Chapter 563: The Transformation of the Central Pine Valley
Translator: TYZ Editor: X, TYZ
Unlike Skyheart City, which was anxious over the Central Pine Valley’s declaration, heated debates erupted in other cities instead. Everyone discussed the Central Pine Valley’s declaration, making it the hottest discussion topic at the moment.
The previous craze over pagoda cannons and snow lava allowed Ai Hui’s declaration to create a sensation the moment it was announced to the world.
In short, this was the first time Ai Hui took the initiative to step onto the radar of the world, creating and gaining quite a huge amount of attention on himself. Many people also suspected that there was someone in the dark helping Ai Hui build momentum for the previous pagoda cannon craze.
Everyone argued enthusiastically about the weird appearance of the red-eyed mummy as well as the proposal of the Pagoda Cannon Alliance.
Those who bootlicked Skyheart City were speechless at the formidability of Ai Hui’s move. It was very hard for them to imagine that such a fearsome and deft move was executed by the hands of a young man.
Wen Yongming and the other reporters were very experienced. They did not release all of their recorded content to the world at once. Ai Hui’s declaration would take away all the attention from the rest of their news stories and overshadow them.
When everyone began to debate passionately about Ai Hui’s declaration, Wen Yongming and the other reported began releasing their additional material. These reports included the odd appearance of the Pinwheel Sword and its terrifying speed, the magical sword operator, the Fishback City that was single-handedly built by a Master, the daily training sessions of the Sword of Lightning, etc.
These new and odd topics immediately attracted everyone’s attention and piqued their curiosity.
The lightning fast Pinwheel Sword in the mirage attracted the most attention. Countless people were eager to try it. Those who had traveled in it before boasted about it endlessly.
These released mirage bean pods did not increase everyone’s understanding of the Central Pine Valley. Instead, they further increased the mystique of the Central Pine Valley in everyone’s hearts. Aside from the pagoda cannons and the snow lava, now there was the Pinwheel Sword and Fishback City. The Central Pine Valley was like an enormous treasure trove that always gave people surprises.
How many things were there in the Central Pine Valley that were unknown to the world?
Being a war machine, the Pinwheel Sword had a terrifying speed, but what about its offensive capabilities? How could it be used to fight on the battlefield? Did it work in a similar way as the pagoda cannons?
Countless questions swirled around everyone’s heads. All of them were filled with curiosity and expectation toward the Sword of Lightning’s trip to the battlefield.
Meanwhile, at Fishback City, the most tense moment had arrived. Even Ai Hui, himself, could not help but feel tense.
"Lou Lan, have you checked everything?" Ai Hui asked.
"Ai Hui, Lou Lan has already checked everything." On Ai Hui’s shoulder, there was a mini Lou Lan tilting his head while counting with his fingers. "Ai Hui, this is the seventh time that Lou Lan has checked everything."
When Ai Hui saw the look on Lou Lan’s face, he could help but feel overjoyed. The anxiousness he felt was reduced significantly.
Beside him, Qiao Meiqi felt excited and anxious. Since he had already made up his mind to join Ai Hui’s side, every success and failure of Ai Hui’s operations was closely related to him.
All along, Ai Hui had not wanted to tell him how was he going to protect the Central Pine Valley. The more Ai Hui did not want to tell him, the more curious he felt. It was as if there was a kitten that kept scratching Qiao Meiqi’s heart. He had asked other members of the Central Pine Faction, but none of them knew. Even though they were digging and building things in the Central Pine Valley, none of them knew what they were doing this for.
An Chouchou was the only outsider here. He saw that everyone’s gaze was directed at a distant valley.
Was it possible that the Central Pine Valley was there?
Ensuring the safety of the Central Pine Valley was a huge problem that Ai Hui faced. After all, the Central Pine Valley was the home of the Central Pine Faction. Nobody wanted their home to be thrashed when they were out on a war expedition.
