Chapter 141: New Arrows
Translator: Cynthia Editor: - -
The difficulty for learning 【Crescent Moon】 was much higher than Ai Hui had expected.
Although it only involved two palaces, Ai Hui tried for a long time but still could not find a way to start. Thanks to his frequent discussions with his teacher, his horizons had been greatly broadened. Wang Shouchuan was good at working with theories and often discussed them with Ai Hui, even though he knew Ai Hui was only a beginner.
In fact, moves involving only two palaces were mostly basic moves. They were simple and easy to learn, but had limited power. Since not much elemental energy was needed, the flowing route was simple too. As a result, such skills could not involve many changes.
It was like cooking. If the cook had only two ingredients, he would have very few choices in how to use them, and therefore could not prepare complicated dishes.
That was why he believed that Cheng Rou, who could create the skill of 【Crescent Moon】 within the hand palaces, was definitely a genius!
Since it only involved two palaces, the requirement for elemental energy was not high, but the techniques it involved were not simple at all.
It was very complicated!
The first thing Ai Hui needed to do was to make a stable string between his hand palaces. This alone was a high-level technique and could not be achieved easily by beginners.
When Wang Shouchuan gave him the sword pill, he did not expect Ai Hui to master the skills in a short period of time. He just wanted to show Ai Hui what real swordplay was, so that he could have a target in the future.
But Ai Hui did not want to give up at all. The techniques were complicated, but still achievable.
Yet he was still forced to stop because of the many other things he needed to do, such as peeling the Twilight Silk.
Lou Lan had finished adjusting the proportions of the herbs. The iron-like Twilight Cocoons were softened.
Was there anything Lou Lan could not do? He could braise soup, make elemental food, heal wounds, do massages, make up prescriptions, and soften cocoons…
Who dared to speak ill of such an excellent sand puppet!
Ai Hui said, “Lou Lan, you are brilliant!”
Hearing his praise, Lou Lan laughed happily and his eyes became like crescent moons. “Keep going, Ai Hui!”
A flag of sand suddenly appeared in Lou Lan’s palm. The sandy surface of the flag had two hollowed-out words: Keep Fighting! Lou Lan cheered as he waved the flag.
Ai Hui laughed out loud.
Once again, Shi Xueman came back to Central Pine City. Seeing the empty streets, she felt really unfamiliar with the city that she had visited many times. This was her first time seeing the streets so empty.
It seemed that the situation was worse than she had expected.
This was the first time for her to be a team leader. She must complete the task perfectly!
She encouraged herself quietly.
It was not long, however, before she realized that she was absolutely wrong. The obstacle she had encountered was unprecedented.
“I know, I know. You can trust us. We are able to protect Central Pine City. More guards were assigned to us and now we have plenty of people. You can take a rest in Central Pine Academy or have a talk with the freshmen. I believe you will have a happy time there. If we need any help, I will turn to you first.”
The officer in Central Pine City was polite, but refused their offer of help. In his eyes, these students were sent here to have it easy. Ask them to help? Stop kidding. If any of them got injured, he would have great trouble. By that time, it would be lucky enough if he only lost his job.
Every one of them was like a statue of Buddha. They only needed to sit there and enjoy themselves.
Seeing her teammates’ cheerful expressions, Shi Xueman felt depressed in her chest.
Not because of her ample chest!
In Central Pine Academy.
“Welcome to Central Pine Academy, elites of the Induction Ground. This is the first time that Central Pine Academy has witnessed so many geniuses. Our humble academy is honored by your presence. You can stay here and we will arrange the best accommodation for you. Feel free to tell us if there is anything you need. Please help yourselves while you are here. We would also really appreciate it if you could have a chat with and give some pointers to the new students here when you have the time.”
The dean of Central Pine Academy was enthusiastic.
“Sorry to interrupt.”
“No problem!”
“What are your training facilities like? I don’t really care about accommodations; the training facilities are more important.”
By this time, Shi Xueman had realized that none of her fellows took the mission seriously.
She was the one who had been too naive.
She was silenced. Maybe it really was a trip to have it easy.
She had thought that Central Pine City was threatened with a growing crisis, but there actually seemed to be no crisis at all.
She had been too sure of herself.
Shi Xueman sneered at herself and felt very bored. She refused the academy’s invitation and chose to live in the Shi Clan Training Hall.
If it were peacetime, the dean would try his best to ask her to stay, but at this time, he earnestly wished she could leave. Although Central Pine City was safe for the moment, it was still more dangerous than it used to be. He would be responsible if anything happened to her in Central Pine Academy.
If she stayed in the Shi Clan Training Hall, however, then it was none of his business.
He even hoped that Shi Xueman could bring all her teammates to the Shi Clan Training Hall; but of course, Shi Xueman could not bother to care about them.
Vanguard Training Hall.
Ai Hui looked at the Twilight Silk he had peeled. The new Twilight Silk seemed a bit different from before; the silver gloss was like snow and frost. No matter how he put it, it was as straight as an arrow.
“It seems that the silk is harder than before,” Ai Hui murmured. He infused some elemental energy into it and a needle-thin light appeared at the end of the Twilight Silk.
