Chapter 2266: The Way of the Arrow

Chapter 2266: The Way of the Arrow

There were only five thousand Yandao Sacred Fruits and Xuanji Sacred Fruits in the entire universe.
They took five hundred years to take root and sprout, and another five hundred years to bloom and ripen.
The pits left over after eating at the Heaven Hunting Grand Banquet were replanted, and only after a thousand years could another five thousand grow.
“Rustle, rustle.”
Upstream of the Fate Stream, the banquet food was carried in sacred flowers, drifting down with the current.
The first banquet food was precisely the Yandao Sacred Fruit.
The Yandao Sacred Fruit looked like a spherical emerald pearl, crystal clear and dripping, with a fruity fragrance overflowing. It sparkled within the sacred flower, and the rules of heaven and earth automatically revolved around it, forming a vortex invisible to the naked eye.
“Finally, I can taste the legendary Yandao Sacred Fruit. I hope I can use it to cultivate my Star-Slashing Blade Art to Great Perfection.”
“After eating it, can it really extend my lifespan by three thousand years? If so, I will have more time than other cultivators in the future to charge into the Divine Realm.”
“Instantly increase a hundred million rules, and my cultivation will take another big leap forward.”
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All the Great Saints’ gazes turned there, burning like fire, their hearts filled with anticipation.
The Ten Chief Guests sitting at the very upstream quickly selected the ten highest-quality Yandao Sacred Fruits.
Immediately after, the Yandao Sacred Fruits followed the stream into ten major tributaries, arriving before Zhang Ruochen.
“Collect.”
With a wave of his hand, Zhang Ruochen used Saint Qi to take two sacred flowers containing Yandao Sacred Fruits, which flew down onto the jade table.
He looked towards Xue Tu, whose face was ashen, and said, “Junior Brother, I’ll take this Yandao Sacred Fruit of yours for now. After the Ritual Duel ends, I’ll return it to you. You don’t have any objections, do you?”
Of course, Xue Tu had objections, and very strong ones at that.
What difference was there between Zhang Ruochen agreeing to a Ritual Duel with the Great Senluo Emperor and just handing over the Yandao Sacred Fruit?
“Arrogant, reckless, blindly confident. Zhang Ruochen, if you want to court death, why drag me along? Who did I provoke? Isn’t the point of attending the Heaven Hunting Grand Banquet to eat a Yandao Sacred Fruit? My three thousand years of lifespan... sigh...”
Thinking of Zhang Ruochen’s current formidable cultivation, Xue Tu’s remaining will to resist vanished. He could only choose to swallow his anger.
He just considered that Yandao Sacred Fruit as having been fed to a dog.
The Great Saints nearby either showed sympathetic looks or sneered mercilessly, all feeling that Xue Tu had suffered an undeserved calamity and had been utterly screwed over by Zhang Ruochen this time.
The Great Senluo Emperor was a top-tier powerhouse of the Death Clan, wielding considerable influence. After promising benefits to two Death Clan Great Saints, he successfully gathered three Yandao Sacred Fruits.
In the eyes of all cultivators, the Great Senluo Emperor was certain to win, and those two Death Clan Great Saints naturally thought so too.
For this reason, they were very willing to do the Great Senluo Emperor a favor.
The Ritual Duel between the Great Senluo Emperor and Zhang Ruochen drew the attention of all cultivators. Many were discussing it, while others sneered, believing Zhang Ruochen would lose both his wife and his soldiers.
“Does Zhang Ruochen not understand the rules of the Heaven Hunting Grand Banquet? How dare he agree to a Ritual Duel with the Great Senluo Emperor? Does he think a Ritual Duel is a contest of combat strength?”
“Even if it were a contest of combat strength, the Great Senluo Emperor is ranked third among the Death Clan’s powerhouses. Zhang Ruochen is still far from matching him.”
“Zhang Ruochen’s talent might be top-tier, but he’s too confident. He only has the courage of a brute and won’t amount to much. In comparison, Yan Wushen has both courage and strategy. The gap between the two is more than a hundred thousand miles.”
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Guchenzi, Yi Xuan Great Saint, Xue Qi Great Saint, Yu Huang, and even Luo Sha all secretly sent messages to Zhang Ruochen, telling him the rules of the Ritual Duel and advising him not to agree. But Zhang Ruochen ignored them, putting on an act of being determined to go his own way.
Feng Hou was even more puzzled, as she had already explained the rules of the Ritual Duel to Zhang Ruochen.
