Chapter 72: Chapter 70: Minor Third Realm, Archery Improvement

[Step 1: Contextual Analysis]

Literary genre: This is a Chinese web novel, specifically a cultivation/martial arts (xianxia/wuxia) novel.

Language style: The style is descriptive with a focus on martial arts training, cultivation progress, and character interactions.

Tone: The tone is serious but with some lighter moments, typical of cultivation novels.

Plot keywords: Martial arts training, breakthrough, cultivation progress, city unrest, mysterious disappearances, investigation

Characters:

- Wu Liangchen (武良辰): Male protagonist, martial artist who just made a breakthrough to a higher level

- Wu Mengchan (武梦婵): Female, appears to be Wu Liangchen’s sister

- Yang Lian’Er (杨莲儿/杨小莲): Female, a famous performer in Dinghai City who caught the attention of officials

- Yan Zongtai (严宗泰): Male, appears to be an official or person in power

- Gao Kai (高凯): Male, works for or reports to Yan Zongtai

- Zhu Chao (朱超): Male, missing person who is Gao Kai’s cousin

- Zhan Feng (詹封): Male, mentioned as a martial arts expert

- Xiao Rong (萧荣): Male, appears to be another important character, possibly an official or expert

[Step 2: Integrated Translation and Polishing]

Let me now translate the text while applying all the rules. I’ll be especially careful with the glossary terms.

First, I need to be aware of all the specific martial arts terms like "精通境" (Mastery Realm), "武者" (Martial Artist), "三境" (Third Realm), etc., and make sure to use the correct glossary translations.

I’ll also need to be careful with descriptions of techniques, breakthroughs in cultivation, and the attributes panel that appears in the text.

Let me start with the translation:

The text begins with Wu Liangchen making a breakthrough in his Eight-Step Wind-Chasing Fist technique, advancing to the Mastery Realm. This causes his body to heat up and his Qi and Blood to surge. He checks his attributes panel which shows his various skills and their levels, mostly at Mastery level except for Sun-Chasing Archery Skill which is at beginner level. He then practices archery and makes progress there too.

The text also mentions some ongoing situation in Dinghai City with guards and security measures still in place after some kind of riot or disturbance. Wu Liangchen spends time with his sister Wu Mengchan.

Meanwhile, Yan Zongtai learns from Gao Kai that Zhu Chao has gone missing. They look through a list of names and information, and both Yan Zongtai and Xiao Rong take note of Yang Lian’Er (also known as Yang Xiaolian).

Now I’ll translate the complete text line by line.

"WHOOSH!"

Wu Liangchen violently exhaled a breath, white air shooting out like an arrow for more than a meter before dispersing.

At the same time, Wu Liangchen felt as if there was a furnace in his chest, with Qi and Blood surging throughout his body like a tide, sweat instantly appearing on his forehead.

Despite the bone-chilling winter night, Wu Liangchen didn’t feel cold at all—instead, his entire body was burning with heat.

Below his feet, the snow within a one-meter radius slowly began to melt.

Just now, Wu Liangchen had successfully broken through to the Mastery Realm with his Eight-Step Wind-Chasing Fist.

After advancing to the next realm, the power of this Eight-Step Wind-Chasing Fist had also taken a significant leap upward.

Due to concerns about the city’s curfew, he didn’t dare test the fist technique’s power, but the improvement in his Leg Skill was quite obvious.

As a result, Wu Liangchen’s Qinggong and Body Technique were further enhanced.

Now if Wu Liangchen were to run at full speed across snowy ground, he would leave only faint impressions on the snow’s surface.

Though still some distance from truly walking on snow without leaving tracks, Wu Liangchen was already quite satisfied.

Secondly, and what delighted Wu Liangchen the most, was that with the breakthrough in his fist technique, his martial arts progress had surged by a large margin, directly reaching forty-eight percent.

At this level of progress, Wu Liangchen clearly felt that his breathing had changed compared to before.

Not only had it become longer and deeper, but with each breath in and out, his abdominal organs seemed to tremble slightly, strengthening...

So Wu Liangchen wasted no time and immediately practiced the Mixed Origin Stance, finally pushing his progress to fifty percent, which led to the scene just now.

Wu Liangchen deduced that he should have broken through the fifth gate of the eight gates in the Fourth Realm, also known as the Energy Strengthening Gate.

This was also called the Minor Third Realm.

Though not as advanced as Zhan Feng or Xiao Rong, he was already a genuine expert in Dinghai City.

After all, even Yu Changfeng, the master of the Long Wind Martial Arts Hall, was only at the Minor Third Realm.

With this, Wu Liangchen finally felt some sense of security. Quite satisfied, he gathered his Qi and Blood, calmed his mind, and then opened his attributes panel.

