Free Web NovelChapter 222: Chapter 194: Extreme Sincerity Connects to the Divine, Crafting the Bow Blank
[Step 1: Contextual Analysis]
Literary genre: This appears to be a Chinese martial arts/cultivation web novel (xianxia/wuxia)
Language style: Formal narrative with dialogue, technical descriptions of martial arts techniques and craftsmanship
Tone: Serious, sometimes excited when describing achievements or breakthroughs
Plot keywords: martial arts, archery, bow crafting, realm breakthrough, military conflict, cultivation
Characters:
- Wu Liangchen (武良辰): Male protagonist, recently advanced to Minor Fourth Realm, has extraordinary archery skills
- Pang Hao (庞豪): Male, seems to be a leader figure, referred to as Senior Brother Pang
- Chen Bamei (陈八妹): Female, appears to be close to Wu Liangchen, provided him with materials for bow-making
- Various unnamed martial artists in Dinghai City
[Step 2: Integrated Translation and Polishing]
Let me translate the text according to the glossary and guidelines:
The passage has two main scenes:
1. A meeting of martial artists in Dinghai City discussing a potential threat from a Fourth Realm Grandmaster
2. Wu Liangchen practicing his newly advanced archery skills and preparing to craft a specialized bow
I notice many technical terms related to martial arts realms, bow crafting, and special abilities that need careful translation. I’ll make sure to follow the glossary strictly.
Let me begin the translation:
First section about the martial artists meeting and discussing strategy against the Fourth Realm Grandmaster and potentially recruiting more help.
Second section focuses on Wu Liangchen testing his newly advanced archery skills, experiencing some supernatural abilities typically only seen in higher cultivation realms, and beginning the process of crafting a specialized bow with materials given by Chen Bamei.
Let me complete the full translation now...
[Step 3: Final Sanitization and Logic Pass]
I’ve reviewed the translation and ensured all glossary terms are correctly used. I’ve translated all Chinese characters and maintained the structure with appropriate paragraph breaks.
I’ve polished the text to sound natural in English while preserving the meaning and tone of the original. I’ve also made sure any meta-references (like character counts or word counts) are logically consistent in the English translation.
Here’s my final translation:
These words caused everyone present to change their expressions, their previous joy completely vanishing.
Indeed.
If this Fourth Realm Grandmaster came to Dinghai City, how should they respond?
They couldn’t just rely on Wu Liangchen to charge ahead at the front lines again.
Although Master Wu’s strength was astonishing, he was currently only at the Minor Fourth Realm, with the most difficult threshold to the Fourth Realm Grandmaster yet to be broken through.
If he were to face a Fourth Realm Grandmaster at this point, the consequences... would be unpredictable.
"Senior Brother Pang, what do you suggest we do?"
"Yes, Senior Brother Pang, stop keeping us in suspense and tell us what to do!"
Amid the clamor, Pang Hao waved his hand and said solemnly, "Everyone, at our most difficult time, we had fewer than fifty people facing a fully armed army of ten thousand, yet we still endured."
"Now that the situation has changed and Cyan Cloud Mountain’s morale has collapsed, we naturally cannot miss this opportunity."
"Of course, just thirty or so of us cannot create much of a stir, but don’t forget we still have friends from our sects. They left before because they saw no hope, but now the situation has changed—it’s time to call them back to contribute to Dinghai City."
Everyone’s eyes lit up.
That’s right!
The departure of many Martial Artists earlier wasn’t entirely out of self-interest—it was because they couldn’t see any hope.
After all, the enemy had an army of ten thousand, with many Third Realm Martial Artists in command, and even a Fourth Realm Grandmaster at the top.
Such a lineup made it hard not to despair.
That’s why so many chose to leave.
But times had changed, and now with the situation improving, it was time to call these people back.
"Good, I’ll go send messages right away!"
"Me too, I have several senior brothers in a mountain village just a hundred miles from here."
People called out one after another, abandoning their drinks to take action immediately.
While these local Martial Artists began gathering their friends, Wu Liangchen was in an abandoned estate studying his newly advanced archery skills.
WHOOSH!
An arrow cut through the night, piercing a small white clay ball that swung from a rope, sending up a spray of dust.
A hundred meters away, Wu Liangchen lowered the ordinary composite bow in his hand, a hint of joy appearing on his face.
This bow was just something he had scavenged, crudely made, yet even so, he could achieve such precision.
This was still limited by the power of the composite bow. With a slightly better bow, he could easily hit targets two hundred meters away without difficulty.
Moreover, Wu Liangchen felt this was merely the tip of the iceberg.
