Wen Yongmin walked forward and politely greeted, "Hi, I’m Wen Yongmin, a reporter from Elemental World news village. Can I ask you a few questions?"
Upon hearing the words "Elemental World," Gu Xuan’s eyes lit up. He had bought Elemental World’s mirage bean pods before, but the second half of the sentence alerted him. "You can ask, but I may not answer depending on confidentiality."
"No problem," Wen Yongmin agreed easily. He started, "May I have your name and occupation? Are these confidential?"
After some thought, Gu Xuan felt it unnecessary to conceal these. "I’m Gu Xuan, a swordsman and vice division leader of the Sword of Lightning.
Wen Yongmin jolted. He caught a big fish!
The Central Pine Valley was very mysterious and outsiders knew little of it. They knew of its two combat divisions, the Spear of Heavy Cloud commanded by Shi Xueman and the Sword of Lightning led personally by Ai Hui.
It was said that the Spear of Heavy Cloud was the Central Pine Valley’s backbone, so the outside world thought more highly of it. Shi Xueman and her division’s miraculous victory also validated the fact that outsiders had been underestimating their capability.
Meanwhile, the other combat division, the Sword of Lightning, was extremely mysterious.
Wen Yongmin was experienced and careful. Expressed a cooperative attitude, he continued, "Is this called a Pinwheel Sword? Can you introduce it a little? You don’t have to reveal anything confidential."
Gu Xuan thought about it and answered, "The Pinwheel Sword is a creation invented by our division leader."
Wen Yongmin’s eyes lit up. "Sir Ai Hui?"
Gu Xuan nodded, satisfied with how Wen Yongmin had addressed Ai Hui.
Wen Yongmin’s impression of the Pinwheel Sword rose a notch. Ai Hui’s creations were always pleasantly surprising.
Wen Yongmin asked directly, "Is the pagoda cannon his creation as well?"
After some thought, Gu Xuan believed that this wasn’t a secret. "That’s right."
"Snow lava too?"
Again, nothing confidential. Gu Xuan answered candidly, "Right."
Wen Yongmin’s heart stirred. This was the first time the Central Pine Valley had given direct confirmation that the pagoda cannon and snow lava were made personally by Ai Hui. In the past, there were only conjectures.
Wen Yongmin exclaimed in admiration, "For being able to innovate so many new things, Boss Ai Hui is simply extraordinary."
With an honored look on his face, Gu Xuan raised his head and puffed his chest. "True, not many can compare to him in this aspect."
"Are members of the Sword of Lightning all swordsmen?"
Gu Xuan hesitated for a while before answering, "Yes. Many of them weren’t at the beginning, but they all are now."
He was uncertain as to whether or not the members were considered swordsmen. He felt that they were entirely different from the traditional definition of swordsmen, but if they weren’t swordsmen, what were they?
All right, new swordsmen.
Wen Yongmin asked directly, "What’s the Pinwheel Sword’s source of energy? Essence elemental beans?"
Gu Xuan hesitated for a little while but figured that snow lava was no longer a secret substance. "Snow lava."
Wen Yongmin was shocked. Eyes wide open, he repeated, "Snow lava?"
"That’s right."
Wen Yongmin couldn’t describe his astonishment. Using snow lava as the fuel, it was no wonder that the Central Pine Valley possessed the recipe for snow lava.
But to Wen Yongmin, what seemed obvious would actually impact this era greatly.
The pagoda cannon’s popularity and the freshly fashioned Pinwheel Sword were evidence that snow lava’s utility far exceeded people’s imagination.
Furthermore, as the sole producer of snow lava, the Central Pine Valley had a bright future as long as they could defend themselves. Wen Yongmin, who was familiar with the style of powerful influences, knew that many would be lusting over it, however. He suddenly understood why Ai Hui needed to gather the reporters.
Could it be that Ai Hui had realized it too?
Wen Yongmin became agitated once again. No matter what choice Ai Hui made. it would have a significant impact on this era.
No, Ai Hui’s impact on this era had surfaced long ago.
To a reporter, the opportunity to witness such a historical moment was extremely precious.
Suppressing his agitation, Wen Yongmin asked, "Are we heading to the Central Pine Valley?"
"No." Gu Xuan shook his head. "We’re going to Fishback City."
"Fishback City?"
"That’s right. The place where Master Wang Xiaoshan had his breakthrough, and the place he constructed all by himself."
Wen Yongmin was once again in disbelief. Mouth agape, he asked, "He built it single-handedly?"
At that moment, they were flying toward the horizon. Far away, at the confluence of heaven and earth, faint rays of light emerged as they flew to the dividing line between day and night..
Wen Yongmin and the rest enjoyed the sunrise, but were unaware that in the other corner of Beyond Avalon, a storm was brewing.
The sun had just risen from the horizon, its radiance driving away the darkness as cities awoke from their sleep. Although cities nowadays had fewer skyscrapers, no longer had the whirring of Three Leaves Bamboo Carts and Fiery Floating Clouds to cover the sky, and were less developed than those in the Avalon of Five Elements, there was a kind of never seen before change. As long as there were citizens occupying the land, it would quietly blossom with the aura of "life."
