Chapter 463: Changing The Name To Thunder City
Translator: TYZ Editor: TYZ, KLKL
During this period of time, Clearwater City was bustling with life.
The scars from the great battle took merely a few days to disappear. Like a colony of hardworking bees, the earth elementalists repaired the destroyed houses night and day.
At this point of time, no one was bothered about the money spent.
What was better than having your home being intact after a great battle?
Without anyone to direct them, all the earth elementalists automatically joined the rebuilding project of Clearwater City.
The passion for life, the longing for a home, the vision for the future and the yearning for happiness gathered these total strangers together, with everyone helping and supporting each other.
Such a sight could be seen all over Clearwater City.
When they were tired or free, they would sit leisurely on the rooftops and look at the thunderous lightning flashes in the sky above a distant mountain. All of them were well-prepared. They would even bring along tea and melon seeds, clicking their tongues in astonishment at the lightning flashes while chit-chatting about their daily lives. At this point of time, they were filled with pride and admiration towards the few foreign elementalists as they vividly recounted the scene that had happened a few days ago.
"Let’s see, have you heard of Lightning Master? The word ‘Lightning’ sounds powerful, right?"
"None of you were there at that time. The moment Master Ai appeared and gave everyone a glare, lightning bolts that had the thickness of an arm streaked across the sky! So cool! All of the Patriarchs from the Assembly of Patriarchs were Masters, the elites of the elites but so what? When Master Ai glared at them, it made one of the Patriarchs reverse her base level and she became half-dead, while the other one was frightened out of his wits and picked up his comrade and fled. When Master Ai saw that, he said to himself, ‘Who can I glare at now?’. After he finished his sentence, he turned his murderous-looking face around and his eyes were popping out. Buzz! Before the lightning bolts shot out…. the legendary Northern Underworld King, Mister Dou, who had dominated the underworld for decades, surrendered without demurring."
...
At this point of time, on a distant mountain, numerous lightning bolts were coiling around Ai Hui’s body. Not far away, Lou Lan’s eyes were flickering with a red glow.
Ai Hui was releasing the lightning within his body with all his might. Silvery snakes were dancing wildly in the sky while deafening thunderclaps resounded through the air incessantly.
After ten minutes, Ai Hui finally stopped. He was panting heavily, but the lightning streaks around his body had reduced in number significantly.
"Lou Lan, how was it?" Ai Hui asked while panting heavily.
The red glow in Lou Lan’s eyes stopped flickering as he replied, "Ai Hui, the results are out. Your earth palace produces sixty percent of the lightning in your body while your left and right hand palaces produce twenty percent each.
Ai Hui stopped panting and a pensive look appeared on his face. "This result is very close to my prediction. The earth palace is the king while the hand palaces are the subjects. However, sixty percent is a lot more than what I expected."
...
Another round of thunderous lightning flashes streaked across the sky.
The red glow in Lou Lan’s eyes stopped flickering and he quickly reported the result, "Ai Hui, the elemental energy from your hand palaces is flowing towards your earth palace."
...
In the midst of the thunderous lightning flashes, the red glow in Lou Lan’s eyes flickered with an unprecedented rhythm.
If one took a closer look, he or she would discover that the red glow in Lou Lan’s eyes was flickering at the exact same frequency as the lightning bolts streaking across the sky.
Suddenly, Lou Lan yelled, "Ai Hui, your left hand palace and right hand palace are opposite in nature! The elemental traces in your left hand palace and right hand palace are opposite in nature as well!"
...
Another round of thunderous lightning flashes had passed.
The red glow in Lou Lan stopped flickering as he spoke with excitement, "Ai Hui, I have identified it! Your earth palace is the one that is producing the lightning! The two completely different metal elemental energies from your left and right hand palaces gather at your earth palace to produce the lightning!"
...
The Battle of Clearwater City had created a sensation in the vicinity of Clearwater City.
