Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  Hui Yue’s eyes grew with excitement. ‘Which affinity do you have?’ Lan Feng snorted at the obvious question. ‘Obviously fire. But not normal fire, it is blue fire.’

  ‘Does it have any awesome properties apart from looks?’ Hui Yue could not help but ask. He had, after all, received a new look thanks to this phoenix; however, he had not gained any awesome powers in the process.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Lan Feng said carelessly. ‘I never bothered comparing it to normal fire, so I’ll let you deal with that.’

  Hui Yue could not help but chuckle slightly, as it was very typical for Lan Feng not to care. Deep inside he was curious to see which affinity he had.

  ‘I’ll teach you a martial art skill when the cultivating party disappears.’ Lan Feng promised before the two of them slipped into a deep sleep.

  The following morning Hui Yue once again set out towards the hillsides with the goats. This time he hoped he would be able to catch up with the time he lost cultivating from the day before. After having heard about affinities and magic abilities, Hui Yue could not wait until he unlocked his middle dantian. The word magic made him as giddy as the little child he was supposed to be.

  However, his great mood was quickly killed as he saw a person moving towards him in the early morning mist.

  “Hui Yue!” Rong Ming called out excitedly, while Hui Yue could only sigh inwardly. He once again laughed and greeted the young master with the utmost excitement.

  This day Rong Ming told Hui Yue about how he cultivated and trained. Every large city within the empire had a royal academy for cultivators. The royal academy was split into the inner circle and the outer circle. The outer circle consisted of students who relied solely on Qi and the lower dantian while the inner circle only allowed those who had broken through to the ranks of Master or above.

  The inner circle was located within the kingdom’s capital city while the outer circle was located within every large city.

  The academy enrolled students from the age of ten and they needed to be at least at the five stars Student level, or if not some very rich noble parents could pay an insane tuition fee. One’s cultivating speed would increase upon reaching the Disciple rank, and the academy helped with both medicinal pills and martial art skills.

  Each year every academy would send five students to the capital where they held the outer rank tournament for Disciple ranked cultivators and the inner rank tournament for those beyond.

  Rong Ming and Rong Xing were both considered two geniuses from this year’s new Students, and Rong Ming was very proud while telling Hui Yue about these things.

  ‘School does not sound like such a bad idea.’ Hui Yue could not help but think, though he quickly scrapped his thoughts as he remembered how easy he would be noticed.

  ‘At school, you have no reason to hide your cultivation base, and when you reach the Disciple level, I should be able to mask myself easily.’ Lan Feng said calmly. ‘Well I will be able to mask myself against human cultivators, but if there are any strong beasts around, they will definitely notice our aura.’

  Hui Yue nodded solemnly. It would be a great risk, but right now, it was not a decision he needed to make. He was after all only five years old, and a lot of things could happen within these five years.

  The following day Hui Yue was not surprised when he saw Rong Ming finding him at yet another hillside, and this time he was taught about the different countries. Currently, they were living within the Taiyang Kingdom, which was ruled by the Taiyang royal family. There were seven big cities within this kingdom, but Taiyang City was the capital and obviously the biggest of them all.

  The continent had another three kingdoms apart from the Taiyang Kingdom: the Siban Empire, the Yueliang Province, and Shenyuan.

  Three of these kingdoms worked together as allies; however, Shenyuan had been closed to the outside world for thousands of years and any who dared enter were never heard from again

  Both Hui Yue and Lan Feng listened to everything with great interest.

  ‘I bet,’ Hui Yue began. ‘That the guy we are looking for is within Shenyuan.’ Lan Feng could not help but laugh. It would indeed make sense if their target hid within a country riddled with fear and murder.

  The days went by one after another, and Rong Ming came to find Hui Yue every day. It annoyed Hui Yue that he had lost almost a month’s worth of cultivating, however, he would much rather keep the young boy company than have to constantly be on guard against Rong Liang. The esteemed lord had not tried to get close to Hui Yue since his son started visiting the hills every day.

  Finally, the day arrived where Lord Rong Liang broke up the camp and moved his entourage towards the Magical Forest.

  “I promise that I will return for you,” Rong Ming said with a serious voice while holding Hui Yue’s hands within his own. Hui Yue had gotten used to the way Rong Ming looked at him, and he pitied the young lord. Hui Yue was convinced that Rong Ming was lonely and lacked friends, which was why he had become so friendly with the younger white-haired boy.

  Lan Feng was not able to stop laughing for hours; however, he refused to tell Hui Yue why he was laughing. He claimed that Hui Yue was incredibly dim-witted, but that even he would notice one day.

  Chapter 5 - You're A Boy?

  * * *

  Chapter 5: You're A Boy?

  The village returned to usual as soon as Lord Rong Liang led his entourage away. Although the villagers were proud of the fact that someone as important as Lord Rong Liang had visited them, they also knew that they were in no condition to entertain him or waste time on celebrating as they had their chores they needed to do to fill their stomachs and ensure their livelihood.

