Dungeons of the Divine (Blue Phoenix Book 2)

by Tinalynge

  “Uhh, sorry,” Hui Yue said quite embarrassed as he looked at the many men present, “Please ignore my disturbance.” He continued as he made his way towards one of the windows where he jumped agilely through the window. Finding himself behind the main hall of the Mercenary Guild, he left behind five stunned men staring agape at the window which had just been used as an escape route.

  “That was the youngster Hui Yue right?” One of the men suddenly asked, his head throbbing slightly as he massaged his temple. Hearing the question, Xu Piao nodded his head with a wry smile on his face. The youngster had truly shown up at the most beneficial time.

  “That young man was definitely a Master,” Another man said, “Even if he tries to hide it clues will be left behind for us Water cultivators to sense, but nothing was emitting out from him. Therefore, he is either a Saint ranked expert, or he has other means to access Wu Wei.”

  That comment instantly sparked a long discussion at the table. The four men started discussing whether or not he was likely to be a Saint ranked expert, or if he had an item that allowed him access to Wu Wei even at such a low rank.

  It did not take long before greed shone within the eyes of the four men as they discussed which kind of legendary item would be capable of providing a Master ranked cultivator with Wu Wei, but before they managed to do anything Xu Piao slammed his fist onto the table, stopping all conversation.

  “Let me remind you of a few things,” He stated with an ice-cold voice and the four men could not help but shiver. “Hui Yue is a member of my Mercenary Guild, a place where you are the elders at. Are you seriously planning on acting against our own members?”

  “Not only is Hui Yue a member of the Mercenary Guild, he is currently someone taking on a mission for the Dragon Corps. Do you dare start a battle against them?” As this was spoken , the faces of the four men turned from sour to pale and from pale to frightened.

  “Hui Yue is a friend of ours and we will benefit the most if we are to befriend him rather than rob him. I will be travelling with him to the central cave, the Dragon Core, and help him finish the mission he has undertaken. While I am away find someone to become a temporary Guild Master. I don’t mind either. The only one I will be bringing with me is Xie Lan.”

  Having finished talking, Xu Piao did not wait for the people to reply, instead, he waved his hand before he moved to the window. He looked down at the young white-haired man who was seated below, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.

  Although his eyes were closed, Xu Piao was completely certain that he had heard everything which had was said, a small smile appearing on the Guild Master’s face along with a shake of his head.

  “Eavesdropping is not nice,” He said with a cheerful voice as he reached out an arm, gesturing to help the friend inside through the window, and his cheerfulness was repaid by a gentle smile on the face of the young man.

  “Thank you for standing up for me,” Hui Yue said smilingly while looking at his surroundings before he ensured that no one was around. After doing so, he accepted the stretched out hand, allowing for the older man to drag him into the room.

  Being seated in the room together none of the two men said anything, instead, they just sat there looking at their surroundings both sighing at random times. Both of them felt spent in a way they had not previously.

  Hui Yue went through a life and death battle and gained multiple benefits, but his body was still somewhat exhausted and he was still replenishing his Qi and spiritual energy. While although Xu Piao had not participated in the match itself he was left alone to deal with the aftermath, dealing with every family who sent a request to meet the young genius within the city. Even the City Lord’s mansion sent someone to get into contact with the newly arrived genius.

  “So how did you get everyone to leave when they came to see me?” Hui Yue asked curiously, and shivered as he remembered the long queue of people outside the door who eyed him the same way a tiger eyes its prey.

  “Oh yeah, about that.” Xu Piao started, “I convinced them that you are a young master from the capital who is here on a mission to learn about the outside world. I told them that since your mission is now finished you are getting ready to return to the capital, and you have no interest to meet with commoners in this Demon Dwelling Cave.”

  “So you made me look like a real twat, huh?” Hui Yue answered while laughing. Anything that Xu Piao came up with as an excuse would have been good, but this one was great. Not only did it explain why Hui Yue was unheard of, it also explained why he had such strength and why he appeared within this relatively small cave. On top of that it even made it possible for Hui Yue to take a mission heading towards the capital with no one questioning is.

  Nodding his head in approval, the white-haired boy found a chair and sat down after which silence descended upon the room. A thick atmosphere pressed down on him as he saw that Xu Piao was fidgeting.

  Seeing the Guild Master seemingly unsure whether or not he should say what was on his mind, Hui Yue could not help but laugh out loud.

  “You want to know how I can wield the Wood element and Wu Wei when neither belong to me?” Hui Yue asked instead of waiting for the older friend of his to finally decide.

  Hearing that the subject had been raised, and not by himself, Xu Piao was slightly taken aback, but he did not waste time and instead nodded his head urgently. “I would very much like to know,” He said with an eagerness much like he showed when he found out about the world above.

