Chapter 110: Chapter 19: A Bow Named Swift Strike, Able to Fell a Demon Star (Part 1)
"It works so fast! On the battlefield, this would be like having a second life!"
"A single mouthful is worth a fortune!"
Seeing its miraculous effects, many of the Martial Artists’ eyes burned with desire as they stared at the small vial of milky-white Holy Water.
"Alright, I’ve recovered about seventy percent of my combat strength." He rose to his feet with practiced ease. The Holy Water’s effects circulated through his entire body with his blood. Under Su Zhou’s smiling gaze, Grandmaster Wei stood up, feeling all the minor wounds across his body slowly beginning to heal. Though he was weakened from days of travel and combat, he only needed to rest for half a day and take some pills and food. With his Grandmaster constitution, he could recover eighty to ninety percent of his energy!
And once his body was whole, it would be much easier to regulate his disrupted Inner Qi!
"Such a divine medicine... Words are not enough to express my gratitude."
Turning, Weilie sincerely cupped his fist and bowed his head to Su Zhou in thanks. With a battle imminent, healing a Grandmaster’s injuries could truly be said to have saved more than just one life.
"Saving others is like saving myself. Don’t mention it."
Su Zhou waved his hand dismissively. "I brought the Holy Water specifically to help others in times like these. The fact that it could help you recover sooner, Grandmaster Wei, means it was put to good use."
’After all, my own Regeneration Power is so strong I don’t even need it.’ But to the others, his words inspired solemn respect. ’To take on the responsibility of saving others—what a noble sentiment!’
A flurry of praise followed, which Su Zhou accepted without any false modesty. ’As for why I didn’t bring the Cross along, the reason is simple. An Evil Demon’s aura is essentially a positioning coordinate for teleportation. If I brought a Great Miracle-level Holy Artifact like the Cross, its interference would likely confuse the two coordinates. The teleportation would fail, and I wouldn’t be able to go to either destination. I’d definitely end up in some other random world.’
’It wasn’t that the Holy Water’s effects were so strong that they surpassed the local Spirit Medicines, either.’
Su Zhou knew full well that while the Holy Water healed quickly, it couldn’t restore stamina or Inner Strength, nor did it treat the root cause of an injury. It only healed some internal and external wounds and was useless against damage to one’s Spiritual Mechanism. At most, it could expel the taint of Demons and Evils. The local Spirit Medicines, on the other hand, had a wide variety of effects; they just weren’t fast-acting.
Furthermore, the conflicts in the Divine Wood World weren’t yet at a level where one’s Spiritual Mechanism would be damaged. That was why this "Holy Water No. 3," which had been refined for decades in the Throne Divine Hall, had such a miraculous effect here.
After Weilie recovered, Grandmaster Han took a mouthful of the Holy Water to heal the other Hundred Schools Heroes who had broken through with them to escort the Star Gang Sand. After that, only a single mouthful of Holy Water remained.
He had originally planned to get in some more cultivation practice before the battle began. To be honest, he was really looking forward to the upcoming fight against evil!
’After all, the thought of being in this strange land—with no Patrols, no Zhengguo government, no friends or family to worry about—and being able to go on a killing spree... no, I mean, to eradicate evil...’
The very thought made the blood pound in his veins, and his breathing grew heavy.
"Grandmaster Su!"
Just as Su Zhou’s heart was pounding with excitement and a ’cheerful’ smile graced his lips, he heard Grandmaster Wei’s voice from behind.
"This bow... I’m lending it to you for now."
His expression calmed, and Su Zhou turned to see Weilie, who should have been recuperating from his internal weakness. The man was holding an unstrung battlefield longbow that looked like a simple curved staff. A Spiritual Light emanated from the bow’s body. He had followed close behind and now offered the bow directly to Su Zhou.
The wrinkles on the bald Grandmaster’s face creased, making his expression unreadable. "This bow is called Swift Strike... I know you only started learning archery a few days ago, but it would be good for you to get familiar with it, even if you’re just messing around. After all, I can’t use it anymore. You’re young and strong. Even if you can’t shoot straight, your power is enough to serve as a deterrent."
His words carried the sorrow of a hero in his twilight years. But unfortunately, just like Li Daoran and Zhou Buyi, Weilie wasn’t much of a talker. After handing over the bow, he turned and left, leaving Su Zhou standing there alone, blinking at the bow, completely bewildered.
’What’s this all about...?’
"He probably saw that your foundations are excellent, your eyesight is sharp, and you have innate divine strength and boundless energy. You should have realized it when he taught you the Rigid Shooting Technique last time."
In the Spiritual Space, Yara commented casually, "The old man has probably been fighting for so many years he’s had no time to find a successor. He probably hands out copies of his secret cultivation technique to any young person he meets. This time, he ran into you. And since he’s injured, he figured he’d just give you his personal weapon, too. That way, if he dies in the upcoming battle, he’ll have no lingering regrets."
Yara’s analysis was quite reasonable, but Su Zhou, having been entrusted with the weapon, grew indignant. "Is he looking for a way to die? I just used half a dose of Holy Water on him! This kind of defeatist pessimism needs to be stamped out! How can he be thinking about death before the battle has even begun?!"
Despite what he said, it was true that in his current state, Weilie couldn’t possibly draw this Half-Spirit Longbow. Su Zhou had no choice but to return to his tent, where he strung the bow and tried a few shots. He missed the target every time, earning a great deal of mockery from Yara.
