Chapter 43

Night Jingyu immediately stepped forward, placing his palm on Lanling's temple and slowly inputting a stream of dragon power.

Instantly, Lanling's head, which felt like it was about to split, gradually calmed down.

"This is a sign of mental exhaustion, which is very normal. Every warrior will go through this kind of pain," Night Jingyu said. "Next, you need to rest for a few hours, then continue practicing. Follow me."

Lanling, enduring the intense pain in his head, followed Night Jingyu to the clear lake.

"Do you still have any dragon power in your body?" Night Jingyu asked.

Lanling shook his head and said, "No, not a bit left."

Night Jingyu said, "If you have dragon power, your mental energy will recover quickly. Without dragon power, you have to rely entirely on your body's natural recovery, which will be slower. Take off your clothes, sit in the water, and breathe through a tube, letting the water cover your head. The water is very suitable for mental energy recovery."

Lanling, without hesitation, stripped off his clothes, leaving only a pair of shorts, and then held a tube in his mouth, sitting in the icy lake, with the water covering his head, only the tube exposed above the surface.

"Close your eyes, don't think about anything, and enter a state of semi-sleep," Night Jingyu said. "I will recite the 'Tranquility Sutra.' You don't need to remember it or pay attention to what I'm reciting; just listen."

Then, Night Jingyu sat cross-legged by the lake and began reciting the 'Tranquility Sutra.'

Despite being completely in the water, Night Jingyu's voice still clearly reached Lanling's ears.

The 'Tranquility Sutra' had no clear words, but was more like a segment of chanting.

As he listened, Lanling felt as if he were in an incredibly quiet and peaceful illusion.

The water around him seemed to turn into soft clouds, supporting every part of his body, making him feel incredibly comfortable, as if he didn't need to exert any effort at all.

Gradually, he entered a state of semi-sleep. This state was the most suitable for mental energy recovery.

After about four hours, Lanling's mental energy was completely restored. This four-hour meditation was equivalent to ten hours of sleep.

Then, Lanling began his mental focus training again.

The goal was still simple: to use mental focus to lock onto the center of the target thirty meters away.

When there was nothing left in his mental illusion except that point, it would be considered a success.

With Lanling's natural mental talent, locking onto a target thirty meters away was possible, but due to the lack of dragon power, the duration of the lock was very short.

Almost every few minutes, all his mental energy would be completely drained, and he would have to immerse himself in the lake again to recover his mental energy.

In a day, after deducting the time for sleep, he could only practice mental focus three times at most.

Once, twice, three times, four times...

Each time his mental energy was exhausted, Lanling felt as if his head was about to split with pain.

At such times, he would deeply miss the demon star and the dragon power within it. If the demon star's dragon power could continuously support him, Lanling could complete the mental focus training in one go.

Finally, on the thirteenth attempt, Lanling completed the mental focus training for thirty meters.

Finally, in his mental illusion, there was nothing left except the center of the target.

His mental energy had completely locked onto this point.

At this moment, it was already dawn on the fourth day. For three days, Lanling had suffered the pain of his head feeling like it was about to split three times a day.

"You have completed the initial mental focus," Night Jingyu said. "Next, you will use the mental focus technique to practice shooting at the target."

Shooting ten arrows, the score was eighty rings.

After completing this goal, he could go and kill wild bulls, and then consume energy.

...

When Lanling picked up the bow and arrow again, his heart was filled with joy. Finally, he didn't have to keep focusing on the target with his mind; he could shoot arrows, even if it was just at a target.

Taking a deep breath, he bent the bow, placed the arrow, and pulled it back hard.

His gaze suddenly narrowed, instantly entering the 'Moon Inversion Sutra' state, using his mental energy to lock onto the target thirty meters away.

Five seconds, ten seconds, fifteen seconds!

The lock was complete; in his mental illusion, only the target existed.

"Whoosh..." he released the arrow.

The arrow flew out instantly.

"Bang!" It hit the target, scoring three rings.

Lanling's heart was filled with a mix of joy and complexity.

First, the mental focus technique was indeed powerful. Previously, he always missed the target, and even when he hit it, there were no rings.

But after using the mental focus technique, he directly hit three rings. However, if his mental energy had locked onto the target, shouldn't it have been ten rings?

As if seeing Lanling's confusion, Night Jingyu said, "Mental focus just helps you aim. But this bow is still unfamiliar to you, and you haven't fully mastered it yet. So even though your mental aim is on target, your body's execution has a deviation. Understand?"

Lanling nodded.

"This deviation between your mental focus and your body's execution can be corrected through repeated practice," Night Jingyu said. "Of course, you can only shoot ten arrows at a time, three times a day. You need to make the most of each opportunity."

"Understood," Lanling said.

On the second attempt, he bent the bow and placed the arrow, using his mental energy to lock onto the target again.

Then, he recalled the deviation from his first shot and made a slight adjustment for the second shot.

"Whoosh..." the arrow was released.

Four rings! Not bad, showing improvement.

The third arrow, still four rings.

The fifth arrow, five rings.

The sixth arrow, five rings!

...

The tenth arrow, seven rings!

After the dragon power refinement, all of Lanling's practice relied on his own willpower and talent, without relying on the demon star.

