Chapter 230: The Remaining Problems

Translator: Irene Editor: X

It had not occurred to Ai Hui that the longsword in his hand could actually absorb heaven and earth elemental energy.

However, he had no time to care about this now. He was engrossed in the thrill of reaching the Inner Element level. That enveloping, incorporeal barrier had suddenly disappeared, and he felt indescribably relaxed.

A whole new world presented itself in front of him.

The dark, ice-cold elemental energy world was now fresh and lively. Metal, wood, water, fire, earth. Agile, warm, lively, ever-changing, and full of vitality. They were so richly colorful and brought endless changes,

Ai Hui was like an ignorant youth who had just barged his way into a multi-colored, multi-faceted forest and saw the sunlight, dewdrops, and countless lifeforms.

He was moved beyond words.

The brightly-colored elemental energy was incomparably attractive and had firmly captured Ai Hui’s heart.

At that moment, he had forgotten about battling and killing. He was like a curious young man, lingering and losing himself amid these five mutable elemental energies.

It was hard to mull things over because the changes were too rapid.

What attracted Ai Hui the most were the five delicate elemental rings. Each was connected head to tail, like perfect color rings. Each elemental ring was different, yet equally captivating. Their circulatory changes were endless.

The heaven and earth elemental energy was like a vast, boundless ocean. It rippled and drifted. Breathtakingly dazzling, these fine circulations were like pearls spread throughout the ocean.

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Ai Hui relished this moment, feeling the energy so clearly for the first time

It was a completely different experience from that of the sword embryo. The latter was a state of absolute calm and free from emotions, as if in his eyes, there was no life and death in heaven or on earth. Now, he was like a wistful fellow, able to deeply feel the exquisite changes occurring within the elemental energy and sense the faintly discernable, yet omnipresent breath of life.

With a pensive look on his face, Ai Hui figured that it was probably this breath of life that produced the diverse Avalon of Five Elements.

Amid the vast ocean of elemental energy, Ai Hui also noticed a familiar odor. The specks of silver light were like fragmented and scattered stars. They were metal elemental energies.

He could feel the metal elemental energy-rich ground beneath his feet, but this elemental energy was so substantial and heavy that stepping on top made him feel so small and insignificant.

The elemental energy cleansed his body without interruption as he felt his body change. The metal elemental energy poured into his lungs and they became like strong and tough bellows made from metal membranes. Each expansion and contraction brought abundant vitality and powerful breaths. The wood elemental energy entered his liver and thriving life force flooded every single part of his body. The fire elemental energy filled his his heart, making each heartbeat warm and powerful like a smelting furnace as well as providing it with limitless force. Voluminous water elemental energy permeated his kidneys like a sudden convergence of cloud-mist from all different directions, producing quiet raindrops that nourished all living things.

Change was so magical! Ai Hui exclaimed in admiration, deeply moved by the mystical creator of it all.

The influx of heaven and earth elemental energy would not cause immediate changes to his body, but with consistent nourishment and time, his body would undergo an all-around improvement.

It was also at this time that Ai Hui finally understood why few would engage in body tempering before achieving Initial Completion.

After Initial Completion, the nourishment brought by the heaven and earth elemental energy into an elementalist’s body was holistic. Tempering on this basis would then produce twice the result with half the work. Plus, the elementalist would be more sensitive to elemental energy after Initial Completion, enhancing the effect of tempering.

Ai Hui was engrossed in the beauty of it all when he suddenly sensed that something was amiss.

The longsword in his hand.

The fact that it could absorb the heaven and earth elemental energy was shocking, but he had not had time to notice since he was too absorbed in the moment. He immediately roused when the longsword started to show precarious signs.

When Ai Hui placed his attention back on the longsword, he instantly sensed trouble.

This longsword was thrown to him by Shi Xueman. It was the most ordinary and standard kind of longsword. Heaven and earth elemental energy poured into the longsword violently and incessantly, quickly exceeding the sword’s endurance level. A crack started to appear on the sword surface and the clear, bright light ray penetrated through it.

More and more cracks surfaced.

Ai Hui’s heart sank. This was the crucial moment of advancement. During a breakthrough, one could feel many subtle, wonderful things that were usually difficult to detect. It was a rare opportunity.

Who knew that the longsword would not be able to handle the energy flow at this critical juncture.

Damn it!

Even Ai Hui, who was usually a calm fellow, felt like cursing now. He had thought that it was a good thing for the longsword to open the palace door but who would have thought...

The number of cracks increased, and in the blink of an eye, the sword body was filled with dense fissures.

Not good!

The longsword in Ai Hui’s hand exploded before he could even cry out in alarm.

In a flash, the longsword was ripped apart by the violent surge of elemental energy. The burst of elemental energy swallowed the shattered pieces, turning them into fine powder before they could even disperse.

Ai Hui’s body jerked. The light whirlpool in between his brows dimmed, but carried an indescribable familiarity, causing him to stare blankly.

It was as if his mind had sprinted over a vast area of light, flown far away in the blink of an eye, withdrawn, and disappeared like lightning before fully experiencing everything.

