Chapter 114: Blood-Activating Trait

As soon as Lu Yu stepped into the off-road vehicle, a thick, pungent smell of blood rushed toward his face.

Three corpses were sprawled inside the vehicle, all with their eyes wide open, their faces still bearing the expressions of painful struggle from before they died.

Fresh blood slowly seeped from their wounds, flowing along the vehicle body and pooling into a shocking puddle of blood beneath the chassis.

"Looks like this car is a write-off." Lu Yu shook his head helplessly.

He felt no pity for these people. After all, if he hadn't intervened, the people of Chenjiazhai would have been slaughtered tonight.

He slung his bow onto his back and leaned over to strip the firearms from the dead, grabbing two rifles, one pistol, and several magazines full of ammunition.

Lu Yu carefully felt around, found the magazine release, removed the magazines, and put them into his backpack.

At this moment, the roars of Fierce Beasts in the surroundings grew louder and closer.

Lu Yu dared not search the bodies thoroughly; besides, these people had ill intentions, so they likely didn't have much wealth on them, and even if he missed something, he would just have to let it go.

He quickly ran to the other corpses outside the vehicle, stripped off two submachine guns and one light machine gun, took the magazines, grabbed their backpacks as well, and turned to run.

"Roar!"

Several beast roars erupted behind him instantly.

Before long, countless black shadows lunged at the corpses on the ground like starving wolves, followed by hair-raising chewing sounds.

Lu Yu sprinted wildly, reaching the Zhai entrance in less than half a minute. Lu Guohao had been waiting there, and seeing this, he hurriedly opened the Zhai gate.

Lu Yu flashed inside the Zhai.

"Xiao Yu, are you alright?" Lu Guohao hurried forward and asked anxiously.

Lu Yu gave him an 'OK' gesture and said with a smile, "Dad, what could happen to me? Look at this."

As he spoke, he handed the backpack full of firearms to Lu Guohao.

"This is!"

Lu Guohao widened his eyes, his mouth hanging open so wide it could almost fit an egg.

Guns!

So many guns!

Immediately after, he couldn't help but shiver, feeling as if his whole body had fallen into an ice cellar. Submachine guns, machine guns, rifles—if these people had charged into the Zhai, he didn't know how many fellow villagers would have been killed or injured.

Only a Martial Artist like Lu Yu had the ability to contend with thermal weapons; ordinary people like them would only be at the mercy of others when facing them.

"Dad, don't worry. If nothing goes wrong, this matter ends here." Lu Yu comforted him softly, "And this time we can be considered to have gained from a disaster, obtaining so many firearms out of thin air. From now on, whether we go out hunting or exchange supplies elsewhere, no one will dare to provoke us easily."

"That is true." Lu Guohao nodded earnestly.

With these guns, even if they encountered people from Li Family Fort, the other side would have to be wary.

"Xiao Yu, since the matter is resolved, we should prepare to go out hunting." Lu Guohao said with a worried look, "Once winter arrives, the number of Low-level Fierce Beasts will decrease significantly, so we probably have to go further away to hunt; it's best to prepare in advance."

"Mm." Lu Yu replied.

Even if his father hadn't said it, he was planning to go hunting anyway. The Cultivation Methods he had collected recently were increasing, but his Experience Value was becoming insufficient.

Speaking of Experience Value, those few people just now had contributed quite a bit, nearly 300 points, plus the 460 points remaining from before, bringing the total to 760 points.

Lu Yu planned to practice his movement technique after returning, and once the completion conditions were met, he would practice his Arrow Technique to max out the level of 【Phantom Arrow Technique】, then decide whether to add points to Taiji Fist or the Water-Pointing Swimming Dragon Skill based on the situation.

Returning to the Warehouse, Wang Liang wasn't surprised to see Lu Yu like this.

With a Five Hundred Catty Draw Weight Bow and Lu Yu's superb archery skills that never missed, even if the opponents held heavy weapons, they would be wiped out if Lu Yu plotted against them in secret.

