The Avalon Of Five Elements

Silver City was a city located at the upper most reach of the Silver Mist River. It was also the largest city in the Silver Mist Sea.

There was a grand dike standing between two tall and imposing mountains, completely level with the peaks of the two mountains. The dike was more than three thousand metres tall, making the lofty mountain range surrounding it look comparatively small and unintimidating.

The Silver Mist Dike was one of the most magnificent constructions in the Avalon of Five Elements. After generations of reinforcements, its height kept increasing. Its construction lasted for eight hundred years. The construction was officially completed when the highest point of the dike leveled with the two peaks of the mountains beside it.

The most striking part of the Silver Mist Dike was its gigantic sluice gate.

Like an enormous prehistoric monster, it was lying dormant and only woke up from its slumber on the first of every month. The roaring Silver Mist River would pour down in torrents, becoming a massive waterfall. When sunlight was reflected upon it, it resembled a powerful surging waterfall that was made up of countless silver swords.

Beneath the Silver Mist Dike was a mountain range. On the two sides of the Silver Mist River, there were densely-packed pagoda forests. Pagodas were some of the most commonly seen structures on the banks of the Silver Mist River. They also possessed the unique characteristics of the Silver Mist Sea. Most of these pagodas were shining with a metallic lustre, resembling swords that were pointing towards the sky when seen from afar.

The lands on both sides of the Silver Mist River were extremely expensive. This was the best area of the Silver City and every plot of land was being fully utilized. Hence, the pagodas, which was a type of structure that was seldom found in other places, became the emblem of the Silver City and Silver Mist Sea.

Silver Mist Sea was heavily-guarded to prevent anyone from trespassing. In many people’s eyes, it was an extremely mysterious place. A one-time entry would cost a considerable amount of Heaven Merit Points.

The airspace of Silver Mist Sea was restricted to flying and was guarded by patrolling elementalists as well.

The world that was shrouded by boundless silver mist behind the majestic Silver Mist Dike was not as cold as what everyone thought, though very few people knew it. In contrast, it was abnormally bustling with activity.

There were also very few people who knew that there were three islands in the Silver Mist Sea.

Each of the three islands had a pagoda. These pagodas were called the Elders Pagodas, especially designed for the metal-attributed Elders from the Elder Guilds. Metal-attributed Elders would live and train in these pagodas, freely making use of the metal elemental energy there. From this, one could see how imposing and prestigious the Elders Guild was.

The training efficiency in Elders Pagodas was countless times better than the outside world’s. Only an Elder could enjoy such superior privileges.

And because of this, every term’s contest for the placings in Elders Guild was extremely intense.

There was a rule that every term of Elders Guild could have at most three Elders with the same elemental attribute. This was for the sake of bringing the five elements into balance in the Elders Guild.

In reality, this current term’s Elders Guild only had two metal-attributed Elders.

The three pagodas were called Pagoda of Purity, Pagoda of Refinement and Pagoda of Hidden Edge. Currently, only Pagoda of Refinement and Pagoda of HIdden Edge were occupied by the Elders. The Pagoda of Purity had been empty for many years.

Each of the other two Elders Pagodas did not just house one Elder. On the contrary, the two Elders Pagodas were overpopulated.

The thirteen Elders were highly revered and powerful. Everyday, there were plenty of important matters and trivial issues for them to decide on and settle. The elders alone could not even finish dealing with so many things.

Other than the Elders themselves, there were other people living in the Elders Pagodas too. It was the greatest honor for those who could be there to listen to the Elders’ teachings or wait on the Elders. As such, these people were extremely proud of themselves. They were specifically known as pagoda attendants.

If the Sky Edge Division and the Infantry Division were the backbones of Silver Mist Sea, then the three Elders Pagodas were the brain of the Silver Mist Sea.

At this point in time, the Hidden Edge Pagoda was silent and solemn, except for one lively voice.

"Wow, he’s really extraordinary. After vanishing without a trace for the last three years, the moment he appeared he slayed a Sand Sentinel. Drought Fire Lotus? Why didn’t I think of that?"

