Chapter 349: Hunter Stronghold — Arm Wrestling, Singing, and Learning Archery

In the evening, after Jier finished telling Craftsman Ganna about his recent experiences, he drove the carriage back to the Hunter Stronghold.

Because his carriage-driving skills were poor, Jier scraped the carriage against the walls along the street many times, rubbing off much of the new paint he had applied when he bought it, which made Jier's heart ache terribly.

After shouting for the gate to be opened, Jier followed a young Hunter to guide the carriage into the shed, then unhitched the horse's Jiansheng and led the horse into the shed.

Patting Jier on the shoulder, this young Hunter welcomed Jier to officially join their Hunter team. Jier also thanked the other for his kindness, then took bundles of hay from the carriage and broke them apart to feed his horse.

Drawing some Kendall River water that had not frozen from the well, Jier carried the bucket and poured it into the wooden trough for the horse. The horse, which hadn't drunk water for most of the day, hurriedly lowered its head to drink; after all, the temperature was low, and if it didn't drink quickly, the water in the wooden trough would soon turn to ice.

Jier took a few pieces of coarse linen cloth from the carriage, draped them simply over the horse, then used firewood to block some of the drafty gaps in the shed, and finally closed the shed door to bid his horse farewell.

Carrying the things from the carriage, Jier walked into the wooden house of the Jiedian.

The young Hunters who had gone out during the day had all returned to the Jiedian—well, perhaps not all of them. The old Hunter Tuosite was roasting a few tuberous plants cut in half by the fireplace, and was rubbing a small amount of salt onto the cut surfaces.

"Jier is back. How about it, do you want to eat some of this?" the old Hunter asked Jier. The other young Hunters were sitting around the fireplace warming themselves, talking about the several rescued women and the development of their relationships with them, and they were very envious of the young Hunter who had not yet returned.

"Thank you, I ate before I came back." Jier politely thanked Tuosite for the invitation, then greeted the other Hunters and returned to his own room with the big pile of things he had obtained today.

He hadn't closed the window before leaving the room, so it was very cold inside; Jier remembered this just now and hurriedly closed the wooden window tightly. Then he lit the oil lamp, tidied up the various things he had brought back today, picked up the various parts of his Long Spear, and blew out the lamp before returning to the first-floor hall.

Seeing what Jier was holding, the Hunters asked one after another what he was doing. Jier then told them about the changes he wanted to make to his Long Spear.

By the light of the fireplace, Jier dismantled the original wooden-shafted double-edged spear, then connected the double-edged spearhead to the new iron-shafted spear pole, hammered them together with a heavy object, and then used sturdy thin Rope to fix the connection point together.

With this, his combat Double-edged Iron Spear was finished. He weighed it in his hand; it was nearly twenty kilograms, very heavy, and just holding it in his hand made him feel like he had to exert effort.

He felt very satisfied; not to mention the power of this new weapon, just using it for practice and training would cause his physical strength and stamina to rise rapidly, especially with some Divine Power helping him inside his body.

The young Hunters also borrowed this new weapon of Jier's to play with, but as soon as they held it in their hands, they felt it was too heavy and couldn't perform attacks like a Thrust at all, let alone hacking.

They had just watched Jier try swinging it a couple of times in an empty space in the hall, and it hadn't looked very heavy, but as soon as they took it, they were crushed by the weight and couldn't use it.

"Jier, come, let's see how much strength you have," the young Hunters scurried about, calling Jier over to compare strength. They were all archers who drew bows, and their arms were very powerful; they were not comparable to ordinary people who hadn't undergone training.

Jier was also curious about the strength in his hands, so he put down his gear and walked over.

A young Hunter who considered himself to have great strength in his hands sat on one side of a wooden table, stood his thick arm on the table with his elbow touching the surface, and opened his palm to signal to Jier.

Jier rolled up his sleeves and also sat on the other side of the table, doing the same as the other person, bracing his elbow against the table and opening his palm to grip the other's hand. Jier's hand was slightly smaller, but the calluses on his palms and his powerful arms showed that his strength was not small.

The old Hunter on the side was eating hot food; just as he finished, the two were ready, so he tossed the charred outer skin of the food he was holding into the fireplace woodpile, then clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it onto the table: "Start!"

The two palms were gripped tightly together, and the muscles of both arms bulged as they wrestled against each other.

