Chapter 147: [Eight-Gate Archery] (Second Bonus Chapter for the Helmsman)

Tang Mubai quickened his pace and returned home.

He turned on his computer and logged into the Martial Dao Network, only to find that the tournament page was not yet online.

However, the forum was already bustling with activity, with posts about the tournament refreshing at a rapid pace.

"The Martial Arts Association is really willing to bleed for this. They’ve actually brought out three 'Vajra Rings'! I wish I could get my hands on just one."

"You're dreaming. The 'Vajra Rings' can only be obtained by the first-place winners of the two groups. Besides, according to reliable sources, the entity providing the 'Vajra Rings' as prizes isn't the Martial Arts Association, but the Governor's Mansion!"

"Who cares who provides them? Anyway, the prizes for this tournament are ridiculously coveted."

"I did the math. All the prizes and bonus money combined total a value of over a hundred million federal dollars! With that much money, they are definitely bleeding a fortune!"

"I'm speechless, so damn depressed! I just turned nineteen yesterday; otherwise, I could have entered the youth group and secured a spot in the top ten. Ahhhhh!"

"Haha, what a tragedy for the guy above. I don't turn nineteen until next month, hehe!"

"Tsk, talking like any of you could make the top ten. Don't even make it past the preliminary rounds, now that would be embarrassing."

"Exactly. Everyone is just looking at the prizes while ignoring the competition rules. It's hilarious."

"The competition rules are out?"

"Just came out!"

...

Scrolling to the bottom and seeing the words "competition rules are out," Tang Mubai hurriedly returned to the homepage of the Martial Dao Network.

Sure enough, the tournament page and registration channel were now live.

He first looked at the competition rules: registration closes at 12:00 midnight.

The matches will take place in two days, with the youth group in the morning and the adult group in the afternoon.

The first preliminary round will be held across four urban districts, with the top thirty from each district advancing to the finals to compete for the top ten.

As for registration qualifications: anyone can participate!

This rule was clearly aimed at those who possessed the strength of professional martial artists but were unwilling to take the official assessment.

Some people had vital energy exceeding a hundred units, and coming from wealthy and powerful families, they had no desire to go beyond the territorial walls to hunt, thus neglecting to take the martial artist assessment or obtain a martial artist license.

Others had low vital energy—less than 10 units—yet excelled in other aspects.

For instance, geniuses born with supernatural strength, or innate mastery of swordsmanship, sabermanship, or spearmanship, whose actual combat prowess was no lower than that of ordinary professional martial artists.

Then there were those who clearly possessed extraordinary talent and immense power, yet had eccentric personalities and wished to remain anonymous, holding no desire for a martial artist license, preferring merely to hide within the city and mind their own business.

Such people were not few in number; although ordinary folks rarely encountered them, they had always existed.

Take Tang Mubai, for instance. He had been mistakenly assumed by Chen Hai of the Peace Security Bureau to be an eccentric who possessed great strength yet preferred eating, drinking, and having fun over attending school. When his father passed away, he had no choice but to expose himself and shoulder the burden of the Miracle Mercenary Corps.

The reason Chen Hai could harbor such a misunderstanding was precisely because there were already several similar cases!

The Governor's Mansion going all out this time was, in part, intended to flush these people out into the open.

With so many prizes and such massive cash rewards, especially the coveted "Vajra Ring," everyone would want a piece.

Anyone who caught wind of this would feel their heart rate spike ninety-nine percent of the time.

Thus, one could only imagine how massive the number of registered participants would be.

If hidden, eccentric geniuses were indeed lured out, this competition would undoubtedly be fiercely contested, and those who managed to emerge victorious in the end—even just making the top ten—would undeniably be top-tier experts.

Since the primary purpose of the tournament was to boost morale and dispel lingering gloom, taking human lives was strictly forbidden during the matches. Anyone who killed an opponent would be instantly disqualified.

In other words, fighting to the death was not permitted.

For the majority of people, this posed a significant restriction.

Especially for members of mercenary corps who were accustomed to slaughtering beyond the territorial walls and struggled to control the force of their blows, trying to win would inevitably feel somewhat restrained and awkward.

