The Expert

Chi Ch'ang was determined to become the best Archer in the world, but with this came a lot of disipline. He became Wei Fei's pupil. During this time with Wei Fei (three years) he trained himself not to blink, to shoot 100 arrows at a target to make a straight line, to shoot off eyelashes, and how to make a minute insect appear to be the size of an elephant. Wei Fei had been declared the greatest archer in the city of Hantan, and Chi Ch'ang wanted to change that. He stalked Wei Fei in a field and began to shoot arrows at him, but he knew they were coming. Both shot at eachother but the arrows kept colliding in the middle. Once they were both out of arrows, they ran to eachother to embrace. Wei Fei knew that he would attack again so he told Chi Ch'ang about Kan Ying, who was the greatest archer in the west and lived in a cave on Mount Ho. He traveled for days until he met Kan Ying. He was not impressed by Chi Ch'ang at all when he first arrived. He had him climb higher up on his mountain and shoot down a bird that was so far away it looked to be the size of a grain of rice. Chi Ch'ang stumbled on the shifting ground and loose rocks; he was unable to shot the bird. Kan Ying took his place and shot the bird with one try. Chi Ch'ang stayed in the mountains for ten years. On his arrival home, he was mute and did not pick up his poplar bow once. He told the people of Hantan that the unlitmate in shooting is not to shoot. Rumors and tales flew through surrounding areas about Chi Ch'ang. People said he would shoot stars on his roof and float on clouds at night, but no one actually saw him shoot his bow. When he was about to die, he asked one of his pupils what was sitting beside him and the pupil was shocked; Chi Ch'ang had forgotten what a bow was and how it was used. After this, artists threw away their brushes, musicans broke the strings off instruments, and carpenters were ashamed to be seen with rulers.

This story was actually pretty good. It was not about desperate women and old horny men. Chi Ch'ang was overly devoted in my opinion but he stuck to his dreams. He did loose his wife but she did not support him in the first place. He may have been a little selfish but I admire his attitude and determination.