Chapter 419: An Chouchou
Translator: TYZ Editor: TYZ, KLKL
The smelting furnace that Ai Hui had modified was very different from the usual smelting furnaces.
The body of his smelting furnace was larger than the usual smelting furnaces, resembling a house that sat on top of a lava pit. On the roof of this smelting furnace, there were twelve flying pipes that resembled inverted bull horns. Surrounding the smelting furnace, there were twelve small fire pits. Each fire pit would shoot out a curved stream of flames, which would then enter the flying, inverted-bull-horn-shaped pipe corresponding to that fire pit. Upon entering the flying, inverted-bull-horn-shaped pipe, the stream of flames would come out from the other end of the pipe and shoot towards the centre of the smelting furnace.
Eventually, twelve curved streams of flames would gather in the center of the smelting furnace. The flames within the smelting furnace were white-hot and dazzling.
Even if one stood far away from the smelting furnace, he or she could feel the terrifying heat of it.
Everyone was looking at Blind He and the smelting furnace with curiosity and amazement .
Blind He was standing in front of the smelting furnace. He rolled up his sleeve and revealed his fair arm. Following which, he placed his palm into the furnace, which was then engulfed by the scorching and brilliant flames. Suddenly, a glowing eye appeared in the hollow of his palm. Then, the eye emitted a beam of silvery white light. The scorching flames did not seem to be able to cause any damage to Blind He’s palm.
In everyone’s eyes, Blind He’s strength was unfathomable and his entire body exuded the air of an extraordinary expert.
Ai Hui was even more formidable for being able to hire such a formidable weaponsmith.
Actually, Blind He was not as calm and collected as what his facial expression was showing. Deep down, he was unusually excited.
The quality of the flames in the smelting furnace far exceeded his expectations!
To a weaponsmith, high-level flames was something they longed for. The higher the base level of the flames, the higher the base level of materials it would be able to melt. Those truly capable weaponsmiths would always forge their weapons in Fire Prairie. The base level of the earth fire in Fire Prairie was extremely high. It was most suitable for forging weapons. That was also why the cities of Fire Prairie were built underground. Being underground, the cities would be able to better utilize the earth fire.
High-level flames!
He had never seen such high-level flames
He forcibly regained his composure and asked, "What kind of flames is this? Does it have a name?"
Ai Hui was stunned momentarily and shook his head, "No."
"Give it a name," Blind He replied.
Actually, Ai Hui felt that as long as the smelting furnace was complete, he did not really care about the name of the flames. However, he knew that Blind He’s temperament and nature was not like an average person’s. Therefore, Ai Hui decided to treat him with deference and replied casually, "Since this kind of flame is formed by clustering earth fire, and its color is whiter than the usual flames, let’s call it White Cluster Flames."
With a serious look that contained a tinge of sincerity on his face, Blind He replied solemnly, "Then it shall be called White Cluster Flames."
Upon seeing the nonchalant look on Ai Hui’s face, the rest did not care much about the flames too. But no one had expected that White Cluster Flames would make an immense reputation for itself in the future. Eventually, it would be carried forward by future generations and a series of high-level cluster flames would be developed.
In the future, there would be an addition of the title "Creator of High-level Cluster Flames" to Ai Hui’s resume, and he would be revered by countless weaponsmiths.
Only Blind He seemed to have vaguely realized this.
"As long as you’re happy," Ai Hui did not care about the name of the flames at all. Following which, he asked, "When can we start the forging process?"
"Let me get familiar with the smelting furnace first."
After finishing his sentence, Blind He did not pay attention to Ai Hui anymore. He only cared about adjusting the smelting furnace.
"Does He Wei need Lou Lan’s help?" Lou Lan widened his eyes and asked.
"Thanks Lou Lan!" Blind He smiled at Lou Lan.
Upon seeing this, Ai Hui rubbed his nose. Even as the employer, he did not get the same level of respect and fondness as Lou Lan from Blind He.
…..
Newlight City was a city designed and built for new citizens. It was also the second largest city in Beyond Avalon. Elders Guild had named the Wilderness regions that were expanded into and developed as Beyond Avalon.
Back then, the number of cities in Beyond Avalon had exceeded ten thousand. However, most of the cities were pathetically small. The largest and most top-rate city was Skyheart City, which was built by Elders Guild.
That day, Yuchi Ba came as the representative of Elders Guild to inspect Newlight City. He was standing at the highest pagoda. As Yuchi Ba looked at the continuous stretch of buildings in the distance, his facial expression became solemn.
The faces of the few Elders from New Citizen Faction standing behind him turned emotional.
Standing beside Yuchi Ba, there was a short fellow. His body was fat and round and his legs were stout. The luxurious-looking robe on his body was tightly stretched, making one worry that it would burst any moment. On his round, biscuit-like face, there were two squinty eyes that resembled two fine slits. His facial expression was solemn, but the attire on his body made him look rather comical.
He had an odd name, An Chouchou.
However, no one dared to laugh at him.
Among the new citizens, An Chouchou had become a legend. His strength was very weak and he had not even attained elemental externalization yet. No matter how one looked at him, he or she could not see any worth in him.
However, he was the mayor of Newlight City now.
No one knew where Elder Yuchi had found him. Initially, when Elder Yuchi gave such a heavy responsibility to an unknown individual like him, everyone raised their objections. When the internal department of New Citizen Faction saw him in person, everyone was disappointed. Even the Elder who’d previously supported Elder Yuchi prepared to raise his objections when he saw An Chouchou.
However, after having a debate with An Chouchou, the entire internal department of New Citizen Faction was shocked by him.