There were a total of seven Masters that took part in the battle initially. Undoubtedly, it was extremely sensational to see seven Masters fighting in a reasonably well-off city that normally only hosted two Masters.
The fact that the first ever Lightning Master was born was even more sensational.
The name Lightning Blade was widely known for his impact on Central Pine Faction, not his fighting capabilities.
During this period of time, Ai Hui’s performance had shocked the entire Beyond Avalon region.
After defeating the swordsmanship genius Han Li, he was severely injured and had to enter seclusion. However, when he came out of seclusion, he had become a Master, the first ever Lightning Master. He single-handedly overturned the situation in the battle. Facing four Masters, he injured one, scared away one, and held the remaining two as captives.
Upon seeing such an impressive feat by Ai Hui, everyone could not help but link him to those legendary figures in the history of the Avalon of Five Elements.
Ai Hui became renowned from this battle.
The title of "the first ever Lightning Master" had attracted a lot of elementalists from nearby cities to Clearwater City. All of them were here to revere the Lightning Master.
The first thing that every elementalist noticed upon arriving at Clearwater City was the distant mountain. Every now and then, thick and long lightning bolts streaked across the sky. Electrifying silvery snakes danced in sky while deafening thunderclaps echoed incessantly through the air.
When they saw such a spectacular sight, four words came to their minds. The might of Heaven!
Then, the residents of Clearwater City would tell these people that was the same mountain where Master Ai defeated swordsmanship genius Han Li.
Initially, that was a nameless and unknown mountain. Now, it had a name, Thunder Mountain. There was a rumor going around Clearwater City stating that Ai Hui was practising his lightning techniques on Thunder Mountain.
"In the future, Thunder City will be the holy land of Clearwater City!" Qiao Meiqi was high-spirited. The dismay on his face a few days ago was nowhere to be seen now. Filled with confidence, he said, "When I have enough money, I must purchase the Thunder Mountain. This might be a landmark that can last for all eternity. The first ever Lightning Master, Ai Hui, practises his lightning techniques here. Lightning bolts descended from the sky endlessly for hundreds of days…"
"Uncle Qiao, it has only been two days!" Gong Peiyao could not help but interrupt Qiao Meiqi.
The residents thought that Ai Hui was practising his lightning techniques but he was actually releasing the overflowing lightning bolts in his body. To prevent himself from injuring the innocent residents, he could only do this on the distant isolated mountain outside of the city.
"Hundreds of days sounds more impressive!" Qiao Meiqi was extremely pleased with himself, "Then, I will spread the rumor that Ai Hui has left marks of lightning on Thunder Mountain and whoever that can comprehend the marks of lightning, he or she will obtain the power of lightning and become a Lightning Master! How about it? This is a flawless plan, right! When the moment comes, there will be numerous elementalists travelling over thousands of miles to Clearwater City to admire Master Ai’s remnants. When you visit a holy land, you have to pay a fee, right? What if you don’t have money? You will work for me. Hmm, the name of Clearwater City doesn’t seem too nice. It’s overshadowed by the name of Thunder Mountain. This name needs to be changed. We have to change the name! In the future, our city shall be called Thunder City! Yes! I have to use Thunder City to pay respects to Master Ai! Send out an announcement now. To celebrate the birth of the first ever Lightning Master, we will rename Clearwater City as Thunder City."
Everyone was dumbstruck when they saw the excitement on Qiao Meiqi’s face. They were stunned by Qiao Meiqi’s greed.
"Truly an unscrupulous businessman!" Venerable Volcano sighed with sorrow.
He was an elementalist and he knew if Qiao Meiqi spread the rumors, a huge number of elementalists would come to Clearwater City, no, Thunder City.
When the chief of Karakorum Sword League became the first master swordsman, Karakorum Sword League expanded rapidly and countless elementalists visited them.
Most of the members in the newly established Karakorum Division were elite swordsmen that were selected from Karakorum Sword League.
