Volume 3 Chapter 16

Chapter 16 Fresh Recruit Tournament

The reason why Xiao Se did not favor the 3rd Battalion’s fresh recruit Company was mainly because she had been watching critically during the recruit training, and had found that the First and Second Battalions both had many talented recruits. Although they may not be very accurate in shooting at a 200 yards distance, but they were at least able to shoot that far, and with an acceptable control. In comparison, the Third and Fourth Battalions’ recruits were obviously not as good, although Mao Li Company Leader was quite good at leading, but it would be difficult to just fight against greater talents. With just a short training of a few months, it was not sufficient for hard work to make up for the lack of natural talent.

Zhou Weiqing was standing right beside Mao Li Company Leader, and said in a low voice: “Company Leader, can you point out all the skilled recruits on the opposing side to me.”

Mao Li looked at him questioningly, saying: “What are you planning?”

Zhou Weiqing grinned and took off the Purple Dawn Bow he was shouldering on his back, saying quietly: “I’ll make a roll call!*”

*TL – That’s a literal translation of 点名. As you will see below, it’s their archery unit’s term. Means he will be picking them off.

Mao Li’s eyes brightened. He was originally very worried in his heart for this fight, and had not thought much about Zhou Weiqing participating in the Fresh Recruit Tournament. In his eyes, Zhou Weiqing had only practiced a little Heavenly Energy and might have slightly greater strength, but archery was skill dependant, and it was not just a matter of having some extra strength. However, when he heard Zhou Weiqing mentioning ‘Roll Call’, he was actually pleasantly surprised; that was because this terminology was only used amongst archers, and meant killing/sniping a target. It was generally only used by archers who had proper training from a master, to know such a term. Obviously, this Battalion Commander’s Personal Aide recruit, who had also ‘touched’ the Battalion Commander’s chest* was no mere simple recruit.

*TL – Lol, he was actually more explicit here (he did witness that scene, but not the later one)

“Alright, that’s good. I’ll tell you now and you try to memorise it. On the opposite side, from the left, the fifth, ninth ……”

Shang Gong Bing Er was standing at the side watching the Fresh Recruit Tournament with  a critical eye. Of course, she was paying most attention to Zhou Little Fatty naturally, and looking at him and Company Leader Mao Li talking in whispers, she was rather curious to what they were discussing.

“Battalion Commander, which side do you think will win at the end?” Xiao Se’s resounded out unharmoniously in Shang Gong Bing Er’s ear.

Shang Gong Bing Er turned her head and said: “Naturally it is our Third Battalion, I have confidence in Company Leader Mao Li’s leadership abilities.”

Xiao Se curled her lip, saying mockingly: “This is only the fresh recruit company, they are a crowd who have not gone to the battlefield, nor have they seen bloodshed, how can a simple few month training be of much use? Talent is the most important at this stage. Certainly, since Battalion Commander did not look in on the recruit training, you are naturally unclear on which side has the more talented recruits.”

Shang Gong Bing Er’s delicate eyebrows furrowed again, and she decided to no longer pay attention to Xiao Se, instead taking a step forward, shouting out loud: “The Fresh Recruit Tournament, Begin.”

The recruits in all three regions were covering a large and broad area of land, but with Shang Gong Bing Er’s shout, her clean delightful voice was clearly heard throughout the battlefield, her eighth level Heavenly Jing Energy giving her a very strong foundation in her Heavenly Energy.

On hearing Shang Gong Bing Er’s voice, Xiao Se gripped her fist. In truth, the greatest disappointment of her life was that she did not manage to Awaken her Power Jewels to becomes a Jewel Master. Although she had put in so much effort on other fronts and had some achievements, but she still could not change that fact.

As Shang Gong Bing Er issued the order, the Fresh Recruit Tournament formally started. The light infantry and Heavy Infantry sides both started their charge, while the four archery Companies also launched their first round salvo.

