Tie Ci knelt on one knee, holding those arrows, thinking to herself that it would be wonderful if she could restore them.

As she thought this, a warm current stirred within her chest, surging like wild waves that suddenly arose and rushed downward. The reverse qi flow she had practiced before actually activated on its own. Caught off guard, she was struck by this warm current, causing severe pain in her chest and lungs, as if someone had stabbed her with a cold blade. Her vision went black.

After the blackness passed and returned to normal, she opened her eyes again, preparing to abandon the broken arrows and leave, when suddenly she felt something was wrong.

Looking down, the arrow fragments had disappeared. In her palm was a broken arrow missing only a small piece of its arrowhead.

Tie Ci stared at the broken arrow, momentarily shocked and bewildered. Could it be that she had activated another innate ability?

In the past, her luck had always been desperate, or she would only actively trigger the reverse qi flow when in extremely dangerous situations. Could this ability actually evolve on its own, without danger or disaster, achieving her dreams with just a single thought?

Would wishing for world-destroying power work?

Tie Ci closed her eyes and silently wished… Well, I want to throw that Senior Brother Mu into the Wuyu Pool.

She opened her eyes again, and Senior Brother Mu was standing there perfectly fine, sneering coldly at her.

Tie Ci settled for less and picked up some more fragments, closing her eyes to concentrate. However, after a moment when she opened her eyes again, the fragments were still fragments.

Tie Ci sighed.

Forget it, this was metaphysics.

Hadn’t teleportation also come inexplicably? Even now she hadn’t fully mastered it, always afraid of teleporting into a men’s bathhouse, so she still didn’t dare use it casually.

How could she expect restoration to come so easily?

Moreover, it seemed the more innate abilities she unlocked, the harder it became to advance in individual skills.

This was probably a kind of balance, otherwise wouldn’t she be able to split heaven and earth?

In comparison, she would rather possess only one or two powerful abilities that she could easily control.

Thinking about clairvoyance, teleportation, restoration… Tie Ci’s mind was vaguely swept by a hazy thought—it seemed that hundreds of years ago, when various kingdoms stood side by side across the continent, those several famous legendary women…

It seemed that tracing back to their origins, the Tie family had some blood connections with those legendary figures…

Time was almost up.

She stood up, and as she rose, she smoothly inserted that arrow into her quiver.

No one noticed that there was an extra arrow in her quiver.

Rong Wei rode over on horseback, giving her a questioning look.

She nodded.

Rong Wei’s eyes flashed, and the two rode past each other.

Simultaneously twisting around to shoot arrows at a target in the corner.

Senior Brother Mu’s eyes revealed a smile.

He had long seen they only had two arrows. Even if they joined together, it wouldn’t be enough. They might as well surrender.

Whoosh, whoosh—two sounds as the arrows hit their targets. Senior Brother Mu stood up and called out loudly: “You’ve shot all your arrows, fewer than ours…”

Before he finished speaking, Tie Ci turned around and drew her bow toward his direction.

Amidst tsunami-like exclamations, there was clearly another arrow on her bow!

The cold white arrowhead aimed at Senior Brother Mu, who seemed nailed by that arrow to his forehead and suddenly jumped up.

“Impossible! How is this possible! Where did you get that arrow…”

Before he finished speaking, Tie Ci raised her arm with a resonant hum as the arrow left the lonely string.

Senior Brother Mu’s eyes continuously rotated and magnified that cold, sharp arrowhead.

He instinctively crouched down.

With a light “thud,” a wooden post in front of him trembled, raising fine dust.

Senior Brother Mu’s position was right against the railing. Tie Ci’s arrow hit the target on the wooden railing post in front of him.

Dust fluttered down all over his head. Senior Brother Mu crouched there, wishing for a moment that he would never have to stand up again.

However, at this moment no one was paying attention to whether he had the nerve to stand up. Countless students, even those who didn’t like Tie Ci, couldn’t help but feel their blood surge and applaud by slapping the railings.

The student counting called out loudly: “Two hundred seventy-one arrows! First place, tie!”

Senior Brother Mu suddenly stood up and said: “Not winning means defeat!”

The crowd’s excited emotions cooled somewhat as they looked at each other.

Although they felt his words were shameless, their own purses were also quite important.

Everyone turned their gaze to the Mountain Chief, who closed his eyes, ate a hawthorn, shook his head and sighed softly: “This generation of students, I am very disappointed…”

Everyone hung their heads in shame.

Senior Brother Mu suddenly smiled. After being subtly mocked, he showed no anger, glanced at Rong Wei and said: “Since the Mountain Chief believes that not winning doesn’t count as defeat, then I’ll make them admit defeat wholeheartedly. Shall we compete again?”

