Chapter 187: Manager Li and Bunny Hair Arrow
Translator: Irene Editor: CakeHermit
It took Ai Hui two hours to break free from his trance.
He sat motionless on the ground, giggling. He looked battered and exhausted and his whole body was thoroughly soaked. His face and scalp were covered in sweat and his upper arms were so tired it was as if they were paralyzed.
Two hours had resulted in two moves. They were all simple strokes, nothing complicated. The combination of the [Minute Arc Stab] and [Hilt Mist] was already considered more complex. There was another inclined move, but the only change lay in its angle. He tried almost all the angles a few times before finally finding the optimal one. He named the combination of [Minute Arc Stab] and [Hilt Mist] as [Misty Strike] and the inclined move as [Oblique Slash].
The change that had occurred in those two moves were so great that even without the sword embryo’s heartbeat, Ai Hui could still feel their wholesome change.
The old strokes were now like dance moves, graceful, yet full of power. Sword manuals without spiritual force were like fishes without water. Whether willingly or not, they had long become useless; throwing fishes into the river also led to a dead end.
A change in the environment meant that a lot of things had to be redone.
No matter how splendid Ai Hui’s swordsmanship had once been and no matter how many swordplay manuals were left behind, it was difficult for them to fit into this era without some alterations.
Ai Hui still had not found out the reason behind this. A slight alteration would cause the nature of a sword move to change completely.
Perhaps there was a resonance between the sword and elemental energy?
No idea.
But he knew that he had found the key to solve what the sword techniques lacked.
There were still many sword moves waiting for him to explore and change. He had ample time to search and understand them, so that was a good start. In the past, he had improvised and used the [Gale Bat Blade] technique, but this time he was going to take it a step further. He had seen countless sword manuals and despite having no idea how to practice them, he knew how the cultivators had done so during the Cultivation Era.
The [Smoke Meteor] and [Oblique Slash] made him realize that all the sword moves had to be changed starting from the most basic strokes in order to adapt to the elemental energy era.
This was his greatest reward for the night.
He never would have thought of this if he hadn’t been struck by a brainwave. There were some sword moves that possessed formidable power even without operating any elemental energy.
He thought about how he had to come up with a resounding name for this swordplay series when he was done perfecting it.
For now… he completely did not feel like touching it!
He lay on the ground, gazing up at the pitch-black sky.
Fatty felt himself dreaming a long dream. He dreamt that he was swimming in a boundless lava river. Swimming and swimming for god knows how long, but never escaping the fire sea.
Muddle-headed, he opened his eyes to find Lou Lan, whose face was almost completely covered by a mask, blocking his view.
“Fatty, you’re really amazing!” Lou Lan exclaimed in admiration, his eyes shining. “The result was outstanding. Congratulations Fatty, four palaces! Seems like the effectiveness of the dragon soup has something to do with the number of times one consumes it. Yeah, I’ll have to note this down. Please don’t worry, Fatty. I’ll definitely do more research and brew an even better dragon soup!”
Loss was evident in Fatty’s face. Upon hearing the words “Dragon Soup”, he couldn’t help but shiver. He finally remembered what he had been doing before he lost his memory.
Snapping out of it, he looked at Lou Lan as if he had seen a ghost. He shook his head bluntly and replied furiously, “Lou Lan, I’m never drinking your soup again. I still want to live.”
“Why? Dragon soup isn’t toxic. Although it gets less effective over time, it is still very useful. It can raise your level within a short period of time. You can definitely open up your fifth palace with another bowl,” responded Lou Lan with confidence.
Another bowl…
Just thinking about that frightening experience made him tremble again. He would drink a second bowl over his dead body.
Just then, someone staggered in, their body covered in blood. Seeing who it was, Ai Hui jolted up!
“Manager Li!”
Manager Li’s body was covered in blood and he was carrying a pouch. Seeing Ai Hui, radiance filled Manager Li’s empty eyes. “Brother…”
Having endured until this point, he was already completely exhausted. His legs went soft, causing him to plunge forward.
Ai Hui suddenly sprang over with a large stride and held onto Manager Li. He then saw that Manager Li was almost eaten clean. Bones were exposed all over his back, making Ai Hui speechless.
“These are Bunny Hair Arrows…” Manager Li looked at Ai Hui and smiled, grief and regret evident in his expression. “Pardon me, I can’t settle the accounts anymore…”
Manager Li opened his eyes wide as his last wisp of spirit dissipated and he stopped breathing altogether.
Ai Hui held onto him, as motionless as a statue.
Emerging out of his daze after a while, sorrow was missing from his face. He freed one hand to retrieve the pouch in Manager Li’s arms. There were twenty Bunny Hair Arrows inside. After putting them on the ground, Ai Hui carried Manager Li on his back, turned around, and walked deep into the garden.
Ai Hui was momentarily brought back to the Wilderness, where he had witnessed comrades around him collapse one after the other. Profound helplessness and despair enveloped him.
He started digging without a word. He had never helped Fatty out in the past when Fatty had buried their teammates.
Actually, the relationship he’d had with Manager Li wasn’t very close or anything. They were merely business partners. The Dragonspine Inferno in his hands lifted lumps of earth with each swing.
So, why was he sad?
