Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

This was an extremely difficult trial.

Without the usage of divine sense…even most Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals could just barely see ten thousand kilometers away. As for the heart of the archery target? There was no way to see that clearly at all. In addition, because there was a separation of ten thousand kilometers, there would generally be some mist, trees, and other things impeding one’s vision, causing one to be unable to see clearly.

In other words, one of the prerequisites for passing this trial was the possession of a divine ability akin to the [Farseer Eye].

This divine ability, when trained to the peak, could allow one to clearly see past a distance of a million kilometers or even more!

Naturally, Ning had never trained in the [Farseer Eye], but he had trained in the even more formidable [Torch Dragon’s Eye]. Ning had learned the first part of the [Torch Dragon’s Eye] in the imperial treasury of the Grand Xia, which was suited for Fiendgods up to the Void-level. Over the course of the many years he had spent here at Mount Innerheart, when Ning was relaxing, he would harvest some of the Polaris light from the Nine Heavens and refine it within his eyes, forming it into the ‘innate torch-light’!

Although the training process was quite difficult, Ning had still managed to reach the second stage of the innate torch-light.

Upon using this divine ability, Ning could use his naked eye to clearly see an ant that was a hundred thousand kilometers away.

“I’ll give it a try.”

Ning stood there within the mountain forest. He executed the [Torch Dragon’s Eye]; instantly, both of Ning’s eyes began to shine with the light of a torch. If an ordinary Immortal cultivator were to exchange glances with Ning right now, while Ning was intentionally releasing his power…that cultivator would first feel as though his vision had just turned completely white, followed by the entire world turning dark and pitch-black.

Temporary blindness…and some weaker individuals would become permanently blind!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh….as Ning executed this divine ability, countless rays of light came from far away, gathering within Ning’s eyes. Countless rays of light reflecting off of countless objects were all being gathered.

The trees, the creek, the pool, the mountain path…everything was within Ning’s vision now.

This included the archery target that was ten thousand kilometers away, as well as the black-robed Primaltwin Ning that stood next to it.

“Can’t use divine power or elemental ki to control the arrow.” Ning waved his hand, and a black arrow appeared in front of him. He nocked it onto his bow, the pulled the bowstring.

Swish!

Ning’s raw physical power was utterly astonishing; he was fully capable of tossing around an entire massive mountain as a toy by now. He instantly pulled this violet Heaven-ranked greatbow to a perfect full draw.

Ning sensed the wind…

The wind was blowing…

For archery, being able to sense the wind was very important. The wind would have a tremendous impact on the arrow. When Ning was a child, he had spent a tremendous amount of effort training in archery. However, after embarking on his Immortal path, he had stopped training in it; after all, his current level of archery was already sufficient, and when truly necessary he could use his elemental ki to control his arrows, causing it to curve and arc in small degrees. That way, even if he missed his shot due to the distance simply being too great, he could adjust the arrow mid-flight!

But now Ning was forbidden from using elemental ki to control the arrow. He couldn’t even use divine power!

“The speed of the wind…its changes…”

“Right about…now…”

“Go.”

Ning’s eyes blazed with innate torch-light as he stared fixedly towards the distance. The fingers of his right hand suddenly relaxed.

Twang!

The arrow instantly transformed into a streak of light, piercing through the heavens.

The trees in its path were pierced through, and the stones in its path were shattered. However, due to these impediments as well as the changes of the wind…these seemingly minor factors caused an astonishing amount of impact over the course of ten thousand kilometers. Swish! The arrow missed the target by nearly three kilometers.

“Uh…” Ning’s eyes were blazing with innate torch-light; he could clearly see what had just happened. He couldn’t help but feel flabbergasted. “I was off by that much?”

Three full kilometers?

This was ridiculous!

“I’ll give it another try.” Ning once more nocked his violet greatbow, then sent out yet another arrow.

Twang!

The sound of the bowshot rang out once more, and the arrow itself transformed into a streak of light that flew into the distance. This time, the arrow missed the target by more than five kilometers.

“Mm.” Ning frowned.

“Let’s do that again.”

One arrow after another flew out. Some were off by three, four, five kilometers. Sometimes, when Ning was lucky, the arrow would make it to one kilometer. One time, when Ning was extremely lucky, the arrow passed the target by a few dozen meters.

Ning shot off more than ten thousand arrows at one go before coming to a halt. For an early Void-level Fiendgod like Ning, whose body was comparable to an Immortal-ranked magic treasure, shooting arrows was a very simple matter on a physical level. His mental energy, however, had been used up!

“I knew it would be hard, but I didn’t expect there would be so many problems.” Ning had tried more than ten thousand times, and in doing so discovered many of the problems.

To simply rely on raw physical force in shooting an arrow ten thousand kilometers and hitting the center of a target…

The first problem was that the trees and stones between him and the target served as forms of obstruction. When the arrow passed through them, it would be impacted, albeit by a tiny, minute amount. Although Ning’s raw power was so great that his arrows would only be impacted slightly…all of the accumulated obstructions over ten thousand kilometers would still cause tiny deviation in the flight path. A tiny deviation magnified over ten thousand kilometers would result in a huge deviation.

The second problem was the wind!

Ning had mastered the Dao of the Gale during the Conclave of Immortal Destiny, and his heart had long ago become one with the wind. His wind-sense was extremely accurate by now. However…the wind that Ning could sense was only the wind during the instant the arrow was released! In addition, it was only the wind around Ning himself!

As the arrow flew forward, the wind would change!

In addition, the wind around Ning might be very weak, but five thousand kilometers away there might be a storm.

Even though he could still get a vague sense for how the wind was off in the distance, and even though Ning’s arrow was very fast…it would still be affected by it.

……

These were the two major problems that made it so that hitting the target dead center from ten thousand kilometers away was very difficult.

“What should I do? Right…I have the spirit of a Protocosmic spirit-bow. He must have seen divine archers of the Primordial Era train before.” Ning instantly willed the spirit of the Rahu Bow to be summoned forth.

Whoosh. The black-robed youth appeared next to Ning.

“What do you need from me?” The black-robed youth looked at the bow in Ning’s hands. “Oh, training archery?”

“Rahu Bow, I wish to train in [Houyi’s Archery],” Ning said directly. “However, I have to pass a trial before I can do so. This trial forbids the usage of divine sense, and it also forbids me from using divine power or elemental ki to control my arrows. Just by using raw physical strength, I need to hit the center of a target from ten thousand kilometers away. The center is only one inch in size. I have to hit it ten times in a row to succeed.”