Ji Xiaoyao and Yan Liqiang's blind competition is definitely for real.
The two men stood a hundred steps apart in the open space outside the bamboo forest where they had their first competition a few days ago. Yan Liqiang's eyes were covered with several layers of thick black cloth, while Ji Xiaoyao did not need to cover his eyes and kept his eyes open. Then they each shot at each other with a five-stone bow.
Yan Liqiang was using a real arrow, while Ji Xiaoyao was using a "training arrow" with the iron arrowhead removed and a piece of cloth wrapped around the head of the arrow shaft.
Yan Liqiang couldn't hit Ji Xiaoyao with his eyes open, let alone now that he was blindfolded, so it was okay for him to use a real arrow. However, the cloth-headed arrows without arrowheads shot by Ji Xiaoyao made Yan Liqiang suffer a lot in the whole morning. He experienced the taste of death again and again. Ji Xiaoyao during training was just like a devil coach.
The cloth-headed arrow would not penetrate Yan Liqiang's body, nor would it draw blood. However, because the force from the arrow was very strong, even during training, being hit by such an arrow made Yan Liqiang feel as if he had been punched hard by a big man. It was even more like the feeling of being shot by a bullet while wearing a bulletproof vest.
Even though Yan Liqiang had completed one level of the Golden Bell Body Protection Skill, after a morning, his entire body was still covered in bruises and soreness, as if he had been beaten up by a group of people.
Yan Liqiang had never imagined that he would need to compete with others in archery with his eyes blindfolded, so he had never experienced such training. When he really started to compete with Ji Xiaoyao, Yan Liqiang realized how difficult such a competition was.
After closing his eyes, the only means for him to capture external information is his ears, and the only information he can capture is sound. He must use sound to judge the direction, landing point, position and orientation of the arrow shot by the opponent. There are two useful sounds, one is the sound of the arrow flying in the air, and the other is the sound of the bowstring vibrating when the opponent draws the bow.
The principle is simple to explain, but when he really practiced, Yan Liqiang found that when his ears heard the sound, and then passed it to the brain for analysis and issued instructions, when his body reacted, the rhythm was already one beat slower, and in a real blind competition, this slow beat was definitely the difference between life and death. It was this beat of rhythm that when you heard the sound of the opponent's arrow, your body was immediately hit by the arrow, and when you wanted to shoot the arrow according to the sound of the opponent's bowstring, the opponent was no longer there.
Although he was tortured for the whole morning, Yan Liqiang did not gain nothing. At least through a morning of training, he had mastered the most important rhythm in blind competition - that is, never let your body be still, but keep your body moving all the time. At the same time, the speed of your body's movement cannot be completely fixed at one speed, but must vary and cannot have any regularity. Only in this way can you reduce the chance of being hit by an arrow.
Almost no one would deliberately train for blind fights, because such scenes are far from the actual combat situation. Who would go to the battlefield blindfolded? It is also because most people do not deliberately train, so if they encounter those who have deliberately trained for blind fights during blind fights, it is normal for those who have not trained before to suffer losses and fail in blind fights, or even die.
Blind competition is popular in the army. It is a bit like the reckless criminals Yan Liqiang saw in the movies in his previous life who liked to play Russian roulette with one bullet in their revolvers. When two people of similar strength play a blind competition, what is tested is not their skills but their courage.
Yan Liqiang was sure that Shi Minzhang must have been specially trained in blind comparison, which was why he was so fearless.
Blindfolded, under the threat of death that may come at any time, the whole body is moving rapidly, the senses of the ears are mobilized to the extreme, and the brain is like an overclocked CPU, constantly judging any changes in the surroundings and even the slightest sound in the air. In the process of completing such judgments and perceptions, it is necessary to constantly issue commands and adjust its movement speed and changes in offense and defense...
Although Yan Liqiang's physical exertion was not great after a morning of training, the huge mental and psychological exertion caused by the constant tension still made him exhausted. He felt as if his entire brain was being hollowed out.
It was the first time that Yan Liqiang discovered that such training would be so exhausting. After training for a whole morning, Yan Liqiang felt as if he had been carrying a weight of several thousand kilograms and shaking a big gun underwater for a whole morning. This was a completely different form of extreme sport.
He pulled off the thick black cloth covering his eyes again. Even without looking in the mirror, Yan Liqiang could see his own pale face from Ji Xiaoyao's eyes. At the same time, he felt his eyes getting darker.
"Blind competition training consumes a lot of mental and spiritual energy. It's not easy for ordinary people to persist for two quarters of an hour. I didn't expect you to persist for two hours at a time, and you have made great progress. It's really beyond my expectations. From today until you start the blind competition, we will do the same training here every morning. In the afternoon, you can rest and recuperate, and summarize the gains from the morning training!"
"Yes, thank you for your guidance, Master!"
"Today is the first training session. The arrows I used have no arrowheads. The arrowheads are wrapped with wooden poles. The speed of such arrows after being shot out is not as fast as real arrows, and the sound of breaking through the air is also somewhat different from that of real arrows. These will affect your reaction and judgment in the blind competition. Today, I will let you adapt to it. After three days, I will switch to real arrows. Only then can you develop correct judgment and reaction in such training!"
"Master, if you had used real arrows, I would be dead if I were shot by one arrow. If it was like this morning, my body would have been full of holes..."
"When the time comes, you will wear a set of soft golden armor, and it will be fine as long as you don't let the arrows penetrate it!"
"Soft Golden Armor?" It was the first time Yan Liqiang heard this name.
"This is a precious armor that can be worn close to the body. As long as you ask, the eunuch surnamed Liu will definitely find you a set of soft golden armor!"
…
After leaving Ji Xiaoyao, Yan Liqiang dragged his tired steps and went straight to find Eunuch Liu. Just as Ji Xiaoyao said, when Eunuch Liu heard that Yan Liqiang was fully preparing for the blind competition and needed a piece of soft gold armor, he agreed immediately and said that he would find a set for Yan Liqiang tomorrow morning.
Returning to his own courtyard, feeling his head still a little dizzy, Yan Liqiang suddenly had an idea.
"I don't think I've ever experienced such a huge consumption and overdraft of my mental and spiritual energy before. Doesn't the Yijing Xisuijing allow me to use the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to strengthen and replenish my physical and visual abilities after I've overdrawn them? I wonder if the strengthening effect of the Yijing Xisuijing is effective for my mental and spiritual energy..."
(End of this chapter)