The recruits had after all gone through three months of recruit training, and this first round salvo was pretty decent, with both sides having 200 arrows directly soared towards the opposite line.

However, although the recruits had trained for three months, but it was still their first time facing off in combat like this, and their mood appeared to be very excited, causing many of the arrows to miss, and after they had taken their shot, they were standing around looking silly, watching their arrows fly.

Zhou Weiqing was mixed in the midst of a mass of recruits, and as he shot out an arrow, while the other recruits were still standing around gawking, he quickly retreated backwards, hiding behind the other recruits and squatting down to reduce the probability that the enemy arrows would hit him.

“Ahh, ahhh……” Screams resounded continuously, as recruit after recruit were hit by the the lime arrows, and under each Company Leader’s direction, they had to withdraw from the battlefield after being hit, and could no longer participate in the Fresh Recruit Tournament.

Zhou Weiqing listened the cries resounding out, and then he quickly stood up, his Purple Dawn Bow drawn in a full crescent, and while the other recruits were still looking at their first arrows, his second arrow was already in the air at lightning speed. With the power of the Purple Dawn Bow, how could those recruits dodge it? .

“Little Fatty, good archery.” Mao Li called out in pleasant surprise. Just like Zhou Weiqing had said earlier, as soon as his first arrow had shot out, he had successfully ‘Roll Called’ one of the outstanding recruits from the opposing Battalion pointed out by Mao Li.

However, compared with the pleasant surprise that Mao Li was showing, Shang Gong Bing Er’s expression was actually pretty ugly. As a Heavenly Jewel Master, her eyesight was naturally astonishing, and after this first round salvo, she saw clearly that the Third and Fourth Battalions had lost around 40 soldiers as compared to the First and Second Battalions only losing about 10 soldiers. Without a doubt, this really showed the huge disparity in the quality and talent of the recruits on both sides. No wonder Xiao Se had such a confident appearance.

After the first salvo was launched, Zhou Weiqing seemed to be a changed man, just like a swift and flexible leopard, the strength Purple Dawn Bow in his hands firing unceasingly like lightning, and every time he shot out an arrow, he always managed to use another recruit as cover, and only in that instance when he shot out an arrow would he appear in a quick flash.

At the beginning, the opposing First and Second Battalion did not really notice him, but after four to five rounds of salvos, as the Third and Fourth Battalions lost more than half of their recruits, Zhou Weiqing’s impressive rate of fire and accuracy immediately drew the attention of the opposing side’s Company Leaders.

In just that short amount of time, Zhou Weiqing had already “Roll Called” 11 people, causing them to leave the field. The Purple Dawn Bow was indeed an extremely strong bow, even though the arrowhead had been removed, the targets that he hit were unable to recover in a short period of time. Furthermore, his rate of fire was a lot higher than an ordinary longbow, and the opposing recruits did not have any way to dodge his arrows. Furthermore, Zhou Weiqing’s arrows were all quite accurate, almost always hitting his target’s chest area. With such a precision, to describe it as ‘Hundred Step Hit*’ was not overrating him.

*TL – 百步穿杨 A Chinese idiom denoting superb accuracy from archers. Arose from the Warring States Period where a Chu General was able to hit the leaves of trees from a hundred steps away.

“Focus fire on that sly little rascal.” One of the Company Leaders from the Second Battalions shouted out loud.

As soon as Zhou Weiqing shot forth his 12th, he immediately sensed that something was not right. Ever since his Heavenly Jewels had Awakened, he had found that his sensitivity and detection capabilities had increased manifold, and the sudden attention from the opposing Battalions sudden caused him to be alarmed immediately*. This fellow did not even hesitate for half a second, and immediately turned around and ran.

*TL – Spider sense!

