After passing four roads filled with traffic and walking 5000 steps, Hong Yi arrived at the Jade Capital’s bow and arrow shop, “Guanshi Hao.” A three-floor pavilion with a large, gold-painted signboard appeared in front of him.
“This is the Guanshi Hao store.” Hong Yi lifted up his head and looked at the gold-plated sign: the words had a deep and profound power to them, and the handwriting felt vigorous, causing one to feel that “this store was no small matter, and that one should not casually enter to look around.”
“Guanshi Hao”–this name was also very ingenious. It conveyed the sense that the bows and arrow production here had reached its very pinnacle.
In times of old, there was once a master archer, who hung a louse 100 steps away, and sent out an arrow that pierced through the louse. This level of ability has been recorded amongst many ancient records, and over time, the people came to consider “Guanshi” as the ultimate pinnacle of archery.
“Guanshi” has reached a level that even exceeds being able to shoot an arrow accurately a hundred steps away.
The people entering and exiting the store were all bustling with activity, but most of them were scholars wearing green garments and supervisors from the imperial academy wearing square shaped hats that had two ribbons dangling from them. Furthermore, there were also courageous and strong Martial Warriors who were wearing clothes from foreign countries there as well.
The Great Qian Dynasty’s power could shake the four oceans. Their weapon manufacturing methods were among the best. In addition the Jade Capital is the Great Qian’s trade center. Among the shops here, any and all sorts of weird and bizarre objects could be found. This was because even those from the Western Huoluo country, Eastern Yunmeng, Western Yuantu, Southern Shenfeng, or Liuzhudeng countries all liked to come here from great distances to procure things.
After a few more days, it will be New Year’s. The large stores in the Jade Capital would be bustling with excitement.
“These scholars and supervisors come here to buy bows, only to hang them in their studies. Trying to express themselves as rounded in all Confucius Six Arts, when in actuality, the number of scholars who actually have attained all six arts is very low.”
Hong Yi walked into the store and saw many scholars and supervisors that were thinking of buying bows. Among the Confucius Six Arts of Etiquette, Music, Archery, Charioteering, Calligraphy and Mathematics, the arts of Charioteering and Archery were the two arts specialized in archery on horseback. Charioteering was horseback riding.
The early stages of the Great Qian Dynasty emphasized the importance of martial arts. But after a period of a Golden Age, when strict restrictions were put up, styles of literature was made to be more important than styles of martial arts. In fact, 20 years ago, the imperial court cancelled the archery on horseback part of the imperial examination. The simple literature battles determined what is good and bad, the spears and swords were sent to storage, and the horses were released on the fields of the Southern Mountain to inhabit the place. Right now, there were very few scholars that were masters of both the sword and the pen.
Hong Yi practiced many world-class punching and kicking techniques. He also let his soul roam from his body everyday to only watch Hong Xuejiao practice punching techniques. He also read the Martial Scripture until he was familiar with it. He analyzed and made discerning judgements in his thoughts based on what he observed with his vision. He found that half of these scholars and supervisors that were coming to buy bows didn’t have the body that shows practice in martial arts. The flesh on their bodies was loose and didn’t have indicators of power and sturdiness that appear after one exercises their body.
“En? So I can tell if a person doesn’t have a body that practices martial arts? My vision has become superior.”
Hong Yi suddenly inspected his own changes.
He had improved.
This thought made him very happy.
Huge varieties of all sorts of bows filled the walls for people to choose from. Hong Yi walked inside and looked over the small and long bows.
“Sir, what kind of bow do you want? We have cow tendon, silk, and snakeskin. Furthermore, we even have bamboo, mulberry, chestnut, and other fine quality woods. Seeing the light-colored garment signifying you’re a scholar, you must buy this bow with a painted picture of a golden magpie and hang it in your study. It’ll be both elegant and interesting, giving off the feeling of an heroic character…….”
Seeing Hong Yi looking everywhere, a clean and nimble shop assistant promptly approached to welcome him.
