Fatty looked at Ai Hui, who had just finished the basin of elemental soup, and asked Lou Lan involuntarily.
"Definitely," Lou Lan replied with certainty. "Ai Hui has always been evolving, no matter what happens."
Shi Xueman did not say anything. Her gaze was fixed on Ai Hui. It wasn’t only her, everyone was looking at Ai Hui, who was seated cross-legged on the ground. They were holding their breaths for the fear of disturbing Ai Hui. Ai Hui’s health was intimately related to theirs. Right now, Ai Hui was the core of their unit. His health would have a direct impact on their future.
It wasn’t at all an exaggeration. A slight mistake on the battlefield would result in death.
They had seen too many deaths. It was unknown whether or not even half of the students in Central Pine Academy had survived. Among all the units, the A-1 unit had the highest survival rating; however, if Ai Hui hadn’t held the pass by himself against the flood of blood fiends during the battle on the streets, the A-1 unit would have been wiped out.
Even those students who had previously hated Ai Hui wholeheartedly pledged their allegiance to him now.
Ai Hui remained silent.
The elemental soup that filled his stomach had materialized into elemental energy which flowed through every single part of his body.
He… did not feel good at all!
Traces of metal elemental energy were flowing throughout his body and the unique, sharp aura of the metal elemental energy caused him waves of pain. As the traces of metal elemental energy travelled through his body, they slowly transformed into sword-shaped elemental energy and their aura became significantly sharper. Ai Hui came to understand what it felt like to be pierced through by a sword.
Since there was a huge number of metal elemental energy traces, the number of elemental energy swords forming was similarly huge. Currently, Ai Hui felt as if there were numerous mini swords travelling throughout his body.
His body trembled involuntarily. His face had turned pale-white and pea-sized beads of sweat flowed down his forehead.
"Lou Lan, what’s going on?" Fatty asked anxiously.
Lou Lan was also very surprised. His glowing yellow eyes flickered non-stop. If one took a closer look, he or she would realize that the yellow glow in Lou Lan’s eyes was brighter than before.
"There is a unique aura in Ai Hui’s body. This aura is able to transform the metal elemental energy into a specially shaped energy. Other than this unique aura, there are also a lot of electric currents in his body. Right now, the condition of Ai Hui’s body is very complicated. Lou Lan has not thought of any good ideas yet. Come on Ai Hui!"
If Ai Hui could hear what Lou Lan had said, he would praise the latter to high heaven.
Lou Lan’s diagnosis was completely correct. Even though the sword embryo in Ai Hui’s body had ruptured and was destroyed, the essence-breath-spirit that it had released still remained in his body. The invisible energy waves from the sword embryo’s remnants were what was transforming the flowing metal elemental energy into the streaks of sword-shaped glints.
This was not a good thing for Ai Hui.
Ai Hui could easily absorb and store pure metal elemental energy in the eight palaces; however, when the metal elemental energy traces transformed into elemental energy swords, they became more stable, making it hard for Ai Hui to absorb and store them.
The more troublesome issue was the huge amount of leftover lightning in Ai Hui’s body.
His last move, the lightning version of [Dust Fall] that had given Ai Hui the nickname "The Lightning Blade," had caused severe damage to his body. A large amount of electric currents had filled Ai Hui’s flesh and blood. Every time these electric currents burst forth, Ai Hui’s muscles would become numb.
This created huge difficulties for Ai Hui when he tried to control his body.
Fortunately, Ai Hui was mentally prepared. A price definitely had to be paid if one experienced an outburst of power that far exceeded the limit of their base level. For Ai Hui, the price he’d paid was both the destruction of his sword embryo and the induction of electric currents into his body. This price, however, was nothing compared to death.
Even though the current situation seemed terrible, Ai Hui felt that it was much better than what he had expected.
At least his body remained intact. He had not lost his limbs and his five residences and eight palaces were undamaged and could still work perfectly. As long as these body parts were fine, the other problems could slowly and eventually be worked out.
As the elemental energy swords continued to flow through Ai Hui’s body, the sharp aura from the elemental energy swords caused the lightning remnants to zap. The piercing pain from the elemental energy swords and the numbing effect of the lightning remnants became inextricably intertwined.
There were more and more elemental energy swords. The effect of Lou Lan’s elemental soup was indeed astonishing. The replenished metal elemental energy continued to transform into elemental energy swords that were scattered all over Ai Hui’s body.
What should he do?
Ai Hui pondered deeply.
Very soon, Ai Hui decided on a plan. First, he could not let the elemental energy swords run amok in his body. The sharp and destructive aura of the elemental energy swords was not the reason why his body was damaged; the main reason for the damage was his letting the elemental energy swords run amok in his body.
How could he contain them?
Ai Hui thought for a while. Since they were elemental energy swords, he could deal with them the same way he dealt with a sword. Before, when he’d still had the sword embryo, the sword embryo had automatically taken care of all the sword-related elemental energy for him. Even though he did not have the sword embryo anymore, that did not mean that he could not do anything about the sword-related elemental energy.
After Ai Hui had received a huge volume of sword-related fine details during the battle on the streets, his understanding towards swordsmanship had reached a completely new level. After absorbing the essence-breath-spirit from the sword embryo’s rupture, his base level had temporarily reached an unimaginable altitude.
He was like a disciple who had been temporarily possessed by his master and got to feel what it was like to be a high-level individual.