A rematch after a tie was proper protocol, so the Mountain Chief nodded.

Everyone discussed amongst themselves. Tie Ci wasn’t surprised. Her gaze swept over the crowd and saw Tong Rushi standing quietly among them, neither excited nor surprised, like water grown thick with countless duckweeds, with countless roots beneath the water—even when wind passed, there were no ripples.

People came and went, and in a blink of an eye, he was submerged.

The two groups faced off. Everyone thought Senior Brother Mu would choose the same method as before, but unexpectedly he said: “Our numbers are insufficient. Those few must return. Otherwise it’s not fair.”

Everyone thought: weren’t those few kicked out by you yourself?

After a while, several people walked out from the woods.

All wore identical riding clothes, face masks, and carried shields to block their forms.

The other test participants were still on the field, so those who came out were naturally the few who had been kicked out earlier. Everyone obviously thought so.

But Tie Ci’s eyes narrowed, feeling something was wrong.

She glanced around and noticed Rong Wei was also looking there. The eyes behind his golden silk mask seemed to curve, then he turned his head.

Those few students walked to the sideline, raising their hands to signal they wanted to enter. They said they had just suddenly lost their footing earlier, which wasn’t against the rules. Now that they had recovered, they naturally wanted to participate again.

Tie Ci watched those people mount their horses, one hand gripping the reins, one hand gripping the saddle, leaping up high with a “whoosh” before landing on horseback.

Someone exclaimed: “Their mounting posture has suddenly improved!”

Tie Ci’s eyes flashed.

More than just improved!

She still remembered how those few had mounted earlier. Though not clumsy, they hadn’t been this smooth either.

Moreover, these people’s mounting posture was somewhat strange, as if they were accustomed to a certain height, used to leaping up, but now had to suppress themselves somewhat.

This suggested they usually rode horses regularly, and the horses they rode were exceptionally tall and fine?

Tie Ci stared at those people, slowly raising her head, about to speak when suddenly someone grabbed her reins.

She turned and through her mask saw Rong Wei’s smiling eyes.

Rong Wei said softly: “Shush—”

Tie Ci said expressionlessly: “What unseemly business is it this time?”

“Don’t speak.” Rong Wei said, “Consider that I owe you a favor.”

Tie Ci had always been one to go with the flow and consider the bigger picture. When interests were at stake, she would never throw tantrums. Even though she found Rong Wei disagreeable at the moment, it didn’t prevent her from immediately saying: “Deal.”

Rong Wei was about to thank her when he heard her say: “Those few are clearly martial artists. Letting them mix in creates too many variables. If we lose, you still have to give me excellence, and compensate me for all the lost money.”

Rong Wei gasped: “Hero, you really won’t take even the slightest loss!”

“Who said that?” Tie Ci said seriously, “I ate grilled golden carp and still took the blame for someone.”

Rong Wei was speechless. Thinking about it, Ye Shiba was quite generous—clearly recognizing him, yet not holding it against him, even daring to eat braised goose with him.

But wasn’t the more important reason that braised goose tasted better?

Speaking as if treating him to food was like owing him a favor.

If Tie Ci knew what he was thinking now, she would probably say: You don’t understand this. This is one of the essential skills of those in power. Being good at calling a deer a horse, turning black to white, speaking appropriately to everyone, with eloquent words like blooming lotuses. Putting on the face of one who honors the worthy and humble, displaying a broad and magnanimous spirit, especially good at exaggerating one’s own kindness and benefits. Sprinkling a little from between the fingers, one must speak of it as heavy as mountains, making people weep with gratitude, feeling eternally grateful, thereafter devoted unto death.

She was still far from that level.

Rong Wei finally said: “Deal!”

Although she had a safety net, Tie Ci didn’t want to invite too much trouble. She raised her hand to the Mountain Chief: “Mountain Chief, they’re adding people, so we want to reduce ours. Li Zhi and the others competed one round and are already tired. Those few have been conserving their energy all along. That’s not fair.”

Since the opposing side was secretly substituting people and meant no good, Tie Ci naturally didn’t want Li Zhi and the others to be innocently implicated. Better to let Li Zhi, Cui Shi, and Wei Xuan step down.

After all, this time she couldn’t shoot arrows onto the wall to provide convenience for Li Zhi and the others.

The Mountain Chief said: “With fewer people, can you manage?”

Wei Xuan raised his bow: “I’m still fine, Shiba, let me continue.”

Little Round Face also said: “I’m not tired either!”

Tian Wu also said: “Shiba, we’re not tired, it’s fine.”

Li Zhi lowered his eyes: “I’m just getting in the way. I’ll step down.”

Cui Shi’s lips moved as if to say something. Looking at Tie Ci, he also silently stepped back.