At this point, there were still more than 70 recruits remaining for the Third and Fourth Battalions, and from such a crowd having one recruit suddenly leap up, turn around and run off naturally caught the attention of all the observing military officers in the audience. At least two Company Leaders had attended the tournament from each of the Battalions, and with one directing the recruits, the remaining officers were gathered around Shang Gong Bing Er’s side. Since the archery Battalion’s tournament usually ended much faster, they were watching it first.

“Why is there a deserter?” Some of the Company Leaders asked doubtingly.

Shang Gong Bing Er and Xiao Se naturally recognized Zhou Weiqing instantly, and Xiao Se smiled and said: “Aiyo, isn’t this the Battalion Commander’s Personal Aide Zhou Little Fatty? What happened to him? How ……”

Before Xiao Se could finishing speaking, the complexion of all the Company Leaders suddenly changed. This was because just as Zhou Weiqing had started to run away, right behind him, at least 30 to 40 arrows blotted out the sky behind him, clearly targeted at him.

Zhou Weiqing seemed as if he had eyes on his back, and just as he had dashed 7-8 meters to the front, he suddenly dove and rolled forward, and then executing a quick roll of his body to the side; his movement was rapid and coordinated, looking as if he had practiced this a thousand times before. The 30 to 40 arrows that were aimed at him were actually mostly hitting the area which he had been in, and by running, he had already dodged the majority of them. In addition to that, his dive and roll, he only heard a ‘Duo duo’ sound as arrow after arrow hit the ground behind him, and not a single one hit their target.

Xiao Se said in surprise: “What did he do that brought about the wrath of god and the resentment of men*? Why was he targeted by the enemy salvo?”

*TL – 天怒人怨 Direct translation – basically just meaning ‘What did he do to piss them all off?

The archers from the First and Second Battalions who had targeted Zhou Weiqing earlier were the most outstanding recruits of the 2 Battalions, and this salvo actually gave the opportunity for the 70 remaining recruits of the Third and Fourth Battalions the breathing room to recover a little, and this was the first that their losses were actually lower than their opponent’s.

Zhou Weiqing had rolled about 3-4 meters away, and his body quickly bounded up from the ground, and you could only see this fellow plant the tip of his feet onto the ground as he jumped up in a swift motion a whole meter high, and with a whizzing sound, another arrow was launched from the Purple Dawn Bow.

Due to his running and rapid dodging movements, he had attracted the attention of all the military officers observing the fight. At this moment, all of them also wanted to take a look at his accuracy. After all, this sort of instantaneous jump-shot was extremely difficult to pull off, especially since the time he had to aim was extremely short. The reason that he had to jump up was to avoid all the soldiers from his side in front of him.

Whizz. It was almost as if whenever Zhou Weiqing moved his Purple Dawn Bow, a soldier from the opposing side would drop down. The Company Leaders looked at each other blankly; many of them were experienced archers themselves, and with some self-examination, they realised that even if they were in Zhou Weiqing’s place, they might not necessarily do better.

The Company Leader in charge of directing the First and Second Battalions was very experienced, and on discovered Zhou Weiqing’s skill, he immediately changed target again, ordering the next round salvo to focus once again on the remaining soldiers in the Third and Fourth Battalions instead. The idea was very simple, since Zhou Weiqing was very accurate, he would just ‘kill’ off the all the others first, and leaving him for the last before they all targeted him.

Immediately, misfortune fell upon the remaining recruits of the Third and Fourth Battalions. As if having received a huge stimulation from the display of Zhou Weiqing, the archers from the First and Second Battalions displayed an improved accuracy. Originally. the Third and Fourth Battalions only had around 70 left standing, and after this salvo, 40 of them had unexpectedly fallen. On the other side, there were still 80 recruits standing, and it was a very obvious contrast on both sides.

Zhou Weiqing saw that the opposing side had been distracted from him, and quickly tried to make the best use of this time to shoot. However, just as the Company Leader directing the First and Second Battalions had judged earlier, no matter how accurate he was, he was just one single person. By the time the rest of the Third and Fourth Battalions besides Zhou Weiqing had been annihilated, the opposing side still had more than 50 people remaining.

