Chapter 310: Lou Lan’s Upgrade
Translator: Irene Editor: TYZ/KLKL
Lou Lan didn’t change much.
Ai Hui noticed Lou Lan’s eyes first. His eyes were now clear and bright, and heartwarmingly pure. Upon closer inspection, one could see a very mild, yellow halo reflected within his clear pupils. It was difficult for the naked eye to notice. The halo was extremely sensitive as it shrunk and expanded slightly.
Ai Hui circled around Lou Lan once and commented, "Lou Lan’s eyes became brighter."
"Yes, I learned [Earth Elemental Deciphering Technique]. And there’s this, Ai Hui."
Lou Lan raised his arms cheerfully. Ai Hui could see the ordinary yellow sand turning ink black. It carried an intense gold luster.
Ai Hui’s eyes lit up. "Meteoric Sand?"
"Yes," Lou Lan explained, "I used all of the meteoric sand to refine my hands so they won’t burn in flames and are resistant to sword injuries. Be it in making elemental food or in battling, I will be better able to assist you."
"That’s amazing!" Ai Hui cried out.
"There is silk floss sand and many other ingredients in my body now, so my morphing and fighting abilities are much stronger. My body can now unleash seventy percent of the Midnight’s abilities.
Ai Hui wasn’t sure of the connection between morphing and fighting strength. His concentration was on the later part of Lou Lan’s sentence. He was rather shocked. "Seventy percent? Is Midnight sand core that powerful?"
"I’ve not found any core better than mine," Lou Lan declared proudly but his tone dropped shortly. "I wonder how Master Shao is doing? I have not heard from him in a long time."
Seeing child-like Lou Lan being sad, Ai Hui patted his head and consoled him. "There are things that people have no choice but to do. This shows how brave Master Shao is."
Lou Lan raised his head, his eyes opened wide. "Will sand puppets experience such things?"
"Of course." Ai Hui couldn’t help but laugh. "Won’t you come to my rescue if I am in trouble?"
Lou Lan said loudly, "Don’t worry, Ai Hui. I will definitely save you!"
"Hahaha, you’re still the best, Lou Lan… Bah, how inauspicious! Why would I be in trouble?" Ai Hui said with a wretched face. He then thought about the fire lotus seeds and took a lotus seed head out abruptly. "Lou Lan, look at this."
Lou Lan’s eyes lit up at the sight of the lotus seed head. "Drought fire lotus seed head, fire lotus seeds!"
"So? Any suitable elemental soup in mind?" Ai Hui asked and started drooling.
"Yes, Ai Hui," said Lou Lan. Thinking for a short while he continued, "But more ingredients are needed. We don’t need so much. Thirty fire lotus seeds and the shell of the lotus seed head will be sufficient. Ai Hui, can we use the rest of the fire lotus seeds to exchange for other things?"
"No problem!" Ai Hui readily approved.
Just then, Ai Hui saw Jiang Wei standing by the door with a rather unpleasant expression on his face.
Walking in and seeing Lou Lan, Jiang Wei’s face brightened up significantly. "Long time no see, Lou Lan!"
Lou Lan replied cheerily, "Long time no see, Jiang Wei."
"What happened?" Ai Hui enquired.
With a bitter laugh, Jiang Wei responded, "Ai Hui, your identity has been found out."
"Oh." Ai Hui replied simply.
Hearing Ai Hui’s flat response, Jiang Wei couldn’t help but ask, "Aren’t you worried?"
"Worried about what?" Ai Hui asked instead, "It’s going to be revealed someday. We know each other, a little effort is all it takes to trace my identity. It’s no big deal. Plus, so what if my identity is exposed? Will someone find me bringing trouble?"
Jiang Wei answered anxiously, "I’m worried about Blood of God."
"Blood of God?" Thinking about the blood plum blossom in his body, he replied, "Other than She Yu, no one from there will find me."
As long as She Yu wasn’t a fool, she would never, on her own accord, reveal information about the [Life and Death Flower Sacrificial Technique Art] in her body. Not only would she conceal it, she would protect her own life. Otherwise, it wouldn’t just be wasted effort but even her own safety would be an issue.
If a strong player from Blood of God knew about this, he would simply kidnap She Yu and him alive and wait for his blood plum blossom to fall out in order to retrieve it.
That would then be a dreadful period where neither living or dying was bearable.
Such a smart person like One Thousand Yuan would not miss this fact.
Although he wasn’t aware of how confident Ai Hui was, Jiang Wei laid his worried heart to rest. He had almost given himself a slap upon hearing the news. He knew that Ai Hui would be the first victim since his identity had been exposed. While he didn’t know why Ai Hui concealed his identity in Peace City, he also knew that he must’ve had his own reasons.
Jiang Wei was beyond vexed. Why didn’t he think of waiting for a quiet time to connect with Ai Hui?
Ai Hui saw through Jiang Wei’s anxiety and laughed, "Don’t worry about it. I got rid of Sha Wuyuan, so there will definitely be people checking on my identity and it was only going to be a matter of time before they found something out. But since I’ve been exposed, please help me with something."
"Go ahead and tell me." Jiang Wei calmed down as the same steadiness from before returned to his face.
In Central Pine City, Ai Hui always had all sorts of ideas. Seeing Ai Hui’s expression, Jiang Wei knew Ai Hui had an idea already.
"Since I’ve been exposed, we might as well announce it publicly. You can release my true identity and it’s best that the whole city hears it. At the same time let them know our another piece of news, that I’m planning to dispose of my fire lotus seeds."
