Chapter 275: Supersonic Arrow

Chapter 275: Supersonic Arrow

At first glance, the bow that Ji Xinghuo held was a recurve bow.

But it was no ordinary recurve bow. Its riser and limbs were seamlessly integrated, with a simple and unadorned design. Aside from the intentional cutout on the right side, no additional accessories were attached, giving it the appearance of a barebow.

The bow was pitch-black, and upon closer inspection, one could discern countless tiny facets on its surface, resembling obsidian crystal that reflected faint light.

Ji Xinghuo reached out and picked it up.

"Quite a heavy bow!" he exclaimed.

"It should be over 60 kilograms," he mused as he ran his fingers over the seemingly rough yet smooth bow, aware that most archers wouldn't be able to handle such a weight, and that carrying it around would be rather inconvenient.

The bow was quite large, measuring 1.2 meters in length.

The bowstring was made of black alloy thread, twisted from an unknown number of strands, and fused to the bow at both ends, making it incredibly durable.

Ji Xinghuo assumed a standard stance, his left hand gripping the riser and his right hand resting on the string.

Instantly, he felt the bow come to life.

Firstly, the riser contained a hidden arrow storage space, essentially a portable quiver, capable of holding approximately 150 arrows. It was empty at the moment.

Secondly, the bow possessed a "silencing" ability, absorbing the vibrations from the limbs and string, dampening the sound of the shot.

Additionally, during the shot, the archer could infuse stellar energy to activate acceleration, wind-cutting, and piercing effects.

These abilities weren't particularly rare, as many one-star and two-star superpower bows had similar functions. The true strength of this bow lay in its material—the riser, limbs, and string were all seamlessly integrated, crafted from "Black Eternal Crystal," a unique technique of the Crystal tribe, resulting in physical performance far superior to that of other materials.

The Black Star Crystal war bow, driven by stellar energy, could harness immense power, launching arrows at supersonic speeds!

Ji Xinghuo slowly drew the bowstring, testing it out.

For his first draw, he refrained from infusing any stellar energy, relying solely on his arm strength. To his surprise, it felt effortless.

"It's a bit light," he thought, though he wasn't entirely surprised.

The draw weight of the Black Crystal war bow was 4,200 kilograms, while his bench press strength had already surpassed 75 tons. This was akin to an adult who could bench-press 75 kilograms trying to draw a 4.2-kilogram bow—it would undoubtedly feel lightweight and easy to manage.

After gauging the draw weight, Ji Xinghuo slowly relaxed his arm, allowing the bowstring to return to its resting position without releasing an arrow.

Then, he drew the bow a second time.

This time, he channeled his stellar energy into the bow through his left arm. Immediately, the war bow came alive, with a subtle black glow flowing along the limbs and seeping into the string like ink. However, without an arrow nocked, the full extent of its power was not revealed.

Nonetheless, Ji Xinghuo had grasped the performance and shooting principles of this bow.

It offered two shooting modes.

One was a purely physical shot without the infusion of stellar energy, resulting in slightly weaker destructive power but still more potent than the Invisible Sting of a two-star superpower.

The second mode was where the bow truly shone—by consuming stellar energy, the arrow could be accelerated to break through the sonic barrier of the star realm!

This was the true strength of the Black Star Crystal war bow.

Ji Xinghuo carefully placed the war bow back into its box. The Crystal tribe member who had remained silent during his trial now spoke up, "Ordinary arrows cannot unleash the full potential of the Black Crystal war bow. I suggest you purchase some tungsten-core heavy arrows."

"Where can I buy them?" Ji Xinghuo inquired.

"You can find them at any weapons shop run by our tribe in the City of Eternal Day," the Crystal English tribe member replied.

"Thank you," Ji Xinghuo said gratefully.

Carrying the box, Ji Xinghuo left the auction house and walked to a secluded corner nearby, where he stored the box in his dimensional pouch.

Conveniently located not far from the auction house was a weapons shop owned by the Crystal English tribe. Ji Xinghuo entered and asked for the tungsten-core heavy arrows by name. Soon, he was presented with the specially crafted arrows.

True to their name, the tungsten-core heavy arrows were extraordinary.

Nearly a meter in length and as thick as a pinky finger, the arrow shafts had a similar crystalline appearance to the Black Crystal war bow, with a tungsten alloy core and solid triangular arrowheads designed specifically for armor-piercing. They were a type of penetrating arrow.

Ji Xinghuo picked up one of the arrows, surprised by its weight—around 450 grams!

"No wonder they're called heavy arrows..." he muttered, impressed.

His titanium alloy arrows, in comparison, weighed only about 40 grams each, a mere fraction of the tungsten-core arrows.

However, this made sense—the more powerful the bow, the heavier the arrows it required to reduce wind resistance, increase range, and deliver more devastating strikes.

Moreover, the tungsten-core heavy arrows were also manufactured using ether technology.

They could be activated by stellar energy, enabling them to accelerate in flight.

While they didn't possess any explicit superpower abilities, the tungsten-core heavy arrows could be considered quasi-superpower weapons in their own right.