Hu Yin suddenly strode forward: “I’ll join.”

Thus, nine against ten wasn’t too disparate, so the Mountain Chief agreed.

A bell rang and both teams entered simultaneously.

To avoid collisions, each side entered from different entrances. Tie Ci quietly told her companions: “The opponents act domineeringly. Let’s choose a good portion of targets, mark out a circle, and operate within that circle. Don’t let the opponents cross into our circle, don’t get entangled with them, fight quickly and decisively.”

Everyone nodded—avoiding conflict was the best approach.

The formation Tie Ci designated had everyone staggered, so if one side had problems, the other could immediately provide support. To distinguish teammates, everyone tied red cloth on their heads.

Senior Brother Mu’s side tied white cloth on their arms. As he tied it, Senior Brother Mu chuckled: “Putting white on you first.”

Tie Ci smiled and replied: “We’re different—we’re celebrating having a precious son.”

Senior Brother Mu, called a son, sneered, waved his bow and arrow at her, then turned to enter the field.

Tie Ci and her group turned their horses’ heads and galloped into the field from the other side. To save time and avoid the crowd, Tie Ci had Tian Wu, Wei Xuan, Wei Xin, and Little Round Face spur their horses in first, giving them the fastest horses to choose targets and shoot while galloping.

Tian Wu’s mounted archery was quite good among the students. In the first quick gallop, several arrows had already hit targets with swift whooshing sounds. Everyone was applauding when the opposing team entered and, instead of shooting their own targets, headed straight for Tie Ci’s side.

Tie Ci shouted: “Be careful!”

But those horses were fast as whirlwind, kicking up sand and dust, charging fiercely toward Tian Wu, Wei Xuan and the others. For a moment no one could see clearly through the dust, only hearing cries of “Ow!” from within, and Tian Wu shouting, “Who took my quiver!” Then came a thunderous crash as a huge horse was knocked aside, sliding on the sandy ground with legs in the air, nearly hitting Hu Yin who was following. Hu Yin leaned from his horse to extend his hand. Wei Xuan, who had rolled out with the horse, borrowed the force to jump up and with a “whoosh” landed on Hu Yin’s horse. She seemed to have her fighting spirit truly ignited, actually stepping and leaping onto the horse’s head. Removing the bow from her back, she perched high above and shot an arrow into the undispersed dust cloud.

In the hazy expanse, one could see the arrowhead spark against metal with a flash of fire. Someone cried out, then came sounds of hand-to-hand combat, accompanied by Tian Wu’s angry roars: “Told you to take my quiver! Told you to take my quiver!” Two people rolled out of the dust fighting, one being Tian Wu and an opponent. That person had an arrow in his arm, blood staining the white cloth red—no more mourning dress for him. From Tian Wu’s stance, he probably wanted the man to put on mourning clothes for himself.

However, even though wounded by Wei Xuan’s arrow and pinned down and beaten by Tian Wu’s superior weight, that person still managed to fling both the stolen quiver from Tian Wu and his own quiver to Senior Brother Mu with one throw!

All this happened in mere moments. The spectators outside hadn’t yet reacted, mouths agape, unable to keep up with this crazy pace. Tie Ci and Rong Wei had already surpassed their formation and arrived one after the other. Tie Ci reached out to grab that person, preparing to throw him hard—since he’d already committed a foul, she’d personally penalize him off the field!

But Rong Wei was actually a step faster than her. Tie Ci only saw a black armguard flash as Rong Wei had already gripped the man’s throat. His slender, pale, distinctly-jointed fingers tightened, and Tie Ci clearly heard the man’s throat bone make a chilling “crack” sound.

She was startled and called urgently: “Master Rong! You cannot kill here!”

Turning her head, she saw Rong Wei’s clearly defined profile—brows slanted upward, lips slightly pursed, eyes coldly stern, yet the corners of his mouth seemed to smile, murderous intent piercing yet also devastatingly charming.

He remained motionless, his fingers like cast iron. Tie Ci felt as if a very long moment passed before she saw his fingers loosen slightly, and he chuckled softly: “Oh, force of habit.”

Then his slightly loosened five fingers slid downward, and with a “puff” sound, pierced into the opponent’s shoulder well point. Amidst the man’s screams, he flicked his wrist backward.

The opponent’s large body was flung like a broken sack. A few drops of blood splattered on both his and Tie Ci’s cheeks. Tie Ci vaguely seemed to see light through the man’s shoulder, then with a “bang” he hit the ground and bounced up, heavily crashing into the crowd.

In that instant, Rong Wei had crippled the man.

Then Rong Wei raised his head and through the scattered blood mist and dust, locked eyes with Senior Brother Mu who sat high on his horse.

Sparks seemed to fly through the air.