Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 652 Cloud Piercing Bow and Silver Conch Shot (6K)

Li Xia pushed open the gate to the courtyard and saw Ma Da'ou holding a beautiful-looking longbow, facing away from her, baring his teeth and desperately trying to draw it.

Despite Madaro's bulging arm muscles and flushed face as he strained, the bow's limbs remained completely still; only the elastic bowstring was stretched into a slight arc.

Madao caught a glimpse of the commotion at the door out of the corner of his eye. His face instantly became calm and indifferent, only the bulging veins on his forehead revealed just how much force he had used.

He calmly and slowly retracted the bowstring, instead of releasing it without firing:
"Yes, I've tested it for you, and this bow is excellent!"

"Actually, you can just leave it empty, since you didn't open it up at all just now."

Li Xia walked over, as if stating something obvious. Ma Da'ou jumped up and shouted things like, "You've slandered my innocence! I'm strong enough to lift mountains and my spirit can overwhelm the world! Don't you even know what a blacksmith is?"

However, neither of them really cared. The important breakthrough from friends to best buddies was that they stopped being polite and started teasing each other. When they both wanted to be each other's father, that's when they became brothers.

The bow felt heavy in my hand, reflecting a faint metallic luster. The bow was quite long, about 1.4 meters long, with a light golden dragon sinew rope repeatedly twisted and coiled into a single strand, and a pouch of some unknown material attached to the middle.

"Generally speaking, bows are made of wood, which is both hard and flexible. It is difficult for metal materials to surpass wood in forming particularly excellent longbows."

With his hands behind his back, Ma Da'ou's voice carried a subtle pride unique to artisans:
"But this is a palace, a land of miracles, Pilat Alman Alloy, or Pilat Alman for short, a metal with incredible properties."

Possessing exceptional elasticity and hardness, it's the best bow-making material you can find among fourth-tier materials.

Li Xia nodded, admiring the longbow in his hand repeatedly. The metal bow was engraved with exquisite patterns, and its style was simple and ancient. It was obvious that Madaou had taken inspiration from the style of ancient China and added some elements of the cultivation of immortality.

Simply holding it, the feeling of being completely integrated with the body is exceptionally comfortable, and a sense of joy arises spontaneously.

"However, there's something I need to tell you first."

Madaro frowned and sighed:

"It seems that the junk collectors from the eight major guilds and Hell Echoes are about to make a big move, frantically buying up materials in the market, causing the price of precious raw materials to rise sharply."

Well, these materials cost one Time-Space Copper Coin, plus 15 Hall Points.

Li Xia was startled and looked up:

"They're using time-space coins now?"

"Yes, I know that even the apostles are short of this. If you don't have it, just leave it for now. There's no need to rush to give it to me. Improving yourself is the most important thing. As long as you're alive, there's hope."

Madaro waved his hand, as if to say, "I understand."

"It's not that exaggerated, I'm not that lacking."

Li Xia flicked his hand and released a shiny time-space copper coin. He didn't really need it, especially now that the Map of Mountains and Rivers was usable, which could accelerate time by a moment, and each moment was equal to 480 days, which was much more cost-effective than using copper coins alone.

Guild skills can also reliably generate copper coins, so he has a surplus of copper coins.

"You really don't need it? What I mean is, we're allies. You should use this copper coin for yourself first to improve your strength."

Madao took the copper coin but didn't put it away. Instead, he looked at Li Xia seriously and said...

"Okay, take it. But what do you need the money for?"

"Hey, although employees don't need to improve their strength, the trading value of Time-Space Coins is extremely high. Sometimes when you can't buy very rare materials with Hall Points, you can add coins, and it usually works well."

Those top-tier craftsmen all keep some coins on hand, more or less.

No wonder, the coins are not only collected by the apostles, but also used by the workers. It is normal that they have such high transaction value. Scarcity makes things valuable.

Li Xia nodded and looked at the bow in his hand.

