Chapter 210: A Strange Outcome
Ai Hui circulated the elemental energy with all his might, but after the seven palaces were filled, the huge volume of elemental energy had nowhere to go to, so it started to surge towards his sky palace between his eyebrows.
Due to the existence of the sword embryo in the past, his sky palace has not been activated.
However, due to the huge volume of the elemental energy this time round, the powerful surge forcibly opened Ai Hui’s sky palace.
The moment the elemental energy entered the sky palace, Ai Hui started trembling. It was like his mind was suddenly crammed with countless objects. His mind was blank.
If Ai Hui was still in a clear state of mind now, he would realise that it was as if there was a door opened slightly in his sky palace. Behind the door was a bottomless pit. Regardless of how much elemental energy was going in, it would be engulfed cleanly. The surge of the elemental energy continued for a few more minutes. There were no signs of the sky palace being filled fully. The surge of elemental energy towards the sky palace started to weaken.
As Lou Lan observed Ai Hui surreptitiously, his yellow eyes flickered. He noticed the change within Ai Hui’s body and immediately ladled a bowl of elemental energy soup and poured it into Ai Hui’s mouth.
Bang!
The surge of elemental energy increased dramatically once again and continued to flow crazily towards the sky palace between his eyebrows. What was surprising was that Ai Hui’s sky palace did not move a single jot and still did not show any signs of being filled to the brim.
After a moment, the elemental energy started to weaken. Again, Lou Lan gave a bowl of soup to Ai Hui.
After giving Ai Hui five consecutive bowls of elemental energy soup, the speed at which the sky palace engulfed the elemental energy started to slow down.
"Ai Hui’s sky palace is so formidable," Lou Lan muttered to himself. He was surprised.
He knew that each bowl of elemental energy contained a shocking amount of elemental energy. As a result, he only allowed them to have one bowl each. If they drank too much of it, they would not be able to support the amount of elemental energy. There was a process that they had to go through before the elemental energy would be absorbed. To activate and expand, the eight palaces needed time and effort. Those that base level were not high enough would not be able to handle too much elemental soup. In simpler terms, it meant that someone who wasn’t in a good state of health would not be able to handle a strong tonic.
The amount of elemental energy one bowl of soup contained should be the maximum amount one could handle. However, Ai Hui had drank six bowls.
Ai Hui already had seven palaces. The only palace not activated was the sky palace. Initially, Lou Lan thought that one bowl of elemental soup would be sufficient, but this had far surpassed his prediction.
Ai Hui’s sky palace was very unusual.
Lou Lan’s yellow gaze flickered constantly. His curiosity was piqued. His sand core, Midnight, was rotating at a never-before-seen speed.
Midnight was in a strange condition now.
Midnight was created due to Master Shao’s fruit of labor. As Lou Lan’s body was unable to accept such a formidable core, Master Shao sealed up most of the regions in the core. However, Midnight was now engulfing the Blood Spiritual Energy which resulted in the breaking of the seal.
Midnight...
How are you doing, Master Shao? Lou Lan misses you a lot.
At this moment, Lou Lan’s mind wandered.
Midnight had undergone a wonderful change. The life essence that the blood spiritual energy contained had seeped into the lifeless sand core. The sand core now had the essence of life.
If Lou Lan’s sand core was a desert previously, it could be said that there was now an oasis in the desert.
Lou Lan did not know if this was a good or bad change; he had yet to understand many of the changes. Based on the current situation, these changes enabled Lou Lan to be stronger. The ability of the sandcore had increased tremendously while not putting an additional burden on his body.
The increase in ability was multi-purpose. He could transform more quickly, he could transform into more complicated shapes, and he was also better in examining capability, etc.
Now Lou Lan was using all of his might to examine Ai Hui. He could see many details that he had missed out on previously.
Ai Hui’s sky palace was really strange. Once again, Lou Lan sighed.
It was common to have stronger and weaker components between the five residences and eight palaces. However, the difference between the stronger and weaker component was always within a specific limit. After all, the five residences and eight palaces were one entity. Just like our left hand and right hand, while they might have a difference in strength, the difference was not too drastic. It was the same for the eight palaces.
After six consecutive bowls of elemental energy soup, Ai Hui’s sky palace started to show signs of being full.
The addition of the blood crystals increased the effect of the elemental energy soup by at least three levels.
Lou Lan felt that the blood crystals would definitely be in huge demand in future. Even he was impressed by such an effect. The addition of blood crystals would increase the training speed of the elementalists drastically.
Suddenly, Lou Lan experienced an intense wave motion. He turned his face around.
It was Miss Shi Xueman!
The intense wave motions were emitted. Water elemental energy started to converge towards her direction. Shi Xueman was like a whirlpool, constantly and continuously absorbing the water elemental energy rushing towards her.
Shi Xueman was in the eye of the tornado, and there was a crazy gale at the training hall.
Not long after, another intense wave motion was experienced. It was Sang Zhijun.
Their breakthrough was expected. Shi Xueman and Sang Zhijun had the best base levels amongst the rest. They were just one step away from the Eight Palaces Completion. It would be strange if they did not break through after drinking such an outstanding elemental energy soup.
