After Huo Ci woke up, Jiang Xingyan could feel that his body was gradually recovering its inner strength.
Now, it had already reached about thirty percent of what it was at its peak.
She couldn’t wait to throw herself into training.
The weapons Mo Zhai had brought were simply too novel, and they sparked a deep yearning in her heart. She also wanted to test their capabilities.
Xiao Chonghua had been drilled for two days straight and was already sick of it all.
But in order not to disgrace the dignity of a prince, he forced himself to endure being pushed around by the drillmasters from several battalions.
He simply couldn’t swallow his pride. Taking advantage of a break, he patted his warhorse and rode over toward Jiang Xingyan.
“General Huo, would you care to have a contest with me?”
Jiang Xingyan paused her hands fiddling with the crossbow and casually agreed. “Contest in what?”
“In accuracy, of course.”
Xiao Chonghua had long heard of Huo Ci’s formidable reputation.
The legendary Huo Ci was not only proficient in all eighteen traditional weapons but had achieved near-mythical mastery in them.
But he had never witnessed it with his own eyes and had always harbored doubts.
Now, he finally had a chance to verify it.
Jiang Xingyan furrowed her brow. Looking at the hopeful faces of the soldiers nearby, the refusal in her throat stuck, and she had to brace herself and agree.
“Third Prince, how would you like to compete?”
To prevent panic among the troops, the news that ‘Huo Ci’ had been injured, his meridians shattered, and his martial arts completely lost, was tightly suppressed by Xiao Ao.
Aside from the civil and military officials at the banquet that night, no one else knew a thing.
Xiao Chonghua had forgotten this detail and only remembered it after he proposed the contest.
A wave of regret washed over him.
His father had specifically instructed him to keep his mouth shut.
If the soldiers saw something suspicious during the contest with him, his father would surely blame him!
Hearing ‘Huo Ci’ ask that, he hurriedly tried to backtrack.
“General Huo, your inner strength is profound. I can’t compare.
For this contest, let’s set a rule beforehand: absolutely no use of inner strength is allowed.”
Jiang Xingyan’s lips curled into a faint smile.
Indeed, it was easier dealing with smart people. Without her having to say anything, he had figured it out himself.
The vanguard battalion drillmaster curled his lip and nudged the supply battalion drillmaster beside him with his shoulder:
“Look at that, knows how to make an excuse for himself.”
“Right? Our general clawed his way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
He’s a pampered prince, fed on silk and jade. How could he even compare?”
The assault battalion drillmaster clapped both of them heavily on the shoulder: “Shut it!
Don’t make trouble for the general!”
The few men quickly cut off their chatter and listened carefully to how Xiao Chonghua wanted to set the rules.
“General and I, best two out of three rounds.
The first round, naturally, a test of piercing the willow leaf from a hundred paces.
Mounted archery. Whoever hits the highest score wins. How about it?”
Jiang Xingyan nodded. “Fine.”
“The second round, a horse race.
Galloping three laps around the training field. The first to reach the finish line and snatch the red flower as a token wins the round.
During the race, any action is permitted, as long as it doesn’t harm the other’s life.”
Old Zhang curled his lip: “Hear that, Xiaomi? He’s laying his ears out for us in advance, signaling his underhanded tricks are coming!”
Xiaomi dismissed it. “Comparing tricks? Who could out-scheme our general?”
Old Zhang paused. “Ah, right, you got a point there.”
“For the third round… I’d like to compare spear techniques with General Huo.”
At those words, the soldiers erupted in a chorus of heckling boos.
“Spear techniques? Third Prince, do you not know how formidable the Huo family’s ancestral spear techniques are?”
“Think back to the year he skewered Tuoba Hongxue’s uncle dead on his horse with a single back-thrust spear. How many famed Northern Luo generals did he slay along the way!”
“Why would the Third Prince pit his weakness against the general’s strength?”
Bang!