They were clearly designed to complement the Black Star Crystal war bow.

"How much are they?" Ji Xinghuo asked.

"100 true dragon coins each," the Crystal English tribe member replied expressionlessly. "If you pay in crystal coins, you can get a 10% discount."

However, he was currently disguised as a Highlander, so he didn't haggle. Instead, he said directly, "I'll take 300 arrows and pay with True Dragon Coins."

Moments later, Ji Xinghuo stepped out of the weapon shop, a leather bag in his hand containing 300 tungsten-core heavy arrows.

He took out the Eternal Day Badge and glanced at it.

There were still 25 stellar hours left until the auction for the Paradise Treasure Diamond began, so he decided to find a place to test out the Black Star Crystal war bow and familiarize himself with its usage and power.

The Eternal Day City wasn't convenient for that, so he had to go outside the city.

Ji Xinghuo chose the nearest gate and stepped out into the biting cold wind, which made him shiver.

"So cold," he muttered.

It was still the month of Frost, already past the middle of the month.

In another ten days or so, it would be the month of Cold, the coldest time in the Star Realm.

After spending more than half a month in the Eternal Day City and the Abyssal Star, Ji Xinghuo had almost forgotten that it was still winter on the Bloody Highlands. However, it was daytime, and although the cold wind was biting, the open vista didn't hinder his movements.

He wrapped his bearskin cloak tightly around himself and quickly ventured into the icy wind.

Avoiding those heading towards the Eternal Day City, Ji Xinghuo called out to Qinghong and instructed it to reveal its true form as a Vacuum Kirin. Mounting the beast, he rode off at full speed.

Over an hour later, he found a valley nestled among the peaks, more than a hundred kilometers away from the Eternal Day City. The steep cliffs on either side blocked most of the cold wind, making the valley relatively quiet and a habitat for some wild beasts and monsters.

Ji Xinghuo paid no heed to the wild beasts and flew into the valley to test his arrows.

First, he tried the titanium alloy arrows.

He nocked an arrow, drew the string, and released.

Whoosh!

The titanium alloy arrow instantly flew away, disappearing in the distance.

Ji Xinghuo watched as the arrow veered off course from his intended target, drifting further and further away. Eventually, although it exceeded a range of three kilometers, it was still several hundred meters away from the target, greatly influenced by the wind speed. Without the aid of the Myriad Phenomenon Star Pupil, he wouldn't have been able to hit the mark.

However, the arrow's speed was impressive! Without any stellar energy acceleration, he estimated that the arrow's speed was about 700 meters per second. If he were on Earth, it would have reached twice the speed of sound.

But in the Star Realm, supersonic speed required a velocity of 1021 meters per second or more.

Ji Xinghuo shot several more times, all with titanium alloy arrows, and found that beyond a kilometer, it was virtually impossible to hit the target.

Next, he tried injecting stellar energy into the titanium alloy arrows to accelerate them, increasing their speed to around 1,000 meters per second. Although they still didn't break the sound barrier, within a range of 1,500 meters, he could ensure accuracy and deliver a more powerful strike.

The capacitor arrows and blazing arrows were effective up to a range of about 1,500 meters as well.

The silent arrows were even more suitable for the Black Star Crystal war bow.

This bow inherently possessed a silencing ability, and when combined with the silent arrows, not only was the vibration from the bow absorbed, but the arrows themselves made no sound as well. This combination ensured accuracy up to a range of 2,000 meters.

The only drawback was the insufficient hardness of the silent arrows.

At such high speeds, the silent arrows shattered upon impact, resulting in slightly less destructive power than the titanium alloy arrows.

"The arrows are too light and fragile to withstand such strong kinetic energy," Ji Xinghuo shook his head. He then switched to a tungsten-core heavy arrow, nocking it and infusing stellar energy as he drew the string. A black glow, like flowing ink, permeated the bowstring and finally concentrated into the arrow, causing it to emanate a faint glow.

The light circle in his right eye flashed, locking onto the target. The tungsten-core heavy arrow transformed into a black shadow and shot forth, instantly disappearing from view.

Whoosh!

First came a sound, not too loud but not too soft either, and in the next moment, a thunderous roar echoed through the valley, like a bolt of lightning.

The tungsten-core heavy arrow struck a boulder three kilometers away, sending shards of stone and dust into the air. The sonic boom quickly subsided, leaving behind an eerie silence. However, on the side of the boulder that was hit, a crater several meters wide had formed, with a hole in the center and spiderweb-like cracks radiating outward.

Ji Xinghuo flew over and landed next to the boulder, marveling at the result of his shot.

With a slight push, the boulder, which stood four to five meters tall, toppled over and shattered into more than a dozen pieces.

It was evident that the arrow had almost penetrated the boulder, leaving a trail of destruction just half a meter from piercing through completely. The immense force and energy contained in the arrow had nearly destroyed the boulder, and even without external influence, it would have soon crumbled into pieces.

The tungsten-core heavy arrows' most formidable aspect was their armor-piercing capability.

If this arrow struck a person, unless they were of legendary status, the chances of survival were slim to none!

