Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

Ning laughed softly.

“You…don’t seem that excited.” The black-robed youth sat in the lotus position above the black greatbow. He said in amazement, “I bet you don’t know who I am, right? Let me tell you. I am one of the top ten divine bows of the Primordial World, a high-grade Protocosmic spirit-treasure!”

“A Protocosmic spirit-treasure? Wonderful.” Ning revealed a smile and said a word of praise.

“But…I don’t feel as though you are that excited.” The black-robed youth frowned.

“That’s only because just a short while ago, I was given something even more precious.” Ning smiled. “Please introduce yourself to me, as well as this ancient Fiendgod.”

The black-robed youth nodded. “In the era of the ancient Primordial World, the major powers once killed an incredibly terrifying creature named ‘Rahu’. [1. This is the name of a Hindu demon that swallows the sun.] They used the various components of Rahu’s corpse, mixed with many other incomparably precious materials, to finally forge a top-grade Pure Yang spirit-treasure. That would be me…and the name given to me was the ‘Rahu Bow’. Over the course of countless ages after my creation, my spirit grew increasingly powerful until I finally evolved to become a Protocosmic spirit-treasure. As soon as I made my breakthrough, I became a high-grade Protocosmic spirit-treasure.”

“Oh.” Ning nodded.

“Just ‘oh’?! I’m one of the ten great divine bows of the Primordial Era! Only one bow, the legendary Houyi’s Bow, was ranked as the undisputed number one; the rest of us, such as the Qiankun Bow or the Blacknether Bow are all ranked on par with each other.” The black-robed youth said arrogantly, “In fact, during that great tribulation, all of Master’s Pure Yang treasures were damaged, and even the spirits of those treasures were destroyed. I was the only one left.”

Ning chortled. “But your bowstring is broken.”

“You can just help me get another bowstring, right?” The black-robed youth shook his head. “You need to understand that for divine bows like myself, the bow shaft is what matters; that’s where the increased power comes from. But of course, the bowstring is also very important. In the future, I’ll help guide you to picking or forging a good bowstring.”

“Alright.” Ning asked, “How should I bind you, then?”

“Just use your elemental ki. I’ll give you all the help I can,” the black-robed youth said. “I’ve been here for an eternity. I’ve been bored senseless.”

“Alright.” Ning immediately began to bind it.

Generally speaking, binding Mortal-ranked, Earth-ranked, Heaven-ranked, Immortal-ranked and Pure Yang treasures all had certain requirements in terms of elemental ki. For example, one had to at least be at the Void level to bind Immortal-ranked magic items, or at the Celestial Immortal level to bind Pure Yang treasures.

However, Protocosmic spirit-treasures had the blessings of Heaven and Earth. They were extremely mysterious…and if the spirits of the treasures was willing, they could allow even an ordinary mortal to use them!

If they were unwilling…even Celestial Immortals would be unable to bind them. Perhaps Pure Yang True Immortals could forcibly bind them, but if the spirit of the Protocosmic spirit-treasure were to resist, the binding process would be extremely tiresome. It would have to be done at one go; if one were to pause midway through, the efforts would be for naught, and one would have to start from scratch again.

Thus, binding a Protocosmic spirit-treasure was very troublesome. Fortunately, the Rahu Bow had a good impression of Ning. By overcoming the third forbidden zone, Ning received his acknowledgment.

……

Just a short while later, the binding process was complete.

Ning heft the Rahu Bow in his hands. He could sense the limitless power hidden deep within it; this was a sort of sinister might that also carried a sort of power that was akin to the ripples of water. This power was unfathomably deep and infinitely powerful.

“In you go.” Ning waved his hand, and the Fiendgod corpse next to him was collected as well.

Instantly, all of the ancient restrictive formations that had existed within the Riverfang Mountains were automatically deactivated. Previously, divine sense could not be used to search the region, but now it could.

Ning used his divine sense to sweep the region, locating the Goldfur Bearking and Patriarch Limitless outside the gorge.

“Time to go back.” Ning flew into the skies, then immediately executed a spatial teleportation. Entering the spatial ripples, Ning disappeared into thin air.

……

“Divine sense?” Both the Goldfur Bearking and Patriarch Limitless were stunned. There was no way to use divine sense within this region…but just now, they sensed someone scan them with it.

“The restrictions are gone.”

“The lightning zone is gone as well.” They quickly discovered that even the terrifying ripples that had emanated from deep within had also disappeared. By the time they charged into the gorge…they saw nothing within it at all.

The Riverfang Mountains had become an extremely ordinary mountain range. Although there were some peculiarities to it, it was no longer anything special.

“The treasure was taken away by uncle-master Darknorth.” Patriarch Limitless knew what had happened.

……

Ning returned to Mount Innerheart. He first rested for a day, then went into the mountain forests of Mount Innerheart. A violet greatbow appeared in his hand; this was a Heaven-ranked treasure.

“The test for [Houyi’s Archery] really isn’t easy.” When Ning thought back to the trial mentioned on the abridged version of [Houyi’s Archery], he couldn’t help but feel a headache.

It really was too hard. This was the hardest trial of the Three Realms Palace.

“Junior apprentice-brother.” Suddenly, a voice rang out.

Ning turned his head to look, only to see a hatchet-carrying swarthy-skinned man wearing hempsack clothes, a grass hat, and grass shoes come walking towards him with a smile.

“Eldest apprentice-brother,” Ning hurriedly greeted him. Mount Innerheart was vast; he needed some additional space for training in archery, and so he had left the Tristar Crescent Abode and come to the mountain forests outside of it. He hadn’t expected to run into his eldest apprentice-brother.

“Why have you come here?” The woodcutter asked him.

“I want to train in archery,” Ning replied.

“Oh?” The woodcutter glanced at Ning’s greatbow, then asked, “[Houyi’s Archery]?”

“Right.” Ning nodded. “But only the trial for [Houyi’s Archery] for now.”

“That’s not easy. Train hard.” The woodcutter smiled, nodded, then leisurely sauntered away, hatchet over his shoulders.





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Book 13, Chapter 34 - When The Arrow Flies


Ji Ning stood there in an empty field within the mountain forest, holding the bow in front of him as he stared towards the distance.

Ten thousand kilometers away, at another part of Mount Innerheart’s forest, there was a black-robed Ning. He waved his hand, and next to him appeared an archery target.

“I need to hit the archery target dead center from ten thousand kilometers away.” The black-robed Ning shook his head slightly.

This was the trial for [Houyi’s Archery]; without the usage of divine sense and without using elemental ki or divine power to actively control the trajectory of the arrow, using just raw, primal physical force…one had to hit an archery target dead center from ten thousand kilometers away. The center of the target was just one inch in size. One had to hit it ten times in a row!