Dungeons of the Divine (Blue Phoenix Book 2)

by Tinalynge

  Having said that, Hui Yue waited for a bit longer before he looked around the now black surroundings even the moon in the sky did not illuminate the ground that much and suddenly a feeling of things not being right appeared in Hui Yue’s mind.

  “Get back into the carriage and lock it,” He said with a low voice as he stood up, his friends instantly following his lead as they felt that Hui Yue was acting weird.

  Walking from campsite to campsite, Hui Yue wanted to make sure that every guard was where they were supposed to be.

  There were three campsites. The first belonged to Hui Yue and his friends. The second belonged to the four guards who had purchased a spot on the mission, and the final one belonged to the guards who were sent from the Yang family.

  The Yang family guards totaled ten, but when Hui Yue arrived at the campsite only nine men were seated around the bonfire, all of them loud and cheerful.

  “Where is your final man?” Hui Yue asked with a low voice his hairs starting to stand on end and a feeling of danger was descending upon him.

  “Wu and Ju Long.” Hui Yue called out with a low voice, “Take Xu Piao and Xie Lan and get to the carriage with the young lord. Make sure no one enters or leaves the carriage and make sure that no one gets close. Make anyone who tries to get inside wait outside. If they try and force their way, kill them.”

  “He went to piss.” One of the guards said with an annoyed voice, “Why should we keep track of where our man goes?”

  “How long ago was it since he left?” Hui Yue continued asking questions, something which clearly made the men unhappy. Although he was considered a genius, these guards did not care, instead, they felt like the young brat was trying to teach them their jobs.

  Hui Yue could do nothing else but sigh as he left the nine guards behind and moved towards the second campfire, the campfire with the four guards.

  All four were together, but they seemed somewhat uncomfortable and as soon as they saw Hui Yue hope filled their eyes.

  “There is something in the darkness,” One of the men said with a scared expression on his face. The comment made Hui Yue frown slightly, uncomfortable that he was actually right about being so worried.

  “Move towards the carriage with the young master and follow the lead of my men.” Hui Yue said before he once more moved towards the nine guards who were certain that nothing was amiss.

  As Hui Yue arrived, he saw that only eight were left, one more person having vanished. This time the group of guards were no longer arrogant, instead, they were slightly hesitant and their eyes were flicking to either side.

  “Go to the main carriage and protect the young master,” Hui Yue ordered, his eyes scanning the ground outside the campsite, yet nothing was out of the ordinary not giving him a hint as to what was after them.

  “What about our comrades?” One of the men asked his voice trembling somewhat. As the guard had never experienced anything like this before.

  “We will look for them tomorrow,” Hui Yue said with a harsh voice. Although he knew that these guards were worried about their friends going out to search would not help anyone, because they needed to prepare for an attack.

  Arriving at the carriage, everyone already set up new campfires and with vigilance were looking around their surroundings, some jolted as they saw the figures of Hui Yue and the remaining Yang family guards following him.

  “Has anything happened here?” Hui Yue asked Xu Piao with a low voice but the guild master shook his head as he look around.

  Standing in front, Hui Yue told everyone that they were not allowed to go anywhere unless they moved in groups of four or more, so that if something happened, then there would be more people to assist each other.

  The night was dark and the light from the moon was not strong enough to illuminate the campsite. The only light source came from the campfire next to the main carriage, but apart from everyone being on guard nothing else happened the rest of the night.

  As the morning sky in the east grew purple from the rising sun, the tired guards finally felt some relief. The eight guards from the Yang family all rushed towards their own carriage where they planned on entering to sleep, while the entourage once more moved further into the cave, moving towards the tunnels on the west side.

  However, things did not go as the men planned, and soon a shriek sounded throughout the camp warning Hui Yue and his friends that something had happened. Everyone rushed towards the carriage where the shriek had sounded out.

  Arriving at the carriage, Hui Yue’s face turned pale and out of reflex his hand suddenly covered the eyes of the young master. The smell of blood and gore was drifting out from within the carriage.

  “Take him away.” Hui Yue said with a stern voice to the servant, and with a serious nod the butler, the servant, and Yang Bai left the carriage heading towards their own.

  “Xu Piao, Xie Lan. Follow, then enter the carriage to protect the young master.” Hui Yue said with a somewhat odd voice and neither of the two questioned the order. Both of them rushed after the young master and his two servants as they entered the carriage.

  Looking back into the carriage, Hui Yue sighed deeply as he felt the red mist inside his dantian roiling slightly, but after a few heavy breaths and with some help from the blue cloud, Hui Yue managed to calm himself down.

  The corpses of the two guards were left inside the carriage, but what he saw was not just two bodies. The two men had both been torn completely leaving none with a complete corpse to bury.

