Chapter 404: Entering The City
Chapter 404: Entering The City
Translator: TYZ Editor: TYZ, CakeHermit
Ai Hui did not stop flying and headed straight for Asakusa City at full speed.
Asakusa City was a small border city. It was of a similar size to Central Pine City. Due to the rise in illicit businesses, it had flourished significantly; however, as the illicit businesses had taken a hard hit recently, the city became rather desolate.
With a bad economy, there were many idlers on the streets. They filled the city in small groups, chatting with one another.
Most likely because of the recent increase in bandit activities, Asakusa City’s defence system was on high alert. The treetop of the towering and imposing ancient tree emitted a faint green glow. Defensive ancient trees had been planted in strategic positions around Asakusa City. Altogether, they formed a defensive light screen.
Defensive ancient trees only had one purpose: to defend. Their roots were embedded deeply into the ground. A defensive ancient tree could grow to over two hundred meters in height. As its height increased, so would its defensive power.
In Jadeite Forest, the first thing that every city built was a defensive ancient tree. Defensive ancient trees that were in their premature stage had weaker defensive power, but as time passed, their defensive power would continue to increase.
The light screens formed by defensive ancient trees were useful in protecting a city from aerial attacks.
Even though Asakusa City was not really huge, it was an extremely old city. It had three defensive ancient trees that were over one hundred meters tall. These three defensive ancient trees had extremely strong defensive power. Any ordinary bandits that wanted to invade a city like Asakusa City were simply indulging in wishful thinking.
Actually, Ai Hui felt that wood elementalists were the most suitable ones to build cities in the Wilderness. Defensive ancient trees could only be cultivated by specialized wood elementalists. If a defensive ancient tree was cultivated by a wood elemental master, its defensive power would be even stronger.
Given the current relationship between Elders Guild and Jadeite Forest, however, asking these two factions to join hands was being even more delusional than the bandits that wanted to invade Asakusa City.
Ai Hui only knew that his senior’s embroidery workshop was somewhere in Asakusa City and had to ask around for its exact location. He descended from the sky and landed at the city gate.
The guard at the city gate looked at him lazily. Ai Hui did not care about him at all. When a city was not under attack, the guards at the city gate would always behave like this.
All of a sudden, the guard’s lazy gaze froze. His hand involuntarily pulled on his comrade’s sleeve.
His daydreaming comrade returned to his senses and asked with irritation, "What?"
He noticed his comrade’s gaze and followed its line of sight...
Oh, an ordinary-looking fellow. His base level is only at Second Elemental Realm. Isn’t this kind of individual found everywhere? What’s the fuss about? Erm, he still uses a sword. A swordsman… with black-colored azure wings… a slightly familiar face...
He was dumbstruck.
Ai Hui did not really care about the two guards looking at him, but felt slightly uncomfortable when the two guards’ gazes fixed onto him. He turned his face around and asked bluntly, "Is there any problem?"
The two guards returned to their senses. Their faces turned deathly white as they kept on shaking their heads.
Ai Hui cast a puzzled look at both of them, but since they were not finding trouble with him, he did not care about them and walked right through the city gate.
The entrance into the city was very long, resembling a dark and gloomy tunnel.
Exiting the tunnel was like walking out of the darkness, as Ai Hui was engulfed by sunlight. The clamor of the streets was filled with an aura of vitality. Ai Hui shut his eyes and enjoyed the warmth of the sunlight. The lively aura of vitality made him feel comfortable.
Holding his sword in one hand, he spread his arms wide open and looked as if he wanted to embrace this world.
The sunlight was warm and comfortable as usual. The lively clamor of the streets seemed to be slightly softer than just now.
It got slightly softer once more...
Silence.
Dead Silence.
What had happened? Ai Hui was stunned. He did not sense any signs of impending doom or the presence of an expert.
Ai Hui quickly opened his eyes to see what happened. Following which, he froze.
Everyone on the street looked as if they were being cursed by a petrification spell. They were motionless. The weird thing was that their gazes were fixated on him.
Silence. An awkward silence.
Ai Hui subconsciously looked at himself.
Oh, my clothes are slightly tattered, old, and dirty. What else? I did not wear my pants wrong...
He raised his head.
Whoosh. The previously statue-like figures came to life and ran off in a panic like alarmed birds. A few of them were so terrified that they tripped and fell before scrambling away.
Before Ai Hui could react, the previously bustling streets had become empty.
Dead silence.
The dumbstruck Ai Hui took a long while to return to his senses.
How do I ask for directions now?
…..
One hour later, Mingxiu was reprimanding Ai Hui inside the embroidery workshop.
"You’re no longer a teenager but a leader now, why are you always so rash? Well done, now everyone in the city knows what you did. All I want is a peaceful life and you have to mess it up. Today, the manager who is in charge of sending materials to us didn’t even dare to raise his head to look at me. He was so scared that he almost laid on the floor to talk to me. He didn’t even dare to accept payment from me. I had to spend nearly half an hour to persuade him to take the money. You tell me, how am I going to carry on my business if this goes on?"
"Do you know what everyone is calling you now? Death god! Executor! They’re saying that you have total disregard for the lives you take! You have really scared me this time around."
"Your aura of death is too strong! You only know how to resort to violence when things don’t go your way. How long have you not been practising embroidery? It’s not that I want to nag at you, but it’s time for you to grow up and stop resorting to violence for everything. You’re not young anymore. Even if you want to kill people, you have to do a clean job out of it. Why did you leave so many survivors this time around?"
"Do you need me to help you?"
