Maiden Galaxy

Chen Mo easily slashed with his hand, immediately breaking the arrow rushing over cleanly down the middle, but his counterpart's attack seemed to have already anticipated this. The bow and arrow had fired in succession, like a serpent flicking its tongue. Something was fishy. Clearly, this was not a simple archery technique, rather they had cultivated some special archery.

A gust blew. Chen Mo's silhouette drew into an extended spin, breaking free of the arrows' sneak attack. He used Divine Hawk Eyesight, seeing clearly. He spotted two figures crisscrossing amidst the vines with considerable coordination.

The cave mechanism was very large, like an ordinary mud mound. The vines and tried trees made for good concealment. His opponents' sneak attack could be considered precise. If it was not for Chen Mo's five senses being better than others', he honestly would have been done in.

Chen Mo smiled. He flipped his hand, revealing an iron bow. Divine Hawk Eyesight vividly saw through their concealment. He nocked an arrow, drew the bow, and whoosh!

He fired an arrow!

After Chen Mo learned a bit of the Heavenly Bow Sect's archery, he later obtained a bit of the Tao Family's Powerful Brown Bear Bow Arts from Tao Jingfeng. This arrow launched, flying swift and true, its power profound, like the roar of a black bear. The vines and trees along the way were trampled to pieces.

"Ah." That black-clothed person screamed, immediately dodging.

"Look out!" The other warrior's crossbow was aimed at Chen Mo, a storm of concentrated arrow launching towards him like an actual swarm of locusts.

Repeating Locust Crossbow!

Chen Mo was a bit startled to see this weapon.

At the moment the Repeating Locust Crossbow desired to fire, a single salvo was like a downpour, like the fluttering of locust wings. The trajectories of the arrows were exceptionally odd. Furthermore, the penetrative ability of the Repeating Locust Crossbow was very strong. The bolts that the crossbow used were all forged from a copper-nickel alloy or steel, engraved with markings, not falling in the face of the wind.

But to make the Repeating Locust Crossbow fire a storm of arrows required the support of indestructible qi and blood. Otherwise, once the trigger was pulled, the powerful impulse was sufficient to disperse the warrior's qi and blood. Failing to kill anyone, it would instead hurt the user.

The Great Chong Dynasty had several "Crossbow Armies" that practiced an unique crossbow cultivation method specialized in raising warriors to be experts at firing the crossbow.

At the instant the bolts were fired as concentrated as a swarm of locusts, suddenly making a droning noise, these crossbow bolts crossed five hundred paces without losing speed, their power even more ruthless.

Chen Mo saw his opponents' bow and crossbow skills were exceptional and amazing. He feared they also had a comprehensive Flying Crossbow cultivation method, otherwise, normal Flying Crossbow warriors were not too useful with them.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The air exploded.

Crossbow bolts covered the sky, like locusts filling the air.

It was impossible to face these directly. Chen Mo swiftly retreated, is forehead glowing with a Star Crest. He tugged on his bow and fired an arrow, using "Trampling" to once again unleash a Black Bear Furious Roar Arrow. This time, it's power was tyrannical beyond reason. Because of the "Trampling" Innate Skill, when this arrow burst through the incoming crossbow bolts, a powerful destructive force was immediately unleashed against the surroundings, like a chain reaction. The crossbow bolts filling the sky surprisingly were easily disintegrated by the jolt of Chen Mo's single arrow.

"Impossible." An astonished, feminine voice came from the vegetation.

The crossbow user was surprisingly a woman.

"Hè."

Chen Mo aimed at that figure, firing an arrow.

Roar.

The arrow flew swiftly.

"Little Sister."

The other warrior screamed, suddenly leaping out from the vines. He drew a large, dark gold bow, his body unexpectedly stagnating for an instant in midair, bang.

The strum of a bowstring.

An arrow flew over.

The arrow was like a roc flapping its wings, undefeated by head-on wind, giving rise to a golden eagle-like grandeur. 

What a good arrow!!

Chen Mo drew his bow and simultaneously fired.

An arc of light illuminated the cavern. The Black Bear Furious Roar arrow and the Golden Eagle Great Arrow collided with each other. It was like a terrible bird from the heavens was carrying out a close quarters battle against a frightening beast on the ground. 