The Hunters watching from the side had all sorts of things in their mouths, shouting and jumping up and down as if they were the ones competing on the table.

Before starting, Jier had taken a deep breath. At this moment, his cheeks were puffed out, and his left hand was gripping the side of the wooden table, providing a fulcrum for his other hand to exert force.

His right arm was tensed, exerting force toward the left, and the muscles on his forearm bulged and tightened. The contact between his elbow and the wooden table made a creaking sound.

The person opposite was doing the same, but this young Hunter had probably not caught his breath before the match, and after holding out against Jier for a while, he was gradually losing ground.

Watching the other's face turn bright red, Jier steadied himself again; he knew the other person was out of breath in his chest and was about to be finished.

Sure enough, everyone watching could see that this young Hunter's face was bright red and he looked like he was about to lose. So they let out jeering boos.

"Boo!"

"Are you any good?"

"Lost, lost."

Provoked by these companions, this Hunter persisted for a little while longer, but as he really didn't have enough oxygen in his lungs, he couldn't hold it in and had to start breathing heavily.

But once he started breathing, the strength he had been holding in his whole body broke, the force in his hand immediately decreased, and Jier's palm quickly pressed the other's down.

Bang!

The pressed-down palm hit the table with a bang, which meant Jier had won a small victory.

"Hehe! Won! Haha, you're not bad either, you just didn't adjust your breathing before starting," Jier said.

The young Hunter opposite scratched his head, and then was squeezed out of the chair by a new opponent: "Let me try too!" This Hunter's body was not as strong as the previous one; it seemed he had been infected by the atmosphere and forgotten how much strength he actually had.

Jier didn't turn anyone away; after shaking his hands, he took a few quick breaths, then took another deep breath, sat steady, and reached out his hand.

The two palms gripped together, and then the old Hunter Tuosite clapped his hands, made a sound, and said: "Start!"

Jier smiled confidently, while the Hunter opposite had also been very confident, but gradually his face became panicked. Jier felt that these Hunters all had some strength in their arms, but their explosive power was amazing, while their endurance was not very good. As long as he steadied his arm when exerting force at the very beginning and didn't suffer too much, he could stabilize the victory by comparing endurance and stamina with his opponent afterward.

Sure enough, as Jier had expected, apart from the Hunter slightly pressing Jier's side at the very beginning, he was slowly pressed back by Jier bit by bit afterward.

It was just that Jier didn't want him to lose too ugly, so he pressed back bit by bit but irreversibly.

Bang!

Under the final absolute suppression of strength, this Hunter also failed.

Quickly, the other two young Hunters immediately took the stage. Jier suggested changing hands for the competition, and everyone agreed without objection.

Jier switched to his left hand; the strength in this arm was actually even greater than his right arm, as it was the arm that held the Shield to block attacks, not only having to hold the Shield for a long time but also having to absorb and mitigate the force of strikes against the Shield.

Therefore, Jier's left arm was even more powerful than his right arm.

However, the Hunters were unaware of this.

The remaining two young Hunters were quickly defeated, which made everyone surprised at Jier's strength. Jier looked at the old Hunter and suggested: "Tuosite, aren't you going to come and compete?"

"Forget it, forget it, I'm old, I can't compete with you young fellows." The old Hunter still wanted to decline, but everyone knew that these experienced old Hunters were not inferior to young Hunters when it came to drawing bows and nocking arrows. Especially in complex combat situations, their shooting accuracy was far superior to that of the young people.

The young Hunters egged Tuosite on to try, and he declined for a moment, but still sat down with great interest.

Jier let his right arm fight again, his palm meeting the old Hunter's aged palm, and then gripped it tightly. Jier could feel that the old Hunter's palm was thin and withered but very powerful.

It was simply too powerful!

After the start, Jier's palm was almost pressed down. He had to use his true strength, exerting all his power to avoid being defeated by Tuosite's powerful exertion.

The muscles of Jier's entire right arm bulged, and the Divine Power in his chest radiated in wisps, relieving the fatigue of his right arm and giving him new strength. Soon, Jier reversed the losing situation; he smiled reluctantly and then carefully controlled his arm.

The old Hunter opposite had a helpless face, and as Jier's strength increased and his own arm became sore and weak, the competition immediately ended with Jier's victory.

