Five Way Heaven

Previous Chapter | Project Page | Next Chapter

Chapter 7: Conviction

It took a while for the perspiration faced Ai Hui to suddenly realize what he had grabbed onto.

Ai Hui felt like he had grabbed onto a round lump of burning charcoal fire. He couldn’t grab it, but he also couldn’t let go.

s.h.i.t!

Ai Hui couldn’t help but secretly yell, yet he didn’t know who he was yelling at. The target’s body in his bosom remained motionlessly stiff, and stopped resisting. From the battle point of view, this was a good thing, but what was this indescribable guilty conscience?

Seconds pa.s.sed like years as he sweated profusely.

“Clang, clang, clang!”

The compet.i.tion closing bell sounded. As if receiving an imperial order, Ai Hui took off his hands from the other party’s chest lightning quick, and even helped the other party tie her armor back. Then, he quietly slipped away from the other party’s back, walking away into the smoke with a lowered back like a cat.

He felt guilty… it was best if he was as far away from the target as possible.

After sneaking into the crowd once again, Ai Hui couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. This unexpected mishap caused him to be at a loss. Luckily, he had on a mask and the Ink Night Smoke was dense enough. Ai Hui felt that his face was about to burn off and he had the sudden urge to turn around and run away.

Fortunately, his heart still had its last trace of conviction —— the award money of 50,000!

Along with the dispersing of the Ink Night Smoke, Ai Hui’s embarra.s.sment had also gradually dissipated; it was only an accident. There were always accidents on the battlefield, Ai Hui told himself.

Mn, since it was that reasonable, he was unable to refute it!

Ai Hui, who had convinced himself had now subsequently calmed down.

Once the smoke had completely dispersed, when the manager of the training hall saw that there were more than ten people still remaining, he couldn’t help but be shocked. To him, if there were two or three people remaining, that would be considered to be good. He was extremely aware of his lady’s battle strength, and the lady had always wholeheartedly invested herself when it came to real combat training. She would never throw a match.

Why were there so many? Could it be that his lady couldn’t adapt to the blind compet.i.tion’s unusual battle style?

Seeing that the training hall had not reacted yet, someone couldn’t help but shout: “Where’s the money? Are you still going to give it out?”

A few other people immediately responded afterwards.

“Yeah, you’re not going to try to go back on your word, right!?”

“Hurry up and give me the money! I’m in a hurry!”

The middle aged man looked at his family’s young lady. His lady didn’t respond at all, as if she had not even seen his inquiring look. After all, he was still somewhat in charge, and was flexible. To the training hall, taking out 50,000 yuan of award money was not worth mentioning. Even though he never expected that there would be so many victors, a few hundred thousand was still easy to take out.

After receiving the money, everyone began to cheer loudly.

To students, fifty thousand was no small change. They could now buy those items that they normally couldn’t bear to buy!

Everyone chaotically scattered.

Not the least conspicuous, Ai Hui mixed within the crowd.

Fifty thousand! With the money finally in hand, the beautiful feeling had long since tossed the previous awkward accident out of his mind.

Why would he bother to loiter about. Like a gust of wind, he spiritedly dashed into the noodle shop, and faced the owner with complete confidence as he opened his palm, saying the most domineering sentence he had ever said today: “Owner, five more bowls!”

He could finally eat his fill without restraint.

Only…

Ai Hui’s gaze suddenly lowered to his open palm, it was exactly this hand that had just…

Clap! He suddenly quickly closed all five of his fingers, clenching a fist.

There will always be all kinds of accidents on the battlefield, Ai Hui earnestly reminded himself again, and then ate a mouthful of noodles with a clear conscience.

The manager of the training hall stared at the young lady who stood alone in place in the training hall, and had an ominous premonition. His lady had stood there motionless for more than over ten minions already.

“My lady!” He couldn’t help but say.

It was as if the lady did not hear him.

The disturbance in his heart intensified. Don’t tell me there was an accident during the lady’s training? He would’ve never thought that his young lady would be injured in anyway. What a joke, in the entire Induction Ground, those who were the lady’s match were just a handful. Even if the lady suppressed her level and it was the strange blind battle, he still would never believe that there was someone the lady had trouble with. The most troublesome thing to the lady would be that she was unfamiliar with blind battles.

His eyes suddenly flashed. Could it be that the lady was gaining some insights?

That’s right, the scene before him did indeed look like the legendary image of gaining insight, right? That must be the case!

He immediately began to become excited. If the lady had gained insight in the training hall he managed, in the blind compet.i.tion he arranged, this would be an enormous credit. His mind was filled with delusions of achieving great success in the future as his face couldn’t help but expose a goofy smile.

Shi Xueman’s mind was completely blank.

What had happened earlier greatly impacted her, making her thoroughly flabbergasted.

Since the accident happened, all the way until just recently, her mind was still completely blank. She simply didn’t even hear the middle age man’s call for her, did not even know that the battle was already over, and didn’t even know that all the partic.i.p.ants had all left.

She was in a daze, and it was only until now that she had at last, slowly began to regain her conscious.

She trembled from head to toe, but she endured it. That was only an accident, she told herself, but it was no use. Her body continued to shake. An intense feeling of humiliation did not allow her to control her shaking as she tried her best to not cry.

Even if it was an accident, she’ll never forgive that b.a.s.t.a.r.d!

She gritted her teeth as she said that to herself. Those were like a miraculous magical power, for her body immediately stopped trembling, and she didn’t feel the need to cry anymore. Right, she’ll never forgive that b.a.s.t.a.r.d!

