Divine Tang Era

Chapter 105 Fiery Rocket

"My name is Xue An, and I come from the lineage of Xue Rengui, the Duke of Pingyang, of the Xue clan of Hedong."

The Xue family's archery skills are renowned throughout the land. I am not particularly talented, but having been exposed to archery since childhood, I have also achieved some success in this art. The other day, you told stories at Mingfeng Tower, and although you did not name names, you still made the Xue family's name known throughout the world, bringing blessings to the living and protection to the dead, from which we have benefited immeasurably.

Because of this, regardless of whether you are my student or not, I will do my best to teach you.

"If you have the talent, I can teach you the Xue family's ancestral Three Heaven-Stabilizing Arrows."

Xu Dan was so happy he almost got cocky. He never expected such a good thing to happen.

"Since you can't cultivate Qi, why not focus on martial arts? Qi and blood martial arts almost completely overwhelm Qi cultivators of the same level. This book is a summary of Qi and blood martial arts cultivation from my Xue family. In addition, this book is the Five Elements Arrow, the foundation of my Xue family's archery. Once you have mastered it, I will teach you the secret archery technique, the Heavenly Punishment Four Arrows."

Xue An picked up the book that was on the table and handed it over.

Xu Dan bowed and accepted it with both hands.

"Take a look first, and ask me if you don't understand anything," Xue An said again.

Xu Dan first opened the book describing Qi and Blood Martial Arts, and was immediately dazzled by the complex and dazzling world of Qi and Blood Martial Arts.

According to the book, the spiritual energy of this world is dwindling, making it increasingly difficult to achieve immortality through Qi cultivation. Therefore, some people have devised a different path, creating the martial arts of Qi and blood cultivation in hopes of achieving immortality. Due to various reasons, the martial arts path lacks two major realms compared to Qi cultivation, instead consisting of ten realms: Body Tempering, Origin Opening, True Connection, Myriad Manifestations, Returning to Root, Observing Emptiness, Profound Pivot, Heavenly Palace, Holy Seal, and Emperor Venerable.

In the secular world, martial arts practitioners at various levels are also referred to as martial apprentices, martial artists, martial masters, innate martial masters (grandmasters), great grandmasters, martial kings, martial saints, martial emperors, martial gods, and martial emperors.

With Xu Dan's current cultivation level, he has passed the Body Tempering stage and reached the Opening Yuan Realm.

Once the internal organs are cleansed and the inner and outer parts are united, one can enter the Tao and attain true enlightenment.

He hadn't expected that his cultivation of the Nine Cauldrons Divine Transformation Technique would accidentally lead him to the Opening Origin Realm; it seemed quite powerful. Xu Dan raised an eyebrow, delighted. He quickly skimmed through the summary, then opened the Five Elements Arrow.

The Five Elements Arrow is the basic archery technique of the Xue family, and also the foundation of all archery techniques in the Xue family.

The five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—refer to the five internal organs: heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.

The Five Elements Arrows are divided into five types: Fiery Fire, Heavy Earth, Sharp Metal, Frosty Wood, and Mysterious Water. They are a method of drawing the Qi of the five elements from the five internal organs into the arrow to kill the enemy. Xu Dan has recently been using his Qi and blood to cleanse his five internal organs, so he is very familiar with the Five Elements and drawing the Qi of the five elements into the arrow is not difficult for him.

"How was it? Were there any parts you didn't understand?" Xue An asked when he saw him put down the book.

Xu Dan pointed out the difficulties he had just encountered, and Xue An answered them one by one.

"Take these two books back and read them. Come back to me when you can draw the five elements' energy into your arrow."

"Yes, Master Xue."

Xu Dan originally wanted to say he had already learned it, but felt it would be too flashy and too over-the-top. No matter the world, those who stick their necks out always die. Haven't we seen those people who used to be so high-profile, pontificating as if they controlled the world, disappear without a trace?

Therefore, what is needed most of the time is not speed, but stability.

Wait a while before saying that you have mastered the Five Elements Arrow, so as not to stand out too much, be too talented, or be too shocking.

Recently, he has been successfully cleansing his five internal organs with his qi and blood. Now, his heart, liver, spleen, and lungs have been cleansed, leaving only his kidneys.

Back home, Xu Dan didn't rush to practice the Five Elements Arrow technique. Instead, he walked around the house to check if the runes he had carved before were damaged, so he could repair them promptly. Lately, for some reason, ghostly creatures had been appearing frequently in the city. Although they weren't very powerful, they were still worrying.

