5 Archery Genius - A Bet
Coming out of his room, Caleb Li walked slowly toward the training ground. He had consolidated his cultivation realm as a Rank-1 Mortal Warrior.
It was evening, and the sun was already setting, leaving only a few young people on the training ground. Most of them were younger than him, but their cultivation was higher than his.
However, he didn't care. He arrived at the training field and looked at those sparring for a couple of seconds before he walked toward the archery zone. To the side was a rack of weapons.
He walked toward the rack and picked an ordinary bow. He held the bow and checked it, pulling the string to get a feel for its power.
After pulling the bowstring and taking many shooting stances with the bow, he took an arrow and went to the shooting range.
He started from the lowest range - 20 Meters.
Taking a deep breath, he assumed the stance of the Whispering Wing Technique and nocked the bowstring with an arrow.
Whoosh!
He released the arrow. And behold, he was stunned for a couple of seconds.
The arrow didn't even reach half of the 20-meter mark before it stuck in the ground, and from the trajectory of the arrow, it was moving far wide from the target.
He heard a chuckle from beside him and turned his head. A boy not older than 14 looked at him and laughed at his pathetic technique.
The boy proudly took an arrow, nocked his bowstring, and fired at the target without even looking.
Bang!
Bullseye!
It was not the 20-meter target range but the 50-meter range. From his stance and technique, Caleb Li found he was not a novice like him; he must have been practicing archery from a younger age.
The boy didn't know what was going on in his mind; he dropped the bow proudly and, with a smug look, he sauntered out of the training ground with a ratifying bravado.
Caleb Li didn't know whether to laugh or cry, looking at a kid still wet behind the ears, taunting him with his pathetic skills. He was the fearsome Killshot, but now, some kid was looking down on him.
Shaking his head, he threw the thought out of his mind and began to practice in earnest. As a sniper, he knew the requirement to hit his target, and one of them was patience.
After shooting arrows consistently for thirty minutes, his mediocre self was evolving; the stance of the Whispering Wing was getting obvious in his shot.
Now, he was hitting the target, but not the bullseye. He took a short rest and tried to remember everything he learned and compared it with the Whispering Wind technique.
The only major flaw he found was his body was yet to attune to the sudden change. And with his continuous practice, his body was fine-tuning itself.
Back to the training, he began to shoot again. There was a subtle difference in stance. His body began to radiate the aura of confidence.
Bang!
Bullseye.
A bright smile appeared on his face when he hit the bullseye. "Finally," he muttered.
Even though he was happy, his reasoning told him to continue. And with that, he continued to shoot.
At first, out of ten shots, one would hit the bullseye, but slowly, it increased. And before nightfall, he was hitting the bullseye eight out of ten times.
With a satisfying smile on his face, he returned to the small room, only to find food inside. He knew who brought the food, and his face etched with deep gratitude.
He knew how fortunate he was to meet such a kind old man. It was no secret that the Ancient realm was a terrifying world where the lives of humans meant nothing.
It was a dog-eat-dog world, following the principle of survival of the fittest. And with that mindset, those who came from Blue Earth joined the fray. The battle of survival could not be imaginable.
Even though the fatality was extremely high, people were coming in every day, all in the hope of getting stronger.
Early the next morning, Caleb Li rushed to the training before anyone else and began his training. This time, he only missed the bullseye once and when he corrected his posture.
Every shot was a bullseye, even without him looking at it.
When people started arriving at the training ground, he had moved to the 50-meter shooting range.
With such high proficiency in the 20-meter shooting range, Caleb Li didn't find it too difficult to get used to the longer distance. Even though he couldn't hit the target, he knew it was only a matter of time.
As he was practicing with all his heart, not caring about the strange gaze thrown at him, he heard a voice behind him.
"What are you doing?" The voice was laced with ridicule.
Caleb Li stopped his shot and turned to face the voice. Of course, he would be, if not the boy that previously taunted him yesterday.
"What do you mean? Can't you see for yourself?" He responded calmly.
The boy was furious, and he gritted his teeth. "You're a trash that could barely hit the 20-meter range. So what are you doing if not to cause problems for those who are serious with their training."
His voice was loud, gathering the attention of everyone on the training ground. Quickly, there was a crowd surrounding them.
Almost everyone knew of the boy. He came from an affluent clan, the Fu clan, and he was the young master. His name was Fu Gang.
Fu Gang was a genius in the village. At the age of fourteen, he was already at Rank-3 Mortal realm. Apart from that, he was very talented at archery.
No one among his age could compare to him.
Caleb Li didn't know all this, and only looked at the kid as if he was looking at a fool. "Who the heck are you to tell me where I should train?"
There was one thing he learned from the memory of the previous owner of the body. When you're in the Ancient realm, never show your weakness.
That was beaten deep into the bone of every child of Blue Earth, and that, he would follow.
Hmm!
Gasped!
The crowd was stunned. They didn't expect a person dressed in ordinary old clothes would dare to speak to the young master of the Fu clan like that.
"Y-You…" Fu Gang was burning in fury. "Do you know who I am and my father?"
"I don't care. Besides, do you know who I am and my father?" Caleb Li retorted.
Once again, everyone was stunned. They looked at each other, not understanding what was going on. Who was he, and who was his father?
As for Fu Gang, he was speechless. He wanted to intimidate this peasant with his father's name, but he never expected him to throw it back at him.
Looking at their stunned expression, Caleb Li shook his head inwardly. He realized how inexperienced these children were in the act of bullshitting.
"Instead of wasting my time. Why don't we make a bet?"
Fu Gang knitted his brow and took a deep breath. "What bet?"
"We go back to the 20-meter range and shoot ten shots. The person with the highest bullseye will give the winner money."
"I don't need money. What I require is never to set eyes on you in this training ground. Do you agree?"
"I agree, and if I win, you give me 10 silver coins and never bother me again. Dare you agree?"
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