Chapter 241

Chapter 241: Dragonspine

Translator: TYZ Editor: X

Ai Hui and Shi Xueman walked out of the mayor residence side by side .

Ai Hui suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked at Shi Xueman with seriousness written all over his face .

Upon noticing Ai Hui’s weird behaviour, Shi Xueman stopped in her tracks and cast a puzzled look at him . She did not know if it was because Ai Hui had had a breakthrough, but his gaze was heart-piercing like a sword .

Seeing that Ai Hui looked somewhat unnatural, Shi Xueman put on a calm-looking face and asked, "Is there a problem? In such a devastating disaster, no one can escape unscathed . Everyone is fighting for their own lives . "

"Thank you," Ai Hui suddenly opened his mouth and said .

"Ahh…" Shi Xueman was at a loss . She had never heard the phrase "thank you" coming out of Ai Hui’s mouth before . She had also never expected Ai Hui to thank her in such a situation .

Just when she was about to say something, Ai Hui had already walked past her .

At that moment, Shi Xueman felt really stupid . She nearly used her spear to stab that rascal’s back .

"Anyway, I might be grateful to you but don’t expect me to reduce the debt you owe me . "

A string of awful words came from the guy that was strolling in front of her .

The usual ice-cold look returned to Shi Xueman’s face, and she remained silent as she followed behind him .

At this point in time, the night had passed and dawn was coming . The horizon was suffused with white . The darkest moment had passed and the rising sun would expel the shadows with its light and heat, marking the start of a new day .

It was time for the patrol unit to change shifts . Weariness could be found on the faces of the patrolling elementalists along the streets . Even though they were exhausted, they still greeted Ai Hui passionately .

This seemingly skinny youth was the most popular figure in Central Pine City right now .

"How do you intend to begin this mission?" Shi Xueman decided to break the silence between them .

She knew Ai Hui was not an impetuous fellow, so he must have certain plans .

"I will scout out the Heaven Pit first . The blood fiends that invaded the city recently came through the Heaven Pit . I have to determine exactly what is going on inside . I also need to find the blacksmiths to enquire about what to take note of when nailing the golden needle . We don’t have a second chance for this plan . "

Ai Hui’s voice came from the front . Even though Shi Xueman could not see his face, she could imagine the serious look he had .

"Count me in," Shi Xueman blurted out .

The moment she blurted out these words, she felt embarrassed . Was she too straightforward?

"Okay," Ai Hui responded bluntly .

Shi Xueman’s embarrassment immediately disappeared as her mouth curled into a smile .

… . .

The quarantine barracks .

When Yan Hai saw the three unconscious wood elementalists on the ground, his respect for Tian Kuan increased significantly . He had witnessed the entire process of how Tian Kuan finished off the three wood elementalists effortlessly .

Tian Kuan threw one of the wood elementalists at Yan Hai’s feet and unquestionably gave a command, "Have you learned the soul-binding spell I taught you? Try it now . "

"Yes!" Yan Hai replied obediently .

The blood traces that he formed were different from Sir’s . According to Sir, this was due to the difference between their body aptitudes . He would have a different progression path from Sir’s . Yan Hai was extremely envious of Sir’s [Shadowless], but Sir would only teach him a few moves . The most important move that Sir taught him was the [Blood Soul-Binding Spell] .

The soul-binding spell was profound and extremely hard to comprehend . Even after Sir’s detailed explanation, he still did not quite comprehend it .

Yan Hai did not like learning the soul-binding spell at all, but he did not dare to disobey Sir’s command .

A drop of brightly-colored fresh blood seeped out from his glabella . As it left Yan Hai’s forehead, it materialized into a cloud of blood mist . The cloud of blood mist pierced through and entered the unconscious wood elementalist’s glabella .

The wood elementalist’s body began to jerk and tremble violently . Tian Kuan made a squashing action with his hands, and the wood elementalist’s body stopped moving, looking as if he was being restricted by a pair of invisible hands .

Beads of sweat began to form on Yan Hai’s forehead . The soul-binding spell was far too difficult for him .

Pop!

The wood elementalist’s head exploded like a watermelon .

Yan Hai stared blankly at this scene . Immediately, his stomach churned, and he could not help but puke wildly in a corner . He was not a newbie and had seen deaths before, however, this bloody scene was too much for him .

"Again . "

Tian Kuan’s voice was calm and flat as he threw another comatose wood elementalist at Yan Hai .

Yan Hai was still puking, so Tian Kuan did not rush him .

After a while, Yan Hai stood up with a pale-white face and turned to the second wood elementalist . Once again, the cloud of blood mist pierced through the glabella of the elementalist . This time around, Yan Hai’s performance was a lot better than before . The wood elementalist was still convulsing, but not as violently as before .

Suddenly, blood started to seep out from the corner of the wood elementalist’s mouth . The color of his face rapidly turned ash-grey and the temperature of his body dropped instantly until it became ice-cold . His body was completely devoid of life .

"This is the last one . If you fail again, you will die with him . "

Even though Tian Kuan’s voice was still calm as usual, one could sense the murderous intent within it . Yan Hai trembled in fear . He knew that Sir’s patience had reached its limit . The pale-white color of his face was able to conceal his anxiety well . Otherwise, one could see his panic with one glance .

He knew that if he failed at what Sir expected him to do, he would affect Sir’s plan and death would be the only way out for him then .

This was the last chance .

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tried his best to calm himself down . After five minutes, he opened his eyes again .

The cloud of blood mist penetrated the glabella of the last wood elementalist . Just like before, the elementalist’s body still resisted it fiercely .

