Dead silence and stunned gazes greeted Ai Hui when he walked out with a snail’s pace and a cautious look on his face.
The air surrounding him loudly crackled, as if there was an invisible fire burning and trembling violently.
Ai Hui’s body was shrouded in an air current, appearing fuzzy to everyone’s eyes.
Everyone was looking at the lightning-imbued sword in Ai Hui’s hand. They couldn’t believe what they had just seen and looked as if they had seen a ghost.
Lightning!
They knew Ai Hui’s nickname was "Lightning Blade," but they seldom linked it with real lightning. Even when the survivors of Central Pine City recounted the Battle of Long Street, other people would merely laugh. Everyone understood the term "lightning" as a metaphor to describe Ai Hui’s courage and dominance on the battlefield.
However...
At this moment, the streaks of lightning curling around Ai Hui’s sword seemed to be telling them how ignorant they were. For a veteran with rich experience like Mister Dou, this was far beyond his comprehension of the term "lightning".
If they weren’t remembering incorrectly, Ai Hui was the first Lightning Master in the history of the Avalon of Five Elements!
They were petrified.
Anyone who was a "first in history" for something definitely could not be considered normally.
This person was extraordinary.
How could a person who would leave his name in the history of the Avalon of Five Elements be an ordinary individual?
Mister Dou was much calmer than the others. Yang Xiaodong had already shown signs of retreating.
Autumn Water’s last bit of hope disappeared. Her body stopped trembling as she was engulfed by boundless despair. Her limbs were ice-cold; she had never felt this cold before. She finally understood why King had been defeated in such a short period of time.
Her eyes were hollow and despondent. Cracks began to appear in her sky palace as her base level dropped. [King] was her Path of Master and she had put her blood and soul into it. When King died, the pillar supporting her base level collapsed.
Similarly, deep reverence and fear appeared in Jiu Gui’s serpent-like eyes at this moment.
His Dragoncry Spring Wine allowed him to be possessed by an ancient great dragon; however, even the ancient great dragon was filled fear and reverence when confronted with lightning. These feelings were passed on to Jiu Gui.
When Jiu Gui shifted his gaze to Autumn Water and sensed her aura rapidly weakening, he knew it would be impossible to win today’s war.
A shadow flashed across the sky and Jiu Gui appeared beside Autumn Water. He picked her up and abruptly flew towards the outskirts of Clearwater City.
Jiu Gui’s actions were very sudden without any forewarning. Quick and straightforward.
By the time anyone could react, he and Autumn Water were hundreds of meters away from the city.
Mister Dou, who had remained calm all this time, changed his facial expression. Meanwhile, Yang Xiaodong’s face had turned ashen. Both of them had not expected the Assembly of Patriarchs to escape without informing them first.
Mister Dou was so angry that he almost cursed. His [Northern Underworld King Tree] had formidable power and could both attack and defend, but it had one weakness; its mobility was very restricted. Once it had taken root, it would take around half a minute for its user to withdraw it and the process was rather troublesome.
Usually, half a minute was not considered long, but in an intense battle, it was exceptionally important. One’s enemy wouldn’t even give him or her a few seconds to catch a breath, let alone half a minute to retreat.
This was why Mister Dou seldom fought solo. If not for the fact that the Assembly of Patriarchs had paid him a very huge sum of money and that snow lava could fetch a terrifying price, he would not have taken action.
He had not trusted the Assembly of Patriarchs, which led to him bringing along Yang Xiaodong.
He and Yang Xiaodong had an extraordinary relationship and absolute trust in each other.
Now, however, Mister Dou was filled with regret as he had pulled Yang Xiaodong into this trouble.
Initially, he had thought that both of them could make a massive amount of profit off of the snow lava. This profit could even feed them for the rest of their lives. The main driving factor was that their chances for success on this mission were extremely high. There was no reason why four Masters would be unable to take down the mayor’s residence. Furthermore, with Yang Xiaodong as their spy, wasn’t it in the bag?
The initial development of the situation wasn’t too far from Mister Dou’s expectations. They were in an advantageous position.
In a blink of an eye, however, the situation was overturned. The Assembly of Patriarchs was actually frightened out of their wits and abandoned them to make their own escape.
Right now, they only had two Masters to deal with the other side’s three Masters and the "first ever Lightning Master."
It was obvious which side had the upper hand.
All Mister Dou could feel was agony. With a deep voice, he said, "Xiaodong, leave first!"
Yang Xiaodong did not move.
"Xiaodong, there’s no point in us dying together. If you live, you can still help me take care of the stronghold." Mister Dou sighed.
Yang Xiaodong’s body trembled.
Mister Dou looked as if he was reminiscing as he continued to speak with a hint of grief in his voice, "Out of all of my followers, you are the most successful. Some have died and some are injured. The children are still young and I’m worried about them. I leave them to you. Help me take good care of them."
Yang Xiaodong’s eyes turned red.
No one would expect Mister Dou, who was an underworld overlord that murdered people without batting an eye, to have adopted so many orphans.
Yang Xiaodong was one of the orphans he had adopted.
In his heart, Mister Dou was his big brother. Back in the day, Mister Dou lost his eyes to save his life.
After Yang Xiaodong grew up, Mister Dou expelled him from the stronghold. This was a traditional custom. Mister Dou felt that they should lead a decent life and not indulge in fights and killing every day.
After Yang Xiaodong was expelled from the stronghold, he changed his identity and led a new life. Yang Wuchang was actually his adopted son, but he publicized him as his nephew.
Yang Wuchang was also an orphan. The first time Yang Xiaodong saw him, he’d thought of himself and Mister Dou.
No one had expected Yang Xiaodong to eventually become a Master.
Before Yang Xiaodong could reply, they were interrupted by a voice.