The terrifying power of mastery-level archery far exceeded this.
For instance, right now, when Wu Liangchen raised his bow to aim, thin lines appeared in his vision.
These lines were actually trajectories.
With these lines, Wu Liangchen could easily achieve precision that others could hardly imagine.
Like now, hitting a clay ball only five or six centimeters in diameter from a hundred meters away.
To others, they might not even be able to see the target.
In fact, Wu Liangchen couldn’t clearly see the target either, given it was night and the distance was so great, but with the help of these trajectory lines, he naturally achieved it.
Besides this, his stability had reached a new level. When raising the bow to aim, his body’s trembling had become so minute it was negligible.
It could be said that after advancing to mastery, Wu Liangchen’s archery had partially transcended the realm of mere technique, reaching a state approaching the Dao.
But what excited Wu Liangchen most wasn’t this, but rather the feeling he experienced when shooting that arrow.
At that time, despite being separated by over five hundred meters and numerous obstacles, Wu Liangchen had somehow miraculously seen the scene at the target.
His control over his body had also reached an inconceivable level.
Even at the moment of releasing the bowstring, Wu Liangchen forcibly controlled his heartbeat to pause for half a beat.
This was because when the heart beats, blood surges, causing minute muscle movements that would shift the trajectory.
After several attempts, Wu Liangchen could finally roughly master this feeling.
Although he couldn’t immediately enter this state, and the sensation wasn’t as strong as the first time, it was sufficient.
Wu Liangchen felt this must be a phenomenon that emerged when martial arts reached a certain level, where the spirit also grew powerful as a result.
Wu Liangchen didn’t know that if other members of established sects or martial arts families were present, they would have cried out in shock.
Because this new feeling he was experiencing was actually a supernatural ability that typically only appeared after reaching the advanced stage of the Fourth Realm.
It was also known as "Ultimate Sincerity Communicates with Divinity."
It referred to the ability of high-level Martial Artists, whose spirits had been refined to a certain degree, to perceive various supernatural phenomena and accomplish things ordinary people could not.
They could even foresee danger and avoid it.
This was why those who reached the advanced stage of the Fourth Realm were also called "Terrestrial Immortals."
Because at this level, ordinary methods could no longer harm them.
Even if you surrounded them with a large army, they could avoid it in advance with this ability.
How could you possibly deal with that?
But there had never been anyone known to possess this ability before reaching the Grandmaster Realm.
Not a single person.
Wu Liangchen, of course, didn’t know any of this. After familiarizing himself with his archery, he began preparing to craft a longbow.
In fact, once archery reached a certain level, one would typically craft a specialized bow according to one’s own characteristics.
Only then could one’s archery skills be pushed to the extreme.
The bow used by Chen Bamei was exactly like this.
Moreover, it was best to craft it personally, as only then could one achieve perfect harmony between person and bow.
Although with Wu Liangchen’s current archery skills, he could achieve effective kills even with an ordinary bow, it would still be better to have a bow specially made for him.
But while it sounded simple, the actual process was extremely difficult.
First was the difficulty in obtaining materials.
For crafting the bow body, the best materials were slow-growing, hard, straight trees.
Like purple sandalwood!
Setting aside how rare such trees were, just selecting the material was a science in itself.
First, you had to choose a section with sufficient trunk diameter, without side branches or scars. After cutting it down, it needed to be suspended in a well-ventilated place for at least three years.
This was to eliminate internal forces and drain away any remaining life energy.
Then came the crucial part: wedges had to be driven along the grain of the wood, splitting it naturally.
One must never use a saw, as this would destroy the wood’s fiber structure, resulting in an imperfect arrow path.
After this laborious process, you would only have the basic material, and selection was still needed.
There was a saying for selecting bow material: "Near bark for the upper, near pith for the lower."
This meant that the layer close to the bark was of the highest quality.
Additionally, within this layer there were differences—the northern side was superior, the southern inferior.
This was because tree crowns tend to develop toward the south, so the wood on the northern side was under tension, while the southern side was compressed.
Compressed wood would cause uneven force distribution, leading to awkward power release. Though the difference was minute, in a duel between masters, this tiny difference could determine life or death.
It was said that wood near the bark was tough and yang, while inner wood was yin.
Wood near the root was heavy, while wood near the tip was light and agile.
None of these factors could be mixed up.
Just hearing these principles made it clear how rare a good piece of material was.
Fortunately, Chen Bamei had an excellent piece of material she had treasured for a long time, which she now gave to Wu Liangchen.
He took out this supremely flexible material with its oily luster, examined it carefully for a while, and then began the crafting process.