This experience would not immediately improve his fighting capabilities, but it would definitely have a long-lasting effect on them. He could see what the higher realms of swordsmanship would look like in the future. This would play an important role in his future developments.
According to his understanding of swordsmanship, Ai Hui felt that the elemental energy swords could be controlled.
Ai Hui, who had been trembling non-stop and had his face turned pale-white, suddenly opened his mouth and, with a hoarse voice that was filled with anguish, yelled, "Sword!"
Sword?
Everyone was stunned. Shi Xueman’s reaction was the fastest. Her right hand flashed across her waist and a cold glint flew towards Ai Hui. She then yelled coldly, "Catch it!"
With a distorted facial expression, Ai Hui raised his hand. He still felt more or less alright as long as he did not move, but once he started moving, his body felt as if it was being pierced through by a sword. His eyes were closed but his hand still managed to catch the sword that Shi Xueman had thrown him.
A faintly discernible smile appeared on Sang Zhijun’s face. Even though Shi Xueman specialized in the spear and did not have the habit of carrying a sword, there was actually a sword hanging on her waist.
At the very moment Ai Hui’s palm made contact with the hilt of the sword, his previously distorted and anguished face suddenly calmed down.
Everyone was shocked by this bizarre scene.
Shi Xueman’s face was ice-cold like an iceberg, remaining emotionless; however, one could see that her eyes had lit up slightly.
This was the unique part about Ai Hui.
He was always hiding something special in him that he would not normally reveal. Sometimes he was a rascal, sometimes he was a miser, sometimes he was a loner, and most of the time he was an individual who ignored things that were of no concern to him. However, if a dangerous situation was to arise, he would become a completely changed man, revealing imposing fighting capabilities and captivating everyone’s attention.
This might be an insignificant move but it contained a mysterious power to it.
When Ai Hui grabbed hold of the sword, his mind became tranquil and the agitated elemental energy swords in his body calmed down as well.
The sword’s numerous fine details gushed through his mind like a flash flood. The sword’s texture, its weight, the sharpness of the blade, etc. All these little details were clearly displayed in his mind.
Ai Hui noticed this ability that he hadn’t had in the past and became somewhat happy. It seemed that he had not only made losses, but gains as well.
It was a pity that it was not the Dragonspine Inferno...
Sorrow involuntarily arose in his mind. The Dragonspine Inferno was the sword that he was the most comfortable with and had used for the longest period of time. It was a pity that it had been completely destroyed when he’d executed [Dust Fall]. The powerful lightning bolt had destroyed the sword body, leaving only the seven prismatic crystals.
The sword currently in his hand seemed very ordinary. It had been picked up by Shi Xueman from a dead elementalist.
However, it was still a sword.
Ai Hui focused his attention on the sword. Even though he could not enter the miraculous mental state he’d been in during the battle on the streets, he could still feel the elemental energy swords in his body become slightly sluggish.
It was working!
Ai Hui restrained his joy and started slowly brandishing the sword.
His movements were very slow as he could not yet control his muscles, making him look like an awkward-moving wooden puppet. His movements were indescribably rigid and unsightly.
Ai Hui did not care about it and focused on brandishing the sword.
The elemental energy swords involuntarily transformed according to the sword moves Ai Hui executed. Very soon, more and more elemental energy swords were beginning to move along with how Ai Hui brandished the sword.
He was right!
Ai Hui felt more confident and began to brandish the sword more seriously.
Ai Hui had a deep understanding of the sword embryo. The elemental energy swords formed when the elemental energy was affected by the remnant energy waves of the sword embryo. The sword embryo had a direct reaction to anything that was related to swords. Ai Hui was wondering whether or not the elemental energy swords preserved this unique characteristic of the sword embryo.
The reality had confirmed Ai Hui’s conjecture.
As Ai Hui continued brandishing the sword, more and more elemental energy swords continued to gather, resembling densely-packed fish. Even though they were crowded together, they were very orderly. The pain Ai Hui felt in his body relieved significantly.
Very soon, Ai Hui came across a new problem. How was he to direct these elemental energy swords into his eight palaces?
The elemental energy swords flowed endlessly. They did not stop at all when passing by the eight palaces.
Generally speaking, the eight palaces had a powerful attractive force over elemental energy, causing it to stay in the eight palaces involuntarily. Only by using certain special channelling techniques could the elemental energy be directed out of the palaces to form moves.
In Ai Hui’s situation, it was the complete opposite.
A terrifying amount of elemental energy was flowing through his body, and yet, it wasn’t stopping at the eight palaces. The eight palaces were completely empty. If the elemental energy was not stored in the palaces, it would dissipate very quickly.
Ai Hui knew that this was because the elemental energy in his body had transformed into elemental energy swords. The eight palaces had a strong attractive force over pure elemental energy, but for elemental energy that had changed form, the eight palaces would have zero attractive force.
The thing was, as long as the remnant energy waves of the sword embryo were still in his body, the elemental energy would immediately transform into elemental energy swords.
Without elemental energy to fill them up, the eight palaces would shrink and close as time passed. This would cause his base level to drop sharply.
What should he do?
Ai Hui racked his brain as he brandished his sword.
He thought of a daring plan, but did not know if it would work.
This time around, he was slightly hesitant and did not immediately begin carrying out the plan.
This plan was slightly risky…