The Vast Universe.
Infinite and unscalable. Even if there was an end to it, no one had managed to reach it.
It was too vast and filled with countless strange things. Flowing astral rivers, strange creatures, dangerous realms, spatial storms and legends forgotten in the river of time.
Even the highest existences among immortals didn't dare to tread all of its treacherous lands.
Their movement was restricted to the nine spherical nebulas that were composed of countless planets and star systems interwoven together.
Although the nebulas seemed to stack on top of each other, their coordinates concerning each other were convoluted.
But if one went at the centre of the nebulas, they would be greeted with a scene of dust and rubble.
Ten huge landmasses covered in an aura of death and decay floated among the dust and rubble.
If one could look past the dark haze that surrounded them, one would notice that the ten landmasses seemed to be part of a big sphere.
Each of the landmasses was separated from each other and had its uniqueness.
One such landmass was filled with towering mountain ranges that were visible even from space. It was known as the Desolate Mountain world.
In one of the remote corners of this world, there existed a small country called the Brightmoon country. Its capital was Azure Spring city.
The night sky shrouded it in a blanket of stars.
The forest surrounding it was covered in thickets of azure magnolia flowers. Under the moonlight, all of them shone with an azure hue and bathed the city in a mysterious light.
It was four in the morning. Dawn was getting close.
Standing beside his father, Tianlong was marvelling at the beauty of mother nature.
The air was fresh and filled with the fragrance of flowers.
The slightly chilly wind drove all traces of sleepiness from his body.
"Show me how much you've learnt till now." Amidst the silence of the forest, his father's voice was exceptionally clear.
Taking a deep breath, he moved attention away from the forest. He had come here to hone his archery, not appreciate nature.
Picking up the bow, he nocked an arrow on it. Drawing it in the shape of a full moon. His gaze completely focused on the marks which were hundreds of metres away from him.
Swoosh!shoowh!swoosh!
He shot nine times consecutively.
Each of the arrows whistled through the air and embedded themselves in the trunks.
Except for the targets which were more than a thousand metres away, all the others had their centres pierced by the arrows.
Yun Dingxing nodded silently in praise. However, he didn't show any of it on his face. Looking at his son, he asked "What are the most important things necessary to become a successful archer?"
"Vision, flexibility, strength, speed, and accuracy." He answered in an unhesitating tone.
As if already expecting this kind of answer, he smiled. "Those are just physical aspects of it. You can get them more or less with self-practice. What really differentiates a good archer from an expert archer is a steady and calm mind."
He continued, "Sometimes, your enemy will sense that you are targeting him, this will cause you to miss. Many times, you won't be able to kill your enemy in a single shot. You'll meet their retaliation. In all such cases, you'll need to keep calm and assess the situation. Depending on it, you'll need to figure whether to advance or retreat."
Tianlong listened to everything his father said while silently noting the key points.
"Till now, you have practised your archery on still objects. While this has trained your physical aspects quite a bit, it's still far from being actually useful. In real life, you'll seldom find a target who is completely stationary."
While saying this, he reached out for a nearby stone slab which he casually tapped. It shattered into ten circular tablets.
With a slight throw of his arms, he launched them in the air. Due to his immense power, the projectiles made booming noises while travelling far off into the distance.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Even if they were thousands of metres away, Tianlong's excellent eyesight allowed him to clearly see the nine arrows embedding themselves on the centre of the slabs.
Seeing the level of skill, his eyes blazed with excitement.
Yet, he knew that it was just a casual display of power. As for what level his father was in, he couldn't even imagine.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The last remaining slab was also tossed in the air. After the first arrow pierced it, the second one split the first one and lodged itself in the centre. The next one followed suit.
Yun Dingxing's face was expressionless while presented this excellent display. To him, it was child's play.
Yet as he looked at the worshipping gaze of his son, he couldn't help but think that he should've shown off a bit more.
"Ahem!" He dryly coughed. "From today onwards I'll direct you in your archery for at least ninety minutes every day. By the end when you reach a level even thirty per cent similar to this, we would move to live targets."
"Dad, is there a chance that I'll be able to take exact shots like that by the end if I practice hard?" His voice was full of yearning.
"Chances are slim."
He was taken aback by the reply. "Uh, why?"
"Firstly, the motor skills and precision necessary for the feat can't be developed in just a few years. Secondly, since I wasn't able to do that while I was your age, you also won't be able to."
Tianlong nodded his head after the first explanation. However, after hearing the next line, his eyes twitched.
Not noticing the expressions of Tianlong, he continued "Till now, you have focused only using your dominant eye. From now on, you'll make use of both of your eyes."
"We rocs have better vision at day than during the night. Thus, it can be said to be one of our weaknesses. You'll practice archery in the dark at least twice every week."
Yun Dingxing silently chanted something and in the next instant, the bow in his hands became bigger and heavier.
"Your previous bow was too light and lacked power. From now on, you will use this one."
Tianlong felt a little uncomfortable while handling the bow. He wasn't used to a bow being so heavy.
He tried to shoot the previous targets to get used to this weight. Unsurprisingly, besides a few arrows, all the others missed their mark.
After ninety minutes of training, he was already covered in sweat. His thumbs were sore, arms covered in bruises and scratches.
Looking at his son's worn-out appearance, there was a warm smile on Yun Dingxing' face.
It reminded him of his own childhood when he was also a novice at archery.
"Here take this." He took out a bottle of pills from his sleeve and threw it towards Tianlong.
Opening the bottle, he saw that there were quite a few pills inside of it. He immediately recognised them.
"First revolution spirit refreshment pills. Consuming one of them would instantly relieve all fatigue. However, they are not healing pills and your body needs actual sleep to recover."
"Hm." Yun Dingxing nodded. "Remember, you must never consume too many pills of the same kind. Otherwise, the body will develop immunity towards it. This is especially the case for healing pills."
"After two weeks, your body will get used to this level of fatigue. You'll stop using these pills from then onwards."
While listening to his father's words, he consumed one of the pills and sat down to meditate. Within just a few minutes, he felt rejuvenated and all of his fatigue was gone.
"Are you ready?"
"Un."
"Ok, now we'll start your physical training."
Saying this, he retrieved a box from his interspatial ring and gave it to his son.
These rings had a separate space within themselves that could be used as storage. Unless the object was too heavy, it ignored the mass of the object and only cared about the volume.
Inside the box contained a pair of arm, leg, and thigh guards along with a chainmail vest and a few hoops. All of them were glistened with a violet gold lustre and were heavier than they looked.
"Obsidian gold?" Tianlong murmured.
"Correct! Looks like you've been quite meticulous in your studies. Most people mistake this for violet gold at first glance. It's the weight that gave it out, right?"
Tianlong nodded his head in agreement.
Obsidian gold was a very special metal that can absorb spiritual energy. Initially, it has a violet-gold lustre. In this stage, it's just slightly heavy. As it absorbs more and more spiritual energy, its colour changes to black and it becomes exceptionally heavy. In the entire process, its volume remains the same.
While Tianlong was putting on the equipment, Yun Dingxing was lecturing him.
He said, "There are many different methods to refine the body. Wearing heavy armaments to train is one of them. Although it's not very useful for later stages, it can be considered one of the best methods for beginners. So from today onwards, you'll always wear these under your clothes."
The benefit of wearing this would be immense.
Being always under the weight of the gold, his body would consider it as the natural weight and his development will be accordingly. It would be under constant training.
After covering himself up with the equipment, he started to train under his father's guidance.
The regiment included strength training, endurance training and various forms of martial arts.
Due to added weight, he quickly found himself gasping for breath. However, this only ignited his spirit and forced him to work even harder.