Chapter 262: Protect Ai Hui!
Translator: TYZ Editor: CakeHermit
A grey shadow wriggled forward along the ground. It was extremely slow. Using the surrounding rubble as camouflage, it avoided everyone’s attention.
It suddenly stopped in its tracks and like water seeping into sand, the grey shadow permeated the shadows cast by a nearby pile of crushed rocks.
The fall of the flaming ape had captured everyone’s attention. Even Ai Hui did not notice what was going on beneath his feet.
"Ai Hui, be careful!"
Lou Lan’s warning sent a cold shiver down Ai Hui’s spine. Before he could react in time, his feet sank downward as if he had stepped into quicksand. A gloomy and cold aura penetrated his legs and rapidly spread up his body.
The turn of events had been too sudden, catching Ai Hui off guard. By the time he could react, both his feet had lost all feeling, becoming completely numb.
What was that?
The grey color extended through Ai Hui’s legs. They now looked extremely odd and scary, resembling two dried-up branches.
Ai Hui suddenly remembered Shi Wei mentioning that there was a type of blood elementalist that could summon and nurture blood demons. Could this be a blood demon?
A chill entered his bone marrow, causing him to swiftly lose control of his body.
Ai Hui tried channelling his elemental energy to expel the chilling grey shadow, but to no avail. The situation worsened instead. The elemental energy was like nourishment to the grey shadow, allowing it to spread through Ai Hui’s body faster.
In the blink of an eye, the grey color extended as far as Ai Hui’s waist. The lower part of his body resembled a grey-colored, immovable stone statue.
Everyone panicked.
The previously cool-headed Shi Xueman was at a loss. What exactly was the grey shadow? What should she do? Ai Hui was just within her reach and yet, she did not know how to save him.
Fatty’s facial expression changed drastically. Without a second thought, he dashed wildly toward Ai Hui.
The yellow light in Lou Lan’s eyes flickered frantically. He was doing his best to analyze the grey shadow. Suddenly, he took out a blood crystal, following which, his palm turned into quicksand and devoured it. The yellow light in his eyes became brighter.
A trace of blood spiritual force was inserted into Midnight. Numerous mysterious veined patterns appeared on the translucent, sparkling sand core, causing it to operate frantically.
In the distance, more and more blood elementalists were emerging from the dark and approaching the mayor’s residence. This was their best chance to advance.
Ai Hui was their most feared opponent, the one they least wanted to engage in combat. By suppressing Ai Hui, their pressure was significantly relieved.
"So much for the legendary Lightning Blade."
A repulsively ugly and sly-looking blood elementalist sneered. His facial expression was sinister and his smile contained a hint of evil.
Meanwhile, Ai Hui felt as if there was an invisible, cold hand gripping his body tightly from within. He could not help but groan.
At this moment, a sneer appeared on the sly-looking blood elementalist’s face. All of a sudden, he yelled, "Kill Ai Hui first!"
The other blood elementalists all rushed toward Ai Hui at the same time. It was no secret who the core of the A-1 unit was. Anyone who had witnessed the battle of the streets knew how dangerous Ai Hui was.
Shi Xueman was very powerful, Duanmu Huanghun was very powerful, and the A-1 unit was also very powerful; however, in everyone’s eyes, Ai Hui was the only one who could single-handedly change the outcome of a battle.
All the blood elementalists made the same decision and charged towards Ai Hui from all directions, resembling a rain of fast-flying arrows. Biting-cold killer intent filled the air as all the blood elementalists locked onto Ai Hui.
Without any hesitation, Shi Xueman stepped out and stood in front of Ai Hui to defend him.
Duanmu Huanghun descended from the sky and defended Ai Hui from another direction.
The earth-quaking rumbles spontaneously came to an end as a thick, heavy shield plunged ferociously into the ground, causing soil to fly everywhere. The heavy shield was then steadily erected. Fatty used one of his shoulders to support the heavy shield and arched his body slightly, preparing to defend Ai Hui against the charge.
Jiang Wei’s hair stood on end. He felt somewhat suffocated and his body shivered involuntarily.
The enemy had premeditated this; their goal was to kill Ai Hui!
Ai Hui, who had triumphed in almost every single battle, was encountering an unprecedented danger.
If anything was to happen to Ai Hui...
Jiang Wei returned to his senses and cleared his throat. With all his might, he yelled, "Protect Ai Hui!"
The A-1 unit looked as if they had just awoken from a dream; everyone’s face was flushed.
The enemy’s target was actually Ai Hui!
"Protect Ai Hui!"
Everyone roared in anger. Close combat fighters rushed towards Ai Hui while ranged fighters pull their bowstrings with all their might.
Twang, twang, twang!
The sounds of bowstrings snapping resounded through the air. The sound was terrifyingly concentrated, resembling a storm. No one was holding back. They were going all-out on their attacks.
The blood elementalists felt as if they had stirred up a hornet’s nest.
The sky-covering rain of arrows troubled them greatly, on top of which, the imposing manner of the flooding students put an immense pressure on them. The blood elementalists felt as if they were dealing with a pride of angry lions that was about to rip them to pieces.
The blood elementalist controlling the grey shadow involuntarily changed his facial expression. He was stunned by the A-1 Unit’s grandeur.
Yan Hai was also greatly stunned. It was a dog-eat-dog world among the blood elementalists, without the slightest bit of trust between them. Everyone guarded against each other instead. However, even in a life-threatening situation, the members of the A-1 Unit still went all-out to save Ai Hui.
All of a sudden, Yan Hai felt envious of them.
The A-1 Unit was indeed different.
The red-dressed girl’s gaze was filled with shock. She was surprised by how beloved and respected Ai Hui was. Her impression of Ai Hui was not that of a team player. She saw him as antisocial and introverted, on top of which, he exuded an inharmonious aura. It was incredible that someone like him could garner so much trust and respect from everyone else.