"You’re going to use fire lotus seeds?" Jiang Wei turned pale before dissuading, "You must keep it cool. Things like fire lotus seeds cannot be bought at all right now. You should keep them for yourselves."
"I don’t need that many." Ai Hui explained, "I plan to exchange the surplus for essence elemental beans and other ingredients that I need. You know, this war with Sha family hollowed me out and I’m broke to death."
Jiang Wei muttered, "How many are you planning to take out?"
"There were ninety-three and I used five so there’s eighty-eight now. I’m going to keep thirty for myself so there’s fifty-eight to be sold. I will write down a list of items that I need. My priority is to exchange for things that I require, then I’ll sell the rest to the highest bidder."
"Okay! The whole city will know of these two matters today." Jiang Wei gave Ai Hui a glance. "You must beware of your safety. Do not act tough. This is a signal for help, so use it when you’re in danger."
Jiang Wei handed a signal arrow to Ai Hui but was still a little worried inside. He had been through the controversy surrounding Ai Hui years ago.
This time, Ai Hui was going to reveal himself on his own accord. Conflicts might arise if people were reminded of past events.
Jiang Wei was determined that he would not just sit and watch if anyone, no matter who, came to seek trouble.
They were still weak and young at that time, but now they were not without strength.
No one knew what that war was about better than they did.
Ai Hui could see the determination in Jiang Wei’s eyes and felt his heart warming up. He took the arrow, saying, "New product eh, I’ve not seen it before. Don’t worry, I just killed Sha Wuyuan so most will not dare to trouble me. If they do come, I will not let them off easily."
Jiang Wei smiled upon seeing Ai Hui’s confident face.
Yeah, since when had Ai Hui been an easy target?
"Then I’ll go get busy! Bye, Lou Lan!" Without any superfluous words, Jiang Wei waved goodbye.
"Bye, Jiang Wei!"
Seeing Jiang Wei’s disappearing figure, Lou Lan said suddenly, "Ai Hui, everyone’s pretty good."
"Yeah." Ai Hui nodded. "Lou Lan, you gotta start working. Our training hall needs to be reorganized and tidied up."
"No problem." Lou Lan responded lightheartedly, but when he saw Ai Hui picking up a broken wooden block and walking towards the main entrance, he couldn’t help but ask, "You are…"
"Choose a new price!"
Ai Hui replied without even turning his head.
Soon, there was a newly hung wooden board on the main entrance of the swordsman training hall that said: " Fees, two hundred essence elemental beans per person."
Publicity, good or bad, was still publicity. If he did not use this chance to jack the price up, he would simply be letting down his empty purse and conscience.
Ai Hui shook his head and swaggered his way back in.
God-subduing Peak flew speedily as the shadow casted by its summit swept past violently like a beast stuck to the ground. Alarmed cries could be heard wherever God-subduing Peak passed.
Whenever she had the time, Shi Xueman would be practicing since, counting just training venues alone, there were about seven. There were also quiet rooms designed for meditation and there were wide ones for actual practicing of skills.
A stern looking middle-aged man in grey garments and cloth shoes stood perfectly straight, his short hair stiff like steel wires. His short mustache was well-managed and he looked clean overall. His gaze was like lightning as he observed Shi Xueman, who was practicing in the training hall.
There were no wisps of elemental energy waves around Shi Xueman. Her moves looked very ordinary.
The middle-aged man looked on in admiration nevertheless. Indeed, within the Shi family, she was the one who was most likely going to continue Shi Beihai’s legacy. Not even a strand of Shi Xueman’s elemental energy overflowed as she contained it well inside. What seemed like ordinary spear moves were actually difficult to execute and control.
Upon attaining elemental externalization, the barrier between elementalists and Nature’s elemental energies was broken, and utilizing the energy became second nature to the elementalists.
Yet, Shi Xueman did the very opposite. She controlled her elemental externalization without releasing it. Such training allowed her spear mastery to go to an even higher base level.
Shi Xueman held her spear vertically beside her as the fog lingered on around her whole body, surging ceaselessly without scattering.
She opened her eyes, exhaled deeply and the surrounding fog started to dissipate. She then walked toward the exit.
The middle-aged man praised her, saying, "Soon enough, among the younger generation, no one will have better spear mastery than you do."
"You flatter me, Uncle Cui. Please guide me along." Shi Xueman replied respectfully, satisfaction absent from her face.
Uncle Cui was the real deal in God-subduing Peak. He was Master Cui Tianzheng. Without a master overseeing it, no one would dare to underestimate such a heavy weapon like God-subduing Peak.
Cui Tianzheng was very close to Shi Beihai and was asked by him to guide Shi Xueman since he had the qualifications.
Cui Zhengtian said in a low voice, "You may be lacking in certain areas but even jades have their flaws so don’t worry about it. You have a strong foundation that no one can compete with. You are on the right track, so as long as you remain patient and continue this way, you can rise up to be one of the strongest."
Shi Xueman bowed. "I’ll remember your wise words well."
Cui Tianzheng gave a slight smile. "I’ll practice with you from tomorrow onwards."
Shi Xueman was overjoyed. "Thanks, Uncle Cui."
Uncle Cui caught sight of Sang Zhijun, who was standing not far away. With a "Go get busy", he turned around and left.
Only when Cui Tianzheng was no longer in sight did Sang Zhijun rush over to give her report. "Xueman, look!"
She took the report over and gave it a few glances. Her eyes lit up and blurted out, "So he’s here!"
Seeing Ai Hui’s open declaration of his identity, she felt somewhat suspicious. "What is this fellow trying to do?"
She knew clearly that Ai Hui was someone who would not get up early if there were no benefits, so he definitely wasn’t the kind to act without thinking.