Even if Zhang Ruochen were impulsive, he shouldn’t knowingly walk into a losing battle, should he?
The Great Senluo Emperor’s face was beaming with a brilliant smile. “Ruochen Great Saint’s boldness impresses me! However, you must understand that the method of the Ritual Duel is decided by the challenger.”
At this point, he deliberately paused, expecting Zhang Ruochen to show surprise and regret, or even back out directly. If that happened, he naturally had follow-up measures to make Zhang Ruochen lose all face and still force him to continue the Ritual Duel.
Unfortunately, Zhang Ruochen didn’t even bat an eyelid, just quietly waiting for him to continue.
This, in turn, made the Great Senluo Emperor’s heart tighten. He found it very unusual, but after thinking that he absolutely couldn’t lose, he relaxed again.
“For this Ritual Duel, we will compete in archery.”
The Great Senluo Emperor took out a stringless divine wooden longbow. The bow was like a dragon’s spine, about nine feet long, emitting a chilling cold aura from its entire body. It was clearly no ordinary item.
Guchenzi and Yi Xuan Great Saint seemed to have guessed long ago that the Great Senluo Emperor would choose archery. The two exchanged a glance and sighed, lowering their heads, knowing that Zhang Ruochen was already doomed to lose.
The Great Senluo Emperor’s main cultivation was the “Way of the Arrow,” and he had even fused a fourth-rank Arrow Dao Sacred Intent—the Extreme Point Penetration Sacred Intent.
Throughout the entire Hell Realm, among those below the Thousand Questions Realm, the Great Senluo Emperor could be considered the number one Arrow Dao Great Saint.
Even among Thousand Questions Realm Great Saints, those who could match him in archery were few and far between.
Zhang Ruochen, on the other hand, had a main cultivation path that had nothing to do with the Way of the Arrow or archery.
Besides, for an archery contest, one needed an exceptional bow, didn’t one?
The Great Senluo Emperor’s Ice Wood Divine Bow was crafted from the core of a divine tree, considered the finest material in the world. Moreover, it was an extremely precious Triple Element Monarch Sacred Artifact. When its full power was unleashed, it could shoot down stars in the sky from millions of miles away.
Did Zhang Ruochen have such a bow?
The Great Senluo Emperor was confident of victory and said with a smile, “If Ruochen Great Saint doesn’t have a bow, I can lend you one. However, I only have this one Monarch Sacred Artifact bow; I can only lend you a Ten-Thousand Pattern Sacred Artifact level bow.”
“No need. I have one.”
Under the astonished gazes of countless cultivators, Zhang Ruochen summoned the Azure Sky Bow and the Daylight Arrow.
Holding the bow in one hand and the arrow in the other, Zhang Ruochen’s aura underwent a dramatic change. He became sharp and fierce, exuding a powerful confidence from head to toe.
During these decades of seclusion, Zhang Ruochen’s spiritual power thoughts had read a vast number of books, including detailed information on every cultivator attending this Heaven Hunting Grand Banquet.
Knowing yourself and your enemy ensures victory in every battle.
He even knew the rules of the “Ritual Duel” inside out. Earlier, he had only pretended not to know in order to lull the Great Senluo Emperor into a false sense of security.
Therefore, when the Great Senluo Emperor proposed competing in “archery,” Zhang Ruochen had already anticipated it.
What else would a Great Saint who had cultivated the Way of the Arrow to its peak compete in, if not archery?
“It seems Zhang Ruochen isn’t completely unprepared. The bow and arrow he took out are no ordinary sacred artifacts; they’re likely also at the Monarch Sacred Artifact level.”
“Having a bow and arrow is enough to contend with the Great Senluo Emperor? The Way of the Arrow isn’t that simple.”
“Archery involves more than just the Way of the Arrow. It also tests a cultivator’s strength, eyesight, judgment, arrow intent... and so on. All these require long-term hard training, aided by Arrow Dao rules and Arrow Dao Sacred Intent, to reach the most perfect level. If Zhang Ruochen hasn’t immersed himself in the Way of the Arrow for over a hundred years, competing in archery with the Great Senluo Emperor is just asking for a beating.”
The Great Senluo Emperor clearly didn’t think Zhang Ruochen had any chance of winning. With an even more confident posture than Zhang Ruochen, he walked towards Yan Hong Great Saint and said, “For fairness and justice, please, Yan Hong Great Saint, set a target for us to shoot.”