When the opponent saw that Chen Mo unexpectedly competed in archery against him, his heart was delighted.

What he practiced since he was little was the Black Raptor Breathing, a kind of soul technique specialized in pairing with archery cultivation. His breathing was like a raptor, able to breathe easily even in the nine firmaments. When nocking an arrow, the arrow would be even more swift and savage compared to normal arrows. In addition, this type of archery had tricky trajectories. It was very difficult for a normal warrior to make determine his firing location. This was a noble His Highness. He did not believe that this person was able to match against his own natural bowmanship.

Pop, pop, pop.

He nocked the bowstring.

Three arrows were unleashed at the same time, like three golden eagles. They crushed the vines and shook the cavern.

The corner of Chen Mo's lips curled. He activated Divine Hawk Eyesight, using the Collapsing Mountain Style he recently learned from the Five Sacred Mountains Chant.

The arrow was like a shooting star.

Bang.

Combined with the Trampling Innate Skill, he totally shredded the wings of his opponent's three Great Eagle Arrows.

Ever since that day at the Western Desert's relay station when Chen Mo competed in archery, he became interested in the Heavenly Bow Sect, learning some of the sect's archery techniques. As a sect, its archery had characteristics that did not lose out to the army. The arrow's power was endless, the Powerful Brown Bear Archery's might and the Collapsing Mountain's ferocity made the fired arrow produce a kind of illusion of a mountain about to disintegrate.

Not good.

The other party cried out that things were bad.

Thus, he was wounded by the arrow's power.

Upon seeing him fall, Chen Mo did not let this chance go at all. He tossed the bow, moving his feet. The soles of his feet seemed to be propped up by a breeze. This was the effect of the Qi Flower Realm's True Qi. Circulating the True Qi, he arrived in front of the man.

"Hè."

The girl knew that Chen Mo's archery was terrifying, also flinging her crossbow away at the same time, taking out a dagger to attack him. The man also drew and swung a saber. Their archery was impressive, but their close quarters bladework was also outstanding.

The two of them pincer attacked, leaping about. Their swordsmanship was odd but meticulous, like a sparrow hawk darting through the forest. Up and down they stabbed, weaving a blade-net. With Chen Mo's strength, their exquisite bladework nevertheless was insufficient to present any threat. Chen Mo's body techniques moved, attacking with the Bagua.

After obtaining Auntie's pointers, Chen Mo's Bagua was increasingly proficient, executed as he pleased. He even did not require the usage of the eight techniques of the Bagua to have a bit of the signs of complete harmony.

At Two Flowers Overhead, Essence-blood and Qi-blood¹ were indestructible, the Qi Flower mixing with True Qi. His opponent was at the stage that Qi-blood was indestructible. Within the span of a few breaths, Chen Mo extended a hand and pressed on the girl's wrist. The girl screamed, dropping her weapon. Then, he pushed the girl to the ground with a palm thrust. "Little Sister." The man shouted. His momentary distraction resulted in him being suppressed by Chen Mo. 

"Worry about your own life first." Chen Mo chuckled, swinging his palm towards the man's cranium. This slap was enough to kill him.

Inside the labyrinth's assessment, the commander-in-chief had already said there may be casualties. A few deaths were probably inevitable. Perhaps that Chen Qing also wanted to make him die in this place. Chen Mo saw that these two had wonderful coordination. Any other warrior may have perished. He sneered at this moment. 

"Your Highness Chen Mo, have mercy, we are not your foes." The girl screamed in fright.

His palm stopped one inch from the boy's cranium. Chen Mo looked at him. This guy's face was pale, but he showed no signs of fear. His determination was very strong. "What do you mean not my foes?" Chen Mo asked, bemused.

"We are people from the Golden Eagle Battalion."² The girl promptly explained.

"A crossbow and archery corps under His Excellency, Supreme General Zongzheng of Thorntree." The boy spoke.

