Dungeons of the Divine (Blue Phoenix Book 2)

by Tinalynge

  Reaching the end of the Golden Lion’s Cave, yet another tunnel-system awaited them and this time the group decided to travel on the lit road. During their trip on the lit up main path they were not alone, but they met groups of people who were also travelling through the system. Cave after cave and tunnel after tunnel, everything soon started looking the same. Soon Hui Yue and the group managed to get safely to the halfway point between where they started and the Dragon Corp’s headquarters, the cave known as the Dragon Core.

  The cave they were in was the same cave where they would have to say goodbye to the young master Yang Bai and his entourage.

  They arrived within the cave days before and now they were moving towards the academy city, the whole city existed because of the academy which had taken root there. The cave was known as the Thousand River’s Cave, as numerous amounts of rivers ran through the cave. Some of them formed into a large lake which took up half of the ground within this cave.

  Their destination was at the lake side and the group all hurried towards the academy. The group had been on the road for half a year, and during this half-year multiple things had changed for them. Hui Yue was about to break into the Grandmaster rank; Deng Wu was about to become a second star Grandmaster while Wang Ju Long and Sha Yun both had reached the ninth star of the Master rank.

  During the trip not much happened which allowed for the group to focus on their cultivation, something which they were all grateful for. Hui Yue, however, was at a bottleneck and he was unable to get any further until he fought in some sort of battle where he could push his cultivation base to its limit. Sparring alone was not enough for him to achieve a breakthrough.

  The fact that both Wang Ju Long and Sha Yun had reached the ninth star Master rank was because of their constant hard work, even Hui Yue had to admit that the two women worked much harder than what he expected.

  Looking at the lake in front of him, at the beautiful water lilies and the various white birds swimming in the lake, Hui Yue decided that the party needed to stay in this beautiful cave for a short while and regroup. Whether they decided to take on another mission, or if they wanted to travel on on their own this was something which Hui Yue had to decide soon. But some things came first and while nodding to the carriage as they moved towards the lake and the city which was going to be their final destination.

  Chapter 74 – Thousand River’s Cave

  Standing by the lakeside Hui Yue was astonished at the beauty of this cave. The rivers which ran into the lake were filled with water flowers, medicinal herbs, and beautiful flowers.

  Next to the rivers and streams were beautiful and elaborate gardens, small glass houses, and tall pagodas. The entire land was made for scenery rather than agriculture and on the lake itself were numerous boats with couples in them.

  “This place earns its money from tourism and their academy. Everything that has to do with food and materials gets brought in from other caves while anyone who wishes to go for a stroll or a vacation comes to this cave.” Xu Piao said with a low voice by the white-haired boy’s side.

  Nodding, Hui Yue somewhat guessed that this cave was special, but hearing that it was a place for vacations he understood why the atmosphere was relaxed and welcoming. The young man could not think of anything more suitable atmosphere than this when it came to breaking through to Grandmaster. The entire world was filled with essence from the heavens and the earth.

  As he thought this, the group slowly made their way down the lake side towards the academy which was to be Yang Bai’s home for the next many years. He would not be returning home to the Demon Dwelling Cave until he had graduated and become a King ranked expert.

  Moving around within the Thousand River’s Cave, Hui Yue could almost feel the essence of the heavens and the earth that was how thick it was here. He also guessed that because of this the cave was able to survive on tourism alone. Anyone who wished to enter into secluded meditation would come here and purchase one of the glass houses where they could meditate amongst beautiful scenery and boundless energy.

  Having spent half a year together, Yang Bai had become very attached to the entire group and although he was now a thirteen years old and unshed tears were visible within his eyes as they got closer and closer to the academy, to the place where they would say goodbye.

  Having been together for such a long time and travelling through the tunnels and caves together the guards had long since become much more like mercenaries. They had increased their skills at getting rid of demon beasts. They had even learned how to dissect beast perfectly without wasting anything after being taught by the nitpicky Hui Yue.

  Yang Bai was not the only one who felt strangely nostalgic, Hui Yue and his friends all felt the same way because they to had been travelling together for half a year. Within this half year, the young master had done everything he could to become a part of their group, and although he was not travelling with them on the ground during day he would spend every night at their campfire, listening to stories from their past.

  He heard about how they all met each other at an academy and how they became best friends, along with their adventures they experienced at their academy.

  Although the youngsters spoke about their time at the Royal Academy, they never mentioned the name of the place and the naïve Yang Bai believed that it was an academy in the Dragon Core. He thought that they all belonged to the most amazing academy in the entire Azure Dragon Caves.

