Chapter 237 Sharpshooter

"Marksman Set: Includes one famous bow, advanced archery, and archery-related skills."

"System, open it quickly."

"Host used Marksman Set... Congratulations, Host has obtained: lingbao bow, Mounted Archery A-rank, Foot Archery A-rank, Skill: One-Strike Kill."

"lingbao bow: This bow was once used by the famous general Li Guang, and its fame is widespread. Li Guang once shot an arrow into a rock with this bow, showing its startling power. The Tang Dynasty poet Lu Lun once wrote the poem 'Songs of the Frontier' to praise this event: 'In the dark forest, the grass startles the wind; the general draws his bow at night. At dawn, he searches for the white feathers, only to find them buried deep in the rock.'"

"Skill: One-Strike Kill. For every battle, the first arrow the Host fires using the lingbao bow will have its trajectory modified by the system to increase accuracy and ignore the opponent's armor defense. Cooldown time: Twelve Shichen (24 hours)."

This meant that he had a chance for a 'one-shot soul-taker' every time, allowing him to snipe the opponent's core figures from a long distance.

"This... is a god-tier skill!"

Up until now, Gao Yuan's martial arts had remained at the level of close-quarters combat techniques like saber technique and Spearmanship; his archery had always been subpar.

Historically, an important standard for evaluating whether a general was a fierce commander was Mounted Archery. Now, Gao Yuan had gone straight from a novice to an A-rank powerhouse. With the accompanying skills, he was definitely not inferior to an S-rank.

"Great System, you're awesome. Promise me you'll be this awesome every time from now on, okay?"

After spending some tender moments with the women, Gao Yuan couldn't wait to return to his courtyard. With a thought, a light and agile bow appeared in his hand.

Gao Yuan weighed the bow in his hand; a sense of familiarity emanated from it, as if the bow had originally belonged to him.

Then came a wave of dizziness as a massive amount of knowledge and experience regarding archery flooded into his mind. His muscles also underwent some changes; Gao Yuan knew this was the muscle memory brought about by the archery skills.

The process lasted for a full Shichen. By the time the reception was complete, Gao Yuan was drenched in sweat, as if he had undergone extremely intense exercise, and he slumped there as if his strength had been drained.

Not only that, the hunger pangs from his stomach felt as if he hadn't eaten for days. Fortunately, Gao Yuan was prepared; he pulled out a few pieces of sugar, stuffed them into his mouth, and swallowed them with a 'crunch, crunch' sound.

However, this bit of energy was only enough for Gao Yuan to drag his heavy steps to Zhao Xiyao's main hall, where the maids had already prepared dinner.

What followed was a scene that was both familiar and shocking:

Gao Yuan shoveled food into his mouth like he hadn't eaten in several lifetimes; to describe it in one phrase, it was a 'storm-like inhalation.'

Zhao Xiyao and the other three women had seen Gao Yuan do this before, so while they were shocked, they didn't make a fuss. However, Xian Ying had never seen it, and her jaw nearly hit the floor.

Fortunately, Zheng Wan explained to her that this was Gao Yuan using a certain secret technique and that he was currently replenishing his energy.

"Secret technique? Sister, this won't cause any harm to Husband's body, will it?"

"No, if there's anything wrong, it's probably that he'll suddenly become a glutton, but it's only for a meal or two."

After devouring five catties of rice and three catties of meat in one go, Gao Yuan finally put down his chopsticks, let out a satisfied burp, and waved his hand to announce he was going to take a bath.

The five women looked at each other helplessly and could only order the maids to heat up the bathwater.

Ancient people generally didn't bathe often because firewood was expensive. Among 'firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea,' firewood was placed first. The imperial court even used firewood as part of salaries, which is why it was called 'xinshui' (firewood and water).

Not bathing often meant one easily had a body odor, so people wore sachets. This was also the origin of 'Xiumu' (rest and bathe) leave; simply put, it was a holiday for everyone to rest and wash up.

But Gao Yuan was different; he felt unbearable if he didn't bathe for two or three days. For this reason, a large bath of over ten square meters was built in the Prince's Mansion for him to soak in.

