Chapter 138: Dragonspine Inferno
Translator: JL Editor: - -
After repaying the money he owed to Mistress and making some calculations, he would be left with just two hundred and sixty thousand yuan.
But looking at Manager Li’s facial expression, Ai Hui guessed that the sword he had was an extraordinary sword. Otherwise, he would not look so smug. It would be a lie if Ai Hui said he was not curious; being an experienced veteran, Ai Hui knew the importance of a good weapon. He was still using a borrowed military-grade grass sword from the manor’s guard after his Sawtooth Grass Sword was spoilt.
Ai Hui could not contain himself and said, “Do not try to fool me using an ordinary weapon.”
While Master and Mistress felt that the situation would not worsen, Ai Hui was still worried. The eruption of the blood poison epidemic was too ferocious and it did not help that the response from the Induction Ground was too slow. Ai Hui had an extremely acute sense for danger after struggling in the Wilderness for such a long period of time.
The infected insects they had encountered while running back to the city only increased Ai Hui’s worries. Based on his predictions, it would be a matter of time before the large carnivorous animals finished their transformation. The situation then would be far worse than now.
In the barrow, the beast howl they had heard was loud enough to cause tremors, and the fear that had caused him was still present in his heart. He had seen many dire beasts and their ordinarily imposing manners did not have any effect on him, but when he had heard the beast howl from outside the barrow, he could not help but become extremely fearful and scared..
He did not know if anyone in Central Pine City would be able to deal with them.
Furthermore, Ai Hui did not have high hopes for the support team from the Avalon of Five Elements. There were so many cities in the Induction Ground; who would be able to save them all?
If this was a conspiracy, Ai Hui was completely in awe of the conspirator. The Induction Ground was the most peaceful place with the least security measures. If the Avalon of Five Elements was a huge, violent beast, then the Induction Ground was its soft abdomen. It was a wide district and had few restrictions. Even if you stirred up any trouble, it probably would not catch the attention of anyone important. The Induction Ground only had weak students and teachers that lacked experience.
The Thirteen Divisions of the Avalon of Five Elements was stationed near the frontline of the Wilderness, so Central Pine City would need time for them to reach the city.
Ai Hui felt like a shadow was being cast over his heart. Who would design such a conspiracy? What could they gain from this plot?
The most suspicious person might be a teacher with a screw loose in his head. He would probably torment them with such a vicious plot and finish them off.
He had many conjectures and they were both good and bad, but he reckoned it was going to be a long time before they were able to make use of them to make any judgements on the situation. Everyone would be living in danger. The time before the Thirteen Divisions came to provide their support would be the hardest period to go through, and also the most critical.
They had to get through this hurdle first.
Ai Hui resolved not to worry about money. He could only use the money if he survived.
“Of course it’s not an ordinary sword.” Manager Li’s smile was similar to a Buddha’s. Ai Hui’s tone was fitting for a disciple under a Master. Thinking back to the time when he had borrowed two hundred thousand to purchase the grass sword, his eyeballs had almost popped out of their sockets in shock. It was the first time he seen a disciple in such dire straits.
Manager Li walked into a side room and soon came out holding a long and narrow sword case.
The sword case was fully coated in black. There were patterns of red water caltrops on the top of the case and each of the four corners had drawings of a bat. Ai Hui had familiarized himself with the sword manuals and knew that the bat was the most commonly seen decorative symbol in the past. It implied good fortune.
Upon opening the sword case, a beautiful longsword could be seen within.
At first glance, Ai Hui already thought that it was pretty. The black body of the sword did not have any sheen and looked like some sort of timber. There were seven small, shiny water caltrop crystals that were a fiery red on the ridge of the sword. It looked like it was encrusted with red rubies. It also looked like the protruding stiff bones on the back of the Swordback Dragon dire beast from the ancient times. Both sides of the sword were a faint, dark red. It appeared to have irregular wave patterns which were gathered on the sharp end of the sword.