Every time she saw Ai Hui, she would have a surprise waiting for her.
Ai Hui was like a renewable treasure chest. Every time she opened it, there would be a new treasure inside. What other secrets did this fellow still hold? The red-dressed girl was filled with curiosity.
In terms of fighting capabilities, Ai Hui was inferior to Yu Mingqiu. Despite this, the red-dressed girl was more interested in Ai hui.
That blood elementalist was a god shaman and his grey shadow was a very unique type of blood demon. This was the red-dressed girl’s first time seeing it. Compared to spirit guards, god shamans were much rarer and the qualifications needed to become one were much higher.
Blood demons were "fished" out of the Yellow Springs using a dark spell and the god shaman’s soul as the bait. The wisp of evil aura that was "fished" out was the demon. Upon fusing with the god shaman, the demon would feed on his or her blood and eventually become a blood demon. Meticulous nourishment and tempering would make the blood demon increasingly powerful. To repay the god shaman, the blood demon would use its various remarkable abilities to assist him or her.
According to blood-refinement manuals from the Cultivation Era, there were ninety-thousand species of demons in the Yellow Springs. The type of demon that a god shaman obtained depended on his or her soul’s attributes. This was why the qualifications for becoming a god shaman were much higher.
The red-dressed girl could not determine how powerful the blood demon was; however, from the looks of it, it seemed quite extraordinary.
If a god shaman was to possess a blood demon in the Blood of God, he or she would receive a lot of preferential treatment.
What will he do?
The red-dressed girl was rather curious.
She did not care whether or not Ai Hui could overcome the blood demon. Even if he had all the talent in the world, if he could not overcome this trial, then what was the point of having high expectations for him?
Ai Hui was very calm. He was meticulously analyzing the damages done to his body by the grey shadow.
He was one hundred percent certain that this was one of the blood demons that Shi Wei had mentioned. Unfortunately, Shi Wei had not had much understanding towards god shamans. He’d only known about blood demons. If it was any other ordinary individual, why would he or she know about such an ancient entity?
However, Ai Hui knew.
Swordsmen were a very weird type of Cultivator. They mastered swords and could use anything under the sun as a sword.
Ai Hui was glad that he’d read many weird swordplay manuals when he’d been in the swordsman school. He had merely been reading them to while away time and had not expected to one day be saved by them.
The blood demon was a dark entity, so its bane was light entities.
Ai Hui jolted. It just so happened that his body contained a light entity: lightning bolts.
He suddenly pointed his Dragonspine sword forward and brandished it. Since the lower part of his body was numb and could not move, his swordplay looked extremely weird.
Once his sword started moving, Ai Hui could feel the elemental energy being channelled. He was silently overjoyed.
The seven daggers danced close to his body like swimming fishes. Numerous electric currents ran through his entire body. The electric currents were accompanied by a strong paralyzing effect; however, Ai Hui felt energized as the feeling of being paralyzed was completely different from having no feelings at all.
The grey shadow was disintegrating bit by bit.
That sly-looking elementalist’s facial expression changed drastically. With his eyebrows beading with sweat, he yelled, "I can’t hold on any longer, faster, kill him!"
Currently, the battle was extremely intense.
The blood elementalists did not expect the A-1 unit to put up such a fierce fight, resembling injured wild beasts that were making their final struggle. The A-1 unit’s offense was extremely powerful, slowing the blood elementalists’ progress. The resistance that the A-1 unit put up was abnormally tenacious.
Upon hearing the sly-looking elementalist’s yell, the blood elementalists knew that it was time for them to go all-out.
Sir Tian Kuan had already mentioned that if they lost this battle, there would be only one ending for them.
Some kind of wild beast’s roar erupted from each blood elementalist’s chest. Their bodies began to undergo a terrifying transformation. Like inflated balloons, their body size suddenly increased and thick, coarse hair grew all over their bodies. Some had metallic skin, some had snake scales for skin, and some even had tree bark for skin. All their skins were extremely hard and durable. Razor-sharp claws grew out of their fingers and their eyes became hollow. Their blood traces turned unusually bright, emitting glows that were of various colors all over their bodies.
Now, all of them looked like the flaming ape as they became tremendously intimidating.
"Kill!"
An unclear yell accompanied by howls and roars resounded through the air.
One of the blood elementalists ran through the rain of arrows like a berserk rhinoceros and dashed towards the heavy shield beside Ai Hui.
Previously, when Fatty watched the blood elementalists transform, his facial expression had already changed. Now, when he saw a blood elementalist charging wildly towards him, his face turned deathly pale.
The ground trembled. Every step the blood elementalist took was immensely heavy, causing Fatty to almost lose his balance.
The blood elementalist’s distorted, hair-covered face expanded rapidly in the terror-stricken Fatty’s vision. The blood elementalist’s scarlet eyes were filled with viciousness and his ghastly white teeth were extremely sinister.
Fatty’s limbs went soft and he almost sat down on the ground. His mind went blank and his legs subconsciously prepared to retreat.
Suddenly, his body froze. The one behind him was Ai Hui.
Ai Hui…
It was as if lightning struck him and returned him to his senses. He saw the blood elementalist leap into the air with a callous look on his face, resembling a wild beast pouncing on him.
Ai Hui, you must survive.
The words that he’d shouted at Ai Hui’s back before entering the Avalon of Five Elements suddenly appeared in his mind.
"AHHHHH!"
He was like a wild beast that had been pushed to the brink of death, crying out hysterically. Every muscle in his body was trembling and his squinty eyes were tightly shut. His arched, thick body was firmly propped against the heavy shield and the soles of his feet were dug deep into the ground.
Elemental energy erupted from his body.