Ai Hui’s eyes opened wide as he realized that that indescribable familiarity felt a little like the sword embryo’s explosion, just much lighter and shorter.

So short that he could not even react in time.

He did not know why, but during that short moment, his mind felt something. Unfortunately, that scene flashed past his head like lightning and left only fuzziness.

It was as if underground...

Ai Hui snapped out of it. Perhaps blood fiends wanted to infiltrate Central Pine city from underground, but he did not worry too much about it. While Central Pine City was not able to prevent blood fiends from encroaching from underground, the tight security would still be able to detect the first signs of danger.

He was only concerned about himself right now.

Only a bare sword hilt remained in his hand. The worst thing was that his moment of enlightenment had been disrupted.

Everyone, not just Ai Hui, was startled by this sudden change of events. They were still shaken by the fact that Ai Hui’s sword could open a palace door, but in the next moment, it exploded.

For a moment, all were in a daze.

Ai Hui reacted the fastest. Although he was annoyed, he checked his body immediately. This was partly due to his experience, since his training had always been rough and situations always emerged. Many things, such as the sword embryo, had been created carelessly and by chance.

To him, having all kinds of situations surface from training were common occurrences.

He was still able to keep calm in the face of problems.

Shi Xueman and the rest were nervous. Being disrupted when undergoing a breakthrough had consequences. If lucky, there would simply be no breakthrough, but if unfortunate, one could get severely injured. Right now, having placed all their faith in Ai Hui, everyone wished that they were the ones who failed instead of Ai Hui.

Ai Hui’s role was not replaceable. What they really hoped for was an intact and unharmed Ai Hui.

No one dared to even exhale, for fear of disturbing Ai Hui.

The atmosphere turned heavy and stifling.

Ai Hui opened his eyes after a while.

"How is it?" Shi Xueman could not help but ask, her eyes filled with concern.

Ai Hui noticed the worry in Shi Xueman’s eyes and his heart warmed up a little. Iron lady was being petty for not paying him the money, but she was actually a decent person. He nodded his head. "Still okay."

Still okay?

Shi Xueman stared blankly for a little while before expressing her discontentment. "What does that mean?"

"Still okay, meaning the result isn’t too bad." Ai Hui noticed that Shi Xueman’s eye was twitching. As if he had seen her steely muscles throbbing under the armor, Ai Hui was startled and added quickly, "It’s more complicated. Simply speaking, Initial Completion was a success. There is an increase in elemental energy and it is mostly all sorted out, but there are many remaining problems with my body."

Shi Xueman felt a little more at ease, but was still curious. "Remaining problems?"

Just then, Ai Hui’s right arm spasmed uncontrollably. This sudden change shocked everyone present, including Shi Xueman.

"Look," Ai Hui didn’t seem to mind as he said with a calm expression, "the remaining lightning within my body flares up intermittently."

In response for scaring him with her twitching eyes, Ai Hui decided to return the favor. "I am "The Lightning Blade," how can I not carry electricity? You’d better stay far away from me, Iron Lady. Steel conducts electricity so don’t blame me if you get electrocuted."

Shi Xueman’s eye started twitching again. Steel... but she endured. Focus on the greater situation!

She continued, "Any methods to remove it? Any other issues?"

"As for the remaining lightning, so far no. No big issues." Ai Hui saw Shi Xueman’s face darken and quickly added, "There’s something wrong with my sky palace, hand palaces, sea palace, and elemental energy."

"You call that ‘no big issues?’" Shi Xueman glared at him, as if she saw a ghost. "There’s something wrong with four out of eight palaces and you’re telling me there’s no big issues? Something also went wrong with your elemental energy. Is there anything worse than this? Body as well. Any other parts of your body with no issue?"

She simply could not understand. Each problem seemed extremely serious to her. This fellow was usually exceptionally calm and cautious, so why was he acting so thoughtlessly right now?

Everyone was dumbstruck. They did not expect Ai Hui’s body to be hit with so many problems. He was badly damaged.

"Now that you mention it, it does seem pretty serious." Ai Hui smiled meekly. "Actually it’s not that severe."

He really did think that it was not serious. For example, his hand palaces, sea palace, and body problems were related to the remnant lightning. The problem with his elemental energy was that the elemental energy pills had not been tested, so the result was unknown. Finally, the sky palace’s issue was related to the sword embryo’s remaining motions.

As compared to when he just woke up, his battle strength had recovered significantly. Things were taking a turn for the better.

Throughout his training journey and experience, he had had to deal with even more challenging issues, so this was not a big deal to him.

Things were really much better now that he was more knowledgeable. Plus, he was starting to understand a rough idea of the ongoing events.

Just then, a mournful-sounding alarm went off from far away.

The flash of fuzziness from before came back to him.

The blood fiends were indeed invading the city. He felt slightly at ease since the alarms sounded.

Soon, however, his pupils constricted. A bright red signal rocketed up and across the black sky.

Someone was asking for assistance!