The Avalon Of Five Elements

The cavern suddenly quieted down. Everyone looked anxiously at Ai Hui in unison.

Gu Tianning took in a deep breath of air and appeared slightly calmer, "Brother Ai, please tell us what’s wrong!"

As compared to the rest of his clansmen, Gu Tianning was more knowledgeable and experienced. He knew the Avalon of Five Elements wasn’t the paradise that everyone from Old Territory thought it was. He knew this wasn’t the most advanced technology right now, but he also knew that it was not easy to set up such a wonderful training ground. Having one or two weaknesses was normal. On the contrary, it wouldn’t be right if there were absolutely no weaknesses.

Otherwise, wouldn’t there be training grounds like this everywhere?

Ai Hui replied with a solemn look on his face, "The concentration level of earth elemental energy will keep on increasing. If the elemental energy can’t be consumed in time, the grains of sand will become heavier and the sand canopy will eventually fall. So everyone has to make good use of their time to train and to make sure they don’t let the elemental energy overflow."

Don’t let the elemental… elemental energy overflow...

Gu Tianning was stunned momentarily. He thought he’d heard wrong. Not only he, but the rest of his clansmen were stunned as well. They were always in lack of elemental energy. Now, suddenly someone was telling them the elemental energy would overflow...

"Brother Ai, stop joking…" Gu Tianning muttered.

"I’m not joking." Ai Hui had a serious look on his face and said, "All of you have to quickly absorb the earth elemental energy surging out from the sand canopy. If the earth elemental energy accumulates and overflows, the sand canopy will collapse."

Gu Tianning’s facial expression changed drastically. He turned around and roared, "What are all of you waiting for! Start training! Make good use of your time and start training!"

The Gu clansmen immediately went into a state of panic and hastily sat down to meditate and train.

When Qing Feng, who had seen various aspects of society before, saw what happened, he could not help but feel slightly envious. "You’re making it too convenient for these poor bums. Now that they have fallen into a pile of sh*t, they can fill their stomach with it!"

Gu Tianning was smiling and feeling extremely content. He did not get angry even after hearing Qing Feng’s words. Other than feeling slightly annoyed that they were being called bums, he was actually quite happy as Qing Feng spoke his mind!

Actually, Ai Hui was partly joking about the flaw. Gu Tianning wouldn’t believe him anyway. But both of them never expected that this flaw-cum-joke would keep on increasing the Gu clan’s training efficiency till the point where they eventually became successful in the future.

"Brother Ai, hold on."

After Gu Tianning finished his sentence, he went away for a while and came back with a wooden box on his hand.

He passed the wooden box to Ai Hui and said gratefully, "These are some artifact remnants that we obtained by chance. Initially, we intended to ask Blind He to make us a Heaven-grade weapon using these artifact remnants. But right now, we don’t need them. This is a small present from us to thank you, please don’t be courteous with us. The Gu clan will forever remember your kindness for giving us a new lease on life. In the future, if Brother Ai needs any help from us, the Gu clan will not hesitate to go through fire and tread water for you!"

Without any hesitation, Ai hui took over the wooden box and bade farewell to Gu Tianning, "Thank you very much, Brother Gu. It didn’t take much effort, you’re welcome, Brother Gu. I’m from Old Territory as well. Even though my capabilities are limited, I will still do whatever I can to help. I still have things that I need to attend to, and I shall bid you farewell here. This is my message leaf. If Brother Gu wants to find me for anything, you can contact me through a message tree. I will stay in Crooked River City for a few days. If you have anything that you need help with these few days, you can find me at Crooked River Tavern."

Gu Tianning carefully took over the message leaf.

Ai Hui carried Qing Feng and spread his Starry Gem Swordwings like the gigantic wings of a roc. He rose into the sky with Qing Feng and flew into the distance.

Gu Tianning stood motionlessly as he watched the tiny black dot disappear into the distance.

