Chapter 153: Yi Yun’s Weapon
Yan Menglong let him choose two weapons, it would not make sense for them to be the same weapon type.
Yi Yun had decided to choose a long-range and short-range weapon.
Long-range weapons were bows, crossbows, stealth weapons, spears or battle axes.
Among the long-range weapons in the Divine Capitals Armory, there were the greatest number of crossbows present. To an army, stealth weapons were not suitable. As for spears and battle axes, they were only used in tribes. These weapons were too heavy, and only suited for hunting. It would be tough to carry these weapons over long distances. A person’s carrying limit was about ten spears or ten battle axes
Yi Yun tried each one to get a feeling!
Suddenly Yi Yun felt something special when he touched a bow.
The feeling was not obvious and was difficult to explain, but it existed like an inseparable link.
“Bow… For my first weapon, I’ll choose a bow!”
“Oh, you are choosing a bow?” Yan Menglong’s eyes lit up. “In the army, there are eighteen martial skills, and the bow is first! Among the eighteen skills, bow is first, crossbow second, spear third, saber fourth, sword fifth, polearm sixth… all the way to bare fighting fists at eighteen! In the eighteen martial skills, the bow is first, and bare fighting last!”
Bare fighting was to fight bare-handed. A warrior would not always have their weapon beside them, for instance having their weapon shatter is a likely event.
Hence, fighting bare-handed is also extremely important. Hence as the last entry among the eighteen martial skills, it was leaving the best for last.
The bow was ranked the king among the eighteen martial skills because it was the king among long-range weapons! It was extremely important between two armies!
To a low level warrior, a crossbow would be easier to operate and learn. But a crossbow relies on mechanical power, so the power from it depends on the crossbow’s own body.
But a bow fully depended on a warrior’s arm strength!
Thus from ancient times, generals and human lords all used bows. The best weapon for obtaining the head of a rival army was the bow!
A speed of a bow was not something a crossbow could compete with. It was faster by at least four to five times.
When a human expert pulls a thousand cauldron bow, they can collapse a city wall with their continuous shots!
Seeing Yan Menglong acknowledge his choice, Yi Yun immediately took down a red battle bow. He pulled the bow and stretched it to the utmost.
Compared to his agility, Yi Yun’s arm strength was not as monstrous, but he was still far stronger than a warrior at the same level.
After all, Yi Yun had reached the “Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse” state!
When he stretched open the red battle bow, Yi Yun’s joints sounded out like rustling of frying beans. Yan Menglong stroked his chin and nodded slightly, “Not bad, this is the Sequoia Bow made by the Su family in the Jin state. Black iron was forged a thousand times into the bow. A typical early stage Purple Blood warrior can hardly pull the bow open. Only a peak-Purple Blood warrior could pull this bow and shoot continuously. This bow can easily pierce through a near-horned beast!”
Yi Yun shook his head and placed down the Sequoia Bow.
“Oh? You find it too light?” Yan Menglong smiled at Yi Yun.
Yi Yun nodded, “It’s not bad now, but my strength grows rapidly. This bow will outlive its use very soon.”
For a peak-Purple blood warrior to be able to string the bow made it unchallenging for Yi Yun.
“Haha, good! Follow me!” Yan Menglong said and brought Yi Yun around a large stone pillar. He retrieved a bow from behind the pillar, “Try this one.”
Yan Menglong threw a black iron bow over to Yi Yun. He looked meaningfully at Yi Yun, as if he wanted to test him.
Yi Yun caught the bow and immediately felt his arms sink!
Such a heavy bow!
Yi Yun was shocked. This bow was difficult for an ordinary warrior to lift, let alone stringing it to shoot arrows.
Yi Yun used his strength to pull. The bow gave a dull sound as he only managed to pull it open by a tiny amount.
Yi Yun raised his eyebrow. It sure was hard! With his strength of being able to pull hundreds of thousands of pounds of beast meat, he could not open up this bow!
“Even a peak-Purple Blood warrior might not be able to use this black iron bow. How is it, do you think it’s enough for you?”
Yi Yun went into deep thought for a while. He closed his eyes and felt the bow’s energy and the tremors when he pulled the bow. After that, Yi Yun shook his head.
“Oh?” Yan Menglong frowned slightly. “You can only pull open this bow by a tiny amount, and you still think its not enough? You do know that pulling the initial way just uses a tiny amount of strength. When you reach the end, you will need even more strength! This bow is enough for you in the Purple Blood realm, and you are not satisfied?”
Yi Yun thought for a while and considered his choice of words, “The strength needed is enough, but… when I held the bow, it was lacking a compatibility… It was like there a lacking spiritual connection.”
Yi Yun’s voice was hesitant, as he described with uncertainty, the mysterious feelings he had when pulling the bow. Although there was a weak compatible feeling when he touched the Sequoia Bow, it still existed.
But when it came to the black iron bow, it only felt cold to Yi Yun.
“Oh?” Yan Menglong looked with Yi Yun with surprise, “You actually have that feeling? Compatibility?”
“Yes,” Yi Yun nodded.