“Take out a 60 jin strength bow made from chestnut wood, and cowhorn silk for me.” Hong Yi looked at the shop assistant introducing the that bow with the golden magpie. The bow was painted brightly gold and was very bright, and at the center there was a vermillion magpie. It was definitely something that only had looks and was useless for practical use. The bow gave people the feeling that it was something to decorate a study.
“Alright.”
The shopkeeper’s assistant hurriedly brought a bow over. The bow’s limbs were long, and the string seemed powerful.
Hong Yi took the bow, reached out his hand and caressed it. For a moment, he couldn’t contain his excitement. Just this bow would cost seven or eight taels of silver. Staying in the manor, Hong Yi only got 4 taels of silver a month. Every month he needed to get ink, paper, food, clothes, firewood, charcoal, lamp light, etc. Saving enough money to to buy this bow would have been impossible.
“Fortunately, I received 100 taels of silver from the manor recently, and obtained 10 pink royal gold coins. It should be more than enough to buy some good things. But unfortunately, it’s not enough to buy a horse. However, it should be enough to get a bow to help me train. How about allowing me to test out this bow?”
Hong Yi grabbed the bow, while he internally focused on the “Xieyi Technique” of the six arts: Have a clear mind, free from all distracting thoughts.
Have faith–one must first believe it’ll hit, and reality will become inside and out. Keep in mind: move only when at ease, and eliminate all noise. The main idea is this: be calm and composed. Even when one is on the battlefield, one’s appearance shouldn’t change color. (TL note: appearance/face changing color means to get angry, embarrassed, or pissed)
After muttering these mental teachings, Hong Yi’s body emitted a calm and leisurely aura-like feeling.
At the same time, he stepped forward the length of one big toe, his two knees separated, his butt scrunched up, his waist pressed backwards, his chest pushed forwards, his belly button pointed towards the ground, and his mind was blank.
Mental teachings are a Sheyi scholarly principle.
His movements were one of the Demonic Cow Strengthening punches archery techniques.
Bang! Hong Yi pulled on the loose string and the entire bow became the shape of a full moon, issuing a crisp, powerful, and solid sound.
“Good bow, just the sound shows that. I’ll just choose this one.” Hong Yi breathed a few times, adjusted his breath, then said the words. He was completely secretly astonished inside.
When he had pulled open the bow a few moments ago, he had felt all the tendons in his body being strained, almost like a bow string, they were stretched tightly. Once the bowstring was released, his entire body seemed to tremble like a bow string.
After testing out the bow, his entire body felt as if his muscles had been ferociously ripped.
“It’s no wonder opening a bow is the first step in training and the sage of ancient times made it one of the six arts. There are many different ways to train in the martial arts: there’s carrying bricks, binding together lead blocks, waist and abdomen pushing, rolling boulders, playing with stone locks, and lifting clubs. But none of these can compare with opening a bow. I only just opened the bow for a bit–I didn’t even get a chance to aim–and my entire body already feels injured. There is no need to even mention firing the bow in rapid succession and having each and every arrow hit the target.
After having pulled the bow, Hong Yi finally understood why archery and horseback riding were the very foundation of martial arts, and the most important part. The army’s test, also included this.
“Young master has very good eyesight. Our Guanshi Hao’s bows are the best under heaven. The very wood used is the best. The total is seven taels of silver.” Hearing Hong Yi’s desire to buy the bow, the shopkeeper’s assistant promptly smiled.
Hong Yi took out seven taels of silver and prepared to go home to train. At that time, the shopkeeper’s assistant smiled once more, and repeatedly bowed: “Seeing young master’s bow pulling technique, I can tell that you are a person versed in both the pen and the sword. Would young master like to take home a sword?”
“Buying a sword? Where is the sword?”
“Young master, please come up to the second floor.” The shopkeeper’s assistant passionately guided the way.
The Great Qian Dynasty’s weapon laws: Ban crossbows, but not bows. Ban knives, but not swords. However people of ordinary households, can only buy swords and leave them in their homes. They cannot walk around with them as they wish, otherwise they will be arrested. Only refined talents can walk around with swords. As for knives and spears, they aren’t even permitted to be bought and sold, there is no need to even mention walking around with them.