  “On the surface world if you are from a large family you can have your soul merged together with a high-leveled expert, allowing you to use their powers from time to time.” Hui Yue lied fluently.

  Although it was a lie, it was as close to the truth as he dared say, “I have my soul merged with such an expert who can feel when I am in a desperate situation, and he can lend his Wu Wei to me.”

  Hearing this news about soul merging, the eyes of Xu Piao’s eyes shone fiercely with excitement. “How can I merge my soul with someone?” He asked curiously but Hui Yue shook his head, “To merge with someone is not a good idea. You basically have someone who can at will steal away your power, even if you are against it.”

  “The ritual also require a lot of things which I do not have with me, nor do I know the entire process. High Priestesses from the cities are the ones who can create a soul-merge.”

  Although Hui Yue disliked lying to his friend, he had not spent enough time with Xu Piao to tell him the truth when it came to his merged soul and Lan Feng; however, he managed to escape the subject in a graceful way.

  ….

  After just a few days had gone by since the battle, Hui Yue’s name rose to prominence. So much so that even the Mercenary City had gotten news of the fight.

  Memory stones filled with the recordings of the battle were sold cheaply everywhere within the capital, and not before long they also appeared in other cities such as Mercenary City.

  Zhou Long was the first to purchase one of these recordings and seeing the battle, even he was left deeply shocked.

  At first when he had heard about the life and death battle between Hui Yue and a King ranked expert, the captain of the Dragon Corps was filled with dread because he feared Hui Yue might have perished.

  Zhou Long was not worrying for Hui Yue sake, but rather he was focused on the reward for his mission; on that he would not get if Hui Yue died. Considering that he was given items which had Wu Wei stored within, Zhou Long was more certain than ever that the two of them were related by blood.

  The only thing which annoyed Zhou Long was that he had the task of reducing the amount of people accompanying the young man, but all the assassins which had been sent all died at the hands of Xu Piao. Finding assassins skilled enough to deal with two King ranked experts, but at the same time leave Hui Yue alone was definitely no easy task.

  Sighing deeply, Zhou Long took the memory stone which contained the battle against the King ranked expert and stood up going towards a cage.
Within the cage was a black and blue raven, the inner feathers black while the tips were a deep blue.

  These ravens were known as the messengers of death; they were the ones whom the Dragon Corps used when they had very important news to be sent. Due to this, the birds were known as messengers of death.

  Zhou Long did not want the judges opinion right now, instead he released his raven with a memory stone wrapped in parchment on which was written only one name, the Frozen General.

  These black and blue ravens, the messengers of death, were chosen as messengers because of their speed. No other demon beast was even half as fast as this particular bird. It took only a month for the raven to travel the trip to the capital which would take humans years, and right on time as soon as a month passed the bird arrived at the capital.

  “Look!” The guard who took the memory stone from the leg of the raven was instantly shocked as soon as he saw that it was meant for the Frozen General. Anything which came up to the surface was treated with extra care.

  Rushing into the main office for the Dragon Corps, the guard shielded the memory stone with both his hands, his heart racing as he feared that he might possibly break it.

  “Commander! Commander!” He called, his voice hoarse and his eyes wide with fear. “Commander, I have a message for the Frozen General!”

  Chapter 66 – Dragon Corps’ Lord

  ”Commander! Commander! I have a message for the Frozen General!” The guard ran inside the Dragon Corps’ main office, his voice hoarse and his appearance ragged. At first the Dragon Corps’ Lord was looking at him with contempt, but moments after the words the flustered guard said made their way into his brain and he realized what was said his heartbeat soared.

  “The Frozen General you say?” The Lord confirmed as he leaned back in his chair. On the outside nothing betrayed how his heart was constantly speeding up, his mind unable to make up a decision.

  If he were to deliver the stone to the Frozen General but the message contained within was something minor, or maybe even uninteresting to the legendary figure, then it was highly possible that he would end up becoming a new member of the Frozen Brigade; however, if he were to deliver something which genuinely excited him he would be granted as many gifts as he could wish for.

  Another thing he had to take into consideration was should he chose not to share the message, then if the man got wind of the face that he withheld information the Lord would be in a very bad situation.

  Eventually, the Dragon Corps’ Lord breathed in a deep breath before he accepted the memory stone and with decisive steps move towards the Staircase of Hope.

  The Staircase of Hope was located within the Dragon Corps’ main office and was the greatest secret of the Dragon Corps. It was a set of stairs which went deeper into the ground leading down towards the abyss. What exactly was down there was unknown to the Dragon Corps’ Lord, only the President knew and was allowed to descend them.

  What the Lord could do was enter the stairs and go up to the Center Palace.

  The staircase felt as though it went on forever and ever its size alone made the Lord feel slightly nauseous every time he looked down watch the stairs spiral endlessly into the void. This along with the fact that was still constantly wondering whether or not his decision was the right one caused him to feel sick.

