The Silly Alchemist

Li Yue was taken by surprise. Before she could fire her arrow, Ye Lang had already shot his own. She stood stunned as the arrow show past her like a bolt of lightning.

It wasn’t just because she hadn’t expected Ye Lang to shoot first, most importantly, she couldn’t believe how fast this arrow was travelling, it was unbelievable.

She’d witnessed his archery skills at the range and already felt inferior to him. To her, he’d already reached the peak of archery, perhaps not many could beat him in this mainland.

However, at this moment, she felt that perhaps even then she was underestimating just how powerful he was.

Ye Lang’s arrow shot forward like lightning, appearing in front of the wolf’s eye in just the blink of an eye and piercing right through it.

The wolf seemed to see something it couldn’t believe at that moment. Instinctively, when it saw the arrow, it closed its eyes but what could a mere eyelid do? The arrow pierced through its eyelid.

It did not stop there. It drove straight into its head, damaging the brain. That one arrow was so powerful the wolf was almost knocked back by the force equivalent to a bull.

The mighty beast had already become the prey before it had the chance to display its magnificence. And now a dead prey.

“…”

Li Yue and Coldblood Five were in shock, surprised at the outcome. They’d expected a long fight but Ye Lang’s single arrow saved them a lot of time.

Was this his true capability?

“When you shoot at the range… Were you holding back?” Li Yue did not put down her bow and arrow. She seemed to have forgotten about it.

“Holding back? Oh, are you talking about my actual skills? Of course I was. We should always be humble, we cannot always show off our true strengths.” He nodded, admitting he’d been holding back.

“Tell me honestly, is it true you’d never touched a bow and arrow before this?” Li Yue had a solemn expression. She was suspicious but anyone would be.

Li Yue had been there to witness his growth from an absolute beginner to expert to this unfathomable master, and he’d made this progress in 7 days!

How was it possible a person could improve so much in a week?

It didn’t seem possible at all. Even a prodigy might not be able to do this.

Unless he’d been lying. He’d already known archery before this and he was only there to get a chance to talk to me. 

Li Yue wondered in her heart. Perhaps Ye Lang had been lying to her and set everything up in efforts to pursue her. She couldn’t believe she fell for it!

“I’ve never done archery.” He shook his head.

“Never? That’s impossible! You must be lying! You’ve been lying to me so you could get the chance to talk to me. That’s why we met so often wherever I went! I’m so stupid, I can’t believe I actually thought those were coincidences,” said Li Yue coldly, feeling like she had just been cheated.

“…” Ye Lang was stunned for a moment then said, “You’re right, they weren’t coincidences at all. I was trying to get to know you, I wanted to win you over.”

“You idiot, why did you tell her? Didn’t we tell you to never admit this even if you were dying?” said Coldblood Five, panicking.

“She already knows, I might as well admit to it. It’s not a big deal. At least now I can date her without being so shady,” replied Ye Lang.

He had never cared about this anyway. So what if they knew? Why would you need to hide the fact that you were pursuing a girl? If she knows, she knows!

At this point, Athena didn’t care either, nor did she think it was a big deal. At least now he could date her using all the classic strategies- so long as Li Yue never knew their true objective.

Yeah, that was the key to success. As long as no one knew about the armour, everything else was not a big deal.

No one ever said a relationship would fail if the girl found out you were pursuing her! Some people even do it with their intentions well-known, then win the girl’s heart with this attitude.

Athena also thought this was a good time to reveal his intentions anyway because Ye Lang had already formed a deep impression on Li Yue. Everything he’d done previously had achieved this objective.

Right now, even if Li Yue knew about it, at least she would not dump him immediately and chase him out.

“Hmmph.” Li Yue scoffed.

Indeed, all she did was scoff. She didn’t seem to intend to chase him away because they continued to hike among the hills to forage and hunt.

“Don’t be mad, you have so many admirers, it won’t matter if you have one more. Also, I want to make one point clear: I’m pursuing you, yes, but I never lied,” said Ye Lang, catching up to her.

“You never lied? You’ve already admitted that they weren’t all coincidences, now you’re saying you never lied?” Li Yue was growing more upset, her impression of Ye Lang worsening by the minute.

In the beginning, it didn’t matter to her that he was pursuing her. Like what he said, there are so many people pursuing me, it’s not a big deal to have one more. However, it’s just wrong he’s refusing to admit he lied.

“You never asked me! And that’s why you can say I was hiding the truth from you- but I never lied,” explained Ye Lang solemnly.

“…”

Li Yue was stunned for a moment. Based on Ye Lang’s explanation, indeed he did not lie. He was just hiding the truth… but did that mean he deserved her forgiveness?

She was angry now, especially because she felt like there was something he must’ve lied about. “Your archery skills! Wasn’t that a lie? You were such a clueless idiot before, I can’t believe I even taught you on your first day! You’ve already attained such a high level of mastery and you even got me to teach you. Were you just waiting for me to embarrass myself so you could laugh at me?”

She grew more and more furious as she spoke, at this point she couldn’t wait to teach him a lesson.

“I definitely wasn’t lying about that! I was exactly the clueless idiot, I was new to this!” Ye Lang shook his head, explaining himself in a sincere tone to show he wasn’t lying.

“I can’t believe you’re still lying! If you were a beginner, how could you have become an archery expert in seven days?! And a very high-level master too! I’ve practised for more than ten years and you’ve already surpassed me!” This was her very honest rebuttal.

Ye Lang cocked his head and thought for a moment. “About that. I think it might be because I’m a prodigy.”

“A prodigy. Even a prodigy wouldn’t be able to do that,” spat Li Yue coldly.

“Then I’m the prodigy of the prodigies,” offered Ye Lang.

“…” Li Yue fell silent.

“Miss Li Yue, I’m serious. I am not lying, I really am the prodigy of prodigies,” added Ye Lang quickly because she wasn’t talking.