Chapter 293: The Sha Family
Translator: TYZ Editor: X/TYZ
The city woke up from its deep sleep as the night scene receded into the horizon.
After working hard for the whole night, Ai Hui let out a yawn. He had yet to fully understand the nuances of the [Life and Death Flower Sacrificial Art]. He did have some ideas about it, slightly setting his mind at ease.
He would first need to test out whether or not One Thousand Yuan would be injured if he died, or rather, if she would care about him. Controlling the Flower of Death might sound easy, but in reality, Ai Hui had no idea how to execute it.
The game had just begun.
After greeting Lou Lan drowsily, Ai Hui lay down and fell into a deep sleep. For the past few weeks, he had been travelling nonstop, and his mind was stretched taut. Only when he came home could he then relax.
The esoteric [Life and Death Flower Sacrificial Art], the ancient treasure, the Great Wei Enterprise, the Assembly of Patriarchs, and everything else had been cast to the back of his mind. Right now, he only wanted to sleep until the end of time.
Lou Lan did not disturb Ai Hui.
After sleeping for an unknown amount of time, Ai Hui vaguely heard someone quarrelling in his dream.
"… Four essence elemental beans? Ha! Why don’t both of you rob a bank instead? I have never heard of any training hall that dares to quote such a price…"
"It’s not that I don’t have essence elemental beans. I just don’t want to get scammed by the both of you! Do you think I’m stupid?"
"Do both of you think that you’re some big shot? How dare you both take me for a fool! Wait and you shall see!"
...
Soon after, Ai Hui again faintly heard someone quarrelling in his sleep.
"Not selling? 500,000 elemental energy points is enough for you to make a huge profit!"
"People who are too greedy don’t usually come to a good end. I think both of you should reconsider your decision."
"Ask your master to come out now. What’s the meaning of letting a sand puppet deal with me!?"
The person talking was getting increasingly agitated, and his voice grew louder and louder. Ai Hui, who was in a stupor, could no longer carry on sleeping. Awakened by the noise, Ai Hui’s face turned gloomy. All he wanted was to have a good sleep, but he kept getting disturbed by other people. Even a gentleman would get angry at this point.
Wait, was Ai Hui a gentleman?
He stood up and walked out of the warehouse. From a distance, he saw an obese middle-aged man, who seemed to be a butler. As he spoke, his face was filled with anger and his arms waved through the air from time to time.
When the obese butler saw Ai Hui, he became even more agitated. He walked aggressively toward Ai Hui and asked rudely, "Are you the owner of this training hall?"
Ai Hui tilted his head and looked at him.
"Let me tell you! No matter what, today you’re selling this training hall to me! If you’re tactful enough, you can still get 500,000 elemental energy points. If you’re not tactful, don’t blame our Sha Family for being ruthless. Your daddy, I, have come across plenty of trash like you. How dare you put on airs in front of our Sha Family! You must be tired of living!"
"Sha Family? What Sha Family?" Ai Hui looked baffled.
"What Sha Family?" The obese butler replied with arrogance, "There is no sand that the Sha Family can’t make into sand puppets!"
"Oh, that Sha Family," Ai Hui came to a realization.
He had heard of this Sha Family before. They were also known as the home of sand puppets and specialized in making sand puppets. There was a famous saying: "There is no sand that the Sha Family can’t make into sand puppets," which meant that any type of sand could be refined and manufactured into sand puppets in the hands of the Sha Family.
The obese butler looked extremely pleased with himself. He cast a haughty look at Lou Lan and said, "Our Sha Family is upright and fair. By buying your dilapidated warehouse for 500,000 elemental energy points, you will have made enough profit. Lad, don’t be too greedy. I’m afraid you won’t have the appetite to digest if we give you too much. If we can reach an agreement today, we will even exchange your sand puppet for a free Earth Dragon sand puppet from the Sha Family. I’m sure you know the price of an Earth Dragon sand puppet."
Ai Hui put on an innocent look and replied, "Exchange? You might as well just give me an Earth Dragon."