No outsider knew what An Chouchou exactly said in that debate. There were countless different versions of what he had said circulating everywhere. From that day onwards, An Chouchou defeated his opponents and became the person in charge for New Citizen Faction’s city-building project.
And reality had proven that An Chouchou did not let the Elders in New Citizen Faction down.
This unprepossessing fatty, who merely attained elemental internalization, had made Newlight City into the second biggest city in Beyond Avalon.
An Chouchou tiptoed and stretched his neck with difficulty. Even so, one could barely see his neck.
"It’s beginning!" someone yelled in alarm. Everyone became excited in an instant.
Brilliant lights blossomed from the spires of the pagodas situated at the edges of the city. The lights began to extend and come together, forming a layer of pure and holy light around the border of Newlight City. The layer of light slowly rose into the air and transformed into a silvery light screen. It extended towards the sky, appearing as if a piece light muslin cloth had been pulled over the sky of Newlight City.
The enormous Newlight City was unusually quiet. On the streets and rooftops of houses, everyone was stretching their necks and staring at the light screen that was extending towards the sky.
When the light screen reached the other side of the city and merged with the layer of light from the pagodas there, a powerful elemental energy hurricane suddenly erupted from all the pagodas.
A breeze swept across Newlight City.
The light screen stabilized, looking as if a huge, transparent, bell of glass had been placed over Newlight City.
YAY!
Everyone in Newlight City exploded into a frenzy. Numerous cries of joy broke out from every nook and cranny of the city. At this point of time, Newlight City was like an erupted volcano. Joy was written all over the faces of everyone.
Newlight City’s greatest defensive structure, Pagoda Screen, had been completed. From that day onwards, the defense of Newlight City improved to a new level.
The citizens of Newlight City were overjoyed because the safety of their homes had been improved greatly. In Wilderness, where they were surrounded by danger, nothing made a person more happy than having safety.
Newlight City was the second city after Skyheart City to have a complete defensive system. This would greatly boost Newlight City’s reputation and attract more new and powerful citizens to the city.
As compared to Skyheart City’s Five Peaks, Pagoda Screen was more innovative.
In the early stages of building Skyheart City, Madam Ye suggested an extremely daring idea. She wanted to use five God-subduing Peaks to form a brand-new city defense system. This was how Five Peaks came about. Madam Ye’s Five Peaks was not simply about putting five God-subduing Peaks together. There were a lot of marvellous and intricate designs to it. Reportedly, this proposal was given to Madam Ye by one of her subordinates named Ma Shiji.
Ma Shiji had a mysterious background. No one had heard of him before. This person had an extremely deep understanding of Wang Shouchuan’s research works and theories.
Even though Yuchi Ba was an Elder of Elders Guild, he could not deploy a God-subduing Peak to Newlight City without explicit approval. Luckily, Wang Shouchuan’s research works and theories were in high demand. Apparently, the birth of God-subduing Peak had popularized Wang Shouchuan’s research works and theories. Even though Elders Guild tried its best to withhold this information from the outside world, the information continued to leak. Since the leakage of the information could not be stopped, Great Elder decided to sell the information on [Treating The City As A Piece Of Cloth] to the public. Its price was exorbitant.
However, for aristocratic families and powerful forces, they did not mind paying such a small price for it.
Pagoda Screen was built upon Wang Shouchuan’s theories but it was developed and produced by New Citizen Faction.
This was something that Yuchi Ba was extremely proud of.
"It has been hard on you, Chouchou!" Yuchi Ba turned around and thanked An Chouchou with gratitude, "From today onwards, new citizens finally have a home."
Everyone surrounding Yuchi Ba became very emotional. All along, new citizens had not been well-received in the upper society of the Avalon of Five Elements. The conflicts between new citizens and old citizens had never ceased before.
Similarly, Elders who were new citizens in Elders Guild were always at a disadvantage.
"Not hard at all!" An Chouchou replied solemnly, "No one else has the boldness and drive of you and your fellow Elders. If I was in elsewhere, I might not have been able to work hard even if I wanted to."
Elder Yuchi was very pleased with himself. An Chouchou was personally nominated by him. Therefore, when An Chouchou did a good job, he felt proud as well. With an affable look on his face, Elder Yuchi asked amiably, "Do you have any issues that are troubling you? Feel free to tell me if you do."
"Chouchou is somewhat ambitious," An Chouchou gave Yuchi Ba a bow before giving a bow to the rest of the Elders as well.
Yuchi Ba withdrew the smile on his face and signalled to Tong Gui and Yu Lin. Tong Gui and Yu Lin quickly instructed their subordinates to fall back and guard the area to prevent anyone from eavesdropping.
A solemn look appeared on the other Elders’ faces too. All of them knew An Chouchou definitely had something astonishing to say. Now, everyone no longer dare to underestimate this short fatty. All along, no one had confidence in the construction of Newlight City. They blamed it on the lack of experience and resources that the Elders in New Citizen Facton had. However, now Newlight City had surpassed everyone’s expectations and became the second largest city. An Chouchou had played the main role in this achievement.
Some of the outsiders had called him Ugly Idol.
After bowing to everyone, An Chouchou straightened his body. Even though he was the shortest in height among everyone, he looked the most majestic and towering out of all of them.
"Right now, Newlight City has been completed. As long as all of you can manage it properly, it will be the holy land for new citizens in the future. However, it’s difficult to achieve anything without sufficient support. Even after Newlight City has been built, we are still lacking the cities for the other four elements."
"We know the benefits of having cities for all five elements. However, the regions around here are not suitable for building cities of the other four elements. The distance between each city is too far. The elemental energies can’t react each other well."
A smile appeared on An Chouchou’s face as he replied, "Chouchou has a premature idea."