  While most villagers missed the excitement of the visitors, Hui Yue could not help but feel happy when things returned to normal. The last month had been the first break the pair had taken from cultivation, but Hui Yue did not enjoy the forced break. He was filled with excitement upon remembering Lan Feng’s promise about teaching him a martial art skill, and this morning he hurried to pick up the goats even earlier than usual.

  Upon reaching a fairly close hillside, Hui Yue sat down impatiently and waited for Lan Feng to understand his hint. He wanted to be able to use the Qi he had painstakingly gathered over these last few years.

  ‘Do you even know what a martial art skill is?’ Lan Feng asked slightly overbearingly as he disliked it whenever anyone tried to rush him.

  ‘I expect you to explain it to me,’ Hui Yue said with the sweetest smile on his face and a naivety in his eyes that made Lan Feng snort with disdain.

  ‘I’ll explain. But only because I need you to be strong.’ Lan Feng said arrogantly. ‘Don’t think I will fall for your stupid acting.’ Hui Yue had nothing to say in return as Lan Feng was as usual correct, and in the end he would gain the knowledge needed.

  ‘Martial art skills are ranked the same as cultivators. That is to say: Student, Disciple, Practitioner, and so on. Each rank is split into low, medium and high level.’ Hui Yue nodded as it made sense.

  ‘The cultivation base of a martial art skill has nothing to do with what rank you are at. It is only to rank the potential strength of the skill. Martial art skills have no actual rank restrictions they all depend on how much Qi you can use and the ability will grow together with your rank until the day you reach the rank of the skill. Let us say that you have a King ranked martial art skill, this skill will grow together with you until the day you are a King ranked expert. By this time it will be unable to advance further.’ Lan Feng explained, once again incredibly overbearing. Hui Yue was slightly annoyed by his tone, but he had no intention to comment as he knew Lan Feng would start a discussion rather than continuing on with the martial arts explanation.

  ‘That being said there are quite a lot of the higher ranked skills that you can’t use before you reach a certain rank since you don’t have sufficient Qi to activate them.’ Hearing his explanation made a lot of sense to Hui Yue, and he nodded again with great
interest.

  ‘Also, although I told you the ranks of martial skills, it is not like you can find any ranked skill just like that. When creating a martial art skill, you cannot make a skill above your rank. When cultivators open the middle and upper dantians, they no longer need to spend a lot of time on martial art skills since they get spirit power and Wu Wei.’ Hearing this made Hui Yue grumble slightly as he was getting quite a depressing premonition.

  ‘Therefore you will have a lot of Student, Disciple and Practitioner level martial art skills. You will also find a decent amount of Master ranked skills as they are still trying to create spirit energy, but Grand Master and Duke ranked martial skills are quite rare. King, Emperor, and Saint level martial art skills are as rare as a phoenix's tear. At least they were back when I lived here. I have never even heard about God ranked martial art skills.’

  ‘Are you telling me this because you are going to give me some useless martial art skill?’ Hui Yue worriedly asked, but he was met with indignation. ‘Did I ever give you anything useless?’ Lan Feng retorted feeling insulted. Hui Yue had to admit that Lan Feng was doing his utmost to ensure that he would become strong.

  ‘I am going to give you a movement martial art skill.’ Lan Feng said with determined satisfaction; however, Hui Yue could not help but feel slightly disappointed.

  ‘A movement martial art?’ He asked downcast. ‘What use is that?’

  ‘You really are stupid,’ Lan Feng answered impatiently. ‘First, you need a movement martial art skill to be able to run away. Even if you do know any fighting skills, your cultivation base is simply too low. It is better to teach you how to run away so that you can stay alive. I don’t care about honor or dignity. All we need is to stay alive until we reach our goals, and this skill is needed for you and me live.’ Although Hui Yue had been slightly depressed, he could not help but acknowledge what Lan Feng said.

  ‘A movement martial art skill also has other uses.’ Lan Feng continued. He did after all want to prove his extensive knowledge to the younger Hui Yue. ‘You can use a movement martial art skill to speed up your attacks or defense. Also when you have managed to perfect it, you will be able to leave behind a mirage while moving or even create an optical illusion causing your opponent to waste energy attacking nothing.’ Lan Feng sounded fairly smug, and Hui Yue understood why. The movement skill was definitely much better than what he had at first expected.

  ‘What rank is it?’ Hui Yue asked curiously. It would be quite good if it were a Master ranked skill.

  ‘It is a high King ranked skill.’ Lan Feng said indifferently causing Hui Yue to doubt his hearing.

  ‘High King rank!? Didn’t you just say that those were incredibly rare?’ He asked shocked, and his reaction clearly pleased Lan Feng.

  ‘I would not be this confident in myself if I did not at least have a vast amount of high ranked skills.’ Lan Feng said with a self-satisfied voice. Hui Yue was quite relieved knowing that he had a library of skills for when he should need it.

  ‘However,’ Lan Feng continued, as he understood what Hui Yue was thinking. ‘I have no intention of giving you any more skills no matter how easy they are until you have perfected this one.’ Lan Feng was as stern with his martial art skills as he was with Qi refining. Although Hui Yue was tempted to ask for more, he managed to hold back as he fully understood Lan Feng’s decision.