All the pagoda attendants stood silently with their heads lowered.

The voice came from a ten metre tall silver glowing cocoon. The silver glowing cocoon was made up of concentrated metal elemental energy. Wisps of metal elemental energy were obtained from the silver mist through the weapons hung under the roof eaves at each level of the pagoda, and then gathered at the pagoda’s apex. Subsequently, the wisps of metal elemental energy materialized into a silvery elemental energy pillar that descended from the apex of the pagoda and formed this silvery glowing cocoon.

The glowing cocoon might seem stationary but in actual fact, it was spinning at a terrifying speed.

Within the glowing cocoon, there was a skinny figure seated in a cross-legged position. He was one of the members of the current term’s Elders Guild, Yuchi Ba.

The metal elemental energy that the Elders could not finish absorbing would be dispersed in the pagoda. Hence, the concentration of metal elemental energy within the pagoda would be very strong, providing huge assistance for training the pagoda attendants.

However, at this moment, no one was absorbing the metal elemental energy. Everyone was listening attentively to the Elder and trying to understand the implications behind his words. The pagoda attendants had followed Elder Yuchi for many years. They knew that Elder Yuchi had always admired Ai Hui.

Three years ago, Elder Yuchi had already thought about enlisting Ai Hui into the Sky Edge Division. Even though he had retired from the position of division leader of Sky Edge Division so many years ago, he still had an enormous influence over the Sky Ege Division.

In the end, Ai Hui did not join the Sky Edge Division and the issue ended up with nothing definite. However, they did not expect Elder Yuchi to still bring it up again.

"A genius will always be a genius. He’s always surprising me," Yuchi Ba muttered. After pondering for awhile, he suddenly opened his mouth and said, "If I remember correctly, once the Elders Guild decides to confer the title of Master on someone, his or her descendants will be rewarded accordingly as well, right?"

"Yes," a forty year old woman answered expressionlessly, "His descendants must be within three generations of him. Besides this, his descendants can only be rewarded once by the Elders Guild."

"A merit will always be a merit, a mistake will always be a mistake. We have to be fair in handing out rewards or punishments. Pass down my orders and settle this issue."

"Yes, what order shall the rewards be of?"

"Master Shouchuan has made an extremely huge contribution. Of course we will prepare rewards of the highest order for his descendants. Make sure this is well-publicised. Anyone who has played a role in Master Shouchuan’s meritorious service will be rewarded too. The Elders Guild will not treat his disciples and descendants unfairly."

"Yes!"

"Promote Jiang Wei by one rank as well. He will continue to oversee Peace City."

"Yes."

Yuchi Ba did not say anything else.

The Pagoda of Hidden Edge returned to a state of absolute silence once more.

…..

Peace City.

Ai Hui woke up with a hangover. His head felt heavy and his body was aching dully.

The last time he drank was when he was still in the Wilderness. At that time, they would always bring some alcohol along with them to expel chilliness from their bodies. After leaving the Wilderness, he had never touched a single drop of alcohol again.

The reunion with Jiang Wei yesterday night was fabulous.

When the soldiers that were guarding the training hall saw that Ai Hui had woken up, they bowed and greeted him, "The captain is worried that someone might come here and cause trouble for you, so he specially asked us to stand guard here and wait until you are awake. Since you’re already awake, we shall take our leave. Goodbye."

These few soldiers were very respectful to Ai Hui. Firstly, it was because the abilities Ai Hui displayed were really powerful. Secondly, they could tell that Ai Hui’s relationship with Jiang Wei was extraordinary.

After they’d bidden farewell to Ai Hui, they left immediately. Having just arrived at Peace City, they had a multitude of issues to tackle.

Ai Hui felt a tinge of warmth in his heart. He knew Jiang Wei cared about his safety and ordered his soldiers to stand guard at the training hall. When he saw his completely devastated training hall, he could not help but chuckle bitterly.

