“Take your positions, get ready!” Li Nian Zhen shouted.
Immediately the six students of the second grade bent their bows and nocked arrows.
Ding! A sharp sounding arrow rang out.
At once, one hundred metres away, six roe deer burst out from their burrows and fled desperately.
Their movement speed was roughly a dozen metres per second, and their directions were extremely chaotic.
Suo Lun used the fastest time to ignore all other targets and concentrate all his spiritual power on one of the black roe deer.
Then he discovered that his spiritual power could indeed lock firmly onto this target.
But if he were to shoot at this moment it would be completely impossible to hit.
Because in the earlier fixed target shooting he had first constructed an identical virtual space in his mind. Although his eyes could not see the bullseye, in the spiritual world he could see it and aim at it.
But at this moment he could not construct this virtual space. Because the roe deer was moving extremely fast, the virtual space would constantly change as well.
So he could perceive the roe deer and even lock onto it, but he could not aim at the same time.
The roe deer grew faster and faster. After just a few seconds it left Suo Lun’s locking range.
Suo Lun’s heart turned ice cold. This was only the shooting target for the second grade. The moving target for the third grade was a wild dog, two or three times faster than the roe deer, yet more than half smaller in size.
He could not even hit the second grade target, let alone the third grade.
Moreover, in order to put him to death, Princess Zhi Ning would very likely make the moving living target for the third grade even faster and smaller.
Immediately Suo Lun felt anxious as if on fire. He had already come this far and really, really did not want to fail.
Once he failed, all his previous efforts would be wasted. He would be finished, and the Suo clan would be finished too.
Although even if he failed he would still receive everyone’s sympathy, what he needed least of all was sympathy.
“Demon Star, without the assistance of my eyes I simply cannot aim and shoot at fast moving targets.” Suo Lun said, “In that case I have no way to complete the second half of the exam.”
The Demon Star had also clearly perceived everything.
Suo Lun asked, “Is there a way? I remember you once mentioned that when spiritual power is strong enough, it can slow down time within the perception world.”
The Demon Star was silent for a moment and said, “It is possible, but it will consume a great deal, a great deal of spiritual power and dragon power. It may completely exhaust the dragon power and spiritual power we have worked so hard to swallow and accumulate, and it may even cause enormous damage to your body.”
Suo Lun said, “Then do it like that! If we lose this time we will lose everything. There is no point in keeping this spiritual power and dragon power.”
…
Ding, ding, ding, ding…
As the ten sounding arrows rang out the second grade exam was completely finished.
For the second grade exam it was also considered a pass to hit five out of ten arrows. However out of the six students only three passed smoothly. The remaining three all failed.
Originally at least five of the six should have succeeded, but their minds were already completely in chaos. They were all paying attention to Suo Lun’s side, so their performance completely went wrong.
But these two noble girls who performed abnormally did not care at all. The moment they finished the exam their eyes turned towards Suo Lun.
Next, the most critical moment arrived.
Everyone present, whether supervisors, examiners or students, focused their full attention on Suo Lun.
“The third grade exam officially begins.”
“Shooting target, black flying harrier. Shooting distance, two hundred and fifty metres!”
Originally this did not need to be announced. The shooting target could simply be released. But Li Nian Zhen felt indignant and shouted it out directly, trying to arouse public anger.
Sure enough, everyone present showed expressions of astonishment.
Could this be any more excessive or shameless? Suo Lun’s eyes could no longer see. Using a wild dog as the third grade shooting target was already difficult enough.
Now they had actually changed it to a black flying harrier, the fastest flying bird, and only a little bigger than a human palm.
The black flying harrier could reach a maximum flying speed of eighty or ninety metres per second.
Yes, you did not misread, ninety metres per second. This speed was already comparable to an arrow shot out.
That meant in just two seconds it could fly out of the locking range. With such speed it was simply impossible to lock onto with spiritual power.
Then all eyes turned in disbelief towards Princess Zhi Ning on the high platform.
Shooting a black flying harrier in flight was something even seventh or eighth level warrior archers could not do. Yet now they were making Suo Lun do it, and his eyes were completely blind.
This was clearly trying to put him to death.
“Shameless, shameless…”
“Unfair!”