“Holy S***!” Looking at the rain of arrows blotting out the sky and raining down towards him, Zhou Weiqing turned his head to run again, feeling extremely gloomy in his heart! The quality disparities between the recruits of both sides were just too big. He had at least killed 16 to 17 enemies just by himself, but they still had almost 50 till alive, how could this be possible?

A Company Leader from the First Battalion shouted out loud: “Chase him and shoot him down! Whoever manages to shoot him down, Your Father, I, will bestow on you the best archery recruit of today.”

At this time Zhou Weiqing no longer had other recruits to cover him, and the situation was much more dangerous than earlier. The massive amount of arrows showering down from the sky had such a coverage on the battlefield that it seemed like an artillery barrage, and it was much more difficult for him to dodge like he had earlier.

This scenario actually displayed Zhou Weiqing’s superior physique after Awakening his Heavenly Jewels; even without actually making use of his Heavenly Jewels, his speed and strength already far surpassed those ordinary soldiers. As he ran, he kept spinning around and switching directions unceasingly, trying as much as possible to not run in a predictable manner so that the opposing side would not be able to catch him. However, for the soldiers from the First and Second Battalions to catch him, they not only had to chase him, but also had to stop in order to shoot. After Zhou Weiqing had managed to dodge and run with much hardship through two salvos of arrow rain, the distance between both sides had widened to about 300 yards. This distance was already beyond the accurate distance of those outstanding recruits, and they could only fire high up into the air to attempt to cover the area where Zhou Weiqing was with projectile fire.

Seizing the chance to catch his breath, Zhou Weiqing managed to turn around while running to shoot, and he quickly managed to take down another 7-8 enemies.

“Is he kiting them? This recruit is really too strong, Company Leader Xiao, you mentioned earlier that he is the Personal Aide of the Battalion Commander? That boy is really quite good!” One of Company Leaders standing beside Shang Gong Bing Er couldn’t help but exclaim.

Kiting was basically a type of hit-and-run technique that archers used very effectively, but generally speaking it was used to deal with melee units, making use of the firing distance of arrows and now allowing their enemies to attack them. However, Zhou Weiqing was relying on his superiority of strength and the power of the Purple Dawn Bow, and actually using this disparity in prowess and range with the other archers to kite them around, and that indeed made these senior veterans impressed and appreciative.

One of the Company Leaders of the First Archery Battalion couldn’t help but say: “Shang Gong Battalion Commander, how about letting us have this little brother? Not mentioning the rank of Squad Leader, with this this brothers’ abilities, he can even be my deputy.”

Shang Gong Bing Er smiled faintly, thinking secretly in her heart: That Zhou Little Fatty is a Heavenly Jewel Master, let alone being your deputy, as long as we report it up the ranks, he is more than sufficient to be my deputy.

“A gentleman does not seize another’s love*, Company Leader Li, I cannot agree with that.”

*TL -君子不夺人所爱 – literal translation, it’s an idiom describing that she won’t give him up. She isn’t actually saying she loves Zhou Weiqing

Xiao Se smiled at the side, saying: “Does that mean that the Battalion Commander has fallen in love with him?”

Shang Gong Bing Er expression turned cold, “Company Leader Xiao, please have some self respect.”

The other Company Leaders knew the grudge between Shang Gong Bing Er and Xiao Se and they did not try to speak and intervene. At this poit, that Company Leader Li from the First Battalion said doubtingly: “What is this Zhou Little Fatty doing? He was just about to reach the woods for cover, why did he turn around and come back?”

Just as Company Leader Li had said, Zhou Weiqing who had already pulled away and increased the gap had unexpectedly turned around to charge towards the First and Second Battalions, facing more than 40 people.

The others also did not understood what was happening, but Xiao Se quickly grasped the situation: “He is out of arrows!”