From the look of it, it appeared that Ai Hui already had a plan.
Suddenly, An Chouchou thought of Ai Hui’s master and mistress. Was Ai Hui going to use [Treating the city as a piece of cloth]?! The moment this idea appeared in An Chouchou’s head, he couldn’t get rid of it. Ai Hui had managed to inherit Wang Shouchuan’s legacy. Currently, Ai Hui’s knowledge of elemental traces exceeded his teacher in many areas. Given Ai Hui’s abilities, it was possible that [Treating the city as a piece of cloth] would reappear.
Using this method, even though the people living in the valley would be trapped for the time being, the safety of the valley would be ensured.
The more An Chouchou thought about it, the more possible he felt it was. His facial expression changed.
Then, he heard Ai Hui asking again, "Is Bangwan protected?"
"Ai Hui, he is protected," Lou Lan yelled.
"Are the others out?"
"Ai Hui, they have already come out."
Ai Hui’s mood was involuntarily affected by Lou Lan’s. Lou Lan always made everyone feel that their lives were filled with valor and sunshine.
When the situation finally came to a head, Ai Hui actually felt nervous. He could not help but laugh at himself. Then, he spoke with a solemn tone, "Get ready."
The mini Lou Lan standing on Ai Hui’s shoulder flew into air. A small red flag mysteriously appeared in his hand. The mini Lou Lan waved the small red flag with all his strength and yelled, "Get ready!"
"Get ready!" The mini Lou Lans all over the mountains and valley echoed after him.
Everyone held their breath. The air seemed to freeze at this point in time.
"Begin!" Ai Hui gave the order firmly.
The mini Lou Lan in the air waved down the red flag with a whoosh and yelled, "Begin!"
"Begin!"
"Begin!"
The responses from the mini Lou Lans resounded through the air like a tidal wave.
An Chouchou looked at Lou Lan with curiosity. This was the first time he had seen such a sand puppet. However, he didn’t really care about it. Fire elementalists were benefiting from the rising popularity of pagoda cannons, so their social status elevated. Meanwhile, the status of earth elementalists was still on the decline. Nowadays, many earth elementalists started learning construction. They hoped they could become a battlefield construction master like Wang Xiaoshan
The sand puppets seen today were remnants from the Avalon of Five Elements.
The last family who specialized in producing sand puppets, the Sha Family, happened to be annihilated by Ai Hui.
From the look of it, An Chouchou felt that what Lou Lan was doing might just be an ability of a sand puppet. To him, the utility of a sand puppet was very limited.
Rumble!
A deep and muffled sound came from the ground. The ground beneath everyone’s feet was trembling furiously, causing all of them to lose their balance.
Crisscrossing streaks of light erupted in the valley.
A powerful elemental energy wave swept across the area like a hurricane. An Chouchou was overwhelmed with shock. What was going on?
He was not the only one. The others were overwhelmed with shock as well. The scene happening before their eyes had far surpassed their imagination.
What was going on?
In the Central Pine Valley, all five types of elemental energy pools were bursting with radiance. Five different colored lights erupted at the same time. Along with the dazzling radiance, concentrated elemental energies flowed through the crisscrossing channels in the valley.
If one looked down from the sky above the Central Pine Valley, he or she would see a gigantic cycle of five elements forming.
Rumble! Rumble!
The rocks surrounding the Central Pine Valley began to collapse. The mist-covered valley appeared in front of everyone. A gorgeous radiance erupted behind the mist, preventing anyone from taking a clear look inside of the Central Pine Valley. Because of the radiance, the mist that covered the Central Pine Valley became unusually beautiful. Powerful elemental energy undulations kept on muddling the mist.
This mighty scene frightened everyone.
Rumble.
The mountains around the valley were collapsing at a terrifying speed. A colossal crevice appeared around the valley. The only thing that was not affected was a mountain ridge on a particular side of the valley.