Even though Tian Kuan sounded calm and nonchalant, he actually cared a lot about this situation . He needed to buy more time for his plan to work . If he could not take control of a wood elementalist, he had no chance of carrying out his plan . Opening the quarantine zone would only bring more chaos to Central Pine City, which was far from his ultimate goal .

As long as it could buy him more time, he would be a step closer to achieving his final goal .

It was a pity that he could not master the soul-binding spell and could only place his hope on Yan Hai .

Yan Hai’s face was becoming increasingly pale, his body was shivering non-stop, and he was drenched in cold sweat . The resistance of the wood elementalist on the ground gradually weakened .

After a while, the wood elementalist suddenly opened his eyes .

His eyes were scarlet in color, containing a hollow gaze .

His eyeballs swivelled a few times and the scarlet disappeared . The hollow gaze also slowly disappeared and was eventually replaced by his eye pupils . Other than looking a bit dull, there was nothing weird about his eyes .

The wood elementalist, who was lying on the floor, quickly stood up and bowed toward Tian Kuan . "Sir!"

"You did a good job . "

A smile appeared on Tian Kuan’s face .

As usual, the patrolling elementalists stopped 20 metres away from the quarantine camp . This camp was everyone’s least favorite place to visit . Everyone would rather battle with the blood fiends than see their family members and friends die in this place .

Despair, fear, numbness, devastation . This place was a green colored hell .

Even the patrolling elementalists were not willing to get too close to this green colored hell .

One of the patrolling elementalists yelled from afar, "How’s the situation inside?"

After a while, a hole appeared on the high wall that was covered with vines and tendrils . Next, a head came out of the hole and replied, "Everything is fine as usual . Do you want to come in and take a look?"

Upon hearing this, that patrolling elementalist quickly shook his head and answered back, "We are very busy . Bye . "

They did not want to stay any longer . Upon seeing the familiar face of Sun Ke, they turned around and prepared to leave . Everyone sympathized with the Sun Ke trio because this squad was tasked with executing their family members and loved ones . Just thinking about the torment that the three of them had to go through struck fear in everyone’s heart .

The figure behind Sun Ke kept on observing until the patrolling unit was gone .

"They have left," Sun Ke said .

If one listened clearly, he or she could hear that Sun Ke’s voice was slightly deeper than usual . However, no one would notice such an insignificant difference during this chaotic period of time . Fatigue, lack of sleep, and low morale . Everyone would be different than usual .

The previously nonchalant Tian Kuan began to reveal a tinge of craziness and excitement on his face . He walked to the window and looked at the countless pairs of scarlet eyes . With a voice that contained a tinge of expectation, he muttered, "Our plan can begin now . "

… . .

On the fringe of the Heaven Pit, the morning sun cast the shadows of three figures .

"The weather is beautiful . " Shi Xueman squinted her eyes as she basked in the morning sun . Such beautiful weather was extremely rare these days .

Lou Lan slanted his head and asked Ai Hui, "Ai Hui, have you thought of a name for your new sword?"

"Name?" Ai Hui replied as he observed the Heaven Pit, "Let’s call it Lou Lan’s sword . "

Lou Lant thought pensively before replying, "That does not sound too impressive . "

"Let’s call it Ai Hui’s sword then," Ai Hui answered without even thinking . His gaze carefully scanned every single section of the Heaven Pit . The terrain of the Heaven Pit was quite different from the last time they had visited .

The continuous influx of blood fiends had significantly impacted the terrain of the Heaven Pit . There had been several mini Heaven Pits appearing around the city . The sandworms had hollowed out several areas beneath Central Pine City .

"You’re too perfunctory . " Shi Xueman was unhappy with Ai Hui’s attitude . "Lou Lan spent so much time and effort to craft this sword for you, how can you treat him like that?"

Lou Lan was everyone’s beloved . Shi Xueman wished that she could bring Lou Lan home . If she had a sand puppet like Lou Lan, she would treat him very well . Ai Hui’s perfunctory attitude really infuriated Shi Xueman .

"That’s true . " Ai Hui stopped what he was doing and pondered seriously before saying, "A snake can be considered a small dragon . Since the sword is made using the snake vertebrae, let’s call it Dragonspine!"

"This is a good name," Lou Lan’s eyes lit up .

Shi Xueman pouted and did not say anything else . From the way she looked at it, Ai Hui’s creativity had reached its limit just by coming up with this name .

"Let’s prepare to go down and see what’s going on inside," Ai Hui instructed in a deep voice . "Lou Lan, remember to record the surrounding terrain and remind us of the location of the node . We have to find a suitable path down . I have already talked to the blacksmiths, and the golden needle has very large dimensions . Its length is more than five metres and its diameter is around half a metre . Such a huge object would spell trouble if it enters a narrow space . Even though the golden needle is made of metal, it’s still very fragile . It might not work if even a tiny bit of it is damaged . "

Lou Lan was a sand puppet and operating underground was a piece of cake for him . An average person would easily lose his or her sense of direction underground, but it was not a problem for Lou Lan . He could easily and rapidly identify his bearings underground .

"No problem, Ai Hui," Lou Lan said cheerfully .

"If we encounter any danger, when I say retreat, both of you have to listen to me and retreat . I will bring up the rear . " Ai Hui’s gaze shifted to Shi Xueman and added one more line, "I am confident that we will come back alive . "

"No problem," Shi Xueman nodded her head . With regards to this aspect, Ai Hui was indeed far more capable than her . This fellow’s survivability was matchless .

"Let’s go!"

Ai Hui was the first one to jump in . The pitch-black Heaven Pit devoured him like the wide-open maw of a monster . His bright eyes were like the stars in the night sky, clear and firm .

Following closely behind Ai Hui, Shi Xueman and Lou Lan jumped into the Heaven Pit .