On the streets, steam was hanging in the air above the bun and pastry shops, attracting the gaze of passersby rushing past. Having starved for a whole night, the best consolation for these empty stomachs would be a bowl of piping hot soy milk to go along with some deep-fried breadsticks.
No matter how the eras changed, how trends faded, how Three Leave Bamboo Carts and Fiery Floating Clouds might disappear from the lives of citizens, this "life" would live on forever. It wouldn’t stop for a rest, just like the sun that rose and set every single day.
Still, it was predestined that this wasn’t going to be an ordinary morning.
"Watch how the Spear of Heavy Cloud defeated the Ardent Flower Blood Division, from beginning to end!"
"Gruesome! Gruesome! Gruesome! Timid ones stay away!"
"The North Sea’s lone girl. A woman not letting a man off!"
"Enlightenment on the battlefield. The first Pagoda Cannon Master releasing deadly white flames!"
Outside the mirage bean pod shop, sales assistants shouted at the top of their lungs, their faces flushed. This scene was replicated throughout all mirage bean pod shops in every city.
Passersby stopped at these shops. Like magic, the assistants’ shouts pulled them over.
"Give me a copy!"
"One copy for me."
Everyone was filled with curiosity and incited. The Spear of Heavy Cloud’s victory had been widely disseminated earlier, but the details hadn’t been made public.
Now that the details were being revealed, everyone was highly interested. Their enthusiasm far exceeded the news villages’ predictions. Even before noon, all the mirage bean pods had been sold out. News villages had no choice but to increase production of new mirage bean pods.
He Min was 14 years old. He was a student of the Hyde Training Hall. The Hyde Training Hall wasn’t considered big, but was well-known for grooming youngsters. The training hall was responsible for producing quite a few talented individuals, and among them was one who had gone on to become the Wind Mail Division’s vice division leader. Due to this affiliation, the Hyde Training Hall had also become the division’s co-training ground. Each year, the Wind Mail Division would go over to the Hyde Training Hall to pick suitable students to replenish its ranks with young blood.
In this chaotic world and time, being recruited into a combat division was the best way out.
After becoming the Wind Mail Division’s co-training ground, the skills that the Hyde Training Hall imparted changed somewhat. In this era, there wasn’t time for you to slowly instruct your students. If they could not adapt to battles quickly, their future would be very bleak, and the training hall would be renounced by the public since no one would train there. The number of students selected by the combat divisions was an grand yearly test for the training hall. If students were recruited into a well-known combat division, the reputation of the training hall would soar.
As usual, He Min arrived at the training hall and was greeted by excited faces. They gathered around and discussed fervently.
He didn’t exactly like to join in the buzz, so he stayed apart.
He changed into his training garments and went over the imparted content from the previous training in his head a few times. He was very focused and quickly started to sweat. He came from an ordinary family, and before the blood catastrophe, they had managed a small family business and were living quite well. When the blood catastrophe erupted, however, the whole family followed the exodus into the Wilderness to rebuild their lives, and they fell into financial straits.
The good thing was that his whole family was alive and together. It was the biggest fortune amid the misfortune.
During his migration, he had experienced a lot of thrills and had faced the attack of dire beasts quite a few times. As such, he had been sensible since a young age, and his goal had always been to enter a combat division. Now that the training environment was completely different from the past, students with ordinary family backgrounds, like him, wouldn’t be able to continue training if they were not recruited by a combat division.
Only by entering a combat division would they be provided with a steady flow of training resources.
He looked at the time. The lesson was about to start. He Min stopped to wipe the sweat off his face.
With a mirage bean pod in his hand, Teacher arrived right on time, appearing rather excited.
"Let’s watch this clip before we start training. The best among you guys will be recruited into combat divisions in future, so battling will be inevitable. Teacher hasn’t been on the battlefield, so there’s nothing I can impart to you guys. The clip that I’m about to show you all is real battle footage."
The students stirred restlessly as some even started shrieking out of agitation.
He Min was flabbergasted and somewhat puzzled.
Teacher, who was usually stern, did not get angry today. In fact he was smiling, which was very strange to He Min.
"Looks like many of you have already guessed it. That’s right, I’ll be showing you the classic battle footage of how the Spear of Heavy Cloud, led by Shi Xueman, defeated the Ardent Flower Blood Division!"
He Min quivered. He thought he had heard wrongly.
The training hall was already in an uproar.
"You’re amazing, Teacher! You actually bought it!"
"I heard it’s out of stock everywhere!"
"You moved quick, Teacher!"
Teacher was pleased, but he deliberately put on a straight face. "Quiet! Observe carefully. I’m not simply gonna let you guys watch it. I want each and every one of you to submit a reflection report after!"
The students, who were jumping excitedly just a moment ago, were now whining like geese.
Yet, when the clip started playing, everybody automatically sat up straight.