Initially, Ai Hui had an obedient look on his face. Every now and then, he would say, "Yes, yes, you’re right," or "Why didn’t I think of that?" or even something like, "The next time I see them, I will be polite and amiable and talk about life with them."
However, as he continued to listen to Senior Mingxiu’s nagging, his facial expression became more and more blank. When he saw Senior Mingxiu got more and more excited in nagging him, the blank look on his face became even more distinct.
Mingxiu was very pleased with herself. Within seconds, she turned back to her usual gentle self. She softened her tone and said with a demure voice, "Junior, no one understands your temperament more than I do. To be able to make you take action, they must be the ones who provoked you first. To be able to make you treat them so ruthlessly, they must have provoked you quite badly; however, killing people is still a sin after all. Killing people will demonize you. Junior, don’t be like them. Be more forgiving and treat people with kindness. Don’t endanger yourself. Furthermore, how can I let you draw your sword when you’re in Jadeite Forest? Wouldn’t that make me a useless Senior?"
Her tone was as gentle as water. Ai Hui felt weak just by listening to her.
"Don’t make this kind of mistake in the future again, okay? Master and Mistress are not around, so Senior has to take good care of you."
"Yes," Ai Hui replied obediently.
The female embroiderers of the embroidery workshop were peeking at Ai Hui. Their eyes were filled with curiosity as they discussed him in a low volume.
One female embroiderer’s face was filled with infatuation. "So he is the Lightning Blade? He doesn’t look fierce or ruthless at all! He is so cute!"
"Cute? Do you know how many people he has killed? There are enough corpses to fill up the entire embroidery workshop," another short-haired girl sneered.
Upon hearing these words, an uproar broke out among the rest of the female embroiderers. The way that the short-haired girl described the scene was too vivid.
"If I have nightmares tonight, it’s all thanks to you!"
"How can you say such frightening words! It’s scary!"
"Oh my god, how do I work overnight shift in the future?"
After hearing these words, the short-haired girl’s face also turned slightly pale. Apparently, she had been frightened by her own words.
A female senior embroiderer looked deeply worried. "Boss is even fiercer than him. She has already scolded him for so long. I really hope she doesn’t piss him off. What if he decides to create a ruckus in the workshop?"
"Then all of us will be killed like a bunch of chicks."
The infatuated girl’s eyes lit up and she replied, "Am I the only who thinks that he is cute? Look at how bright his smile is!"
"I’m sure his smile is also that bright when he kills someone," the short-haired girl sneered and blurted out.
"Are you trying to keep us from having a peaceful sleep tonight?"
"Beat her up!"
"Hehe, me too!"
"No point begging for mercy now, I will support everyone!"
The female embroiderers raised a huge ruckus.
Time did not seem to have had any effects on Lu Mingxiu. Her gentleness made Ai Hui feel a sense of warmth and familiarity. Standing in the embroidery workshop with all the female embroiderers looking curiously at him brought him back to the day when he’d first stepped into Mistress’s embroidery workshop in Central Pine City.
It was then that Ai Hui realized that the arrangements of his senior’s embroidery workshop were exactly the same as his mistress’s.
Senior must miss Mistress very much.
"Come and help me out. Recently, the deadlines are rather tight and there are a lot of orders. We don’t have enough employees as well. Luckily, you are here."
"Alright!"
All the female embroiderers were dumbfounded when they saw the legendary executor, Ai Hui, obediently pick up a needle and start to help out. Every now and then, their boss would continue reprimanding him.
"Your skills are too rusty!"
"Wrong, wrong! Here! You wouldn’t have committed such a mistake in the past."
"The way you hold your needle is wrong!"
When Mingxiu saw the serious look on Ai Hui’s face and his rusty hand movements, her gaze turned gentle and warm. If Master and Mistress were still alive and saw Junior’s accomplishments, they would definitely be proud of him.
A lot of memories emerged in her mind.
When she thought of how Junior had passed Mistress’s test, how he’d blown up the embroidery workshop and contracted a huge debt, and how concentrated he’d been when spinning silk from the cocoons, her lips curled into a loving smile.
The days she’d spent in Central Pine City had become her most beautiful memories. There were Master, Mistress, and Junior. All of them had been together with her.
A guy with a thick and broad back was with a girl with a sweet and sincere smile on her face.
When Lu Feng arrived at the embroidery workshop, this scene was exactly what he saw. He was flabbergasted. Not just Lu Feng, but all the subordinates behind him were also frozen like a bunch of clay figurines.
After a while, Lu Feng returned to his senses and shifted his gaze to Mingxiu. With an apologetic tone, he said, "Recently I’ve been busy with work and couldn’t come and visit you. Mingxiu, please forgive me."
Ai Hui cast a curious look at Lu Feng. Who is this fellow?
"Second Brother, you are being too polite," Mingxiu replied with indifference.
Ai Hui cast a glance at Senior Mingxiu. The moment he saw Senior Mingxiu’s facial expression, he knew that this fellow had no chance. He’d seen how sweet and gentle Senior Mingxiu’s smile was when she’d been together with Brother Li Wei in the past.
Wait, did he hear incorrectly? Just now, Senior had called him "Second Brother," right? Ai Hui felt so curious that his heart was about to jump out!
Lu Feng looked as if he did not sense Mingxiu’s indifference as he maintained the smile on his face. Shifting his gaze to Ai Hui, he said with a bright tone, "Is this Mingxiu’s Junior Ai Hui, who is also known as the Lightning Blade? I have long heard that Mingxiu has a junior who’s a genius. Having met you today, you are indeed worthy of your reputation! An extraordinary individual!"
Immediately, Ai Hui withdrew his disdainful gaze.
Such a thick-skinned individual, this fellow is not simple!