Dungeons of the Divine (Blue Phoenix Book 2)

by Tinalynge

  Waiting like this, one moment took another, minutes went by and now he had spent an hour lying in wait.

  Most people would wait for maybe a few moments before growing tired, whereas this man was used to waiting. As time went by the smirk on his face grew larger and larger. He was more excited and thrilled the longer he waited, and eventually one of the doors opened and a youngster stepped out.

  At first, his face was filled with extreme bliss and expectations, however, as he noticed whom the person was, his face grew ugly to behold.

  In front of him was none other than Hui Yue, the white-haired young man who was moving towards his location. Scarface now had a hard choice to make.

  His first option was killing Hui Yue which would make him fail his mission; so such a thing was not possible.

  Secondly, he could wait and do nothing. Wait and hope that the younger man was incapable of sensing him, incapable of locating him.

  Lastly, there was the option of attacking. He could render the young man unconscious; however, he needed to be certain of his power. If he used too much force the man would die, and if he used too little he would not manage to knock him unconscious then he would alert the others.

  Gritting his teeth, Scarface watched the white-haired young man draw closer. He needed to make a decision fast.

  Chapter 90 - The Intruder

  Gnashing his teeth, Scarface watched the young man who was coming closer each second. Although he looked somewhat unguarded right now, the assassin was sure that this was not the case. No one would be unguarded in a house they had just entered.

  Just as Scarface expected, Hui Yue was, indeed, alert as he made his way through the new home they were given by the Dragon Corps; he had long since noticed that something was amiss.

  As he walked through the hallway, his spiritual energy was scanning the surroundings, and right as he noticed the aura of another person, that person rushed towards him. The assailant’s eyes were cold and determined, and a scar adorned his face as spiritual energy shrouded his hands.

  Seeing him Hui Yue’s eyes immediately grew as cold as ice and he activated Velocity Flow, allowing for him to match the assassins speed. Spiritual energy flowed from his body and fed the flames that appeared over each of his palms. These flames contained the might of his elemental flames and spiritual energy constantly fueled them, making them grow in size at an astonishing speed.

  One hand contained a red flame, the other contained a yellow flame which gave off a silvery hue. Hui Yue spent no time whatsoever waiting for the other man to attack. He instantly retreated, and as he did the two flames in his hands kept growing in size from the spiritual energy he fed them.

  Right as he retreated a hand came chopping down at his previous location. It was clearly intending to knock him out, maybe even kill him, had the attack connected.

  Seeing this, a shiver ran down Hui Yue’s spine as he narrowed his eyes. From deep within he drew out Lan Feng’s elemental affinity. The red flame, which Hui Yue fed the phoenix’s elemental affinity to, slowly turned blue. At first, it was a slight purple, but it soon turned into a beautiful, clear blue; a blue very similar to the eyes of the young man.

  Seeing the blue flames alongside the yellow, silvery flame, Scarface instantly understood that he was at a disadvantage. With a whistle, the small kitten transformed into a massive tiger. It growled at Hui Yue and caused the young man to feel like he needed assistance in dealing with the two of them.

  To call for assistance, he only needed to make noise and his friends would instantly arrive. But as Hui Yue was about to slam one of his Fire Orbs into the ground, the massive tiger pounced at him. Interrupting and forcing him to retreat further down the corridor.

  Seeing that the young man was still conscious, Scarface’s mood worsened considerably. Killing him would end his mission; a mission which was important to him.

  Scarface had long since acknowledged that he could not advance into the ranks of the upper dantian. This was one of the reasons why he sought to fight against kings. The astonishing fact that he had survived and defeated them was why he had a special rank.

  After finally obtaining his B rank clearance, he undertook an A ranked mission. His mission was to kill the friends and supporters of this young man in front of him. After this, Scarface would finally be able to advance into a world where everyone used the upper dantian.

  For an assassin, Scarface had bad self-esteem. Mainly stemming from his knowledge that he would never break into the upper dantian, but he felt that to make it into the A ranked group would be enough for him.

  Unfortunately, it seemed that it would not be an easy task to accomplish. Looking at the alert Hui Yue with two incredibly intense flames in his hands, Scarface knew that he had lost today’s battle.

  Had the person before him been anyone other than Hui Yue, then he would have wished to continue the battle to kill at least one of his opponents. However, this guy was not killable. With a furious look in his eyes, he turned around and as quick as lightning flashed out of the house the way he arrived. The now small kitten following behind him.

  Having left the house, Scarface knew it would be impossible to ambush them within the house again. They would, without a doubt, be prepared for it now, and thinking about this made him clench his hands and grit his teeth in anger.

  ….

  “You said that Scarface was in the house just now?” Deng Wu asked surprised as he heard what Hui Yue just said. As the white-haired young man nodded his head everyone turned quiet.