Ji Xinghuo gestured, and the tungsten-core heavy arrow flew out from the rubble and into his hand. The arrow was only slightly deformed, with the arrowhead flattened a bit, but overall, it appeared mostly undamaged.

Next, Ji Xinghuo proceeded to test the tungsten-core heavy arrows by firing them consecutively.

Without activating the Myriad Phenomenon Star Pupil and only utilizing his super-frequency thinking to aid his shooting, he could, at most, maintain accuracy within a range of around 2,000 meters. Beyond that, his precision would significantly drop, rendering his shots ineffective against enemies. This distance was likely the limit that most archers could achieve.

"I guess it's just me, then."

"Other archers using the Black Star Crystal war bow would be impressive if they could hit their mark within 1,000 meters."

Ji Xinghuo couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction.

Each time the Black Star Crystal war bow fired a supersonic arrow, it consumed 30 stellar energy points, limiting the archer from indiscriminate shooting. However, he wasn't too concerned about this, as his stellar energy reserve of over 3,200 points allowed him to fire consecutively over a hundred times.

After testing the bow for two to three hours, Ji Xinghuo had completely grasped its performance.

He filled the attached space with arrows—50 tungsten-core heavy arrows, 50 titanium alloy arrows, capacitor arrows, silent arrows, blazing arrows, and a few of each type of special arrow.

Then, he placed the war bow on the ground and rolled it around to coat it with mud and snow, deliberately leaving it slightly dirty. Now, it looked like an ordinary, unremarkable war bow. He paired it with a beast hide arrow quiver on his back, making himself appear rather inconspicuous.

"Time to head back."

Ji Xinghuo glanced at the sky, noting that night was approaching.

As he was about to jump onto Qinghong's back and leave the valley, he suddenly heard voices coming from above. They were quite distant, carried by the wind, and difficult to make out.

His electromagnetic induction immediately located the source.

It was two Winged People.

They were flying over the valley, heading towards the City of Eternal Day. Travelers like them were a common sight in the area. However, these two were somewhat unusual—one was a male Fourth Stage, while the female was even stronger, a Fifth Stage Feathered King, a legendary powerhouse.

Ji Xinghuo looked up, his gaze piercing through the cold wind to spot the two figures in flight.

The female Winged Person was from the Lingyu Clan, distinguished by her large wings and colorful silk-like feathers that signified her noble status within the clan.

Judging from their attire, both Winged People were from the Heavenly Feather King Court.

It wasn't unusual to encounter Winged People on the Bloody Highlands.

Ji Xinghuo didn't pay them much mind.

However, a word he caught from their intermittent conversation, carried by the wind, caught his attention. "...Earthling, I...take care of..."

Although the distance made it hard to hear clearly, he was certain he hadn't misheard. The two Winged People were speaking the language of the Star Clan, one of the three languages he had mastered. The term "Earthling" was unique to the Heavenly Feather King Court, specifically referring to the extraterrestrial race within the Thousand Peaks Forest.

The two Winged People were flying fast and didn't seem to notice the Highlander in the valley.

Ji Xinghuo watched their figures as they flew by.

He stroked his chin, deciding to follow them.

Maintaining a safe distance, he trailed the Winged People as they approached the City of Eternal Day and landed, entering through the city gates.

Ji Xinghuo recalled Qinghong and hurried to catch up, entering the city himself.

Using his electromagnetic induction, he located the two Winged People and soon found that they had checked into a hotel run by their clan. The female Winged Person, the legendary Feathered King from the Lingyu Clan, received immediate preferential treatment, with over a dozen Winged People attending to her. She seemed to be a regular guest here.

Ji Xinghuo observed from a distance for several hours but didn't gain any useful information.

So, he rented a room in the hotel next door and continued his surveillance throughout the night. However, the Winged People remained uneventful.

The next morning.

Ji Xinghuo had no choice but to temporarily stop his watch and head to the Exotic Treasures Auction House.

The auction for the Paradise Treasure Diamond was about to begin.

After nearly 50 stellar hours of bidding, the prices for the other two Paradise Treasure Diamonds had soared to 180 ether crystals + 400 Eternal Day merits and above.

Meanwhile, the current price for the diamond he was bidding on remained at 60 ether crystals + 1,500 Eternal Day merits.

Throughout the entire day, no one else placed a bid.

Ji Xinghuo entered the auction house's main hall and found a seat, waiting for the auction to end. Suddenly, he turned his head as he noticed several Winged People entering the hall, led by the female Winged Person from the Lingyu Clan.

He listened intently to their conversation and realized they were only there to witness the excitement of the auction, not to participate in the bidding.

While eavesdropping on their conversation, he also kept an eye on the auction information displayed on the screens.

In the final stellar hour.

The bids for the two Paradise Treasure Diamonds refreshed rapidly, indicating intense competition. However, the third diamond saw no activity at all until the auction ended.

"Sold!" Ji Xinghuo exclaimed inwardly with delight.

His bidding strategy had paid off, and he had successfully won a Paradise Treasure Diamond!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end