"Do you think this is a market where you can come and leave as you wish?"
The voice belonged to Ai Hui.
However… his voice sounded very weird.
The cautious Ai Hui had remained stationary for fear of agitating the lightning streaking throughout his body. He did not even dare to move his facial muscles. Gritting his teeth, he squeezed the words out.
When Shi Xueman noticed Ai Hui’s abnormal behaviour, a worried look swept across her eyes.
Mister Dou’s attention had been on Shi Xueman all this time. Suddenly, he roared, "Faster, run!"
Yang Xiaodong clenched his teeth and frantically flew away. In the blink of an eye, he had disappeared.
Ai Hui was shocked. Now he realized that a Master was not only powerful, but his or her observation skills were exceptionally sharp. When a Master discovered something was wrong, he or she would definitely make an escape without dilly-dallying. Ai Hui seldom saw a Master that would fight to his or her death.
However, when Ai Hui thought about it again, he felt that this made sense. How could a brash fool become a Master? An individual could become a Master only if he or she was gifted, diligent, smart, and lucky.
When Ai Hui thought of this, he felt slightly pleased with himself.
He looked at Mister Dou and felt eager to test his new abilities. He did not think the doll he had already killed was powerful. Right now, he wanted to find someone powerful on whom he could test his newly improved swordsmanship.
This old fogey looked quite strong.
Ai Hui’s piercing gaze constantly swept across Mister Dou’s Northern Underworld King Tree as he thought about how to attack it.
Mister Dou noticed Ai Hui’s gaze and remained composed, without any fear.
"I surrender."
These sudden two words stunned everyone, including Ai Hui.
An unusual silence descended.
Mister Dou took the initiative and walked out from the defensive range of his Northern Underworld King Tree. "I surrender," he repeated.
This scene put everyone at a loss.
"Iron Lady!" Ai Hui yelled at the top of his voice.
Shi Xueman appeared beside Mister Dou, tied him up, and shackled his elemental energy. Mister Dou did not resist. Upon losing its master’s control, the Northern Underworld King Tree reduced rapidly in size and, after a few minutes, became an unremarkable vine staff.
One could not see any fear on Mister Dou’s face. He was indeed not afraid of anything. All along, before the Wilderness Expansion Order had even been announced, a Master’s position in society had always been high and mighty. When a Master initiated a surrender, no one would vent his or her anger by killing the Master.
This was one of the many precious advantages of being a Master.
Even if a Master did not want to take part in combat, their immense knowledge and deep understanding towards elemental energy were exceptionally valuable. Every Master had to have identified his or her Path of Master and his or her understanding towards elemental energy necessarily far surpassed any ordinary elementalist. They definitely had gone through a huge number of battles and had rich combat experience.
If they were to become teachers, any family or force would be extremely eager to hire them.
Therefore, Mister Dou did not worry about his safety at all.
They might place some limitations on him, but there wouldn’t be any problems with his life and safety.
At this moment, Ai Hui gave Shi Xueman an eye signal and said cheekily, "If you cut the weeds, you must eliminate the roots!"
Shi Xueman place the tip of Cirrus at Mister Dou’s throat.
Upon seeing this, Venerable Volcano, who had just gotten up from the ground, turned pale with fright. A Master who had surrendered could not be killed. This was an unwritten rule. Other than how precious a Master was, his unique status played an important factor as well. If Mister Dou was killed after he had surrendered, it would rouse the ire of other Masters.
Just as he was about to stop Shi Xueman, Ai Hui yelled, "Master Yang, come out now!"
Mister Dou was shocked, but he forcibly composed himself.
No one came out.
Venerable Volcano now understood Ai Hui’s intention.
"Master Yang, I will count to three. If you don’t come out, I will kill this old fogey."
A man with a gloomy face walked out from behind a half-destroyed house around one hundred and fifty meters away. It was Yang Xiaodong.
Mister Dou’s facial expression changed.
Venerable Volcano looked at Ai Hui with astonishment. That house should be out of Ai Hui’s line of sight and was more than one hundred and fifty meters away from him. Furthermore, there were many obstacles within this long distance. How could Ai Hui have discovered Yang Xiaodong?
"You won’t dare to kill him," Yang Xiaodong said with a deep voice.
"We will see. If you don’t surrender within ten seconds, I will kill him," Ai Hui sneered.
After Ai Hui finished his sentence, he did not even look at Yang Xiaodong and began to count, "Ten, nine, eight, seven…"
When Ai Hui counted to five, Yang Xiaodong blurted out, "I surrender."
"Venerable, sorry for troubling you," Ai Hui said.
Venerable Volcano was filled with admiration towards Ai Hui.
Take a look! Every man is different, every Master is also different! What have I been doing with my life after living for so many years?
"It’s not troublesome, it’s not troublesome..." Venerable Volcano quickly replied.
He walked over, tied up Yang Xiaodong, and pulled him to Ai Hui.
Yang Xiaodong lowered his gloomy face and asked, "I have a question, how did you discover me?"
Even Venerable Volcano looked at Ai Hui with curiosity. Only Shi Xueman turned her head around, looking as if she couldn’t bear to see what was about to happen.
"Do you really want to know?" Ai Hui asked cheekily.
"I want to know."
"Look behind the spot where you were hiding," Ai Hui said.
Venerable Volcano and Yang Xiaodong turned their heads and looked towards that house. There was nothing. Then, they looked even further back...
A line of huge, sand-made words floated in the distant sky.
"Yang Xiaodong is hiding behind this house."
Behind the line of sand-made words, there was a mini sand-made Lou Lan wearing an apron while holding a wok and spatula in each of his hands, appearing vivid and lifelike.
Blood rushed to Yang Xiaodong’s head and darkness engulfed his vision as he almost fainted.