Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  As soon as Hui Yue and gang had spotted Ma Kong, they instantly rushed towards him. Ma Kong was not a weak-minded person and his face was calm as a lake where not even the smallest ripple could be seen.

  His calm face did break into a smile, as he saw his friends on their way to give him mental support. Rong Ming and Gao Yan spoke constantly about how unfair it was that Wang Ju Long had such an overpowered skill. None of them could comprehend how he had managed to evolve his skill to such an extent, not to mention how he had managed to break into the disciple rank at the age of ten. His latent talent was clearly more impressive than any of the other students apart from Deng Wu. In Hui Yue’s opinion, Deng Wu did not count, as his talent was given to him by little dragon, much like he had gained all of his from Lan Feng.

  The queue proceeded slowly, and while they patiently waited for it to be Ma Kong’s turn, they took the chance to look around.

  A young woman ran around, either shouting orders to the staff or scolding youngsters who thought the infirmary was a playground to pass their time while waiting. This woman was no stranger to Hui Yue, as he had seen her back when Shan Ping had been injured, although right now she was far too busy to notice the white-haired boy standing in one of many queues.

  Only five master-ranked teachers were healing at a time while the others were meditating to replenish their supply of spiritual energy.

  Wood elemental affinity was the affinity giving control over life and death. It was especially well-connected with the vegetation realm, but it could in some instances be trained to focus on humans. Those were called healers, and they specialized in using the wood element to help mend the human body rather than growing and refining medicinal herbs.

  The wood element was usually used to attack the soul of the opponent, but when it came to the spiritual attack skills, they usually attacked the body directly, distorting the life left within or in some more extreme cases even draining the longevity.

  Having a wood elemental affinity was not terribly rare. The balance between the heaven and earth had caused a fifth of each cultivator to have wood as an elemental affinity; however, less than one percentage of these cultivators also had an affinity for fire, making them able to become an alchemist.

  Elemental affinities were something Hui Yue had found incredibly interesting ever since Lan Feng had told him that it was very much akin to what his old world had considered magic. Unfortunately, Hui Yue was not even close to unlocking the middle dantian, but he was very excited to see how the wood element users would expend their spiritual energy to heal an injury, such as a broken bone.

  The time passed slowly and Deng Wu did his very best at making Rong Xing feel comfortable while waiting. At first, he had somehow managed to provide a chair, although as soon as he had proudly shown it to Rong Xing, she instantly gave it to Ma Kong instead.

  This had caused a depressed expression to appear in Deng Wu’s eyes, however, when Rong Xing started to praise him for thinking about their injured friend, the happiness in his eyes returned.

  Afterwards, he brought snacks and drinks for everyone in hopes of once again being praised for his consideration. Deng Wu’s actions caused them all to feel light-hearted, and even Hui Yue lost the last roots of the killing intent embedded in his blue eyes ever since exchanging glances with Wang Ju Long.

  Finally, after waiting for a few hours, it was Ma Kong’s turn to enter the tent in front of the queue. The tents were large enough to fit up to ten people and Hui Yue and the others followed.

  The Rong twins and Gao Yan were obviously there for the sake of giving mental support to Ma Kong. Deng Wu was here because of Rong Xing and Hui Yue. Hui Yue in turn was obviously there because he cared about his friend, but he ended up weighing heavier the spiritual healing by the wood element teachers over his friend’s injuries.

  Everyone within the tent, apart from Hui Yue, had seen the healing before. For them, this was no big deal; healers were people all the major families within Riluo City had a few of, and as children who cultivated, they all had to visit them from time to time.

  Entering the tent, Ma Kong was placed on a bed and the clothes were cut off around his legs, displaying a broken bone and open wound.

  Looking at the open wound caused Hui Yue to feel slight nausea, but he quickly steeled himself. This was after all only a broken leg, it could easily have been much worse.

  Looking at his leg, Ma Kong’s face paled slightly, and as he removed the Qi assisting him in dulling the pain, he grit his teeth and closed his eyes. Wave after wave of pain flooded over Ma Kong, making the friends feel uncomfortable, fidgeting and wondering what they could do to help him feel better.

  Before any of them could ask if they could help, the teacher finally turned towards them and looked at the lying Ma Kong. This teacher seemed fatigued. His cheeks were hollowed out and his eyes were filled with a misty cloud.

  As the teacher turned towards Ma Kong, the entire air within the tent suddenly came to life with miniature green dots of light everywhere. These green dots quickly gathered around the bed where Ma Kong was resting and after a few minutes started fluttering around his entire body, as if they were scanning for any ailments.

  The green dots which had reached the wound on the leg had clumped together into a green layer of light, which looked a lot like a set of armour. At first, these green specks of light stayed still, gathering immense amount of light and other dots before they gradually started to sink into the leg itself.

