The silence around me was unnerving! Shrouded in mist, I couldn't make out my surroundings at all! This made me somewhat high-strung, unlike close-quarters combat units such as the Dragon-Demon Blade soldiers. The Dragon-Demon Archers excelled at long-range sniping, and their field of vision was far wider! Yet, Jidu had informed me that visibility, whether day or night, seen or unseen, made little difference to the Dragon-Demon Archers.
As long as an enemy was within three hundred meters, they could easily spot them and unleash powerful piercing attacks! That was the most terrifying aspect of them—early detection followed by precise strikes, and these were hyper-long-range precision attacks. The thought alone made my scalp tingle.
Of course, I didn't expect to find a foolproof method to defeat them in a short time; what I desperately needed right now was firsthand data from engaging with them. Just how formidable were their heavy arrows, and how high was their accuracy? I needed to understand all of this. Only by grasping the real data could I seek out corresponding countermeasures.
After walking for about half an hour!
Suddenly, an inexplicable palpitation and a chill washed over me!
Ah! It was killing intent. Though there was no warning, this faint, almost imperceptible feeling of being watched left me no room for hesitation. I yanked my head back while simultaneously raising my shield!
Clang! Almost the very instant I raised the shield! My shield-bearing left hand was instantly numbed by a massive surge of impact, forcing me to instinctively draw it close to my body to mitigate the tremendous shock.
Even so, I was uncontrollably shoved back several steps. This situation was exactly like the arrow barrage I faced from the reinforced Skeleton Archers in the Yellow Springs world.
Swish! Only then did I hear a faint sound of air being sliced—the two events separated by scarcely 0.1 seconds. But for someone from the modern era like myself, the subsequent sound brought an instant, bone-chilling horror! What terrifying speed! I only heard that faint whoosh after I had been struck!
That was close! Had my reaction been even 0.1 seconds slower, my throat might have been pierced! Cold sweat instantly drenched me in fear!
There was only one possible explanation for this! The heavy arrow shot by the Dragon-Demon Archer must have exceeded the speed of sound! That meant the arrow's velocity surpassed 340 meters per second!
Heavens! That was practically the speed and force of a bullet! How was I supposed to block that!
All of this flashed through my mind in an instant! Then, I saw a vague white silhouette flung into the air amidst the deafening impact sound. That must have been the heavy arrow fired by the Dragon-Demon Archer!
But before I could catch my breath! There was another heavy thud, this time a tearing, searing pain in my calf! It was due to the gap exposed when I raised my shield, leaving my lower leg unguarded! I hadn't expected it to capture that momentary opening so swiftly.
Fortunately, my boots were specially treated! Even after being struck, they weren't pierced.
But the astonishing impact made my entire leg feel broken, instantly going numb, leaving me unable to move.
What terrifying force and precision! I quickly dropped into a half-kneel, bracing my shield! Simultaneously, I nervously scanned for the Dragon-Demon Archer's location.
Alas, the surroundings were utterly silent! From those two arrows, I could only roughly determine that it must be directly in front of me. But pinpointing the exact location was utterly impossible!
But just then! Another thud, and it felt as if a sledgehammer had struck my head! I nearly passed out. When I recovered, I saw a blurry white shaft-like object flying upwards!
It was a refined iron arrow! Though indistinct, I managed to see it clearly!
If my helmet hadn't been of superior quality, wouldn't I have been skewered like candied hawthorns by now! I inwardly gulped!
This attack came from the left! My shield was positioned completely in the wrong direction!
No! I absolutely could not remain here.
Though only three shots! These three had already given me enough information.
If I stayed longer and it managed to close the distance, I would be near death!
With that thought, I immediately executed a side roll! Clang! The spot where I had braced my shield while kneeling was instantly impaled by an arrow as thick as two fingers! Only the continuously trembling fletching remained, testifying to its astonishing force and velocity!
Roar! I could no longer care about anything else. Gritting my teeth against the numbness in my left leg, I sprinted at full speed back the way I came, all while executing irregular evasive maneuvers!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The sound of air being sliced continuously erupted behind me! Clearly, that Dragon-Demon Archer had detected my intent to flee and was pursuing! However, since I was intentionally running away, how could it possibly catch up!
While running at full tilt, I continuously weaved in an S-shaped pattern, causing the heavy arrows it fired to consistently miss. But even so, I could feel vague, long shafts tearing past me with terrifying force, followed by the whistling sounds of air being cleaved!
I ran all the way to the entrance before finally stopping!
Hah! Even now, my chest was still pounding violently!
That was terrifying! Facing such an opponent, what was I supposed to do! I never even saw the Dragon-Demon Archer, yet it nearly killed me!
Thinking back now, facing the Dragon-Demon Archer, I hadn't even had a chance to counterattack!
The arrow's speed had surpassed the speed of sound, rendering sound-based detection of the enemy's attacks and directions useless in the mist, because by the time I heard the sound, the arrow might have already pierced my body! I had to remember, my survival up to this point was entirely dependent on the Wind-Listening Emitter.
