Yijin stood with his feet planted, staring blankly at the Centaur Fengzhong’s great spear, a weapon that seemed to mock the young friend’s own battle gear! Almost all of his recent burst of Dou Qi had been negated by the spear’s intricate anti-Dou Qi pattern!

“Fine weapon! Wasted in your hands!”

Qian Jin praised lightly. Without moving his body, he heard the Centaur let out an urgent, upward cry. It sounded less like aggressive battle intent and more like a desperate call for aid.

“Trouble! This thing is calling for help.” Qian Jin instantly understood. Centaurs moved in semi-herds; when danger struck, they immediately called their companions for assistance, unlike the solitary, independent demons such as the Three-Armed Apes.

A burst of urgent hooves thundered through the woods, and another Centaur, wielding a weapon only slightly smaller than the great spear held by the first, charged out, carrying a wooden club tipped with a stone sharpened into a spear-like point! In the distance, more chaotic galloping sounds echoed from all directions.

Qian Jin’s experience in the Endless World allowed him to instantly assess the situation: resolve the current fight immediately, absolutely grant the opponent no chance to escape, and then disengage! Dealing with a group of wild beasts was manageable; facing a herd of Centaur demons? Retreat was the wisest option!

Qian Jin glanced at the Centaur holding the iron spear nearby. He saw a flicker of fear in its eyes, suggesting it was ready to turn tail and flee at any moment.

The stone-tipped wooden club was launched as a javelin from afar! Without hesitation, Qian Jin flung his own Zhanmadao, mimicking the action. It sliced through the air in a gleaming arc toward the new arrival, without even looking back at the result, lunging toward the original Centaur.

The Centaur with the iron spear saw the terrifying weapon vanish from Qian Jin’s hand, and courage flooded back into its eyes. The great iron spear, just as before, drove straight and true toward Qian Jin’s chest!

The spear whistled through the air. Facing the great spear, Qian Jin took half a step forward and shifted his body aside! As the iron spear hissed past, he thrust out both hands, like iron tongs used for forging metal, firmly gripping the shaft of the spear!

The sudden thrust of the heavy iron spear halted abruptly. The Centaur froze in place, its eyes wide with undisguised astonishment. How much strength did this small creature possess?

Almost instinctively, the Centaur lifted its hoof high, kicking out toward Qian Jin’s chest!

“Up you go!” Qian Jin strained his arms again. He used the great spear to lever the Centaur he was grappling upward, then executed an over-the-shoulder throw, slamming the Centaur heavily onto the ground.

Boom! The violent force combined with the heavy weight struck the earth with crushing impact, causing the ground to tremble slightly. The Centaur was thrown into utter disarray, struggling to rise and see what kind of monster this prey was—one that could throw it despite its small stature? Furthermore, the impact had snapped one of its bones.

Pfft! The spear pierced through the skull, pinning the Centaur to the ground, granting it no final chance to struggle.

This battle between demon beast and human was a matter of predator and prey. Qian Jin showed no mercy simply because his opponent possessed half a human form. This was a fight of kill or be killed, nothing more.

Qian Jin quickly used the spear tip to slit open the Centaur’s abdomen. Seeing slivers of black stone, no bigger than a fingernail, shattered across the cavity, he sighed inwardly: the Demon Core was destroyed. This fellow’s speed at self-destruction was fast; knowing death was certain, he shattered the core instantly, denying me the chance to claim it.

The sound of approaching hooves grew nearer in the distance. Qian Jin turned and sprinted toward the other Centaur that had been slain by his thrown Zhanmadao. He retrieved his weapon, sliced open the Centaur’s belly, pulled out the fist-sized black Demon Core, and swiftly leapt into the canopy of a tree. Using the leverage of the branches, he launched himself away in the direction opposite the incoming herd. The spear, the battle, the Demon Core!

After a wild sprint, Qian Jin sat upon a large boulder, examining his spoils and reflecting on the mistakes made during the recent fight.

Warrior’s Code: After surviving any battle, regardless of the opponent's strength, it is best to reflect upon it; this reflection might be the key to surviving your next confrontation.

“The biggest mistake this time was underestimating the weapons the Centaurs carried. I presumed my Zhanmadao could shatter their weapons as it had done before.” Qian Jin gently shook his head, tracing the shallow blade marks on the spear shaft. “Fortunately, it was only a Centaur. If I ever step onto the Human-Demon Battlefield, I might be the one who dies. In the future, I must never look down on any opponent’s weapon just because I wield a Dou Bing.” Skill! Truly, this cannot be ignored. If I also possessed that assassin-killer’s archery skill, and had a fine bow, I could still use the terrain of the forest to slay even a dozen Centaurs, taking them down in waves.”

“Archery Skill,” Qian Jin suddenly touched his chest.

Divine Archery! Qian Jin looked at the book in his hands. Only then did he recall this volume, unexpectedly obtained when he killed that archer outside the Four Seasons Valley that day.

Lately, he had been so focused on becoming a Demon Quelling Warrior that he had completely forgotten about obtaining such a book.