[Name: Wu Liangchen][Age: 17]

[Life Fire: 31 strands]

[Cart Pulling (Mastery 410/500)]

[Five Animals Fist (Mastery 91/500)]

[Mixed Origin Stance (Mastery 90/500)]

[Eight-Step Wind-Chasing Fist (Mastery 5/500)]

[Sun-Chasing Archery Skill (Beginner 47/100)]

[Martial Arts Third Realms: Energy Filling Lungs (50%)]

Now all of Wu Liangchen’s skills had reached the Mastery Realm, except for the recently learned Sun-Chasing Archery Skill, which was still at the beginner level and stood out quite conspicuously.

Wu Liangchen simply took out his longbow, set up a bowl-sized target at a hundred paces away, and began practicing archery.

This was when the deduction ability of the Ten Thousand Laws Tripod showed its effectiveness.

Almost every shot showed improvement, and his proficiency grew steadily.

This was also thanks to Wu Liangchen’s powerful strength and control, allowing him to perfectly control his muscles and maintain consistent posture with each shot.

Thus, after just two hours, accompanied by a prompt notification, his Sun-Chasing Archery Skill broke through to Proficient level.

After the advancement, Wu Liangchen felt not only more at ease when shooting arrows but also experienced a significant increase in accuracy.

Previously, Wu Liangchen could control his spread to bowl-size at a hundred paces, which was already an incredibly terrifying achievement.

But now Wu Liangchen could easily control the spread to apple-size.

This meant that at a hundred paces, Wu Liangchen could hit any target he wanted to hit, almost never missing.

But the problem was that accuracy alone wasn’t enough. Although the longbow was well-crafted with high poundage, at a hundred paces, the arrow’s power still diminished severely.

It was fine against ordinary people, but if used against Martial Artists, especially martial arts experts like Zhan Feng, it would be far from sufficient.

It was now impossible to modify the longbow to increase physical damage, so the only way was to find an alternative approach—adding some magical attack to the arrowhead.

Hmm, he would try to see if he could coat the arrowheads with things like arsenic or Mind Confusing Powder when he got back.

For the next two days, Dinghai City remained unusually quiet.

If not for the visible traces left by the previous disturbance, one might even think everything had been an illusion, that the incident of refugees entering the city had never happened at all.

Under these circumstances, some bold citizens began tentatively going out on the streets, while some merchants risked secretly opening their businesses.

Dinghai City, long silent, finally regained some vitality.

But those with keen eyes knew that matters were far from over, as the sentries stationed at every corner of the city walls hadn’t been withdrawn at all, and the defenses remained strict.

Wu Liangchen also enjoyed two rare days of peace, spending time at home with his sister except for his daily visits to Yang Lian’Er.

Wu Mengchan was naturally very happy about this and prepared various delicious foods with different styles each day.

On this day, the sky that had been gloomy for several days finally cleared up.

The atmosphere in the courtyard also relaxed considerably.

Although the compound gates remained tightly shut, people now dared to come out and chat in the courtyard.

Wu Liangchen also brought his sister out of the house to enjoy the long-absent sunlight and chat with the neighbors.

Almost at the same time, when Yan Zongtai heard the news reported by Gao Kai, his expression immediately darkened.

"What did you say? Zhu Chao has disappeared?"

"Yes, he vanished before the great battle. We thought he was hiding somewhere, but now that the conflict has subsided and there’s still no sign of him, something must have happened," Gao Kai said nervously.

The recent events were truly bizarre.

First, the Drunken-Eyed Eagle suddenly disappeared, which could be explained as the work of the Heartless Dao.

But now his cousin Zhu Chao had also mysteriously vanished, with no trace of him dead or alive, which was truly incomprehensible.

Could someone have been secretly watching the young master and himself all along?

Thinking of this possibility, Gao Kai couldn’t help but shudder.

Yan Zongtai didn’t think that far, just frowned and asked, "So what do we do now?"

"Although my cousin has disappeared, I’ve still compiled various information these past two days. Here’s the list for your review."

Gao Kai presented a document.

Yan Zongtai took it and saw that it contained names with detailed information.

It had to be said that this Gao Kai was quite capable.

At the very least, the document was extremely detailed.

Yan Zongtai read it carefully when suddenly he spotted a familiar name.

Yang Lian’Er, stage name Yang Xiaolian, arrived in Dinghai City a year ago, became wildly popular within half a month, specific background unknown.

He was of course very familiar with Yang Lian’Er. He had been attracted to her at first sight and had made several attempts to pursue her, all unsuccessful.

But now thinking carefully, this Yang Lian’Er seemed to match the description of the person they were looking for in many aspects.

Just as Yan Zongtai discovered this clue, Xiao Rong also noticed Yang Lian’Er in the document at almost the same moment.

"This woman, where is she now?" Xiao Rong asked.