Aoyang: The Reborn Alchemist Seeks Knowledge [Xianxia]

Behind the helmet's visor, Baiyun's eyes were narrowed as he pointed his bow towards the sky.

A boom echoed as the stone arrow shot towards the heavens, stirring up a gust of wind within the formation. He braced himself for the impact but was pushed a step back, leaving a slight indent in the grass.

With the might of Yingtao's compressed stone arrows, the true potential of the bow could be realised; it was as if he had a cannon in his hands.

Baiyun was not in the mood to appreciate its might however as he looked upwards once more.

"Ah... you missed again." Jingfeng said. "But don't worry! Every journey begins with a few slow steps!"

"It's fine." Baiyun's muffled voice came from the helmet.

He stared at his hands in silence. With the might of his new physique, he was able to arm and fire such heavy arrows with ease and withstand the recoil.

But with the delay of his body and the weight of the armour, it felt as if he were moving through a sea of sludge. By the time he locked onto his target and fired, it had already flown far into the distance.

He had some experience against flying targets from when Ying Shi tossed shields into the air, but the delay and the distances of the beasts made this far more cruel.

"Here! Let me help!"

Just as Baiyun was about to notch another stone arrow into his bow, Jingfeng grabbed his arms from the back, adjusting their position.

"Your arm posture is too stiff! Move it back a little!"

Jingfeng continued to circle Baiyun, slowly adjusting each aspect of his stance.

"Take a step back! Yes, right there! Then arch your back this way and..."

A few nosy disciples watched the show as Baiyun's armour clattered awkwardly, before finally, Jingfeng nodded in satisfaction.

"There, your posture is perfect now! Take another shot!"

Baiyun nodded.

Indeed, with this stance, he could put more power into the bow, as well as adjust his arm with much more flexibility. It seemed so obvious and intuitive now that Jingfeng pointed it out, that he almost wondered why he didn't realise sooner, especially with his mastery of anatomy.

Many things in life seemed obvious in retrospect however, so he didn't dwell too much on it and released his arrow.

WHOOOM!

Jingfeng and Mohei looked upwards with Baiyun, watching the graceful arc of the arrow.

...

It missed again.

With Jingfeng's guidance and Mohei's encouragement, Baiyun continued to practice the bow. There were a few times he managed to strike a target by luck, but that was in part because of the sheer quantity of beasts above.

His unresponsive hands trembled slightly as he aimed upwards, gazing towards the chaos above.

A target caught his eye, a wounded wasp that flew slowly and unsteadily with its tattered wings. He pulled back the bowstring and tried to predict its path. Baiyun knew he needed to account for both the delay of his hands and the intent of the target, as well as the usual factors like trajectory and wind direction.

Sweat beaded down his face as his mind raced to account for all the minute details, a strange air of focus surrounding him as time seemed to slow.

Above, the wasp fixed its eyes upon a golden canary, rushing over in a straight path; a predictable direction. It was now or never. Baiyun commanded his hand to release its grip on the bowstring.

The arrow shot towards the wasp with tremendous speed; with a whoosh of air and a panicked buzz from the insect, the arrow grazed its torso but flew past, smashing into a 6-winged bat instead! The arrow spun with great force and ripped straight through the torso, the poor bat letting out a shrill screech as it fell from the skies.

A frightened chirp came from the golden canary as it flew into the distance, escaping the sight of the wasp.

Tsk... he thought he had it.

He grit his teeth slightly, frustrated by the constant failures. He wish he knew the outcome of rushing his breakthrough and took it slowly instead, but there was no way to revert time.

No matter. He would just try again until he succeeded.

Baiyun eyes were focused as he reached for yet another arrow, when a faint thud suddenly came from outside the formation. He put down his bow for a moment and glanced outside.

In the distance, Yingtao was finally returning. She tripped over a corpse however, falling face-first and slamming a massive boulder she had been carrying into the ground.

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"Ahhh!" Qinghe suddenly yelled from the table, slamming her tea cup down. "My workshop!"

Qinghe? Baiyun was taken aback by her uncharacteristically shrill reaction.

Outside, Yingtao winced and pat the dust off herself, before getting up and hoisting the boulder above her head again. With the new angle she now held it, its door was now visible, revealing it truly was Qinghe's workshop...

Ah... Baiyun began to get an idea of what was happening.

Without ownership of the artefact, Yingtao was unable to activate the storage form of the workshop despite her cultivation. It was a protective measure, preventing one of his imagined scenarios where an assassin could trigger the spatial collapse mechanism from outside.

All she could do was carry it back slowly with brute strength.

Baiyun could not help but pity the poor "babysitter". It seemed the reason Qinghe glared at her earlier was for forgetting to lug the workshop back, and now that she smashed it into the ground, it would likely earn her another chewing out.

Qinghe frowned and marched out to meet Yingtao. The two of them exchanged a few words as Yingtao scratched her head awkwardly, before Qinghe reverted the workshop into its stake form and stashed it away into her bag.

With the displeased girl in tow, Yingtao returned to the formation with a smile and a wave.

Jingfeng immediately ditched Baiyun and ran over excitedly.

"Yingtao! Can we head out now?" he asked, barely holding the urge to jump. "You've done your errand, right?"

"Wait, I need to report something." Yingtao raised her palm. "On my way back, I spotted a hoard of Canopy Wolves approaching from the east forest! Ying Shi, you should relay this."

Ying Shi nodded and marched over to the side of his sister.

