The flames that Fatty spewed made Lou Lan’s silhouette look extremely lonesome.
Yet, the battle going on within the training hall was very intense.
At the start, Ai Hui did not dare to relax too much. He had not adjusted to his new level of seven palaces and did not know how to efficiently utilize them in battle. Plus, he still felt some fear. He was afraid that overexerting the seven palaces, which were mended by the “spiritual force,” would cause them to fall apart.
Fortunately, the situation was highly heated, which quickly made his fear vanish into thin air.
It was a matter of life and death, how could he afford to think too much?
Be it in size or strength, the blood ants paled in comparison to the blood mantis. However, there were simply too many of them. Just looking around, there were at least 100 ants crawling about in the training hall.
Their speed was fast, even faster than the blood mantis. They were like red arrows. Move any slower and they would strike. Also, they were very good at cooperating and pounced on their prey from all different directions.
Ai Hui was fl.u.s.tered at first, but soon enough, he found the trick to deal with the blood ants.
The blood ants had great speed, but lost out in size. Their strength was far below the blood mantis.
The Red Dust Sword Box gave Ai Hui a huge, pleasant surprise. He was unable to control the Red Dust daggers that well, but since there were just too many blood ants, he did not really require much precision.
The red light surrounded Ai Hui. It was very sharp and left a wound on the blood ants’ bodies the moment they touched it.
On the contrary, the heavy Dragonspine Inferno in Ai Hui’s hand was slow-moving.
Ai Hui realized that it was difficult to kill the blood ants if he met force with force. They were very tenacious and would quickly crawl up and join the next attack wave if they were swatted away.
Blood fiends had very tough bodies. Even if they were small and weak like ants, they were still difficult to handle.
Ai Hui could only lament about the power of the blood poison. Without exception, wild beasts and insects underwent major changes when poisoned. It was clear that the existence of the blood poison was in defiance of the natural order. The G.o.d of Blood… what a horrifying thing!
As a seasoned veteran, Ai Hui realized that using brute force was not efficient enough, so he needed another strategy. They won in numbers. He would not be able to weaken their advantage if he did not find a more effective combat method. Over time, his strength would only reduce, and he would sink into a precarious situation.
He quickly noticed that Jiang Wei and the others were in an increasingly terrible situation. They were weaker and not as strong in close quarters combat. He had to a.s.sist them as soon as possible. With no time to think, he dashed toward the three of them and shook the Dragonspine Inferno in his hand.
As he prepared to mobilize the elemental energy within his body, the seven palaces vibrated simultaneously.
Caught off guard, the Dragonspine Inferno in Ai Hui’s hands stopped moving momentarily, but his eyes were wide open.
[Big Dipper]...
An indescribable familiarity surfaced from within Ai Hui’s body. The simultaneous release of elemental energy from the seven palaces combined these seven infinitesimal elemental energies into one.
Bzz!
Like the sound a bamboo splitting and swinging in midair, there was suddenly a strong suction force generated from within the center of the circle drawn by the swing of the heavy sword in Ai Hui’s hand. The surrounding blood ants began to gravitate to it.
Like a stone on the riverbed that was visually distorted through the rippling waters, the bodies of the blood ants inside the sword circle were similarly deformed.
Clap, clap, clap.
A few blood ants simultaneously exploded.
The scene before Ai Hui’s eyes made him jump in shock and even caused him to fall into a short daze.
The [Big Dipper] technique... was actually this powerful!
This was the second time he operated the [Big Dipper], and he had a sudden urge to thank the mayor. Even though it was a transaction, the original version of the [Big Dipper] that the mayor bestowed upon Ai Hui was supremely helpful. Previously, in the blood forest, he had activated it without hesitation when in critical danger.
He could not remember much, but he was very clear about the fact that the [Big Dipper] had saved his life.
From a learning perspective, his impetuous activation of the [Big Dipper] was undoubtedly a big waste, but he had no regrets at all. Without the [Big Dipper] and relying on just the [Arching Fish Back] would not have allowed him to mobilize such enormous “spiritual force,” Without expending such a huge volume out, he would have exploded.
After being dazed for a short while, Ai Hui suddenly became excited.
The [Big Dipper] was actually this powerful!
Although the traditions pa.s.sed on by the Avalon of Five Elements were few in comparison to the number of swordplay manuals left by the Cultivation Era, after more than 1,000 years of development, they were pretty impressive in both the quality and quant.i.ty. After all, in the Cultivation Era, cultivators did not have mortal enemies, while the Avalon of Five Elements had never stopped battling the Wilderness.
War was a huge stimulation for the spread of knowledge.
All kinds of knowledge had been imparted. Some pertained to fighting styles and elemental energy operation while others involved training methods and a jumble of everything.
The [Big Dipper] focused on the operation of elemental energy. There were no moves.
Coined as the most powerful technique, the [Big Dipper] naturally had its own unique properties.
Generally speaking, operation of elemental energy abided by the “from near to far” rule. For example, the sword moves Ai Hui used usually activated the hand palaces first since they were the fastest. If both hand palaces consumed more elemental energy, the elemental energies from the other palaces would steadily flow to the hands.
