After leaving Wang Dong behind with a sight to remember, Xue Chang walked off the stage and silently sighed to himself.
He crushed the flame within his palm quietly while a cold sweat flowed down his back.
"That was nerve wracking!"
When the fire ball had flown down toward Tian Hai and Lou Lan, Xue Chang had acted reflexively and moved to intercept it.
But because of how sudden his decision was, he was unable to focus and use his ability to silence the ball of fire. He doubted that he would be killed, but it would probably hurt like hell. As such he prepared himself for a great deal of suffering.
Yet when it struck him, he felt fine. There was virtually no pain whatsoever.
It was like someone was blowing hot air at him, so it was more of an annoyance than a pain.
It felt so bland that he even had time to get his thoughts together in order and use his Dao to suppress the flames into the palm of his hands.
And when he thought back to it, it was a similar feeling to his body within the lake of lava when he was battling the serpent in the underground cavern.
"Semi-impervious to heat, that was what it was called huh?"
He remembered Yong Heng telling him about the unique constitution of his body before. While they weren't exactly sure how he did it, he somehow obtained a body that was virtually indestructible when faced against any type of flames.
This didn't just come from breaking down and repairing his body under the unique conditions, something else was added to the mix that allowed him to develop this unique constitution.
But he didn't care too much about the small details, rather he was more focused on how useful his imperviousness actually was.
"That attack held a power almost equal to that of the guild master before his breakthrough, so it must be at the peak of the third level. Yet after taking away the boost in strength thanks to the fire elemental energy, only a dense piles of spiritual force was left. And while it was still very dangerous to most people, at my current level of strength it won't affect me too much."
Taking away the threat of elemental energy brought down the attack an entire rank.
Spiritual force was an all rounder, it damaged every part of the body slightly. Meanwhile elemental energy was much more specific. Fire elemental energy's specialty was based around attack, especially causing damage to the exterior body.
He realized this now. He wasn't clear about the full extent of elemental energy's abilities before, but now he was getting a better understanding of it.
Like how the guildmaster's specialty was attacks that caused internal damage to the inner frame, like the skeleton or brain.
While Xue Chang wasn't completely sure, he assumed that water affected the senses, metal affected the rest of the inner organs such as the heart, and wood probably focused more on the healing aspect.
When he explained his theories to Yong Heng, the response he received was, "You're not completely wrong. But there's more than that. For example, true masters can use water for internal damage or metal to trick the senses. All things eventually return to origin with enough practice and such diversity in skills becomes transparent. So don't stick with this idea too much, because you might face people who don't follow that same rule."
Outside in the wide world, most people would master elemental energy with different uses. The abilities that Xue Chang stated were the most basic skills that almost every kid could learn, but the ones who were ready for battle practice diversity in their skills.
Xue Chang mused Yong Heng's words for a while as he made his way back home.
As he took a casual trot back to his home, a thought quickly popped into his mind, "I haven't seen my parents for a while, they must be worried about me! I should visit them."
Thinking to the unique situation his parents had found themselves in, he couldn't help but laugh. He was very excited for the future.
________
Tian Hai stood at the front door of Xue Chang's home with a nervous look on his face, he had been here twice before, but each time it was like facing a terrifying demonic beasts.
This was the home of Zhou Wei, Wu Jie, and Xue Mei! The guardians of Water Cloud City, his idols, and most importantly; members of The Immortal Xue Family!
Meeting with them was like meeting with the emperor of an empire.
Although this might be a slight exaggeration, it was how he felt. How couldn't help but be nervous.
On the other hand, Tian Kai was much more composed. He had an attitude of "whatever happens happens" so he didn't worry too much. Which brought a whole new worry to Tian Hai.
But the one who was most nervous of all was actually Xue Chang. He stood at the front gates with droplets if sweat flowing down from his forehead.
"Just a quick meeting and then we leave, just a quick meeting."
Xue Chang felt his heart palpitate as he approached the gate and waited for the guards to open it for him.
Soon he was inside of his home, outside the very doors he used to jump through to meet his parents before. But now he hesitated. For one and only one reason only.
Suddenly the deep voice of Zhou Wei rumbled out of the room, "Xue Chang, is that you? Come on in!"
His words were quick with excitement as the door to the room was slowly opened, introducing Xue Chang to an expected sight.
His father was happily kneeling down knelt to his mother with his head pressed against her belly.
And his mother just sat there with her eyes closed, softly humming while patting her swollen stomach, which contained his little sister.