  The travel up the stairs took seven hours, and when he finally made it to the surface the Dragon Corps’ Lord found that he was surrounded by black cloaked men. Looking at these black cloaked men it was impossible to discern even the slightest bit about the people due to the masks they had on.

  Shivering slightly, the Lord straightened his back and announced with a loud voice, “I am here to deliver a message to the Frozen General. Please allow me to pass.”

  As soon as the Frozen General was mentioned the crusaders made a path for the Lord. None of them spoke yet it was clear that they in no way allowed for unwelcome guests to enter the castle above ground, nor were they interested in having the Lord staying around for long.

  Trembling slightly the man made his way out of the Center Palace and with his swiftest speed possible he travel towards the ice castle in the Frozen Land created by the Frozen General, himself.

  The Frozen Land was a valley deep within the mountain range separating Taiyang Kingdom from Shenyuan. The land was taken over by the Frozen General a few decades earlier and no one dared take it back.

  The Frozen General was one of the four pillars supporting their Him. He was the one who also controlled the Crusaders along with the Center Palace. Anything he wished for he could get, his authority was so great that no one dared offend him not even one of the other three pillars.

  Thinking about all this, the Lord was even more uncertain about the decision he had made, however now it was truly impossible for him to return to the Centre Palace and the Stairs of Hope unless he first delivered the message.

  The trip took him three days, at early noon on the third day he arrived at the valley which as white as soft clouds, white from newly fallen snow.

  Shaking slightly the Lord took one step and stopped. After convincing himself to continue he took another and stopped. The speed with which he moved towards the castle was incredibly slow and his heart was filled with fear.

  Around him were crusaders who were patrolling the ground, but none of them did anything to the frozen and scared Lord who was making his way towards the Ice Palace ever so slowly.

  It took the Lord almost an hour to move from the entrance of the valley towards the castle, an incredibly slow pace which showed just how terrified the Lord was. As soon as he reached the door handle though he realized that there really was no hope of turning back and straightened his back.

  He took a deep breath before he knocked.

  Right after he knocked, the door slowly opened itself, no servants present causing the fine hairs on the young Lord’s back to stand on end. Not missing a beat he kept walking seemingly paying no heed to his surroundings presenting a demeanor fitting a Lord, even though he was inwardly terrified to his core. He stepped inside the frozen castle and followed a set of light stones towards the room where Zhong Fai was seated on his icy throne.

  “Welcome to my castle, I do wonder what a Lord from the Dragon Corps is doing here.” He said, a large smile playing on his lips, a smile which was clearly genuine.

  Zhong Fai was not dumb. He previously sent Crusaders into the underground world for the sake of hearing news about Hui Yue and now a Lord appeared with a message for him. How could he not guess what the message was about?

  Even the Lord knew which was why he feared that perhaps something had gone wrong. What if it was a video showing the death of the Frozen General’s favorite subject? So many thoughts were swirling through his head as he kowtowed in front of the powerful man.

  “Milord, I received a memory stone for you.” The Lord said as he was on the ground, raising his hands and the memory stone at the same time.

  Seeing the memory stone a flash of impatience rose within the eyes of Zhong Fai, and with a sweep of his hand the stone was sucked into his palm, the smile on his face increased greatly.

  “Please stand up dear friend,” Zhong Fai said with a happy voice, and with a clap of his hands a woman appeared by his side.

  “Take this man to the treasury and let him pick whatever item he likes,” The Frozen General said as though it meant absolutely nothing to him that his treasures were being taken away from him.

  While Zhong Fai seemed impatient to be alone, the young Lord suddenly was impatient to leave the room and enter the treasury. Rushing to his feet, the Lord bowed once more towards Zhong Fai before he turned around and followed behind the silent, frozen woman in front of him.

  Being left alone within the main hall, Zhong Fai paid no attention to the two departing figures, instead, he instantly placed the memory stone on his forehead. With an expecting grin on his face he closed his eyes as the recording of the life and death battle began.

  The time slo
wly ticked by as Zhong Fai rewatched the match. Finally, after having watched it multiple times he removed the stone from his forehead.

  His face was no longer smiling, instead, it seemed as though it he was contemplating something important. After a few moments a smirk grew on his face it grew larger and larger as the moments went by, and eventually loud laughter rang throughout the icy walls of his Frozen Castle.

  ….

  The excuse which Hui Yue made for his merged soul was quickly accepted by Xu Piao and after some time the two of them were seated within the main office neither saying anything both enjoying the quietness.

  “I guess we should have a look at the different missions available.” Hui Yue finally sighed, “If we can find an escort mission towards the capital it will be ideal, but if we cannot find one, then I guess we will be fine with something towards the next couple of caves.”