"What do you plan to practice tonight? Marksmanship?" Wang Liang asked.

Lu Yu shook his head with a smile and said, "I'll practice marksmanship in a day or two; tonight I want to practice my Arrow Technique."

After these two battles, the proficiency of his Basic Archery had reached over 80%, and with just a little more practice, it could be raised to lv9.

He had a strong premonition that he might unlock a new trait after leveling up.

"Good." Wang Liang nodded; since that was the case, he could go and instruct the others.

The area of Chenjiazhai was limited, so Lu Yu found five or six wooden stakes and placed them in a row from front to back, which could effectively consume the kinetic energy of the arrows.

He ran to a spot more than two hundred meters away; even without a torch for illumination, he could barely make out the bullseye.

Lu Yu took out an arrow and slowly drew the bowstring. With over 80 points of strength, it was truly a bit strenuous to fully draw this Five Hundred Catty Draw Weight Bow, which was why he had always used that two-hundred-catty bow before.

After about two seconds, he finally pulled the bowstring to its full extent and then suddenly released his fingers.

With a crisp "Pa" sound, the arrow shot out like a phantom, "Whoosh"—it pierced through five or six wooden stakes, passed through the Earth Wall, and flew off to who knows where.

"My arrow..." Lu Yu felt a pang of heartache, not knowing if he could find it after dawn tomorrow; even if it was difficult, he had to look for it.

After all, this was an arrow specifically for the five-hundred-catty bow, and it wasn't cheap.

"This target range is still too short." He sighed helplessly. However, after this one shot, the proficiency of his Basic Archery had increased quite a bit, growing by nearly 2% all at once.

Just by shooting an ordinary arrow, he gained so much proficiency; if he were to use Rapid Shot for a few arrows, he couldn't even imagine the increase in proficiency.

Thus, he went to find more wood, lining them up behind, the quantity being about two or three times the previous amount, before running back to the distance, aiming, and firing an arrow.

Another loud "Explode" sound rang out; the arrow was like a hot knife through butter, piercing through more than twenty pieces of wood in succession before finally pinning itself deep into the wall.

Only then did Lu Yu heave a sigh of relief, worried that the Earth Wall wouldn't be able to withstand it, so he went to find some more wood to set up there.

He secretly lamented in his heart that it would be better to practice archery during the day in the future.

This was only a five-hundred-catty bow; if he were to switch to a one-thousand or two-thousand-catty bow in the future, perhaps even the city walls of Zhou Family Fort wouldn't be able to withstand a single arrow.

After firing a few more arrows in succession, Lu Yu felt a faint warm current rise within his body, and a strange sensation welled up in his heart.

"It's a new trait!" He was overjoyed and hurriedly looked at the Skill bar.

【Basic Archery: lv9, Traits: Body Strengthening lv9, Arm Strength Mastery lv9, Steady Shot lv9, Continuous Shot lv7, Rapid Shot lv4, Volley lv1】

【Volley: For every level the skill increases, you can shoot multiple arrows at a single or multiple targets simultaneously; current number of arrows that can be shot simultaneously: 2】

"It's actually this powerful?" Lu Yu couldn't quite believe it.

According to the skill description, he could choose to shoot two arrows at the same target, or shoot one arrow at each of two different targets.

And it looked like this was just the beginning; as the skill level continued to rise, perhaps he would be able to shoot three, four, or even more than ten arrows at once!

This is simply a Divine Skill for group attacks!

If this characteristic had been unlocked just now, the speed of resolving the enemies could have been at least twice as fast.

"Fortunately, it is not too late now." Lu Yu took a deep breath; this time he took two arrows directly from the Arrow Quiver and nocked them on the string.

He clearly felt it was much more strenuous than before.

Fortunately, he still managed to pull the bowstring to full draw in the end, and accompanied by an explosive sound, the two arrows shot out simultaneously, passed through more than a dozen or twenty pieces of wood, and finally nailed firmly into the Earth Wall.

