Apotheosis Begins with Tai Chi

The Arrow flew for several dozen feet before finally losing its momentum and falling.

”SKREEE—”

The Snow Falcon immediately let out another piercing cry. It spread its wings and accelerated significantly, as if to mock, ’Is that all you’ve got?’

”SWOOSH—THWACK!”

The next instant, a glint of cold light arrived first, like a silver rainbow piercing the sun. It traced a cunning arc, perfectly intersecting the Snow Falcon’s flight path.

It was so precise it was as if it had been waiting there all along.

Without the slightest deviation.

It pierced through the Snow Falcon’s right eye and exited its left, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

The Snow Falcon didn’t even have time to let out a final, mournful cry. Its body stiffened in mid-air for a moment, then its wings opened limply as it plummeted straight down.

Like a crumpled sheet of snow, it crashed into the white of the forest.

Several figures immediately darted out from the woods, running toward the spot where the Snow Falcon had fallen.

They were all wrapped in white Cloaks, almost blending in completely with their surroundings as they moved through the snow.

The Cloaks were made of some unknown material—thick and warm, yet they didn’t hinder movement.

Their boots were also specially designed for the snow, allowing them to run quickly and steadily.

Back where they had appeared, three other people remained standing.

The man in the center was tall and sturdy. Beneath the large hood of his white Cloak, a rugged face with skin like burnished copper was visible.

This man was none other than Wang Chuang.

To his right stood a young woman.

A white Cloak covered her from head to toe. The loose robes concealed her figure, yet they couldn’t hide her graceful, undulating curves.

Her chest pushed the front of the Cloak out in a proud arc, while her waist was cinched tight.

Further down, a pair of long legs was faintly visible as the Cloak parted. Even wrapped in snow-proof leggings, their fine proportions and full, shapely lines were apparent.

Her large hood was pulled low, shadowing most of her face. But when she tilted her head up slightly to look ahead, the daylight streamed in, offering a breathtaking glimpse.

It was an exquisitely beautiful face, with features so delicate they seemed to have been painted with a fine-tipped brush.

Her eyebrows were like distant mountains, her nose was straight, and her lips were a pale, almost transparent shade. Yet against the cold white of her skin, they possessed a heart-stopping allure.

Her eyelashes were long and thick, curving slightly upward. A few tiny ice crystals clung to their tips, glittering in the light.

This young woman’s name was Yun Shuanglin.

According to Wang Chuang, she was a guest of the Inner City Wang Family.

However, without her permission, Wang Chuang was not at liberty to reveal more about her.

Throughout their journey, Wang Chuang had been more cautious in his words and actions than usual. The occasional glances he cast her way seemed to hold a hint of apprehension.

”Brother Chen, excellent Archery.”

Yun Shuanglin withdrew her gaze from the distance and let it fall upon Chen Cheng, who stood to Wang Chuang’s left.

As she spoke, she tilted her head slightly, causing the shadow of her hood to shift away, revealing that impossibly delicate face and a faint smile playing on her lips.

At that moment, Chen Cheng was also clad in a white Cloak and white snow boots, his leggings wrapped tightly. He looked every bit the part of a hunter.

It was Chen Cheng who had just shot down the Snow Falcon.

He was slinging the Tiger Sinew Hard Bow back over his shoulder and, with a smooth motion, sealing the opening of the pouch at his waist.

That pouch contained the very Silver Bullet he had just fired.

These Bullets looked silver, but they were not cast from actual silver. Instead, they were forged from a specific ratio of iron, copper, and several other metals.

Their texture was extremely hard and tough. Paired with the Tiger Sinew Hard Bow, which required a thousand catties of force to draw...

Chen Cheng had tested their power. A solid hit would be difficult for anyone below the level of Transforming Force to withstand.

The crucial part was that these Bullets were round but not smooth; their surfaces had special fine grooves. Once infused with Dark Force, they would shatter inside the target’s body, making them virtually impossible to completely remove.

Even if the target wasn’t killed on the spot, the shattered fragments would inflict continuous damage from within.

Chen Cheng had considered coating these Bullets in poison.

However, poison was hard to come by. Besides, if used for hunting, it might contaminate the prey’s meat.

For these reasons, Chen Cheng had temporarily set the idea aside.

”Cheng, that was incredible!”

Wang Chuang spoke up immediately.

”Just now, two of my Jiuan Hunting Manor’s elite Archers couldn’t hit it even when working together, yet you got it in a single shot—right in the eye!”

”Just a lucky shot.”

Chen Cheng chuckled.

”Brother Chen, you’re too modest.”

A glimmer of admiration flashed in Yun Shuanglin’s eyes.

”Shooting a Bullet is inherently more difficult than shooting an Arrow. To reach this level of skill, you must have put in a tremendous amount of hard work!”

Chen Cheng kept his smile but remained noncommittal.

The so-called progression is: crossbow from bow, and bow from sling.

In both his past life and this one, the Skill of shooting Bullets with a bow existed.

One simply needed to add a hard pouch, about the size of a thumb joint, to the middle of an ordinary bowstring to create a pellet-bow.

In his previous life, because pellet-bows were far more powerful than arrow-bows, they were once classified as forbidden weapons by the Court. Private ownership was a serious crime.

The mythology of his past life also contained tales of the True Monarch Erlang, who used a Golden Bow and Silver Bullets to subdue the nine-headed insect and shoot down the Tanluo Twin Phoenixes.

But in this world, pellet-bows were not forbidden weapons.

That was precisely why Chen Cheng had originally asked Wang Chuang to custom-make a pellet-bow and a bag of Silver Bullets.

Besides valuing the long-range power of Ejection, Chen Cheng had another consideration: the Bullets could be carried on his person and used as Hidden Weapons if he was forced into close combat.

When it came to such practical combat calculations, he always thought further ahead than others.

Of course, this was mainly thanks to the boon of his Vertical Eye Mark. By tempering one form of Archery, he could master all related shooting skills.

Shooting with a bow, Ejection, and throwing... all of them could be improved simultaneously.

That was how his Bullets could be multi-purpose.

Unlike ordinary people, who needed to train each discipline separately.

”WHOOSH—!!!”

Just then, the sharp sound of a signal arrow exploded high in the distant sky.

All three of them looked over in unison.

”That’s a signal arrow from my Jiuan Hunting Manor! They’ve found the Mutant Tiger!”

Wang Chuang’s gaze sharpened. He immediately whistled to the Manor Soldiers who had run off to retrieve the Snow Falcon’s corpse, signaling for them to return quickly.

Yun Shuanglin, without a word, broke into a sprint on her long legs, dashing toward the source of the signal arrow’s sound.