Indeed that was true, after all, the arrows for this sort of tournament had to have their arrowheads removed, and their quantity was not high. As such, each of the recruits were only issued 25 arrows for this Fresh Recruit Tournament, and by now Zhou Weiqing’s quiver had been emptied, and he was also at a loss, and could only charge back and try to pick up some arrows in order to continue fighting.

However, he is after all not a god, after he had picked up two arrows and used them to shoot down two opponents, the opposing team had already closed the distance to 150 yards, and such a distance allowed the enemies’ longbows to shoot out arrows quickly and with much power. Although he was flexible and agile, but in the situation and also being restricted from using his Heavenly Jewels’ abilities, he was also unable to do much, and could only look at more than 40 arrows flying towards him.

Zhou Weiqing realised he could not dodge this salvo anymore, and quickly squatted down, both his hands covering his chest, trying to reduce the body surface area exposed as much as possible as he lowered the head, covering most of himself with his Wind Hat.

*Ping* *Ping* sounds resounded out constantly above Zhou Weiqing’s head, and his hat was covered with the lime as at least 7-8 arrows landed on top of his hat.

Seeing that they had finally taken down their target, the remaining recruits from the opposing team started cheering out loud immediately.

“Cheering? Cheer your head! If not for the fact that he ran out of arrows, he could have killed all of you slowly.” The Company Leader directing the team scolded them ill-humoredly. Although the First and Second Battalions had won the Third and Fourth Battalions in the end, but they had not actually won that extremely outstanding recruit. There was really no need to compete; Zhou Weiqing alone had taken down 25 opponents, how could anyone other recruits be more outstanding than him in this Fresh Recruit Tournament?

Before the Company Leader had even finished speaking, a sudden *Ping* sounded out and an arrow hit his chest. The arrow was shot at an extremely high speed, and with an ooof sound, the Company Leader fell down with a look of disbelief on his face, his breath stuck in his chest causing a fierce pain and a stuffy feeling in his chest causing him to nearly faint.

“What’s going on?” Just as the recruits from the First and Second Battalions were looking around in surprise, several more *Ping*s sounded out and several of them fell. Only then did they awaken from their surprise, and when they turned their head to look, they saw Zhou Little Fatty on the other side with his hat full of lime, shooting out arrows quickly and silently.

Immediately, the recruits from the First and Second Battalions were enraged. You might be very strong, but you still have to obey the tournament rules right? After being hit by us, how could you still continue shooting? Getting shot was after all still very painful.

Before they could charge forward, Shang Gong Bing Er shouted angrily, “Stop! Zhou Little Fatty, what are you doing?”

Xiao Se said gloatingly: “Battalion Commander, you do not need to blame him, I think he was defiant and unconvinced by that loss.However, a Country has its Laws, Families have their family rules; this is a breach of military discipline. Soldiers who do not listen to orders should not be promoted easily!”

Zhou Weiqing heard Shang Gong Bing Er shouting at him, and he stopped shooting to shoulder the Purple Dawn Bow onto his back, taking off his Wind Hat to brush off the lime, before running over.

Shang Gong Bing Er glared angrily at Zhou Weiqing, “Zhou Little Fatty, what were you doing? The fight had already ended, why did you continue shooting?”

Zhou Weiqing blinked: “Did the fight end? No! I am still alive, why can’t I attack?”

The Company Leader Li from the First Battalion knitted his brow and said: “Zhou Little Fatty, trying to outdo others is a good thing. However, this is the army, and everything must be according to rules. You were struck by at least seven arrows, your Wind Hat was full of lime, if this were a genuine battlefield, you would have already died. At that time, your correct choice should have been to escape immediately, instead of returning to the battlefield to pick up arrows. As Company Leader Xiao said a moment ago, you have breached military discipline. Although your performance was very outstanding, but I’m afraid you will not be able to be promoted to Squad Leader. Do you want to consider joining our First Battalion?”

