Chapter 575: Ai Hui’s Belief
Translator: TYZ Editor: TYZ, KLKL
When Hei Yan and his counterparts walked out of the meeting tent, they were stunned momentarily and their facial expressions changed drastically.
The enormous shadow was cast down from the sky and covered their entire camp. A terrifying mountain was hovering about their heads, exuding a powerful aura of pressure that caused their hairs to stand on end. Some people couldn’t even breath. All of them were worried that it might drop down.
It was really a 'God-subduing Peak'!
The radiance released by the God-subduing Peak's glowing surface was being emitted endlessly, preventing the onlookers from clearly seeing what was inside it.
Hei Yan and his counterparts looked at each other in disbelief. Everyone was feeling uncertain.
Some people silently questioned whether or not this was a trap set up by Hei Yan. Not too long ago, they were still talking about seeking refuge with Grandmaster Dai. Minutes later, the God-subduing Peak suddenly appeared. It couldn’t be a coincidence!
An elementalist descended from the God-subduing Peak and said, "Is Division Leader Hei Yan here?"
Hei Yan’s eyelids twitched violently. He summoned his courage and stepped forward and replied, "I’m Hei Yan. May I know who oversees this God-subduing Peak?"
"Who do you think you are to ask about Sir’s identity?" The elementalist chided Hei Yan.
The rest shivered in fear. Who was the overseer of this God-subduing Peak? At this point of time, Surveillance Division was the only powerful combat division. Could it be Sir Nian? Or was it Madam Ye?
Everyone was puzzled. Hei Yan knew that things weren’t going the right way. Clearly, the other party had come with ill intentions. However, there was nothing much he could do now. He could only ask, "How can I be of help to Sir?"
"Sir has given an order. All retreating combat divisions have to leave behind their resources and blacksmiths," the elementalist said sternly with a cold look on his face.
Hey Yan’s face flushed with anger as he replied furiously, "Even Skyheart City has no right to detain our resources and blacksmiths! I want to see who it is that dares to commit such a heinous crime! Division Leaders, who is with me?"
No one said anything. None of them were willing to speak out before they could clarify what was going on.
The elementalist remained emotionless as he said indifferently, "So you are disobeying the order now?"
Deep down, Hei Yan was crying. He had expected at least one person to support him. He clenched his teeth and replied, "This order is really too much for me to accept. Yellowsand Division is willing to offer a portion of our resources but…"
"So you’re really disobeying the order," the elementalist said plainly. Suddenly, his tone changed as he roared with a stern voice, "Whoever defies Sir’s order will be killed without mercy!"
When he finished his sentence, a snow-white sword gleam streak shot down from the God-subduing Peak and flew towards Hei Yan.
"How dare you…" Hei Yan was furious.
He felt as if he was being locked onto by a terrifying dire beast. All his hairs were standing on end. An extremely strong sense of danger engulfed his entire body.
In the life-or-death situation, he channeled his elemental energy frantically. A deep glow was emitted from his body. His skin became black in color and turned as hard as a rock, giving off a gentle, crystallic luster at the same time.
It was his Path of Master, [Lithification]!
[Lithification] allowed its user to use elemental energy to change the nature of his flesh into various rock types. In that moment, Hei Yan had changed the nature of his flesh to one of the hardest rock types in the world, Black Crystal Metallic Rock. It was very difficult to create a scratch on the Black Crystal Metallic Rock even with weapons, as it was extremely hard and sturdy. Hei Yan had used this move to escape death countless times before.
As long as he did not die, he had no fear even if he was injured.
The sword gleam was as fast as a lightning bolt. Within seconds, it was in front of Hei Yan.
Pfff.
Hei Yan’s body turned stiff while his facial expression froze.
A bowl-sized hole appeared on his chest through to his back. The sword gleam continued on its path and hit the ground. Then, it cleanly pierced through the ground as if it were made of tofu, creating a pit that was of an unfathomable depth.
A dead silence descended upon everyone.
All the division leaders were dumbstruck.