  Their limbs were severed, their heads halfway severed, their stomachs had been shredded, the guts falling out and a foul stench filled up the carriage.

  Looking over it, Hui Yue could sense that something was wrong with a single glance at the brutal scene. He quickly deduced that no human could leave behind such a wound, if anything it looked like the dismembering was caused by a demon beast.

  Turning around, a dangerous gleam was visible within Hui Yue’s eyes as he uttered one sentence, “Burn it.” After which he went towards the other carriage to inform them about the corpses they had found and the decision he made.

  The guards were all unhappy with his decision to burn the carriage, as it meant that they would have to walk, but nothing could be done as the young master quickly agreed with Hui Yue about burning the remains. They were on a road where they could not bury them beneath the ground, and it was impossible for them to turn around now to deliver the remains to their families. Instead they burned them, holding a short break of silence before heading out again on their journey . The eight remaining Yang family guards now travelling on their feet much like Hui Yue and the mercenaries.

  Walking slowly, the mood was somber as they had only travelled for a day yet they had already lost two of their men, and the worst part was that no one had seen who or what was behind it.

  Looking at the fact that the corpses were placed within the carriage, one would expect that a human was behind it, but looking at the injuries inflicted everyone would believe that it was done by a beast. Could it be a human who had a beast with him? No matter who it was, why was he after their caravan? They had not insulted anyone and their goal was not to earn money, instead, it was to arrive at the young master’s academy.

  Usually a mission such as this would succeed with only five Master ranked experts, but something was clearly different this time. Something was completely wrong with their trip, Hui Yue felt. His vigilant eyes never once neglecting what happened around him and his muscles were tense, constantly feeling killing intent aimed at him, yet no matter where or how much he looked around, he saw no one.

  Hui Yue nodded his head before he replied, “I think we need to expect assassins to appear anywhere within these dungeons.”

  Everyone nodded their heads, a solemn expression evident on their faces as they thought back to the days wasted within the illusion of the endless forest and how Hui Yue had pushed himself to his limits, forcing his way through the illusion.

  Everyone within the room
all swore that they would increase their strength so that they would never drag down their friends.

  ….

  Looking at the men in front of him, Hui Yue furrowed his brows slightly, as it was obvious that the Yang family eventually gave in after all the offers to buy the spots on this mission. The four final members of the group were clearly not mercenaries used to living the dirty life within the tunnels, instead, they were neatly dressed and standing at attention.

  After looking over them once, Hui Yue no longer paid them any attention before he looked at the one person who was the most important in their group. The young master who was to enroll at the renown academy.

  His name was Yang Bai and he was a young man around twelve years of age. On one hand he seemed like your average teen looking at Hui Yue with great respect and amazement, but on the other was a slightly haughty when dealing with the others of the group. The only one whom he seemed to show respect and admiration toward was the white-haired genius.

  The mercenaries on this mission were not the only ones around, it seemed as though the entire city had shown up at the Mercenary Guild headquarters to see the entourage off on their journey throughout the next many caves.

  The pay for partaking in this endeavor was three hundred demon coins each while the mercenaries had to deal with their own food. Originally not many would take such a long ongoing mission for such a small sum of money but now it was different, and Hui Yue was celebrating the fact that they were being paid to travel the way they planned to go anyway.

  As soon as everyone gathered up, the mercenaries were paid half their fee and without any ceremonies the entourage started their trip towards the west tunnels of Demon Dwelling Cave.

  Unlike before, this caravan was far more elaborate than anything they had previously seen. Three carriages created from black iron were used to transport everyone that was assisting the young master. The young master and his personal servants along with a butler from the Yang family rode in the first carriage.

  The second was filled with guards from the Yang family, and the final carriage was for the mercenaries to use on a shift schedule.

  It was the job of the mercenaries to ensure that the caravan got through both the caves and the tunnels unscathed, something which was a lot harder than one would think.

  It was early morning as the group departed. On one side was Hui Yue and his friends walking in together while the other side was being looked after by the guards. Whereas the guards were walking with straight backs and looking right in front of them, Hui Yue’s group was a lot more vigilant and their eyes constantly flickered from one side to the other, observing even the slightest movement made around them.

  This was one of the most obvious differences between the mercenaries and the guards. Another was that while the mercenaries all wore robes the guards were wearing armor made from shiny reflective materials; their armor, although it looked very good, was not incredibly beneficial when it came to battle.

  Their choice of weapons were also different. The mercenary group each had their own weapons and their own specialty, but every guard was using a halberd. A weapon which although it had a good aim was something which required a lot of practice. Practice which the guards did not have.

