Ai Hui sat in front of a table in a pitch-black room.
He had already placed the prepared film-spitting tortoise on the table. The film-spitting tortoise was slightly bigger than Ai Hui’s palm. On the surface of the tortoise shell, there was a streak of dark-red blood trace.
The film-spitting tortoise was a product developed by the Blood of God. Even though the Avalon of Five Elements and Blood of God were arch-enemies, the elementalists were still fond of using products developed by the Blood of God. What an irony.
The Blood of God excelled at breeding and rearing blood fiends. They had bred a lot of new species that had not existed in the past. Some species were actually very useful, such as the film-spitting tortoise.
The creation of the film-spitting tortoise had led to a decrease in the use of mirage bean pods. Mirage bean pods had already been replaced by film-spitting tortoises in high-end markets. The quality of the film projected by a film-spitting tortoise was much clearer than that of a mirage bean pod.
This had created huge losses for the wood elementalists in Jadeite Forest. As such, the wood elementalists were extremely anxious to breed more remarkable species of plants. In the past, the wood elementalists made big bucks off the mirage bean pods and now they were facing an extremely powerful competitor.
Regardless, to an ordinary person, usefulness mattered more than anything else.
Ai Hui fed the film-spitting tortoise a few elemental beans. Even though it was a blood fiend, it had an insatiable thirst for elemental energy.
When the film-spitting tortoise ate the elemental beans, the blood trace on its shell began to glow. The green-colored tortoise shell immediately became mixed-colored. The color of every section of the shell was different; they were colorful and gorgeous. The colorful sections glowed and dimmed rhythmically, looking as if they were breathing.
Ai Hui took out the piece of leaf that Hua Kui had given him and placed it before the film-spitting tortoise.
The film-spitting tortoise stretched its neck and completely devoured the piece of leaf. Crunch, crunch.
The Blood of God was Ai Hui’s mortal enemy, yet he was using their film-spitting tortoise. Ai Hui found it hard to describe what he was feeling now. The only thing he could think of was that the piece of leaf could only be used and seen once. This was for the sake of maintaining confidentiality.
After eating the leaf, the film-spitting tortoise turned motionless.
Even though Ai Hui had used the film-spitting tortoise several times, he still felt the film-spitting tortoise was somewhat dumb.
The rhythmically glowing tortoise shell suddenly released a burst of light, following which, a beam of light erupted from one of the sections on the tortoise shell and shot into the air. One by one, the colorful sections of the shell lit up and beams of light shot out.
All the beams of light converged at a point in the air twenty centimeters above the tortoise shell. An image formed and went from a blurry state to a clear one in an instant.
"Blood Elementalist Secret Arts Database." Upon seeing these few words, Ai Hui became energized and his body involuntarily straightened up.
There were descriptions of numerous blood elementalist secret arts, but each description was a brief one. Some of them even mentioned the origins of these secret arts, none of the information included anything about how to practise and master those secret arts.
Ai Hui stared at the information very carefully. The Blood of God was not only the Assembly of Patriarchs’ enemy, they were also his mortal enemy.
Only the Assembly of Patriarchs, which had been fighting the Blood of God for hundreds of years, would possess so much detailed information about them. This information could not be found outside and was extremely valuable.
This was the main reason why Ai Hui had wanted to join the Assembly of Patriarchs. He knew that he would have limits if he chose to fight the Blood of God single-handedly. He needed to understand his enemy well if he wanted to take revenge, just like how a hunter must understand his or her prey.
On the other side of the training hall, Lou Lan was completely focused on unlocking the sand compass.
The glow in his eyes kept flickering while his sand core, Midnight, operated at full force.
The master and his sand puppet were working back to back with extreme focus. At this point in time, the training hall was filled with absolute silence.
The most famous high-end brothel in Jadeite Forest had a weird name, Circle of Flowers.
The Circle of Flowers was located in the northeast corner of Jadeite City. That area used to be a crater, with the terrain caving inwards like a bowl. Every time it rained, the crater would be quickly filled with rainwater. Once it was summer, it would become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies, causing the air to be filled with stench. No one had been interested in that plot of land.
