Chapter 259 - The So-called Path
After hearing Yan Hai’s stammering recount, the red-dressed girl finally made sense of the situation in Central Pine City.
"Treating the city as ‘cloth.’ I can’t believe that there’s actually such a capable person in Central Pine City. Seems like I should hold them in higher regard. Central Pine City has concealed many talents. ‘Treating the city as a piece of cloth’, the Lightning Blade, the A-1 Unit, Wang Shouchuan, and Han Yuqin. It is incredible that all of them are from Central Pine City.
"Yes, yes." Yan Hai nodded his head like a chick pecking on grains. He had recovered from his initial fear and realized that the red-dressed girl did not have any intention to kill him, so his brain immediately jumped into action. In a flattering tone, he continued, "Miss, you have such good foresight. If all the things you mentioned succeed, it might actually leave a legacy in Central Pine City’s history. However, as we are here, they will not have a chance to succeed! Hahaha!"
The red-dressed girl glanced at Yan Hai. "You seemed to be rather confident."
"My lady, with you and Master Tian Kuan, the blood elementalists would definitely be confident." Yan Hai was buttering her up without a care in the world.
"Tian Kuan?" The red-dressed girl laughed coldly. "His base level has reached his limit."
Yan Hai trembled and asked timidly, "Miss, what do you mean…"
"You don’t understand." The red-dressed gave a hmph and continued, "Previously, Tian Kuan took on an approach in strengthening himself and did not use any external force to help. The route that he chose is extremely dangerous. If there are any slight mistakes, he will fall into the deep abyss with no hope of reprieve. How did he manage to endure so many stages of god refinement? Because he was resolute and undaunted by death. As a result, he was able to persist and attain what he has today. However, due to his current injury, his mind is no longer as resolute, and he has lost his spirit. It is impossible for him to achieve any further achievements."
When Yan Hai heard this, he had chills in his heart. He asked feebly, "Is it that serious? Sir Tian Kuan’s capability is incomprehensible. I am unable to tell…"
God refinement was simply blood refinement. The blood elementalists felt that the word "blood" sounded too demonic and was not impressive enough. As such, they renamed it "god refinement." Following the increase of blood elementalists, such minute details were slowly gaining the attention of people, unlike in the past.
Even the title of "god elementalist" was starting to get popular.
"On what basis do you think you are capable of seeing it?" The red-dressed lady said bluntly, "The road of god refinement is extremely difficult and dangerous. While the road for an elementalist is long and slow, there are limits to the transformation. It is easy to train and mishaps seldom happen. However, the road for blood refinement is equivalent to climbing a precipitous cliff. While the view is incomparable, you are met with many obstacles and dangers. You consider the word ‘god’ as a word that attracts people. Little do they know that there is actually a profound theory behind the word."
Yan Hai listened attentively. He knew that such an opportunity was hard to come by.
"What do we mean by god? Being detached from life and death as well as being one with heaven and earth like God! In this aspect, we are no different from the elementalists. They also believe that they have a common origin with heaven and earth and they will live forever. In short, they are following the path of the cultivators from the past. However, we are different. We walk in between the path of life and death. We treat life and death as an integral whole, that they are similar. Our theory is profound. Walking between life and death is akin to walking on a tightrope between high cliffs. Below our feet is an unknown abyss. In order to succeed, our hearts and minds must be resolute. We must not hesitate, else we will definitely fall into an situation with no hope of reprieve."
Yan Hai was alarmed after hearing what she said and forced a laugh, "Wouldn’t this mean that they are unable to make any mistakes?"
"God makes mistakes too." The red-dressed girl continued unhurriedly, "Making a mistake is all right, and as long as the heart is resolute, there will be a chance to survive. To be alive after dying. To become a god overnight. This is something that is unique to us, blood elementalists. Compared to us, the training of the elementalists is much stupider."
"Why are we still not able to match up against them then?" Yan Hai asked subconsciously.
Through the red-dressed girl, he learned that his partners had died in the battle. He could not believe his ears. He could feel that after he became a blood elementalist—oh, god elementalist—his strength had improved tremendously. Old Lei and the rest were even stronger than him. Otherwise, they would not have treated him like that.
However, all four of them were dead.
"You guys?" The red-dressed girl smiled. "Even though you have managed to grow the god traces and become a god elementalist, you have not practiced any god spells nor do you have any suitable weapons. If you are able to defeat the Lightning Blade just like that, then he isn’t someone to be feared either."
When Yan Hai heard that the opponent was the Lightning Blade, his bewildered expression cleared. His doubts were cleared as well. If Ai Hui was the one they were dealing with, then the conclusion was a given and nothing out of the norm.
The Battle of Long Street had left an lasting impact on Yan Hai.
Yan Hai was glad that he had managed to escape due to Old Lei’s kick.
"Regarding Ai Hui, how much do you know?" the red-dressed girl suddenly asked.
"Not much," Yan Hai replied weakly.
"Say what you know." The red-dressed girl’s voice was melodious but commanded attention.
"Yes." Yan Hai did not dare to miss out any details and narrated what he knew.
The battle was in full force at the mayor’s residence.