"Attention!" he called out.

At the sound of his voice, the disciples paused their frenzied misfiring of arrows.

"A hoard of wolves have come to steal the spoils again. Train your weapons against them, and not into the skies above!" he continued. "The most essential of the corpses are the Scarlet Dragonflies, the Twintailed False Phoenixes and Warrior Centipede! Prioritise the wolves targeting those and drown them in a hail of arrows!"

"Yes!" the disciples called out.

Ying Shi snapped his finger and the formation began to shift. Its one-way opening that only let the arrows out shifted, before morphing to the sides of the formation.

Just in time, as howls began to echo moments later. Hundreds of canopy wolves showed themselves as they pranced across the grassland; from the great distance and their sheer numbers, their green fur almost resembled rippling fields of grass.

Sanguang and a few disciples began to laugh as they reached into their storage, pulling out even larger crossbows that stood on wooden wheels. Each had multiple arm-like mechanisms that pulled the bowstrings with such ease, they could be mistaken for strands of spider silk.

With each mesmerising circle the arms spun, an arrow was launched, and soon, hundreds of arrows flew towards the wolves! It was as if the disciples were trying their best to replicate the chaos the warrior centipedes sowed.

But the wolves ducked and swerved, leaping into the air and dodging almost all the arrows. They even jumped towards each other in mid-air, kicking off each other and weaving through the air, as if to compensate for the lack of trees they were used to. The column of wolves bouncing off each other slowly began to rise higher into the air, making for a rather surreal and disorientating sight.

They rushed towards the corpses and bit down on any that caught their fancy, before running off into the distance again with their spoils clutched between jaws. The disciples cursed to themselves. Despite Ying Shi's instructions, they were having little luck in keeping the wolves at bay!

"If I rush out now, I can fend them off and grab most of the important corpses!" Yingtao shouted.

Jingfeng tugged at Ying Shi with pleading eyes however. Ying Shi frowned slightly before letting out a sigh.

"Elder sister, time is of the essence. It's best you complete your raid before the warriors return." he said.

"Eh. Well, if you say so." Yingtao glanced at Jingfeng before shrugging.

She grabbed Baiyun and Jingfeng and tossed them onto her shoulders before rushing out of the formation, the wolves still closing in! The disciples hurriedly diverted the rapid fire of their automatic crossbows, opening a path for her.

"Awooooo!"

Deafening howls echoed as a giant canopy wolf rushed towards them, its smaller brethren moving aside for it. With paths from opposing sides both opening, it was as if two armies were making way for a clash of generals!

Just as they were about to clash with the pack leader, Yingtao grabbed Baiyun and Jingfeng, tossing them high into the air. Jingfeng yelped in panic and quickly waved his hands to summon a gust of wind that slowed their fall.

"Hah!"

Yingtao yelled as she slammed her fists towards the ground, sending a huge pulse of earth qi downwards. The green tapestry of interwoven grass torn apart in an instant as the very soil crumbled, forming a massive crater! Over a hundred wolves howled as they began to fall, their descent hastened by their rude brethren using them like springboards and kicking them further below.

The giant wolf was no different, snarling at her and clawing at the air as it fell.

Yingtao grinned as she stood on a lone pillar of earth in the giant crater and stared at the falling wolves. She bent her knees and braced herself until veins bulged on her legs, before leaping into the air diagonally and snatching Baiyun and Jingfeng back onto her shoulders.

"Whoa!" Jingfeng yelled.

Yingtao's mighty leap launched them high into the air with a grand arc, high above the giant crater!

"Jingfeng! Keep us afloat!" she shouted.

Jingfeng nodded and the winds began to swirl around them, slowing their fall as they shot far into the distance. Baiyun nodded despite the absurdity. Jingfeng might not be able to sustain flight like Fei An, but they had enough momentum to glide as if they were flying!

The three of them flew over the crater of howls and far away in the grasslands, landing with a tumble and rolling through the grass. Behind, roots erupted from the crater and rose into the air.

Yingtao had already run far out of reach however, barrelling towards the Twisted forest at full speed. This was not their fight.

"B-Baiyun! Take... these!" Jingfeng suddenly shouted.

Atop Yingtao's shoulder, the two of them were tossed about to the point it was hard to talk.

Baiyun saw Jingfeng holding a pill towards him and nodded in gratitude; he didn't want to risk biting his tongue off by answering. He identified it as a focus and energy pill and swallowed it whole. There was no immediate effect, as it was the type to slowly dissolve and apply its effect gradually.

Jingfeng winced as he reached into his bag with difficulty again, passing bracelets to Baiyun and Yingtao, before putting on his own as well. They were silver and light as air, with carvings of clouds and wind faintly etched onto them.

Yingtao held her hand with the bracelet into air and focused her gaze on it.

"Veil!" she shouted.

The 3 bracelets lit up, the air around them condensing into shimmering drapes that engulfed the trio.

A howl echoed as a giant claw of woven roots rose out of the crater, the giant canopy wolf standing atop its palm. The wolf leapt out onto the grass, snarling as it rushed towards the scent of its attackers, the grass beneath its paws writhing and growing with twisting motions.

The claw of roots grasped the crater's side and hoisted its massive form out of the ground, revealing itself to be a massive wolf-shaped treant. It rushed to the side of its summoner with mighty steps that shook the earth, its charge accompanied by many small canopy wolves making their way out behind it.

But the three humans were nowhere to be found.