In truth, Chen Mo could also see this. This pair's style had the movements of Chuan Province's famous Golden Eagle Battalion, more or less in the same vein as Zongzheng Ying's Great Roc Boxing. The two of them acted together with very coordinated skill, unlike the average warrior. Chen Mo deliberately said that he would kill him just now to give a bit of a display of strength, to avoid letting them think he was actually easy to bully.

"Since you know my identity, why did you want to kill me just then?" Chen Mo's eyes glinted.

"We heard that Your Highness Chen Mo defeated Zongzheng Ying. We siblings just wanted to probe Your Highness' strength. If you were killed, then we can only say Your Highness Chen Mo is completely unworthy of our devotion." The man seriously said.

Chen Mo did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Your meaning is that I ought to be thankful you were unable to kill me?"

"The Xi Family are one with the Golden Eagle Battalion. In any case, we cannot hand ourselves to an incompetent leader." The girl softly explained. Her words were like a bath of a spring breeze, very warm. Compared to her older brother's masculinity, she had a tenderness. Their words and gestures had quite the persuasion when paired together.

"Well said." Chen Mo did not bother with these details. A victor should have a victor's attitude.

He retracted his palm, handing them to pills to replenish their blood. Then, he quietly watched them.

Between these siblings, the older brother was considered majestic in appearance, proud and cold. The girl was unquestionably stunning, but she was quite graceful and heroic.

The siblings glanced at each other then introduced themselves.

The brother was called Xi Wu,³ the girl Xi Wen.⁴

Chaun Province's Golden Eagle Battalion was a camp that raised warriors capable of archery, and its commander was Xi Yuanshen.⁵ Of the Great Chong Dynasty's Three Great Crossbow Battalions, the imperial family's "Ascending Dragon Army,"⁶ Lord Jiang Nan's "Heavenly Bow Battalion,"⁷ and Lord Chang'an's "Golden Eagle Battalion" were all famous.

Warrior clans all passed on their particular characteristics. That their predecessor was able to obey Chen Zhangtian was because of his exceptional power. But this generation, if his successor wanted to control them, then he would similarly be required to have formidable power. After the Xi Siblings received news that Chen Mo defeated Zongzheng Ying, they grew an interest in Chen Mo. They wanted to test the truth of Chen Mo, to follow him all the way. 

However, they also realized that Zongzheng Ying was a Qi Flower adept, Thorntree's number one juren. The siblings were only Essence Flower Late Stage. They could not possibly match Chen Mo in a head-on confrontation one-on-one. However, the Golden Eagle Battalion's crossbow cultivation methods were not to be underestimated. The siblings had cultivated it together ever since they were small, one training in the bow, the other in the crossbow, becoming very skilled. Their teamwork would tax even Zongzheng Ying.

Originally, they thought they could humiliate Chen Mo, to flex their muscles a bit in a first show against this future commander, but they never expected that Chen Mo's archery would be unimaginably strong.

If it was not for their personal experience, the Xi Siblings absolutely would not believe a warrior of their generation was capable of defeating them.

"How did you find me?" Chen Mo wrinkled his brow.

"Our Xi Family has a secret art passed through the generations, ‘Black Raptor Breathing.' This secret art trains breathing and is able to be applied to bow and crossbow archery. In addition, if a target has been locked on to, one can follow their opponent's breathing for a short time." Xi Wu revealed.

Chen Mo recalled that sensation of being in the eyes of a raptor before he stepped into the array. It turned out these siblings had used Black Raptor Breathing. No wonder.

"Can you teach me?" Chen Mo was very interested.

"Of course." The Xi Siblings did not hesitate. Although the Xi Family's secret art was passed from generation to generation, there was nothing to conceal from their superior. Back then, Chen Zhangtian learned the cultivation methods of all of Chan Province's sects and noble clans. Among them was the Black Raptor Breathing.

Xi Wen's Black Raptor Breathing was the best between them. She taught Chen Mo an incantation and explained the cultivation process.

In a short while, Chen Mo had grasped the essentials, leaving the siblings tongue-tied.

1. 精血氣血, so it seems that the term is not "Qi And Blood" but Qi-blood. ↩
2. 金雕營 ↩
3. 習武 ↩
4. 習玟 ↩
5. 習遠深 ↩
6. 昇龍軍 ↩
7. 天弓營 ↩