On the way back, Qing Feng suddenly said, "Giving such a treasure to a bunch of weak and frail fellows, don’t you feel you’ve suffered a loss? If you are willing to present a treasure like that to Grandmaster Dai, no matter what you want, Grandmaster Dai will agree to it! What in this world is Grandmaster Dai not capable of doing?"

"I want my master and mistress to come back to life."

Qing Feng was speechless.

Refusing to submit to Ai Hui, Qing Feng continued after a while, "A person who is dead is unable to come back to life. One should always move forward in life. Why do you have to be so obstinate?"

Ai Hui was slightly surprised by Qing Feng’s words. Then he replied, "I thought you said a dead person could at least become like you?"

Qing Feng shook his head and replied, "There’s nothing good about being something that is neither dead nor alive like me."

"Why?" Ai Hui was surprised.

"I can’t do whatever I want and I am created to be used by someone else," Qing Feng replied. "It doesn’t matter if one lives in degradation and drags out their ignorable existence. Aren’t most people living like that as well? It also doesn’t matter if one has a body that he can’t control. Aren’t there many disabled people in this world as well? However, if one’s memory is erased every now and then, what’s the difference between him and a sand puppet?"

Ai Hui was speechless.

For the remaining part of the journey, both of them didn’t talk to each other.

Carrying Qing Feng in his arms, he flew back to Crooked River Tavern.

When they arrived back at the tavern, Zhao Boan had already bought back a Three Leaves Bamboo Cart. Its price was extremely cheap as it was second-hand. Not many trade routes went through Crooked River City, as such, there weren’t many transportation businesses and a huge number of Three Leaves Bamboo Carts were available for sale.

However, Ai Hui did not prepare to leave at once. Recently, his swordsmanship had improved by leaps and bounds and he did not want to disrupt his excellent training momentum. As such, he decided to stay in Crooked River City for a few more days, and made good use of the time to train with Qing Feng so he could achieve the next breakthrough soon.

…..

Silver City.

The debris in the Ye Residence had not been cleared up yet. Everywhere was littered with broken wall fragments. From the amount of debris in the Ye Residence, one would instantly know how intense the multiple battles that took place that day were. During daytime, there would be a lot of servants clearing up the debris. During the night, everywhere would be filled with guards.

Right now, Madam Ye was gaining reputation day by day. She had become a powerful and influential figure in the Avalon of Five Elements. However, since she had to host Master’s Glory, she was extremely busy and she had to travel nonstop. It had been many days since she’d last returned to the Ye Residence.

The Ye Residence still needed a long period of time before it could return to its former self.

The night was quiet and tranquil. One tall figure and one short figure were standing on a heap of debris in the Ye Residence. The guards in the distance could not sense their presence at all.

The tall figure looked as if he was standing on a pair of stilts. His clothes were huge and airy. His face was deathly pale and his cheekbones were sunken, resembling a dried corpse. His gaze swept across his surroundings and his nose was twitching every now and then. He shook his head and said, "Xiao Shuren self-detonated in this spot."

The short figure could not help but ask curiously, "But I can’t sense the aura of the ancient treasure. Could it be that the ancient treasure isn’t with her?"

The short figure was short and round, resembling a watermelon. His nose was bright red, looking extremely joyful.

"No, it must be with her," the tall figure shook his head and replied.

He inserted his fingers into the debris. After he took them out, there were a few grains of sand between his fingers. He then continued, "Her body had undergone transfiguration before. She had placed the ancient treasure within her body. These grains of sand contain the aura of the ancient treasure. Judging by the time, the ancient treasure was still in her body before she died. Whoever came into contact with her before she died is the greatest suspect."

Upon hearing these words, the short figure replied, "Who came into contact with her before she died? Chu Zhaoyang! He was holding Xiao Shuren hostage!"

The tall figure replied with a deep voice, "That’s right, he is the biggest suspect. Furthermore, he left Silver City immediately after the incident. This makes him an even bigger of a suspect."

"How do we carry out our investigation on him?" The short figure looked worried. "We have suffered a huge loss this time around. Recently, none of the families would dare to contact us, not to mention how we wouldn’t go seeking their help. The two of us alone are not capable of tracking down Chu Zhaoyang."