Lou Lan was jubilant. It was such a pleasure to be able to help others.
There were constant wave motions, and rays flickered from everyone’s bodies. However, none of the waves were as strong as Shi Xueman’s and Sang Zhijun’s.
Lou Lan focused his attention back on Ai Hui. Ai Hui was also a potential candidate to attain the Eight Palaces Completion. However, Lou Lan was baffled. The absorption rate of the elemental energy from Ai Hui’s sky palace has decreased drastically. This was a symptom of elemental energy being filled to the brim.
However, there were no signs of a breakthrough. So strange......
The yellow rays in Lou Lan’s eyes flashed faster.
Shi Xueman opened her eyes and gradually regained the air around her. Her eyes exposed her happiness.
She finally attained the Eight Palaces Completion!
The water elemental energy within the sky blended into one body. The previous eight palaces were like eight small ponds that were interconnected. Now the elemental energy within her body was like an ocean.
This was a good change.
Every single movement was filled with elemental energy. She sensed that she was stronger than before. Even Cirrus, which she was holding on to, was as light as feather.
She no longer needed to control the elemental energy within her body. The Circulatory Cycle Revolution was automated. This implied that she would not need to train all the time. While the Circulatory Cycle Revolution was slower than when she was having a fixed regime, over time, the accumulation effect will be astonishing.
From today onwards, she would finally be an official elementalist. She would be qualified to join the Thirteen Divisions, she would be able to conduct missions, she would be able to enjoy the relevant benefits.
She was unable to describe how she was feeling. Many a times, Shi Xueman had envisioned herself being an official elementalist.
To the people from Avalon of Five Elements, being an official elementalist was of a huge significance. It was a child’s coming of age ceremony. When you became an elementalist that was recorded in the books, you would no longer be treated as a kid. It meant that you now had the ability to talk to the adults. It also implied that you were responsible for your own life and you are required to assume the corresponding responsibility.
Shi Xueman never thought that her coming of age ceremony would be in the middle of a disaster, and in the middle of an imminent crisis like the blood battle.
Life was so strange.
Her gaze swept across everyone. Everyone had some form of breakthrough, but it was not enough for them to attain the Eight Palaces Completion.
Where’s that person?
Shi Xueman’s gaze swept across the crowd and fell on the youth who was holding onto a sword and standing upright. Her mouth curved upwards. It was still that strange pose.
In her heart, she was actually clear of the fact that the reason they were still alive now was largely due to Ai Hui. She had also noticed that while Ai Hui did not lead the team personally, people would still rush to listen every time he spoke up. And there were many positive traits found on Ai Hui: he did not withhold the information he had, he shared things related to the blood crystal with everyone, and he was also reliable in times of crisis. She was already used to obeying his commands.
However, some of the actions that he took made it difficult for her to have a favorable opinion of him.
Thinking about it, Shi Xueman felt a surge of anger. She held on to her hatred. If this was the past, he would definitely have a tragic end now!
She noticed Ai Hui’s condition and felt that something was wrong. While she did not have the yellow rays like Lou Lan and was unable to see within Ai Hui’s body, her background and wealth of experience implied that she had more knowledge and understanding on training than average people.
Ai Hui’s body was raging with brilliant rays, like he could soar into the sky at any moment. This was a sign that his body was filled to the brim with elemental energy. For some unknown reason, while the light rays continued to grow stronger, there was an invisible barrier that he was unable to surpass.
The raging rays of light were unable to rush out and started to dim.
How could it be? She started to get anxious. It shouldn’t be! Ai Hui had already completed his seven palaces, so he should be as successful as her. Why was such a situation happening?
There were negative impacts to the person that failed to achieve a breakthrough in the Eight Palaces Completion. Not only would they fall behind others, it would also leave a shadow of failure in their heart. It would then affect their next attempt to break through. Those that attempted countless times would find that their success rate would be inverted to their number of attempts. Even if they managed to achieve a breakthrough, there was still a possibility that it would negatively affect their training in the future.
Impossible!
In terms of character or experience, it was impossible. Those that failed to break through were usually those that were weak and did not have determination. Shi Xueman felt that there were few people who would be better than Ai Hui in this aspect.
The light surrounding Ai Hui was getting dimmer. However, within his body, the rotation of the light rays could be vaguely seen. The Ai Hui now was like a rubber ball that was filled with water.
When the last ray of light disappeared, Shi Xueman sighed silently. The attempt to break through was a failure.
At that moment, a powerful wave motion erupted behind her.
Shi Xueman turned and realised in astonishment that it was actually Duanmu Huanghun!
She stared blankly for a moment. The brilliant rays rushed towards the sky and the eight palaces blended into one. Wood elemental energy rushed in from all directions and caused a strong wind to howl across the courtyard.
Within the brilliant rays was Duanmu Huanghun. His stance was imposing, his sleeve was fluttering without the aid of the wind, and his long hair was flying around.
This fellow......had actually achieved Eight Palaces Completion!
Shi Xueman felt bewildered. She looked at Duanmu Huanghun, then she looked at Ai Hui. The person who was supposed to break through and attain Initial Completion did not manage to attain it, yet the chap that shouldn’t break through managed to attain success.
What a strange outcome.