  The process reminded Hui Yue a lot about how it had looked when he had been fortifying his organs with Qi. As this looked a lot like fortifying with Qi, Hui Yue had assumed that the healing would be over by the time these specks of light had been fully absorbed by the leg, however, this was not the case.

  As the specks of light made their way into the leg itself, the wound started changing and the fractured bone began mending at an alarming pace. It slowly grew together and the skin healed, as Hui Yue stared at it in amazement. It was as if someone had recorded a grievous wound being mended by itself but had fast forwarded it.

  As soon as the entire leg was back to the same appearance that it had been before the fight with Wang Ju Long, the small specks of green light once again emerged from within the skin.

  This time, the green dots no longer shone with light but instead rose into the air, where they slowly disintegrated into nothing.

  As the final green speck of light had vanished the teacher slumped down into a chair. His hair was soaked in sweat and his complexion was even worse than it had been before. Bags under the eyes were visible and the fatigue was so obvious that they all knew it was now time for them to leave.

  Just as they left through the door, the woman who had saved Shan Ping rushed past them.

  “You stubborn old man,” she said with a severely scolding voice, “you need to make sure that you get enough rest. Yes it is important to heal the children, but you need to rest and replenish your spiritual power, or you will just drag us down.”

  It seemed this sort of discussion between them had been had before, however, the only thing they heard was an agreeing grunt from the tired teacher.

  “Meditate or sleep a little,” the woman said, with a much gentler voice, “the fact that you managed to heal over hundred students today surely shows how superior your healing skills are.”

  Having said that, the woman turned around and marched out of the tent, running around the infirmary village to put a new teacher on healing duty.

  “You need to be careful,” Ma Kong said with an admiring sigh. “Wang Ju Long might only be a first-star Disciple ranked cultivator, but his Qi is of really pure qualities.” He looked at the Rong twins before an awkward smile appeared on his face. “Haha forget it,” he said laughingly. “It is not like the two of you will have any trouble with a mere Disciple ranked cultivator. There is an entire nine stars and a bottleneck between you.”

  Hearing this made everyone, apart from Hui Yue, laugh and joke around with the tho
ught of the twins, while so highly ranked, could lose to Wang Ju Long.

  ‘What do you think?’ Lan Feng suddenly asked, as he observed the spectacle through Hui Yue’s eyes. Hearing the question made Hui Yue snort in discontent.

  ‘Look at Ma Kong. He is a seven-star student but he did not even qualify for Wang Ju Long to release his lightning bolts. Although it will not be easy, I do have a feeling that my dear rival will be able to pull out something rather astonishing if we give him the slightest opportunity to do so.’

  ‘Never underestimate your opponent, was it?’ Lan Feng said with a cheeky grin. ‘Well you do not have the time to play around here,’ he continued as Hui Yue kept observing his happy friends who once again enjoyed the beer available during the tournament.

  ‘I know,’ Hui Yue nodded before saying his goodbyes. ‘Let’s return home and train.’

  With that, Hui Yue disappeared into the twilight, preparing for yet another night of painstakingly hard training. He had to be careful he did not make any mistakes. A cultivator of his rank could not afford to take any liberties. Each fight would be fought as if it was the last. Eventually, every last other student would have been usurped, and Hui Yue would have emerged at the end of the road with a victory against Wang Ju Long.

  Chapter 36 - Unwavering Determination

  * * *

  Chapter 36: Unwavering Determination

  The first week had three matches in store for Hui Yue. Although he had to partake in those three matches, he only had to make an effort, if you could even call it that, in the first fight, as the following two consisted of forfeiting students.

  Even though Hui Yue should be happy that he could save his Qi for more daunting opponents, he still felt bored. He had steeled himself to fight for his position in the final, but the first week seemed incredibly anticlimactic in comparison to what he had expected.

  Looking back at the first week, Hui Yue felt as if it had rushed by with no important events. Looking at Ma Kong, it was impossible to tell his leg had been in a terrible state a few days ago. Healing of this magnitude caused Hui Yue to question whether or not the injury had even existed in the first place.

  Hui Yue had been enlightened about the different elemental affinities. Previously, he had not thought about it that much and the only use he saw for wood affinity was that it could be mixed with fire to create medicinal pills.

  Nevertheless, after that day, Hui Yue had finally understood that these elemental affinities had unlimited possibilities and ways in which they could be used. This, in turn, had caused him to train restlessly, setting his next goal at the middle dantian, his wish was to get the wooden elemental affinity.

  Slowly one day became another. Each second day was a rest day with no tournament matches, and while the majority of students and adults entertained themselves at the stalls which had appeared all over the academy, some students focused solely on training.

  Hui Yue was obviously one of the students who spent his days in training. He continued as before, fortifying his organs, practicing the sword from Transforming Weapons, practicing his Wushu and finally refining as much essence as he could while still keeping the quality true to his current Qi.

