Chapter 175: Seven Palaces!

Translator: TYZ Editor: X

Fatty resembled a lighthouse that would never extinguish its light. He kept spitting out flames, shining a dazzling light upon his figure towering in the darkness.

After sympathizing with Fatty, everyone hurriedly went back to training.

Shi Xueman was somewhat shocked with the surging elemental energy in her body. She had a greater understanding of elemental food than the average individual because she frequently consumed it.

Whether it was fiery-winged snake eggs, heavenly-eyed yak, or fragrant lotus golden toad, they were all dire beast-based ingredients; however, among the levels of dire beast-based ingredients, they were still considered to be entry-level ingredients.

The difference in quality between dire beast-based ingredients heavily affected their efficacy and cost.

The Avalon of Five Elements had stringently differentiated not only the level of dire beast-based food ingredients, but all of the materials which were dire beast-based. There were a total of eight levels: Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, Gold, Universe, Eternity, Flood, and Desolate.

Other than the rarity of the dire beasts from which they were derived, the preparation methods of the ingredients also played an important role in determining their quality level. Unique, skillful, and meticulous preparation methods could greatly increase the quality level of certain ingredients.

Central Pine City was just an average, small city in the Induction Ground. There were thousands of cities like it in the Induction Ground. Small and isolated cities that were located in the safest areas at the rear of the Induction Ground had little need for high-level food ingredients.

The magistrate’s office’s reserve contained mostly dire beast-based materials; as such, it was natural for Ai Hui to receive so many valuable dire beast-based ingredients.

Nevertheless, the beneficial effects of the elemental soup were… surprisingly outstanding!

Shi Xueman was extremely surprised. This proved that the elemental soup had retained at least fifty percent of the beneficial effects of the ingredients used. Such outstanding effects could only be achieved with a high utility rate of the ingredients.

She knew that such a top-quality elemental soup was hard to come by.

Currently, instead of being jealous of Ai Hui for having Lou Lan, she was curious about Lou Lan’s background. Even those elementalists who were skilled in preparing elemental soup would find it hard to produce such top-quality elemental soup. It would take extraordinary individuals to produce such a result.

Lou Lan’s background was not that simple after all.

She did not, however, want to pursue an answer just to satisfy her curiosity. Asking about someone else’s background was extremely rude and considered a taboo.

After drinking such outstanding elemental soup, the most important thing for her to do now was to train and absorb the nutrients of the soup. Such top-quality elemental soup was extremely beneficial for students who were in the middle of training.

Everyone was focused on their training except for Fatty... Shi Xueman could not help but cast a sympathetic look in his direction. Indeed, not a single one of Ai Hui’s friends was normal…

She cast an involuntary glance at Ai Hui and was stunned.

Such a weird posture!

Ai Hui was neither in bow stance nor horse stance. He was holding his sword with one hand with his elbow pointed down and his sword pointing up, forming a straight line between his glabella and the sword.

Shi Xueman’s eyes were sharp and she immediately noticed that the tip of Ai Hui’s sword was synchronized with his breathing in some mysterious way.

What inheritance was this?

She was very curious as she had never seen such a unique posture. Perhaps it was some sort of swordsmanship training method?

Suddenly, Shi Xueman discovered that her understanding towards swordsmanship was pathetic. She could not be blamed for her lack of understanding; after all, swordsmanship was really outdated and there were not many swordsmanship inheritances that were distinctive.

She was no longer in a hurry to train after her interest was piqued.

In terms of elemental energy reserves, she and Sang Zhijun had the most among everyone here. Furthermore, they were graduating soon. The Induction Ground’s criterion for graduation was very simple; all they had to do was attain Eight Palaces Completion.

She was just one step away from attaining it.

Among these people, she and Sang Zhijun had benefitted the least from the dire beast-based elemental soup.

Previously, during the battle with the blood mantis, she had felt that she would soon make a breakthrough.

When she suddenly saw the unique and seemingly powerful swordsmanship inheritance from Ai Hui, she became extremely curious.