"That’s Grandmaster Dai’s business," the tall figure replied without any hesitation. "We will just report our findings and then more powerful people will take over the case. I will chase down Demonic Girl and you will go after Qing Feng. Until now, he hasn't made any contact with any enterprise. I guess he is trying to run away."

"Alright! Qing Feng’s body has been marked, he can’t run away," the short fellow agreed. Then, he asked again, "Are you confident in handling Demonic Girl?"

"She can’t run away." The tall figure was very composed.

"We shall split up."

The two figure split up and flew off in different directions without the guards in Ye Residence noticing at all.

…..

Crooked River City.

Ai Hui was extremely focused. The sword gleam from his Dragonspine was fast like a lightning bolt as it warded off the incoming torrential grass vines.

Now, Ai Hui could already ward off the ferocious attacks from Qing Feng’s 15 grass vines. He could feel the improvements he had made. His attack speed had become faster as well.

Having an increase in attack speed, his degree of control of his elemental energy increased sharply too. This allowed his sword moves to be more complete and perfect. Furthermore, the process of switching between sword moves and the flow of his elemental energy also became much smoother.

Every day, he would train, ponder and search for the notebook in the Hall of Ancient Records. In other people’s eyes, Ai Hui’s life was as dry as a monk’s ascetic life, but still admirable.

Another person who was leading an ascetic life was Blind He. Blind He was a very quiet individual. He would always sit in one corner by himself and his hands would always hold something. He might hold a piece of wood, a rock, or a metal ingot in his hands. No matter what he held in his hands, he would always carve something on it and treat it as carving practice.

Anything that he held in his hands would become smaller bit by bit and eventually became a small heap of fine powder. After this happened, he would take out another block of material and repeat the process again.

Meanwhile, ever since Zhao Boan found out his boss was Ai Hui, he worked extremely hard. Every day, he would go out and see if there was anyone that was worth hiring. Eventually, he managed to hire a craftsman who forged Grass-grade weapons.

Mo Zhong was a miserable-looking old man. He also brought along his granddaughter, who was around seven to eight years old.

Initially, Zhao Boan wanted to hire a Grass-grade-weapon weaponsmith but there weren’t any in Crooked River City. In the end, he only managed to find a Grass-grade-weapon craftsman and he wasn’t too satisfied with him. If Ai Hui showed the slightest bit of disinterest in Mo Zhong, Zhao Boan would fire him straightaway.

However, he did not expect the reserved and mysterious Blind He to praise Mo Zhong’s capabilities in forging Grass-grade weapons.

Eventually, Mo Zhong decided to stay after Ai Hui agreed to pay him a yearly salary of 300 Heaven Merit Points.

Ai Hui felt that his swordsmanship had reached a plateau and it was very hard for him to make any improvements for the time being. As such, he decided to leave Crooked River City and headed for Asakusa City.

The Three Leaves Bamboo Cart rose in the air.

Even though Zhao Boan had weak fighting capabilities, he was still a wood elementalist from Jadeite Forest and he was adept in driving the Three Leaves Bamboo Cart. Meanwhile, Qing Feng was an abnormally fast driver. With both of them taking turns to drive the bamboo cart, they did not really feel tired at all.

Of course, Qing Feng grumbled throughout the whole journey. He kept on stressing that he was a sparring partner, not a driver.

In order to get to Asakusa City earlier, Ai Hui decided to take a shortcut

If they went by the usual route, they had to fly across Silver Mist Sea to Peace City. From there, they would enter Palette Cloud Village. After they flew across the entire Palette Cloud Village, they would reach Asakusa City.

As such, Ai Hui wanted to take the shortcut.

By taking the shortcut, they would cross the Lava River from Crooked River City and enter the Old Territory. From there, they could fly straight to Asakusa City. This route could greatly reduce the travelling time.

Ai Hui wanted to see what the Old Territory looked like now.

But it was not only him. The rest were curious as well.