Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Fumbling

Translator: YH Editor: X

Defeating an amateur did not stir up Ai Hui’s emotions, but the short battle did give him the opportunity to witness his own improvement . The increased elemental energy had a direct effect on his strength . The metal elemental energy absorbed from the Suspending Golden Pagoda was much purer than that of common sources . The elemental energy within his body was still considerably weak, but a threefold increase in elemental energy implied much greater room for development .

Ai Hui walked toward the Suspending Golden Pagoda, stopping outside its front gate . With the previous experience still fresh in his mind, he did not hastily enter the grounds this time .

The howling gales within the pagoda were still as intimidating as ever .

Ai Hui took out the rope he just bought, tying one end to a rock the size of a wicker basket . He tied the other end to his waist, lifted the rock, and threw it into the pagoda .

The rope suddenly stretched taut and a powerful pulling force quickly followed . Ai Hui was well-prepared, but still he stumbled .

The terrible metal winds within the pagoda violently tossed the rock in every direction . The force that pulled on the rope was beyond Ai Hui’s expectations . He struggled to keep his body steady, but was still dragged toward the pagoda’s entrance .

Since was truly lucky to have made it out of the pagoda previously, Ai Hui felt a lingering fear .

The rope suddenly relaxed, as the force pulling him forward disappeared . Ai Hui was still exerting his power backward and was unprepared for the sudden change . He reacted quickly, gently tapping the floor with his palm as he fell before he soared back up and landed squarely on his feet .

The rope had snapped . Ai Hui pulled the broken end over to investigate and found that the rope had a large number of tiny pinhole-like punctures through it .

Discovering that a rope made of grass was not good enough, Ai Hui shook his head . The numerous tiny holes were caused by fine silver strands of metal elemental energy piercing the rope . The rock would probably not last much longer either . Within moments, the slamming sounds coming from within the pagoda came to a halt, and a crashing noise followed . The rock must have been shattered into a pile of small stones .

The metal winds were truly ferocious!

No wonder this training ground was only recommended to those who had opened their natal palaces .

Luckily, Ai Hui had a backup plan as he pulled out an iron chain that was as thick as his wrist . Dragging this iron chain all the way to the Suspending Golden Pagoda had worn him out . He flung one end of the iron chain into the pagoda, waited a while, then pulled it back out . The chains remained undamaged . The metal fences in the pagoda that Ai Hui saw during last visit gave him the idea that an iron chain might be able to withstand the metal wind .

Ai Hui expended a large amount of effort and spent an entire hour pushing a rock larger than himself to the pagoda . There was no other choice since he had smashed up all the surrounding rocks on his last visit .

He wrapped one end of the iron chain around the rock before attaching the other to his waist .

After ensuring that the ends were firmly secured, Ai Hui took a deep breath and jumped into the Suspending Golden Pagoda .

Once inside, Ai Hui was immediately swept up by the violent metal winds, spinning around like a top . A powerful force unexpectedly pulled at his waist, nearly snapping him into two . The iron chain wrapped around his waist was stretched so taut that it was perfectly straight . Seeing that his method worked, Ai Hui heaved a sigh of relief . He barely had time to rejoice before his back slammed into the wall . He promptly covered his head with his hands, curled into a ball, and allowed himself to bounce around like a rubber ball .

This time around, Ai Hui stayed inside for a shorter duration . Rather than wait until he had almost hit his limit, Ai Hui used the iron chain to pull himself out once he started to feel bloated .

Having dragged himself out of the pagoda, Ai Hui heaved a sigh of relief . The world inside the pagoda was completely different from the world outside of it . Ai Hui had managed his training well—his mind was clear and he still had some energy left .

He started to hit his own body .

After his previous training session, Ai Hui had pondered over how he could absorb metal elemental energy . Ai Hui’s pursuit of power was unquestionable, but he had no desire to be beaten up every day from dusk to dawn . That was an experience he had no wish to repeat .

He thus devised the method currently being employed .

In order to absorb metal elemental energy, the first step he had to take was to scatter the fine silver threads of energy that had been taken into his body . If a smaller amount of it was taken in, then perhaps he could handle this step himself .

Hitting himself and getting hit by others were essentially the same . The experience, however, was wholly different .

Ai Hui hit himself with maximum effort while simultaneously observing any changes within his body . He closely monitored his strength and technique, fumbling around to get a feel for the most effective combination .

He had a poor aptitude and was poor financially as well . All he could do was put in more effort .

He gradually uncovered some tricks to this training, but soon encountered another problem: he was unable to reach the metal elemental energy within the muscles of his back . He deeply contemplated his options before resting his gaze on the Suspending Golden Pagoda .

This pagoda that had been exposed to the metal winds for so many years should be quite sturdy . As such, the walls of the Suspending Golden Pagoda certainly seemed like a highly suitable piece of equipment for Ai Hui to ram his back into . Ai Hui quickly realized that he was thinking too much . The walls of the pagoda were as hard as metal, so dashing into them just two or three times would probably shatter his bones .

A substantial portion of the metal elemental energy in his back was not yet scattered . Ai Hui suddenly thought of his recent fight with the “amateur swollen guy” where he had executed the [Arching Fish Back] move .

This skill, [Arching Fish Back], reminded him most of the blind battle . When he had locked his opponent down, the move she attempted to use to counter him was the [Arching Fish Back] . Ai Hui, who constantly performed work that required copious amounts of strength, had the utmost confidence in his brute power . His opponent had shocked him by wielding a surprising amount of force and, almost breaking free of his grappling technique .

He could sense that his opponent’s elemental energy wasn’t particularly strong and that her physical strength wasn’t great either . The fact that her Arching Fish Back was so powerful made it clear that she had profound martial attainments .

Ai Hui had developed a strong interest in this move and copied it . In the three years he had spent in the Wilderness, Ai Hui learned many skills that were unorthodox and fragmented, but were highly practical, just like the [Arching Fish Back] .

However, he rarely had an opportunity to use this move . Getting locked down by an opponent at his current level would spell certain doom . He would not even have the chance to execute the move .

A flash of inspiration gave him the idea to use the [Arching Fish Back] to send “amateur swollen guy” flying earlier that day . This experience helped him to find other uses for the technique . He began to repeatedly use the [Arching Fish Back] against the walls of the pagoda .

Not long after, he made another discovery . When he was curled up training in the pagoda, the part of his body that took in the most metal elemental energy was his back . Besides having an astonishing amount of explosive power, the [Arching Fish Back] had a jolting effect as well .

No wonder his arms had gone numb during the blind battle .

The effectiveness of his idea boosted his morale significantly . Ai Hui became even more meticulous at his task .

Once all the metal elemental energy had been scattered, Ai Hui sat in a lotus pose . He began to enter a meditative state, absorbing the dispersed metal elemental energy .

An hour later, Ai Hui opened his eyes . He could feel an increase in his elemental energy . Although his improvement this time was much less than that of last night, that was to be expected . The thought of that bowl of elemental energy replenishing soup still made his heart ache . Last night’s progress might have been remarkable, but the cost had been huge .

This method of training might be long and arduous, but it didn’t matter to Ai Hui as long as he saw possible improvement . For him who had struggled through dark and difficult times, but refused to pass into oblivion, hardship was not an issue .