The crevice around the valley became larger and large, more than 70 meters wide. It was astonishingly deep as well. If one looked at it from afar, he or she would think that it was an abyss that led to hell.
The bottom part of the valley was hanging in the air and gave off a brilliant glow.
An Chouchou’s brain had completely stopped working. Newlight City and the Windy Resonant Pagoda had been personally built by him, but he had never seen such a spectacular sight before.
All this time, Ai Hui had been staring at the glow from the valley. Suddenly, he yelled, "Mister Dou!"
The others looked as if they had just woken up from a dream and searched for Mister Dou, especially those children from the Central Pine Valley. They were frantically looking for their teacher, but couldn’t find him.
Suddenly, Su Qingye pointed to the volcanic crater of Blackfish Mouth Volcano and yelled in surprise, "Look over there!"
Everyone’s gaze followed Su Qingye’s finger and shifted to the Blackfish Mouth Volcano. The edge of the volcanic crater had become unusually dark, as if the volcano was devouring all the light around it.
"Teacher is in the volcano!"
"It’s Northern Underworld King Tree!"
Alarmed cries broke out among the crowd.
At the volcanic crater, Mister Dou was standing on a red-hot rock and surrounded by lava. Beside him was the Northern Underworld King Tree that he had planted. His hand held onto a branch of the tree. His facial expression was solemn and the elemental energy undulations released by his body were surging.
A dazzling red light was being absorbed by the Northern Underworld King Tree.
Indistinctly, the red light was covered with traces of black lines.
The stimulated Northern Underworld King Tree was frantically devouring the light surrounding it, causing the weird phenomenon in the volcanic crater.
Traces of black light entered the surging lava.
The surging lava within the volcano was connected to the earth fire beneath the ground. There was an abundance of lava in the volcano, resembling a hidden sea of fire. Mister Dou felt so insignificant in the face of nature.
He suddenly grinned.
Mankind had always been insignificant like dust. He had never been a great man before.
With such a chance given to someone like him who had reached the twilight years of his life, what more could he ask for?
His hollow eyes were as deep as an abyss. Traces of intense black light shot out from the Northern Underworld King Tree and penetrated downward through the lava of the volcano.
The traces of black light resembled a black muslin canopy and a huge net at the same time.
The traces of black light penetrated the volcano deeper and deeper.
Blood started to seep out from the corner of Mister Dou’s mouth. The look on his face, however, looked extremely happy. If it weren’t for the fact that he had yet to complete his task, he would definitely laugh to his heart’s content.
After an unknown amount of time, Mister Dou knew he had reached his limit. Instantly, the traces of black light that were penetrating downward through the lava suddenly converged, cutting off the lava within the volcano from the underground earth fire like a sharp knife.
Pfffft. He spat out a mouthful of blood into the air,entirely dyeing his robes with the color of blood
He did not care at all as he laughed heartily at the top of his lungs.
Crack!
A crevice suddenly appeared at the base of Blackfish Mouth Volcano. The crevice immediately extended around the volcano at a terrifying speed. Blackfish Mouth Volcano looked as if it had been sliced by a gigantic sword. Surging lava erupted from the crevice and flowed along the mountain ridge. Quickly, the flowing lava cooled down and solidified.
It stopped flowing before reaching Fishback City. However, at this moment, no one bothered to pay any attention to the lava. No one could take their eyes off of the Blackfish Mouth Volcano.
The crowd gaped with wide eyes. At this moment, their brains had stopped working.
In front of their eyes, the Blackfish Mouth Volcano and the mist-covered Central Pine Valley slowly floated up from the ground.
Dead silence descended upon Fishback City. It was so quiet that one could even hear the sound of a pin dropping on the ground. The distant, yet overwhelming smell of sulfur, the bubbling sound of the flowing lava, and the sizzling sound of the cooling and solidifying lava could be distinctly smelled and clearly heard.
An Chouchou was dumbstruck.