  All in all, Hui Yue did not put much, if any, faith in the guards, and since he was already certain that they were going to be attacked by bandits, along with assassins along the way, not to mention the extra strong hordes of demon beasts, he doubted that these guards would be able to make it through.

  While the group of mercenaries felt slight disdain towards the guards who were walking beside the carriage they felt even stronger disdain for the guards within the second carriage. To be a cultivator was the same as to be a warrior, and while it was sometimes nice to relax within a carriage, it would become a death trap should they be attacked. How did they expect to be able to exit the carriage and save their master when they were all inside, much less know what was going on around them.?

  Sighing, Hui Yue stopped wondering about the guards and instead focused his entire attention towards the road ahead.

  Leaving the city was a lot more nerve-wrecking than he expected. He was perfectly well aware that they were the target of various assassins and bandits, and he was quite certain that they would not hold back even within a city. Because of this the trip which only took around an hour felt like an eternity for Hui Yue and his friends as they were constantly on high alert. They were trying to observe everything which happened around them.

  Now that they no longer were within the confinement of the city, the six friends were still vigilant, however, it was in a completely different way. Now they were capable of viewing anyone who approached them, even if it was done swiftly. The open plains allowing for a full visual of what was happening around them causing a strange feeling of safety to float inside their hearts.

  Two days of rest in two larger cities were scheduled before the group would have to enter the tunnels. While the group was walking towards the first of those cities, Xu Piao spent the time explaining the two cities.

  “The city we are on our way towards is led by an old family. The city was the first to be created within this Demon Dwelling Cave. In every aspect it is similar to that of the capital, except it is not under the control of the Dragon Corps, instead, the family who leads it are like kings and queens of the city. Not people to be trifled with so try to keep your tempers under control.”

  Hearing that Hui Yue was about to comment saying that he never was the cause of drama, but drama came to find him; however, he quickly decided to hold his tongue as he saw the expression on Xu Piao’s face, and instead he laughed awkwardly.

  The day slowly went from morning to noon then noon to afternoon without the caravan taking the slightest break. The guards who had been so lucky to get the final four slots in the mission were all raggedly breathing and their faces were flushed red, sweat trickling from their foreheads in steady streams.

  While they were thoroughly exhausted, Hui Yue and his friends were all walking comfortably their robes fluttering in the slight wind and their faces healthy, not even the least amount of sweat visible on their skin.

  As dusk crept up on them, the servant of the young master, Yang Bai, finally opened the door to the carriage and ordered them to hold for the night and make camp.

  As soon as the order was given, the guards all instantly sat down and withdrew water from their memory stones to clench their thirst.

  Hui Yue and his group had long since become specialists at setting up camp and within half an hour their campsite was finished. Tents having been erected, bonfire roaring splitting the dark sky, stew being cooked on top of the warm bonfire. They all sat still, chatting with one another about their expectations for the trip they were undertaking.

  While Hui Yue and his friends were sitting still looking at the delicious food which Wang Ju Long was cooking, the rest of the group was not so lucky.

  Although the young lord brought a lot of guards with him, no one knew how to cook proper food, nor were they aware of how to set up tents. All of them had lived within the capital their entire lives. Although the guards who belonged to the Yang family got food as a part of their salary, it was dried meat without vegetables very much unlike someone’s delicious smelling soup.

  “Mister, mister!” A youthful voice sounded throughout the campsite where guards from various families were setting up tents. Their eyes instantly focusing on the young master, curious as to whom he was referring to.

  The young master left the carriages behind and rushed towards the campsite where Hui Yue and his friends were sitting, enjoying their stew and discussion about how silly it had been to fear an ambush in the city as nothing happened.

  “Mister! Can I sit with you?” The young master asked, his eyes almost sparkling with excitement as he looked at Hui Yue as though he was looking at a god.

  Hui Yue was slightly taken aback unsure what to say, but after thinking for a bit the young man nodd
ed his head and allowed for the child to sit down and join them.

  “One day, I’ll be as strong as you.” Yang Bai said with longing in his voice, “I’m going to study at the Thousand Rivers’ Academy and I have to be better than my peers, or so says my father.” He continued, the mention of his father made Hui Yue smile wryly as he remembered his two fathers. First to enter his mind was the father he had in his old life who had been willing to do anything so the young man’s wishes could be fulfilled. He also remembered his other father, the father who was glowing with pride when he was told that Hui Yue was good enough to attend the Thousand Rivers’ Aacademy.

  Only one thought was present in his mind and that was; Is this real?

  Chapter 69 – Scarface

  Travelling through the entire day, the mood slowly turned better as nothing unexpected happened. But even still, Hui Yue kept feeling as though he was being observed, observed by someone who wished to kill him.