18 Dropouts

"I don't kneel!" Tang Yan replied in a cold tone.

This Pan Yu was too arrogant. He was overstepping his bounds.

Pan Yu's face scrunched up, his anger was clear as daylight.

"Rookie, do you want to be taught a lesson? Since he said kneel, then kneel." Sun Ji said as he stepped forward.

This time Pan Yu didn't stop him. Sun Ji and two others stepped forward as if gearing up to fight.

"It seems I have to jog your memory on how to respect your elders. Good, I haven't fought for a while, this will be a good chance to brush up my skills." Sun Ji said with eagerness in his voice as he started to walk over.

At this moment, Tang Yan held up the recurve bow in his hand as he saw Sun Ji coming over. He didn't hesitate to draw an arrow from the arrow pot. He quickly nocked the arrow, pulled back the bowstring and aimed at Sun Ji.

This move shocked everyone including Pan Yu.

"You... what are you doing?" Sun Ji asked with a trembling tone.

At this distance, the lethality of an arrow was no less than that of a bullet.

Dammit, what was this kid doing? One mistake and this situation could turn fatal.

Tang Yan sneered in his heart, he had already died once, there was nothing to worry about.

He swayed twice with the bow and said: "Move out of the way now. My grip isn't very stable; after all, I'm just a 'rookie', and I would hate it if my hand accidentally slipped and something happened."

Sun Ji's face was filled with fright. His complexion became as white as a piece of paper. He unconsciously took a few steps back.

Pan Yu harrumphed and said in a disdainful tone.

"I don't believe you would dare let go."

"Hey... Wait...!"

Twang!

"Ahhh!"

The screams of Sun Ji resounded.

Tang Yan had really let go.

Boom!

The floor of the Practice Hall was made of wood. After the arrow was released, the arrow flew straight into the wooden floor in front of Sun Ji's foot.

The majority of the arrow had drilled into the ground, only the tail stuck out trembling.

Sun Ji's face was completely drained of color. He had almost soiled himself in fear.

Of course, it was impossible for Tang Yan to shoot someone. He had adjusted the angle of the arrow right at the last moment, making the arrow slant downwards.

Li Guang had the power to shoot through stone. Although he only had 60% of his abilities, it was a breeze to shoot the arrow into the floorboard.

The effects of this as a deterrence was quite obvious.

Sun Ji didn't dare to move, Pan Yu also shivered slightly, frightened by his audacity.

"Respect is earned, not demanded. As seniors, other than bullying newcomers, what else can you do? If you have actual skills, then make some achievements and bring glory to the team. Your time has passed, so sit to the sidelines, and let those with actual skills through." After Tang Yan finished, he returned the bow to the shooting rack and walked straight out.

Sun Ji and the rest watched Tang Yan leave. Even though he no longer had the bow, they didn't dare to move after him.

Outside of the hall, he couldn't help but sigh. Although he had scared them off tonight, he knew they would be back.

Such a waste... He didn't even get to train properly; instead, he had made enemies. So much for being low-key and keeping his head down.

Returning to his dormitory, he found that Li Cunde still hadn't returned.

He was slightly puzzled at this, but he was so tired after practicing all day, after lying down, he immediately drifted off to sleep.

The training content for the next few days was similar to that of the first day. It was still the older archers leading the practice, though Song Feng did come in to direct and observe a few sessions.

What Tang Yan hadn't expected was that Dong Jie actually moved him over to the 70-meter section on the third day.

As for Pan Yu's group, he didn't know whether they were still in shock from that night or just busy, but they hadn't come to bother him during this time.

Because of Tang Yan's outstanding performance in training and his calm attitude, Song Feng's trust in him increased a lot. At the end of the third day of training, Song Feng actually asked Tang Yan to take charge of training his fellow newcomers.

After Song Feng announced this decision, Pan Yu's face was quite abnormal.

Supervising the rookies, this was originally the right of Pan Yu alone. Now his position was being intruded on, so his resentment towards Tang Yan was starting to grow deeper and deeper. Although it wasn't shown outwardly, it was accumulating bit by bit.

On the fifth day, as they arrived at the training hall, everyone could sense something was off.

At the end of the training session, Song Feng called for everyone to gather. His face was gloomy, and everyone could sense his frustration and anger.

When everyone had gathered, he came over and said:

"Today, multiple people have come to me asking to leave the team. I want to emphasize this to all of you again. This archery team is a place of dedication. We do not need deserters here. If you can't stand just this intensity of training, then you're wasting your time here. If this alone is enough to break your will, then leave now. I will say it once again, I don't have the patience to train people just to have them quit later on. This is your chance to leave now if you feel like you can't hack it."

After saying this, Song Feng glanced over all the newcomers.

No one had stood up.

Tang Yan turned to look around and soon realised that Li Cunde was nowhere to be found. He hadn't seen Li Cunde returning to the dormitory these few nights. He had his suspicions but now it was confirmed: he had really quit the team.

"Very good."

Seeing no one stand up, Song Feng nodded with satisfaction and went on to say: "The national archery trials will be held soon. We will soon hold tryouts for the team lineup, whether old or new, you will all have to fight for your place on the team sheet. So train hard."

After Song Feng finished speaking, the crowd broke out into discussion, especially the new archers. They thought that they had no hope. As such, hearing this was an unexpected joy, and they couldn't wait to prove themselves.

Tang Yan was also excited. This national trial was a chance into the Youth Olympics. The attention received from this far surpassed that of the provincial trial.

This was a great opportunity for him to prove himself at the national level.

"Everyone has a chance, but whether or not you can grasp it will be up to you." Song Feng encouraged.

After that, he turned and left.

In order to select the squad lineup, the provincial team would conduct a trial internally. Unlike before, this time, the selection was only out of 72 arrows.

After seeing Tang Yan's abilities in the practice hall, Dong Jie had helped sign him up for the 70-meter trial.

In the next few days, Tang Yan's 70m shooting improved steadily.