Walking up to the second floor of the “Guanshi Hao” store, the number of people there decreased significantly. This is because the cost of a good sword was far higher than that of a bow.
The swords on the second floor were all placed on top of the shelves. They were all very bright, radiant, and spotless. The swords were strictly sharpened, and just seeing it could allow one to identify that the swords were made out of first-class metals.
“Young master, these are our Guanshi Hao’s best swords. If you still aren’t satisfied, then wait a few days. Even if you are looking for weapons made from Heavenly Stairwell Pattern Steel, and Chrysanthemum Pattern Steel, we can still help you handle it. So long as you prepay for it. But if you want a Blood Pattern Steel sword, I have heard that they don’t exist.”
Once Hong Yi entered the floor, he heard a voice.
He only saw a young person wearing the Imperial Academy’s garb, shaking a fan. Behind him were two people radiating a valiant and biting cold aura following him. A single glance was enough to tell that they were expert level bodyguards.
“Blood Pattern Steel is something priests refine in stoves, the inside of the steel is filled with veins of blood, almost like a human. It is a immortal tool, a flying sword, for cultivators who are in the matter manipulating realm to use. The Great Qian Dynasty’s Jade Capital has everything, and Daoist temples were in great numbers. So how can it be possible that you don’t have this type of thing?”
As this young person was in the middle of rocking his fan and muttering to himself, filled with regret, Hong Yi heard a voice. The voice wasn’t suited for a man, Hong Yi sneaked a glance over and noticed that the person didn’t have a prominent larynx. Unexpectedly, it was a woman dressed like a man, pretending to be a fake young master. (TL Note: Not exactly what raw is saying but this is for the sake of making sense)
Hong Yi was startled.
The Imperial academy was the imperial household academy; there couldn’t possibly be a female in there.
“Eh? It couldn’t be possible, unless she is a princess from the surrounding countries who came here to study abroad. She wants to buy Blood Patterned Steel?”
Hong Yi was careful and good at observing. With merely one glance, he managed to discern fifty to sixty percent of the situation.
After passing four roads filled with traffic and walking 5000 steps, Hong Yi arrived at the Jade Capital’s bow and arrow shop, “Guanshi Hao.” A three-floor pavilion with a large, gold-painted signboard appeared in front of him.
“This is the Guanshi Hao store.” Hong Yi lifted up his head and looked at the gold-plated sign: the words had a deep and profound power to them, and the handwriting felt vigorous, causing one to feel that “this store was no small matter, and that one should not casually enter to look around.”
“Guanshi Hao”–this name was also very ingenious. It conveyed the sense that the bows and arrow production here had reached its very pinnacle.
In times of old, there was once a master archer, who hung a louse 100 steps away, and sent out an arrow that pierced through the louse. This level of ability has been recorded amongst many ancient records, and over time, the people came to consider “Guanshi” as the ultimate pinnacle of archery.
“Guanshi” has reached a level that even exceeds being able to shoot an arrow accurately a hundred steps away.
The people entering and exiting the store were all bustling with activity, but most of them were scholars wearing green garments and supervisors from the imperial academy wearing square shaped hats that had two ribbons dangling from them. Furthermore, there were also courageous and strong Martial Warriors who were wearing clothes from foreign countries there as well.
The Great Qian Dynasty’s power could shake the four oceans. Their weapon manufacturing methods were among the best. In addition the Jade Capital is the Great Qian’s trade center. Among the shops here, any and all sorts of weird and bizarre objects could be found. This was because even those from the Western Huoluo country, Eastern Yunmeng, Western Yuantu, Southern Shenfeng, or Liuzhudeng countries all liked to come here from great distances to procure things.
After a few more days, it will be New Year’s. The large stores in the Jade Capital would be bustling with excitement.
“These scholars and supervisors come here to buy bows, only to hang them in their studies. Trying to express themselves as rounded in all Confucius Six Arts, when in actuality, the number of scholars who actually have attained all six arts is very low.”