Yan Hong Great Saint belonged to the Bone Clan and was from a different clan than both the Great Senluo Emperor and Zhang Ruochen.
At the same time, the Great Senluo Emperor supported Bore, while Zhang Ruochen supported Feng Hou, putting them on opposite sides to Yan Hong Great Saint.
Having her set the target seemed fair on the surface, but in reality, it was very unfair to Zhang Ruochen.
After all, Yan Hong Great Saint had publicly declared she would kill Zhang Ruochen.
Just as Yan Hong Great Saint was about to agree, Yan Wushen stood up and laughed heartily: “Since Yan Hong Great Saint finds it so difficult, why don’t I set the challenge for the two of you? I’ll define a more difficult target.”
Yan Hong Great Saint was actually quite willing to help the Great Senluo Emperor, but since Yan Wushen had already volunteered, refusing him would undoubtedly embarrass him.
There was no need to offend Yan Wushen for the sake of the Great Senluo Emperor.
So, without changing her expression, she said, “Since Yan Jun is so interested, Great Senluo Emperor, why not ask him for help?”
The Great Senluo Emperor had no way to refuse, so he could only smile and nod at Yan Wushen.
The conflict between Yan Wushen and Zhang Ruochen was well known throughout both the Heavenly Court and Hell Realm, so there was no need to worry about him favoring Zhang Ruochen.
Yan Wushen took out a semi-transparent crystal talisman, about an inch long, very exquisite. “Both of you are Great Saints. An ordinary archery contest wouldn’t challenge you. The challenge must be as difficult as possible. This talisman in my hand is the lowest-grade interstellar communication light talisman. Its maximum transmission distance can fly at a speed infinitely close to the speed of light for a day, roughly several hundred billion miles.”
“Next, I will activate it and launch it.”
“Whoever can hit it will be the winner.”
The Great Senluo Emperor certainly wanted the difficulty to be as high as possible, but the challenge Yan Wushen had set wasn’t just difficult—it was something no Great Saint could accomplish.
“Yan Jun, once the communication light talisman passes the acceleration phase and its speed fully erupts, no arrow can catch up to it. Moreover, no Great Saint can shoot an arrow several hundred billion miles away.” The Great Senluo Emperor said.
Yan Wushen showed a displeased expression. “If any ordinary Great Saint could do it, why would I use it to test you two?”
The Great Senluo Emperor didn’t argue further. After all, he had proposed the method of the Ritual Duel and chosen the opponent. Continuing to argue at this point would only make him seem indecisive and lacking in boldness.
Besides, it wasn’t impossible.
As long as he seized the extremely brief acceleration phase of the communication light talisman, there was still a chance to shoot it down.
Yan Wushen said, “Fine, seeing how reluctant you both look, I’ll lower the difficulty. I will launch this interstellar communication light talisman towards a barren small planet above the Fate Divine Domain.”
“If you can’t hit the communication light talisman, whoever pierces that small planet first wins.”
“Remember, it’s pierce through, not just hit.”
“And, I won’t tell you which small planet it is. You’ll have to judge for yourselves based on your own abilities.”
Without any warning, Yan Wushen suddenly activated the communication light talisman and launched it.
The light talisman turned into a streak of light, flying upwards.
Before most cultivators could even react, the Great Senluo Emperor and Zhang Ruochen almost simultaneously drew their bows, aiming their arrow tips at the sky.
From this, it could be seen that both had reaction speeds that were incredibly fast.
The communication light talisman was too small and too fast.
Moreover, with each passing instant, it became even faster.
The Great Senluo Emperor, as expected of the top Arrow Dao Great Saint in the Hell Realm, released a divine wooden arrow almost the very moment Yan Wushen launched the communication light talisman.
It seemed as if he hadn’t aimed at all, relying entirely on instinct to shoot that arrow.
After releasing the arrow, a smile of assured victory appeared on the Great Senluo Emperor’s face.
“In the Way of the Arrow, I am far inferior to the Great Senluo Emperor.”
From start to finish, Zhang Ruochen had never aimed at the communication light talisman. For him, that was an utterly impossible feat.
What he aimed at was the divine wooden arrow shot by the Great Senluo Emperor.
The moment the Great Senluo Emperor let go, Zhang Ruochen activated his Space Domain, sensing the spatial fluctuations of the divine wooden arrow as it flew at extreme speed, and then released the Daylight Arrow.