Ai Hui and Shi Xueman were jointly attacking a blood ape. This blood ape was the same flaming ape that they had encountered in the Heaven Pit previously. It was defeated in Central Pine City last time and had barely managed to escape. Initially, the blood ape did not dare to enter Central Pine City. However, given that Central Pine City’s defense were destroyed and the enticing lure of the elementalists, it gave into temptation and entered Central Pine City once more.
They had had the aid of the mayor and dean previously, but at the moment, they had no other people to help them.
Ai Hui, Shi Xueman, and Duanmu Huanghun rushed forward. The others were trying to stop the advancement of the other blood fiends.
Compared to seeing it at a distance like earlier, Ai Hui was able to better comprehend the formidability of the flaming ape at a closer proximity.
Bang!
Ai Hui’s Dragonspine collided with the palms of the flaming ape. At the point of contact, the Dragonspine suddenly curved, like a spring that was compressed. Chi, chi, chi. Seven small swords intertwined, formed a lightning net, and flew toward the flaming ape’s face.
The flaming ape was fearful of the thunder and lightning. It lifted one of its palms to protect its face.
Ding, ding, ding. The sound of the lightning colliding on the flaming ape’s palm was heard. The flaming ape’s palm was numb and the fear on its face became more intense.
Ai Hui made use of the recoil from the Dragonspine and rebounded up into the air. When he was airborne, he felt that his right arm was numb. The flaming ape’s strength was incredibly shocking. He also confirmed something else.
The flames had a suppressing effect on him.
Was fire able to restrain metal?
In the basics class, enhancement and restraint of the five elements were common sense, but these properties were also the most amazing transformations for the five elements. In previous battles, the traits of enhancement and restraint were not obvious. Following the increase in Ai Hui’s base level, the concentration of elemental energy in his body also increased. His metal attribute became increasingly prominent. As such, the effects of enhancement and restraint became more distinct. If he were to achieve elemental externalization, the metal attribute in his body would become even stronger, while the effects of enhancement and restraint would become even more prominent.
All living things had weaknesses and enemies.
Ai Hui did not find this strange. He was thinking of how to counter this.
A ferocious glare flashed past the flaming ape’s eyes. When it wanted to rush forward, the tip of a spear pierced at its throat. It had to halt its tracks and threw a fist toward the spear tip.
Boom!
A smothered, but loud sound was heard throughout the residence.
The flaming ape appeared sluggish as Shi Xueman retreated a few steps back. Both parties were reevaluating their opponent.
The flaming ape opened its eyes wide. It did not understand why the delicate figure in front of it contained such tremendous strength, but it was more concerned with the smell the other party was emitting. The smell of water.
Just as fire restrained metal, the element that could restrain fire was water.
Facing an opponent on equal ground whose attribute could actually restrain it, the flaming ape was extremely fearful.
Shi Xueman remained calm and collected. Her eyes sparkled like the stars. That collision had increased her confidence. Her strength was increasing practically everyday. Her gains from the blood crystals seemed to differ compared to the others.
Like the Cirrus she wielded, her looks were deceiving as well. Her petite body contained a tremendous amount of strength. Occasionally, she would worry that such a change was a bad thing.
How can a girl just grow in strength? What happens if her legs become chunky? What happens if her arms expand?
Of course, these were just fleeting thoughts. She fought everyday with all her might and had no time to seriously think about all these minor issues.
Through that strike just now, she realized how much she had improved.
After the battle with Liao Nan, she gradually started to find a battle style that belonged to her. The same set of spear movements could have a different effect when different people executed them. From a young age, she knew that people had to find a battle style that belonged solely to themselves, just like people had to find a pathway that only belonged to themselves.
She thought that she was starting to find her own road.
Her eyes brightened as she saw the fear in the flaming ape’s eyes.
She took a step and thrust out Cirrus, courageously continuing her advance.
The flaming ape loosed ferocious roar and shot out its fist.
Boom!
The collision resulted in an even louder sound. Shi Xueman retreated further than before. Her arms were numb, but her eyes became brighter again.
A drop of fresh blood seeped out of the flaming ape’s fist. Just when it was about to drip to the floor, the blood became a flame that enveloped the ape’s fist. The color became darker and emitted a high heat. The ground beneath the flaming ape was burned red.
Everyone was shocked into oblivion by the collision.
Shi Xueman’s figure was graceful. Even though her body was covered by the armor, it was unable to conceal her perfect figure. Regardless of the angle, Shi Xueman and the word "sturdy" did not seem to be correlated. She only emitted gentleness, albeit her gentleness was "cold."
But… what did they just see?
Dumbstruck, Ai Hui gaped. He had just clashed with the flaming ape. Even he, who had attained the level of [Copper Skin] through training, found it difficult to deal with the flaming ape.
Yet, Iron Lady could meet the ape’s force with force.
To meet force with force!
Oh, to hell with it…
Ai Hui was shocked speechless. Although he had always referred her to as "Iron Lady," he had never imagined that such a dainty lady would be a brute force freak. To be able to meet the ape’s force with force, if she was not a brute force freak, then what was she?
She was a young lady from an influential family who used elemental ingredients to rinse her mouth, alright?
She was a talented goddess who had the ability to captivate countless men, alright?
She was someone who practiced an abstruse and inexhaustible absolute art, alright?
Why did she have to snatch the rice bowl from us, people who can only rely on brute force and are struggling to get by?
The world was too cruel!
Ai Hui sent a pitying glance in Fatty’s direction.