Shang Gong Bing Er had only just been promoted to Battalion Commander not long ago, and her prestige was still insufficient. The First Battalion was the strongest amongst the four archery units in the Regiment, and this veteran Company Leader was not afraid of recruiting her men right in front of her.

Zhou Weiqing shook his head immediately, turning towards Shang Gong Bing Er with a stubborn look on his face: “No, Battalion Commander, I have not lost.” As he said those words, he was laughing deep in his heart, thinking to himself: These people are really coordinating well to my script.

*TL – The troll strikes again!

Shang Gong Bing Er frowned: “Zhou Little Fatty, do not deliberately cause trouble. You are dismissed.”

Zhou Weiqing said with his face looking like he had suffered from much injustice: “But, I really have not lost! Look!” As he said that, he removed his Wind Hat and handed it to Shang Gong Bing Er.

Shang Gong Bing Er took the Wind Hat from him and was rather shocked. This was obviously much heavier than an ordinary Wind Hat, and pinching it with her hand, she immediately understood. Looking again at Zhou Weiqing with that that suffering expression on his face, she almost laughed out loud. This rascal really was afraid of death … …. These few days she had thought he had turned proper, but it seems like, it was not easy for a leopard to change his spots.

Xiao Se looked at that the strange expression on Shang Gong Bing Er’s face, and focused his gaze on the Wind Hat. “Hmmm, ehhh that Wind Hat seems rather big.”

Shang Gong Bing Er passed the Wind Hat to her, and in an instance, Xiao Se’s expression also changed, looking at Zhou Weiqing with a rather solemn and sombre expression, making Zhou Weiqing feel very uncomfortable.

The Wind Hat was passed around, and after a while, the expressions of all the Company Leaders had turned strange. The Company Leader Li of the First Battalion sighed and said: “Talented … damned you really are a talented person. You can even come up with such a method… This little hat is made out of titanium alloy right, otherwise it wouldn’t be so light ith such mass. No wonder you said that you have not died, even a normal arrow probably will not be able to penetrate it! Battalion Commander Shang Gong, our First Battalion has lost this Fresh Recruit Tournament. Little Bro Zhou Little Fatty, this older brother has a favorable impression of you.”

Very obviously, such a titanium alloy Wind Hat was impossible to be widely distributed in the army, after all its creation cost was way too expensive. However, who could say more in this Fresh Recruit Tournament. Did Zhou Weiqing violate any rule? He had spent his own money for his own equipment, how could that be considered violating a rule? Furthermore, Zhou Weiqing’s impressive archery had gotten the approval of all these Company Leaders.

Shang Gong Bing Er shot a look at Zhou Weiqing, then a look at Xiao Se at the side who was silent now, and the corners of her mouth went up slightly. “Let’s go then, it’s time for us to have a look at the situation of the Light and Heavy Infantry Companies.”

Zhou Weiqing continued on his Personal Aide role, and moved to stand behind Shang Gong Bing Er. As he passed her, he said in a very low, gentle tone that only the two of them could hear “Bing Er”.

Shang Gong Bing Er’s shoulder shook a little obviously, but she had to concede her gambling debt. Furthermore, she could not act out in front of so many people, lest Zhou Weiqing said anything aloud to embarrass her, instead she quickly hastened her steps to lead the other Company Leaders towards the other two tournament grounds.

Zhou Weiqing was just about to follow them, but suddenly one of his arms was tightly gripped by someone. When he turned his head to look, he realised it was Xiao Se.

Xiao Se’s expression was somewhat ugly, saying in a low tone: “Zhou Little Fatty, do you have the guts to compete with me?”

Zhou Weiqing looked at her carefully, shaking his head without hesitation and said: “No I don’t want to.”

Xiao Se arched her eyebrow and said: “Are you afraid?”