There was nothing to be sad about. Everyone would die someday, and he might even be next; who was going to dig his grave when that time came? Okay, so nothing mattered after death. There was no difference between being buried or eaten by blood fiends.
By the end of the burial, Ai Hui was back to his normal state of mind. He was used to seeing people leave this world.
“Are you okay?” Shi Xueman walked over to his side, concern evident in her voice.
“Yeah.” Ai Hui answered with his usual expression.
Changing the topic, Shi Xueman asked, “You left the students with me. Isn’t that kind of irresponsible?”
“Why do I have to be responsible?” Ai Hui responded.
Ai Hui’s hoodlum behavior ticked Shi Xueman off. “So you were just bullshitting the dean?”
“I only agreed to let them follow.” Ai Hui continued matter-of-factly, “If I have to be responsible, the president has to take more blame.”
Shi Xueman did not know whether to laugh or cry. She stared into Ai Hui’s eyes, unable to fathom that this scoundrel before her was the same guy that had led them during the battle!
Okay, to be honest, this guy’s splendid performance over the past few days had confounded the image she’d had of him.
He’d paid the bill for a female classmate but was so adamant about her returning the money...
He owed eighty million yuan but had the guts to call people money-losing deal…
Money! Losing! Deal!
These three words floated across Shi Xueman’s eyes. Veins on the hand holding Cirrus throbbed as she wanted so badly to stab three holes into his body!
Impulse was the devil… this was the real face of this fellow.
Cooling down, Shi Xueman questioned, “Don’t tell me you have no advice for them?”
“My suggestion? Try hard to stay alive.” These superfluous words came out of Ai Hui’s mouth as he kept a serious face.
Shi Xueman no longer wanted to reason with him. She said simply, “Give Zhijun to me too.”
“As long as she agrees.” Ai Hui replied indifferently, throwing the bloodstained pouch to Sang Zhijun. “Use them wisely!”
Sang Zhijun caught it before reassuring him in all seriousness, “I will!”
Actually, witnessing Manager Li’s death was a big blow to her.
Shi Xueman walked towards Sang Zhijun without giving Ai Hui a single look. She couldn’t read him sometimes. After calling him a scoundrel, he actually became all generous by gifting Sang Zhijun twenty Bunny Hair Arrows. Shi Xueman had seen how Sang Zhijun bought her Bunny Hair arrows and knew how expensive they were. Sang Zhijun couldn’t even bear to fire them if not for emergency use.
And he had given her twenty arrows just like that.
Yet he wouldn’t let one hundred and fifty yuan go… what a weird fellow.
Okay, these were not important. What was important was the fact that he dared to call her “money-losing deal”!
Every step that she took carried murderous spirit.
Initially quite surprised by Ai Hui, the students were utterly shocked by now and their eyes were wide open. They glared at him, clearly infuriated by his careless words from before.
Towards Shi Xueman’s invitation, Sang Zhijun agreed quickly. She was a smart woman and knew herself well. In order to be of greater value to the team, she had to be put in an auxiliary position.
“What an amazing lady!” Fatty, now clear-headed, walked over to Ai Hui’s side and commented in a low voice.
Ai Hui looked Fatty up and down before saying, “Not bad, four palaces. I have something expensive to give you!”
Upon hearing the word “expensive”, Fatty’s eyes shone. “I knew you wouldn’t forget your own people! What is it?”
Ai Hui pointed to the half-a-man tall vat in the garden. “There, a fire vat used specially by fire elementalists.”
At Ai Hui’s words, Fatty’s face lit up. A fire vat was one of the weapons used commonly by fire elementalists. Usually the vat would be filled with earth-fire lava broth, which not only was helpful for everyday training but was also a highly formidable, powerful weapon in times of battle.
“Fire vat… is it too early?” Fatty asked, eyes bright as he rubbed his hands, slightly embarrassed. When he finally saw the huge vat in the garden, his face stiffened up. “Ai Hui, you meant this vat?”
Fatty was frightened by the volume of this vat. The Steady Mountain heavy armor on his body coupled with the Ironwood Shield was about sixty pounds, and the big vat before his eyes looked at least two hundred and twenty pounds… And there was the three-hundred-and-thirty-pound lava broth…
For a moment, Fatty felt that his life was bleak.
“Don’t want it?” Ai Hui gave Fatty a look before adding, “Just as well. This fire vat was originally made to be a Heaven-grade weapon, but became a failure because it was too big. I was actually worried that it would affect your speed.”
Hearing that the material used to make it was worthy of a Heaven-grade weapon, his small eyes quickly brightened up. “I want it! Who said I don’t want it! It suits me too well! No one else would have a use for it. It’s no wonder the material seems different…”
Fatty’s whole face was almost squashed flat against the outer wall of the fire vat. He was completely enchanted. He got even more excited after seeing the inscription on the vat.
An elementalist descended from the sky. “Who’s Ai Hui?”
“I am.” Ai Hui stood up.
“Please get your team ready and assemble at the intersection of Soundwave Street and Brightflower Street at six o’clock. The target of attack and sequence will be arranged for you. Latecomers will be dealt with by martial law.”
The elementalist ordered expressionlessly, not revealing any emotion. Finishing up, he turned around and left in a hurry
The atmosphere instantly became grave and stifling.