Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  The Hurricane had not been up for long enough to create a stockpile of Qi lightning balls as each ball was used as soon as it had been created in the constant exchange of blows.

  Currently Li Shing had an advantage which was clear to everyone. Li Shing had far more Qi cultivated than Wang Ju Long, and he would run low on Qi much later than Wang Ju Long causing the later to grit her teeth as she removed her defending hurricane.

  “I forfe….” Before she could finish the sentence the whip arrived near her causing her to quickly retreat. Fortunately, Wang Ju Long had stayed alert and reacted quickly as the whip was filled with an overbearing energy, promising to end Wang Ju Long’s life had she not moved as swiftly as she did.

  Hui Yue’s face darkened as he realised how close Wang Ju Long had been to dying, and anger welled up inside him together with his Qi which started flowing through his meridians unconsciously.

  On the stage was Wang Ju Long who had escaped death, however her body was filled with cuts and blood oozed out from her arm where the muscles clearly had been severed.

  Just as Wang Ju Long opened her mouth, getting ready to once again forfeit, Li Shing unleashed another round of lashes which were brought down upon her causing even more damage than last time.

  Her clothes were hanging in rags. Although the clothes were hanging in rags they still managed to cover up her secret, yet the beautiful blue fabric was quickly darkening as blood dyed it almost black.

  Blood was streaming down her face, blinding her. Blood was flowing freely from her body down to the floor, causing it to be slippery, and her right arm was almost severed completely, the white bone visible through the flesh.

  Once again Wang Ju Long opened her mouth trying to forfeit, but, just as before, Li Shing did his best to break up her words.

  This time, however, Wang Ju Long no longer had the energy to move, and she stood still glaring at the man in front of her.

  Seeing this caused a chill to run down Hui Yue’s spine as he leaped into the arena. Previously, when the Qi had started flowing within his meridians, Hui Yue had unconsciously activated Velocity Flow, and his current movement was simply too fast for Li Shing to keep up with.

  Within a second Hui Yue landed on the platform, where he picked up Wang Ju Long before he jumped off the stage.

  Everything happened so quickly that no one present was able to react to it. Hui Yue’s Velocity Flow had increased in speed from the first time he had used it in the tournament, and Hui Yue moved like the wind while he was saving Wang Ju Long.

  A clamour was quickly spreading throughout the arena; While some had faces of relief, others were confused, and there were also some were filled with disappointment.

  “What do you think you are doing!?!” A voice roared out from the stage, causing Hui Yue to stop in his tracks and turn his head to see who was talking.

  “He already forfeited,” Hui Yue said, his eyes cold as a winter morning, “You did not end the match when he forfeited. I should be the one asking you why you let the battle go on after someone forfeited?”

  Hearing this caused the judge’s head to turn red from anger. The judge was a part of the City Lord’s faction and his hope had been to seriously injure or cripple the genius from their greatest opponent. Seeing that Hui Yue, a mere child, had opposed the greater good for the City Lord’s faction made Qin Tsang furious.

  Hui Yue always ran around with the Rong twins, not to mention that he had an erased past, courtesy of Lord Rong Liang. Everyone would have expected Hui Yue to just watch Li Shing injure or kill Wang Ju Long.

  “He never finished his statement; I demand an answer as to why you think a mere child like yourself may interfere!” Qin Tsang felt humiliated by Hui Yue, not to mention humiliated in front of all the nobles within Riluo City no less. This was unacceptable, and he stared daggers into Hui Yue who casually walked away, carrying Wang Ju Long in his arms.

  “Wait and explain yourself!” The elder yelled once more, and Hui Yue did stop. His head once more turning towards Qin Tsang, yet, this time, it seemed more like the face of a white rakshasa rather than an angel.

  “Scum like you have no right to question me.” Hui Yue said with his voice low and steady, and it brought forth a heavy pressure which overwhelmed everyone present.

  This pressure was not something which Hui Yue had gotten from Lan Feng, this was the contempt which Hui Yue held for Li Shing and Qin Tsang.

  Qin Tsang felt as though he had been dropped into a frozen lake. His whole body started to tremble and goosebumps appeared everywhere on his body as his heartbeat started to become erratic.

  Hate filled the elder as he felt pressured by a mere Student ranked cultivator, and he opened his mouth to utter a reply.

  “You…. You are disqualified!” He yelled at Hui Yue as he continued to walk away, yet the young boy neither stopped nor did he slow down on his way towards the infirmary.

  “Who would have thought that it would end like this,” Hui Yue said jokingly to the beaten up girl in his arms, “To think that you are a girl, what a surprise.” He continued causing the body below him to become rigid.

  “How do you know?” She asked, becoming alert, clearly worried as to what would happen.

  “Well, even if you are a girl, you really are incredibly flat,” Hui Yue continued, as if he had not heard Wang Ju Long’s question.