  Lan Feng ordered Hui Yue to sit down in a meditation position and slowly guide his consciousness into his dantian where the phoenix was waiting for him.

  Lan Feng then ordered the adult consciousness of Hui Yue into yet another meditation position where he was ordered to put his hands together forming the bird seal and then he closed his eyes.

  Lan Feng moved slowly as he lifted his finger towards his own forehead and pressed it between his eyes where his upper dantian was located. A sharp ice-blue light instantly lit up the entire dantian cave. Lan Feng extended his index finger, and a small pearl appeared at the tip, which quickly sucked in the shining blue light. Lan Feng quietly observed the pearl sucking in the light, and gave a satisfied nod as the final speck of light disappeared. He looked at the pearl in his hand which had gone from transparent to a lustrous ice-blue.

  Lan Feng moved towards the meditating Hui Yue and pressed the blue pearl against his forehead. The pearl slipped into Hui Yue’s head and illuminated his consciousness with knowledge from within.

  The unnatural light that was breaking out from within Hui Yue was the only thing that indicated something different was happening instead of his usual Qi refining.

  Lan Feng was exhausted upon retracting the martial art from within and slumped down against the cave wall while observing his focused friend.

  The blue phoenix could not help but feel a slight bit of relief upon looking at his hard working student. Hui Yue did not have any incredible talent when it came to cultivating, nor did he have pills or elixirs to help speed up the process, but he did have an unwavering determination, and he had been continuing refining for year after year to ensure that the quality of his Qi was as good as possible.

  Lan Feng would never admit it, but even he would have given up the painstakingly slow cultivating that they were doing so he could not help but have a strange feeling of gratefulness towards Hui Yue.

  While Lan Feng was exhaustedly inspecting his feelings, Hui Yue was swallowed by a sea of information. As soon as the pearl entered his head, it dissolved into rays of light that spread throughout his body which taught Hui Yue the martial art skill known as Velocity Flow.

  To perfect a martial art skill, the cultivator would have to practice it unceasingly. The information he was given was which routes to direct his Qi to flow through his meridians to power the skill, and it also included the two seals he would need to form within his lower dantian.

  The rays of light shot through his meridians show Hui Yue examples of where and how to apply his Qi, and he quickly remembered the paths, combinations, and different seals needed to practice the martial art skill. Although it was only one skill, it had many uses. Each usage had its own unique Qi flow, and to be able to perform the individual abilities each and every one of them needed practice.

  Slowly the light disappeared, and Hui Yue opened his blue eyes which were glistening with excitement as he thought about this new knowledge. He could not wait to try it out, and he returned to controlling his body rather than his consciousness.

  Hui Yue remembered every combination, and quickly lead his Qi towards his legs. He allowed it to flow through the paths he had learned, but his brows quickly furrowed as he felt that something was wrong.

  Although he felt as if he had gained some speed, it was definitely far inferior to what it should have been. Not only that, his new speed was very uneven and impossible to control.

  Hui Yue frowned at first, but his frown quickly turned into a brilliant smile because he knew what the skill would be capable of doing upon perfection. All he needed to do was practice the skill, and practicing and training were definitely something that Hui Yue did not fear.

  After learning the martial art skill, Hui Yue had to change his schedule slightly. Prior to this, he would spend his whole day cultivating; however, now it was obvious that he needed time to practice his martial art skill, so he ended up spending the morning and early noon practicing and the afternoon and evening were spent on refining Qi.

  Another year passed while Hui Yue followed this schedule. He worked harder than before but also felt a great sense of happiness every time he gained more Qi or when his control over Velocity Flow improved.

  On this day, which was like any other, Hui Yue was guarding the goats on the hillside while training Velocity Flow.

  Lan Feng had allowed his consciousness to leave the safety of Hui Yue’s body as there was no danger around and a smile suddenly appeared on his face as he looked towards the village.

  ‘Hui Yue,’ He called with an excited voice. ‘There is a pleasant surprise waiting for you when we return home t
onight!’

  Although Lan Feng had allowed his consciousness to roam around on the grassy fields, their conversation was still held within their minds. Hui Yue looked at Lan Feng with a quizzical expression on his face, but he did not ask any questions. Even something as simple as a new dish created by his mother was enough to excite Lan Feng.

  Sharing a body with Hui Yue had its benefits. Lan Feng naturally felt everything that Hui Yue felt, however, he had no way of taking over the body so he could only sit back and enjoy the experiences.

  Hui Yue smiled at the phoenix who had changed slightly over the years. Back when they first met, Hui Yue was sure that Lan Feng was the haughtiest creature in the world; however, after years of conversations, it was easier to look at Lan Feng as a spoiled boy with an extensive amount of power and knowledge on odd subjects.

  Lan Feng would still act arrogant from time to time, however, he was easy to coax into a good mood and friendly behavior. Especially since Hui Yue started practicing his martial art skill and would make use of it to hunt down critters in the forest and bring them home for dinner.