She regained her former confidence, and that high and aloof G.o.ddess returned back to the human world.

Taking off her face mask, her vision recovered their light.

Suddenly, the middle aged man’s complexion changed greatly. He stared fixed at his young lady’s snow white neck, and to his astonishment, he saw five purple fingerprints.

Good heavens… He almost could not believe his own eyes. He almost cried out in surprise, but reacted fast enough to firmly cover his mouth.

Someone had defeated his young lady!

If this news were to spread, it would cause a great earthquake in the Induction Ground. With the lady’s strength, she could definitely place in the top five, so who was able to defeat her? His first reaction, was that out of the ones in front of her, one of them had come in disguise and deliberately pulled a prank.

But he quickly rejected this idea. His young lady’s travel was kept a secret, and coming to this training hall was too random. Not only that, judging by the fingerprints on her neck, the other party ought to have held back, or else the young lady’s neck would’ve instantly crushed.

Thinking about the lady possibly encountering an accident in the training hall he was in charge of, the middle aged man’s back was instantly drenched in sweat.

Fortunately, the young lady was safe and sound. The middle aged man who had received a new lease of life felt that his own feet had gone a bit limp.

Shi Xueman, who was taking off her armor didn’t seem to be any different as she said indifferently: “Go investigate those contestant’s ident.i.ties. Everyone of their ident.i.ties, including the ones on the ground.”

The middle aged man didn’t dare to hesitate as he promptly received the order: “Yes!”

He was able to hear the coldness in the lady’s indifferent tone, and he knew that the lady was really angry. Since young, the lady probably had never suffered such a loss. A burst of lingering fear was birthed in his heart as he glimpsed at the fingerprints on the lady’s neck out of the corner of his eyes.

If he had actually known what had happened, he probably would have already fainted.

Even though he had straightforwardly agreed, he was still secretly grumbling as he carefully said: “This humble one was negligent, and didn’t keep their information. At the moment, I can only investigate through other means, and might possibly need the clan’s a.s.sistance.”

He never thought that such a thing would happen. In his eyes, all the contestants were simple the lady’s sparring partners and nothing more. They were going to be defeated by his lady, so what was the point of knowing their ident.i.ties?

“Don’t hesitate to pay whatever the cost.” Shi Xueman said with an ice cold tone: “The clan will mobilize all of its power. Investigate it thoroughly.”

The middle aged man’s heart trembled: “Yes!”

He felt his lady’s resolve.

This was not anything weird, a student that was capable of threatening the lady had popped up, so no matter if it was the lady or the clan, they would never sit by and watch. He was confident enough that as long as the clan mobilized its power, no matter how deeply the other party hid, he would definitely be able to investigate it thoroughly.

Shi Xueman seemed to be covered in frost as she walked out of the training hall gate.

After going out of the gate, she looked at the tide of people on the streets, then turned back and deeply glanced at the training hall. Tightly clenching her fists, she turned around and left.

Ai Hui walked out of the door while supported by the wall, and also was supported by the wall as he walked back to Vanguard Training Hall.

He was previously weakened by hunger, but now he was full to the point where he couldn’t move. With great difficulty he used a full ten minutes to walk from the alley’s entrance to the training hall gate.

At the training hall gate, a somewhat bored Loulan was sitting on the stone steps.

A strange feeling rose in Ai Hui’s heart. A bored sand golem, this kind of image didn’t seem quite right.

“I’ve waited an hour for you.” Loulan looked at Ai Hui, stood up, and patted the dust on its body.

This was the first time Ai Hui had seen such an animated sand golem, and the patting dust action was really amusing. Hey, you’re a sand golem, so you’re not suppose to have any dust on you. You’re probably only going to pat off some sand.

Also, it didn’t seem like we were that familiar.

He asked while opening the door: “Do you need something?”

“No.” Loulan tiled his head in thought, as if it were looking for a suitable list of words: “We’re neighbors, this is a visit.”

The color of the night was strong, but Ai Hui still could see the black mask on Loulan’s face. Seeing Loulan’s mask, he was reminded of tonight’s accident, and felt that it had left a psychological shadow in his heart.

He asked absentmindedly: “Why are you wearing a mask?”

Loulan answered: “Because I don’t have a face.”

“No face?” Ai Hui was a bit surprised: “Why not make one?”

Making a face for a sand golem was really easy, and some could even change faces at will.

Loulan said: Master Shao thought that it was troublesome.”

Ai Hui thought about the earth elementalist next door who didn’t care about worldly affairs, and felt that this was indeed Master Shao’s style. Among earth elementalists, those with strange natures were plenty in number. Ai Hui had seen many weird but dangerous earth elementalists before. In comparison, even though Master Shao was a bit unique, his danger level wasn’t that great.

“Actually, it isn’t much.” As Ai Hui said that, even he himself thought that his words were meaningless. He felt that it wasn’t really necessary for him to brood over this accident, even if it felt pretty good.

“It’s not necessary, I am only a sand golem, I don’t need a face.” Loulan earnestly explained: “Who would remember a sand golem?”

Ai Hui’s hand, which was currently opening the door, suddenly stopped.

He wanted to say something, but when he was about to say something, he wasn’t sure what to say.

“You’re right.”

Ai Hui seemed to have sighed. It was a bit cruel, but he really couldn’t be dishonest. Sand golems were existences that were one of the fastest to be destroyed in the Savage Territories, second only to coolies.

No one would remember a sand golem, so who would remember a coolie?

We’re both of the lowest ranks, but I have 50,000 yuan.

Ai Hui, who had raised his spirits, imposingly pushed open the door.

“Welcome, visitor.”