Match

The primary objective moving forward.

Is to improve Moving Target Shooting and the use of the traditional bow.

Jiang Ran shifted his focus away from the panel and turned to look at Meng Xi beside him: "Which training room is she in?"

Meng Xi raised her hand and pointed toward the end of the hallway: "Number three, the traditional bow section."

Jiang Ran nodded, handed the signed contract back to Meng Xi, and turned to walk in that direction.

The door to training room number three was left ajar.

Jiang Ran pushed the door open.

The indoor lighting was soft, and directly facing the door was a row of 50-meter standard target lanes.

A tall figure stood with her back to the door, holding a Seven-Dou Traditional Bow in her hand.

It was Li Xintong.

She was dressed in black sportswear, her long hair tied into a neat ponytail at the back of her head; even just from her silhouette, one could feel an aura of extreme focus.

Whoosh...

The arrow left the string, the sound of it piercing the air crisp and clear.

On the target fifty meters away, another arrow appeared.

Dead center, hitting the bullseye perfectly.

Li Xintong slowly lowered the bow, seemingly unsurprised by the result, then turned around, her cold gaze landing on Jiang Ran at the doorway.

"You're here."

Jiang Ran's mouth twitched slightly at these words, and he nodded.

Li Xintong placed the bow in her hand onto a rack to the side, "I heard you haven't practiced archery in a long time?"

"It's alright." Jiang Ran walked into the training room and closed the door behind him, "I still play around with it occasionally."

Li Xintong stared at Jiang Ran for two seconds, seemingly judging the truth of his words.

Then she nodded, turned, took another Seven-Dou War Bow from the rack, and handed it to Jiang Ran.

"We're switching to the Seven-Dou Bow this time, dare to try?"

"Sure." Jiang Ran nodded calmly.

A Seven-Dou Bow was roughly equivalent to a 90-pound draw weight, which was already considered a heavy bow for the average person; there were few who could draw it steadily and maintain their aim.

But for him now...

It was simply too easy.

The two stood side by side behind the firing line.

Li Xintong pulled an arrow from her quiver, nocked it onto the bowstring, turned her head, and glanced at Jiang Ran.

"Old rules, ten arrows, fifty-meter target."

"3, 2, 1..."

The moment the number one fell, both of them released their bowstrings simultaneously.

Thrum!

Two sounds of vibration rang out, almost overlapping.

The arrows transformed into two black shadows and shot out rapidly.

Jiang Ran didn't even look at the targets.

The instant the arrows left the strings, he already knew the result.

His body's instincts, the feedback from his five senses, and the intuition brought by his Prediction allowed him to clearly perceive the trajectory of the arrows.

Dead center.

No, even more than that.

He heard the sound of the arrows piercing through the target paper and embedding themselves into the backstop.

Li Xintong beside him clearly heard the sound as well; her movements paused imperceptibly, but she immediately returned to normal and quickly pulled the second arrow from her quiver.

Nock, draw, aim, release.

The movements were fluid and continuous.

Jiang Ran likewise did not pause.

The two fired arrow after arrow, the rhythm frighteningly fast.

The only sounds left in the training room were the vibrations of the bowstrings and the whistling of arrows through the air.

Ten arrows, all fired in less than 30 seconds.

After the final arrow left the string, Li Xintong lowered her bow.

She looked toward the target fifty meters away.

Then, her delicate brows slowly furrowed.

There was only one arrow on the target...

With blue fletching, it was her arrow.

Furthermore, it was in the 2-ring.

As for Jiang Ran's arrows... the ten with red fletching were nowhere to be found on the target.

This meant that Jiang Ran had not only hit the bullseye with all ten shots, but every subsequent arrow had passed clean through the center...

Li Xintong remained silent for a long time.

She turned to look at Jiang Ran, her gaze incredibly complex.

"You..." She opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to ask something, but in the end, she didn't say it.

Jiang Ran met her gaze calmly.

If not for his heightened senses and superhuman level of body control, he might not have won this match so easily.

Li Xintong's strength had improved far too quickly.

In the past, when she used the Five-Dou Bow, she was considered excellent, but she was nowhere near this level of effortless mastery.

The Seven-Dou Bow seemed light in her hands, and her movements were terrifyingly stable.

This was not normal.

Even if an ordinary person trained every day, it was nearly impossible to jump from a Five-Dou to a Seven-Dou bow in a few months while maintaining such precision.

Muscles needed time to adapt, and force-application patterns needed adjustment.

This was a chasm that could not be crossed by willpower alone.

Unless...

A thought flashed through Jiang Ran's mind, but he did not reveal it.

"Continue tomorrow." Li Xintong spoke suddenly, her voice cold.

After saying this, she turned and left, not even bothering to retrieve her arrow from the target lane.

Jiang Ran watched her retreating back, lost in thought.

However, now was not the time to dig deeper.

Jiang Ran shook his head, placed the bow back on the rack, and walked out of the training room.

For the next few hours, Jiang Ran began his formal instruction at the club.

Just as Meng Xi had said, his classes were packed.

But not many were actually there to learn technique; most of the students were clearly there for his face.