  Yang Bai was not the only one who listened intently every time the four friends spoke about their friends and previous experiences. Xu Piao and Xie Lan both found it incredibly interesting, especially since both were aware that these were stories from the world above.

  However, knowing that they were from the world above, Xu Piao was astonished to find that although they spoke about another world everything was pretty much the same as it was within the tunnel and cave-system in which he lived.

  There were forests where magical beasts lived much like in the tunnels; there were major cities much like the cities within the caves, and there was land which was used for agriculture. One of the differences which he imagined was that one did not have to travel through tunnels to be able to meet other cities in the world above. He knew that the biggest thing about the world above was freedom; the fact that there were no walls closing in on the cities, there were no ceiling above you.

  Other than that everything sounded pretty much the same below ground as above.

  Another thing which Xu Piao noticed missing from their stories was the Dragon Corps. Within these tunnels and caves, the Dragon Corps was the ultimate power. They had the real power within every cave and they were everywhere. Usually the City Lords of the capitals, the most esteemed position in each cave, were held by a member of the dragon cave. Only two caves were different.

  One of these two caves was Cave’s End. A cave so weak and meaningless that the Dragon Corps long since had decided not to bother doing anything apart from picking up their yearly taxes.

  The other cave was the Golden Lion’s Cave. As to how they managed to make the cave into a kingdom, Hui Yue did not know, however, his theory was that it had something to do with the Primal Laws.

  “We are finally here.” A sigh escaped the servant’s lips. Unlike the others in the group the servant and the butler both felt relief with finally having made their way to the academy, neither of them having enjoyed the trip where they had to live within the carriage. Now they could finally look after their master in a suitable environment.

  Hearing his voice, Hui Yue was dragged from his thoughts and a sad smile was present on his face. They were standing right in front of the academy gates. The gates were closed and the guards were all King ranked experts.

  Getting inside the academy was impossible, but the guards alerted a professor and after a short while the professor came rushing to meet them, his robe flapping around his body as he rushed down the slope.

  “Young master Yang Bai?” He asked curiously. With a n
od of the young master’s head a smile spread on his face. “Greetings, I am professor Lin. I would like to show you to your dormitory. Have you brought guards and servants with you? Oh these men? Yes, that is great. Please follow me. Say goodbye to your friends now and we will get you ready to start at the academy tomorrow morning.”

  Everything happened so fast. As soon as Professor Lin arrived the gates opened and the guards along with the servant and the butler were led inside together with Yang Bai. After which the gates closed once again leaving behind the four guards who purchased the mercenary spots and Hui Yue with his friends.

  Looking at the gates Hui Yue smiled a wry smile after which he turned around, “Come let’s find a place where we can stay a while.” He said after which he walked from the academy city, walking on the road leading to the capital of the beautiful Thousand River’s Cave.

  The capitals were usually known because they shared the same name as the caves themselves, and the signs on the road led towards Thousand River’s City. A city known for its beauty and small water canals running throughout the city.

  The trip to the capital took twelve days, and once more nothing went wrong everything was tranquil within the cave and every traveler they met on their way was friendly and smiling.

  The thick air filled with the essence of the heavens and the earth caused Hui Yue’s cultivation technique to work faster than normal, however, no matter how much spiritual energy he refined his body showed no signs of breaking through to the Grandmaster rank. Instead his spiritual energy sea just rose in size. It was reaching its borders but the borders did not expand, instead the sea just constantly clashed against an unknown barrier. A barrier making it impossible for him to increase his cultivation base.

  The closer they got to the city the more rivers they saw on the way.

  “Why don’t we rent a boat?” Hui Yue eventually said, as they were following a road beside a river and were constantly being passed by one boat after another. By the side of the road there were boats docked, all of which were offering to bring groups of cultivators to the city for a few demon coins.

  The group was worn out after half a year of constant migration. Their clothes were filled with dirt and their bodies were sore and exhausted. Although the trip had been simple and not much happened on the way it still had been long and pretty much nonstop travel, only making very brief stops here and there, never giving them enough time to truly relax.

  There had been no time to relax because the young master needed to rush towards the academy and now when they finally had time, Hui Yue felt that they needed to spoil themselves.

  “Let us take a boat and then relax a little in the capital.” Hui Yue said sighing, his words made a collective sigh sound out aloud from the friends all of them agreeing with his suggestion.

  The next boat that they saw Hui Yue instantly stepped towards it, followed by his friends and as they stepped into the boat and sat down joy was visible on their faces. Because they could now spend their time observing their surroundings rather than focusing on moving forward.

  The boat was somewhat large. It was oval shaped and had both an upper deck and a lower one, allowing for the passengers to be either on the deck where the view was splendid, or sit in a chamber down under the water where they could cultivate. Should some of the passengers prefer that.

