Ai Hui woke up with a splitting headache.
He had a dream. He dreamt that the recent event was a dream. And after he woke up from the dream within his dream, he was back in the Wilderness, where an elementalist had asked him why he had not finished his work.
“Are you awake?”
Fatty’s voice brought him back to reality. He turned around and saw Fatty squatting at the door, crunching on a piece of malt candy. If the malt candy were replaced with a bone, Fatty would look exactly like a plump guard dog.
Dog…he doesn’t look like a dog…pig suits him better...
He had persuaded Fatty to stop eating so many candies numerous times, but this fellow would always just turn a deaf ear.
He did not know where and how Fatty hid his malt candies. No matter the location or the time, he could always get out a piece of malt candy. It must be his unique skill.
Ai Hui’s body was drenched in sweat, and he felt terribly uncomfortable. “I need to find a place to bathe.”
The moment he started talking, he was shocked by his hoa.r.s.e voice.
“What happened to your throat?” Fatty turned around, his face filled with concern.
Ai Hui shook his head and did not say anything else. He hung his sword on his waist and walked out of the room. The dazzling sunlight shone upon his face, preventing him from opening his eyes. He subconsciously squinted and used his hands to block the glaring daylight.
After observing his surroundings, Ai Hui realized that this place was not a manor but an army camp. From the look of it, this army camp was rather old. Was it possible that this manor was remodeled from an abandoned army camp?
When he noticed a guard standing nearby, Ai Hui walked straight towards him and asked, “Is there a place for bathing?”
A trace of disdain flashed across the guard’s eyes as he took a glance at Ai Hui. He was reluctant to waste his words and pointed a finger in the direction of the courtyard.
“Thank you.” Ai Hui nodded and walked in the direction of the guard’s finger.
“Wait for me!”
Fatty shouted from behind. With nimbleness that did not match his body size, he appeared beside Ai Hui. Ai Hui had long become accustomed to Fatty’s cowardice; when they were in the Wilderness, Fatty would always follow wherever he went, just like now.
Luckily, Fatty was timid in nature; if not, he would not have survived until now.
As they reached the courtyard, Ai Hui discovered a corridor, and after walking through it for awhile, they finally saw a small pond.
The size of the pond wasn’t really that big; however, its water was clear and rippling.
Plop! Ai Hui jumped into the pond and was prepared to take a relaxing bath.
He sighed. How nice would it be if he was in the training hall now! A ma.s.sage session from Lou Lan would get rid of all his weariness and fatigue.
Lou Lan was still the best...
He wondered how Lou Lan was doing.
“Ai Hui, I’m coming!”
Fatty yelled and jumped straight into the pool.
Ai Hui let the water splash onto his face as his eyes twitched. This b.a.s.t.a.r.d...
Within seconds, the already small pond had lost half the amount of its water. Ai Hui suddenly wished that he could kick Fatty out of the pond.
After taking a bath, Ai Hui finally felt much better. His splitting headache had been mostly relieved. Headaches, however, weren’t an unusual occurrence to him—whenever he used the sword embryo for an extended period of time, he would have a headache. Yet he never paid it any mind as it would always disappear after some time.
This time, if not for the sword embryo, he would have died.
After finis.h.i.+ng his bath, Ai Hui walked to the steps and settled down. He casually plucked a blade of gra.s.s and was about to put it in his mouth when he suddenly stopped and scrutinized it. When he discerned that there were no signs of a red color, he placed it near his nose and smelled it. It was only after perceiving that there was no faint fragrance to it that he felt relieved, and he then put it in his mouth and began to chew.
He propped his hands behind his head and basked in the sunlight while chewing his blade of gra.s.s.
What was Lou Lan doing now? How was Master, Mistress and Senior Mingxiu? When he remembered seeing that Central Pine City looked normal as usual when they flew past it, he was more at ease.
He felt that he was worrying for nothing. Mistress and Senior Mingxiu were so powerful; why would he need to worry about them?
Lou Lan was a sand puppet; no one would deliberately target him...