They had thought the old man might have a chance to beat Jier, and the four young Hunters around were jumping and cheering. But before a blink of an eye, in the time it took to snap one's fingers, Jier had pressed Tuosite down and won.

"Hey, old man, was that all you had?"

"You made us happy for nothing; it seems only the Knight can beat Jier."

"No way, that was a letdown."

The old hunter Tuosite huffed and puffed, and after letting go of his palm, he immediately stated that he actually had great endurance, it was just that it wasn't easy to display it to men.

The hunters jeered and teased him, and the old hunter boasted about how popular he was with the girls when he was young, relying on his superb archery skills to hunt many fat and delicious prey and win the hearts of many girls.

Seeing that everyone was listening to the old hunter's past stories, Jier sat a bit further away and tinkered with his newly bought iron spear tip and long wooden spear shaft.

He fitted the iron spear tip onto the wooden shaft, then inserted a thin iron nail through the hole at the tail of the spear tip, used a hard Shitou to hammer the thin iron nail in, and then bent the two ends of the excess iron nail to secure it.

Holding the new short spear in his hand, because the spear tip was not heavy and the wooden shaft was also very light, it felt quite nimble in his hand. Jier tried thrusting it a few times, *whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh*, his movements were lightning fast, the spear tip reflecting the firelight and leaving several continuous trails of light in the air.

After finishing the two weapons, Jier carried them back to the room and leaned them against the wall.

Returning to the first floor, the old hunter and the young hunters began to sing, everyone keeping time and stomping their feet.

The lyrics praised the courage of hunters, as well as challenging the unknown wilderness and defeating a ferocious beast.

"Physique agile, like a hunting leopard. Movements light, like a Spirit cat. Drawing the bow and shooting the arrow, strength concentrated. Passing through leaves and threading needles, hitting the mark every time."

"Crossing rivers and traversing forests, climbing mountains and passing walls. One against ten, extraordinary courage. Traveling alone, passing the night moon until dawn. The spirit of heaven and earth, hidden in the heart."

"Vast wilderness, hundreds of beasts and ten thousand birds. Mountain after mountain, river after river. Vast Forest, never before trodden. Dark corners, evil Spirit hidden."

"Lake water churning, big fish hiding. Careful behind the trees, Monster lurking. New soil unknown, old folks come to explore. With my arrow, I open up the light."

"Flesh and blood devoured, relatives weeping in grief. Lover's life lost, all because of evil madness. Attacking villages in the east, attacking roadsides in the west. Everyone calls out together, I come rushing."

"One arrow released, I want it blinded. Trap set down, tear its legs and crotch. Heart-piercing arrow blocks, spine-breaking arrow hides. It opens its big mouth, I want it to die."

Jier wanted to laugh listening to it; the lyrics were all praise for the hunters. Was it really that exaggerated? It was as if the things in everyone else's hands were just for show.

However, the hunters were singing with great enthusiasm, pulling Jier along to dance around the warm fireplace. Everyone was just doing that kind of rustic country dance, jumping and thumping, then clapping their hands and cheering in unison.

After making a ruckus for a while, once they were all tired, they returned to their respective rooms to rest one by one.

The next morning, Jier ate breakfast made by Tuosite with everyone. Since the supplies were commissioned by the Knight to the Government Office, the portions were very generous, and Jier was even a bit stuffed.

Jier had originally intended to practice martial arts in the backyard, but the old hunter said he wanted to teach him how to use a bow and arrow, so Jier had to put aside his training plans and practice archery properly with the old hunter.

Jier asked a young hunter to feed the horses, then followed him to the backyard.

The backyard was just as the old hunter had described yesterday, mainly a place for practicing archery. Early on, there were young hunters here shooting to maintain their respective archery levels.

Tuosite got Jier a Training Bow and arrow, and it wasn't beginner gear; after all, they had already seen Jier's strength yesterday, so he could also pull the bows they usually practiced with.

The training bow was a sturdy wooden bow, one meter wide and tall, different from the Compound Bows the hunters used when in action. The wood used for this bow was heavy and harder to pull, and although it lacked elasticity, it was good for practicing the basics of archery.

The Arrow was a Soft-tipped Arrow for practice, with a piece of cork embedded in the front of the resilient shaft. After hitting something, it wouldn't pierce anything, only making a loud impact sound, making it easy for the archer to judge whether they had hit the target.

