Ju Hua waved his hand, recalling the two arrows he had shot earlier. Then he drew his bow again and aimed at the God-Fiend up ahead.
As expected, his arrow hit once more.
In truth, although Ju Hua had dabbled in archery in his youth, he had never touched a bow again during his later cultivation.
But archery, when you got down to it, was simply the use of "wind" and "Heaven and Earth." Ju Hua had comprehended the complete Way of Gale, and his understanding of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth had advanced by leaps and bounds over the past six months. He was not far from the Dao Domain Realm, so shooting arrows was no difficult task for him.
Sure enough, Ju Hua lived up to expectations, hitting every shot!
Of course, Ju Hua didn't agree with the blue-robed Loose Immortal's claim that he was a master archer.
If he hadn't known any better, that would have been one thing. But through Desolate Era, Ju Hua knew that in ancient times, those known as master archers were all beings who had mastered the art of applying heartforce to their arrows.
The most famous of them, Hou Yi, as well as Qi, the master archer of the ancient Human Race—those were the true master archers.
Their arrows were not only astonishingly powerful; their accuracy was terrifying. Even from ten thousand or a hundred thousand miles away, they could hit their mark with a single shot!
Compared to them, Ju Hua's archery was utterly insignificant!
"Heartforce?"
The thought flashed through Ju Hua's mind. He shook his head. Without the proper method, trying to figure out how to wield heartforce from scratch was almost impossibly difficult.
In Desolate Era, the protagonist, Ji Ning, had only figured out how to apply heartforce to his sword after fighting for a long time in the Quiet World, thanks to a fortuitous coincidence!
Putting aside his distracting thoughts, Ju Hua continued to draw his bow and nock an arrow. He focused intently on the God-Fiend ahead. Heart, eye, and arrow as one—that was the foundation of archery. Ju Hua had understood it as a boy, and it still came naturally to him now.
The arrow flew from the bowstring, and Ju Hua's "heart" followed it to the God-Fiend.
Boom!
The arrow's terrifying might blasted a huge hole through the God-Fiend's body, and Ju Hua's "heart" dissipated along with it.
"This feeling..."
Ju Hua was slightly startled, but then he understood. It was heartforce.
He had long since reached the threshold of heartforce, but without a method to use it, that mastery had been little more than an empty formality. Just now, though he knew that figuring out how to wield heartforce from scratch was almost impossibly difficult, he had still tried instinctively.
And when he did, he found that he wasn't completely without a clue. He had touched the very edge of the method for attaching heartforce to his arrows!
Afraid that the familiar sensation would fade, Ju Hua didn't want to think too much. He quickly drew his bow and nocked another arrow, then let it fly. The familiar feeling returned. Though the arrow had only just left the bow, Ju Hua knew it would hit.
Sure enough, the next instant, that fearsome arrow struck another God-Fiend.
Ju Hua shot one arrow after another, and the sensation within him grew clearer with each shot.
In fact, so he could keep shooting for longer, Ju Hua deliberately reduced the arrows' power later on, letting the God-Fiends hold out a little longer.
About half an hour later, only one of the fleeing God-Fiends remained. Ju Hua was filled with joy. Setting everything else aside, he had managed to make an initial breakthrough in archery.
If anyone called him a master archer now, he would gladly accept the title!
"Let's finish you off!"
Ju Hua looked at the last God-Fiend fleeing ahead and shot another arrow. With his heartforce attached to it, even though it was only a casual shot, it should have—
"Hm?"
Ju Hua frowned and abruptly sent a voice transmission to the Loose Immortals controlling the Shuixuan Warship. "Stop!"
Ju Hua's sudden order left the Loose Immortals momentarily stunned, but they didn't hesitate to bring the Shuixuan Warship to a halt.
"Daoist Ju Hua, did your hand slip just now?" the blue-robed Loose Immortal beside him joked.
"No!" Ju Hua shook his head, watching the God-Fiend still fleeing in disarray as his brow furrowed.
That arrow should have hit its mark. But halfway through its flight, the heartforce attached to it had suddenly vanished, causing the shot to miss.
"According to Desolate Era, heartforce is a mysterious power. If something can cut off my heartforce, then there's definitely something unusual up ahead!" The thought flashed through Ju Hua's mind, and he suddenly froze.
He had been so engrossed in the use of heartforce that he hadn't even noticed something this obvious!
The God-Fiends had been pursued and shot down one after another, yet they had always fled in the same direction. If they had scattered, and the group had pursued them using only the Shuixuan Warship, surely at least two or three of them would have escaped?
"There must be an ambush!" The thought flashed through Ju Hua's mind. He turned and asked, "Does anyone have spirit-beast puppets? Send a few ahead to scout."
As soon as Ju Hua spoke, a crowd of Loose Immortals stepped forward, each using their own methods. Soon, a swarm of spirit-beast puppets headed up ahead.
Almost every cultivator had some experience with spirit-beast puppets, and those present were all Loose Immortals—the very pinnacle of mortal cultivators!
So, unlike when Ju Hua had asked about archery, this time far more people stepped forward.
Under the watchful eyes of the Loose Immortals, a great many spirit-beast puppets surged forward. But before long, some of the Loose Immortals' expressions changed.
"Daoist Ju Hua, I've lost contact with my puppet!" one Loose Immortal said.
"Same here!"
"Me too!"
"..."
Many Loose Immortals spoke up, but Ju Hua said nothing. He only nodded, his face as calm as still water.
As expected, something was wrong up ahead! They had nearly entered it themselves just now.
"We're still in contact with our spirit beasts," the other Loose Immortals said.
"What's going on up ahead?" Ju Hua asked directly.
"It seems to be some kind of independent pocket space!" one Loose Immortal said uncertainly.
"But we can still see that God-Fiend from here, and we can see your spirit beasts clearly too!" another Loose Immortal said.
"I don't know. This may be some peculiar perilous region formed by the Autumn Mountain Great Marsh." The Loose Immortal shook his head, then continued, "My spirit beast is an Empty Green Snake. I couldn't be mistaken!"
"Whatever it is, the place ahead is no safe ground. We mustn't enter rashly!"
"Right, we can't rush in!"
"Let's investigate the situation first..."
"..."
The other Loose Immortals spoke up one after another. After thinking for a moment, Ju Hua asked, "Would any of you be willing to send your spirit beasts farther in to investigate?"
"I will!" one Loose Immortal immediately answered.
"My spirit beast can go too!" another said.
"..."
Soon, dozens of Loose Immortals agreed. As for those who remained silent, Ju Hua didn't force them.
Spirit beasts weren't expendable like puppets. Some people had casually captured theirs to use as mounts or scouts. They naturally felt no attachment to them and didn't care whether they lived or died.
But others had raised their spirit beasts from infancy, making them companions who shared life and death. Putting himself in their shoes, Ju Hua was naturally unwilling to force them.