But now, the only means I had to sense the enemy was useless, leaving me completely at a loss.
This was the true terror of the Dragon-Demon Archer, and hidden by the mist, I couldn't locate it at all, let alone launch an attack.
The realization brought an unprecedented sense of frustration. No situation had ever left me feeling this powerless. Even when confronting the Lord of the Yellow Springs, I hadn't felt this disheartened or helpless!
Besides sight and hearing, what else could I rely on to perceive changes in my surroundings!
...............................................
I couldn't afford to act recklessly before devising a solution! Helplessly, I retreated back into the passage, wracking my brain for a strategy.
I believed a solution must exist! I just hadn't found it yet.
Since both Jidu and Master Jian Li managed to pass through the Dragon-Demon Ridge, it meant they both found ways to counter the Dragon-Demon Archers. But what exactly were those methods!
Sight is useless if it can't see; hearing is useless even if it registers the sound! Coupled with the three-hundred-meter range! I truly couldn't fathom any other way to perceive changes in the environment without relying on my eyes.
Speed! Defense! And technique—none of these seemed effective against the Dragon-Demon Archer's powerful long-range sniping!
No matter how fast I was, could I outpace a bullet?
No matter how strong my defense, if they closed within fifty meters, I was doomed.
As for technique, I didn't even get a chance for close combat, so even the most exquisite skill was useless!
Days passed, but still, nothing viable came to mind! Was this truly the end of the road? Sound! Sight! What I hear, what I see!
This was the world before my eyes!
If only there was a way to penetrate this thick mist and clearly see the Dragon-Demon Archer's position!
At this moment, Jidu’s words about the Eye of Death Desire echoed in my mind once more!
"Your intent to attack was completely seen through by me. Therefore, even if my speed can't match yours, my consciousness can execute the optimal defense in advance. It's just like this: no matter how fast an arrow is shot from a bow, if I can preemptively raise my shield to guard the target you intend to strike, then no matter how fast your arrow travels, it won't change the outcome. That is the essence of penetration!"
Jidu's words remained perfectly clear in my memory!
No matter how fast the arrow flies, if I can raise my shield beforehand to guard the target, the arrow's speed becomes irrelevant. That is the essence of penetration!
Likewise, if I could see through the Dragon-Demon Archer's intent to attack beforehand and evade, I could similarly avoid its strike. Of course, this relied on my ability to see through their attack.
But how could I possibly achieve that!
After mastering the Wind-Listening Emitter, I once believed I had grasped a shred of the Eye of Death Desire. Because at that time, I truly was perceiving my surroundings without relying on sight, marking significant progress compared to before.
But this method was clearly useless against the Dragon-Demon Archers!
Could it be that the supposed Eye of Death Desire is another method for sensing changes in the environment!
At that point, I recalled modern data on human senses.
First Sense: Vision Second Sense: Audition Third Sense: Gustation Fourth Sense: Olfaction Fifth Sense: Tactility
Eye Consciousness (Yan Shi): Our eyes see all sorts of things; this is the function of eye consciousness. Note that the eye only sees and does not discriminate. If you distinguish, "That is a book, and that is a pen," that is the function of consciousness already at work.
Ear Consciousness (Er Shi): The ear has the function of hearing. Similarly, the ear only hears and does not distinguish, "That is the sound of a flute, and that is the sound of a trumpet." Distinguishing involves consciousness.
Nose Consciousness (Bi Shi): The nose has the function of smelling, but it only smells. Distinguishing between fragrance and stench is the action of consciousness.
Tongue Consciousness (She Shi): The tongue has the function of tasting. Likewise, it only tastes. Distinguishing between sweet and salty is the action of consciousness.
Body Consciousness (Shen Shi): The body has the function of touch.
These five innate human senses are biological functions used to perceive changes in the environment! Among them, vision and hearing are dominant. Sight and sound are the two primary functions through which humans perceive the world!
The rest are taste, smell, and touch!
Could the Eye of Death Desire be one of the remaining three senses!
But under these conditions, taste, smell, and touch were impossible to utilize! I was certain that if I took off my helmet, inhaling some of the mist’s poison gas would instantly kill me. As for touch and taste, they were even less likely, as they required direct contact to function. If I could get close enough to the Dragon-Demon Archer, I would have already lopped off its head with one swing.
Among the Five Senses, none seemed to fit the description of the Eye of Death Desire!
Could the Eye of Death Desire be the sixth sense, currently unconfirmed by humans—the Consciousness Sense! That is what people commonly call intuition!
Consciousness Sense: Consciousness is a mental activity unique to intelligent or instinctual beings, possessing the function of recognizing abstract concepts. When one of the first five senses is active, consciousness arises simultaneously. Furthermore, consciousness has the ability to know, speculate, or deduce concerning internal and external environments, whether tangible or intangible, past, present, or future. Thus, it is difficult to classify it as a specific physiological function, as it exists only within the mental and spiritual space of humanity!