  “He ran away after two attacks,” He explained. “I think that although Scarface is dangerous, the tiger by his side seems to be even more dangerous. If you run into him, and you are not Xie Lan or Xu Piao, then run away as soon as possible.”

  Hui Yue was serious this time. His eyes were determined as he looked around at his friends and all of them nodded their heads one after another.

  “I am going out tomorrow,” Hui Yue said suddenly. “I am going to use the A ranked emblem to look around. Perhaps, I can find the exit to this place, or even those Laws so that we can figure out what our next step is.”

  ….

  As night arrived, everyone stayed within the same room, so that if Scarface were to return then he would be unable to ambush them separately.

  At the same time, the group refused to eat any food which had been prepared by the Dragon Corps, instead, they all enjoyed the dried food they gathered on their journey. Although the food was far from as scrumptious as the meals prepared they were free of possible poisons, and the group dared not take any chances.

  As the evening closed in on them, they were all cheerful as they drunk wine together. The wine they brought with them from aboveground.

  Everyone within the room was filled with restlessness. Hui Yue said that he would go and look around, and hopefully, manage to find the exit or the Laws but, either way, the group could not hold back their excitement. They all wished to leave the underground world as soon as possible.

  The following morning, Hui Yue ordered the group of five to sit still and cultivate within the house.

  “I need you all to be as strong as absolutely possible,” He explained. “If I run into the Laws and see that they are not treated well then we need to find some way to free them. In that case, the stronger we are, the better chance of success we will have.”

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Lan Feng said within Hui Yue’s mind. ‘As long as none of the people present are Saint ranked, then I’ll be able to deal with them.’

  ‘You’ll deal with them personally?’ Hui Yue asked curiously. Lan Feng previously just let Hui Yue use his Wu Wei, however, it seemed like the bird had changed his mind this time around.

  ‘Last time you wasted far too much of my precious Wu Wei,’ Lan Feng answered, his voice was slightly indignant as he shook his head feeling truly depressed.

  ‘Well, it does not matter. I am the Saint of the two of us,’ He continued, no longer wallowing in self-pity. ‘I need to be the o
ne taking care of them.’

  Hearing that Hui Yue nodded slightly. For him, it was safer to leave it all in Lan Feng’s capable, feathered hands, however, he could not help but feel that things would not go as smooth as the bird implied.

  Walking around the office, the first thing Hui Yue noticed was that the residential area was massive. At first, he tried to reach the end only to see that he was moving further and further away from the cave wall, and he quickly turned back.

  The exit had to be within the cave wall, not only the exit but also the Laws should be around it as well. He assumed that they would be kept within the area that was the most protected.

  Arriving back at the office, Hui Yue quickly entered the main building. The only thing he needed to do was show his A ranked emblem to get anything he needed. As soon as the emblem was seen, everyone around showed great respect and friendliness towards the white-haired young man.

  Making his way towards the various rooms, Hui Yue could not decide which ones to look through, so instead he followed the stream of people which he saw when entering the building. Following them, he soon came to a massive hall which was full of people.

  Not only was it packed, but it also had three tunnels. Above each of these tunnels was the sign of the Vermillion Bird, the Black Turtle, and the White Tiger.

  Looking closely, Hui Yue saw that there was actually another tunnel as well; however, unlike the three larger ones where people would enter, slowly vanishing into the dark, people emerged from this tunnel and walked towards Hui Yue.

  There was a major difference in the eyes of the people who entered one of the three tunnels than those who came out of the fourth tunnel.

  Those who entered the tunnels were filled with excitement and hope. Hope for a new future in another tunnel-system; their faces were flushed with happiness and they all seemed eager to be on their way.

  Those who came from the tunnel and entered the Dragon Corps headquarters all had ashen faces, and their bodies were clearly drained of all their energy. Their eyes and mouths did not have happy expressions on them. It was clear that they all had suffered greatly throughout their travels to the Dragon Corps located in the Azure Dragon’s part of the Dungeons of the Divine.

  Having walked one way, all that Hui Yue saw were these tunnels, however, turning around he came to a corridor filled with doors. At first, Hui Yue noticed that the doors were locked, but he knew that his A ranked emblem would get him through them. He quickly found a guard, after which he had the guard open a random door for him.

  Standing next to the door, Hui Yue felt as if something was calling out to him from within. As his eyes got used to the dim light he noticed that the room had stairs leading down further underground.

  Walking further and further down one hour took another and eventually Hui Yue felt as though he had walked for an eternity, yet he still had not reached the end. He noticed how the air turned stale and humid. It seemed as though not many had ever walked down these stairs, certainly not recently. Finally, as he reached the end of the stairs in front of him a door appeared. Walking through the door he entered a dark chamber with stale air and a massive azure gemstone.

  The chamber was round and the only thing visible within was the massive azure gemstone. The entire chamber was seemingly built to hold the gemstone in place, and nothing else apart from the gemstone was visible. The size of the stone was so large that Hui Yue could see nothing but the stone itself. Looking around the room, he noticed that the door he was standing in was the only entrance into this chamber, as far as he could see.