After completing the mental focus, there was indeed a qualitative change. However, after the first round of ten arrows, the score was fifty-three rings, and he needed eighty rings to proceed to killing wild bulls.

After ten arrows, Lanling was completely drained of both strength and mental energy.

Next, Night Jingyu gave him a full-body massage, and then he immersed himself in the lake again, listening to Night Jingyu's 'Tranquility Sutra' to recover his mental energy.

After four hours, he began the second round of practice.

This round, he improved, scoring a total of sixty rings.

After another four hours of rest and recovery, he began the third round of practice.

The third round's score was sixty-three rings.

Then, the archery practice for the fourth day ended.

That night, Lanling didn't need any warning from Night Jingyu; he lay down in his sleeping bag and fell asleep immediately, almost without the strength to speak.

Next, Lanling entered a long period of fixed target practice.

The goal was simple: thirty meters, ten arrows, eighty rings.

On the fifth day, Lanling's best score was sixty-five rings.

On the sixth day, his best score was sixty-eight rings.

On the seventh day, his best score was still sixty-eight rings.

On the eighth day, his best score was sixty-five rings, a step backward.

At this point, Lanling fully felt the monotony and pain of archery practice, which was a countless repetition. After the tenth arrow, his mental energy was completely drained, and the fatigue and headache were indescribable.

On the eighth day, instead of improving, he regressed. Lanling thought Night Jingyu would let him rest for a day, but the practice continued as usual.

Finally, Lanling asked, "How many days did it take you to complete the fixed target shooting with ten arrows and eighty rings?"

"Twenty-seven days," Night Jingyu said. "The torture and pain are still vivid in my memory."

Lanling said, "I remember your weapon is a curved sword. Why do you also shoot arrows?"

Night Jingyu said, "In this world, warriors are not so clearly divided. A swordsman can also be an assassin, and a swordsman can also be an archer."

Lanling nodded, understanding.

Next, Lanling remembered Night Jingyu's twenty-seven days. She used twenty-seven days, and he must do it in fewer days.

On the eighth day, Lanling's practice score improved dramatically, reaching seventy-two rings.

On the ninth day, Lanling's practice score reached seventy-five rings.

At this point, he was very close to eighty rings. He was nervous because the closer he got to the goal, the harder it became.

However, the result was a pleasant surprise for Lanling.

On the tenth day, he directly surpassed the eighty-ring threshold, reaching eighty-two rings.

Finally, he completed the fixed target shooting practice and could now kill wild bulls.

After completing it, Lanling hugged his bow and squatted on the ground, almost in tears of joy.

In ten days, he finally completed the goal of shooting ten arrows at thirty meters, scoring eighty rings.

"Go to sleep. Tomorrow morning, we will go to kill wild bulls," Night Jingyu said.

...

On the eleventh day, it was not yet fully light when Lanling woke up. Turning around, he saw that Night Jingyu was not in the tent, and the sound of swimming came from outside the lake.

She was very clean, almost bathing every day.

So, Lanling could only lie in the tent and wait for her to finish.

About fifteen minutes later, Night Jingyu came ashore. At this moment, Lanling only needed to peek out to see Night Jingyu's body, but he didn't do it because his mind was full of the excitement of his first hunt and the first energy consumption.

After Night Jingyu dressed, she called out, "Done, you can come out now."

Lanling went out, washed up, and Night Jingyu started cooking.

Lanling, on the other hand, repeatedly wiped his bow and arrows. For an archer, even with mental focus, familiarity with the bow and arrows was very important. Only when he fully mastered every inch of the bow and arrows could he truly achieve perfect accuracy.

"Soren, a warrior's best weapon is one they create themselves," Night Jingyu said. "Because in this martial world, mental energy is the most important, and only a weapon you create can be constantly connected to your mental energy."

Lanling nodded, indeed, all the weapons of the experts in this world were created by themselves. Even the best ore was mined by themselves.

Night Jingyu's cooking was quite passable, not as good as his sister Suoning Bing, but Lanling still ate two large bowls.

At this point, it was already fully light, and the wild bulls in the Wild Bull Valley were coming out to forage.

"Let's go, to hunt wild bulls," Night Jingyu said.

Lanling immediately picked up his bow and arrows and followed.

The entire Wild Bull Valley was about a hundred miles in diameter, with many wild bulls, often gathering in groups of dozens. But at this point, Lanling could only hunt solitary bulls.

"Up ahead," Night Jingyu suddenly said, pointing to a strong wild bull about a hundred meters ahead, leisurely eating grass.

Night Jingyu led Lanling closer, as they needed to get within thirty meters for Lanling's mental focus to lock onto the target.

They quickly reached within thirty meters and hid behind a mound.

"Don't be nervous; it's very normal to miss the first time," Night Jingyu whispered.

Lanling took a deep breath, bent the bow, placed the arrow, and focused all his mental energy, locking onto the wild bull's right eye.

Lock, lock, lock...

After eight seconds, in Lanling's mental illusion, only the bull's eye existed, the rest was complete darkness.

Lock complete!

"Whoosh..." Lanling decisively released the arrow, which shot out sharply.

The wild bull was startled and tried to flee, but it was too late.

"Thud..." The arrow pierced the bull's right eye, directly entering its head.

...

Note: I need a Three Rivers vote, a recommendation vote, thank you all.

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