No one expected that a ring-shaped building could be built there after terrain was dredged for a few hundred meters and then miraculously transformed. Fresh spring water was directed into the crater and flowed around the ring-shaped building endlessly, forming a well-known Ring River. With such an unique architectural style and a weather-resistant barrier in place, it immediately garnered a lot of popularity on the day it was opened.
If one considered Quan’s night feast as the gathering place for influential government officials, then Circle of Flowers could be considered as the gathering place for wealthy merchants. As long as one was wealthy enough, he could have unlimited pleasure in the Circle of Flowers.
Delicacies, fine alcohols, beauties; anything that one desired could be found here.
If one wanted to vent his anger or stress, he could go to the free-duelling arena beneath the Circle of Flowers. If one wanted to gamble, the Circle of Flowers had the largest casino in Jadeite City for his pleasure. The Circle of Flowers was well-known in the Avalon of Five Elements for its money-squandering establishments.
A purple-clothed, frivolous-looking youngster was talking animatedly. "None of you know how much those people wanted to kneel down and bootlick Quan Minglong that day. Hahaha, in addition, Quan Minglong is blind! He actually took a fancy to She Yu! At least twenty members of the Quan family had died in the Induction Ground. He’s such a forgiving guy!"
Wu Qirong’s face was filled with worry. He looked around anxiously and lowered his voice. "Ziyi, speak cautiously!"
"Cautious my foot!" Ziyi agitatedly stood up. Not only did he not lower his volume, he raised his voice instead. "Did I say anything wrong? How many of our people have died in their hands?! Are we going to treat them as if nothing happened? Political marriage! Political marriage my foot!"
The guests seated at the surrounding tables shifted their gazes in unison towards Yu Ziyi’s direction. Wu Qirong panicked and tried to pull Yu Ziyi back into his seat. "Ziyi, you’re drunk!"
Yu Ziyi had yet to lose his last bit of sanity and sat down grumpily. He and Wu Qirong were lucky to have made it out of the Induction Ground alive. After witnessing so many of their family members and friends die in the blood catastrophe, how could they so easily forget their hatred for the Blood of God?
Yu Ziyi’s words garnered a lot of approval from the surrounding guests.
There were also some guests who were infuriated by Yu Ziyi’s words. They wanted to confront Yu Ziyi, but when they saw the guy sitting beside him, their facial expressions changed and they quickly withdrew.
As if he had never heard Yu Ziyi’s grumblings, Duanmu Huanghun picked up his wine cup and drained it in one gulp. His devilishly handsome face contained a tinge of morbid paleness. His hair was in a mess and his eyes were in a daze. A strong smell of alcohol surrounded his body.
Every lady that walked past Duanmu Huanghun would look at him with pity, wishing that they could pull him to their chest and cuddle him.
There was nothing new about Duanmu Huanghun drowning his sorrows with alcohol everyday. It was not only the citizens of Jadeite Forest who knew about this issue, even the Avalon of Five Elements and Blood of God were well aware of it.
Cup by cup, Duanmu Huanghun’s face became increasingly pale and the melancholy in his eyes became more and more obvious.
He’d rather stay in the smoke-filled and blood-soaked Central Pine City than stay in Jadeite Forest for one more day.
Central Pine City, the place that had been overrun with blood, appeared in his dreams countless times. Death, struggle, and fear were always unforgettable. Similarly, the happy times that he’d spent with everyone were also unforgettable.
However, the decision that his family and his master had made for him turned these unforgettable memories into a joke.
He did not have the strength nor a method to resist the decision. The entire family benefited from it, while he was the biggest ‘beneficiary.’
Is this fate? His mouth curled into a bitter smile.
Fate… He suddenly thought of Ai Hui. A mysterious thought crept into his mind.
If it was Ai Hui, what would he do?
His fingers that were fiddling with the wine cup froze as he became lost in thought.
Fate was really too cruel to that bastard...
