1616 Training and a Friendly Big Oaf
Three days of training ended. For the Skywings, it was merely just running and doing physical training. Their group of madmen would always be training with goals that ordinary humans could not meet, giving it their all to accomplish them.
This time, Commander Xia Geng was more decisive. Their goal was to wear down an entire mountain from the Lower Realm!
It was a huge mountain rising higher than the clouds, situated in the middle of a flat prairie and surrounded by a blanket of green grass. The only outstanding feature of the place was that mountain, an impressive height of the toughest granite, like a great axe of the gods jutting out from the grassy plains.
“That mountain’s an eyesore, so I’ve decided to remove it.”
!!
Xia Geng’s explanation as to why they would grind down a splendid mountain this time was just that.
In any normal clan, there was no reason to mobilize on such a grand scale just because of an eyesore, but the Skywings was not your ordinary clan. They were a bunch of lunatics hiding in human skin, and there was never a need for a reason whenever Skywings decided on something.
“If you put it that way, I also find that mountain an eyesore.”
“Right? It’s a fine prairie, with beautiful green grass, yet there’s just this thing blocking yours truly’s view. So off-putting!”
The brothers of the Skywing Clan had a lot to say. The average person could never imagine that they would crush an entire mountain just because they could not take in the full view of the grassy plains. It was just plain crazy! They did not even live here, so how could a mountain become an eyesore?
It was too bad. Once the Skywings decided on something, no one could make them change their minds.
—
On the first day, Xia Geng brought his brothers to that prairie to take in the beautiful scenery. Under the buffeting of the strong winds, they held a bonfire party where everyone drank and performed their talents. They came to the decision to remove that mountain during the casual discussions they had by the fire.
One the second day, the mountain was gone.
On the third day, they held yet another party, and everyone continued eating and drinking to their heart’s content, performing their talents, celebrating the birth of a city.
Indeed, after the Skywings were done taking care of that mountain, they realized a very serious problem; The massive granite mountain was reduced to rock and rubble after the Skywings came through, and all the rubble was still an eyesore piled up there in the center of the grassy plains.
So what would they do about it?
After some discussion, they decided they might as well just use the stones to build a city. It would at least be much more aesthetically pleasing than a pile of rocks!
Thus, they did just that, organizing the rubble of the huge mountain to construct a huge city completely made out of granite. City walls surrounded the houses and a central square, able to accommodate a population in the tens of thousands.
After the city was built, Xia Geng and the others nodded repeatedly, “Yeah, this is a lot more pleasing to the eye!”
What did they mean ‘more pleasing’!
The mountain was gone, but in its place was an empty city. The view was still obstructed, and they could still not see the full scenery, so how was that more pleasing to the eye? There was essentially no change to the place!
Xia Geng and his people were clearly just bored and wanted to use the excuse of training to find something to do. Was there a need for them to sound so righteous, as if they had done the world a great service? It was as if they had achieved some great accomplishment there on that prairie, taking down a mountain that harmed no one, then building a city in its place. Was it still not doing damage to the environment?
The Skywings did not care about all that. After they were done with their training, they set up another bonfire and drank the most potent alcohol and sang songs of grand feats, swapping stories about the women they had once loved.
That was the Skywing Clan. No matter how ridiculous something was, they would just go ahead and do it. There was no need for any reasons, nor did they need to explain their actions to anyone else.
“Say, why do you think the rascal Xia Fan has not used his Skywing Token yet? Does he not know that we would come rushing toward him, no matter the distance once he breaks it?” Xia Geng asked Xia Yu and Tamu. The former was the brains of the Skywing Investigation team, and was always calm and collected. Meanwhile Tamu had interacted with Xia Fan more, seeing as how they had come from the Ashen Moon Universe together.
Xia You wrinkled his forehead. “Perhaps Xia Fan had no idea the token is not bound by any environmental restrictions, thinking that the others would not receive the signal created after breaking the Skywing Token.”
Tamu shook his head repeatedly. “No way. Given Xia Fan’s intellect and judgment skills, how could he not fully grasp the use and scope of the Skywing Token?”