  Looking at the gemstone in front of him, Hui Yue’s heart started to beat rapidly. It was a big, circular, and somewhat flat gemstone that was curving outward from the wall. The massive gemstone seemed to go on for as far as his eyes could see. Rushing towards the lower part of the stone near the floor, he quickly guessed that the gemstone was about three hundred kilometers tall and wide.

  Backing up, he noticed that the gemstone in front of him was not a gemstone at all, as he had first guessed, instead, it was an enormous catlike eye. He found that he was standing at the far end of the massive eye, the gemlike eye curving outward from the wall itself.

  Astonished to see an eye this big, Hui Yue backed up even further; backing up so much that he ended up against the opposite wall. As he looked at the eye, he noticed a small pathway next to it, not too far away from him. Deciding to see where it led he walked towards it. Following the pathway he noticed that the wall to one side was not made from stone like the others, instead it was made from azure blue scales, one scale following another. As Hui Yue was walking down this pathway his hand touched the azure scales on the wall causing his heart to tremble and his breath to become erratic.

  Had he found the corpse of the Azure Dragon?

  Chapter 91 - Azure Dragon

  Lan Feng was completely quiet, but it was not because he had nothing to say. Hui Yue could feel a strange change in the soul of the bird. A veneration and also a profound sadness which was aimed at the crystallized beast in front of them.

  The room was not lit and the only light came from the light stone within the hand of the young man. The gentle white light shone down upon the stones on which Hui Yue was standing. The closer he got to the sapphire looking creature, the actions and emotions which were displayed by the blue phoenix reinforced his thoughts that this was indeed the Azure Dragon.

  All that he saw in front of him was a massive eye. An eye like a cats, but far bigger than anything Hui Yue had ever seen before. Its entire body seemed to go on forever, and he finally remembered what Lan Feng had once said to him.

  ‘The four divine beasts laid down their bodies as the foundation of the four kingdoms,’ The body he was looking at could definitely be as long as the kingdom itself!

  The Taiyang Kingdom alone was forty-three thousand kilometers long, and the size of the eye alone proved how amazingly massive this beast truly was.

  ‘Lan Feng,’ Hui Yue silently called out for the phoenix as he felt just how shocked the bird was after seeing it.

  ‘Yeah. I’m fine,’ The answer came after a moment of silence, ‘I just never knew that the Dragon Corps had access to ancestors bodies.’

  Both bird and man were quiet for some time as Hui Yue moved further and further into the pathway. Scale after scale went past him until he finally reached a part where the scales were removed and the flesh within was visible.

  Seeing this, Hui Yue frowned slightly. Even Lan Feng was uncomfortable seeing this and wondered why anyone would wound the ancestor.

  ‘It might have been by mistake when they built this tunnel,’ Hui Yue said optimistically, though somewhere deep down worry started brewing.

  ‘No,’ Lan Feng instantly caused the worry to increase tenfold, ‘The scales are far too tough to be destroyed by humans like that.’

  ‘They must have done it somehow,’ Hui Yue continued but even he knew that there was only a few beings in the world who were strong enough to leave behind such kind of damage. One would have to be a God, as the beasts themselves were, or an Emperor ranked expert.

  ‘Do you think it's him?’ Hui Yue asked quietly, ‘The guy we need to fight?’

  It had been a long time since Hui Yue and Lan Feng had spoken about the man who caused the phoenix to be in the state he was now.

  A sigh could be heard from deep within the dantian cave, ‘What is done is done.’ The phoenix said,for once not showing much care, ‘This might even be helpful for us.’ He continued.

  ‘Tomorrow get Deng Wu and Little Dragon down here. I have a way to allow him to escape his figurine. He better thank me,’ Lan Feng said. As soon as Hui Yue heard this he felt hope. If Little Dragon actually became like Lan Feng then it was likely that the group would get another expert.

  Turning around, Hui Yue started to rush back towards the stairs leading to the Dragon Corps’ main office. Rushing up the stairs once more took an amazing amount of time, however, it was far quicker than when he was descendi
ng because he knew where he was headed.

  As he came up, he saw that the day was already over. Moonlight was cascading down upon the buildings and Hui Yue rushed towards the building where his friends were.

  Entering the house, Hui Yue walked towards the room in which Deng Wu and the others were located. All of them were having a blast as they were drinking wine and eating food. Seeing this, Hui Yue could not help but laugh out loud. He was rushing around while they were enjoying their time.

  “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” He asked with a cheerful voice as a bottle of wine was tossed his way which he caught in the air and took a large gulp from.

  “Sorry for breaking up your party but I need Deng Wu come with me asap.” His face quickly turned serious and Deng Wu instantly stood up making sure he had the storage stone in which the azure dragon figurine was placed.