I Can Merge Techniques-Chapter 111 - 98: Breaking the Limit of the Hundred-step Piercing Willow Arrow Skill, Trait: Pursuit
The last time Chu Fan defeated him, he’d told himself it was only because his Twelve Forms Fist was lacking and he hadn’t yet familiarized himself with his opponent’s style.
So, for the past twenty-plus days, he had undergone specific training targeting Chu Fan.
He had even practiced the Twelve Forms Fist, which he’d never liked much before, and after more than twenty days of training, he’d made rapid progress.
’So how did I lose even faster this time?’
Li Xingxuan had seen geniuses before...
His older sister, Li Qingxue, was one of the top geniuses in Cyan Yang Ancient City.
And his cousin, Cao Yan, had also made a name for himself early on, a man of dazzling talent.
But no matter what, he refused to admit that this scoundrel, Chu Fan, was also that kind of genius!
But...
At this moment, Li Qingxue was also looking at Chu Fan with some surprise.
She had never seen the technique Chu Fan had just used.
That wasn’t the most important part...
The most important thing was that he had defeated Xingxuan in a single move!
No fancy tricks!
Nor was it like the time he fought Jiang Yuanfan, where he had resorted to deceit...
’No wonder Second Uncle thinks so highly of him... He really does have some skill.’ Li Qingxue’s eyes flickered slightly.
Just then, she suddenly noticed that Chu Fan’s appearance had changed significantly compared to when he first joined the Seven Stars Gang.
When he first joined the Seven Stars Gang, Chu Fan had been bone-thin and scrawny.
Chu Fan was still lean now, but compared to back then, he was much fuller and more handsome. The muscles on his bare arms even showed clear lines.
Not only that, but even his entire aura was completely different...
Li Qingxue couldn’t help but steal another glance or two at Chu Fan.
"You... How on earth did you do that?"
Li Xingxuan wiped the snot and tears from his face. "That wasn’t the Twelve Forms Fist you just used!"
What Chu Fan had just used was a Grapple Hand technique from the Extreme Night Cold Prison Hand.
During this period, he had only practiced the Extreme Night Cold Prison Hand in his spare time, yet he had already brought the Martial Arts to the level of Small Success.
After Breaking the Limit on his Twelve Forms Fist, he discovered that the Extreme Night Cold Prison Hand and the Twelve Forms Fist complemented each other in many ways, making it well worth practicing and studying.
"No one said I had to use the Twelve Forms Fist." Chu Fan picked up the two silver notes, tucked them into his robes, and said, "Want to continue? I can fight you all day."
Li Xingxuan’s face darkened.
At this point, he’d be a true idiot if he still didn’t understand the gap between him and Chu Fan.
But Chu Fan clearly had no intention of letting him off so easily.
Chu Fan said, "You’re the genius of the Li Family. You don’t want to bring shame to your sister and the Li Family, do you?"
Li Xingxuan asked warily, "What are you getting at?"
Chu Fan said, "We just had a martial contest. How about we have a battle of wits next?"
"A battle of wits?" Li Xingxuan was taken aback. "How do we do that?"
Chu Fan said, "It’s simple... We’ll play a game. You repeat five sentences after me. If you win, you can take these two hundred taels in silver notes. If you lose, you give me another one hundred taels."
Li Xingxuan glanced down at the silver notes in Chu Fan’s hand and asked doubtfully, "It’s that simple?"
Chu Fan nodded. "It’s that simple."
’I get it. This scoundrel is probably a little scared of my sister, so he’s trying to give the silver notes back this way...’ Li Xingxuan broke into a grin.
Behind them, Li Qingxue said nothing, just quietly watching everything unfold.
’That boy, Xingxuan, has never really suffered any setbacks.’
’It’ll be good for him to learn a hard lesson.’
’But isn’t this game Chu Fan suggested a bit too simple?’
’Can it really teach Xingxuan a hard lesson?’
Li Xingxuan pulled another silver note from his robes and said, "Let’s do it!"
Chu Fan smiled. "You’re a pig."
’Bastard...’ Li Xingxuan was about to curse him out but immediately caught himself and repeated, "You’re a pig!"
"Cow."
"Cow!"
"How many legs does a cow have?"
"Four!"
Chu Fan silently took the silver note from Li Xingxuan’s hand.
Li Xingxuan: "What’s the meaning of this?"
Chu Fan sighed. "’How many legs does a cow have...’ That was also a sentence."
"Argh!" Li Xingxuan was going frantic.
’I lost one hundred taels just like that?!’
Chu Fan spoke again. "Want to go again? Same rules, repeat five sentences after me. If you win, you can take all three of these silver notes. If you lose, you only have to give me one hundred taels."
Li Xingxuan was getting heated. "Let’s go!"
Chu Fan: "You’re a pig!"
"You’re a pig!"
"Cow."
"Cow!"
"How many legs does a cow have?"
"How many legs does a cow have?"
"You’re wrong again."
"How am I wrong?"
There was a moment of silence.
Li Qingxue covered her forehead with her hand.
Chu Fan said, "’You’re wrong again...’ That was also a sentence."
Li Xingxuan: "What the f—"
SLAP!
He earned another slap from Li Qingxue for cursing.
