been set on the sword, so he had not invested much effort into the others.

Huo Gen took a bracer from his robes and handed it to Lu Feng. "Put this on. Otherwise, if you keep drawing the bow later, your fingers might get hurt."

"Thank you, Brother Huo Gen." Lu Feng nodded in thanks and put it on. It fit perfectly, without the slightest discomfort, as though it had been made specifically for him.

Once they were ready, each held a homemade bow, one heavy and one light. Their quivers carried more than a dozen arrows as they set out on the hunt.

With a bow in hand and no worries at his back, if he encountered a wild wolf now, Lu Feng was confident he could shoot it dead within a few exchanges.

If he could learn profound archery, it might make up for an array master's weakness in actual combat.

"Shh. There's prey ahead," Huo Gen said softly, raising a hand to stop Lu Feng.

Lu Feng looked ahead. Other than the wind stirring the wild grass, everything was quiet. Where was the prey? He could not help wanting to ask.

But Huo Gen had already nocked an arrow and drawn his bow.

"Whoosh..."

Without the slightest hesitation, the arrow in Huo Gen's hand shot forth.

Just as Lu Feng thought it would hit nothing, a miserable cry suddenly rang out from the forest nearly a hundred paces away, followed by weak, dying "coo coo coo" sounds.

"It hit?" Lu Feng was stunned. From so far away, he had not even seen the prey, yet Huo Gen had struck it?

With disbelief written all over his face, Lu Feng walked toward where the arrow had landed.

Sure enough, a completely dead racoon rabbit lay in a pool of blood, the arrow ruthlessly pinning it to the ground.

"Amazing!" Lu Feng praised as he prepared to remove the racoon rabbit from the arrow.

"Wait. Take a careful look at the direction the arrow landed and the pattern of blood splatter around it," Huo Gen said.

Lu Feng understood that Huo Gen was instructing him, so he immediately began studying it seriously.

"From the direction of the arrow and the pattern of the blood spray, an expert can determine the archer's position. In a fight against people, that is no different from exposing your own location. It is extremely dangerous."

Lu Feng committed Huo Gen's words to heart, slowly pondering and comprehending them.

"I'll demonstrate another move for you." As soon as Huo Gen finished speaking, the bow in his hand was already fully drawn. He was so fast that Lu Feng had not even noticed when he nocked the arrow.

"See that wild pigeon flying over there? That's tonight's meal," Huo Gen called out. Before he had even finished speaking, the arrow in his hand flew out once more.

Without question, it hit again.

Prediction!

The word surfaced in Lu Feng's mind. Huo Gen had predicted the wild pigeon's flight path. It looked as though the pigeon had thrown itself into the net.

Lu Feng replayed Huo Gen's archery in his mind, sensing the force he used to draw and loose the bow. Was this truly something a mountain villager could possess? For the first time, doubt arose in him.

"To become an expert archer, the first thing you must master is prediction," Huo Gen said with a smile.

Under Huo Gen's guidance, Lu Feng also fired several arrows. At first, he could not even graze the prey's fur. Fortunately, Lu Feng had some prior experience, and his improvement was astonishingly rapid. By the later arrows, he had already captured eighty or ninety percent of the form.

"I hit it!" Lu Feng shouted. A wild bird then fell from the sky. He could be considered to have gained some grasp of the art of prediction.

Lu Feng connected it to arrays and felt that archery had some similarities with the Array Deployment Dao. Prediction was often used in laying arrays as well; after all, one could not wait for an enemy to step into an array of their own accord.

Watching Lu Feng's progress, Huo Gen smiled meaningfully.

The two placed the small beasts they had already hunted in a pile of rocks nearby, intending to take them back on their return journey.

They continued onward.

After walking for nearly half an hour, they had seen nothing but wild rabbits and birds. Lu Feng could not help asking, "Why haven't we seen any larger beasts?"

"That is rather strange." Huo Gen looked around them. "Ordinarily, this should already be an area where large beasts roam."

"Look!" Lu Feng suddenly cried, pointing ahead.

About fifty paces away from them stood a strange, pitch-black beast. It resembled a leopard, its entire body covered in black mane. Faint blue cloud-like patterns could be seen between its fur, and a dim glow flickered as it roared.

"A first-rank Netherworld Leopard, equivalent to a human at the Three Soul Realm. A spirit beast actually appeared here!" Huo Gen said with some fear.

Lu Feng looked at Huo Gen in surprise. Given his experience, it was not strange for him to know this. But for a villager from a small mountain village to be so familiar with spirit beasts was rather odd.

"Roar..."

The Netherworld Leopard opened its mouth and roared. Its four sharp fangs, upper and lower, gleamed coldly like blades. A string of blood hung from the corner of its mouth; clearly, it had just eaten quite a few beasts in the area.

"When it charges, we'll act when the chance comes," Huo Gen said as he and Lu Feng slowly backed away.

What Black and White Two Elders had feared—that Lu Feng would "do something foolish"—had finally happened. In such circumstances, how could Lu Feng flee alone?

Lu Feng gripped his bow tightly and called out to Huo Gen, "Brother Huo Gen, what is your cultivation level now?"

"What cultivation? I'm merely a bit stronger than most," Huo Gen replied self-mockingly, his eyes vigilantly fixed on the Netherworld Leopard.