Immediately all the students present shouted loudly.
Li Nian Zhen looked at the chief supervisor, the Dragon Archer Ba Du from the Divine Dragon Holy Temple, and said, “Lord Ba Du, what do you think?”
At this moment Ba Du had been completely put on the spot.
He knew that if he nodded now he would become an accomplice helping the royal family suppress Suo Lun, and his own reputation would be completely ruined.
But if he did not nod he would thoroughly offend the royal family. Dragon Archers like them from the Heavenly Star Temple were completely treated like stepchildren in the Divine Dragon Holy Temple. The great cultivators from the Art Temple and Spirit Temple could stand high above, but they could not. When had anyone ever seen an archer stand high above?
Taking a deep breath, Ba Du said coldly, “The exam will continue!”
Everyone once again looked at Ba Du in disbelief. This Dragon Archer from the Divine Dragon Holy Temple had actually fallen as well.
“Princess, within three days I will be driven out of the Divine Dragon Holy Temple.” Ba Du said in a low voice.
Zhi Ning said, “Do not worry, I will arrange a better place for you.”
Immediately the crowd surged with anger. The furious students even wanted to rush onto the high platform.
Li Nian Zhen and the warriors of the Royal Capital Academy simply watched all this quietly, with no intention of stepping forward to stop it.
Because they were also angry and felt it was unfair.
“Are you trying to rebel?” Jian Ning shouted sternly, “Once the time is up and Suo Lun has not shot, it will count as failure!”
Immediately the angry students could no longer control themselves and rushed forward directly.
Just as the situation was about to descend into chaos, Suo Lun suddenly raised his right arm high.
Instantly the field fell silent and everyone stopped.
“Princess Zhi Ning, please remember today.” Suo Lun said calmly.
Then he turned to Li Nian Zhen and said, “Instructor Nian Zhen, please take me to my shooting position.”
Li Nian Zhen’s eyes reddened. She took Suo Lun’s hand and led him to his assigned position.
Then all the students also stopped their impulse, stood behind Suo Lun, held their breath, and focused all their eyes on him.
Li Nian Zhen shouted, “Take your positions, get ready!”
Suo Lun quickly nocked an arrow, used dragon power, pulled the bow open fiercely and pointed it diagonally into the air.
His eyes were still covered by a black blindfold. He lowered his head and tilted it sideways, using his ears to listen to the sounds in the air.
He breathed in big gulps, then completely held his breath, gathered all his spiritual power, and waited for the sounding arrow to ring out.
Ding…
In an instant Suo Lun fiercely released five times, eight times, ten times his dragon power and spiritual power.
The powerful dragon power and powerful spiritual power instantly impacted his meridians and nerves.
The extreme pain almost made him suffocate completely.
At the same time a black flying harrier shot into the sky like an arrow leaving the string.
Its speed was incomparably fast, completely reaching dozens of metres per second, so fast that even the eyes could not see it clearly, let alone lock onto it with spiritual power.
But at this moment, in Suo Lun’s spiritual world, because he had released eight times or ten times his spiritual power and dragon power to perceive this world, everything around him suddenly slowed down. It was as if time began to decelerate within his spiritual perception.
It slowed by three times, five times, even more!
Immediately that fast black harrier seemed to turn into slow motion in a film. Every single movement of it was perceived clearly.
Locked on. Completely locked on. He had even calculated the lead and the movement trajectory.
It was foolproof. Absolutely foolproof.
Whoosh… Suo Lun’s arrow shot out fiercely.
All of this, in Suo Lun’s perception world, was in slow motion and decelerated.
But in the real world everything was incomparably fast, less than half a second.
Everyone present immediately witnessed an incomparably magnificent, incomparably shocking, and incomparably poetic scene.
Suo Lun, with eyes covered, lowered his head and used his ears to listen to the black harrier in the air.
The black harrier flew out like lightning. Just an instant later Suo Lun’s arrow also shot out like a black lightning bolt, fiercely chasing after it.
The two points drew closer and closer.
The black arrow rapidly pursued the black bird.
Then…
Puchi…
That black flying harrier could not even let out a miserable cry before it was directly pierced in the air. It trembled once in the air and then fell sharply.
He actually hit it with one arrow!