In my understanding, intuition is merely a set of subconscious actions summarized from humans' long accumulation of experiential insights. Many real-world examples prove the existence of intuition!
Take the famous soccer player Trezeguet; his specialty was an incredibly strong sense of positioning near the goal. He possessed astonishing judgment regarding the trajectory and angle of the incoming ball, allowing him to take the most direct and effective action to score.
All of this involved calculation, judgment, and action completed in an incredibly short time! This process was greatly simplified through long-term training, forming a kind of subconscious conditioned reflex, requiring almost no conscious thought—just a single impulse to instantly formulate the optimal course of action!
I don't recall which famous coach described him: "He's like a beast, possessing an astonishing intuition for scoring." That evaluation stuck with me!
Thinking back now, perhaps the supposed Eye of Death Desire is similar to this kind of mental activity!
However, I had no clue how to cultivate such intuition!
Furthermore, I couldn't be sure if this subconscious conditioned reflex, built on experience, was truly the Eye of Death Desire!
The thought only made my head spin more confusingly!
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In the blink of an eye, another week passed, and my thinking seemed stuck in a rut! I couldn't devise any viable solution! Sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, intuition—which of these senses was the Eye of Death Desire, or perhaps it was the combination of all six!
Was my thinking flawed! Or had I overlooked something!
Sight! Hearing! Taste! Smell! Touch! Intuition!
These words were what I repeated most over the past few days! While repeating them, I recalled the scene of encountering the Dragon-Demon Archer!
There was absolutely no warning; the attack arrived the very moment I sensed the killing intent!
But I clearly remembered that the first arrow fired by the Dragon-Demon Archer was blocked by my shield!
Wait! In that moment, I seemed to grasp something!
Why! Why could I feel the killing intent! Why could I judge that the Dragon-Demon Archer's first arrow was aimed at my throat! Recalling that moment carefully! I had been so distracted by this mental trap these past few days that I ignored this most fundamental question!
That's right; although I didn't know why, I truly felt the killing intent at that time, and that icy killing intent seemed to be aimed precisely at my throat! Because I felt an unusual coldness around my throat, a sensation like a sharp sword resting against my neck!
I closed my eyes again and carefully recalled every detail of what happened!
I concentrated on remembering! I recalled the deepest sensation then was an inexplicable palpitation and a chill! And this chill was precisely a tactile reaction from my throat! Otherwise, I wouldn't have instinctively retracted my head and raised my shield simultaneously! I had subconsciously categorized these two sensations as "killing intent"!
With that realization, I almost jumped up!
Yes, it was the killing intent! Years of facing mortal danger countless times had given me an incredibly acute sense for killing intent! And this all stemmed from touch—that strange coldness felt by the body! Plus that inexplicable fluttering in my heart! My sense of touch clearly registered this!
In the past, I had always taken this feeling for granted, never bothering to distinguish why. Thinking about it now! I had unknowingly utilized this subconscious aid and evaded the Dragon-Demon Archer's first, and most fatal, attack.
Killing intent! Everything revolved around sensing killing intent! A feeling beyond human comprehension, yet undeniably real. This feeling could also be categorized as intuition!
And the so-called Eye of Death Desire must be the eye that sees through the imminent threat of death! And this was all built upon the enemy's mental activity of malice and desire!
Eye of Death Desire!—It turned out to be the ability to see through the enemy based on their murderous intent! At this moment, I was certain I truly understood the Penetration aspect of the Eye of Death Desire!
It meant I had already successfully utilized the penetration of the Eye of Death Desire once! Otherwise, I would have been skewered by the Dragon-Demon Archer long ago!
Hahahaha!
I couldn't hold back my laughter any longer!
In that instant, I experienced a sudden, crystal-clear enlightenment! The Eye of Death Desire—Penetration! I had finally grasped it!
No wonder Jidu said! Grasping the Eye of Death Desire might take years, or days, or perhaps a lifetime! Looking back now, those words were entirely accurate!
If I hadn't been forced into such a desperate state by the terrifying speed of the Dragon-Demon Archer's heavy arrows, I wouldn't have racked my brain trying to figure out how to see through its attacks. It could be said that Jidu had already done all he could in the hints he gave me.
In terms of speed, I truly couldn't conceive of anything in this world that could compare to the heavy arrows shot by the Dragon-Demon Archer.
It follows that being pushed to this extreme speed limit was the most fundamental prerequisite for grasping the Eye of Death Desire.
Unexpectedly, by chance, the conditions for mastering the Eye of Death Desire were all in place.
At this moment, I couldn't wait any longer; I was eager to practice this newly acquired ultimate skill!
Dragon-Demon Archer! Just you wait, I no longer fear your heavy arrow penetration!
Full of confidence, I walked toward the end of the passage once more!