Chapter 32: To Lose At Sunrise, But Gain At Sunset

The recipe for gunpowder hadn’t done him any good; however, Yan Liqiang felt no disappointment and instead was able to quickly accept this as fact . On the contrary, he wasn’t certain as to why he felt as though a burden had been lifted from his heart . He was getting an even clearer picture of his path for the future .

Perhaps a world that was incapable of producing any hot weapons wasn’t necessarily a bad thing . As Yan Liqiang descended the mountain, he was secretly thinking to himself more about the matter . He believed that since this world didn’t have hot weapons and lacked the requirements necessary to produce and use electricity at the same time, this would mean that it would be impossible for atomic bombs, nuclear weapons, or strange things that could easily allow humans to destroy themselves to exist in the future . Of course, this also meant that there wouldn’t be so much pollution and diseases either . . .

The harder it was to kill a person, the lower the possibility of humans bringing destruction upon themselves as the cost of killing each other would be increased . But was that really such a bad thing?

From the perspective of productivity development, by the time the future development of this world reached its peak of productivity, it would at most still only be able to reach the first Industrial Revolution era back on Earth . During that era, steam and the invention of steam engine perhaps were the most powerful ability for the humans in this world to conquer the nature .

The working principle behind a steam engine was actually not that complex .

When Yan Liqiang thought of the steam engine, a 3D animation that explained the structural principle of a steam-powered engine that he had watched online in his past life automatically replayed from within his mind .

Yan Liqiang, while walking on the mountain path, shook his head .

He didn’t come into this world to become an artisan . In fact, artisans were not highly valued in this world . So even if he were to take out a blueprint of a steam engine right now, it wouldn’t be of much significance . It wouldn’t change anything because there wasn’t such a thing as having a patent on an invention in this world . If the steam engine was really useful, others would be able to copy it after buying one and it would no longer have anything to do with him . It was even likely that the wealth he would earn off the steam engine blueprint wouldn’t even be a tenth of the reward that he had received from the Lu Clan .

A hundred taels of gold was a huge fortune to any artisan . This was at least true for the few years that Yan Liqiang had lived, he had never heard of an instance where an artisan was rewarded with hundreds of taels of gold for the invention of their items . Even so, a few hundred taels of gold were still unable to resolve the problems that Yan Liqiang had to face and it was even more impossible for him to convert the Hong Clan from a foe to a friend .

Thus, if one wanted to live a good life in this kind of world that was forever bound to be governed by cold weapons, one would require the capability to defend themselves from being exploited by others . Most importantly, cultivation was still crucial as it ruled over everything!

When he reached the foot of the mountain, Yan Liqiang coincidentally ran into the same troop of soldiers that he had seen in the morning . It appeared that they were also preparing to return to the dining hall to eat .

"Hahaha, what a coincidence, my brothers…" Yan Liqiang smiled as he took the initiative to greet the troop of soldiers of his own accord .

"Ah, Master Yan . How goes your practice?"

Yan Liqiang intentionally rubbed his shoulder, feigning a miserable appearance . "This Horned Python Bow from Brother Zhou is really too powerful . I’ve only managed to draw it a few times . Seems like I’ll have to take it slow…"

"Hahaha, that’s a formidable bow of five piculs . It’s already a great achievement for Master Yan to be able to draw it right now…" The leader of that soldier who was speaking shot an envious glance towards the Horned Python Bow that Yan Liqiang was carrying on his back . "I believe that Master Yan would definitely be able to put this Horned Python Bow to good use in the future . Don’t you think so too, my brothers?"

"Yes!" The troop of soldiers laughed heartily .

"Thank you for the encouraging words, everyone . Come, let us go eat…"

"Hahaha…"

. . .

After lunch, Yan Liqiang returned to the mountain .

For the sake of validating the gunpowder formula, he had already wasted the entire morning . Since he was already clear on all he wanted to check on and was able to confirm everything he wanted to verify, Yan Liqiang was naturally able to get back on track with his cultivation as he practiced even more diligently than before .

Without further ado . . .

Under the scorching sun, Yan Liqiang started by strengthening his body by practicing a round of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing .

In just less than two hours of practicing this technique, Yan Liqiang could feel as though his entire body had been cleansed by waves of energy as well as the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth again . After finishing, he felt relaxed and refreshed . The strangest thing was, apart from sweating Yan Liqiang didn’t even feel hot even though he had just finished practicing his technique under the blazing sun . Instead, he felt invigorated as though there was a breeze blowing beneath his arms .

It was about time to display his real technique…

After warming up with Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, Yan Liqiang opened his bow bag to retrieve the Horned Python Bow and then started to practice his archery .

Archery was definitely the most formidable weapon during the cold weapon era as no other could compare against it .

In the past on Earth, there were the Mongolians, who had a population of only two or three million and a total army of less than a few hundred thousand . Yet they had swept across entire Eurasia with only iron hooves underneath and bows in their hands . They managed to destroy countless countries and established the biggest empire in human history, the Great Yuan Dynasty .

With only moderate strength and bowmanship, even a boor could easily kill people from a distance . The might of bow and arrows lay within the fact that it was something that lacked an effective way for people to guard against . This also made it incomparable to any other weapon .