Hong Yi walked into the store and saw many scholars and supervisors that were thinking of buying bows. Among the Confucius Six Arts of Etiquette, Music, Archery, Charioteering, Calligraphy and Mathematics, the arts of Charioteering and Archery were the two arts specialized in archery on horseback. Charioteering was horseback riding.
The early stages of the Great Qian Dynasty emphasized the importance of martial arts. But after a period of a Golden Age, when strict restrictions were put up, styles of literature was made to be more important than styles of martial arts. In fact, 20 years ago, the imperial court cancelled the archery on horseback part of the imperial examination. The simple literature battles determined what is good and bad, the spears and swords were sent to storage, and the horses were released on the fields of the Southern Mountain to inhabit the place. Right now, there were very few scholars that were masters of both the sword and the pen.
Hong Yi practiced many world-class punching and kicking techniques. He also let his soul roam from his body everyday to only watch Hong Xuejiao practice punching techniques. He also read the Martial Scripture until he was familiar with it. He analyzed and made discerning judgements in his thoughts based on what he observed with his vision. He found that half of these scholars and supervisors that were coming to buy bows didn’t have the body that shows practice in martial arts. The flesh on their bodies was loose and didn’t have indicators of power and sturdiness that appear after one exercises their body.
“En? So I can tell if a person doesn’t have a body that practices martial arts? My vision has become superior.”
Hong Yi suddenly inspected his own changes.
He had improved.
This thought made him very happy.
Huge varieties of all sorts of bows filled the walls for people to choose from. Hong Yi walked inside and looked over the small and long bows.
“Sir, what kind of bow do you want? We have cow tendon, silk, and snakeskin. Furthermore, we even have bamboo, mulberry, chestnut, and other fine quality woods. Seeing the light-colored garment signifying you’re a scholar, you must buy this bow with a painted picture of a golden magpie and hang it in your study. It’ll be both elegant and interesting, giving off the feeling of an heroic character…….”
Seeing Hong Yi looking everywhere, a clean and nimble shop assistant promptly approached to welcome him.
“Take out a 60 jin strength bow made from chestnut wood, and cowhorn silk for me.” Hong Yi looked at the shop assistant introducing the that bow with the golden magpie. The bow was painted brightly gold and was very bright, and at the center there was a vermillion magpie. It was definitely something that only had looks and was useless for practical use. The bow gave people the feeling that it was something to decorate a study.
“Alright.”
The shopkeeper’s assistant hurriedly brought a bow over. The bow’s limbs were long, and the string seemed powerful.
Hong Yi took the bow, reached out his hand and caressed it. For a moment, he couldn’t contain his excitement. Just this bow would cost seven or eight taels of silver. Staying in the manor, Hong Yi only got 4 taels of silver a month. Every month he needed to get ink, paper, food, clothes, firewood, charcoal, lamp light, etc. Saving enough money to to buy this bow would have been impossible.
“Fortunately, I received 100 taels of silver from the manor recently, and obtained 10 pink royal gold coins. It should be more than enough to buy some good things. But unfortunately, it’s not enough to buy a horse. However, it should be enough to get a bow to help me train. How about allowing me to test out this bow?”
Hong Yi grabbed the bow, while he internally focused on the “Xieyi Technique” of the six arts: Have a clear mind, free from all distracting thoughts.
Have faith–one must first believe it’ll hit, and reality will become inside and out. Keep in mind: move only when at ease, and eliminate all noise. The main idea is this: be calm and composed. Even when one is on the battlefield, one’s appearance shouldn’t change color. (TL note: appearance/face changing color means to get angry, embarrassed, or pissed)
After muttering these mental teachings, Hong Yi’s body emitted a calm and leisurely aura-like feeling.
At the same time, he stepped forward the length of one big toe, his two knees separated, his butt scrunched up, his waist pressed backwards, his chest pushed forwards, his belly button pointed towards the ground, and his mind was blank.
Mental teachings are a Sheyi scholarly principle.
His movements were one of the Demonic Cow Strengthening punches archery techniques.
Bang! Hong Yi pulled on the loose string and the entire bow became the shape of a full moon, issuing a crisp, powerful, and solid sound.
