“How dare you!” Before His Royal Highness could even open his mouth, the burly man who had just chosen a 35-stone bow had already stepped forward, pointed at Yan Liqiang and roared, “Don’t act crazy and stupid in front of His Royal Highness. Do you think this is a theater on the overpass where you can show off your skills? You think a 40-stone bow is too light. Who do you think you are? Do you want to be clever and avoid a blind comparison? You already escaped once a few years ago. His Highness is giving you a chance today because he thinks highly of you. Don’t be ungrateful!”
There are many masters in the palace, and many of them practice archery. But even among these masters, there is not one who can pull a 40-stone bow. Thirty-five stones is the limit for all archery masters in the entire palace.
Yan Liqiang was young, and although he had an upright figure, he did not look like a strong man. Including the Crown Prince and the two who wanted to compete with Yan Liqiang, they all felt that Yan Liqiang did not have the ability to draw a bow with a force of forty stones. Of course, they had also heard before that when Yan Liqiang was in Luyuan, the bow he could draw was less than thirty stones.
Yan Liqiang laughed when he heard what that person said. He knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had asked about his past experiences. However, in this era, information was blocked and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince might not know about his fame in the battle at Tianchi in the northwest. If he knew, he would have found a master of archery to ask him what level of achievement he had achieved with that arrow that day. He would not have arranged two guards to embarrass himself in front of him today.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince pursed his lips and stared at Yan Liqiang with sharp eyes, "Since you said that a 40-stone bow is too light, why don't you let me see if you can fully draw this bow? If you have this ability, I will ask someone to change it for a stronger bow. The warehouses in the palace are networked all over the world, and there are all kinds of magical weapons. The key is whether you can use them!"
"Since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said so, then I will show you my poor performance!" Yan Liqiang said calmly, and then he picked up a dark red bow weighing forty stones. Without any effort on his part, and without even a breath or a sound, the bow in his hand instantly turned into a full moon, and then with a "crackling" sound, the bow arm of the powerful horn python bow was directly broken by Yan Liqiang. In the blink of an eye, the precious bow was scrapped in Yan Liqiang's hand and turned into a pile of clanking things. The whole process was like an adult gently breaking a bamboo bow that a child was playing with.
"I said that this bow is too light and not comfortable to use. What a pity for this bow..." Yan Liqiang shook his head, sighed, and threw the broken bow onto the bow rack.
The room was completely silent, and the loud noise of the 40-stone bow breaking seemed to still echo in the room. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had stood up unconsciously, and the archery master who had just pointed at Yan Liqiang and roared had completely changed his expression.
"Hahaha, today really opened my eyes..." The Crown Prince's originally serious face suddenly laughed, "Someone, come and get the Dragon-Shaking Bow in my collection..."
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince gave an order, and moments later, a servant came into the room carrying a huge brocade box, placed the box on a table, and opened the box. A hideous-looking bow with dark red arms shining like crystal appeared in front of Yan Liqiang.
Yan Liqiang's eyes swept across the precious bow, and he couldn't help but shout, "What a great bow!"
In Yan Liqiang's eyes, this was indeed a good bow, and the name "Hanlong" was not an exaggeration. Looking closely at the patterns on the bow arm, the power required to draw this bow was more than 100 stones, to be precise, 108 stones. It required more power than the 100-stone strong bow that Yan Liqiang had used up before, and it was more exquisite and gorgeous. In order to make that 100-stone strong bow, Yan Liqiang almost used up all the energy he had accumulated in the "Gachapon Machine", and he took great pains to summon a horned python and prepare the raw materials for making the bow. Originally, Yan Liqiang thought that it might be difficult to find a second 100-stone strong bow in the world, but he didn't expect that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince actually had one in his collection.
Yan Liqiang picked up the bow, touched the bowstring, and weighed it for a moment before saying to His Royal Highness, "This bow is fine..."
"Okay!" His Royal Highness nodded, "My two guards are both good at blind fighting, and each has his own strengths in archery. You can choose any one of them to compete with you..."
"Don't bother, just let them both learn together!" Yan Liqiang said casually, "They are your guards, Your Highness the Crown Prince. Even if I win against one person, it's not fair. If I can't even beat the two archery guards beside Your Highness the Crown Prince, I am not qualified to be your archery teacher. I will resign from this position to His Majesty!"
In a blind archery competition, the difficulty and danger of fighting against one person and two people are completely different. The two archery masters beside His Royal Highness the Crown Prince looked at each other with anger in their eyes, but they didn't say anything. It was obvious that they were suppressed by Yan Liqiang just now. They were just swearing in their hearts, "What does it matter if you can pull a strong bow? The level of archery skills, especially in a blind competition, is not just a test of strength. I will make you pay later..."
"Well, then I'd like to see how you fight one against two in a blind match today!" His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said, and walked directly to the courtyard outside. The guards and servants in the room, the two archery masters, and Yan Liqiang also followed him out.
There is an archery range in the yard outside. The range has been cleaned up long ago and seems to be ready for today's blind competition.
Seeing His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Yan Liqiang and the others come out, almost all the guards and servants in the Zhaowu Court gathered around to watch the fun.
This blind competition was arranged very formally. Before the competition, someone checked the black blindfolds on the three people in front of them, removed the arrowheads and wrapped the arrow shafts with cloth. After Yan Liqiang and the other two had no objection, they were asked to stand fifty steps apart on both sides of the archery field.
Yan Liqiang stood on one side, and the two archery masters beside the Crown Prince stood on the other side, more than 20 meters apart from each other. The three of them formed an isosceles triangle on the field.
The sun was shining brightly overhead, and the scene was utterly silent. The onlookers held their breath and dared not speak. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was sitting in the corridor next to the archery range, surrounded by several guards holding shields, and the others who were there to watch the fun gathered on both sides.
"This blind competition will start with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince throwing a coin. The coin will land on the ground in the archery field. You will start when you hear the sound. Those who hear the sound wrong and draw their bows prematurely will lose. Those who are shot by the opponent first will lose..." The guard beside His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who brought Yan Liqiang in just now stood on the archery field and said loudly, looking around, "If you three have no objection, you can put on your blindfolds..."
Yan Liqiang smiled, glanced at the two people opposite him, and then put on his blindfold. He stood on the field with a bow in his hand, calmly and relaxedly. He felt a little strange. He had escaped a blind competition before, but he didn't expect that he couldn't escape it again when he came to Imperial Capital this time. It seemed that if he didn't compete once, it would be like letting down himself for learning archery in Imperial Capital. In this case, let's compete...
There were many people watching, so Yan Liqiang was not worried that the other party would cheat or use any tricks. He believed that His Royal Highness still had some dignity to maintain. The reason why His Royal Highness let people watch was just to tell himself that he would not do anything. However, even if the other party cheated or used tricks, it would be meaningless to Yan Liqiang now...
The two people on the opposite side saw Yan Liqiang wearing a blindfold, and they also put on their own blindfolds. The person who was talking in the middle ran to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and reported, "Your Highness, it's all right..."
The Crown Prince held a copper coin in his hand, and his sharp eyes moved back and forth between Yan Liqiang and the two guards beside him. After half a minute, the Crown Prince flicked his finger, and the copper coin flew out of the Crown Prince's hand. Under the gazes of countless people, it rolled in the air, drew a high parabola, and then fell to the ground of the archery range with a slight sound.
"Ding… "
…
(End of this chapter)