Ai Hui’s expressionless face involuntarily appeared in his mind, but in the blink of an eye, that expressionless look turned into a smirk filled with disdain. In his mind, that disdainful smirk was so clear, so hateful.
Suddenly, for some unknown reason, Duanmu Huanghun felt that it was ridiculous for him to wallow in self-pity.
How could he lose to that bastard?
All of a sudden, he stood up. His face still looked drunk, but his eyes were unusually limpid. "Let’s go!"
Yu Ziyi and Wu Qirong were stunned.
"Go?" Yu Ziyi asked with a pair of sleepy eyes. "What time is it now?"
"It’s only eight o’clock." Wu Qirong was puzzled as well. What’s going on with Brother Huanghun? According to their usual routine, this was only the beginning.
Duanmu Huanghun ignored them, stood up, and walked down towards the basement. He wanted a good fight all of a sudden. There were various types of arenas in the basement and numerous experts. After being in a slump for so many days, he needed an epic fight to revitalize himself and expel the perplexity that he was feeling.
There was only one thought in his mind. How could I lose to that bastard?
As Duanmu Huanghun walked down the staircase, his vision became clearer and clearer. Even though he was still walking with a bit of a stagger, his aura became sharper.
Yu Ziyi and Wu Qirong, who were following him, were shocked. Both of them looked each other in the eyes and quickly caught up to him.
At this moment, Duanmu Huanghun heard a voice coming from below.
"She’s too much! She should thank the gods for Brother Minglong taking interest in her. Does she really think that she is a goddess? Humph, she doesn’t know what’s good for her."
"She’s so arrogant at such a young age. Blood of God? They still have to come and beg us in the end, right? If they are so capable, then don’t come looking for help from Jadeite Forest! Minglong treated her with so much respect, yet she reciprocated with nothing but arrogance. She doesn’t know that we are not to be trifled with. How dare she act so arrogant in our territory! Is she tired of living? What did she say again?"
"Disciple-in-name? If my memory serves me right, Duanmu Huanghun is the last official disciple of Dai Gang." Someone mimicked She Yu’s words to perfection.
Just as that person was about to add in another sentence, which was something along the lines of "a disciple-in-name can still make her kneel in front of him if he wants to," an indifferent and arrogant voice came from above them.
"Is she wrong to say that?"
Quan Minglong, who was drinking his wine dejectedly, raised his head in an instant while his eyes surged with fury.
A white-robed guy with a handsome, pale-white face slowly walked down the staircase. His chin was slightly raised as he stood high and looked down at the people below, not trying to conceal the arrogance and disdain in his eyes.
The one who had been mimicking She Yu became tongue-tied and froze on the spot.
When the surrounding guests saw Duanmu Huanghun and Quan Minglong, they quickly kept quiet, but their gazes continued to shift towards the direction of the duo involuntarily.
Quan Minglong stared at Duanmu Huanghun. One by one, these words left his clenched teeth: "What does Young Master Duanmu mean by those words?"
"What do I mean by those words?" A smirk appeared on Duanmu Huanghun’s pale-white face. He leaned his slightly drunk body over the hand railing of the staircase, waved his hand, and spoke in an arrogant and condescending tone. "I don’t like your face."
Quan Minglong’s face turned ashen. He stood up slowly and replied, "Today, I have to seek guidance from Young Master Duanmu."
"Are you even fit to do that?"
Duanmu Huanghun sneered. Without taking a second look at the fuming Quan Minglong, Duanmu Huanghun took a step forward and disappeared like a ghost. Quan Minglong’s facial expression changed slightly. Just as he was going to brace himself for an incoming attack, a blur flashed across his eyes and he lost sight of his target.
Duanmu Huanghun appeared in the air above the Circle of Flowers. Following which, he shot upward like a comet and flew to the sky above Jadeite City.
"She Yu, do you dare to come out and battle me?"
A cold and arrogant voice blasted across Jadeite City like thunder.
Everyone in the Circle of Flowers, including Quan Minglong, had their facial expression change drastically.