Zhou Weiqing asked in return: “Why should I compete with you? What advantage would that bring me?”

Xiao Se said coldly: “If you can defeat me, how about I give you my position of Company Leader?”

Zhou Weiqing’s eyeballs swirled around and he said: “And what if I lose?”

Xiao Se said bitterly: “Then you get lost from our military camp, or at least from our 3rd Battalion.” She knew that she definitely could not beat Shang Gong Bing Er in individual strength as she was a Heavenly Jewel Master, but she definitely believed she was much stronger than her in military command. However, this Zhou Little Fatty had suddenly appeared and actually completely disrupted her plan to upset Shang Gong Bing Er. That also meant that it would be even more difficult for her to snatch the position of Battalion Commander, furthermore, her most important goal was to prove she excelled as much as Shang Gong Bing Er.

“Nope, what’s so good about being a Company Leader? How can it compare to following the beautiful Battalion Commander, that’s so comfortable.” Zhou Weiqing shook his head once again repeatedly, a serious expression on his face. Of course, within his heart he was already laughing, thinking to himself: Xiao Se, Xiao Ru Se, heh heh.

“How old are you only, is there only BGR* in your head? What do you want then?” Anger flashed in Xiao Se’s eyes.

*TL – Boy Girl Relations

Zhou Weiqing shrugged and said: “How about this, if I lose, as you said I will leave the Battalion Commander, and leave our 3rd Battalion. However, if you lose, you must accept one condition from me. However, I haven’t thought of what this condition will be yet.”

Xiao Se’s brow furrowed as she looked sharply at Zhou Weiqing, however this Zhou Little Fatty had a pure and good-hearted looking face with a simple and honest appearance, and just notice anything from just looking at him, that was really too difficult.

“It can only be something that I can do, and it cannot involve my family, or do something against my conscience.” After some thought, Xiao Se agreed in a solemn voice. She really needed to make this Zhou Little Fatty leave Shang Gong Bing Er, otherwise with such a recruit with such high potential on her side in the army, how could she compete with her? Furthermore, she had trained hard on her archery all these years, although Zhou Little Fatty had displayed some impressive archery earlier, but she was still confident in beating him.

“Okay.” Zhou Weiqing complied happily.

“Come with me.” Xiao Se turned around and walked off, heading towards the Stars Forest near the Heavenly Bow City.

Zhou Weiqing took a quick look Shang Gong Bing Er who was watching the remaining tournament. Seeing that she was not paying attention to him, he quickly slid away quietly.

Xiao Se walked to the edge of the Stars Forest before stopping to wait for Zhou Weiqing.

Zhou Weiqing arrived at her side and asked: “How do you want to fight?”

Xiao Se said solemnly: “1v1, you and I. The forest is the place which can best display an archer’s strength. We will enter the forest at the same time, get a distance of 300 yards between us, and when I say start, we shall both attack each other. Whoever hits the enemy first will win, how does that sound?”

Zhou Weiqing said cautiously: “Company Leader Xiao, you aren’t trying to shoot me with a real arrow right?”

Xiao Se said angrily: “Bullshit, you are a soldier of our Empire, why would I want to kill you? Although your father I do not like you, but you are not worth me killing you. We’ll be using the training arrows.” As she said that, she took off a quiver of arrows and threw it to Zhou Weiqing, while she took out another quiver of her own, with both quivers holding 50 arrows.

Zhou Weiqing stretched himself and said: “Please go ahead, Company Leader Xiao.”

Xiao Se gave a cold humph, and quickly entered the Stars Forest. Zhou Weiqing could clearly see a Purple Dawn Bow on her back as well. With her family’s influence in the Heavenly Bow City, it was really easy to get hold of another Purple Dawn Bow.

Upon seeing Xiao Se entering the Stars Forest, Zhou Weiqing also made his move and entered. In his heart he mused: Ru Se Sis, let me see how your skill now after the seven years that we haven’t met.