Yan Menglong took the black iron bow from Yi Yun and casually pulled it. The black iron bow gave off a dull sound before it was pulled fully open.
Yan Menglong released.
“Peng!”
A loud ring came from the bow as it quivered. It was like the surrounding air had been pulled along by this great strength and giving off violent tremors!
Yi Yun looked with hidden surprise. He was curious about Yan Menglong’s arm strength.
“Kid, you sure have some insight. This black iron bow may be heavy, but… it’s value is much lower than the Sequoia Bow you saw earlier! The Sequoia Bow was made specially by a blacksmith refiner. But this black iron bow was only made by a high-class blacksmith. The black iron bow is hard only because of its material!”
“Looks like… Among the long-range weapons, you have some natural sensitivity with bows… Not bad!”
Yan Menglong hesitated for a moment before saying, “Fine! Since then, I’ll show you that bow…”
Saying that, Yan Menglong brought Yi Yun deep into the armory. In the deepest parts of the armory, after going around a stone pillar, Yi Yun saw a door made of stone.
Seeing this stone door made Yi Yun excited as he was full of anticipation.
In the Divine Capital Armory, this bow was still kept separately in a secret chamber, which meant it was extraordinary!
Yan Menglong took out a key and opened the stone door. Yi Yun followed him into a stone chamber. On the stone wall, there was a black long bow. By the two ends of the bow, there were bayonets.
The moment Yi Yun saw this battle bow, his eyes lit up. He could feel an aura contained within like it was restraining some absolute power.
“Tai Cang Bow. It was made by a bow-making grandmaster that came from the Cang state’s reclusive aristocratic family, the Zhang family!”
“The Zhang family is an aristocratic bow and arrow family. The word, Zhang (张) has the meaning of bow (弓) within it. It is also used to describe the number of bows, such as one ‘Zhang’ of bow, two ‘Zhang’ of bows.
“Try it!”
Hearing Yan Menglong’s introduction, Yi Yun had a great feeling of excitement. He jumped forward and took the bow off the wall.
The first thought that came to Yi Yun’s mind was “heavy”!
This Tai Cang Bow’s body was not thicker than a thumbnail, but it was much more heavier than the black iron bow!
The Tai Cang Bow was made entirely of metal!
But holding the Tai Cang Bow, Yi Yun found that compatibility again. In fact, it was more than ten times stronger than the feeling when he held the Sequoia Bow!
Immediately, Yi Yun fell in love with the bow.
Yan Menglong said, “The Tai Cang Bow’s body is made of Tai Cang metal. Tai Cang metal essence is a family secret of the Zhang family. This metal is forged using the finest Divine black iron, making the Divine black metal have incredible flexibility! A shake of metal pole made from Tai Cang metal the width of a thumbnail can create tremors that can blast a person into pieces!”
“And not only that, this Tai Cang metal essence allows you to inject Yuan Qi into it. The hardness and toughness of the Tai Cang metal essence will increase a result. The more Yuan Qi you inject into it, the harder it becomes, making it harder to pull! Its strength increases too!”
“Not even you, even for me, when using this Tai Cang Bow, there is no limit to how much strength you can put into it. There is no fear that your strength can exceed the bow’s limits. As long as it’s the Zhang family’s Tai Cang Bow, if you can inject an entire ocean’s worth of Yuan Qi into it, you can really shoot down the Sun and the stars, piercing the sky!”
With Yan Menglong’s description, it made Yi Yun’s blood boil. This was indeed a great bow.
“Look at the two ends of the Tai Cang Bow. There are wrought iron blades mounted on the Tai Cang metal essence and with a swish can break any ordinary sword! The bow tip is made from Black Boned Giant Rhinoceros horns.”
“As for the bow string, it is made from an unknown number of processes. The Cang state’s Zhang family obtained the ribs of a Giant Python desolate beasts and twisted them into the bow’s string. It was then soaked into a mixture brewed from shark skin for eighteen years before completion!”
Yan Menglong’s description and the gaze he gave to Yi Yun conveyed a message–
“To give you this bow would be too good for a kid like you!”
But even without Yan Menglong’s description, Yi Yun could tell the strong feelings the bow gave to him. How could an ordinary item be placed in a stone chamber by itself? It was probably the most precious weapon within the Divine Capital Armory!
“Kid, try pulling it. Don’t inject any Yuan Qi, or you will definitely not be able to pull it open. Just use your body strength. I’ll warn you, if you can’t even pull it past the halfway mark, you are to play no tricks and put this bow back.”
As Yan Menglong said, he was pinching his stubble. It was clear that he felt pain in his heart to give such a bow to Yi Yun.
Yi Yun could no longer wait.
He immediately took a deep breath and with Qi rushing into his Dantian, and in a horse-riding stance, he used his waist as an arm and pumped all his muscles.
“Open!”
Yi Yun roared. His joints issued a “KaKaKa” sound as the Tai Cang Bow slowly bent, from a 0% to a 50%, as he approached 100%!
Yi Yun had managed to use his own body’s strength to pull the Tai Cang Bow to the three-quarter mark!