Crunch. Crunch.
The sound of someone crunching malt candies came from Ai Hui’s side. Ai Hui’s thoughts suddenly disappeared, and he then involuntarily laughed at his previous melancholy.
The heat from the sun was intense. After lying in the sun for only a short moment, Ai Hui’s s.h.i.+rt was already drenched in sweat.
He stood up and gave Fatty a harsh kick.
Fatty opened his groggy eyes and looked blankly at Ai Hui.
“Wake up and start training now,” Ai Hui instructed.
“Training?” Fatty was in a daze. After a while, he collapsed back onto the ground. “Such beautiful suns.h.i.+ne, let me sleep a bit more.”
However, Ai Hui didn’t say anything and used one hand to pull Fatty up, dragging him to a nearby empty training hall. “Don’t think that I’ve forgotten about the debt you owe me. Do you think you can get away with stealing my money that easily? From today onwards, I’m your creditor. You will only have your life back the day you return me my money. And to prevent you from dying accidentally and from me being able to get my money back, I will be supervising your training.”
Ai Hui stopped talking as he felt his throat become uncomfortable after speaking so many words in a single breath.
Fatty’s face was filled with fear. He knew how terrifying Ai Hui’s training routine was.
The training hall was empty. The sun was so scorching hot that Fatty felt that the bath he took earlier was a waste.
“Show me what you can do.”
When Fatty heard this, he s.h.i.+vered with fear. But just as he was about to open his mouth and plead, Ai Hui’s fist was coming straight at him.
Fatty instinctively dodged to the side. His movement was unusually graceful and agile, similar to a fat cat.
Ai Hui’s fist grazed the side of his face, sending undulations through its layers of fat. Fatty’s eyes widened as a s.h.i.+ver ran down his spine.
This…this fellow is for real!
If that punch had landed squarely on his face, it would now be swollen like a pig’s head.
“Ai—Ai Hui……if—if there’s anything wrong, we can talk about it. It’s...it’s not worth to risk our brotherly relations.h.i.+p for such a small amount of money…”
Fatty’s voice was trembling. He resembled a madman as he dodged Ai Hui’s punches left and right.
“You have become more adept at dodging.”
From the corner of his eyes, Fatty noticed a glint flicker through Ai Hui’s eyes. A s.h.i.+ver ran down his spine once more—he was all too familiar with this expression! Right now, Ai Hui was in an extremely dangerous mood.
“Spare me, spare me, Ai Hui! Let me off, please! I know I was wrong, I really know I’m wrong!” Fatty wailed desperately.
Ai Hui’s face remained expressionless, but he started to throw his punches faster. Although he had never learned boxing before, his punches were extremely rapid and precise, similar to torrential rain. Initially, he had just wanted to see Fatty’s progress, but after his first few punches. .h.i.t nothing but air, he became more enthusiastic in attacking.
Fatty looked extremely pathetic as he rolled and crawled around, trying to escape. However, he still managed to dodge Ai Hui’s punches, and it was as if there was lubricant all over his body.
Last time, Fatty would not have been able to perform at such a level. It appeared that he had made significant progress.
Ai Hui’s punches kept missing their target. However, the more surprised he became at Fatty’s improvement, the more earnest he became with his attacks. Even though he was no good at boxing, the continually failed attacks stirred up his battlel.u.s.t.
Once Ai Hui really became serious, his punches slowed down.
Fatty was like a cat which had its hair standing on end as if it had sensed an incoming storm.
At this moment, Ai Hui sensed something amiss with his body—it was as if he had entered the sword embryo’s state!
In the past few days when he was under the mound, Ai Hui did not dare to let go of the gra.s.s sword lest he leave the sword embryo’s state.
It had been a while since he had continuously held on to the sword for six days and nights. Ever since he had discovered that it was easy to develop an unhealthy dependency on the sword embryo, which, in turn, would damage his actual skill level, he had tried his utmost to prevent himself from entering the sword embryo’s state.
