Invincible Starts From Dao Fruit-Chapter 74: Revised - 55 Archery

The courtyard was silent.

After Chen Jichuan once again refused Qizhenzi’s "kind offer," the latter spoke no more, as if giving up on the attempt to win him over. When leaving, they didn’t even throw out a single harsh word—somewhat lacking in manners.

"Trying to recruit me."

"Looks like they’re afraid now."

Chen Jichuan chuckled.

He turned back and sat down again, pretending to cultivate. But truthfully, his heart remained vigilant.

He suspected Qizhenzi might still have a trick up their sleeve.

Sure enough.

Not long after sitting cross-legged, the area outside the courtyard suddenly grew darker. With a sharp "swish," an arrow shot forth rapidly. Chen Jichuan, already on guard, pushed off from the ground with one hand to spin his body into the air, narrowly dodging the arrow.

Boom!

The stray arrow missed, letting out a loud crash that sent rocks flying in all directions.

Chen Jichuan turned his head to look, only to see a deep pit blasted into the courtyard, more than seven feet deep. If that arrow had struck a person, even Chen Jichuan would have met his end in an instant.

"What a powerful arrow!"

Chen Jichuan’s heart shuddered, a cold sweat breaking out on his back.

But he didn’t freeze up.

While dodging the arrow and spinning around—

"Go!"

He shouted sharply, hurling the treasured blade in his hand fiercely toward the courtyard’s exterior. His body moved backward a few steps, toes tapping the ground to pick up a bow and quiver.

The bow was a mighty bow, capable of withstanding a thousand pounds of force.

The arrows were sharp and fitted with grooved tips soaked in poison—lethal upon contact.

Grabbing the bow and gripping the arrows,

Nocking the arrow, drawing the bow.

All these actions happened in the blink of an eye.

Boom!

The treasured blade struck out as if it had collided with some massive object.

With Chen Jichuan’s strength, he still failed to kill the target outright. His sharp ears picked up the sound of the hidden archer trying to retreat.

"Trying to escape?!"

Killer intent surged in Chen Jichuan’s heart. Activating Thousand-mile Eye and Sharp-Hearing Ear simultaneously, he spotted, amidst the darkness outside the courtyard, a giant ghost as tall as a roof. Struck by the treasured blade, its body merely swayed slightly.

Under the dim moonlight, the ghost’s face was as dark as coal, its eyes glowing yellow. The upper body was bare, without clothing; its feet were unshod, wielding a bow in one hand and carrying a quiver at its waist.

While retreating, it still sought to bend its bow to shoot.

"Competing in archery with me?"

A raging beast stirred in Chen Jichuan’s heart, but his mind remained steady.

Back in the Great Yann World, during his training in ’Land Flying Skill’ with ’Thousand-mile Chasing Wind’ Yangg Qing, he had started practicing archery.

After years of effort, he had long surpassed the level of ’Hundred-step Piercing.’

Now, having reached the Transforming Strength stage, one arrow from him could hit the target within three hundred steps and unleash maximum lethality within two hundred steps.

Swish!

One arrow shot out.

Piercing through two walls in succession, it struck the giant ghost a hundred and fifty steps away. The arrow emitted a clang like striking metal or stone—its toughness evident.

Even so.

The arrow penetrated the ghost’s left shoulder blade, rendering its left arm momentarily immobile and incapable of drawing its bow.

The giant ghost gasped in shock.

Leaping up, it transformed to a regular human size, attempting to flee. But Chen Jichuan pursued closely behind, firing three successive arrows—the shots landing on its left leg, lower back, and right leg. The ghost fell face-forward, sprawling on the ground.

Seeing escape was impossible.

The ghost abruptly morphed back to its towering roof-height form and unsheathed a blade at its waist, turning to slash at Chen Jichuan.

"Die!"

Chen Jichuan charged forward.

Grabbing the treasured blade off the ground, Transforming Strength burst forth as he dodged the ghost’s attacks. From its flank, he delivered a powerful strike—"Boom!"—splitting the giant ghost in two.

Afterward, he slashed over ten more times. By the end, the chopping sounds turned brittle, resembling strikes on wood, as resistance ceased.

Drawing closer for inspection,

It turned out to be a wooden puppet, reverting to a height that resembled an ordinary person. The bow and quiver were still strapped to its waist, the carved face gruesome and horrifying. Blood seeped from every spot where the blade had made contact.

"A wooden archer puppet."