The backyard was twenty large paces long, and the other end of the yard reached the outer wall of Kendall City. Standing here, one could see the guards patrolling on the outer wall.

The guards wouldn't curiously watch the hunters shoot, nor would they worry about the hunters hitting them; after all, there was a big difference between aiming at a target on the ground and a moving target on the city wall. Unless they were deliberately looking for trouble, they wouldn't hit the patrolling guards who only appeared after a long while.

Following Tuosite's instructions, Jier corrected some of his previous movements. After standing straight, he gripped the bow arm with his right hand and pinched the tail of an Arrow with his left hand.

He had originally pinched the feathers at the tail of the Arrow because of nervousness, and was immediately tapped by the old hunter with a thin wooden rod. Jier was wearing a pair of leather Glove for practice, so it didn't hurt, but he just smiled awkwardly at the old hunter.

"Alright, stop grinning. Remember, no matter the situation, you must never mess up the feathers on the arrow shaft; this will greatly affect shooting accuracy."

"You must know, when an Arrow flies in the air, it relies on them to maintain the stability of the Arrow. Only with stability can you know where your arrow has landed."

"Now, you shoot randomly first, let me see where your level is."

After the old hunter finished speaking, he stepped back and waved for Jier to perform.

Jier looked at the way the young hunter next to him shot and his movements, simply imitating the other person's style. First, his left hand pinched an Arrow from the quiver at his waist, then his right hand, which was gripping the bow arm, extended its thumb, and his left hand placed the Arrow on his right thumb.

Immediately after, Jier took a deep breath, his right hand raised the bow and arrow, and then both hands exerted force together. His right arm pushed forward, and his left hand's fingers pulled the Bowstring backward. Jier aimed slightly, then his left hand released.

*Whoosh. *

*Clack! *

Two sounds came one after another, the Bowstring vibrated rapidly, then gradually became still.

Opposite the twenty-pace-long backyard stood some thick wooden boards in the shape of animals, as well as some simple large wooden models in the shape of ferocious beasts.

Because he was a beginner, Jier aimed and shot at a thick wooden board.

The thick wooden board was made into the shape of a tall Wooden Deer Model. Jier's arrow just now was not bad; it could be considered hitting the target. The front of the arrow shaft struck the hoof area of the deer board, and after making a loud *clack* sound, it fell to the ground.

"Not bad, you hit the target on the first shot. Come again, Jier, you have great strength, try to shoot the entire quiver of arrows." The old hunter said, crossing his arms.

The young hunters nearby stopped and watched Jier shoot with laughter.

Jier was a bit excited and immediately drew the next arrow. Just as he was about to continue, he was reminded by the old hunter: "Breathe!"

Jier leveled his breathing, ensuring his chest and arms maintained a controllable balance.

Pinch the arrow, nock the arrow, raise, pull, aim, release.

Jier ran the whole set of movements through his mind, then completed them in order.

"Very good, you are a beginner, you must ensure that under any circumstances, you ensure the integrity of the entire set of movements, nothing can be missing. Kesiluo, show Jier once, the shooting speed after becoming proficient."

"Alright, watch me, Jier." The young hunter Kesiluo stood right next to Jier, nocked an arrow and shot, *whoosh*.

Without even looking, the arrow went out, directly hitting the eye of a wooden Wild Wolf model, making a *snap* sound.

"That's amazing!" Jier praised.

Hearing Jier's praise, the others all laughed: "Jier, this is just the basics. After practicing for a while, anyone with a bit of talent can reach this level. If you make Kesiluo run back and forth around Kendall Street, see if he can still hit the wooden model; he probably wouldn't even be able to hit the target with his arrows."

Jier thought that was true too. A fixed target couldn't prove anything; the difficulty was shooting a moving target. After all, an enemy wouldn't stand still in place, especially ferocious beasts. From the moment you discover them until they pounce, it basically takes less than three or four breaths.

What's even harder is that the shooter is also moving while having to shoot another moving target. Jier estimated that this was the technique a real hunter should master.

Subsequently, under the guidance of the old hunter Tuosite, Jier shot arrows over and over again, aiming to hit the target with every arrow while ensuring the flow of movements.

Missing the target was fine, as long as it wasn't too far off.

For Jier, who spent his days wielding heavy weapons, this actually wasn't very difficult. The hardest part was how to master the bow and arrow in his hands and simulate the trajectory of this bow.