Chapter 825: Chapter 830: Hongmen Master (Part 2)
Seeing Ling Chen’s meaningful smile, for some reason, the two middle-aged men felt choosing weapons for the duel might have been a mistake.
Walking to the weapon rack, Ling Chen glanced briefly, then took down a longbow, secured the quiver on his back, and moved to the center of the arena.
A bow and arrows?
Faced with Ling Chen’s choice of weapon, not only were the two middle-aged men confused, but even Wu Zhaofeng was puzzled. In duels among masters, one would choose conventional weapons like swords, spears, and staffs; who would choose a bow and arrows? Across the current Martial Arts world, bows and arrows have almost been discarded.
After all, the existence of bows and arrows primarily served ancient warfare as ranged weapons; now with guns and cannons invented, few would use bows and arrows.
"Ling Chen, are you sure you’ve made your choice?" a middle-aged man asked.
Ling Chen nodded with a smile, saying, "This will do. Gentlemen, time is precious, let’s not waste it and start quickly." With that said, Ling Chen’s gaze passed over the two middle-aged men and looked at Wu Zhaofeng behind them, saying, "Mr. Wu, you’re quite aged, you’d better warm up first, it will soon be your turn."
Wu Zhaofeng snorted coldly, "Defeat those two first, then we’ll talk."
"Alright." As he spoke, Ling Chen pulled an arrow from the quiver, placed it on the longbow, the arrowhead pointed downwards, with sharp eyes fixed on the two middle-aged men.
"Go!"
With a low shout, the two middle-aged men rushed swiftly from left and right. In the blink of an eye, they closed in on Ling Chen, spear leading the way, steel knife following, both weapons exuding a fierce killing intent.
Ling Chen’s smile disappeared, deploying the Nine Yang Qiankun Step again, his body like a ghost, instantly vanished before the two middle-aged men.
The spear stabbed into the air, and the two middle-aged men immediately shifted their gaze, searching for Ling Chen’s figure.
However, at this moment, the sound of something piercing through the air suddenly attacked. Recognizing the sound, the two middle-aged men immediately turned their heads backward. Instantly, a sharp arrow came flying.
"Watch out!"
A middle-aged man’s pupils constricted as he hurriedly raised the steel knife in his hand.
Clang!
A crisp sound was heard, the steel arrowhead directly hit the blade of the steel knife, then bounced to the ground. However, although the arrow was blocked, the middle-aged man’s arm felt slightly sore and swollen.
Such strong power!
The middle-aged man looked at Ling Chen with a face full of surprise.
While he was in a daze, the other middle-aged man lightly shouted, "Surround him!"
Hearing the reminder from his companion, the middle-aged man immediately came back to his senses, quickly grabbing his steel knife and rushing towards Ling Chen. Ling Chen’s archery was formidable, but as long as they closed the distance, no matter how precise his archery was, he wouldn’t be able to wield it properly.
Their thinking was clever, but they overlooked one thing. Ling Chen’s archery was personally taught by the Arrow God, Zhang Zhongfeng. Although Ling Chen hadn’t been learning for long, Zhang Zhongfeng had earnestly taught and imparted all his skills and experience. Even the most foolish person would have a certain degree of mastery.
Moreover, there’s a significant reason why Zhang Zhongfeng is called the Arrow God, which is his ability to shoot and kill Earthly List masters.
The world’s masters are divided into four levels: Tiger List, Dragon List, Earthly List, and Heavenly List. Any martial artist not listed is considered third-rate, and there are a ton of such people. Among martial artists, Heavenly List masters are the most powerful, followed by Earthly List masters. Although the Earthly List is not as elite as the Heavenly List, within Huaxia’s over one billion population, those qualified to make it into the Earthly List are extremely few, difficult to find even among ten thousand.
Therefore, being able to shoot and kill an Earthly List master with a longbow, Zhang Zhongfeng is revered as the Arrow God, which is the main reason for his fame.
Ling Chen’s archery, taught by Zhang Zhongfeng, is impeccable in both skill and experience. Coupled with Ling Chen’s talent and diligence, it is safe to say that apart from Zhang Zhongfeng, probably few can match Ling Chen’s archery skills now.
Seeing the two middle-aged men quickly closing in, Ling Chen remained expressionless, calmly pulling out five arrows from his quiver.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two consecutive arrows were shot, each flying towards the two middle-aged men.
With the arrows coming at them, the two middle-aged men dared not be careless. They quickly moved their feet to deviate from the arrows’ trajectory, trying to escape the threat. However, at this moment, another whoosh sounded in the air.
On a closer look, before the first two arrows hit the ground, Ling Chen had already shot two more arrows. Moreover, what was puzzling was that Ling Chen’s target was not the two middle-aged men, but the two arrows shot earlier.
Under Ling Chen’s precise archery, the two arrows respectively struck the tails of the earlier arrows. Affected by the external force, the two earlier arrows immediately deviated from their trajectory, slightly shifting to streak towards the positions of the two middle-aged men.
This sudden change caught everyone off guard. The two middle-aged men had never expected such an extraordinary archery technique.
The two arrows moved so fast that the two middle-aged men had no time to react. They thought they had avoided the arrows’ attack, not realizing Ling Chen had this other trick up his sleeve. Moreover, the arrows were too close to their positions. Even if they realized it, their bodies couldn’t keep up with their brains’ reactions.
In an instant, two arrows flew past the sides of the two middle-aged men, causing splashes of blood to erupt.
The arrows landed, and the two middle-aged men each covered their arms, yet blood seeped through their fingers, quickly staining their sleeves.
Seeing the opponents injured, Ling Chen put away the longbow, smiling and asking, "Want more?"
On hearing this, the two middle-aged men looked at each other, faces turning pale as iron.
"The outcome is still undecided, continue!" one of the middle-aged men gritted his teeth and said. With that, he raised his steel knife, poised to launch an attack.
Seeing his actions, Ling Chen gave a faint smile and said, "I thought you people were all about rules, turns out Hongmen people have no shame, losing but not admitting it."
"Who lost?" the knife-wielding middle-aged man coldly retorted, "You only injured us. As long as we have a breath left, there’s no end to the fight."
"Tsk tsk!" Ling Chen clicked his tongue in resignation, saying, "If I hadn’t held back just now, do you think that arrow would have merely injured you? If I were a bit harsher, you’d have lost your life already." With that said, Ling Chen turned to Wu Zhaofeng and asked, "Mr. Wu, do you think I’m right?"
Wu Zhaofeng furrowed his brow tightly, his gaze looking at Ling Chen uncertainly, not sure what to think. After a while, Wu Zhaofeng asked, "Who did you learn your archery from?"
"Why do you ask this, does it have anything to do with the outcome?"