Lu Feng was greatly surprised. Such miraculous archery actually came from the hands of an ordinary person?

An ordinary person possessed strength no less than twenty shi?

At that moment, the Netherworld Leopard roared again. Its front claws slashed down, and its entire body leaped forward, borrowing force from trees several times along the way. In the blink of an eye, it had arrived before Lu Feng and Huo Gen.

Since they had given up the notion of fleeing alone, they could only fight it to the death!

"You take the left, I'll take the right. Ambush it with arrows and cover each other," Huo Gen said quickly, his concentration rising to its limit.

Lu Feng did the same.

The Netherworld Leopard pounced onto the spot where they had been standing, but Lu Feng and Huo Gen had already used the terrain to hide themselves.

The two hid in the shadows, their bows fully drawn and aimed at the Netherworld Leopard.

The Netherworld Leopard seemed to catch a scent. It suddenly turned and slowly sniffed toward one spot, where Huo Gen was hidden not far away.

Eight meters, five meters, three meters...

Huo Gen, concealed in the grass, remained utterly motionless. He did not dare breathe loudly, and cold sweat streamed down his head. He knew very well that if he dared make any rash movement now, the Netherworld Leopard would kill him with a single pounce. Yet Huo Gen was not afraid. He trusted Lu Feng in the distance.

As the Netherworld Leopard gradually neared Huo Gen, Lu Feng finally moved from the other side. The arrow on his fully drawn bow shot out swiftly, aimed directly at the leopard's hind leg.

If its leg was injured, its speed would certainly decrease.

Lu Feng had not expected to kill this first-rank spirit beast with a single arrow, so he settled for the safer target of its hind leg.

"Clang..."

The sound of an arrow missing rang out. The shot had missed.

Lu Feng was not overly disappointed. He was still a novice in archery, so missed shots were inevitable. Yet he possessed abundant battle experience, and the instant the arrow missed, he shifted position.

At the same moment the arrow struck the ground, the Netherworld Leopard changed direction and sprang backward toward where Lu Feng had previously been.

In truth, when Lu Feng's arrow missed and the Netherworld Leopard's attention shifted, Huo Gen's arrow could have hit it. But merely hitting it would not kill it; instead, it would enrage it. At such close range, death would be unavoidable. Thus, Huo Gen had remained still.

He had been waiting for the very moment the Netherworld Leopard turned and leaped.

The arrow in Huo Gen's hand suddenly shot forth.

The Netherworld Leopard had already leaped up and was about to reach Lu Feng's position.

When it was suspended in midair after leaping, it was least able to evade. At that very moment, Huo Gen's arrow arrived.

"Pfft..." The arrow precisely sank into the Netherworld Leopard's hind leg, giving Lu Feng a lesson as though in demonstration.

With an enraged roar, the Netherworld Leopard turned around. No longer caring to sniff out the weak Lu Feng, it charged without hesitation toward Huo Gen's hiding place.

Huo Gen was, after all, an experienced hunter. The moment he loosed his arrow, he had immediately changed hiding places. This was not only an advanced awareness, but even more so confidence in the arrow he had fired.

Having pounced on empty air, the Netherworld Leopard grew even more furious. Blood gushed from its hind leg, and its originally dark green eyes had turned red.

After failing in one strike, it instantly turned and bounded toward the place it had previously sniffed out.

Lu Feng was no fool either. Though this was a life-and-death ordeal, it was also an excellent opportunity to learn. Lu Feng had not only seen Huo Gen shift positions the instant his arrow left his hand—he had learned it as well.

"Whoosh!"

Huo Gen fired another fierce arrow, tearing through the air.

The Netherworld Leopard in peak condition could certainly have dodged this arrow. But its injured hind leg had severely affected its reaction speed. It failed to evade in time, and Huo Gen's arrow tore through the skin on its back. Though it had only grazed past, it still inflicted no small wound.

This time, the Netherworld Leopard did not turn around. Instead, it continued probing toward Lu Feng's new position. Perhaps driven by an animal's instinct that the weak were prey to the strong, it understood Lu Feng was weaker and wished to devour him first.

Just as he was about to be discovered, Lu Feng focused completely, gripping his fully drawn bow as he waited for the right moment.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Clear sounds of air tearing came from above. Then Lu Feng saw a sight that left him dumbstruck.

Three spiraling arrows shot through the air side by side, maintaining the same strength and direction.

Three-Arrow Bow!

Lu Feng was speechless. The word "convinced" was no longer enough to describe Huo Gen's archery.

The injured Netherworld Leopard struggled to dodge. It successfully avoided two arrows, but could not escape the third, which struck its abdomen.

Its movements became even slower, though it was still far faster than an ordinary wolf.

As if it had lost all reason, the Netherworld Leopard crazily charged at Lu Feng, disregarding the wounds all over its body.

"Let's do this." Lu Feng gritted his teeth, and the arrow in his hand finally flew out.

It was aimed at the Netherworld Leopard's left eye.

"Pfft." The sound of flesh being pierced rang out. Lu Feng first rejoiced, but his expression immediately changed drastically.

At the critical moment, although he had successfully struck the Netherworld Leopard's left eye, he had failed to stop it from continuing its pounce.

The Netherworld Leopard raised its front claw, its enormous body already lunging fiercely above Lu Feng.