This left Xia Geng nonplussed. “Then why hasn’t he called for us? Could he really not be in any danger, and he’s capable of overcoming it on his own?”
Tamu gave it some thought. “I think Xia Fan is still a little not used to the style of the Skywing Clan. After all, he’s someone who grew up outside of the clan, and has not participated in any of our clan operations.”
“Or perhaps he thinks that using the token would be giving us more trouble, so he is reluctant to use the token until he feels there is no other choice.”
Xia Yu nodded. “Yes, that makes sense. The Skywing Token is actually a responsibility, as the entire clan will stop what they are currently doing and will come in support, no matter the distance, the moment it’s used. Xia Fan probably thinks that it would be an overreaction, which is why he’s being very prudent with the token.
“But as a member of the Skywing clan, Xia Fan probably will not understand our belief to never give up or abandon our own until he uses it for the very first time. Only by doing so will he truly be inducted into the Skywings.”
Xia Geng sighed, “I really hope Xia Fan uses the token. There are some things that cannot be explained with words, and only by experiencing them in person will they be able to fully comprehend them.”
…
…
The Water Elemental slowly took shape. He was of massive size, weighing well over a thousand kilograms. When right in front of Traveling Buddha, he made the latter look like a small child by comparison. No wonder Traveling Buddha lost so badly in a competition of strength; this Water Elemental was exponentially larger and stronger, and the bigger he was, the more shocking his combat strength!
There were two parts to a Water Elemental’s body. One was called the true body, which was the water molecules that contained its soul power. Intelligence, strength, and all the finer details that gave it life were contained in the Water Elemental’s true body.
The other part was known as the outer shell. A Water Elemental was capable of absorbing the water around it, growing in size by doing so. Alternatively, they could also control water and use it to attack their enemies. But the water molecules of the outer shell were only being controlled by them, and were not considered part of their true form.
For example, the human body was made up of seventy percent water. If you weighed a hundred kilograms, and drank another hundred kilograms of water, would your final weight be two hundred kilograms?
Of course, that would be impossible
After water cycled through the human body and left as waste, your weight would return to normal. Controlling water worked along the same principle, and the watery form that made up its soul was separate from such.
Everyone was stunned. That was because none of them had come across a living Water Elemental with so much soul water. From its size alone, they could tell that the energy count of this Water Elemental would at least be five times that of Star in Water and Moon in Water.
Every drop of soul water in a Water Elemental’s true body had to be absorbed and refined for over ten thousand years. It was obvious that this Water Elemental had lived for many, many, many years!
Perhaps he was even alive when the world was created, and when the three realms were formed!
“You’re pretty strong!” The Water Elemental sat down beside Traveling Buddha and spoke in a rumbling voice, “Candy? Little Tiger gave me some today.”
The Water Elemental opened a palm, where several fruit-flavored hard candies floated in his transparent hand. He took one for himself and gave another to Traveling Buddha. TB took the candy and opened his mouth wide, while the Water Elemental transformed the candy into tiny molecules and assimilated it into his body. Water Elementals all absorbed Nature’s energy from around themselves, but this Water Elemental actually enjoyed eating human food.
“So sweet! What, do you not like candy?” the Water Elemental asked childishly.
“I’m.. I’m fine…” Traveling Buddha replied, somewhat tongue-tied. The products made in this underground world were of poor quality, and the sugar used for the candy had been extracted from the root of a plant, tasting coarse and unrefined. It could not be considered tasty, and for the Little Old Buddha, who was born eating the finer things in life, he could barely call what he just ate a candy.
But this Water Elemental enjoyed the taste immensely, as if he had never eaten anything more exquisite than what he just consumed.
Xia Fan noticed that this Water Elemental seemed rather simple, almost as if it was intellectually challenged. However, he could not deny how big it was. Though this Water Elemental withheld infinite power as he sat among them, he did not feel any sort of pressure being exerted from him.
The Water Elemental was like a child, an innocent child, enjoying his candy as he kicked his legs playfully in the water, his head bobbing from side to side. Not only did Xia Fan not feel any sense of threat from him, but Xia Fan was even under the impression that if someone were to hug him, the Elemental would feel quite warm, right?