“Good bow, just the sound shows that. I’ll just choose this one.” Hong Yi breathed a few times, adjusted his breath, then said the words. He was completely secretly astonished inside.
When he had pulled open the bow a few moments ago, he had felt all the tendons in his body being strained, almost like a bow string, they were stretched tightly. Once the bowstring was released, his entire body seemed to tremble like a bow string.
After testing out the bow, his entire body felt as if his muscles had been ferociously ripped.
“It’s no wonder opening a bow is the first step in training and the sage of ancient times made it one of the six arts. There are many different ways to train in the martial arts: there’s carrying bricks, binding together lead blocks, waist and abdomen pushing, rolling boulders, playing with stone locks, and lifting clubs. But none of these can compare with opening a bow. I only just opened the bow for a bit–I didn’t even get a chance to aim–and my entire body already feels injured. There is no need to even mention firing the bow in rapid succession and having each and every arrow hit the target.
After having pulled the bow, Hong Yi finally understood why archery and horseback riding were the very foundation of martial arts, and the most important part. The army’s test, also included this.
“Young master has very good eyesight. Our Guanshi Hao’s bows are the best under heaven. The very wood used is the best. The total is seven taels of silver.” Hearing Hong Yi’s desire to buy the bow, the shopkeeper’s assistant promptly smiled.
Hong Yi took out seven taels of silver and prepared to go home to train. At that time, the shopkeeper’s assistant smiled once more, and repeatedly bowed: “Seeing young master’s bow pulling technique, I can tell that you are a person versed in both the pen and the sword. Would young master like to take home a sword?”
“Buying a sword? Where is the sword?”
“Young master, please come up to the second floor.” The shopkeeper’s assistant passionately guided the way.
The Great Qian Dynasty’s weapon laws: Ban crossbows, but not bows. Ban knives, but not swords. However people of ordinary households, can only buy swords and leave them in their homes. They cannot walk around with them as they wish, otherwise they will be arrested. Only refined talents can walk around with swords. As for knives and spears, they aren’t even permitted to be bought and sold, there is no need to even mention walking around with them.
Walking up to the second floor of the “Guanshi Hao” store, the number of people there decreased significantly. This is because the cost of a good sword was far higher than that of a bow.
The swords on the second floor were all placed on top of the shelves. They were all very bright, radiant, and spotless. The swords were strictly sharpened, and just seeing it could allow one to identify that the swords were made out of first-class metals.
“Young master, these are our Guanshi Hao’s best swords. If you still aren’t satisfied, then wait a few days. Even if you are looking for weapons made from Heavenly Stairwell Pattern Steel, and Chrysanthemum Pattern Steel, we can still help you handle it. So long as you prepay for it. But if you want a Blood Pattern Steel sword, I have heard that they don’t exist.”
Once Hong Yi entered the floor, he heard a voice.
He only saw a young person wearing the Imperial Academy’s garb, shaking a fan. Behind him were two people radiating a valiant and biting cold aura following him. A single glance was enough to tell that they were expert level bodyguards.
“Blood Pattern Steel is something priests refine in stoves, the inside of the steel is filled with veins of blood, almost like a human. It is a immortal tool, a flying sword, for cultivators who are in the matter manipulating realm to use. The Great Qian Dynasty’s Jade Capital has everything, and Daoist temples were in great numbers. So how can it be possible that you don’t have this type of thing?”
As this young person was in the middle of rocking his fan and muttering to himself, filled with regret, Hong Yi heard a voice. The voice wasn’t suited for a man, Hong Yi sneaked a glance over and noticed that the person didn’t have a prominent larynx. Unexpectedly, it was a woman dressed like a man, pretending to be a fake young master. (TL Note: Not exactly what raw is saying but this is for the sake of making sense)
Hong Yi was startled.
The Imperial academy was the imperial household academy; there couldn’t possibly be a female in there.
“Eh? It couldn’t be possible, unless she is a princess from the surrounding countries who came here to study abroad. She wants to buy Blood Patterned Steel?”
Hong Yi was careful and good at observing. With merely one glance, he managed to discern fifty to sixty percent of the situation.