Weren't all the protective talismans carved on the city walls repaired? How come there are still ghosts running in?

He even made a special inquiry about it.

They then learned that although the city-protecting talisman had been repaired, it could only protect the city itself; it couldn't protect the heavens and the earth. Jingning City usually only activated its protective array at night to imprison the heavens and the earth, but it remained closed during the day.

After all, opening the formation requires spirit stones, and it's impossible to keep it open day and night. Even the capital city of Chang'an doesn't have that kind of extravagance.

This gives some ghosts the opportunity to sneak in.

Powerful ghosts will be detected and killed as soon as they get close, while weaker ghosts, especially those with extremely low yin energy, are difficult to detect. If a ghost enters, it can secretly hide in a dark corner, not causing any trouble, and even if it stays there for a long time, no one will know.

Ghosts need energy to survive and can't hide for long, which is why ghosts have been appearing frequently in the county recently.

Furthermore, Jingning City is located in a remote and desolate area.

The wilderness outside is an ancient battlefield, and countless figures from the past and present are buried beneath its surface, where the yin energy is extremely strong. Now that it's almost July, the yin energy grows stronger day by day, and more and more ghosts are appearing, so it's normal for some to wander in.

After checking the runes, everything was fine.

Xu Dan wiped the two door gods at the entrance again and bowed to Xuanwu the Supreme God.

Oh, he doesn't have that title yet. He's called "You Sheng Xuan Wu Ling Ying Zhen Jun" (佑圣玄武灵应真君), or "Xuan Wu Zhen Jun" (玄武真君) for short. I keep forgetting, but it doesn't matter. The title will come sooner or later anyway. I might as well call him that sooner; maybe this Emperor will be happier.

Xu Dan's mind was filled with random thoughts. After finishing his prayers, he closed the door and walked away.

Yunniang was preparing the meal, while Xiaoqueer was doing her homework on the table.

These little kids finish school very early, unlike the older students who don't finish until almost noon.

Xu Dan greeted the two men, then went to the back, took out a bow he usually used for archery practice, picked up a long arrow, and nocked it. He mentally reviewed the incantation for the Five Elements Arrow, and with a thought, drew a wisp of fiery energy from his heart, channeling it along his arm into the long arrow.

The arrow seemed to be on fire, bursting into flames and burning fiercely.

But when Xu Dan held it in his hand, he didn't feel any warmth at all.

Feeling puzzled, he didn't hesitate and pulled hard, shooting the long arrow out. The arrow flew like a shooting star, or a rapidly passing flame, flying straight out of the bowstring, piercing through the bullseye, and disappearing into the thick courtyard wall.

Xu Dan ran over quickly and saw that a small hole had been shot into the bullseye. There were traces of fire burning around the hole.

Looking back, there was no sign of the long arrow on the courtyard wall.

Upon closer inspection, he saw a hole shot into the wall, with some black ash remaining inside. As for the long arrow, it was nowhere to be found. Xu Dan jumped onto the roof and used his double pupils to search around, but still couldn't find any trace of the long arrow. However, not far from the courtyard wall, there was a layer of ash similar to the hole on the ground.

Could it be that the arrow was burned by the flames after passing through the courtyard wall?

That must be the reason, otherwise there's no reason why it can't be found.

Xu Dan was amazed by the power of the Five Elements Arrow; it was truly incredible. This was only the Xue family's beginner archery technique; he wondered how powerful it would become later on, and he couldn't help but look forward to it.

I used to think that talking about stories of Tang Dynasty figures was too dangerous, but now it seems that it wasn't entirely without its advantages.

Of course, if you ask him to speak again, he definitely won't.

I was lucky this time to meet reasonable and grateful people. If I had encountered some heartless and ungrateful individuals who not only didn't appreciate my kindness but also thought I was slandering our ancestors, then I would have been in real trouble.

Checking my body, the fire I just drew out probably consumed about one-tenth of the five elements' energy in my heart.

In other words, he can fire ten fire rockets.

This is only because the heart has just been cleansed, and the amount of the five elements energy obtained is not much. In the future, it will probably take more than ten times.

Even so, he was quite satisfied. Each burst of the Five Elements Qi shot out ten times, that's fifty times, enough to fight an enemy. If he still couldn't defend himself after shooting them all out, then it was time to run away.