As compared to the level of curiosity that she had for Lou Lan, the level of curiosity she had for Ai Hui was a hundred times greater. She saw with her own eyes how Ai Hui had blocked the blood bat’s attack. She had also personally experienced how a guy who had activated only four palaces could become the leader of their group.

She decided to observe him carefully.

Ai Hui did not know Shi Xueman was secretly observing him. At the moment, he was focusing entirely on his training.

His body’s condition was neither good nor bad; he was unable to even gauge his condition accurately.

He had accidentally activated seven palaces and this was a huge boost to his strength; however, his lungs and the seven palaces that were being repaired by the “spiritual force” did not seem to be too secure. Other than fusing with his lungs and the seven palaces, the rest of the “spiritual force” had been expelled and directed towards the ground by using Arching Fish Back.

Ai Hui was worried about whether or not the “seventh palace” would work.

His lungs and seven palaces had been repaired by the “spiritual force”, not elemental energy. It was still unknown whether or not he could continue to develop his elemental energy.

Very soon, Ai Hui realized that he had worried for nothing.

As he breathed, the elemental energy from the elemental soup steadily flowed into his limbs and bones, nourishing his blood and muscles. Lou Lan had definitely considered the injuries in his body when cooking, as Ai Hui realized that the injuries within his five residences and eight palaces had healed significantly.

Ai Hui was more surprised by his sword embryo. This time, his sword embryo did not absorb any elemental energy during the Circulatory Cycle Revolution.

Weird! Did the sword embryo’s nature change?

Ai Hui just could not figure out what was going on. Previously, his sword embryo would seize any opportunity to absorb elemental energy, but now, it suddenly did want to come into contact with any. Ai Hui was puzzled by this. Could something have happened to the sword embryo as well?

As Ai Hui proceeded with the Circulatory Circle Revolution, what he had been worried about did not happen. Since the sword embryo did not try to absorb any of the elemental energy, his Circulatory Circle Revolution proceeded smoothly. The palaces were filling up faster than usual.

Shi Xueman noticed that the Dragonspine Inferno suddenly gave off a faint glow, looking extremely striking in the dark. She became even more curious.

Suddenly, she cast a glance at Duanmu Huanghun, as if she had sensed something.

Duanmu Huanghun’s sea palace was emitting a green glow.

He was truly the most exceptional genius of the Duanmu clan’s younger generation!

A first-year student that had already activated the sixth palace. With the Duanmu clan’s absolute skill Viridescent Flower, Duanmu Huanghun was powerful enough to challenge his seniors. If the Induction Ground still retained the ranking system next year, Duanmu Huanghun would shock everyone.

Then again, when Shi Xueman considered when the blood catastrophe might end, she laughed bitterly to herself.

Duanmu Huanghun was burning with motivation. He was a prideful individual and could not stand being overshadowed by Ai Hui. At this time, his levels of focus and diligence had reached an unimaginable high. Furthermore, the last few real-life combats and struggles between life and death had benefitted him greatly.

A so-called genius was a freak that would advance by leaps and bounds when life put some pressure on him or her!

Shi Xueman sighed and shifted her gaze. She was not interested in Duanmu Huanghun at all. The one she was interested in was Ai Hui.

At first, Ai Hui’s left hand palace lit up. Then, his right hand palace lit up as well, followed by his left foot palace and then, after a while, his right foot palace.

He had actually activated four palaces!

Shi Xueman gasped in surprise. The first time she had seen Ai Hui, he had just activated his natal residences. Now, he had already activated four palaces.

That was barely half a year ago. Even though he was not as talented as Duanmu Huanghun, he was not as bad as what his profile had portrayed.

Suddenly, Ai Hui’s earth palace began to give off a faint glow.

Shi Xueman was dumbstruck. This was… the fifth palace!

She was at a loss. Activating four palaces in half a year was rather fast, but he still could not be considered a genius. Everyone knew that the four palaces in the limbs were the easiest to activate. The difficulty would increase significantly once one reached the palaces of earth, sea, gate, and sky.