Li Xingxuan clutched his head, exasperated. "Again! I refuse to believe this!"
Chu Fan gently tapped the stack of silver notes in his hand.
Furious, Li Xingxuan pulled out another one from his robes.
Chu Fan said, "Same game. Repeat five sentences after me."
Li Xingxuan snorted coldly. "Bring it!"
Chu Fan said, "Are you ready?"
Li Xingxuan: "I’m ready!"
"..." Li Qingxue couldn’t bear to watch any longer and turned to leave.
Chu Fan silently took the silver note from Li Xingxuan’s hand.
Li Xingxuan froze. "What’s the meaning of this?"
A moment later, it dawned on him, and he looked like he was going mad. "’Are you ready...’ That was a sentence too?!"
Chu Fan nodded. "Want to continue?"
"..." Li Xingxuan opened his mouth, but no words came out.
He wanted to continue, alright.
But all he had left on him was two taels of broken silver.
He looked at Li Qingxue, who was about to leave, and called out, "Sis!"
Li Qingxue, her hands behind her back, turned around and said coolly, "Who are you? Why are you calling me?"
Li Xingxuan: "..."
’Is the bond between a brother and sister really so fragile?’
’How could his sister disown him in the blink of an eye?’
Just then, Chu Fan suddenly said, "Senior Sister, one should not tarry with such a brother."
Li Qingxue and Li Xingxuan: "..."
This scoundrel Chu Fan always said the oddest things. They often had no idea how to respond.
...
After the siblings left, Chu Fan tucked the stack of silver notes into his robes.
’This world is just so strange and unreasonable...’
When you were about to starve to death and wanted to make money, you couldn’t earn any no matter how hard you tried.
But when you had money, you suddenly found that making more was incredibly easy.
That’s why some people believed in a single word: luck.
When your luck was bad, it was when it rains, it pours; it was sailing straight into a headwind. You’d get things stuck in your teeth just from drinking water, and even your own farts would trip you up...
If you were lucky, it was like a long drought ending with a sudden dewfall, or a stranded boat suddenly being pushed forward by the current!
Chu Fan took down his Meteor Bow and pulled a Purple Bamboo Arrow from his Quiver.
He silently stared at a brown pore on the bark of a large tree ahead.
It was a crack-like protrusion on the surface of the tree’s trunk, visible to the naked eye—a pore through which the stem exchanged gases with the outside world.
He drew his bow and nocked an arrow...
The bow was drawn to a full moon!
And then...
He released the arrow from the fully drawn string.
TWANG—
The Purple Bamboo Arrow cut through the air and, with a THWACK, struck the tiny pore dead center!
[Hundred-step Piercing Willow Arrow Skill Experience Points +1]
Chu Fan treated every tree in the forest as an enemy, firing one Purple Bamboo Arrow after another, tireless...
He finally stopped only when the sun set and night began to fall.
[Skill: Hundred-step Piercing Willow Arrow Skill (Perfection) 1461/1500]
’Just a little more...’
It was almost completely dark.
GRUMBLE!
His stomach started to rumble wildly.
The flatbread and roasted chicken he had bought on the way were all gone.
Chu Fan caught his breath, took a deep breath, and once again drew his bow and fired.
Time passed quickly...
The sky turned black as ink.
The calls of strange birds echoed through the forest.
Chu Fan slowly scanned his surroundings.
The Eagle Form from the Twelve Forms Fist, the enhancement of his five senses from Breaking Realm, and the special vision-training Technique from the Moon Eclipse Arrow all gave him eyesight far superior to other cultivators at the Bone Marrow Forging Realm.
Even at night, he could see everything around him with perfect clarity!
TWANG...
Chu Fan loosed an arrow, precisely hitting a bug crawling on a large tree five meters away!
[Hundred-step Piercing Willow Arrow Skill Experience Points +2]
["Hundred-step Piercing Willow Arrow Skill" has reached the limit of Perfection. Consume 10 points of Spiritual Essence to achieve Breaking Limit? Yes/No?]
With a thought, Chu Fan closed his eyes...
As the Spiritual Essence was consumed, scenes of all his past archery practice began to surface in his mind.
Every arrow he had ever shot replayed in his mind’s eye.
Countless arrow-shadows whistled forth from the depths of his memory.
The deviations from exhaustion, the swaying in strong winds, the millimeter of error caused by a wavering mind...
The images of drawing his bow thousands of times flooded his senses.
Every minuscule mistake was rendered in perfect detail: a knuckle a fraction too deep on the string, an elbow raised a few millimeters too high, an exhale a moment too soon, and even the nearly imperceptible tremor of the arrow as it left the string...
And amidst this chaos, a cool stream of energy arose from his spiritual altar, flowing like moonlight, illuminating every error.
The points of deviation and distortion were gently corrected by an invisible hand.
The moments of flawed timing were silently mended.
The accumulation of quantity, pushed to its extreme, finally triggered a qualitative change.
The sound of shattering shackles seemed to echo through his very soul.
The Hundred-step Piercing Willow Arrow Skill had successfully broken its limit, and his Arrow Dao had reached a new horizon!
[Skill: Hundred-step Piercing Willow Arrow Skill (First Breaking Limit 1/2000) (Trait: Pursuit)]
...
