Chapter 18: Fumbling (2/2)

He started to hit his own body.

After his previous training session, Ai Hui had pondered over how he could absorb metal elemental energy. Ai Hui’s pursuit of power was unquestionable, but he had no desire to be beaten up every day from dusk to dawn. That was an experience he had no wish to repeat.

He thus devised the method currently being employed.

In order to absorb metal elemental energy, the first step he had to take was to scatter the fine silver threads of energy that had been taken into his body. If a smaller amount of it was taken in, then perhaps he could handle this step himself.

Hitting himself and getting hit by others were essentially the same. The experience, however, was wholly different.

Ai Hui hit himself with maximum effort while simultaneously observing any changes within his body. He closely monitored his strength and technique, fumbling around to get a feel for the most effective combination.

He had a poor aptitude and was poor financially as well. All he could do was put in more effort.

He gradually uncovered some tricks to this training, but soon encountered another problem: he was unable to reach the metal elemental energy within the muscles of his back. He deeply contemplated his options before resting his gaze on the Suspending Golden Pagoda.

This pagoda that had been exposed to the metal winds for so many years should be quite sturdy. As such, the walls of the Suspending Golden Pagoda certainly seemed like a highly suitable piece of equipment for Ai Hui to ram his back into. Ai Hui quickly realized that he was thinking too much. The walls of the pagoda were as hard as metal, so dashing into them just two or three times would probably shatter his bones.

A substantial portion of the metal elemental energy in his back was not yet scattered. Ai Hui suddenly thought of his recent fight with the “amateur swollen guy” where he had executed the [Arching Fish Back] move.

This skill, [Arching Fish Back], reminded him most of the blind battle. When he had locked his opponent down, the move she attempted to use to counter him was the [Arching Fish Back]. Ai Hui, who constantly performed work that required copious amounts of strength, had the utmost confidence in his brute power. His opponent had shocked him by wielding a surprising amount of force and, almost breaking free of his grappling technique.

He could sense that his opponent’s elemental energy wasn’t particularly strong and that her physical strength wasn’t great either. The fact that her Arching Fish Back was so powerful made it clear that she had profound martial attainments.

Ai Hui had developed a strong interest in this move and copied it. In the three years he had spent in the Wilderness, Ai Hui learned many skills that were unorthodox and fragmented, but were highly practical, just like the [Arching Fish Back].

However, he rarely had an opportunity to use this move. Getting locked down by an opponent at his current level would spell certain doom. He would not even have the chance to execute the move.

A flash of inspiration gave him the idea to use the [Arching Fish Back] to send “amateur swollen guy” flying earlier that day. This experience helped him to find other uses for the technique. He began to repeatedly use the [Arching Fish Back] against the walls of the pagoda.

Not long after, he made another discovery. When he was curled up training in the pagoda, the part of his body that took in the most metal elemental energy was his back. Besides having an astonishing amount of explosive power, the [Arching Fish Back] had a jolting effect as well.

No wonder his arms had gone numb during the blind battle.

The effectiveness of his idea boosted his morale significantly. Ai Hui became even more meticulous at his task.

Once all the metal elemental energy had been scattered, Ai Hui sat in a lotus pose. He began to enter a meditative state, absorbing the dispersed metal elemental energy.

An hour later, Ai Hui opened his eyes. He could feel an increase in his elemental energy. Although his improvement this time was much less than that of last night, that was to be expected. The thought of that bowl of elemental energy replenishing soup still made his heart ache. Last night’s progress might have been remarkable, but the cost had been huge.

This method of training might be long and arduous, but it didn’t matter to Ai Hui as long as he saw possible improvement. For him who had struggled through dark and difficult times, but refused to pass into oblivion, hardship was not an issue.