What had happened under the mound was an emergency. At that time, he could not care about whether or not he would develop a dependency on the sword embryo.
Previously, when Ai Hui had just woken up, he had a.s.sumed that his splitting headache was a side effect of entering the sword embryo’s state for a prolonged period. However, at this moment, Ai Hui realized that he was getting more and more used to the sword embryo’s state. He was finding it easier to enter it as well.
Instead of punching, Ai Hui used his fingers as a sword and brandished it casually.
Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+
Those swoos.h.i.+ng sounds would cause one to prostrate with fear.
Fatty was like a puffed-up, frightened fat cat. He felt the approach of danger and quickly maneuvered his body. However, to his horror, no matter how he maneuvered his body, he could not completely dodge Ai Hui’s seemingly relaxed sword fingers.
From those fearful swoos.h.i.+ng sounds, Fatty knew that if he got hit, the result would be miserable.
Just as Fatty was about to be jabbed by Ai Hui’s swordplay, he suddenly rolled onto the ground, and his right palm shot out a jet of scorching hot flames.
Voom!
Like a fat rat, Fatty quickly turned around and scurried away. He was abnormally fast.
“This is quite interesting!” Ai Hui’s eyes lit up; he had never seen such a move before.
It reminded him of fireworks. Fatty had always been proficient at sneaking and escaping. With the addition of this move, his escaping skills could be said to be matchless.
This was Fatty’s typical style!
Even the moves he had learned in the Induction Ground were used for escaping.
“We can talk about it nicely, Ai Hui. After all, we are brothers. Why let such a small amount of money injure our brotherly love? A money-minded world is cold and disappointing! Don’t worry, once I go back and save enough money, I will immediately return the money to you!” Fatty fawned over Ai Hui, continuously bowing and making promises.
“Go back and save enough money? Fatty, if I’m able to find you after you go back, I would be as fat as you!” Ai Hui sneered.
“The one with the surname Ai! If you’re capable enough, kill me then! Today, we shall break all ties. I…” Fatty was enraged.
Too lazy to be bothered with him, Ai Hui suddenly surged forward.
“Ahhh, dammit!” Fatty’s facial expression changed. He immediately turned around and started to flee.
Even though he was fat, he ran very fast. And as he ran, his palm continued to shoot out flames.
With his body slightly crouched, Ai Hui drew his Sawtooth Gra.s.s Sword and dragged it behind him. He stomped his right foot heavily on the ground, and his body leaped towards Fatty like an arrow that had been released from a bow.
Ai Hui did not train his [Copper Skin] for nothing; the force generated from his right leg was extremely great. His ankle dug deep into the soil, causing crushed rocks to shoot backward as he continued to shoot forwards.
Bang!
The sound generated was so loud that even the guard standing far away had a surprised look on his face.
It was rare to see students from the Induction Ground who had mastered the body-tempering skill [Copper Skin].
Every step Ai Hui took was generating immense power. He was like a heavy bull that was das.h.i.+ng forward madly, causing the earth to quake and the mountains to shake.
Fatty’s face became ashen when he looked back.
“d.a.m.n it!”
The distance between them was rapidly decreasing, and the glint in Ai Hui’s eyes was much colder than the gra.s.s sword in his hand.
Suddenly, Fatty pointed his right palm outwards and shot out another ma.s.sive jet of blazing flames.
His body made a sudden sharp turn in the air, and like a rubber ball, he bounced and darted in another direction.
Fatty heaved a sigh of relief. This was a time-tested move; the faster he ran, the better this move worked. Previously, he had purposely increased his speed just to enhance this move’s effect.
Ai Hui definitely could not catch him!
Fatty was filled with satisfaction. He turned around and was prepared to see Ai Hui fail to stop and be thrown out of the training hall.
However, when he took a closer look at Ai Hui, he was momentarily stunned.
Like a huge bat, Ai Hui was flying in a weird arc-like trajectory through the air and was swooping directly towards him.
He had…seen a ghost!
All Fatty could think of were these three words: to be continued.