The [Big Dipper] was different however. Its elemental energy operation was very unusual.
Whether Ai Hui used his hands or legs or head, whether this technique required strong or weak elemental energy, it needed a simultaneous mobilization of elemental energies from seven palaces.
Seven palaces moved as one. They released seven elemental energies together to combine into one outstanding elemental energy.
Basically, the [Big Dipper] was very complicated, but it consumed the same amount of elemental energy and yet increased the power of another move by a huge margin. If an enemy attacked with elemental energy, the [Big Dipper] would distribute the power of the attack between all seven palaces, which allowed each palace to simultaneously endure the same amount of dispersed force and greatly reduced the chance of sustaining an injury.
The [Big Dipper] had its flaws of course. Its requirements demanded a lot from its users.
Users had to have seven strong palaces to attain resonance. Then, they had to be capable of unleas.h.i.+ng seven elemental energies simultaneously. If the seven palaces varied in strength, the energy released would naturally vary in speed.
Having seven strong palaces was a very difficult condition to fulfill, and the majority was ruled out. This was why the [Big Dipper] was powerful, yet not well-known, and why w.a.n.g Shouchuan wanted Ai Hui to learn it.
Other than mandating excellent physical fitness, a superb control over elemental energy was also required. The process of seven elemental energies combining into one within the body had to be completed within a short period of time, which was very difficult to achieve without outstanding energy control.
A high level of control…
Something clicked in Ai Hui’s brain–embroidery!
Just like the [Big Dipper], the complex and meticulous embroidery process required a precise control over elemental energy.
Teacher had long since set his eyes on the [Big Dipper] and had made preparations for Ai Hui from the start. What teacher did not expect was for the mayor to give Ai Hui the original version of the technique!
At this point, Ai Hui finally understood. No wonder he had such few issues mastering the [Big Dipper]. Be it attaining resonance between the seven palaces or combining the seven elemental energies into one, they all went pretty smoothly for him.
The edge formed by the convergence of elemental energies was extremely sharp. The sword ray swept over a few blood ants, splitting them in half.
Jiang Wei and the guys were in a dire situation. They looked battered and exhausted.
Ai Hui was quite far away from them. He took a deep breath and dashed a few steps forward while using a sword-made screen to protect himself. The fearless blood ants threw themselves at Ai Hui and landed on the screen, bursting into tiny flames.
Ai Hui’s body was in a half arch. He ran like a cheetah and, when he landed his last step, theDragonspine Inferno gathered the sword screen that filled the sky and thrusted it forward.
Sss!
At the end of the Dragonspine Inferno, a white ray lit up suddenly. It extended along the sword blade, across Ai Hui’s palm, wrist, arm, and finally to his whole body.
Ai Hui’s entire body was engulfed in the plane of the blade ray. He was like a bat, drawing a strange arc across the sky.
[Gale Bat Blade]!
Limbs of the marching blood ants were severed upon touching the blade ray.
Sang Zhijun drew her Golden Silk Longbow unceasingly, and the arrows were launched like a storm. She was utterly focused and had full confidence in her bow mastery. All kinds of harsh training and evaluations were nothing to her. She could release seven arrows in a second and hit the bullseye every single time.
At she beginning, she was a little nervous and missed a few shots. Soon enough, however, she steadied her feet and had not missed again. She worked well with Jiang Wei and they fought well. They managed to slay 16 blood ants together.
What she did not expect, however, was that the blood ants did not seem to decrease in numbers.
Plus, she was starting to get tired. Jiang Wei’s power consumption was even higher since he was using a heavy bow. She could even hear Jiang Wei’s breathing getting heavier.
The arrow target formed by w.a.n.g Xiaoshan offered more of a psychological comfort since the actual protection it provided was quite limited.
Within her field of vision, all she saw was a frighteningly dense collection of intertwined red shadows.
An intense feeling of powerlessness emerged from within.
“Persevere!”
The shout was like a thunderclap that rang in her ears. She quivered and instantly became more clear-headed.
She turned around and saw a figure covered in sword light entering her view and leaving many scattered shadows.
A low whistle seemed to ring out from below.
A white sword ray divided the world within her view into two, while the criss-crossed red threads were like frail spiderwebs in comparison.
The ray grew bigger and bigger, like a storm sweeping across the training hall.
The blood ants were swept up by Ai Hui’s sword ray. Plop plop plop! Like torrential rain, many were flung onto the perimeter walls, leaving only tiny empty s.p.a.ces on it.
Other blood ants were intimidated by Ai Hui’s strike, and a short silence fell over the scene.
A blood-curdling screech was heard from the alleyway. It was weak and almost hollow. The sounds of bone-breaking and chewing never stopped. It was so distinct that everybody’s expression changed altogether. The fates of those in the alleyway was clear. There was no need to think.
The bodies of those in the training hall grew cold, but fury took over shortly. Boundless anger.
A baleful gaze emerged from the eyes of the blood ants lying on the ground. Rise again!
This was a death match. A battle without a retreat route. It would only end with the collapse of one side.