Chapter 77: The Awakening
Translator: JL Editor: Pranav
Ai Hui woke up in a daze. He had a bad dream, in which he was struggling in the middle of a gale and was unable to grasp ahold of anything. He had also dreamt of Fatty, who was carrying his corpse and sitting in a pool of mud, crying, his tears lost to the brutal winds.
He had dreamt of Boss, who had made him burn all the swordplay manuals. He had stood in the empty training hall for ages, feeling helpless and lost.
Ai Hui woke up.
His eyes were unfocused and dull; but after a moment, his gaze started to focus, and a feeble ray of light was lit up in the midst of an endless sea of gray and bleakness. It lit up the cold, engraved face of the metal and stone wall, akin to a spring breeze that vigorously blows and revitalizes the wintry landscape of the wilderness, delivering a fresh breath of life.
He had not experienced a nightmare for a long time.
He rested on the bed and stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.
How was Fatty doing now? Was he still going around as a swindler and not training?
Do not consume so much sugar, you are already so fat. If someone bullies you, remember the name but do not tell me. Even if you tell me, at least wait till I have higher skills than now. Or else if I am unable to curb the urge to avenge you, both of us would be in a terrible situation. Do not worry, I will train properly. If I am unable to defeat them, I will beat you instead, for provoking such a highly skilled enemy.
He wondered how Boss’s life was in the heavens. He guessed that there was no more swordsmanship in heaven.
Boss, you must do as the natives do. As a human, no, as a ghost, you must be more realistic and not be so stubborn. Do not conduct business as you are not suitable. Find a stable job and do it well instead. There should be dozens of jobs like that in the heavens. It would not be qualified to be called ‘heaven’ if there were no stable jobs there.
Ai Hui, you must work hard.
After telling himself that last sentence, he let out a long breath. The nightmare and the negative emotions were also exhaled out with the air.
He went back to his usual self. The dull and dark state, the fearfulness, and the feeling of being a coward had all vanished as if nothing had even happened.
His gaze was steady and calm. He was still the formidable Ai Hui who was scared of nothing.
He struggled to get out of bed but was met with a sharp pain in his left arm.
He expertly ascertained that his bone was fractured; this was not the first time he had met with such an injury. Recalling the last moment when he rushed out of the Suspending Golden Pagoda, he seemed to have knocked into something and had evidently injured himself. He did not realize that it was his left arm.
As long as it was bound up properly and treated with medication, Ai Hui would recover in no time. He had ample experience—external injuries such as fractures seemed to be serious on the surface, but in reality, they were not a big issue. As long as they would be treated properly and on time, there would be a rapid recovery. An internal injury, on the other hand, was a real nuisance. It would be very troublesome if there were injuries to the five residences and eight palaces.
He reckoned that he was in big trouble. Ai Hui laughed bitterly.
He was in a bit of a mess.
He still did not know the condition within his body.
Suddenly, he heard sounds of squabbling come from outside.
"Shouchuan, he truly is a genius! He just opened his natal residence and could use the [Twin Weaving Technique] to weave the elemental cloth. Till now, I am unable to comprehend how he did it. This is simply too unfathomable!"
The voice of the old lady was filled with admiration.
Ai Hui secretly felt pleased. Being praised by others was indeed a happy thing, not to mention that he had sacrificed a lot.
"He is a genius! A weaving genius! Shouchuan, it was my fault previously. His talent is simply amazing, you must let him come to the embroidery workshop. I will educate him personally, and I want to take him as a closed-door disciple!" The old lady was evidently very agitated.
Ai Hui was struck dumb. Please don’t. Although weaving was a profitable job and offered a bright future, he was, after all, a man. It would be very awkward to always be dealing with weaving for the rest of his life.
The old man was initially pleased, but once he heard that the old lady wanted to fight over Ai Hui, he could not care less anymore. "This is out of the question! He is my disciple! I have only one disciple, and he is going to be carrying my legacy in the future."
"You are wasting his talent! You are being irresponsible!" The old lady coldly remarked, "Given your insubstantial theories, he could still follow and learn."
"Whatever you say, my answer shall still be definitely no!" The old man rejected her bluntly.
The old lady immediately became angry. "Wang Shouchuan, what do you mean by this? I have already apologized to you. What more do you want me to do? I have been following you for so many years, and this is how you treat me? It was my fault previously. When did I ever benefit from any good fortune after being with you for so long? When did I beg you for anything? If you are at the Induction Ground, I will follow you to the Induction ground. I let you squander whatever you want, and this is how you treat me? Wang Shouchuan, you better explain things to me clearly today! Boo hoo hoo….."
Looking at his old partner reduced to tears, Wang Shouchuan became terrified. He softened his tone. "I did not say anything. Why are you crying?" My disciple is also your disciple. If he does not learn properly, you can break his legs."
Li Wei and Mingxiu were at the side, looking down at the floor and standing still like statues. Li Wei felt weak and inwardly regretted that he rushed over. The spectacle unfolding did not seem like it was supposed to be seen by an outsider like him.
Teacher, oh Teacher, please do not hold this against me, Li Wei thought to himself.
Mingxiu had seen many such spectacles and did not feel too awkward. However, she also knew not to cut in at this moment.
Seeing that his old partner had stifled her sobs, Wang Shouchuan continued, "But we have to consider Ai Hui’s opinion as well."
Having heard that, the old lady stopped crying and raised her voice. "He has objections?"
Ai Hui, who was in the nearby room, felt his heart tremble.
"Of course, he would not have objections." Wang Shouchuan coughed lightly. "Look at how much he wanted to enter the embroidery workshop. But we have to think over this properly. If he were a girl, I would give him to you without a second thought. But he is a boy, and you are more familiar with weaving than me. When was there a male weaving master? I am also clear of his temperament—he loves to fight. Learning to weave is one thing, but to let him weave for the rest of his life might be difficult for him."
The old lady became silent.
Wang Shouchuan’s sentence was straight to the point. In fact, before she came, she too had felt that it was a pity that Ai Hui wasn’t a girl. While it wasn’t to say that there were no males who learned to weave, they were incredibly rare. Not to mention that there were no male weavers who had managed to achieve any accomplishments.
Seeing that he was winning the argument, Wang Shouchuan quickly continued, "My point is, let him go to the embroidery workshop when he has recovered. Let him learn first, and we will decide from there. We should not be anxious about whether he has good skills or whether he is interested in weaving. His future should still be decided by him."
The old lady’s face was not as black as before, and she gave a snort and said, "Finally there is a humane sentence coming from you, after wasting so many of my tears. Mingxiu, let us go back to the embroidery workshop."
With that, she left haughtily, without a trace of that tearful grandmother of a few moments ago.
"Uncle, we are leaving." Mingxiu hurriedly bowed to Wang Shouchuan, waved to Li Wei, and ran after her master.
Wang Shouchuan looked at his old departing partner and let out a sigh of relief. The battle that he had just fought had given him a huge shock. He grabbed the teapot that was on the table and started to take big gulps of water.
Putting down the teapot, he asked Li Wei, who was at the side, "What happened to you again?"