Chapter 309

The faint light lit Ai Hui’s face up and he felt the thread of warmth flow between his brows .

In the sky palace, a lotus flower lamp suddenly glowed brightly as the flame in the centre of the petals became bright and concentrated . A roll of golden scripture surrounded and circled around the lamp fire . The words on the scripture were unclear no matter how closely Ai Hui tried to look . Following the circling of the golden scripture, an indistinct and faintly discernible sutra-chanting voice echoed through his sky palace .

Wisps of black smoke grew and were released from all parts of his body, moving quietly like a beast upon smelling something fishy .

Ai Hui’s face was quickly enveloped by a layer of thick black smoke . It was as if he was wearing a mask made of fog . The black smog wriggled like little weird and dangerous poisonous worms . Cold and malevolent, it rushed unceasingly towards the space between Ai Hui’s brows .

The black fog curled up within his sky palace as the lotus flower lamp pulsed unhurriedly . The circling golden scripture surrounding the flames spun just like before, making a full circle . The black smoke burned cleanly and completely at mere contact with the scripture and flames .

But, as if feeling nothing, the black smog continued pouncing on the lotus flower lamp within Ai Hui’s sky palace .

The smog enveloping Ai Hui’s face gradually faded .

The malevolence reduced greatly as an indescribable peace and calm started to appear on his face .

He would be surprised and unable to recognize himself if he could see his face now . The grave lines on his previously stone-like face started to soften and loosen up . The sharpness from before was gone and the space between his brows carried a sense of compassion .

It was said that the inspiration for the [Skyheart Flaming Lotus Lamp] originated from the Suspending Temple’s meditation formula .

Ancient meditation meant inner peace, calmness and freedom from suffering .

It was hard to tell how much time had passed .

Ai Hui woke up slowly from this tranquility and was surprised to feel an inexpressible sense of comfort in his whole body . It was as if he had been cleansed thoroughly, both inside and out .

Completely thoroughly . Right, this was the feeling .

Even his bones felt lighter . Ai Hui supposed he could start to float if there was a gust of incoming wind .

This was the first time he’d felt this relaxed and at peace so even he himself was rather shocked .

After observing his condition thoroughly, he fell into even greater shock . The qi and blood flow in his body was exceptionally smooth and full of vigor . Unlike the sluggishness from before, it was completely unobstructed now . Even the little internal and hidden injuries within his body were gone at this point .

[Skyheart Flaming Lotus Lamp] had its own unique qualities which enabled it to cultivate the sky palace independently and become an absolute art .

It could bring inner peace and calm to people . While there was not much use for this on the battlefield, it was a fundamental inherited nourishment . It could purify one’s body continuously to purge any contamination within the body, so as to improve the body’s constitution . It was said that upon mastering it, one could start practicing the legendary “Skyheart Pure Body”, which was intimately connected with elemental energy .

Of course, this was only a legend . Until now, there hadn’t been anyone who’d practiced “Skyheart Pure Body” .

But the older generations that practiced absolute arts lived long .

Compared to the unique aspects of [Skyheart Flaming Lotus Lamp], this absolute art faced much more apparent abuses . While it could improve one’s body constitution, it was a very slow process where a day felt like ten years . The practicing elementalists would have been above forty years old by the time they were almost done mastering it and had greatly improved their affinity with elemental energy .

If a practitioner had already missed the golden age for training, even if doing it could improve his aptitude, it wouldn’t be of much use .

Ai Hui chose [Skyheart Flaming Lotus Lamp] mainly because it was cheap . All along, very few people practiced this technique, so the number of Heaven Merit Points needed for this was the lowest as compared to many other absolute arts . Once he reached the realm of nine lotus petals, he could effectively restrain psychic attacks, preventing evilness from invading .

Blood of God’s psychic attacks were strange, ever-changing and difficult to guard against . It was very important for Ai Hui to possess this ability to curb the attacks .

Improving his body constitution was just a convenient bonus .

But things were all different with the fire lotus seeds .

Ai Hui stared with his bright eyes at the drought fire lotus seed heads on his hand and counted them meticulously . There were five, some big and some small, and there was a total of ninety-two lotus seeds .

His thoughts fell on the [Skyheart Flaming Lotus Lamp] in his sky palace . It had a total of five petals and one of them was slightly smaller than the rest . And before this, Ai Hui clearly remembered that there were only four petals on that lotus flower lamp .

The efficacy of the fire lotus seeds far exceeded Ai Hui’s expectations .

If he were to absorb all ninety-two fire lotus seeds, what base level could his [Skyheart Flaming Lotus Lamp] reach?

Without hesitation, Ai Hui took a fire lotus seed and started practicing .

He focused and felt the growth of the [Skyheart Flaming Lotus Lamp]’s fifth petal more clearly this time . On his fourth fire lotus seed, the fifth petal was as big as the rest . The lamp’s flame was much stronger and brighter than before .

That roll of golden scripture revolving around the flames changed the most . It became more condensed and carried a more solemn breath .

According to what he had learnt from practicing for years, Ai Hui knew that it was time to stop . He needed time to adapt to his completely new body . Good preparation was the key to success when it came to all breakthroughs . Blindly relying on external objects would bring rapid progress but only in the beginning . As one reached a higher base level, the hidden dangers developed from having a weak foundation would break out .

In this aspect, Ai Hui was exceptionally calm, neither arrogant nor impatient .

The Circulatory Cycle Revolution felt super smooth as the elemental energy evidently flowed much faster than before . Ai Hui was pleasantly surprised to find out that the elemental energy sword pills within his body became gentler with each cycle .

From before, there was a thread of sharp sword consciousness that remained in the pill . It felt as if there was a round rock with thorns moving within his body, which unknowingly gave him slight injuries . These fine bruises accumulated and turned into internal injuries over time .

Such internal injuries were difficult to treat and they destabilized elementalists’ fundamentals as well .

One cycle after another caused Ai Hui to lose track of time .

The sharpness throughout his body faded with each cycle . He had the same face and body but his whole body and temperament had changed thoroughly . The old Ai Hui was like an unsheathed treasure sword, shivering and conspicuous within a crowd .

Ai Hui now became more and more introspective, as if the treasure sword had a concealed sharpness and protection, making it less garish than before .

Ai Hui’s greatest experience was the fact that his control over his elemental energy had improved once again .

When an elementalist achieved elemental externalization, his elemental energy would improve greatly, but at the same time such progress demanded more when it came to his control techniques .

This was also a meticulous and delicate skill so Ai Hui wasn’t the least bit anxious .

From early morning to evening, Ai Hui had been deep in mystical thoughts and had forgotten about the time .

A cheery voice sounded .

“Ai Hui, Lou Lan is here!”