Chapter 483: Seven Swords As One
Translator: Irene Editor: X, TYZ
Mu Lei almost thought that someone was playing tricks on them.
That journey of a few meters was practically a nightmare. They walked, stopped, and repeated this over and over again.
"Could it be that Senior Le Buleng was testing some moves? Why else would such a strange scene appear?" he muttered to himself.
It was not until they got closer to Lemon Camping Ground that they noticed the crowd outside and gasped in surprise. These people from the inner camp who’d been frightened by the ripples produced during Sword of Lightning’s training and had ran out of the camping ground.
After a short while, they started adapting, but remained far away, waiting for the training within the inner camp to end.
Mu Lei had a sharp sense of hearing and was attracted by the conversation between some men.
"This Sword of Lightning is actually quite powerful. I’m scared witless. These energy waves… the waves are too violent."
"Yeah, it’s simply life-threatening. I feel as if my life span was shortened by a few years because of this."
"What to do? It’s the Sword of Lightning."
"Aye, how can they even stay in such a lousy camping ground? It doesn’t do justice to their identity, does it?"
"Will they continue training like this for the whole day?"
"Will they keep training like this in the future?
The two looked at each other, their faces turning ugly as they figured out the answer. Just thinking about how they were going to have to live amid this horrifying atmosphere made them both put their hands behind their heads.
"Oh no!"
"Oh god!"
...
Mu Lei heard their conversation and fell into a daze. Sword of Lightning? So the Sword of Lightning was training? Could it be Ai Hui? He was startled. Had Ai Hui already reached such a level?
On second thought, things seemed off. The aura and elemental energy waves weren’t things a newly ascended Master could produce. This was also the reason why he’d guessed that the disturbance was due to Le Buleng. Only someone as strong as him could stir up such astonishing elemental energy waves.
There was only one remaining possibility. There must be something related to sword formations going on inside.
After all, Mu Lei was a powerful combatant who’d seen the world. His guesses were often correct. Sword of Lightning… one could tell from its name the characteristics of this combat division.
But… Sword of Lightning’s production of such intense disturbances and terrifying aura meant that Mu Lei would need to reevaluate the abilities of this combat division.
He dared not to confirm the combat division’s combat strength, but had a feeling that it was more powerful than rumored.
Uncle Yu’s face was pale. He was old and had less strength. The pressure he had to endure was huge in the face of such might.
Ai Hui was Miss’s junior and had even saved her life. He was as good as family.
It was a pity that Shi Xueman was by his side, or else Ai Hui would also be a good candidate for the family’s son-in-law.
He still felt worried over everyone’s disapproval of Sword of Lightning. While Ai Hui was a Master, he was indeed a new hand when it came to handling a combat division.
By now, his worried heart had calmed. Although the aura from the camping ground made him feel quite burdened, to the point where his face was white, he couldn’t help but smile.
By his side, the guards from the Lu Residence had the same terrified look on their faces.
As they approached the camping ground the mighty aura became more terrifying. When they neared the camping ground, they felt something entirely different.
Uncle Yu turned around and looked at the guards, noticing that one was sprawled on the ground, gasping with his face in the grass and his body trembling nonstop.
"Zheng Xiao! Stand up! Look at you, wouldn’t all of us be dead if we depend on you when we encounter bandits?" Uncle Yu chided jokingly.
Zheng Xiao had been recommended by a vassal enterprise. He was delicate, righteous-looking, and had decent abilities. The enterprise had begun to emphasize nurturing, so they recommended him, but they had not expected him to be this timid.
Uncle Yu reproached him, but was in reality very encouraging. He had always been more tolerant toward youths. Courage had to be trained, and it wasn’t a big deal for youths to be more fearful.
Hearing Uncle Yu’s words, the other guards turned around. They burst into laughter upon seeing Zheng Xiao on the ground. While they were all afraid, they weren’t in as sorry of a state as Zheng Xiao.
Laughter diluted the tensed atmosphere, and Zheng Xiao seemed more relaxed by now since his body shook less violently.
Suddenly, everyone noticed that the surrounding sounds had all disappeared and were replaced by dead silence.
Before they could react, a sword chime pierced through their brains like cranes flying through the clouds. Like an awl drilling into their minds, the chime caused the hair on their napes to stand upright.
Buzzz. Their minds went blank. If they could see their own expressions, they would realize that there was neither fear nor dread, only emptiness.
Mu Lei was the only one present who managed to stay clear-headed. Fear was solely evident on his face.
Might. Terrorizing might that was exponentially stronger than any might from earlier. Yet… the surrounding elemental energy waves weren’t surging. They were much smaller than those from earlier.
What in the world was this kind of sword formation?
He was overwhelmed with shock.
The shock within his heart far exceeded the previous occurrences because he knew how difficult it was to produce such a strong contrast. He also knew what kind of force such a huge contrast signified.
This might represented the alarming power of accumulated elemental energy. Elemental energy that lacked fluctuations meant that it was extremely compressed and contained, which signified absolute control. In theory, it was a perfect attack!
Boom!
