Chapter 162: Chapter 37 Batron Festival_3
It was Xuan Yue who showed more interest. She shook Ah Dai’s hand excitedly and said, "Go and try, there’s a reward of fifty gold coins."
Ah Dai scratched his head hesitantly, stuttering, "But, but Yue Yue, I don’t know how to do archery! It’s impossible for me to win any reward." Indeed, he had never even touched a bow, let alone shot an arrow.
Xuan Yue persisted, "No one is born knowing everything. How do you know you can’t do it if you don’t try? Go on and give it a shot. Think of it as fun. If I could pull the bowstring, I would try it myself."
Tubari laughed, "Yes, young man, go and try it. Archery is simple, you just need to aim at the target, keep your hand steady, and let the arrow fly."
Ah Dai was initially not willing to participate, but remembering Xuan Yue’s disappointed face when she ran out of money, he bit his lip and said, "Alright, I’ll participate. Brother Tubari, please take me to register." His decision immediately excited Xuan Yue, who clapped her hands and cheered, "Ah Dai is the best, I know you can do it."
Yan Shi gave a small smile, patted Ah Dai’s shoulder, and said, "Brother, later when you’re selecting a bow, choose the heaviest one. The heavier the bow, the bigger the pull, the steadier the arrow will fly, and it will maintain a straight path."
Ah Dai agreed and hurried off with Tubari. Registering for the archery competition was simple, one just needed to register their name and receive a number. The members of the Yaren clan didn’t cause him any trouble for being a different race, in fact, they encouraged him to participate. There had been forty-seven competitors before him, so Ah Dai was assigned the number forty-eight. The preliminary round had already gone through four rounds, and after Ah Dai registered, he just caught up with the final round.
Tubari took Ah Dai to select his bow and arrows. To prevent cheating, contestants were not allowed to bring their own bow and arrows. This was mainly to prevent someone from buying an expensive magic bow to enhance their accuracy.
Ah Dai looked at the dozens of bows and didn’t know which one to choose. As Tubari wasn’t a participant and couldn’t help him, he returned to Xuan Yue and Yan Shi. From a distance, they were watching him and cheering him on.
Ah Dai picked up a bow at random. In his hand, the bow seemed weightless. Remembering Yan Shi’s advice to choose the heaviest bow, he quickly formed a plan. He picked up each bow to feel its weight and realized that the further down the line he went, the heavier the bows got. By this point, the referee was becoming impatient and shouted, "Number forty-eight, hurry up. The competition is about to start."
Ah Dai quickly agreed, ran to the last row, randomly picked up a dark-heavy bow, and ran towards his target position. As soon as he grabbed the bow, Ah Dai felt satisfied. Although it wasn’t very big compared to the other bows and even a bit smaller, it felt even heavier than his Tian Gang Sword. Both the body and the string of the bow were dark, nothing seemed special from the outside.
The referee looked at Ah Dai, who had just run to his target position, in surprise and stuttered, "Young man, you’re not seriously considering using this Dark Iron Bow, are you? It weighs two hundred kilograms. It’s not going to be easy to pull it."
Ah Dai looked at the dark bow in his hand and said, "I, I’ll give it a try. Maybe it’ll work." He had no confidence in his archery skills and could only follow Yan Shi’s advice.
The referee nodded and said, "Alright, this might be interesting. I’ve never seen anyone able to fully pull it yet." Even the strongest warriors of the Yaren clan could only pull it back slightly, and just the weight alone was extremely challenging. Unless you had over 500 kilograms of force, there was no way to even lift it. As for pulling it open, no one could tell how much force it would take.
"The competition has started. Everyone, please shoot all ten arrows in your hands within twenty minutes."
Even though Ah Dai was slow, he had seen Yue Ji practice archery and knew how to nock the string. He yanked an arrow from the quiver, nocked it on the bowstring, steadied himself with one leg forward and one back, and slowly held up the Dark Iron Bow. Xuan Yue’s cheers echoed in his ears, sending a thrill through his veins. The two hundred kilogram weight meant little to him, he easily held the Dark Iron Bow at shoulder level without any trembling in his arm. His right hand’s index finger, middle finger, and ring finger rested on the bowstring, gradually pulling back. It was then that he understood why the referee had said the bow was difficult to pull. The string was both resilient and stiff. Even using his full strength, without deploying his True Qi, he could only pull it back halfway. Even so, the referee and surrounding contestants watched him in awe, forgetting their own competition.
Even without using his True Qi, Ah Dai’s arms had far more than a thousand measures of strength. When he couldn’t pull the bowstring on his first try, he was startled and a competitive spirit arose within him. He yelled, "Open——", and his entire being’s True Qi erupted, shining with a white glow that slowly opened the Dark Iron Bow bit by bit. Ah Dai found that the further back he drew the bow, the harder it became. He had already summoned all of his True Qi, his body was surging with powerful strength. However, when the Dark Iron Bow was drawn to three-quarters of its range, he couldn’t expand the bowstring any longer with his True Qi. His left foot stomped on the ground, his body slightly leaned forward, his hidden potential exploded in an instant. A wave of heat began to rise from his Dantian. Under the bright glow of his white True Qi, the Dark Iron Bow was pulled into a full moon.