"...There’s something wrong with this bow. It’s not easy to use—but at least it’s more powerful than the other ordinary bows in the camp."
Swift Strike was a masterfully crafted Half-Spirit Artifact longbow. Its body was made from a native Spirit Plant of the Divine Wood World, and its string was woven from golden silkworm silk and various other Spiritual Materials. Its draw weight was over ten *shi*—equivalent to half a ton in modern units—making it a truly Extraordinary weapon. Drawing this thing would be difficult even for a Grandmaster. If not for Su Zhou’s base strength of at least three tons, which skyrocketed when he channeled his Spiritual Power, an ordinary Postnatal Martial Artist wouldn’t have been able to budge it.
A newly-ascended Postnatal Martial Artist had about five hundred *jin* of strength in their arms. The next three tiers involved the Enhancement of Inner Strength, the Enhancement of the Soul, and the Enhancement of the body, respectively. Only upon reaching the Grandmaster realm could one achieve feats like ’a flick of the arms unleashing a thousand *jin* of force’ or ’killing a wild stallion with a single palm strike’.
Of course, by using Inner Strength, it wasn’t unusual to unleash a momentary burst of two, three, or even four times one’s normal power, depending on the quality of their Cultivation Technique. Li Daoran, for example, could create an effect like a small bomb just by colliding his Inner Qi vortex with Su Zhou’s Spiritual Power. If he channeled that power into his arms, he could easily draw a bow with a draw weight of over ten *shi*.
Su Zhou, however, could accomplish with his physical body alone what many Martial Artists needed Spiritual Power to do. But being too physically strong had its drawbacks. The amplification he received from his Spiritual Qi was not significant. After all, he had already developed an Extraordinary Body, and his muscles contained their own Spiritual Power structures. Infusing more Spiritual Power was merely a quantitative change, not a qualitative one.
Although Swift Strike was powerful, it wasn’t a true Spiritual Artifact engraved with Talisman Seal Cloud Patterns. In terms of feel and comfort, it was a far cry from a modern compound crossbow. However, thanks to its Extraordinary Materials, its power was something no modern equipment could match, and it was especially well-suited for the Rigid Shooting Technique.
His poor accuracy was mainly because he had only been using a bow for a few days. Even with his astonishing talent, it was impossible to master it without practice. He simply needed to shoot a few more arrows.
The Rigid Shooting Technique was an Inner Strength Martial Art—a so-called Spiritual Martial Skill—that required the assistance of Spiritual Power.
Simply put, it allowed the user to channel power into the arrow while drawing the bow. A focused shot would be several times more powerful than normal, capable of piercing armor and devastating foes. It could even send an enemy on a warhorse flying into the air or blast an armored opponent in half at the waist. It was a Bow Technique whose power grew in direct proportion to the user’s strength and skill.
It sounded ordinary enough, but what made the Rigid Shooting Technique powerful enough to be a secret art was its ability to continuously stack power, provided the bow was good enough. According to the classics, an ancient Grandmaster once used the Spirit Bow "Falling Southern Star" and a steel arrow to accumulate Inner Strength for ten breaths before firing a "Thunder Arrow." A single shot blasted through a city gate. Based on the description, it must have been a supersonic explosive arrow. A shot like that was basically a cannonball.
Of course, it also depended on the user’s constitution. An ordinary Martial Artist would be unable to hold the bow steady after channeling power for just a few seconds, let alone performing the absurd feat of channeling for ten breaths with a Spirit Bow and steel arrow.
But Su Zhou was different. Because, just as Yara had said, his foundations were excellent, his eyesight was sharp, and he possessed innate divine strength and boundless energy!
"Let me try..." Su Zhou raised the Swift Strike longbow and aimed at the target. Cyan-purple Spiritual Power flared to life, gathering in his back, arms, bow, and arrow. After a few seconds, he focused his mind, let out a sharp cry, and released the shot!
BOOM!
With a piercing shriek, the arrow didn’t just hit the target—it blew right through it and the stone brick wall behind it, blasting them to smithereens. A section of the brick wall collapsed with a RUMBLE, and the arrow itself disintegrated into fragments. Su Zhou couldn’t help but click his tongue. "If this bow were just a little bit better," he mused, "a single shot could probably match a full-power thrust of my spear!"
He had just used his Qi Manipulation and Sky Breaking technique to supplement the Rigid Shot, channeling power at close range and firing at the target... Although he still missed the bullseye, the sheer shockwave of white, rushing air had torn the target to shreds! The arrow’s speed was likely double that of a fast arrow from the real world, and because it was imbued with Spiritual Power, it had a nearly explosive impact!
’An arrow moving at over 200 meters per second? What does that even mean? A typical rifle bullet travels at around twice the speed of sound, but that’s because the bullet is small and has immense kinetic energy. A single bullet weighs less than ten grams. An arrow, on the other hand, can weigh forty, fifty grams, or even more, depending on the type. It retains its velocity much better than a bullet.’
’An arrow moving at this speed, enhanced by Spiritual Qi, could easily remain lethal for several hundred meters. If a person were hit by it... the gruesome result would probably be comparable to being struck by an anti-materiel rifle. And since an arrow is so much larger than a bullet, the outcome might be even more horrific.’
"After some practice, this could be useful for dealing with that Ghost Witch Family back on Earth. But for now..."
Just as Su Zhou was about to continue his last-minute practice to improve his archery, a shrill warning whistle pierced the air.
He froze, turning his head toward the fortress walls. He didn’t need to guess.
The vanguard of the Demon Army had arrived.