For Tang Mubai, however, this had very little impact; he simply needed to remove the sharp tips from his arrows.

Scanning through the rules one by one, he found no restrictions against participating in both groups simultaneously.

Whether this was an oversight or deliberate remained unknown.

Tang Mubai tested registering through both channels at the same time, and his application actually went through!

Now that made things interesting, and the opportunity had presented itself.

With the youth group in the morning and the adult group in the afternoon, Tang Mubai could manage both perfectly.

Since he intended to expose his proficiency in archery and lightness skills, Tang Mubai spent the next two days continuously searching the Martial Dao Network for suitable archery techniques.

During this period, the city gates leading outside were unsealed. Tang Mubai drove Luo Lianxin’s female assistant—the delicate woman who hid in her room all day—to Muyang City.

The latter had a distant cousin living in Muyang City; after dropping her off, Tang Mubai immediately returned to Red Leaf City.

Over the course of two days, any suitable archery techniques he found were purchased without hesitation.

"Void-Breaking Arrow," "Soul-Locking Seven Arrows," "Dragon-Subduing Arrow," and "Soul-Chasing Fatal Arrow."

A total of four archery techniques cost him over two million federal dollars.

The most expensive one, the "Dragon-Subduing Arrow," alone cost over a million.

This was a tier-three martial art capable of channeling explosive vital energy based on the foundations of the "Explosive Arrow Technique," forming a cage to temporarily trap the target.

As for the other three, the "Void-Breaking Arrow" primarily pierced through space, the "Soul-Locking Seven Arrows" locked onto the target, and the "Soul-Chasing Fatal Arrow" provided tracking capabilities.

For all four archery techniques, Tang Mubai consumed 51 years of lifespan per technique to progress from entry-level to mastery, learning every single one of them completely.

The vitality he had harvested from his trip to the orc territory, once converted into lifespan, had increased his remaining years by a whole 5 years!

Consuming a little over two hundred years of lifespan for archery techniques was merely a drop in the bucket.

And the ultimate result of this purchasing spree and life-consuming mastery was nothing short of exhilarating!

...

[Do you wish to consume 100 years of lifespan to fuse "Shadowless Arrow," "Energy-Gathering Arrow," "Mountain-Crossing Nine Arrows," "Explosive Arrow Technique," "Void-Breaking Arrow," "Soul-Locking Seven Arrows," "Dragon-Subduing Arrow," and "Soul-Chasing Fatal Arrow" to deduce a new martial art?]

On the eve of the tournament, a familiar prompt suddenly popped up in his mind.

Tang Mubai, who had been waiting expectantly, was instantly overjoyed.

It hadn't been easy; collecting eight archery techniques had finally triggered the fusion requirement!

"Compared to lightness skills, the path of archery is far too rugged," Tang Mubai sighed, steadying his mind.

The next moment—

"Just 100 years of lifespan? Consume it, consume it to your heart's content!"

Hum~

His body shuddered abruptly.

His brain went completely blank for a split second.

In this illusory state, the might of the eight archery techniques manifested in his mind one after another.

Finally, eight arrows shooting straight into the heavens slowly merged into one.

The moment he regained consciousness, a wave of brand-new information surged forth.

"Heaven-Rending Divine Arrow!"

Much like the "Flying Heaven Dancing Void Art," this was yet another martial art of unranked mystery.

Tang Mubai contemplated it for a moment and discovered that the attributes of this new archery technique were exceedingly rare.

It actually involved space!

The capability was overbearing: once an arrow was loosed, the locked-on target could not dodge it and had to take the blow head-on!

The archery technique was also divided into nine levels. The first three levels primarily pertained to shooting distance, scaling from an initial thousand meters all the way to tens of thousands of meters.

Then came the fourth level, where the speed could surpass the speed of sound!

The fifth level was twice the speed of sound, the sixth level three times...

The final three levels were currently imperceptible.

Refusing to yield, Tang Mubai consumed another 100 years of lifespan to master the first level.

Then, he delved deeper into comprehending the archery stance.

Ultimately, he discovered...