[Untitled]

[Grade: Orange (Tier 4)]

【Origin: Guangming Hall Madaou Blacksmith Shop】

【Durability: 200/200】

[Requirement: 60 Strength]

[Bow power: 50 stones-300 stones]

Attack Strength: 12-18 (Increases with draw strength within effective range)

1. Adamantite Bow Arm: Increases damage dealt by an additional 15%.
2. Dragon Sinew Bowstring: Initial velocity increased by 20% upon firing.
3. Recoil: Releasing the bowstring will cause shock damage to the surrounding area, the damage being equal to the bow's draw force.
[Summary: Is this bow actually usable by anyone? If it were ever drawn, it would be an absolutely terrifying weapon!]
No!】

"I'm waiting for you to name it. Give it a try. I haven't tested it. The machine can do it, but a machine has no soul."

Madaro seemed to remember something, and pulled a small leather pouch out of his pocket:
"These are silver conch shells, which are quite expensive. There are several different specifications of shells, and the most expensive one is comparable to those armor-piercing bullets."

There's no way around it; this is purely a kinetic energy weapon. Only rare alloys can withstand projectiles traveling at hundreds of times the speed of sound.

The armor-piercing bullets inside the hall are the standard price of ammunition. Ordinary bullets at the fourth level are about 50 points each. They are cheap, but ordinary bullets are like water when fired, and are also known as level 3 bullets. As for level 4 bullets, they are expensive. The highest level 6 bullets are called 'elixirs'!
A single shot can reach 1 Hall Points. As for ammunition with special effects, the possibilities are endless. Those bullets are equivalent to special one-time consumable items.

"Hmm, is there a place where I can conduct experiments?"

"Of course! How could a blacksmith's shop not have a place to experiment?"

Mada nodded to Li Xia, and the two walked side by side to the end of the courtyard. The moment the heavy stone door was pushed open, the interior was not the room they had expected, but a spacious area like a training ground. There were neatly arranged weapon racks on both sides, and targets of different heights were scattered in the distance. The blue bricks on the ground were tightly interlocked, and the edges were polished smooth but exuded a heavy and solid feel. They were very firm when stepped on.

"You can try it however you want. This is a flexible space exclusively for employees. Adjusting the space is faster than flipping through a book."

Mada raised his hand and made a floating motion, and a semi-transparent virtual screen appeared in response. He quickly swiped his fingertips across the screen.

"Let's set up a special archery range for you first..."

Before the words were even finished, a faint glow suddenly filled the entire space, and the surrounding scenery began to rapidly distort and reconstruct itself. The original weapon racks receded like a tide, and the ground extended rapidly to both ends, with several buildings resembling streets and alleys rising from the ground. Various realistic targets were erected on the rooftops, corners, and behind the windows. Some had a dark, cold iron sheen, some were covered with rock textures, and others had a warm, woody feel. Clearly, the materials were all different, and their layered arrangement was extremely challenging.

Li Xia lowered his eyes, his slender fingers gently pinching a pellet from the leather pouch at his waist, which landed steadily in his palm. The pellet was about the same size as the glass marbles he often played with as a child, and it was silvery and shiny. However, it was surprisingly heavy in his hand, and he could clearly feel the unique coolness and solid weight of the metal. It pressed heavily on his palm.

"This is a standard bullet, with moderate density, weighing 1 kilogram, and with extremely small tolerances that can be ignored!"

As soon as Madao finished speaking, Li Xia placed the steel ball on the leather of the bowstring, tightened his fingertips, and slowly exerted force with both arms.

The next second, an astonishing sight struck Madado's eyes.

Li Xia's shoulders and back suddenly tensed, and the muscles in his arms bulged like cast steel. The originally loose fabric was stretched out, outlining a perfect body like that of an ancient Greek sculpture.