Ai Hui held the silk carefully and stabbed the edge of a pot lightly. It immediately pierced through and made a hole.
Ai Hui thought happyily, “This is a great progress.”
The liquid Lou Lan had made was really different, and Ai Hui also suspected that it might have something to do with the change in his elemental energy; it had become sharper than before. The change in his elemental energy might have lead to the change in the silk he peeled.
Ai Hui gave the silk to the fellow who came to pick it up and said, “Ask your boss to try the new Bunny Hair.”
The fellow took away the half-filled box of silk carefully. He was a distant relative of Manager Li. Last time he had spoken too much and was then scolded by Manager Li when he returned. Since then, he had become much more polite.
Anyway, Ai hui only cared about whether or not the quality of the silk was better, and whether or not there would be more money.
It was not long before someone came to the training hall. It turned out to be Manager Li; he was paying a visit himself.
Manager Li was glowing with delight and laughed out loud just as he stepped into the training hall. “Ai Hui, you are as extraordinary as I expected. I’m really astonished at what you’ve made. The Bunny Hair is way better than it was before. This is great!”
Ai Hui was surprised. “Old Li, why did you come in person?”
“I have to,” said Manager Li, “Your amazing achievement has astonished me. It’s too exciting for a coward like me. I can see your composure, so you must be very confident now.”
“You already have the test result?” Ai Hui became excited too.
Manager Li licked his lips and said, “The old Bunny Hair Arrows could pierce a three-inch thick plate from five hundred steps away. We just made ten arrows with the new Bunny Hair. Guess what the result was.”
Ai Hui, who was eager to know the result, almost slapped him in the face. It was annoying to tantalize him at this moment. He told himself to keep calm, but still couldn’t help staring at Manager Li before saying, “Just say it.”
Manager Li’s shrewdness appeared in his eyes. He gestured as he spoke, “It can pierce a five-inch thick plate from five hundred steps away or a three-inch thick plate from one thousand steps away.”
Ai Hui was surprised. He knew that the quality had improved, but didn’t expect it to be so obvious.
The next question he thought to ask was, “What’s the price for the new arrows?”
“One hundred thousand Yuan for one arrow.” Manager Li replied without hesitation.
Ai Hui asked, “Will it be too expensive?”
“This is the price Central Pine City offered for expropriation,” Manager Li said proudly. “If put up for sale on the goods shelf, it can be sold at one hundred and fifty yuan for one.”
Ai Hui was stunned and murmured, “How many people can afford to buy it?”
The Sawtooth Grass Sword he’d bought last time was only one hundred and twenty thousand yuan, which was less than the price of one new arrow. The arrows were consumables. How much money would they be willing to spend on arrows that were so expensive?
Manager Li snorted. “This is expensive? No! It's already cheap enough, since in the Induction Ground there are few big customers. For example, one Blue Blood Arrow provided to the frontline fighters costs five million yuan. This depends on how you look at it. How valuable is a wild beast? The most common beasts are worth tens of millions of yuan. For larger beasts, they can cost hundreds of millions of yuan. There is no ceiling in terms of price, and sometimes you cannot buy what you want even if you are willing to pay. The life of the elementalists who dare to hunt ferocious wild beasts is worth far more than five million yuan.”
Ai Hui was shocked. Now he knew that the hunting groups he used to follow before were of low level. He never saw an elementalist who would use arrows that cost hundreds of thousands of yuan.
“Don’t think it’s expensive. You cannot buy Blue Blood Arrows whenever you want. You need to place an order in advance, and the minimum order quantity is one hundred. They don’t sell to retail customers. In comparison, what we are doing is only small business.”
Manager Li sighed, but when he saw Ai Hui’s astonished face, he was afraid he would influence Ai Hui’s enthusiasm and quickly added, “But you are still young, and you have already created the Bunny Hair. You might be able to outperform them in the future. Besides, maybe you can further improve the Bunny Hair, and when you achieve that, we can both become rich…”
At first Manager Li only intended to console Ai Hui, but he unexpectedly convinced himself and was getting more and more excited, as if the Bunny Hair Arrows were already being sold at the price of five million yuan for one.
Fatty, who was practicing the Dancing Flower Steps not far away from them, tried hard to hear what they were talking about. He heard them mention something about money and became so curious that he almost rushed to join them.
“Two hundred and sixty-two. Keep practicing, Fatty!”
Lou Lan encouraged him loudly and ran past him.
Fatty was scared and almost twisted his ankle. He watched Lou Lan resentfully as he ran far away.
What a vicious sand puppet!
Fatty calmed down and didn’t dare to stop. He knew Ai Hui would do what he said. If he could not complete the assignment, he would be unable to escape the punishment.
No one knew Ai Hui better than he did. Ai Hui was cold, ruthless, and as hard as a nether millstone.
Once Ai Hui made up his mind, begging meant nothing to him.
Fatty could only avenge himself on the floor tiles under his feet.
He stepped on the tiles hard thinking,“If you won’t let me join you, then I’ll break every tile in your training hall!”