Ai Hui had actually activated the fifth palace!

Could… this fellow be a genius comparable to Duanmu Huanghun?

“Oh my god!” Sang Zhijun softly gasped in surprise. Her face was filled with incredulity.

Shi Xueman also exclaimed in surprise, but after taking a closer look, she completely freaked out.

Meanwhile, Duanmu Huanghun, who had just activated the sea palace, was overjoyed. After activating the sixth palace, the number of moves he could use from the Viridescent Flower had greatly increased. The thing he cared about the most was Ai Hui! The reason why his fighting capabilities were weaker than Ai Hui was the great disparity between their respective amounts of actual combat experience. Since he could not compensate for the lack of actual combat experience, he would try to overtake Ai Hui in other areas!

Base level!

After activating the sixth palace, the power of the Viridescent Flower rose sharply. Even if his actual combat experience lost out to Ai Hui’s by a huge margin, he could use just his base level to increase his fighting capabilities and defeat that scumbag!

After relieving his concern, the following carefree feeling made Duanmu Huanghun want to just look up at the sky and let out a hearty laugh.

At that moment, he heard Sang Zhijun’s alarmed cry and involuntarily opened his eyes.

As soon as he opened his eyes, a figure holding a sword appeared before him. One, two, three… six!

Duanmu Huanghun’s head spun as if someone had whacked his head with a bat. Somewhere in his blank mind, a voice roared. It can’t be!

After being dazed for nearly half a minute, he finally came to his senses. The first thought to come to his mind was that he had miscounted.

He decided to count again. One… Two… Three… Four… Five… Six...

There really were six…

Then at that moment, Ai Hui’s gate palace faintly lit up.

...Seven… how come there’s one more? Duanmu Huanghun felt like he was going crazy.

While Ai Hui’s gate palace was flickering with light, there was a dead silence in the training hall except for the sound of Fatty spitting out flames.

At that moment, everyone was gaping at Ai Hui in silence.

The way they stared at Ai Hui was as if they had seen a ghost.

Duanmu Huanghun’s trembling fingers could not help but start to count again. Seven palaces. There were really seven palaces!

He stared blankly at Ai Hui.

Sang Zhijun had her mouth wide open and looked like a frightened quail. She had completely lost her usual ladylike demeanor.

Shi Xueman was also frightened by what she saw. She was really frightened. She had been a genius ever since she was young and had also been surrounded by various other geniuses. Despite that background, she was frightened by the sight currently in front of her.

She had known Ai Hui far longer than Sang Zhijun. She clearly knew how low Ai Hui’s starting point had been.

As a result, the scene before her eyes gave her a far stronger sense of surprise and terror compared to the others.

It defied logic!

The seventh palace! How could he have activated the seventh palace?

For a genius like Duanmu Huanghun, whose family had plenty of knowledge and wealth, it was not unusual for him to activate the sixth palace in his first year; however, for a poor kid who had not even learned how to train before entering school and who had just barely activated his natal residences half a year ago, it was incredible for him to have activated the seventh palace…

That’s right! It’s the seventh palace!

Right now, she wanted to grab Ai Hui by the collar and asked him what miracle drugs he had taken!

After a while, the horrified Shi Xueman, who had been completely overwhelmed by the lack of logic in Ai Hui’s feat, suddenly quivered. This fellow had not stopped yet!

Her chest tightened.

No, it can’t be. It can’t be possible that this freak was going straight for the Eight Palaces Completion!

If someone had narrated this scene to her in the past, she would have felt that it was an extremely funny joke. Right now, however, she did not dare to laugh at all.

This guy was a freak. A never-before-seen, extremely ferocious and formidable freak.

Everyone’s gaze was on Ai Hui.

No one had noticed that the scorching red-colored spots of light on the fiery-red body of the fire-spitting Fatty were slowly lighting up, resembling volcanic lava…