“Divine Archery? What a boastful title,” Qian Jin laughed to himself as he flipped open the first page. “Naming a book this? Who does it think it is? The head of the Bi Yu Clan? Even the head of the Bi Yu Clan—”

The roar in his thoughts abruptly ceased. He stared blankly at the opening page of Divine Archery. His heart jolted violently. The words on the page seemed, in an instant, to transform into sharp arrows tearing through the sky, suddenly flying out of the book! He was so startled he almost dropped it.

Whose calligraphy was this? How could it hide arrows of intent within the characters themselves? Qian Jin steadied his mind, fixing his gaze on the author’s name. He felt as if he had been physically pinned to a tree by an arrow.

Yi Yu Jian Hun ()? Qian Jin was stunned for a long moment, then slapped his own head with a bitter laugh. He had been too absorbed in practicing the Feng Yun Dou Qi lately, pushing for the rank of Demon Quelling Warrior, and had forgotten that when he first acquired this book, he had indeed flipped through it quickly, already knowing it was a work by Bi Yu Jian Hun.

Qian Jin looked at Divine Archery in his hands. The book, utterly devoid of warmth, suddenly felt hotter than burning coals.

“I wonder what the Yu Yu family’s reaction will be to their kinsman’s death? And this Divine Archery falling into my hands…” Even if I returned it and claimed I hadn't read it—”

Qian Jin waved his hand forcefully. “How is that possible? If I were a member of the Bi Yu family, I would never believe someone wouldn't read the works of Bi Yu Jian Hun. Even if they believed me—”

Qian Jin’s eyes were now fixed on Divine Archery as he muttered to himself, “I have no intention of returning it! If the Bi Yu family sends people to kill me, taking this secret technique as compensation is only fair.”

“To become a true archer, do not merely pursue accuracy in hitting the target, nor obsess over whether you can draw a stronger bow. Observe! To become a truly great archer, you must observe—”

“Observe?” Qian Jin looked at the opening preface with some surprise. These characters, like arrows tearing through the void, were completely different from the lectures on archery provided in his school courses. The more he read, the more he felt these words hid some other, deeper meaning.

“Observe, continuously observe.” Qian Jin flipped through Divine Archery as he murmured, “What exactly is he trying to tell me? According to the introduction to Divine Archery, reading it should lead to more than just becoming a divine marksman.”

As an archer, the most crucial element is the target! Observe your target well, press forward like an arrow loosed from the string, never looking back! Hit your target!

Qian Jin found that whether Divine Archery was truly authored by Yi Yu Jian Hun or not, the book was undeniably fascinating—far more interesting than the archery textbooks at school or the collections in the Qian family library.

These few opening lines had thoroughly piqued Qian Jin’s interest.

For an archer, the greatest utility on the battlefield is not merely killing enemies, but eliminating the enemy commander! This inevitably demands infiltrating near enemy lines and seeking opportunities. Therefore, sharp eyesight, courage, and observation are all indispensable! Once you have observed what you desire, you must have the courage to act.

“Observation again?” Qian Jin slowly turned the pages of Divine Archery. The text that followed did not continue to dwell on observation but moved directly into genuine insights on archery technique.

Flipping gently through Divine Archery, Qian Jin began to understand why Bi Yu Jian Hun was called the Arrow God walking the earth by all archers of the Zhen Ce Dynasty back in the day.

The book Divine Archery was distinct from the school textbooks not only in its introduction but also in its content. Bi Yu Jian Hun never believed that only shooting with a bow constituted archery; he held that any object that could be thrown was part of archery.

For instance, a simple, primitive stone, a small metal throwing knife—these too were part of archery!

According to Bi Yu Jian Hun’s viewpoint, regardless of whether it was a stone, a throwing knife, or an arrow, once you truly grasped the essence of the archery technique for any one of them, you would immediately comprehend the essence of archery when you held any other projectile weapon.

This was a complete training method. The initial training was pure strength conditioning. In Bi Yu Jian Hun’s words, the existence of an archer was defined by secretly killing an opponent from the farthest possible distance.

Without sufficient distance, no matter how exquisite your archery skill, you could only manage to hunt game!

Strength? Qian Jin casually picked up a small stone from the large boulder. He had certainly forged a good measure of power during his time in the Endless World. Compared to others his age, few could match his brute strength, and coupled with the explosive power of his Demon Quelling Three Battles Dou Qi, it was more than enough to satisfy the basic strength requirements of Divine Archery. With a single breath... (Text fragment omitted in original)... a different physical experience!

Qian Jin tested a few of the archery techniques recorded in Divine Archery. His admiration for Bi Yu Jian Hun increased greatly. Any technique, when taken to its profound depths, often becomes dry and difficult to understand, making practice a path that could make one weep. Yet, Divine Archery managed to render these dry concepts so clearly, while simultaneously ensuring that the learner did not feel too great an obstacle.

Thanks to the solid foundation laid in his school archery classes, combined with the easy-to-understand explanations, after practicing only a few times, Qian Jin was able to accurately hit a walnut-sized object on a tree one hundred meters away.