  They had walked for three days before deciding to travel by boat. After boarding the rest of their journey passed by in a relaxing manner allowing for them to see the beautiful city long before they arrived at it.

  Arriving in the city, the water canals were like the roads spreading throughout the beautiful city creating another way to get around.

  The boat on which the group departed from was one of the larger ones that sailed into the city and as soon as they reached the inner circle, the boat was no longer allowed to go further. Only smaller boats were allowed into the inner regions of the city.

  All over the rivers winding throughout the city were places where the boats could dock, and docking at exactly one of these places, everyone left the boat and started walking on the dusty roads.

  The city was very different from the cities Hui Yue had been to in the caves before as although there were some inns, the majority of the inns were instead rentals. This was where one would rent a courtyard and stay there for as little as a week or as long as a year. These rentals were usually rented out to cultivating guests who wished to stay within the Thousand River’s Cave for an extended period of time to improve their cultivation base.

  “How long do you think we should stay?” Hui Yue asked Xu Piao, as the lot of them were standing in front of the clerk renting out courtyards.

  “Leave this to me,” Xu Piao said with a big smile on his face as he took out a bag of demon coins which he then passed to the clerk in front of them.

  “One year? And one of the high-class courtyards? You will have to have some sort of background for me to rent one out to you.” The clerk said with a hesitating voice, however, Xu Piao pulled out a golden emblem with a silver symbol embedded within. Seeing the emblem, the clerk instantly became slightly confused and bowed deeply. “Milords, we would never dare to charge such esteemed guests for a courtyard, please feel free to use it to your heart’s content!”

  Chapter 75 – Training House

  Looking at the change in the clerk, Hui Yue could not help but raise an eyebrow in question as to why the man suddenly changed his opinion.

  He was however not dumb enough to ask that question in front of the clerk and instead stayed quiet. He saw the clerk give the memory stone key to Xu Piao. He then made a bow towards the clerk before they all left for the new house which would be theirs for the next year.

  “Are you sure we should rest here for a full year?” Deng Wu asked with a frown. They were after all on a mission from Zhou Long, a mission to give some information to the Dragon Core, the final cave in the cave system.

  “Don’t worry about the mission.” Hui Yue said while laughing, “It is highly likely that Zhou Long is going to arrive at the final cave before us. And even if we take it easy, he most likely have spies following us wherever we go.”

  The thought of being spied upon caused Deng Wu, Wang Ju Long, and Sha Yun to shiver while they looked around them with nervous eyes. Seeing this, Hui Yue could not help but laugh out loud as he followed behind Xu Piao and gestured for the three suddenly paranoid friends to follow.

  The courtyard they were given was located in the middle of a park along with three other courtyards. All of them had quite a distance between one another allowing for privacy, and right in front of their courtyard was a small serene lake where white swans swam around amongst the beautiful water lilies.

  Their building was as white as newly fallen snow, even the walls around it were painted white and two guards were standing in front, ensuring that no one entered without permission.

  Seeing Xu Piao and Hui Yue arrive with a somewhat large entourage the two guards straightened up and looked suspiciously at the men. They were not in any way disrespecful, however, their eyes were vigilant as they blocked the road.

  “Excuse me sirs,” One of the guards said with a deep voice, “I will need to see your permit to stay within this compound.”

  Hearing this, Xu Piao flashed the key stone he was given by the clerk and the two guards instantly bowed deeply as the gate opened up.

  “We welcome you home, lord,” The guards said in unison as they bowed down. Hui Yue and the others were slightly taken aback but Xu Piao seemed somewhat used to it.

  Walking past the still bowing guards, Hui Yue could not help but wonder whether or not they would behave like that every time they entered the courtyard, or if it was a one time thing. He did not have time to keep wondering for long, as Xu Piao was waiting inside the courtyard with a large smile on his face and his mercenary emblem hanging by his hands.

  The mercenary emblem had a large ‘B’ marked upon it, the same symbol which Hui Yue had seen earlier that day and i
t finally made sense to him. The reason that the clerk behaved the way he had was because Hui Yue. As he and everyone else on the missions were considered B rankers.

  “So a whole year huh?” Hui Yue asked as he looked around. The courtyard had three houses and a stable. One of the houses in the back was a few stories tall, and by the side of the tall house was two smaller houses. One was a bath house, and the other was a house to train in. When he entered the training house it had a large white pearl in the middle and the essence of the heavens and the earth was increased by double within the room..

  Sitting down, the white-haired boy instantly entered meditation. He did not pay any attention to his friends nor was he bothered with what else the courtyard had to offer, the young man only paid attention to this room filled with energy.