"That old monster’s tactics are growing."

Chen Jichuan gazed at the wooden puppet sprawled on the ground, his expression darkening.

Though he had ridiculed Qizhenzi for running out of tricks, he knew the truth. Whether it was paper men or clay figures, anything crafted by their hands was formidable enough.

This wooden puppet, capable of transforming into a giant ghost, possessed combat power equal to that of a martial master skilled in Transforming Strength. Its archery skills—both in force and accuracy—would be nearly impossible for anyone below that level to defend against during a stealth attack.

"An ambush?!"

The thought came to mind.

Chen Jichuan felt uneasy about the safety of Rao Mountain Baiyun Temple’s ’Miao Fa Daoist’ and Double Dragon Mountain Baoyi Temple’s ’Hong Yuan Daoist.’

"Master."

"Grandmaster."

The commotion of the fight alarmed others, causing Baozhi Forest disciples to show up one by one, disheveled and clutching weapons as they gathered near Chen Jichuan.

"Send a few people to clean this up. Move all these wooden fragments to the backyard—be mindful of the poison on the arrows."

"The rest of you, go back to sleep."

Chen Jichuan was consumed with thought, having no interest in engaging them. He quickly issued commands before striding off, carrying two bows and dragging two blades in hand.

He turned and headed back to Baozhi Forest.

Leaving behind a group of disciples, standing under the moonlight, staring wide-eyed at the still-bleeding wooden puppet on the ground.

...

Three days passed in a flash.

On this evening.

Ban Zhao and Sunx Sihai hurried along, finally arriving in Dai County. They stationed their soldiers outside the city and rushed straight toward Baozhi Forest.

Upon arrival.

"General Ban."

"Master Sunx."

Someone greeted Ban Zhao and Sunx Sihai respectfully.

The first, Ban Zhao, was not only a close ally of Baozhi Forest’s grandmaster but also a renowned master martial artist of Meishan. His reputation and strength spoke for themselves. Joining the military more than ten years ago, he was now the commander of all three camps in Meishan, holding the official rank of Standard Fifth-Grade Martial Tribunal General.

His influence was considerable. freewebnσvel.cѳm

However, what the public didn’t know was—

Ban Zhao was not merely a master martial artist but also one of the "Eight Great Kings" of Meishan Prefecture, nicknamed the "Iron Fist King." With fists that could dominate all opponents, he was practically unmatched.

This nickname carried far more weight than the titles of military commander or martial general among martial artists and spirit monsters.

As for Sunx Sihai.

He was a direct disciple of Baozhi Forest, trained under Chen Jichuan’s fourth student, Hua Dafang. He was also the first—and only—person in Baozhi Forest among its masters and disciples to achieve the Transforming Strength stage.

Martial arts were arduous, Transforming Strength difficult to cultivate, and reaching the Innate realm even harder.

To achieve Transforming Strength—

Was to rank among the top-tier experts of the world.

So long as one wasn’t ambushed, few could defeat such a master in open combat.

Of course, the world abounded with strange and exceptional individuals, and evil techniques and sorcery emerged endlessly. Even masters of martial arts at the Transforming Strength level were not immune to being assassinated or schemed against.

Like back then—

Ban Feifei, the matriarch of the Er Ban clan from Golden Wind Mountain, was a Level 7 martial artist who had achieved the Innate realm and even mastered Soul Emergence Daoist techniques, though she hadn’t trained in spells.

But when the ’Five Ghost Daoist’ attacked from the shadows using the ’Five Ghosts Yin Soldiers Skill,’ Ban Feifei would have been doomed without Chen Jichuan’s assistance. She would never have lived to see 120 years of age!

It showed that nothing in the world was absolute.

Still, achieving Transforming Strength in cultivation made one extraordinarily powerful and highly respected.

Take Sunx Sihai, for example.

Though his seniority was a generation lower than that of Hua Dafang or Lin Sheng and the other direct disciples of Chen Jichuan, within Baozhi Forest his prestige ranked second only to Grandmaster Chen Jichuan, even surpassing his uncles and elder peers in reputation.

In recent years.

Sunx Sihai had continued refining the "Chen’s 72 Skills" while following Ban Zhao in the military, enduring life on the battlefield. His combat capabilities grew increasingly refined, his strength becoming all the more unfathomable.

As the two walked through,

An overwhelming air of ferocity followed in their wake. Those timid or guilty would pale and shudder in their presence, their courage instantly drained.

...