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Tang Ye was smooth in his execution, but two arrows redirected his arrows, causing him to miss. He looked over in the direction they came from to see Bai Yumo glaring at him. Though he never quite understood the reason for her grudge against him, neither of them was about to accept a truce with just a replacement mantou anymore, not when she had a strong sense of justice, as well.

“I am going to beat you fair and square today,” declared Bai Yumo.

“Bai Yumo, how did the mantous you stole from the kitchen taste?”

Bai Yumo lowered her bow. “I bought my mantous!”

Bai Yumo had one true love since she was born – food – and she had an abundant amount of pocket money, so she had no qualms paying for food. How could she let someone smear her holy culinary career?

“I have proof. You sneaked into the kitchen at X o’clock, X date, X month, to steal two plates of roast chicken, a dish of lettuce, a dish of cucumber and a dish of stir-fry Chinese leeks with pork.”

“So it was you!” shouted one of the kitchen ladies watching the contest. She copped earfuls and even had her salary deducted for losing food, so she remembered the exact day and month it happened. Needless to say, she hated the perpetrator with a vengeance.

Growing up jaded, nobody would dare to frame Bai Yumo, so she had silver crystals in her eyes when she was suddenly told off. She was innocent. The real perpetrator was Tang Ye’s superior – Liu Shan Men’s Head Constable Ming.

Si Fu watched Tang Ye smoothly dismantle his competitors and slide into first place with her mouth agape. “Scary. Truly scary schemes you can’t defend against.”

The other person shocked at the turn of events was the best archer in the contest – Che Gulu.

Che Gulu: How did this happen?! I didn’t want to resort to this, but I have no choice now.

“Uncle Ju!”

A man in his forties behind Che Gulu slowly picked up a timber bow from the ground. Seeing the official competition bow for the event, the audience realised that the man was actually part of Che Gulu’s competitive team. His large forehead, narrow eyes and towering height weren’t often-seen features in the Central Plain. Considering Che Gulu also addressed him as “Uncle”, it was a safe bet to assume he was from Beijiang’s Kiliya, too.

Uncle Ju reached overhead for a stretch and then said, “How many times have I told you that you don’t need to take archery so serious.”

In contrast to Che Gulu’s fiery, sharp and intense shooting style, Uncle Ju performed every movement so leisurely that people would think he was wasting time on purpose, and it lacked the ferocity of Che Gulu’s mannerisms.

“A true archer understands that he must finish it in one shot. Gulu, you must grasp the key in archery.” Uncle Ju released the arrow he loaded.

The shot lacked any aggression, yet Jiangnan’s most poetic monk couldn’t help blurting profanity as he watched the arrow take flight. He dropped to his knees, leaned back and held his bow parallel to the ground. Clang! He haphazardly fired off an arrow before the one moving towards him could penetrate him. He struggled to his feet as half of his body was numb and then looked around for the black-attired man who shot at him and belted, “You shot at me?!”

“See that?” Uncle Ju turned back to Che Gulu. “Shoot the horse before you shoot the rider; shoot the archer before you shoot the arrow.”

Che Gulu held his hands up in a cupped-fist salute. “One teaching from you is worth ten years of hunting. Gulu understands now.”

Subsequently, Che Gulu and Uncle Ju ignored the aerial boards to shoot at other contestants.

“Eh? Why are they aiming at me?!” cried Su Xiao.

“This is what you get for cheating!”

Su Xiao swung his bow as if it were Ancient Cold, breaking his bow in the process of stopping Che Gulu’s arrow.

“How could you shoot at someone!” Su Xiao never expected to become a target because he was fixated solely on shooting enemy arrows that entered the airspace.

“Is there a rule against it? Catch this!”

Uncle Ju destroyed three competitors’ bows and then started shooting three arrows simultaneously every time, forcing Xun Feng’s team to fetch new bows. Meanwhile, Che Gulu fired three consecutive shots at Su Xiao’s face, forcing the latter to draw Ancient Cold for self-defence. Although Su Xiao blocked every shot, his wrists started to suffer a toll.

