Li Bufan panted violently, his chest heaving like a bellows. The icy air drawn into his lungs brought a faint burning pain. That rapid series of lightning-fast bursts just now—especially the final killing blow of Mighty Ox Fist, which had gathered all his qi and blood—had nearly drained more than half his strength. The intense strain on his mind also brought a powerful sense of exhaustion.
Before Li Bufan's astonished eyes, the figure that should have died actually swayed, braced himself against a tree trunk, and struggled back to his feet!
Wu Hai's face was pale as paper. The leather armor over his chest had visibly caved in, its edges even cracked in places. The blood constantly spilling from the corners of his mouth showed that his internal organs had suffered severe injuries. Yet he had indeed stood up, his eyes burning with even greater madness and venom as he stared fixedly at Li Bufan.
"Good... good... good!" Wu Hai's voice was hoarse and broken, every word accompanied by bloody froth. "What fierce fist force... hard and unmatched, at least five or six hundred catties of strength! But... cough, cough... this strength clearly has not reached Minor Mastery in Muscle Tempering! You have only just entered the Muscle Tempering realm!"
He gasped harshly several times, a ferocious grin of surviving disaster mixed with extreme hatred appearing on his face. "Kid... I admit I underestimated you! Your footwork is nimble, your fists fierce! But what a pity, what a pity! You are still lacking in realm! If you had truly reached Minor Mastery in Muscle Tempering, if that punch just now had been a little stronger, I absolutely would not be standing here now."
"You failed to kill me with one punch... that is your greatest mistake!" Wu Hai roared, bloodlust flooding his eyes. "Now it is my turn! Even if it costs me my life, today I will tear you into ten thousand pieces to avenge my brother!"
Boom!
Something seemed to explode within him. His qi and blood, sluggish from his grievous injuries, forcibly surged once more, even more violently than before!
Ignoring his dangling left arm and the fractured bones in his right shoulder, supported by nothing but sheer mad will, he suddenly pulled the long saber still embedded in the tree trunk free with his left hand and charged at Li Bufan again!
Li Bufan's heart jolted violently, and he inwardly cried out that things were bad! He had never imagined that after enduring his certain-kill punch, the other man would still possess such strength. Wu Hai was undoubtedly at the end of his tether now, but a dying beast's final counterattack was the most dangerous!
He did not dare slacken in the slightest. Suppressing his bodily exhaustion and the weakness in his qi and blood, he once again unleashed Spirit Monkey Three Leaps at full force and darted backward.
However, though Spirit Monkey Three Leaps granted him agility and turning ability far beyond those at the same level, in absolute straight-line speed, it ultimately still fell short of a higher-realm warrior who was burning his qi and blood at any cost!
What was more, Wu Hai completely disregarded his injuries. Every step he took sent snow flying, and his speed was actually a notch faster than during their earlier fight!
The distance between them was being narrowed bit by bit! The fierce wind of the saber was nearly scraping Li Bufan's back!
"Little beast! Where do you think you're running?! Give me your life!" Wu Hai's crazed roar pursued him relentlessly from behind.
At this critical moment, Li Bufan forcibly steadied his mind. He could not fight head-on, and he was slightly slower. He had to borrow an external force!
His gaze instantly locked onto the hunting bow he had thrown into the snow not far away earlier!
I must get the bow!
In the turn of a thought, his tactics were set. He no longer fled in a straight line. Instead, using the flexibility of Spirit Monkey Three Leaps, he began making irregular turns around the trees—abruptly stopping at times, doubling back at others—doing everything he could to disrupt Wu Hai's pursuit rhythm while cleverly adjusting his direction and circling toward where the hunting bow had landed.
Wu Hai roared again and again, his saber light continuously chopping into the trees and sending wood chips flying, yet each strike missed by a hair's breadth. Li Bufan's footwork was simply too agile and tricky; in this woodland, he moved like a fish in water.
Finally, after a perilous dodge close against a tree, less than three steps remained between Li Bufan and the hunting bow on the ground!
Now!
Just as Wu Hai swung and missed again, his old force spent, Li Bufan suddenly twisted aside and rolled. His movements were fluid and swift, and his right hand precisely scooped up the hunting bow from the snow!
Yet at the very instant he touched the hunting bow, Wu Hai's ferocious face was already close at hand. The gleaming long saber swept horizontally at his waist with a shrill tearing sound, swift and vicious, sealing off most of his room to evade!
Li Bufan's pupils contracted sharply. As he grabbed the bow, he arched backward with the momentum, executing an iron bridge. The blade passed perilously close to the tip of his nose! But his left arm, which held the bow, failed to evade completely!
Riiip—!
The sharp saber tip tore through the sleeve of his fur coat, leaving a horrifying wound on the outside of his left arm, so deep that bone could be seen! Blood instantly gushed out, staining both his sleeve and the bow red!
A piercing pain shot through him. Li Bufan gave a muffled groan, cold sweat instantly beading across his forehead. Yet he endured the agony, and with his body still leaning backward, he fiercely kicked off the ground with his right foot. As he slid backward, his right hand had already drawn an arrow from the quiver!