The entire training hall was almost destroyed. Even half of his warehouse had collapsed. All of the captives from the Sha Family had died in the process. Sha Wuduan did not hold back his offensive attacks on Ai Hui.

Ai Hui’s plan to use the captives to make money had completely gone down the drain.

If not for the fact that Lou Lan’s seclusion area was well-hidden and heavily-defended, Ai Hui might really be worried that the Sand Sentinel would affect Lou Lan’s upgrading process.

Upon thinking back to the battle, he felt that the whole process was hair-raising and extremely dangerous. A slight mistake would cost him his life. Furthermore, when he thought about the materials and money he had expended, he felt heartbroken.

Luckily, he had the drought fire lotus seeds. They were a pleasant surprise to him.

He never thought that the drought fire lotuses could bear fire lotus seeds. All along, he only planned to use the drought fire lotuses’ ability of devouring earth elemental energy to deal with his enemy and achieve victory.

The conditions needed in order to make drought fire lotuses bear lotus seed heads were extremely demanding. Even those naturally grown drought fire lotuses might not ever bear the lotus seed heads. That was because the surrounding earth elemental energy was not sufficient, causing them to die of malnourishment.

Ai Hui did not expect the Sha Family to bring out the Sand Sentinel. He also certainly did not expect the Sha Guards to devour each other and form the Sand Sentinel. This concentrated the earth elemental energy within their Sand Sentinel to a point which exceed the usual Sand Sentinels’ energy.

The drought fire lotus seed heads came as a surprise to him. There wasn’t just one of them, but five.

Ai Hui carefully took out the drought fire lotus seed heads.

He had never touched such high-grade material before. He could not help but look at them with curiosity.

Naturally, the seeds that were borne from such extreme plants were extraordinary. The drought fire lotus seed heads were the size of a baby’s palm. They were smooth and soft, and they were dark-red in color. The seeds within them could be seen clearly as well. Every seed was covered with a thick and solid outer shell. Indistinctly, one could see a wisp of fire flickering within each seed. That wisp of fire was called lotus heart.

Drought fire lotus was a wood-attributed plant and it fed on earth elemental energy. However, the fruits that it bore were purely fire elemental in nature. One could not help but praise the Creator for creating such a wondrous plant.

The wisp of fire was a dry fire.

Anything in this world that possessed two completely opposite elemental attributes was usually considered an extremely valuable material.

The most valuable part of the drought fire lotus was those dry-fire-made lotus hearts.

Ai Hui did not know much about fire-attributed materials as he was metal-attributed. As for Lou Lan, he needed earth-attributed materials. The reason why Ai Hui knew about fire lotus seeds, was because the lotus hearts of the fire lotus seeds were top-grade materials for training the sky palace.

Among the five residences and eight palaces, the sky palace was the most special and mystical one. The sky palace was usually involved with psychic attacks.

However, one’s mind was formless and was extremely difficult and dangerous to develop. This was also the main reason why there were very few people that specialized in developing their sky palace.

Everyone knew the benefits of having a powerful sky palace. Even if ordinary individuals did not dare to develop their sky palace, they would still think of ways to improve it. As such, a top-grade material. like the fire lotus seeds, naturally became the material that was highly sought after by people.

The fire lotus seeds were extremely useful for an elementalist like Ai Hui who specialized in developing his sky palace.

Ai Hui carefully plucked out a fire lotus seed from one of the drought fire lotus heads. As the fire lotus seed made contact with his hand, he did not feel any burning feeling, but rather, an ice-cold one. The color of its outer shell was dark-red, so dark that it almost looked black. As Ai Hui lifted it closer to his eyes to examine it, he discovered that there were fine veins growing all over it that could not be easily seen by the naked eye.

When Ai Hui tried to determine what these veins were, the elemental energy in his body suddenly began to surge, giving him a shock. He immediately closed his eyes and did not look at the veins on the outer shell anymore.

At this moment, the skin of the fire lotus seeds in his hand suddenly emitted a faint glow.