Ai Hui’s eyes lit up and he took the sword out carefully.
“This sword is named Dragonspine Inferno. It was grown!“ Manager Li announced.
“It was grown?” Ai Hui exclaimed.
With a smug expression, Manager Li replied, “Look at the seven red crystals. They are not just any crystals, but are the artifact remnants that were fished out from the Silver Mist Sea. They are the remnants of a spiritual sword from the Cultivation Era.”
“What artifact remnants, do not try to fool me,” Ai Hui countered with disdain, “Do not take me for a fool because I am young. It’s just sea slag (waste from the sea) and you talk as if it’s very high-end.”
Yes, some people called them treasures of the sea, but most called them waste from the sea.
The Silver Mist Sea was part of the Avalon of Five Elements and, together with the land of the metal elementalists, was collectively known as the Silver Mist Sea. In reality, the real Silver Mist Sea was actually the core of a man-made sea, or rather, it was a big, artificial lake which had already existed since the early establishment of the Avalon of Five Elements.
The aim of establishing the Silver Mist Sea was to obtain help from the metal elementalists.
At the time, spiritual force had dissipated and became extremely rare, while elemental energy had just been discovered. In order to obtain help from the metal elementalists, the elders thought of a foolish idea. They transported countless treasure-infused flying swords which no longer had any spiritual effects into the middle of the valley.
All those treasure-infused flying swords were mostly created by those with metal attributes. As time passed, the metal elemental energy began to flourish and the density of the metal elemental energy was like a silver mist. Before long, the top of the valley was filled with the silver mist and henceforth, it had been called the Silver Mist Sea.
From the start until now, the expansion of the sea in the Silver Mist Sea had been unceasing.
It was hard to determine how much the Silver Mist Sea had expanded. It was much bigger than in the past and the boundary could not be seen. It truly lived up to the term ‘sea’ now. Until now, every year, many elementalists would enter deep into the Old Territory to look for unknown paradises, and they would end up bringing back carriages full of treasure-infused flying swords which no longer had any spiritual effects. In addition, amongst those would be huge amounts of metal attributes from the smelted metal.
Following the flourishing of the metal elemental energy, the original treasure-infused flying swords became crisp in exterior. The metal elemental energy was strong and acidic, so coupled with the constant erosion caused by the fine Silver Mist, the crisp exteriors of the treasure-infused swords were constantly being turned into ashes.
But there were always some objects that were hard for the silver mist to erode. These objects would lie quietly beneath the Silver Mist Sea and were called sea slag. They were sediments left behind by the Silver Mist Sea.
The sea slag had many different oddities and most of them were from unknown origins. The training equipments used in the Cultivation Era were broad, extensive, and complicated, using many different materials. Even if anyone knew their origins, the sea slag would still not be useful as, following the dissipation of spiritual force and the emergence of elemental energy, those objects underwent huge changes in their initial attributes.
But given that they were able to withstand the silver mist’s erosion, sea slag definitely had extraordinary features. Following the opening of the Silver Mist Sea each month, these bits of sea slag would be pushed into the river channel. As a result, it led to the creation of a group of people who would fish out the sea slag at the river bank for a living.
Using sea slag was like taking a gamble. Once you found a suitable purpose for it, it would be akin to winning the lottery; however, most of what they found were objects which served little purpose.
Even though Manager Li was caught in his lie, he was not at all ashamed and instead praised Ai Hui, “My boy is indeed experienced and knowledgeable! It was by a coincidence that my friend received the artifact remnants, no, sea slag. Seven of them, just the right amount! It was rare that they all originated from the same object, so he decided to make a weapon out of them and immersed them in the bud of a Devil’s Plant of Twilight Sandal Wood.”
Ai Hui laughed coldly. “So, he wanted to grow a heavy weapon initially, but unexpectedly, a sword grew instead? And because there are few practicing swordsmanship, coupled with the fact that this sword is heavy, you are unable to sell it. Am I right?”