They already knew the other party might use some extreme methods to punish someone as an example to others. However, the scene that had just unfolded still shocked them.
The decisiveness and ruthlessness of the other party had utterly stunned them. The streak of sword gleam was horrifying.
As a division leader, Hei Yan definitely wasn’t a weak individual. His [Lithification] was famous for its ultimate defense and ability to ensure survival. Because of his Path of Master, Hei Yan had survived countless bitter battles.
Thump! Hei Yan, whose eyes were wide open with rage, fell to the ground on his back like a wooden stake.
He was dead!
The faces of the division leaders turned deathly pale as their minds buzzed. They were dumbstruck.
The other party had killed Hei Yan…The other party actually killed Hei Yan!
The attack was direct and efficient…And they killed him with one strike...
Was the other party insane?
Wasn’t the overseer of the God-subduing Peak scared of infuriating all of them into attacking him from all directions? Doesn’t he know that such bandit-like behavior will cause his reputation to hit rock bottom? Doesn’t he...
There was no point for them to ask any more questions now. The ice-cold corpse of Hei Yan on the ground had answered all of their questions.
At this moment, two elementalists flew down from the God-subduing Peak while holding a man in their arms. The man’s limbs were trembling and his face was pale-white. When he saw Hei Yan’s corpse on the ground, he shivered in fear.
He had witnessed the entire process of how his division leader was killed from inside the God-subduing Peak.
Even now, he still could not believe that they had really killed Division Leader Hei Yan. His mind was completely blank. A strong sense of fear dominated his mind and body. He did not even know how he had arrived on the ground.
"Is that clear?"
The voice seemed to come from a distant place. He stared at the other party with his mouth agape.
The moment the Sword of Lightning’s swordsman saw the captive’s facial expression, he knew he had forgotten what he said just now. The swordsman snorted and repeated impatiently, "Hand over all of your resources and blacksmiths, is that clear? If you miss anything, you know what the outcome will be!"
He spoke the last sentence with ruthlessness.
The captive shivered and replied incoherently, "Yes, yes, yes. I understand, I understand, I understand!"
"What are you waiting for then?"
The captive scrambled away to carry out his task. He knew his combat division like the back of his hand. He knew clearly what resources they had and who the blacksmiths were. At this point of time, no one from Yellowsand Division dared to step out and say anything.
After witnessing their combat division’s most powerful individual, Hei Yan, having been killed by a single strike, who still dared to argue with the other party?
The elementalist who came down first was Gu Xuan. He turned around and looked at the frightened division leaders. Just now, when he’d heard Hei Yan say "Division Leaders", he became excited. An opportunity! Initially, they planned to capture a fat sheep. He didn’t expect to capture a flock of fat sheep in the end!
Being an experienced individual who had travelled extensively, Gu Xuan was very good at capitalizing on opportunities. He said, "Whoever hands over the greatest amount of resources and the most number of blacksmiths will be allowed to go back first."
All the division leaders looked at each other. Then, they turned around and gave instructions to their subordinates.
On the Fish Bone, Qiao Meiqi was dumbstruck. He was a businessman, since when had he ever seen such a blatant robbery?
"Is… Is this alright?" Qiao Meiqi looked worried and hesitant.
"What’s not alright about it?" Ai Hui replied plainly.
Qiao Meiqi swallowed his saliva with difficulty and replied, "Aren’t you scared of infuriating the masses?"
Ai Hui chuckled and replied, "Those who have retreated from the front line have completely lost their fighting spirit and willpower. They are just a mob of cowards. We only asked for their resources and blacksmiths, not their lives. They will not resist us."
"But…"
"Is Beyond Avalon only our home? No, it is everyone’s home. Since it is everyone’s home, everyone has to put in their effort and resources to defend it. These resources are going to be waste in their hands anyway. They should be used on the combat divisions at the front line. We are making the best use of everything," Ai Hui said lazily.
When Qiao Meiqi saw carts of resources being transported to the Fish Bone, he felt delighted and embarrassed at the same time. "Doing this will still hurt our reputation."