He nocked the arrow and drew the bow! The movements were slightly distorted by the intense pain, yet still astonishingly fast!
At such close range, there was no need to aim at all!
Whoosh!
The arrow flew from the string, shooting straight for Wu Hai's chest!
Wu Hai had not expected Li Bufan to counterattack so swiftly even while injured. Added to that, his charge had been too fierce for him to evade completely, so he could only barely twist aside!
Pfft!
The arrow failed to strike a vital spot. Instead, it buried itself viciously in his right thigh! The arrowhead sank several inches deep, and blood flowed freely!
"Ah! Damn you, brat!" Wu Hai howled in pain, stumbling as his pursuit immediately fell into disorder. The successive grievous wounds inevitably caused his aura to decline, and his face became even paler.
Seizing the chance, Li Bufan endured the agonizing pain in his left arm and once again unleashed Spirit Monkey Three Leaps with all his strength, springing backward over a great distance and temporarily widening the gap between them.
He did not dare pause in the slightest, nor did he have time to treat his wound. Keeping himself moving, he drew another arrow and nocked his bow once more!
At this moment, the two were about fifteen feet apart, forming a strange balance. Wu Hai had slowed due to his leg injury and exhaustion, unable to pounce upon him in an instant. Li Bufan's wounded left arm affected the bow's stability and force, and with only a limited number of arrows, he did not dare waste them carelessly.
Wu Hai panted heavily, madness still burning in his eyes. Dragging his injured leg, he advanced step by step, his long saber aimed at Li Bufan. "Let's see how many arrows you have left! Once I get close, I'll chop you into meat paste!"
Li Bufan's gaze was icy. His breathing was rapid from pain and running, yet the fingers gripping the bow remained extraordinarily steady. He kept moving, using the trees as cover as he searched for an opportunity to shoot.
Whoosh! Another arrow flew out, only to be knocked aside by Wu Hai's saber!
Whoosh! A second arrow flew past, grazing Wu Hai's shoulder!
Whoosh! The third arrow was dodged by Wu Hai twisting aside, and it embedded itself in the tree trunk behind him.
Only four arrows remained in the quiver! The pressure was immense!
Yet under this extreme life-and-death pressure, amid this ever-changing chase and exchange of shots, every image of Li Bufan's countless past archery practices, every adjustment to his breathing, every subtle difference in the sensation of exerting force, seemed to be forcibly refined, fused, and connected by an invisible giant hand!
[Heaven Rewards Diligence] fate surged madly!
A flash of enlightenment rose in his heart! His understanding of the bowstring's vibration, the arrow's flight, and predicting the target's movements suddenly rose to an entirely new level!
Archery had broken through to Minor Mastery! (3/2000)
An unprecedented sense of control welled up within him! It was as though the bow and arrows in his hands had become extensions of his body!
At that moment, Wu Hai closed in again, less than ten feet away! A savage grin appeared on his face as he raised his saber and prepared to pounce!
Now!
A cold gleam burst from Li Bufan's eyes. His breathing instantly settled, and even the searing agony in his left arm seemed temporarily suppressed! He swiftly drew arrows in succession!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three arrows in a row! They were so fast that it seemed there was only a single twang of the bowstring!
The first arrow shot straight for his face, forcing Wu Hai to hurriedly swing his saber to block!
The second arrow followed immediately, aimed at his heart. Startled, Wu Hai twisted his body again to parry, and sparks flew as the saber blade struck the arrowhead!
And in the instant when his old force had been exhausted, before new force could arise, and his body tilted slightly backward from blocking—
The third arrow arrived silently like a venomous snake leaving its hole, striking with perfect precision into his already wounded right thigh once more!
"Ugh, ah—!" Wu Hai let out an incomparably shrill scream. His right leg completely gave way, and he lost his balance, staggering violently forward as though he were about to fall face-first into the snow!
And in that fatal instant, as his body pitched forward in imbalance and his defenses lay completely open—
The final arrow in Li Bufan's hand had already been nocked! The bow was drawn full like the moon! The arrowhead flashed with the icy glint of death, firmly locked onto Wu Hai's forehead, slightly raised from pain and terror!
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
"It's over."
Li Bufan softly spoke those three words, and the fingers drawing the string quietly loosened.
Whoosh—!
The final arrow, like Death's sigh, silently tore through the air and precisely sank between Wu Hai's brows!
Pfft!
Wu Hai's forward lunge suddenly froze. The ferocity, pain, and madness on his face instantly solidified, turning into utter shock and disbelief. The light in his pupils extinguished swiftly like a dying candle in the wind.
He swayed once, then fell stiffly forward, crashing heavily into the snow and sending snowflakes splashing up. There was no sound from him again.
Only the fletching of the arrow standing from his brow trembled faintly in the frigid air.
Li Bufan remained in the posture after releasing the string, panting violently. Blood streamed from the wound on his left arm due to that final exertion, but he seemed entirely unaware of it.
Watching Wu Hai's corpse, now completely dead, Li Bufan slowly lowered the hunting bow. A massive wave of exhaustion and the weakness of having survived a calamity instantly swept over his entire body.
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