When he heard Old Li mention the Devil’s Plant of Twilight Sandal Wood, he knew the intention of the opposite party, which was to grow a heavy weapon. Given the current popularity of vegetation weapons, using plants as a fetus and then growing a weapon out of them was one of the most mainstream methods used.
Embarrassed, Manger Li replied, “I had not started selling and immediately thought of you. How could the Sawtooth Grass Sword be worthy of you? This Dragonspine Inferno would be a perfect match!”
“I am buying that sword,” said Ai Hui straightforwardly.
Manager’s Li had a joyful expression while he gave a thumbs up. “That’s the way! This should be the way a disciple under a master acts! This isn’t the least bit expensive, my boy…”
Without waiting for Manager Li to set a price, Ai Hui interrupted him and said coldly, “Old Li, you made quite a fortune this time. I took a thirty percent cut while you took seventy percent. I did not even get half of what you made, wasn’t it?”
Manager Li had an ominous prediction after hearing that sentence. “But we made a deal previously!”
“That’s right, we made a deal!” Ai Hui waved his hands around and continued gravely, “You are still operating a business right? It’s so difficult to produce the Bunny Hair. If any mishaps happened to me, what would happen to your business? Shouldn’t you invest in ensuring the safety of your partner? If you are unwilling to invest, take it that I did not say anything. I will still pay whatever price you set. But you are operating a business after all; there are bound to be mishaps sometimes.”
Upon hearing that, Manager Li almost wanted to kneel down. With a passionate expression, he clapped his chest heartily. “My boy, your words hit close to heart! Such a sword deserves a hero and only a hero like my boy here would be able to match this sword. I thought of you when I saw it. Come! Hold on to the sword. It is just a little gesture on my part. My boy, one word of advice from an elder brother, safety is first. We were able to make a huge profit on just the Bunny Hair Arrows. For the sake of huge amounts of money, you must take note of your safety.”
What else could he say? Manager Li was practically crying when he said the above. He thought he would be able to take advantage of Ai Hui, but who knew Ai Hui was even more cunning.
He was unable to ward off such a practical threat.
Thank goodness he bought the Dragonspine Inferno at a low price. Swords were usually hard to sell, let alone such a heavy sword.
Upon thinking of the money he made, however, Manager Li immediately became clear-headed. He was indeed confused. How could he make such a rudimentary mistake? He should curry favor with the chap in front of him!
He had a better understanding now. While Ai Hui was Mingxiu’s junior, he was more flexible and invasive in his methods, making him harder to deal with. It was a joke that he once thought of Ai Hui as a novice, someone who was not updated with the affairs of the world. Thank goodness he came to see the truth early on.
“Then I am going to accept this sword. I should not be unappreciative of your intentions.” Ai Hui patted Manager Li’s shoulder and continued, “Old Li, you should concentrate on working steadily at something in terms of investment.”
Manager Li’s knees almost buckled after hearing those words.
Concentrate on working steadily…
Gangster! What a gangster! And Ai Hui could still say it in such a righteous way till he was unable to reject him!
Was this guy really a disciple under a Master? How could he have the air of a hooligan from the marketplace?
Both of his eyes were brimming with tears while he said from the bottom of his heart, “Yes, yes, yes, working steadily, working steadily!”
“How is it? Do you still have sufficient Bunny Hair?” Ai Hui saw that he had accomplished his mission and decided to top the icing on the cake.
Manager Li jolted and looked at Ai Hui anxiously. “It is almost used up. The main issue is that the length of many of the Bunny Hairs is not suitable. I am only able to wait for your assistance.”
Ai Hui pondered before answering, “Prepare the Twilight Silkworm, herbs, iron cooking pot, and whatnot and send it over to my place. Afterwards, send someone to collect the Bunny Hair daily.”
Manger Li was long awaiting those words from Ai Hui. Without a second word, he said, “The things have long been prepared. They will be sent over now!”
Ai Hui: “......”