The extraordinary bow, weighing three hundred shi, was drawn steadily to its full length under his pull. The bow gleamed with a faint glow, and the bowstring, made of dragon sinew, was stretched to its limit, emitting a sharp "crackling" sound. It was not the slight tremor of an ordinary wooden bow, but a long, piercing sound of sinews rubbing together and energy accumulating, as if it wanted to shred the surrounding air. Even the blue bricks on the ground trembled slightly.

Madao stared blankly, his lips involuntarily parting slightly. This was an instinctive awe of power—a bow with a strength of three hundred stones!

I'm afraid only those top apostles with special strengths or talents in strength within the hall could pull it apart!

His gaze, sharp as a ruler, locked onto the dark iron-colored metal dummy 150 meters away. In that instant, his fingers loosened slightly—

Boom!
A deafening twang of the bowstring rang out, far from the ordinary hum of an arrow. It sounded as if something had suddenly exploded, and the shockwave rippled outwards from the bow, cracking the blue bricks on the ground.

The steel ball shot out with a sharp whooshing sound, its speed exceeding the limits of human perception, leaving only a fleeting silver trail. The air along its path was violently compressed, emitting a "whooshing" sound, and leaving a charred gas trail on the ground.

In less than half a breath, the silver light crashed hard into the alloy dummy.

clang--!!

The deafening clang of metal striking metal was like a thunderclap, so sharp it could pierce eardrums. The echo reverberated repeatedly in the empty training ground, making one's temples throb.

Madaro felt as if he had been punched hard in the head. In an instant, dizziness and ear-piercing pain overwhelmed him, and he didn't even see the horrific scene that followed.

The dummy, made entirely of a thick special alloy, was unsurprisingly pierced through the chest—the steel ball didn't "pass through" it, but rather crushed the alloy with unstoppable force, creating a hole the size of a bowl.

The metal at the edges was melted and turned black by the high temperature and force of the air. When it struck the alloy man, the super high temperature and kinetic energy generated by the collision sent tiny alloy fragments flying out like a rain of hot iron. They hit the stone wall with a "clanging" sound, and each fragment could carve a hole the size of a fist, with stone chips flying everywhere.

Even more astonishing was the residual force; the metal dummy, weighing several hundred kilograms, was sent flying backward by the impact, crashing through everything in its path before finally slamming heavily into a distant stone wall with a muffled thud. The stone wall was dented, creating a huge crater, and the dummy was twisted and deformed, half of its body embedded in the wall, making it unrecognizable.

Even more terrifying, the bullet that pierced through the dummy still slammed into another dummy with a horrifying motion.

A visible shockwave spread from the point of impact, and the wooden targets and walls of the buildings within that area were cracked with countless fissures before collapsing with a deafening roar.

Li Xia slowly lowered the bow, looked at the terrifying power he had unleashed, and took a soft breath.

He had anticipated that the bow would be very powerful, but he never expected it to be this terrifying.

This is a pure kinetic energy weapon, without any fancy features or attributes, but with the support of immense force, it has the power to turn the rotten into the miraculous.

Simple and rude!
"hiss------"

Madaro has recovered. The blame lies with him for not setting the entire space to be absolutely invincible, but rather to have a delayed recovery. However, this is basically the case for all the blacksmiths' and craftsmen's exclusive spaces.

If you're absolutely invincible, how do you test weapons?

He stared in shock at the training grounds, which looked as if they had been destroyed by a tornado. His Adam's apple bobbed for a moment before he murmured:
"More than eight million joules, equivalent to 400 times the power of a Barrett M82A1 anti-materiel sniper rifle, is truly astonishing."

This scene reminds me of a movie I've seen before.

Li Xia stroked the bow in his hand and asked casually:
What movie?

"Shaolin Soccer!"

Li Xia raised her head, her eyes filled with curiosity:

"You guys also have this movie?"