One could imagine the number of elementalists that would come to Thunder City to admire Ai Hui. Whenever a brand-new type of power was created, it would present new opportunities for many elementalists. If one could be a part of it, he or she would obtain a head start. How did those powerful and wealthy aristocratic families come about? They did so by adopting this method.
Immense wealth came from having great power.
Suddenly, Ai Hui’s voice rang across the main hall. "I want half!"
Qiao Meiqi’s mayor residence was the first building to be repaired. Due to the lack of time, only the external part of the mayor’s residence was repaired. The mayor residence’s defensive rainscreen needed more time and an earth elemental master to be fully restored.
Ai Hui, who had just returned to the mayor residence, seemed to look slightly different. However, everyone found it very difficult to identify what the difference was. The most noticeable part about him was his eyes. His eyes were unusually bright, so much so that they were dazzling.
The glow of the Wintry Jade Blade in his hand had dimmed significantly, giving off a soft glimmer. Even the lightning arc that streaked across it occasionally looked weak.
"How are you feeling?" Shi Xueman’s eyes lit up.
"It’s finally under my control, thanks to Lou Lan," Ai Hui gave a smile.
Everyone knew Ai Hui was training on Thunder Mountain, but they did not know that Lou Lan was by his side.
Ai Hui kept on releasing lightning bolts from his body and Lou Lan recorded the whole process. The analyzing ability of Lou Lan’s Midnight was very powerful. Lou Lan specialized in obtaining unnoticeable, important information from an immense number of samples. Using his method, Lou Lan helped Ai Hui to analyze his elemental traces and obtain many valauble elemental traces.
Lou Lan’s eyes had curled into two crescent moons as he said cheerfully, "Lou Lan likes to help Ai Hui."
Gong Peiyao was filled with jealousy. She wished she could throw herself at Lou Lan.
With Lou Lan’s assistance, the lightning within Ai Hui’s body was brought under control for the time being. At least now he did not need to worry about his body exploding.
After Ai Hui knew how the lightning in his body was produced, he quickly grasped the ability to control the rate at which the lightning was produced. Without an endless stream of lightning flowing through his body, the danger within Ai Hui’s body had decreased by half.
Of course, there were still a lot of problems waiting for Ai Hui to resolve them. However, as long as he got rid of the danger of his body exploding, he had enough time to resolve the other problems.
He still had a long way before he could fully control the power of the lightning in his body. This was just the beginning.
This was the problem with being a forerunner, but it was a unique characteristic at the same time. Forerunners faced too many unknowns. The path ahead of them was covered with dense fog and they had no idea how to proceed forward. The only thing they could do was to slowly fumble their way through.
However, since no one was familiar with the new field, these forerunners would usually put up impressive performances and become influential and powerful individuals in their eras.
Ai Hui looked at the mayor and asked, "How are the preparations for our resources? Once you are done preparing our resources, we will leave."
"Congratulations, Master Ai. The resources have been prepared properly. You can set off at any time," Qiao Meiqi congratulated Ai Hui.
Even though the battle from two days ago had caused Qiao Meiqi to suffer huge losses, he was not bothered at all. In the past, Central Pine Faction was a promising power. Now, it had become a formidable power that could not be underestimated.
With the first ever Lightning Master, the Shi family’s heiress who could match up against two Masters at once, and the two captive Masters, Central Pine Faction had a total of four Masters!
Qiao Meiqi and the Gong Residence had no issues with handing the two captives over to Ai Hui.
In this way, the strength of Central Pine Faction’s lineup far surpassed Thunder City’s.
Furthermore, Central Pine Faction was filled with youngsters. Youth implied boundless potential. With the refinement method of snow lava in the hands of Central Pine Faction, they possessed an endless stream of wealth. By looking at Ai Hui’s decision to use the profits from the sale of snow lava to purchase a huge amount of resources, one could tell that he was very ambitious.
Central Pine Faction’s position in Qiao Meiqi’s heart had been raised a few levels.
The current Central Pine Faction was no longer inferior to those newly established families. It was a newly established family that possessed great potential.