"Reputation?" Ai Hui sneered, "Let’s talk about reputation after we survive this ordeal. If we can’t even survive the war, what’s the point of having a good reputation? If we succeed in defending Beyond Avalon, we will be known as great heroes and no one will care about what we are doing now. If we fail in defending Beyond Avalon, all of us will be dead. Do you still care about reputation when you’re dead?"
Qiao Meiqi was stunned. He suddenly came to a realization, looking as if he was enlightened.
An excited look immediately appeared on his face. He rubbed his palms and said eagerly, "I will go and help them out now."
Ai Hui stood on the peak of Blackfish Mouth Volcano and looked at the camp beneath him. The smile behind the bandages that covered his face disappeared. The information obtained from the captive allowed him to conclude that the situation had worsened. He did not know much about war strategies, but he could tell whether a situation was good or bad and he knew what he should do.
In terms of war-related things, he paled in comparison to Iron Lady.
However, he also knew Iron Lady’s weaknesses. Iron Lady was too righteous, too compliant and too honest. In the current time of chaos, someone like Iron Lady was easily taken advantage of.
Unlike her, Ai Hui had experienced the evilness and cruelty of this world. He knew how greedy, cunning and unscrupulous people in this world could be.
All along, he had never cared about his reputation.
Just like how the name "master-killer" did not distress him, or make him feel regretful for his decision back in the day. He did not care about what other people thought of him. All he cared about was his master and mistress.
The feeling of sorrow and yearning for his master and mistress had never left him.
He was silently enduring the sorrow, and silently yearning for them.
Along the way, he had clearly determined what he wanted to achieve in this war. He wanted to lead everyone out of it alive.
Very soon, the resources on Fish Bone were piled up like a mountain. A team of blacksmiths stood on the mountain with fear written all over their faces. They did not know what was awaiting them.
On the contrary, the members of Sword of Lightning were jubilant.
Countless mini Lou Lans were climbing up and down the pile of resources, happily and busily checking the resources.
The resources taken from other combat divisions had been handed over as well. Upon seeing that the amount of resources and number of blacksmiths they’d received was rather plentiful, Gu Xuan did not make things difficult for the division leaders and let them off.
Upon returning to Fish Bone, Qiao Meiqi was ecstatic. When he saw Ai Hui, he yelled at the top of his voice, "We are rich! We are rich! This time around, we are really rich!"
The other members roared with laughter.
Ai Hui chuckled and said with a lazy tone, "This is only the beginning. We will do the same to every combat division that we encounter along the way."
Qiao Meiqi was stunned by Ai Hui’s words. He stuttered, "Along… Along the way… We will do… do the same?"
"That’s right. Why? You can’t bear to do so?" Ai Hui cast a glance at him.
Qiao Meiqi felt a burst of blood gush into his head. He became so emotional that he started to talk incoherently, "We are rich! We are rich! We are really rich!"
He finally calmed himself down after a while. Then, he laughed bitterly, "I feel like the business I have done over the years was all a waste. What kind of business is more profitable than doing this?"
Ai Hui restrained his urge to roll his eyes. Annoyed, Ai Hui replied, "You’re considered lucky if you manage to do this kind of thing even once. But you still want to do it everyday? If we do it once in awhile, we’ll be thought of as taking a drastic approach in response to a critical situation. If we do it everyday, we are no different from bandits. I have only heard of businessmen becoming rich, I have never heard of bandits becoming rich."
Qiao Meiqi returned to his senses and nodded his head. He looked slightly dejected as he said, "It’s such a pity."
Everyone burst into a laughter.
Gu Xuan looked at those combat divisions that were retreating in panic and said, "After what has happened this time around, no one will dare to stay in this area anymore."
"Isn’t that good? Don’t tell me you feel relieved letting these people watch your back?" Ai Hui said plainly.
Gu Xuan could not help but look at Ai Hui in astonishment.
Had Division Leader done this on purpose?