Ai Hui had been certain that Mistress would give him a scolding, but he did not expect her to just throw him a new pair of Sword Rattan Gloves without saying a word.
The embroidery workshop did not sell Sword Rattan Gloves, and it was only he who used them.
It was likely that Mistress had spent the whole night weaving it for him.
Ai Hui was touched. Mistress was the perfect example of ‘all bark and no bite.’ She treated him as if he were her own disciple.
The workshop’s ruins had already been sorted out.
However, it was still not suitable for Ai Hui to train in the embroidery workshop, so he took the Sword Rattan Gloves and returned to the training hall.
Ai Hui could only feel the effect of the Sword Rattan Gloves when he trained.
After a deep breath, Ai Hui began.
The Sword Rattan Gloves worked very well indeed. The instant he removed the Sword Rattan Gloves and untied the Blood Bandage, he immediately felt the trembling of the elemental energy mass within his natal residence, and a slender thread of elemental energy drifted out from it.
However, what made Ai Hui surprised was that the Sword Rattan Gloves were not the reason why the silver balls in his hand palaces rotated at a fast speed.
The fine thread of elemental energy drifted away and entered the hand palace’s silver ball, like a tired bird returning to its nest.
Ai Hui’s body jolted and both his hand palaces suddenly heated up—it was as if his hands were about to burn. Before Ai Hui could even react, a steady flow of elemental energy started trickling out of the elemental energy mass in his natal residence and into Ai Hui’s hand palaces.
The temperature of his hand palaces began increasing rapidly. Ai Hui felt as if his palms were pork knuckles on a hot stove—he had almost jumped up, but he managed to forcibly restrain himself. He could feel the silver balls in his hand palaces expanding rapidly.
Not only was the silver balls’ elemental energy increasing, but the balls were also changing in shape. The silver balls began to collapse towards the middle, and gradually, Ai Hui could perceive some development.
Vortex!
The silver balls continued to expand, gradually transforming into a silver vortex.
The silver elemental vortex was continuously growing at a slow speed, and Ai Hui was more than happy with such a change. In general, when a student just activated a hand palace, it was impossible to it fill it up with elemental energy in just a day or two. After all, elemental energy was extremely sparse in the natural world, and even with the aid of elemental food, it would still take time.
Ai Hui’s situation was slightly special as his body already had an astonishing amount of elemental energy.
Not only was the elemental energy vortex in both his hand palaces unceasingly expanding, but its elemental energy absorption speed was also constantly increasing. However, Ai Hui soon started to feel that something was wrong. Not only was the absorption speed increasing, but the speed of the elemental energy’s circulation in his body was also rising as well. Such a high concentration of elemental energy brought about a burden to Ai Hui.
While the rotation of the elemental energy was not as fast as it was during battle, it had been rotating for an extended period of time, which brought about obvious changes to his body. Ai Hui’s muscles started to swell, and he began to tremble. Large droplets of sweat appeared, flowing down in streams.
At the last moment, just before he could hold on no longer, Ai Hui managed to tie a knot on the Sword Rattan Gloves.
The connection between his hand palace and his natal residence was suddenly cut off, granting him immediate relief from the fluster. Ai Hui desperately gasped for breath, as if he had just drowned and had been rescued. With a slackened gaze, he laid straight out on the floor.
After a long moment, his glazed eyes began to recover, and the bright, starry sky soon came into focus.
While he was still panting and his body was weak, his mind was no longer blank. Although he didn’t feel like moving even an inch, he still struggled to push himself up. Checking his hand palace, he realized that the elemental energy vortex was rotating automatically, and it had become very stable.
A faint silver glow could be seen through the gaps of the Sword Rattan Gloves.
If he removed the Sword Rattan Gloves, the vortexes, which were emitting the silver rays from each his hand palaces, would be clearly visible.
It was fortunate that the Sword Rattan Gloves blocked the glow, as it would otherwise be too eye-catching. Ai Hui did not like anything that was conspicuous. The more attention-grabbing something was, the easier it would be to become the main target during an attack.
The mass of elemental energy in his natal residence had slightly decreased in size. While it wasn’t a significant difference, it was definitely a good start.
Ai Hui could sense that he was able to recover his energy much more swiftly than before. This was was due to the activation of a new palace; when a palace was activated, various bodily functions would be raised by varying degrees.
According to Teacher’s explanation, it was an indicator that his vitality had been strengthened, and the higher the base level, the higher the vitality.
Ai Hui felt that his teacher’s description was apt.
He planned to soak in the hot spring in the training hall’s backyard, as this would enable him to recover faster. And when he fully recovered, he would be able to resume his training.
Ai Hui suddenly started, and he looked towards the message tree.
A leaf of the message tree was emitting a gentle ray of light.
The young girl from the noodle shop? Ai Hui’s spirit lifted. It had been a while since he had received news from that girl; she seemed to have disappeared recently. However, after a moment’s thought, Ai Hui felt a tad suspicious. Why would the young girl from the noodle shop send news at such an hour?
Only when he approached the message tree did he realize that the glowing leaf was not the same leaf that the young girl from the noodle store had shown before.
Who could it be?
Ai Hui was baffled. He didn’t know anyone from the Induction Ground. However, after some thought, he shook his head. He had been taking things for granted; he almost forgot that he was just a lowly janitor.
It should be a friend of the owner of the Vanguard Training Hall.
After he came to this conclusion, Ai Hui decided to leave, and he turned around. Suddenly, though, he had a second thought. It had been twenty years since the owner had last visited the training hall. Ai Hui reckoned that the message came from a friend who had not been in touch for a very long time. But what if it was an emergency? Perhaps he should let the opposite party know that the owner hadn't been back for years.
Ai Hui ran back inside to get a pen. Luckily, Lou Lan was a good sand puppet who loved to learn, and he thus kept a few pens.
He walked towards the luminous leaf and glanced at it curiously. This was his first time using the message tree. The country bumpkin in him was filled with curiosity, and he felt that it was magical.
Eh? Ai Hui frowned. The leaf had only four sentences that did not make any sense.
“I have no idea who among you are still alive, but I know that no one can stop them. They have already completed the necessary preparations. Everything will change in sixty days. Who will protect the Avalon of Five Elements?”
Ai Hui read it over a few times, but he felt that it didn’t make any sense.
Them? Sixty days later? Everything would change?
Ai Hui, who had been prepared to write, put his pen down. The message made his blood run cold. It looked like the owner of the training hall had low standards—he actually had such an eccentric friend!
And who would be able to protect the Avalon of Five Elements?
Ai Hui was dumbfounded. The Avalon of Five Elements had a very firm foundation, and he had never heard anything about the Avalon of Five Elements being unstable during his time in the Wilderness. And this belief was reinforced when he arrived at the Induction Ground. Compared to the Wilderness, the Avalon of Five Elements was like a paradise; there were no battles, and the environment was secure and peaceful.
After pondering for a while, Ai Hui wrote on the leaf, “Maybe you should see a doctor.”
Looking at the fading letters, Ai Hui felt that the message tree was fascinating.
Ai Hui was satisfied, and he then dashed to the backyard to take a hot soak.
However, a moment after Ai Hui left, the leaf lit up once again.