Lin Feng
Lin Feng fires three arrows in succession towards one of the two third major realm cultivators the moment they intercept his trade caravan and release their killing intent. Since their intention is plain obvious, he went for straight for the kill. Grossly misestimating the speed of his arrows, the target fails to dodge his first arrow in time. The first arrow has been enchanted to destabilize a cultivator's spirit shield and stun them momentarily. That gave the second enchanted arrow the brief moment it needs to pierce the target's heart and by the third arrow that follows a moment later, his target is dead. No cultivator below the forth major realm can survive an enchanted arrow piercing right through their head, not even immortal bone cultivators fame for their resilience.
Lin Feng's target is dead in less than a minute. The entire process sounds easy but this is all thanks to his new spirit compound bow. The pulley innovation and the science behind it enables a significant leap in arrow speed and strength never seen before in the cultivation world. Another important factor is the fact his bow is a customized dwarven masterwork.
In the cultivation world, there aren't any existences right now that can beat Earth cultivators when it comes to mass-produced superior goods. However, it is an entirely different story when it comes to unique masterpiece. Throughout history, none have ever come close to matching the dwarves' ability when it comes to the creation of customized works.
Compound bow is one of Earth's novel technologies that the sect has bartered to the Dwarven Federation for better trade terms. All the technologies bartered away share a few commonalities. All technologies are items that has been improved using Earth unique insight and have never been seen before in the cultivation world. At the same time, these improved items can easily be replicated by simple observation. Sure, the replication might not be perfect but a motivated cultivator can get most of the details right with sufficient time and resources. Most important of all, there won't a true business conflict between the sect and the Dwarven Federation. The sect's business focus will be on the sales of mass-produced superior goods while the dwarves has always been focused on unique or customized masterworks. As for the dwarves, they agreed to the barter because it will save them a lot of resources and time on fruitless detours.
Lin Feng's supreme grade level three spirit weapon cost him a fortune and despite him ordering early when trade with the Dwarven Federation began, it still took more than a year for the dwarves to craft his bow. It arrives shortly just before this latest mission of his. Needless to say, it is worth every penny and time waiting for the arrival of his spirit compound bow. The bow performs at least twenty percent better than the best compound bows of similar grade sold in the sect.
Unless you are an immortal bone cultivator, it is the cultivation world common sense that it is never a good idea to confront an immortal bone cultivator in direct combat. Spirit root cultivators have learn to keep their distance and are familiar with most methods immortal bone cultivators use when fighting them at a distance and a bow is the preferred choice for most of them. Accustomed to the standard of bows in the cultivation world, almost all his past enemies have suffered the same tragic fate due to misjudging his weapon's capability. The emergence of spirit compound bow almost doubles its effective kill range, increases the arrows' speed and kinetic force by at least fifty percent.
The moment his partner-in-crime is dead, the second third major realm cultivator immediately fled in terror. Seems like all bandits have this survival instinct ingrained into them. They will immediately take flight the moment they encounter someone that far surpass them in strength. Lin Feng's second target didn't manage to get far though. He quickly fires another three arrows in succession and made short work of his target. As for the rest of the fleeing bandits, he will leave it to the rest of his team to clean up.
*****
It was an hour later when Lin Yi finally returns from his pursuit. Lin Feng has dragged him along on his mission to locate Pavillion Master Bai Ruoxi youngest disciple (or second youngest disciple now that she has accepted her latest disciple from Earth). Her name is Aynur Hoshur and her life lamp has brought him to Burkhana, a main world that is a few portal jumps away from the original world she had been assigned to manage and protect. "Bro, we managed to get rid of all the bandits this time. Hopefully, this is the last group of bandits we need to clean up before we go back."
Burkhana is considered a "safe world" by the cultivation world standard but its public safety is no different than those crime-infested third world countries. Growing up in a country with a low crime rate, the high frequency of violent crime is disconcerting even to him who used to be a police officer. His previous assignment to Norozza doesn't count since it a world controlled by deviant sects. It will be a miracle if deviant cultivators stop committing crime in their own territory. The sect has always reminded them the cultivation world is dangerous but he has never truly comprehend it until now lulled by the high public security on Eldorin. The only danger there comes from spirit beasts but not cultivators. Bandits have never stopped intercepting his trade caravan ever since his arrival on this world. Half of the time, the bandits are in fact the local clans. Each time his trade caravan left a city or town for more than a day, bandits have never failed to show up. His journey between settlements can be considered "quiet" if he only encounters a single group of bandits.
"Look on the bright side. If not for all the fighting, your cultivation won't have hit the breakthrough threshold ahead of schedule." Lin Feng placates. The bandits are a lot of trouble but it has helped him to perfect his archery skill and consolidate his cultivation realm. Just like Lin Yi, he should be able to breakthrough to the intermediate stage of the third major realm a month or two ahead of schedule. The rest of his team has equally benefitted from all the fighting.
"That is the only positive so far. Months on the road and we still haven't found a single useful clue. If we still find nothing again at the last location, we would have wasted months on Burkhana."
"She has managed to remain hidden for more than two thousand years, what makes you think we would be able to find her on our first attempt? Our time spent here won't be wasted. Another team will take over after we leave." Lin Feng reasons.
Lin Feng has to locate Aynur Hoshur discreetly without attracting the attention of the sect's enemies. This means he has resort to indirect means, spending hours in bars, inns and taverns trying to gather any rumors and gossips tied to Immortal Ascension Pavillion. Most of what they have gathered is rather grim with more than fifty clans being destroyed tied to the sect on Burkhana alone. Given the darkness hidden beneath the surface of cultivation world, he is sure the majority of these destroyed clans have no ties to Immortal Ascension Pavillion. It is unfortunate that the sect's crisis has been weaponized as a convenient excuse by rival clans to destroy their enemy under pretext.
At their latest destination, another such tragedy is about to happen and Lin Feng is now rushing towards the clan's stronghold. He hopes that he can get there in time before the clan's stronghold is breached. Regardless of whether the clan has ties to the sect, he intends to bring the entire clan back to Eldorin first. If it is another one of those false accusations, Xinyuan are more than happy to welcome another clan to settle there.
"Let's quickly get there and be done with your mission regardless of the outcome. I can't wait to go back and breakthrough to the third major realm!" Lin Yi says in excitement.
Lin Feng could partially guess where the excitement is coming from. As one of the few families knowing the truth behind