Very soon they had both entered deep into the forest, and after a while, Xiao Se’s sound resounded from the distance: “Zhou Little Fatty, are you ready?”

“Yes, let’s do this.” Zhou Weiqing shouted back in agreement. As he said that, he quickly moved from his previous position, vaulting up into a tree.

“Start!” Xiao Se shouted out coolly.

Just as they were starting their fight in the Stars Forest, at the other side, Shang Gong Bing Er had also discovered Zhou Weiqing’s disappearance.

“Where is Zhou Little Fatty?” Shang Gong Bing Er looked somewhat anxiously around for Zhou Weiqing.

One of the Company Leaders said in a low voice: “Battalion Commander, I saw him and Company Leader Xiao walking off just a while back, they are both from your Battalion, there shouldn’t be any issue right?”

Shang Gong Bing Er’s expression changed slightly, but quickly returned to normal again and she said passively: “Alright, no worries, it’ll be good to teach him a lesson.”

The Company Leader grinned and didn’t say anything else. Alas, how would he know that the “him” that Shang Gong Bing Er was referring to was not Zhou Weiqing, but Xiao Se.

In the Stars Forest, Zhou Weiqing was waiting quietly deep in a large tree full of leaves and branches, with the Purple Dawn Bow in his grasp. He was like a cheetah awaiting its prey, and in his body, his Heavenly Energy was revolving quietly, and his Heavenly Jewels appearing around his wrist. The six color wheel disk was present in his sight, and his senses were all significantly improved, every slight sound and movement from the surroundings being processed by him.

“Zhou Little Fatty, are you afraid?” At this time, Xiao Se’s sound sounded out suddenly, obviously much closer than before. His sound was somewhat drifting, and it was obvious that she was moving at high-speeds.

Zhou Weiqing naturally was not silly enough to reply, as he continued his silent ambush in the tree. The attribute wheel disk in his eyes revolved to the black region representing the Darkness Attribute, and immediately a dark and gloomy aura proliferated his entire body. 12 black shadows silently moved forth from his body, spreading out from the tree and gliding off all around into the shadows. If one looked carefully, he would discover that those black shadows looked very much like vines as thick as a human’s arm, but they did not have any actual substance, and they passed by silently and without any disturbance.

This was Zhou Weiqing’s first Skill Stored in his Alexandrite Cat’s Eye Elemental Jewel from one of the Zong stage Darkness Heavenly Beast, and the skill name was called the ‘Touch of Darkness’.

In the Skill-Storing Palace, Zhou Weiqing’s Skill-Storing attempts had actually all succeeded. However, it was unlike during the Physical Jewel Consolidating Equipment which had depended on his Darkness and Evil attributes superimposing to succeed. When Zhou Weiqing had first entered the Skill-Storing Palace and saw the sealed Zong Stage Heavenly Beasts, he was actually unbearable frightened. Most of the Zong Stage Heavenly Beasts were extremely huge, and all of them gave forth a terrifying aura.

When Zhou Weiqing attempted a Skill-Storing on a Zong Stage Heavenly Beast, a different phenomenon occurred. The reason why Skill-Storing on the Elemental Jewel usually failed easily was because even if the Heavenly Beast was at its weakest and sealed up, it would still subconsciously resist with all its might. This would affect the Elemental or Heavenly Jewel Masters who were trying to absorb their Skills into their own Elemental Jewels. However, when Zhou Weiqing carried out the Skill- Storing on the Zong Stage Heavenly Beast, according to the normal process, a Zong Stage Heavenly Beast’s internal energy  resisting would easily shake him away to fly off. However, the reality was that the sealed Heavenly Beasts actually did not resist at all and instead coordinated with him to allow him to Store Skills. As he had continued to do so with several Zong Stage Heavenly Beasts, Zhou Weiqing even felt that those Heavenly Beasts actually seemed to be shivering, seemingly afraid of him.

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