Receiving the wine gla.s.s, Lie Yan’s expressionless face heavily said: “Continue.”
Ji Dong didn’t talk any nonsense, immediately immersing himself in practising his skills, although Lie Yan had firmly made a resolution a few moments ago, her eyes could not help but shoot a glance at Ji Dong’s left hand. Indistinctly seeing that his hand wound was covered by charred blackness, apparently, Ji Dong had relied on his own flame to burn the wound a bit, stopping the blood from flowing out.
Looking at the fine liquor inside the wine gla.s.s, Lie Yan’s heart was afraid to drink it for the first time.
At this time, suddenly, along with Ji Dong’s Bite of the Scorching Sun and Dark Moon Claw simultaneous move, his body suddenly stiffened there, behind, a ray of golden sunlight quietly flashed, followed by a touch of dark moonlight. Ji Dong stood there shaking, reluctantly turning to see the flames, “I…… I succeeded.”
The thousandth time, success! Ji Dong’s ultimate flames suddenly erupted within his body, but he, who had been stretched taut like a bowstring, silently broke down causing his straightened body to at last fall down head first.
Lie Yan took a step forward, already saving Ji Dong’s body. She looked at him and then looked at the wine gla.s.s in her hand, as unspeakable emotions flowed through her eyes. Softly holding him near, she carefully made him lie on the ground.
Behind Lie Yan, that sparkling and translucent fire of the Red Lotus Flower blossomed once more, the fire elements within the air turning into black and gold, engulfed Ji Dong’s body until he was enshrouded in it, raising the temperature of his extremely worn out body.
After finishing this, Lie Yan suddenly launched high into the sky. After she was in the air she looked gravely at Ji Dong, firmly held the wine gla.s.s and changed into a red meteor, disappearing into the end of the lava lake.
When Ji Dong regained his consciousness, he was surprised to find that he felt all cool and refreshed even though he was amidst a searing hot environment. The yin-yang spiral in his chest was normally revolving, having expanded by one tenth compared to before. During these 9 days of h.e.l.lish training, he did not have any time to observe the changes to his magic power and now, it seemed that, though this way of training could cause one to collapse, it could also promote their magic power.
After he crawled up from the platform, he looked around, but could not find the slightest trace of Lie Yan. He then yelled, “Lie Yan, where are you?”
“You should return. Your friends are already back in the academy and are looking for you. You need not come over every day while you are on the road. Remember to diligently train these two standard skills. Also use the Yin-Yang G.o.dly Seal to seal your real strength.”
Lie Yan’s voice seemed to echo from all around. However, Ji Dong observed that Lie Yan’s voice sounded different, it was flat and emotionless.
Not waiting for Ji Dong to say anything, a red light engulfed him as the red lotus quietly wrapped him within its petals and brought him away from the geocentric core.
“Knock, knock, knock….” Ji Dong had just returned to his room when he heard a series of hurried knocks at his door. “Boss, are you in there?”
They have already come, thought Ji Dong. He looked at his clothes which couldn’t be called clean and he shrugged as he replied, “Come in!”
When the door opened, I saw Karl and Bisu dressed simply. Karl was wearing an ordinary jacket and trousers whereas Bisu was wearing one made from luxurious materials. It was blue in colour and very form-fitting, but unadorned.
“Boss, why did you take so much time….ah! Boss, why do you look and smell so filthy? Did you not bathe for several days?” Bisu asked loudly, as he looked at Ji Dong.
Ji Dong let both of them enter his room and said, “For the past few days, I have been cultivating non-stop. Both of you wait for a while, I will tidy myself up and then we will set off.” Looking outside, he saw that it was early morning.
After rushing through his bath, he went to the dining hall to find some food. Then he took all of the liquor from the cabinet and some change of clothes and put them in his storage bracelet and his packing could be said to be complete.
“Boss, are you planning on wearing your uniform while travelling?” This time, even Karl couldn’t help but ask.
Ji Dong looked down at his Bing-fire Department’s uniform and said, “What, is there something wrong? You both know that I was picked up by Dean Yang. Apart from the school uniform, what else do I have to wear?”
Bisu laughed and said, “My father said that we should be low-key and not let people easily know that we are Yin-Yang Wizards. Boss, I knew, you only have the school uniform, so I already prepared some ordinary clothes for you to wear. Four sets of clothes for one gold coin. These are for you.”
Saying that, Bisu lifted his forefinger, around which was a ring inlaid with a blue gemstone. There was a blue light emitted from it and four sets of clothes appeared in front of Ji Dong.
Ji Dong was touched. He knew that Bisu asked him for payment because Bisu knew Ji Dong’s personality; Ji Dong was someone who would not accept things casually from anyone without paying for it. Ji Dong took the clothes and handed Bisu one gold coin.
Karl, who was leaning on the wall beside them, muttered, “As expected, those with a feminine heart are more meticulous. It seems that sissies can also be of some use.”
“Karl, if you continue calling me a sissy, I will fight you.” Bisu furiously shouted.
Karl laughed, “Right, then show those graceful hand movements again. You must instead say, ‘I, this old woman, will fight you with all I have’.”
“You…”
Looking at these two bickering, Ji Dong felt rather comfortable. Having one’s sworn brothers accompanying one on his journey indeed had a nice feeling to it. He quickly changed his clothes and said, “Let’s go. We only have 10 days left to reach our destination, which is not really a lot of time.”
As the three of them walked away from Li Huo Academy, they couldn’t help but turn back to look. Here they had lived together for four years, hence they felt sentimental.
Sensing the reluctance in Karl and Bisu, Ji Dong put an arm around each person’s shoulders, “We can still come back one day. At that time, we will be the most powerful Yin-Yang Wizards, and Li Huo Academy will revel in our glory.”
After leaving Lihuo City, the trio rode along in the northeastern direction. Not only was their destination of Central Earth Empire, the largest country on the continent, but they also had to go to a specific place, which was in the middle of this continent. That was the capital of Central Earth Empire, a teensy-weensy place called Central Plains City.
Central Earth Empire was bordered by the remaining 4 empires of the other 4 elements. It had vast lands and the topography of the majority of the land within this empire was the plains. It was the most powerful Empire on the continent and had a lot of fertile lands. It was like the ancient Central Plains region from Ji Dong’s previous world.
But, what Ji Dong was not clear about was as per the Li Huo Academy’s professors teachings, why although there were 5 great empires on this continent, very few wars broke out. Especially with the Central Empire having such fertile lands and being landlocked by the other four empires, there ought to be constant fighting across its borders. But in actuality, it was rather peaceful and the 5 great empires lived together in peace, fighting very few wars.
(TL: So he does not wish for peace… isn’t he just supposed to be a winemaker??) (ED:Maybe he’s just confused or drunk. Alcoholics Anonymous anyone?)(VG: Nah he speculates on the economic effects of war: more people drink more regularly to forget the pain caused by war; which leads to more demand, better business and higher prices!)