Lu Yu looked at the Skill bar; the proficiency had increased by nearly 3% all at once!

He could not help but sigh, this speed of improvement was just too fast.

Lu Yu had a sudden inspiration; this time he took three arrows from the Arrow Quiver and nocked them on the string, used a great deal of effort to pull the bowstring to full draw, and then released his fingers with full anticipation.

However, a terrible thing happened. Unlike the previous two arrows which shot out almost simultaneously, this time the directions of the three arrows deviated.

Only one arrow shot straight ahead, while the other two—one plunged deep into the ground, and the other flew toward the night sky, disappearing without a trace.

"It seems the proficiency is still not enough." Lu Yu shook his head helplessly; he felt that this arrow flying toward the night sky would probably not be found again.

He took a glance at the proficiency of 【Basic Archery】; the increase this time was not as much as the last time.

At the same time, his right arm was incomparably sore.

"It seems I still have to take it step by step." Lu Yu shook his head with a wry smile.

After resting for a moment, he took out two arrows and nocked them on the string, pulled it to full draw, and shot them out; this cycle repeated, and each time it took about three seconds.

And the proficiency of Basic Archery was also steadily increasing at a fairly fast speed.

7.8%, 10.6%, 12.5%...

Even when the level of Basic Archery was lower, the speed of proficiency improvement could not compare to this time.

"Sure enough, the greater the strength, the faster the improvement." Lu Yu felt moved in his heart, which made him even more determined to continuously improve his various attributes.

However, pulling a Five Hundred Catty Draw Weight Bow to full draw, especially when nocking two arrows at the same time, consumed a lot of physical strength.

Therefore, every two or three minutes, he had to stop and rest for a while. Fortunately, the Blood Circulation characteristic played an important role, greatly shortening the rest time, saving about half.

About twenty minutes later, Basic Archery leveled up again.

【Basic Archery: lv10, characteristics: Body Strengthening lv10, Arm Strength Mastery lv10, Steady Shot lv10, Continuous Shot lv8, Rapid Shot lv5, Volley lv2】

"This time I can shoot three arrows at once." A smile of impatience appeared on Lu Yu's face; he took three arrows from the Arrow Quiver at once and nocked them on the string.

He released his hand abruptly.

Only a loud sound like an Explosion was heard.

Three arrows shot out simultaneously, passed through the wooden stakes, and nailed firmly onto the Earth Wall.

To describe it in two words, that would be "perfect."

Lu Yu smiled knowingly; he felt that with his current strength, even if he wanted to try with four arrows, he was afraid it would be very difficult to pull the bowstring open.

Three arrows seemed to have already approached his current limit.

He looked at the Skill bar; the proficiency of 【Basic Archery】 had increased by a little over 3%, which in his view, this magnitude of improvement was already quite high.

If he had shot a single arrow, the increased proficiency would definitely be less than 1%, most likely only a little over 0.5%.

But obviously, shooting three arrows simultaneously consumed more physical strength, and the time to pull the bowstring open also increased by about double; it took an average of three or four seconds to complete one shot, and he had to rest for a few seconds afterward.

Time passed minute by minute, and almost an hour had gone by, during which Lu Yu spent most of the time resting.

Accompanied by an extremely faint warm current rising, Lu Yu knew that 【Basic Archery】 had leveled up again.

【Basic Archery: lv11, characteristics: Body Strengthening lv11, Arm Strength Mastery lv11, Steady Shot lv11, Continuous Shot lv9, Rapid Shot lv6, Volley lv3】

The level 11 Basic Archery had already become the undisputed leader among all his current basic Skills.

Lu Yu's gaze swept over each characteristic and finally landed on "Volley."

Now, he could theoretically shoot four arrows at once.

Of course, the premise was that his strength had to keep up.

However, if he only fired three arrows at once, the speed should be much faster than the last time.

"Continue, but before that, let's do an experiment first." Lu Yu's gaze was fixed tightly on 【Phantom Arrow Technique】 in the Skill bar.