Chapter 111: Unique Hand Palaces

Translator: Cynthia Editor: Pranav

Just now, in the embroidery workshop, Ai Hui had been totally immersed in the happiness that the money had brought him. As a result, as soon as he went back to the training hall, he bragged with Lou Lan for quite a while.

Lou Lan had been distraught these past few days since he had just been separated from Master Shao, and Ai Hui had been so engaged in training that had no time to think about Lou Lan. Therefore, Ai Hui seriously bragged with Lou Lan for a whole afternoon.

But Ai Hui soon realized that bragging for an afternoon was much more tiring than training, and he decided to replace “bragging with Lou Lan” with “training with Lou Lan.”

Fortunately, he still had the elemental soup prepared by Lou Lan—it was so delicious that Ai Hui nearly bit his own tongue.

Its delectable taste lessened the pain he was feeling for the one hundred thousand yuan for its ingredients.

In the evening, Lou Lan went back to Master Shao’s former residence and busied himself in organizing the things that Master Shao had left behind.

Lou Lan had said that he wanted Master Shao to return to a tidy house in case he came back one day, and presently, he could only think of this way to help Master Shao.

On hearing this, Ai Hui had become silent for a long time. He had felt like telling Lou Lan that Master Shao would never return, but as an afterthought, he felt that Lou Lan also understood this. Lou Lan just desired to do something.

What if he were Lou Lan?

Chewing the grass in his mouth, Ai Hui stared at the sky for ages, lost in thought. The taste of the grass slowly pervaded his mouth, just like the sky that was gradually immersing into darkness.

His mind wandered to the owner of the swordsman school in the Old Territory.

How time flies!

Are you fine in heaven, Boss? I am. And I hope you are as happy as I am now. But if you are not…then find a way out yourself.

Ai Hui laughed out loud, the laughter washing away all his worries.

He picked himself up and began to study his hand palaces passionately. Anything else was left behind for the moment.

He himself hadn’t expected to activate both his hand palaces simultaneously.

The activation order of the eight palaces wasn’t fixed, but the hand palaces were usually the first to be activated simply because they were the easiest. However, the inheritance of the unique skills of many influential families usually had a particular requirement for the activation order. For example, the skill [Eyebrow Heart Knife] required the sky palace to be activated first, which was, in fact, the most difficult palace to activate.

Therefore, there were very few successors of [Eyebrow Heart Knife] in each generation, and its inheritance was faced with many interruptions.

Except for the four palaces in the hands and feet, the activation of the other four—the sky, gate, sea, and earth palaces—was incredibly difficult.

However, whether one opened an easier or more difficult palace first, the eight palaces were almost always activated individually. As such, he was surprised by the simultaneous activation of both his hand palaces, but the explosion during the activation had further confused him.

Why did it explode?

The explosion had taken place very abruptly, almost in an instant, and he himself didn’t know what happened either. He hadn’t realized that his hand palaces were activated until he had climbed out of the ruins and checked to see if he was injured.

Ai Hui’s gaze fell on his palms.

The Sword Rattan Gloves were already in pieces. Although the explosion had been very powerful, he was safe and sound, but he was clueless of the reason. Fortunately, the workshop was isolated because of the unpleasant smell of the various herbs used during extraction, and hence, although the whole workshop was razed to the ground, nobody else was affected by the explosion.

However, Ai Hui clearly remembered that the trigger of the explosion was the sword embryo!

At that time, he had been infusing his elemental energy into the Twilight Silk, and he remembered feeling an intense sensation from his right hand palace. Ai Hui had thought that the trembling of the right hand palace would break the Twilight Silk like it had done many times before.

But unexpectedly, the sword embryo, which had always been quiet and still, suddenly moved.

Yes. Ai Hui was sure that it wasn’t a figment his imagination. The movement was so obvious—it was like a strong and sudden heartbeat.

And then there was the explosion!

It had occurred all of a sudden and had caught Ai Hui totally off guard.

Everything had happened too fast for Ai Hui to react. All he could remember was the movement of the sword embryo, which he knew was the cause of the explosion. But as to how, he didn’t know anything either.

Ai Hui felt a headache coming on.

When he had planted the embryo, he didn’t have the slightest idea that it would cause so much trouble, moreover during breakthroughs. This time, he was lucky enough to not be injured in the explosion and somehow open his left hand palace, albeit without warning.

The activation was a good thing, of course. If an explosion could open his third palace, Ai Hui would choose the explosion in a heartbeat.

But the instability of the sword embryo was a bit disturbing. It was unknown when it would break out again. This time, the result was all right, but who knew what it would bring next time?

Ai Hui was frustrated. If he could choose to remove the sword embryo, he would do so without delay.

Compared to the sword embryo, the system of the five residences and eight palaces was mature, and as long as he kept working hard, he would definitely be able to make achievements by following such a system.

But the sword embryo? God knows!

However, the sword embryo could not be removed. Actually, he himself wasn’t quite sure how he had managed to plant the sword embryo in the first place, much less remove it.

After thinking for quite a while, Ai Hui still couldn’t come up with any good ideas.

On second thought, if it were not for the sword embryo, he would have already died in the Wilderness, let alone train here now.

Thus, Ai Hui became at ease again. If he was aware of all the side effects of the sword embryo, would he still choose to plant it? The answer was yes, because at that time, the only thing he wanted to do was survive.

Yes, at least he was alive.

Alive was good.

Ai Hui mood brightened, and he began to carefully study his hand palaces.

A silver ball appeared in his right palm.

Ai Hui was surprised at how small it was.

The silver ball, which was as small as a sesame seed, was, in fact, his elemental energy. Ai Hui suddenly felt some uncertainty about whether his hand palaces were actually activated because he noticed that his hand palaces seemed to be somewhat different from others’.

The activation of any of the five residences and eight palaces had its own benefit. The fundamental function of the eight palaces was to store elemental energy, and its capacity was much larger than that of the natal residence.

Ai Hui had assumed that his activated hand palaces would share the pressure on his natal residence by storing the elemental energy mass, or at least a portion of the elemental energy.

However, things developed differently and out of his expectations.

When Ai Hui checked his left hand palace, he discovered that there was a small silver ball in it, too.

But he soon uncovered something else.

The silver ball, which was smaller than a sesame seed, was not motionless—it was spinning fast.

After thinking for a while, Ai Hui finally understood the reason. The elemental energy mass in his natal residence had a strong suction that could attract and absorb all the elemental energy in his body. To prevent itself from being absorbed, the silver ball had to spin fast to offset the suction.

For example, the elemental soup he had just consumed had not yet been fully digested, but its elemental energy had already been absorbed by the elemental energy mass in his natal residence.

The silver balls in his hand palaces, however, were tiny in size, but they contained the only elemental energy of his body that had not been absorbed by the elemental energy mass in the natal residence.

Now, after determining the question, Ai Hui thought of a solution, which was to guide the elemental energy of the elemental energy mass to his hand palaces.

Anyway, he still had to get a new pair of Sword Rattan Gloves.

When he looked at the fragmented Sword Rattan Gloves on his hands, Ai Hui smiled bitterly. He had to ask Mistress for help tomorrow.

He would be scolded again.