"Of course! Stephen Chow is the greatest comedian in our area. Among classic filmmakers of the past century, he's definitely in the top three. In that movie, the scene where he mentions football at the end looks similar to yours—a huge black trail on the football field."

Madaro sighed a few times, then turned his head away:

"Want to try anything else?"

Li Xia raised his bow and looked up:

"No need, just seeing it this once is enough. I can already feel its power."

[Will it be named 'Cloud Piercing Bow'?]

[The current equipment has been named 'Cloud Piercing Bow'!]

Li Xia watched as seal characters, resembling burning flames, suddenly appeared on the bow: Cloud Piercing Bow.

A smile appeared on his face, he patted his bowed body, and nodded to Madaro:

"Thanks, I really like this bow!"

Inside their personal space, the three little ones sat in a row, looking at their eldest brother with a mixture of anticipation and nervousness.

Li Xia held the fragment of divine power in his hand, closed his eyes, and began to connect his consciousness with his clan.

A glimmer of light appeared in the darkness, and then the whole world appeared before my eyes.

The world before my eyes was vastly different from the last time. The original ruins were still there, but it was noticeably more lively. Buildings unique to the Stone People were rising up on this land like mushrooms.

Even the area around the stone statue where he had descended was paved with tiles, and there was a huge offering table in front of him. There were no fruits or vegetables on it, only some stones, some water, and some flowers.

These stones might be pretty stones that the stone people found, and the water might be from a new well they dug. The simple stone people regarded these as things worth reporting to Li Xia and placed what they considered to be the best things on the offering table.

Li Xia was naturally happy with this arrangement and didn't care about these things.

“Fafner, come to the altar.”

Before he could finish speaking, a tall, handsome, sculpted stone figure rushed in from outside, its eyes shining brightly:
"Traveler, are we going to fight?"

The Star God exuded a genuine joy and anticipation, and his eyes shone brightly as he looked at Li Xia.

For the universe's being, the value and meaning of one's entire life—no, one's entire divine life—is travel and battle.

As for the stone man, he was just an accident. Without this accident, the Star God should have been flying endlessly in the universe until he finally got tired and curled up into a ball, giving up his life, which was as long as the entire world bubble, and becoming a cold planet in the universe.

But now it's different; he has found the meaning of life!

That means going with travelers to different worlds and fighting the fiercest battles—the kind that could kill you.

This is so exciting!
Li Xia:
"It's not time yet—"

The star god's eyes dimmed instantly, and he looked listless.

"All right."

It looks extremely simple, almost like it was carved from the same mold as the stone man. No, the stone man was created by the Star God in his own image.

"It's perfect that you're listening here too. I'm here on important business as well, it's related to combat and travel."

Leaving the Star God, who had become happy again, Li Xia looked at Fafnir, who was rushing over, and said softly:
"Gather people and hold a grand ceremony; I will elevate the entire world."

"Advancement??"

Fafnir opened his mouth, then suddenly realized what he was doing and froze, looking up at the enormous statue in disbelief.

Then his body began to tremble slightly:
"Really... really an upgrade?"

He had heard Li Xia talk about advancing to the next level, but he didn't have much hope. Why was Black Descending Star targeted by the Old Gods? It was because the whole world had come to an end.

They wanted to open a path to a higher world. Seven sages sacrificed themselves to activate the ancient altar, but they were targeted by the Old Gods.

"Xia Shen, is it really an advancement? Is it safe?"

Fafnir shuddered involuntarily as he recalled the darkness that had once shrouded the world.

I'm really scared!

"Ah."

Li Xia couldn't explain much, so she could only say this simply.

The main issue is that advancing to the next rank requires believers to perform large-scale rituals to anchor themselves; otherwise, they could just advance directly.

Fafnir left, both excited and apprehensive. It can only be said that the Stone Golems were extremely efficient; they had only rung the bell, and the sound of the bell had spread far and wide, with new bells ringing one after another.