"No!" the obese butler answered in a stern tone. "If I do that, I will be taking on a huge risk. If the higher-ups find out about this, I will be in deep trouble. I need to take your lousy sand puppet so I can keep the same number of sand puppets in my warehouse. This way, the higher-ups won’t be able to tell what I have done…"
Thump!
The sole of Ai Hui’s foot landed squarely on the obese butler’s face, sinking deeply into his fat, pudgy face.
As if he rammed by a wild beast, the obese butler flew out of the training hall’s entrance.
The facial expression of the Sha Family’s guards changed drastically. "How dare you!"
One of the guards reached out to catch the butler. The butler was Madam’s relative and had gained the trust of both Master and Madam. Hence, he had extremely high authority in the family. If anything was to happen to the butler, all of them would be in deep water.
Just as the guard made contact with the body of the flying butler, his facial expression changed.
The guard felt a violent force pass through his body. By now, it was already too late for him to respond. The body of the butler collided heavily with his body.
Bang!
Both of them smashed into the wall. Crash! The wall collapsed like a pile of toy building blocks, burying the two.
Ai Hui withdrew his leg and muttered, "How dare you say my Lou Lan is a lousy sand puppet. You must be tired of living."
At this moment, the rest of the guards summoned their sand puppets.
Ai Hui’s gaze landed on these sand puppets and asked Lou Lan curiously, "Lou Lan, are these Earth Dragons?"
The sand puppets looked very weird. Even though they had a humanoid form, their spines were swollen. Each section of their spinal column could be clearly seen. The Earth Dragon sand puppets were entirely black in color. Their limbs were thick and solid, but not swollen. Their gazes were cold and austere.
"Yes, Ai Hui." Lou Lan explained as if he was reciting from a book, "Earth Dragons are the Sha Family’s elite sand puppets. They are mainly composed of matt black sand, square stone, and gray clay. They have powerful strength, outstanding survivability, formidable fighting capabilities, and are very obedient. Their weakness lies in their sand core. Their sand core is made up of Thousand Water Stone, which is not particularly intelligent."
Lou Lan’s words sent a cold shiver down the spines of the Sha Family guards.
At a loss, they looked at each other. Who exactly were these people? Why were they so familiar with Earth Dragons? The Earth Dragon sand puppets were new sand puppets that were developed only 500 years ago. Their construction blueprints were the Sha Family’s well-kept secret, and they were the main sale product nowadays.
A furious look flashed across the guard leader’s eyes. He yelled angrily, "Audacious spy! How dare you spy on our sand puppets! We will not forgive you! Everyone, shoulder to shoulder. Advance!"
The guard leader knew that the butler was was a petty individual. If they returned completely unharmed, the butler definitely would bear grudges against them. The guard leader also could tell that the training hall’s owner was someone not to be trifled with, and as such, he charged him with a crime first.
Whether or not they won this battle, the Sha Family would have an excuse to denounce him afterward.
No matter how powerful the training hall’s owner was, he still could not contend against the Sha Family.
Upon seeing the incoming sand puppets and hearing the guard leader’s words, Ai Hui laughed coldly. Ai Hui was experienced enough to know what the other party was up to just by listening to his words.
"Lou Lan, freeze the Earth Dragons.
"Okay, Ai Hui!" Lou Lan replied cheerfully as his eyes began to glow.
All along, he could not help Ai Hui much during battles. He often reminisced about the blind battle that he previously fought with Ai Hui. Finally, he could fight alongside Ai Hui again!
Over the past three years, Ai Hui was not the only one improving. Lou Lan had improved as well. Even though Lou Lan’s body could not be completely upgraded due to the lack of materials, he still managed to absorb many blood crystals and blood cores and also made many minor alterations to himself.
Lou Lan was still unfamiliar when it came to dealing with elementalists, but when it came to dealing with sand puppets, Lou Lan was an expert.
Since he was a sand puppet just like the Earth Dragons, he knew everything about their moves.