Gao Yuan was usually easy to provide for, accepting simple food and tea. His only extravagant hobby was bathing, so naturally, no one criticized him for being decadent.

Soaking in the bath and enjoying Xian Ying's back-scrubbing service, Gao Yuan was so comfortable he almost cried out.

Though he was enjoying himself with his eyes closed, Gao Yuan was actually looking at something—specifically, his attribute interface.

"Host: Gao Yuan. Character Attributes: Gentle face but strong heart, ruthless and decisive. Comprehensive Evaluation: A (Bottleneck);"

"Strength A, Agility A, Endurance A, Intelligence B+, Command A-, Internal Affairs C, Charisma S;"

"Martial Arts: saber technique B+, Spearmanship A-, Horsemanship B+, Mounted Archery A+, Foot Archery A+;"

"Skills: Leaders Aura (C), Pursue and Attack, One-Strike Kill;"

"First Life Mentor: First Life Mentor;"

"Equipment: Gao Su's Liangdang Armor (C), Zhao Yun's bright silver spear (B), lingbao bow (S);"

"Items: Random Equipment Upgrade Card, s-rank lottery card, S-rank Random Martial Soul Experience Card."

Looking at the word 'Bottleneck,' Gao Yuan couldn't help but feel happy. This meant he was about to break through; he was soon to enter the ranks of A-rank.

Based on the many people Gao Yuan had observed, in this world, an A-rank level could reach the standard of a Great General of the Sixteen Guards of the Southern Palace Imperial Guard, an existence that could absolutely walk tall anywhere.

After reviewing his attributes, Gao Yuan felt he should celebrate, and there just happened to be a 'grand feast' right beside him.

"Ah, Husband... I haven't finished scrubbing yet!"

"I wash every day, I'm not that dirty."

"Then... then let's go back to the room, back to the room, okay?"

"Can't wait."

"Can't wait? Husband... ah!"

In the spacious bathroom, even the steam turned pink, filled with a lingering scent of passion.

Hearing the commotion inside, how could those outside not understand what was happening? The maids all covered their blushing faces and ran away.

Regarding Gao Yuan's behavior of being reckless regardless of the occasion, Zhao Xiyao gave her Husband a warning that night.

"Husband, our status is different now. There are some things we need to be careful about. If word gets out, people will think you are a person of excessive debauchery."

"Hehe, wifey, don't you think this is exactly the image I should have?"

Gao Yuan smilingly pulled the woman into his arms.

"If our enemies all think that I, Gao Yuan, have become arrogant because of some achievements and have started to indulge in debauchery, won't their vigilance against us decrease a lot?"

The woman stared at Gao Yuan with wide eyes.

"So you're doing it on purpose?"

Purpose my foot; Gao Yuan was purely driven by lust. As for this explanation, it was just a quick-witted excuse he came up with when facing the serious-looking woman.

Based on Gao Yuan's consistently good image, Zhao Xiyao actually believed him.

To Gao Yuan's surprise, some others believed it too. For a time, rumors actually began to circulate that Gao Yuan was obsessed with wine and women.

This led many to believe it was true. However, when Song Jinglian and Zheng Ji angrily led a group of scholars to the palace early in the morning, the scene they saw was Gao Yuan sweating profusely while sparring in Spearmanship with Chen Dao.

Looking at Gao Yuan's increasingly robust muscles, the crowd couldn't help but question their lives.

"Damn it, you're telling me this is being obsessed with wine and women? This guy clearly gets up earlier than we do, okay?"

Seeing such a large group of people arriving in a grand manner, Gao Yuan wiped away his sweat and asked,

"Father-in-laws, this is..."

"Ah? Oh! It's nothing, it's just that everyone wanted to come and discuss poetry and literature with you."

Gao Yuan naturally knew the purpose of their visit. He had a vast amount of material in his head that he could plagiarize, but he still cupped his hands toward his two fathers-in-law.

"Please forgive me, Father-in-laws. You see, I have to practice martial arts and study military strategy; how could I have time to write poetry?"