Soon all the stone figures gathered before the enormous altar. After listening to Fafnir say a few words, they sat down earnestly before the altar, bowing their heads and devoutly reciting the scriptures compiled by Fafnir—even though they did not know the meaning of those scriptures.

They were simply expressing their heartfelt gratitude to the travelers, and this gratitude became a pure and unadulterated faith, which was then transformed into divine power through the statue.

[Executioner, would you like to use 100 points of divine power to upgrade Black Star?]

Looking at his 112 points of divine power, Li Xia decisively chose yes.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, the sky above Black Descendant Star began to fluctuate violently. Everyone looked up in astonishment and saw a huge, illusory face that occupied the entire sky looking down at the ground without any emotion.

"Traveler?"

The Star God recognized the familiar face, but quickly looked puzzled.

"No, it's more like..."

The illusory face lifted up, and its finger gently touched the entire planet, causing an exquisite display of colors to bloom from Li Xia's fingertips.

[Level Up Begins!]

Estimated time: 12 hours

[Descent is not possible during the upgrade process; please wait patiently.]

Only 12 hours?

Li Xia slowly opened his eyes, quite quickly!
However, one thing that intrigued him was that the enormous phantom that appeared during the final advancement was clearly his own avatar.

Why do incarnations appear, and why does it seem like advancement is done through incarnations?
"Big brother! When can we talk to fourth brother?! I really miss him!"

"Meow!"

Black Charcoal and Xiaotian both nodded vigorously.

No, can the little knight talk? If it did, wouldn't they hold hands and gaze at each other with tearful eyes, speechless and choked with emotion?

Li Xia almost burst out laughing at the three little ones:

"The Black Star will complete its upgrade in 12 hours, and then we can start working on the second world."

"12 hours? That's fast enough. I've written a really good little poem, I'll show it off to my fourth brother then!"

Aowu said with great joy, while Heitan said that he had created a new rap song. Xiaotian had nothing to say and was anxiously pacing around. In the end, he reluctantly took out the snack he disliked the most from his snack collection and prepared to give it to his fourth brother.

"Awoo, go check something for me."

Li Xia suddenly remembered something, and a cold glint appeared in his eyes. Sensing the killing intent in his leader's voice, the three little ones immediately switched to a different mode and listened carefully.

"It seems like the Garbage Collectors and Hell Echoes are up to something big, frantically buying up materials on the market. I'll ask those two guilds what they're up to."

Awoo jolted awake, immediately understanding Li Xia's intention, and promptly pulled out his communicator to call his friends:
"Hey, Old Ma! Your master isn't riding you today, is he? How about a drink at the club? My treat!"
Look at what you're saying, it's just a glass of wine! What's wrong with the mount?
Can't you enjoy your mount?

Okay, all set! That's settled then.

"Hey Lao Niu, wanna grab a drink at the club?"
What? Your master wants to take you to the arena? That's outrageous! Don't we oxen and horses get any rest?

What's wrong with minotaurs? Minotaurs have the right to rest too!

Oh, so you're planning to give up after a short performance because you're too tired?

No problem!

"I did pretty well in the last world, bro. The boss gave us some Hall Points, not much, but enough for a drink for us guys. Let's go!"

Watching Ao Wu, spitting as he spoke, slapping the table and laughing hysterically as he made calls to his summoned beasts, Li Xia could only say...
No wonder he's known as 'Grandpa Long, the club's most famous man'. Just ask around, and everyone knows that Grandpa Long is a man of great righteousness and public-spiritedness, known as the "Timely Rain of the Hall of Fame" and a fourth-ranked righteous protector!

As for why I asked someone about the garbage collector and Hell Echoes...
The grudge from the last ambush hasn't been settled yet.

Come and go without indecent!
Since you've already intercepted and killed them, don't be afraid of retaliation!
If you have the chance, kill!

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1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

I'll resume my normal 8,000-word update tomorrow; I've been really busy these past two days.

(End of this chapter)