It was more than enough for Lou Lan to know that the Earth Dragons’ weakness lay in their sand core. Furthermore, he even knew that their sand cores were made up of Thousand Water Stone. As such, he knew properties of the cores and how to make them sluggish. He also knew that if the concentration of elemental energy between the matte black sand and gray clay was lower than a certain critical point, these two materials would repel each other.
Lou Lan dissolved into a pile of sand and seeped into the ground.
Just as the Earth Dragons were about to reach Ai Hui, they suddenly froze, looking as if a freezing spell had been cast on them.
The glow in the Earth Dragons’ eyes continuously lit up and extinguished. After around 10 seconds, the square stones on the Earth Dragons’ backs loosened and fell to the ground.
The faces of the Sha Family guards became ashen as they looked blankly upon this scene. What had happened completely defied their logic.
Why…
When they saw Ai Hui striding toward them, they started to panick. They tried to put on a brave front and asked, "What… what are you trying to do?"
Ai Hui grinned and revealed his teeth. "Since all of you are my guests, you will have to stay here today."
He did not give these earth elementalists any chance to react. Like a lightning bolt, he knocked them out in the blink of an eye.
Ai Hui silently shook his head. He really did not know what these earth elementalists were thinking. Nowadays, earth elementalists were in such a dire situation, yet they still had the nerve to do things so arrogantly. Weren’t they seeking death?
"Lou Lan, tie them up!" Ai Hui waved his hand.
"No problem, Ai Hui!"
Simultaneously, countless voices came out from all corners of the courtyard.
Pea-sized mini Lou Lans emerged from the ground and yelled cheerfully in unison, "Lou Lan is coming!"
Happily, they rushed to the fainted earth elementalists and jumped on their bodies.
A few mini Lou Lans carried ropes that were thicker than their bodies, threw them on top of those elementalists, and yelled together, "Lou Lan, catch the rope!"
The several mini Lou Lans standing on top of the fainted elementalists spread their arms and yelled together, "Lou Lan caught it!"
"Lou Lan is beginning to tie a knot now!"
"Lou Lan has completed tying the knot!
"Lou Lan is preparing to carry him!"
"Lou Lan is coming!"
"Lou Lan is coming!"
"Lou Lan is coming!"
...
Upon seeing the bustling scene, Ai Hui was deeply moved. The scene very much resembled the expansion project outside of the city…
In the blink of an eye, the Sha Family guards and the butler were tied up.
Ai Hui was very sly. When the butler said he wanted to trade Lou Lan for an Earth Dragon, Ai Hui knew that they would not peacefully resolve the issue. Even though the butler was fat, he was sharp-sighted. He could tell that Lou Lan was an extraordinary sand puppet and coveted him.
Even though the Sha Family was currently in a dire situation due to the loss of the Yellow Sand Corner, they were still very powerful. If Ai Hui had not attained elemental externalization, he would be very fearful of them.
However, since he had attained elemental externalization, his fighting capabilities had improved tremendously and his confidence was greatly boosted.
The poor were not intimidated by the rich. It would only spell trouble for a rich and powerful family like the Sha Family to encounter a fellow like Ai Hui.
Ai Hui liked to keep a low-profile and did not like to stir up trouble, but that did not mean that he was afraid of causing havoc. No matter how powerful the Sha Family was, were they more powerful than the Blood of God?
Since they could not resolve the issue peacefully, Ai Hui had to resort to his fists.
Recently, there had been an increase in criminal activity in Peace City. With the establishment of a lesser Avalon of Five Elements, Ai Hui knew that many people would be interested in his plot of land.
In the city, there were very few properties that were as big as his training hall.
There were a lot of people eyeing his training hall. If he displayed any sign of weakness, plenty of greedy individuals would pounce and completely devour him.
Ai Hui was hoping that this training hall would sell for a good price. The Sha Family was trying to scam him!
Looking at the empty entrance of the training hall, he gave a sinister smile while his eyes glittered with the glow of essence elemental beans.