Mu Lei snapped out of his shock and regained his senses shortly. Eh? He felt something was amiss. While he didn’t understand what had happened, the explosion of the elemental energy waves and the sword chime produced incompatible sounds.
What happened?
With rapt attention, he looked over and saw a huge dust cloud rising from Lemon Camping Ground. What followed was a noisy clamor.
Lemon Camping Ground was in chaos.
The rising dust enveloped the whole inner camp as the people inside cried out in alarm.
"What’s going on?"
"Is anybody hurt?"
"Cough, cough…"
...
Gu Xuan reacted the fastest by gathering his remaining elemental energy and releasing it with a wave of his sleeves. Whoosh! A gale emerged from within the camp, dispersing the dust.
Everyone was dumbstruck.
None of the seven sword pagodas inside the inner camp were in one piece. Ruined pieces were everywhere.
What… what happened?
Someone cried out, "Where’s Boss?"
Everybody looked around in search of Ai Hui’s silhouette, but to no avail. They quivered and looked at one another, a premonition rising within their chests.
Dashing over, Lou Lan pointed to the ruins of the Megrez Sword Pagoda and shouted, "Over there!"
During the attack of the sword pagodas, Lou Lan had to stand far away or he would’ve been injured by the sword rays. Before that, he’d been guarding inside the inner camp and waiting to treat people when Ai Hui and the others returned to rest. Since this was an attempt to combine seven swords into one, Ai Hui had Lou Lan stand somewhere in the distance in consideration of his safety.
Everyone dashed over to the ruins of the Megrez Pagoda and started frantically digging.
Although they’d only been in Sword of Lightning for a short while, everyone was still impressed by Ai Hui. Ai Hui never acted haughtily in front of them and always led the training.
Ai Hui trained the most out of all of them.
Previously, everybody was still worried about the future of Sword of Lightning but this wisp of concern vanished in a puff of smoke along with the attack of the sword pagodas.
In a combat division with a bright future, the leader worked closely with his soldiers, sharing the joy and hardship. What was there to be unhappy about? Why wouldn’t one pledge allegiance to such a leader?
Shortly, they found Ai Hui amid a pile of rubble
"He’s here!"
"Boss’s still alive!"
...
Everyone shouted at once and prepared to pull Ai Hui out. However, they let out a miserable shriek the moment they touched his clothes.
Since a few pair of hands had grabbed ahold of him at once, mournful instantly cries filled the place.
"My hand!"
"There are knives on his body!"
...
In response, the others quickly stopped themselves. Shortly, those who cried out got back to their feet, only to see that their hands were completely unharmed. They were shocked. The acute pain they’d felt made them think that their hands had been stabbed by sharp blades.
Gu Xuan, who was presently the most skilled, hurriedly explained, "It might be the sword aura. Please avoid touching Boss’s clothes, everybody. Let’s get the surrounding debris out of the way first."
The crushed rocks were quickly cleared away. It was then that everybody noticed the position their boss was in. He maintained a standing posture while holding onto his sword.
However… only the hilt of the Wintry Jade Blade remained in his hands.
Bzzt! A silver electric flash throbbed between Ai Hui’s palms and the sword hilt, effectively frightening the audience around him.
While Ai Hui bore the reputation as a Lightning Master, he displayed more swordsmanship than lightning techniques within the camp. In Gu Xuan’s eyes, Ai Hui was more of a pure swordsman rather than a Lightning Master.
This wasn’t the first time people had seen Ai Hui’s lightning.
Since the start, the red glow in Lou Lan’s eyes had been intensely flickering. Once his eyes stopped flashing, Lou Lan said happily, "Ai Hui’s not injured."
Everyone let out a breath of relief and started talking all at once.
"Enlightenment?"
"How impressive."
Whether Ai Hui had a moment of enlightenment or not, they couldn’t be sure. Ai Hui stood motionless like a statue with his eyes shut, looking perfectly unharmed.
People continued their lively discussion.
"Why did the sword pagodas collapse?"
"Probably because they weren’t able to endure the unification of the seven swords."
"I think so, too. The unification is simply too mighty."
"What’s going to happen in future?"
"Ask Boss."
"I’m at a loss. The sword pagodas are great, but how are we supposed to use them in battles? Carry them?"
"I’m not against the idea, but… won’t we look a little stupid carrying them?
"Just a little, you think?"
Everybody was engaging in the heated discussion. They had many doubts, but weren’t impatient. They’d only been in Sword of Lightning for a short period of time, after all. They would simply leave these matters for their boss to fret over.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded from outside.
Gu Xuan jumped up. "Who is it?"
Mu Lei floated over in midair, his loftiness caused the faces of those around to change. A Master!
Mu Lei’s gaze fell upon Ai Hui, who still stood motionless with his eyes shut.
A silhouette obstructed his view. It was Lou Lan, who stood before Ai Hui.
Sand puppet?
Mu Lei was rather surprised, but did not mind much. He looked over Lou Lan and focused his gaze on Ai Hui once again.
All of a sudden his pupils shrank.