On the Silver Continent, bowmanship was referred to as the art of archery . After advancing to a Martial Warrior, the art of archery was the first of the Confucian Six Arts . Not just that, but because the cultivation method for the art of archery was different from the average martial techniques, most people would even put cultivation for the art of archery on par with martial cultivation . Some extremists on this topic even believed that the importance of bowmanship was far above the martial arts . From this, one could understand the importance of the art of archery .

When an unprecedented danger was rapidly drawing near you and someone was after your life, and you were presented with two options . One was to search for a master to teach you martial arts, build your body and study a mixture of martial arts . The second option was to pick up the rifle or handgun in front of you and learn how to shoot . Which one would you choose?

Yan Liqiang would definitely pick the second option without a second thought because the second option would allow him to achieve the desired outcome in the fastest time with the most powerful result . This was also the reason why he had made up his mind to start practicing archery today .

Archery was the most effective way to transform a person’s energy into lethal killing power . This point alone was something that no other martial arts technique could surpass .

Yan Liqiang didn’t have anything else aside from his strength .

He practiced archery in the mountain forest, doing so without the need for any target boards, only needing to find a random big tree .

Yan Liqiang’s target was a big tree that was about thirty meters away from him . That tree trunk was so thick that it required the full arm span of a person in order to wrap around it, a little thicker than a person’s body . Behind that big tree was a sloping meadow . Even if arrows were to fly past that point, no one would get hurt and he also didn’t have to go too far to retrieve them . It was the most suitable to practice archery .

For his first arrow, Yan Liqiang drew his bow back to its fullest as he aimed for the distant tree trunk . The moment his grip loosened, he could feel the vibration of the Horned Python Bow’s bowstring and all he could hear was a soft ‘whoosh’ in the air by his ear as that arrow flew like lightning, vanishing within an instant .

The arrow that flew out really did vanish because Yan Liqiang’s eyesight wasn’t able to catch a glimpse of that arrow he’d released . He was even clueless as to where the arrow had ended up at . He only had a hunch that it was a miss because after he released it, that tree trunk that he had used as a target was still completely empty .

The first arrow was a miss and the Horned Python Bow was overdrawn causing it to accumulate too much power . In such a short distance, there was no need for a full draw at all .

During the second shot, he took into account the experience gained from his first, drawing back the bow back by about two-thirds less of its full length . The arrow was released . When this arrow flew out, although it was still difficult to follow with the naked eye as its speed was still very fast, Yan Liqiang was still able to see this arrow fly past the big tree trunk to its left and ended in the bush behind the slope .

Yan Liqiang made some adjustments again before releasing the third arrow . . .

The arrow strayed a little towards the right .

The fourth arrow strayed towards the left . . .

The fifth arrow grazed the tree trunk…

Archery was a completely strange enjoyment to him . Whenever an arrow was released, regardless whether or not that arrow hit its target, Yan Liqiang’s heart would always be filled with a sense of comforting and serene joy . In Yan Liqiang’s eyes, all of the arrows that were released from his hands were akin to birds soaring into the skies after he opened the door to their cage . It also felt like releasing those little fishes and loaches he bought from the fish market into the rivers and lakes . As long as he could see them regain their freedom with his own hands, that alone was a form of enjoyment and satisfaction for him, much like a spiritual massage .

From Yan Liqiang’s perspective, ever since he picked them up and shot the first arrow, the inanimate Horned Python Bow and ice-cold arrows seemed to have gradually turned into warm-bodied living things, naturally allowing him to feel closer to them .

. . .

When the eighth arrow was released, he finally heard a noise . The head of that arrow had finally penetrated into the tree trunk like a nail . The entire head of that arrow was buried in the tree trunk, leaving only the arrow shaft quivering like a leaf, after hitting the target . . .

The ninth arrow managed to hit the target again and the tenth arrow too . . .

Among the thirty-six arrows in the first quiver, apart from the first seven arrows that had missed the target, the other twenty-nine arrows hit the tree trunk and were firmly embedded in it .

"Archery doesn’t seem to be too difficult," Muttering to himself, Yan Liqiang walked over to collect all the arrows he had released .

He could only retrieve the arrows stuck in the tree trunk by digging out the arrowheads with a small knife . He also found six out of the seven arrows that had flown beyond the tree . Due to the great force of the first arrow that Yan Liqiang had released, the arrow was almost entirely buried into the earthen slope, leaving only fletching at the end of the arrow visible . When Yan Liqiang was trying to pull it out, he discovered that the arrow shaft was already broken . . .

. . .

As expected of a formidable bow of five piculs . After releasing thirty-six arrows, even if he didn’t fully draw the bow, Yan Liqiang’s arm still felt a little sore . It was indeed extremely energy consuming . He ran to the bank of the mountain spring, took in a few mouthfuls of the refreshing spring water, and took a short break before he resumed his archery practice once again .

In the second round of practice, all thirty-five arrows met its target, hitting the tree trunk that was thirty meters away from him . Not a single arrow had strayed from its course . . .

In his third round of practice, he shot all thirty-five arrows one after another into the tree trunk . Still, none of them strayed . Not only that, the arrows that were shot into the tree trunk were arranged into a neat circular pattern, just like an archery target…