Angry, Su Xiao redirected true qi to his wrists for healing, which boosted his strength at the same time. He decided that, if Che Gulu were to fire another arrow at him, he’d turn it into a death match. However, that didn’t happen as Che Gulu saw no reason to continue heckling someone who no longer had their bow, so he resumed shooting target boards. Che Gulu was about to have his return to form when an arrow sped up from behind and knocked his arrow, making it fire downwards. A small flame was visible in the air when the two arrows landed on the ground.

“Why the hell are you still being a nuisance?!” raged Che Gulu, turning towards Tang Ye.

Having heard Uncle Ju’s advice, Che Gulu took aim at Tang Ye. Tang Ye discarded his bow and caught Che Gulu’s three arrows with his bare hands. Despite being enraged, Che Gulu smiled and flicked up a thumb. “I respect your courage and skill!”

Kiliya people respected strong people; Che Gulu was no exception.

“If you can defend my arrows, I’ll forfeit on the spot!” Che Gulu immediately followed six arrows.

Tang Ye caught, chopped, poked and speared the incoming arrows, but he needed to take steps back each time to dissipate the force.

“Stop this one, and I’ll forfeit!” Spotting an opening, Che Gulu fired without hesitation.

Stopping nine shots was Tang Ye’s best. Accordingly, he shifted his head to dodge the last arrow, only for him to realise that no arrow was fired. He looked back in Che Gulu’s direction to see Che Gulu still standing in position to fire. All the audience members could attest that Che Gulu never fired an arrow. Che Gulu’s quiver was empty by the time he saw an opening to exploit.

“Hmph, if I had an arrow, you’d be dead.”

“If it was a fair fight, there’s no guarantee you could fire off nine shots against me.”

Someone hit the bronze gong again, and Jin Yingjun appeared again. “Time! The contest has come to an end.”

As soon as the contest turned into a human-target-shooting contest, Jin Yingjun went into hiding since he didn’t want it to be his last day alive.

“The winner of this round is Tang Ye! Let us give him an applause!”

It took a long while before some small claps were given. After all, it was a lot to digest. Many of them were still fixated on Ling Shaoxuan and Xun Feng’s dirty laundry instead of the contest. The small claps were expected; everyone would want a piece of the pie if it was enormous. If it weren’t for her friendship with the duo, Bai Yumo would’ve loved to have gone into the crowd to discuss it with them.

Che Gulu eyed Tang Ye and smirked. “Heh, good stuff.”

Although Che Gulu walked off to Uncle Ju right after, Tang Ye and Su Xiao could feel that they were officially enemies now.

Uncle Ju had every intention to depart after hearing the gong, but Xun Feng called, “Please wait.”

Uncle Ju stopped and slowly looked over his shoulder. Xun Feng approached him with his brows together. “Would you happen to be Beijiang’s renowned Genius Bai Ju?”

“So what if I am and so what I am not?”

Xun Feng was confident in his conjecture based on the man’s appearance, archery and strategy. “Why is someone of your standing partaking in a competition for students?”

Jiang Beiju stared at Xun Feng with inquisitive eyes until Xun Feng felt uneasy, then turned away. “I am here for the same reason you are. See you soon.” With a wave of his hand, he walked off.

Tang Ye took first place, followed by Xun Feng and then Che Gulu. The only way they could put a safe gap between them was to win convincingly in the chariotry contest up next.

Worried but without a viable plan, Su Xiao lowered his head, only to see something that made him yell, “Your hand!”

“His arm strength… is impressive,” stated Tang Ye, with blood covering both side of his hands.

Su Xiao didn’t believe for a second that arm strength alone was to hurt Tang Ye that badly. Not only did Tang Ye have hands comparable to blades, but he even caught the shaft of Che Gulu’s arrows, not the points.

“We’ll cross whatever bridge we come to. Let’s go,” said Tang Ye.

A thought came to mind, but Su Xiao couldn’t put it into words even though he knew it was important.

“What’s the matter?” queried Tang Ye.

“Nothing. I just feel like I’ve forgotten something important… but I can’t remember what it is.”

“Put it aside for now, then, because,” Tang Ye pointed to the racecourse in the distance, “the chariotry contest is starting any moment now.”

Glossary

Genius (nickname) – This particular “genius” refers to being someone who’s able to put people in between a rock and a hard place, so a smart person, if you will.