Without waiting for ‘Huo Ci’s’ response and ignoring all the unfriendly murmurs around him, Xiao Chonghua directly unscrewed the spearhead from his own yellow rosewood spear.
“Like this. Wrap it in soft cloth, dip it in limestone powder, and the winner will be decided by counting who has more marks on their body.”
All three contests were reasonable and fair.
Jiang Xingyan nodded crisply. “Let’s begin then!”
“Oooh! Oooh!”
The soldiers’ blood boiled with excitement, and they all rushed off eagerly to make preparations.
The noise was so loud it nearly lifted the entire military camp.
Even Yun Chunfeng, holding Little Ya, was invited out from the tent by the soldiers to serve as the chief arbiter.
Yun Chunfeng simply took the anxious Little Ya, who was looking left and right, and hoisted her onto his shoulders.
Little Ya had a concealment talisman stuck to her, so no one could see her except their own people.
The convalescence squad consisting of Xiao Zhenhuai and Xin Zhui hurried out from their tent eagerly, ready to cheer from the sidelines.
And there was Huo Ci himself.
By this time, he had completely changed his appearance.
He had taken the appearance-altering pill given by Yun Chunfeng. In the eyes of others, he had become an utterly ordinary soldier.
Hidden within the crowd, he was completely inconspicuous.
Jiang Xingyan had announced to outsiders that he was the newly arrived Deputy General Jiang.
This infuriated Xin Zhui.
So no matter what, the general was always the biggest obstacle standing between him and A-Xing, huh?
The first contest began swiftly.
Clang!
Amid the clash of blades, Jiang Xingyan and Xiao Chonghua spurred their warhorses and charged out simultaneously.
Xiao Chonghua was brimming with confidence.
Among the Six Arts of a gentleman, archery was his forte.
He never missed; every shot was a hundred hits out of a hundred attempts.
Even with the newly improved three-shot repeating crossbow, he could make each bolt hit the dead center of the red heart.
Though he still couldn’t match the intensity Mo Zhai demonstrated during the presentation, he had already caught up to the standard of the archery prodigies in the Divine Machine Battalion.
As far as he had observed, ‘Huo Ci’ hadn’t even touched a bow or crossbow these past few days. How could she possibly be his match?
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Full of certainty, Xiao Chonghua aimed using the sight, pulled the lever, and three feathered arrows sliced through the air, hitting the bullseye dead center!
As the arrow tails quivered slightly, he turned his head back with immense pride to glance at ‘Huo Ci’.
Jiang Xingyan did not act rashly.
While riding, she was observing Xiao Chonghua’s every move.
On the crossbow, there were four aiming sights from top to bottom.
She noticed that Xiao Chonghua had used the topmost sight.
At that time, he was still sixty paces from the target, yet he achieved such accuracy.
Jiang Xingyan got an idea but just needed to verify it.
She didn’t rush to pull the lever. She adjusted her horse’s speed, waiting until the distance to the target was closer, almost under fifty paces.
She aimed with the fourth sight and pulled the lever cleanly and decisively.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A huge sound, like iron pellets slamming into the target, startled everyone into holding their breath and staring intently to observe.
“Whoa!”
Jiang Xingyan reined in her horse, dismounted swiftly, and reached the target at the same time as Xiao Chonghua.
They saw that the red bullseyes had been completely pierced through by the arrows Jiang Xingyan shot.
Xiao Chonghua’s heart clenched in shock. He felt the dark, hollow holes in the target centers were like eyes, mocking him.
For a moment, he suspected ‘Huo Ci’ had used inner strength.
But seeing her equally astonished expression, she seemed not to have expected this outcome either.
Amid the cheers of the soldiers, Jiang Xingyan finally understood the crossbow’s mechanism.
The first sight aimed the farthest; the fourth sight hit the hardest.
Tie Shi, excited, hurriedly recorded this from the sidelines.
The stuff the master craftsman gave was good, but unfortunately, the master was a silent craftsman.
He never explained anything!
Could a rule be made in the future that mutes are not allowed to be craftsmen?!