"Coach Jiang, is this posture correct?" A young woman in tight sportswear struck a clearly incorrect drawing pose, her eyes constantly darting toward Jiang Ran.

"Lower your wrist a bit." Jiang Ran walked over and gestured vaguely at the position, deliberately keeping his distance. "Use your back muscles to generate force, don't just use your arms."

"Coach Jiang, can you teach me hand-in-hand? I just can't find the feel for it." Another girl asked, batting her eyelashes.

"Practice according to my demonstration earlier; find the feeling of using your back muscles first." Jiang Ran's tone was calm and unmoved.

The teaching difficulty was much higher than at the combat gym.

At the combat gym, most students genuinely wanted to improve their fighting ability, at least on the surface.

But here...

Jiang Ran looked at the clearly distracted students and sighed inwardly.

At least the experience points were still growing.

[Compound Bow Shooting experience +2]

[Traditional Bow Shooting experience +3]

[Moving Target Shooting experience +1]

Although the growth was slow, it was better than nothing.

At six in the evening, Jiang Ran finished his last class and finally let out a sigh of relief as he walked out of the club.

He took out his phone and glanced at the address information Old Chen had sent.

It was a newly built commercial building less than five hundred meters away from the archery club.

It was a convenient walk.

Five minutes later, Jiang Ran stood in front of a six-story building.

The sign at the entrance read Voyage Group Training Center.

Jiang Ran pushed the door open and walked in.

The lobby was spacious and bright, with a young woman in professional attire sitting at the front desk.

Seeing Jiang Ran enter, she immediately stood up, a professional smile appearing on her face.

"May I ask if you are Mr. Jiang Ran?"

"I am." Jiang Ran nodded.

"President Chen has already given instructions." The woman's smile widened. "You can head straight to the third floor; he is waiting for you in the conference room."

"Thank you."

After thanking her, Jiang Ran walked to the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor.

When the elevator doors opened, Old Chen was already waiting at the entrance.

"You're here?" Old Chen patted Jiang Ran on the shoulder with a smile, though his eyes were bloodshot, as if he hadn't rested well. "Come, let me show you the place."

He led Jiang Ran through the corridor.

"This place was originally intended to be an executive training center," Old Chen said as they walked. "But recently... circumstances have changed, so we adjusted the focus."

He pushed open a set of double doors.

Inside was a standard combat training arena, larger than the main training area of the Hurricane Fighting Gym, and equipped with even more comprehensive gear.

Beyond the standard punching bags and ring, there were specialized floor mats, and in the corner, there were even a few machines Jiang Ran couldn't name, which looked like some kind of reaction training devices.

"What do you think?" Old Chen asked.

"It's very good," Jiang Ran said truthfully. "The equipment is very professional."

As Old Chen listened, the smile on his face slowly faded.

He walked to the center of the training arena, turned around, and looked at Jiang Ran, his expression becoming serious.

"Jiang Ran, I won't waste time with pleasantries." His voice dropped. "You have only one task: to help me train their combat effectiveness."

He paused, emphasizing, "Note, I mean real combat.

Not flashy performance moves, nor techniques for tournament rules.

What I want is the ability to save one's life, counterattack, and solve problems under any circumstances."

Jiang Ran nodded calmly.

He understood the purpose behind all of this.

So, there was no need to ask further.

Seeing this reaction, a flash of approval crossed Old Chen's eyes.

He walked to the wall and pressed a button.

A door on the side of the training arena opened, and five men walked in.

They were all in their twenties or thirties, with lean builds and agile movements.

They stood in a row, their gazes fixed squarely on Jiang Ran.

Old Chen walked in front of the five and gave Jiang Ran a brief introduction: "This is the first batch. Others will rotate in later."

He turned to the five men, his voice stern: "Jiang Ran will be your coach from now on. You all know what needs to be done. His words are my words."

The five replied in unison: "Understood!"

Old Chen nodded, turned to Jiang Ran, patted his shoulder, and said softly: "I'll leave it to you."

With that, he left the training arena, and the door closed softly.

In the vast space, only Jiang Ran and the five men remained.

Jiang Ran's gaze swept over the five.

After just a brief assessment, he knew that all five of them actually had some foundation.

However, at this moment, although the five appeared obedient on the surface, there was clear skepticism in their eyes.

They were also sizing Jiang Ran up.

He was too young, looking even a few years younger than the youngest among them.

His build was well-proportioned, but he didn't have the exaggerated muscles of a typical combat athlete.

His temperament leaned more toward being gentle, like a teacher at a school rather than a combat expert.

Jiang Ran had encountered this situation several times at the gym.

The solution was simple.

Jiang Ran walked up to the five and spoke calmly: "From now on, I am responsible for improving your combat effectiveness.

Before we begin, I need to understand your current level of combat proficiency."

Hearing this, the man with the crew cut standing on the far left brightened, immediately stepping forward, eager to try: "Coach, how do you want to assess us? Sparring?"

He clearly wanted to trade blows with Jiang Ran to test his bottom line.

Seeing this, Jiang Ran was slightly taken aback, then nodded.

"Yes." His voice remained calm. "But what I meant was..."

"All of you, come at me together."