"Sect Master, I cannot find any information on that woman. Her level is at least Silver Seven Stars and above."
A petite girl said with a frown.
Deng Wan'er, Silver Three Stars, had a scanning skill that allowed her to probe targets no higher than her own level. Yet, she couldn't get any information from the other party.
"That woman is precisely Silver Seven Stars. She possesses multiple combat skills and abilities like Swift Strike, Precision Shot, Multi-Arrow, and Exploding Arrow. Her strength is indeed impressive," Qin Shilei interjected.
Although the others were somewhat surprised that Qin Shilei could see through the woman's information, they did not question him.
Shen Feixue turned to Li Gang and asked, "Are you confident you can defeat her?"
Li Gang said with confidence, "Although she is one level higher than me, we are competing in archery. When it comes to archery, I've never admitted defeat to anyone."
However, as he spoke, he suddenly caught sight of Qin Shilei beside him and immediately stopped talking.
At this moment, Eugene also walked over.
He was a man in his thirties, stout, with a short beard.
"Miss Shen, you should just obediently become my City Lord's wife."
Shen Feixue said with a cold face, "Dream on. However, in the future, half of your Aya City might bear the surname Shen."
"Heh heh," Eugene chuckled sinisterly. "If you concede now, I'll spare some face for you, my future City Lord's wife. Once the competition begins, don't blame me for crushing you outright. Your Great Xia people will then lose all face in the entire Aya City."
"Hmph!" Shen Feixue snorted. "Who the clown is will only be known after the competition. Let's begin."
The archery competition was divided into two segments: rapid shooting and sniping.
The first to appear was Bonnie, the blonde beauty beside Eugene.
She stood at a corner of the square, drew her bow, and aimed at the sky at a thirty-degree angle.
"Begin!"
Instantly, countless fist-sized wooden balls were shot from a tall building three to four hundred meters away. With the force of projection and gravity, these wooden balls struck Bonnie like solid cannonballs. These wooden balls were made from sturdy mutated trees, making them not only incredibly hard but also heavy. Competitors had to shoot down or destroy as many wooden balls as possible, while also avoiding being hit by them. This was designed to simulate an attack from flying beasts. According to Eugene, if Shen Feixue wanted to be the deputy city lord, she needed the corresponding strength to deal with the biggest threat Aya City would face in the future – aerial beasts.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
A series of rapid whistling sounds filled the air as countless arrows shot from Bonnie's hand like a swarm of locusts. These wooden balls were pierced and sent flying before they even landed. As time passed, more and more wooden balls were shot. Despite Bonnie's astonishing shooting speed, there were simply too many wooden balls. She couldn't intercept all of them.
Suddenly, a loud bang echoed. The falling wooden balls were all ignited by exploding fireballs and shattered. With each exploding arrow fired, the air was filled with a series of explosions. Not a single wooden ball fell to the ground, let alone hit Bonnie. Then, wooden balls were launched from another direction. Even with Bonnie's area-of-effect exploding arrows, a few stray wooden balls still managed to fall to the ground intact.
"Two thousand wooden balls, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine shot through or exploded, sixty-one missed. The archer was hit by zero wooden balls. Score: 1939."
The referee quickly announced the final score.
"Li Gang, do you still have confidence?" Shen Feixue asked, turning to Li Gang.
"...I'll do my best."
Li Gang's face was grim, his earlier confidence completely gone. He stammered out only three unconfident words. He then took his longbow and walked into the square.
At first, when the wooden balls weren't so dense, Li Gang managed to handle them quite well. But as the number of wooden balls increased, he began to struggle, unable to cope with them all. Even with his Consecutive Arrow combat skill, he couldn't intercept all of them.
"Two thousand wooden balls, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven shot through or exploded, one hundred and sixty-three missed. The archer was hit by two wooden balls. Score: 1817."
Li Gang walked back dejectedly, not daring to meet the eyes of Luo Xiangyun and the others.
"The gap is quite significant." Eugene walked over, holding his head high in a triumphant posture. "It seems you're set to be the City Lord's wife."
Shen Feixue said with a cold face, "The competition isn't over yet. You're celebrating too early."
"Haha," Eugene roared with laughter. "Li Gang is the best archer among you. He's already lost. Who else do you have that can fight?"
"What a cunning fellow. When we made the bet, he said he'd let us win in a field of our choosing, but he hid such an archery master," Luo Xiangyun said indignantly from the side.
Shen Feixue turned to Qin Shilei and asked in a low voice, "Mr. Qin, do you have any area-of-effect combat skills like Exploding Arrow?"
"No," Qin Shilei said calmly as everyone's faces changed, "It's just shooting wooden balls. There's no need for combat skills. Straight shots are enough."
"Pfft!" Bonnie, beside Eugene, who had clearly heard Qin Shilei's words, couldn't help but sneer, "Sect Master Shen, you're not going to send him to waste everyone's time, are you? In the latter half, hundreds of wooden balls will be launched per second. Can he shoot out hundreds of arrows per second?"
Eugene also said mockingly, "Bonnie, since they're willing to make fools of themselves, why should we worry?"
Those around him chimed in, "We've even started a live broadcast. Soon, the 800,000 people of Aya City will see how this pretty boy gets smashed into a pig's head by wooden balls."
Eugene specifically reminded them again, "I heard your Great Xia people value their promises. Don't use any combat skills later."
Qin Shilei didn't answer them and walked directly to a corner of the square.
"Begin!"
Wooden balls rained down from the sky. Qin Shilei nocked an arrow, drawing his bow with effortless grace, piercing and knocking away each wooden ball. The wooden balls increased in number, but Qin Shilei consistently shot them with straight shots, hitting every single one with perfect accuracy.
Shen Feixue and the others showed signs of joy. Eugene and his group, however, frowned.
Bonnie said disdainfully, "As long as he doesn't use combat skills, when wooden balls are launched from both sides simultaneously later, he won't be able to cope."
Just then, wooden balls began to be launched from the other side simultaneously, and the number doubled. Instantly, hundreds of wooden balls plummeted towards Qin Shilei. Qin Shilei's right hand became a blur as he rapidly loosed a volley of arrows.
"The speed is indeed impressive," Bonnie said disdainfully. "But with this speed, hitting every single wooden ball is a pipe dream!"
However, as soon as she finished speaking, she noticed that almost every arrow in the air was strung with three or four wooden balls. Qin Shilei, despite being a Gold-tier powerhouse, couldn't shoot out over a hundred arrows per second. But who said an arrow could only hit one wooden ball?
Shen Feixue smiled lightly. "There's an ancient saying about shooting two birds with one arrow. I never expected to witness the miraculous skill of shooting multiple birds with one arrow countless times today."
Everyone was completely stunned by Qin Shilei's archery. Hitting two targets simultaneously once or twice was something Li Gang and Bonnie could also do. But Qin Shilei did it countless times, hitting multiple targets simultaneously. Was this even humanly possible?
"Truly an archery god, I'm convinced!" Li Gang said sincerely.
"Archery God!"
"Archery God!"
"Archery God!"
The hundreds of elites behind Shen Feixue shouted in unison.