  Every time Hui Yue closed his eyes, a smile appeared on his face as he remembered how strong Wang Ju Long had gotten. Excitement burned within as he wished to fight as soon as possible, however, he was also aware that, currently, Wang Ju Long was likely to have the upper hand.

  Yes, Hui Yue had the Qi guard as a defence and now that he had gotten Transforming Weapons, he should be able to put up a fight against much stronger opponents, however, Wang Ju Long had the Qi Lightning, and since it had evolved it now worked as both attack and defence. It was indeed worthy of being called a high ranked skill.

  Rong Ming was getting help from Rong Xing and they trained together. Deng Wu did everything in his power to spend time with the love of his life. Unfortunately, she was not interested in spending time with him, and instead he always went to Hui Yue’s courtyard where he would help with sparring while complaining about his luck with Rong Xing.

  Gao Yan was the only one of the friends still participating in the tournament who did not spend his time on training. This was not because Gao Yan did not want to improve his cultivation base, but rather because the tournament was the best opportunity for him to earn money.

  Gao Yan and his commoner followers were all selling information on the various participants. This information had been gathered by the commoners and written down in small leaflets, one for each student.

  These leaflets were sold to both other students and the guests who were currently visiting the Royal Academy. Of these leaflets, the ones from Wang Ju Long, Hui Yue and Rong Ming sold as hot bread and everyone wished to have a copy.

  The students who bought the leaflets, bought them for the sake of knowing their opponents. In a fight against other students it was definitely beneficial to know what you were to fight, and Gao Yan had made it very simple for others to know.

  The audience bought the leaflets to understand which family the talented young students belonged to, as to prepare for getting closer to these families. They were also good to bring home afterwards and look at the various martial art skills that had been used, and if they could perhaps get a copy of it, if they came to help the families behind the children.

  Every student and audience had long since sensed the tension between Wang Ju Long and Hui Yue, which had caused Gao Yan to sell an immense amount of leaflets of these two young boys. Even more leaflets were sold of these two than of Rong Ming, the top seeded contestant.

  As the days went by, Hui Yue had a few matches where his opponents did not forfeit, and these opponents were all beaten within a few short exchanges of blows.

  The days where there had been a previous fight, Hui Yue would spend the rest of the day relaxing together with his friends before he returned to cultivate within his courtyard. The days which were considered rest-days were days where Hui Yue would do nothing apart from training.

  “Winner is the first year student, Hui Yue!” the judge announced as Hui Yue once again stepped down from the stage where his previous match had been held.

  His previous opponent was lying on the floor, unconscious after getting hit by the martial art attack skill Stone Fist. The student was a four-star Disciple ranked cultivator, making him the strongest opponent that Hui Yue had faced so far.

  Although Hui Yue still managed to escape from taking any of the blows from the opponent head on, it was no longer as gracefully nor as fluently carried out as it had been earlier this week. This was to be expected as Hui Yue was only a ninth-star Student ranked cultivator, one of the few Student ranked cultivators left within the entire tournament.

  What had helped Hui Yue achieve victory was due to him starting his wushu again. Remembering what his teacher had taught him, which areas on the body to hit and how to defend, had caused a quick knockout.

  It was obvious that Hui Yue could have had a smoother win if he had used his Qi knives from the Transforming Weapons or his improved Fire Spark, however, both of them were aces in the sleeve Hui Yue did not wish to reveal too early.

  Fire Spark had been seen previously by the teachers and students within the Academy, so it was only natural that it had been placed within the leaflet. Nevertheless, Hui Yue wished to keep it secret, as it had evolved far above the expectations. It was an ability with devastating potential for destruction.

  As Hui Yue stepped off from the stage, he looked towards the site where Rong Xing currently fought with a young male who seemed to be from the year above the Rong twins.

  This student was standing slightly bent forward on the stage. His garments were shredded into pieces and the previously blue fabric had been dyed dark by blood.

  Everywhere on his skin, marks were evident, as if someone had stabbed him with a knife repeatedly, but even so, the young man was staring at Rong Xing with an unwavering determination in his eyes.

  The stage
floor below him was slowly turning into a sea of red, as drops of blood were falling from his skin, but even so, the young man clenched his fists and once again rushed towards the unscathed Rong Xing.

  So far, every fight Rong Xing had participated in had consisted of students who all forfeited so that she could win. This was for various different reasons. Some did it to curry her favor, others did it to avoid insulting the City Lord’s only daughter, and finally some forfeited due to the sheer difference in strength.

  Now, in front of Rong Ming was the first student not willing to back down. His eyes did not see the beautiful, young, city lord’s daughter, nor did he see an overpowering difference in their strength. To this young man, Rong Xing was an opponent and only an opponent against whom he had to give it his utmost.

  Not only Hui Yue, but everyone present felt an admiration towards this hard working young man. He was a year older than Rong Xing, however, his cultivation base was only at the eight-star Disciple rank. His Qi was not of superior quality nor could it be considered bad.