  It was not before now that it dawned upon Wang Ju Long that Hui Yue was carrying her like a princess and, unfortunately, one hand had gone astray, resting on her bandaged chest.

  “You pervert!” Wang Ju Long exclaimed, her cheeks burning red, causing everyone close to them to stare at her while giving them weird looks.

  Although Wang Ju Long was in severe pain, and bleeding all over, she still managed to blush at the previously stated comment.

  “Don’t worry too much,” Hui Yue said, while smiling to the girl in his arms. “We will have a rematch next year.”

  Having said that Hui Yue noticed a gratified smile appear before he turned around and saw that Wang Jingshen and a group of people were rushing towards them.

  The people following seemed to be elders of the Wang family, and their faces were all white from worry and suppressed anger.

  “Thank you, student,” one of the elders said as they arrived next to Hui Yue. “We will take it from here,” he continued and quickly grabbed Wang Ju Long from the embrace of Hui Yue.

  A smile appeared on his face as he noticed how frantic these elders were, as if they feared that Hui Yue might notice their secret.

  “I will leave the rest to you, honourable elders,” Hui Yue said with a slight bow, which they returned with a nod, after which they quickly rushed towards the temporary infirmary.

  Hui Yue stood behind for a bit looking at them vanishing into the distance. A few thoughts kept swirling around in his head, yet he could not make sense of them.

  With a deep sigh, Hui Yue turned around and walked back towards his friends with a complicated expression on his face.

  Chapter 44 - Disqualified?

  * * *

  Chapter 44: Disqualified?

  As Hui Yue returned to the others, Deng Wu noticed how his brows were furrowed and his blue eyes were looking far ahead, as though they saw a world unlike their own.

  At first, all of them wished to ask about Wang Ju Long, yet no one dared speak as soon as they saw the trance-like state Hui Yue was in. A weird tranquillity was embracing the small child who slowly seemed to return to reality.

  The dreamy look within his blue eyes turned sharp and the tranquillity slowly entered his body, leaving behind no trace of it ever being there.

  Seeing how his friends all observed him with confusion evident within their eyes, Hui Yue smiled sheepishly.

  “Sorry,” he said with a mildly embarrassed voice, “I was thinking about a few things. Did you say something?” Saying this with an embarrassed and sheepish smile caused Deng Wu to snort at Hui Yue. He knew him all too well, and whenever the naïve and innoc
ent boy act appeared, it was obvious that Hui Yue had no wish to be questioned.

  With a slight laugh, Deng Wu shook his head and once again paid attention to the stage where Li Shing and Qin Tsang were standing. These two were no longer alone. All the elders within the academy had gathered on the stage and were conversing quietly with each other.

  Finally, the Academy Chief straightened his back and moved forward.

  “The winner of the semi-final is student Li Shing.” He said, his voice was not raised even slightly, yet the sound boomed throughout the arena echoing after each word. “In five days, student Li Shing will fight against student Hui Yue in the final match.”

  As soon as the words were spoken, a strange silence prevailed within the filled arena with no one wishing to break it.

  Eventually though, a few people cleared their throats and started applauding Li Shing for winning. The applause, however, started out with only a few adults before it slowly spread throughout the entire audience.

  Although Li Shing had shown an intent to kill Wang Ju Long, it was obvious to the audience that Li Shing was indeed strong, and strong men deserved respect.

  Although the audience showed a friendly attitude towards this youth, no student within the area was applauding him. Everyone was shocked that he, twice in a row, considered killing his fellow school mates.

  Hui Yue turned around, without saying a word, and slowly walked away heading towards his own courtyard. Behind him were the five other youngsters, all of them quietly wondering what had happened with Hui Yue when he went to the infirmary with Wang Ju Long.

  Deng Wu especially looked at the younger boy before a thought arrived in his head, and he started giggling.

  The giggle managed to bring back Hui Yue from his deep thoughts, and he looked annoyed at the person laughing.

  Ever since Hui Yue had run into the elders of the Wang family he had felt as though something was wrong. The elders were swift at removing the injured Wang Ju Long from his embrace, and it was obvious that the elders knew that the young master was actually a young lady.

  This showed that it was a decision which had been made by the family. What made Hui Yue so unfocused was that just as the elder appeared, and was about to take the young lady from Hui Yue’s embrace, Hui Yue had felt how Wang Ju Long had grasped his clothes unconsciously trying to stay with Hui Yue for longer.

  The proud rival, Wang Ju Long, had held on to Hui Yue as if she did not want to go with the elders. Something was off Hui Yue thought with a sigh. For now though, he could do nothing, but a weird bond had been created between the two as they saw the other as a rival.

  These feelings were all new to Hui Yue, and he kept sighing on the way back to his courtyard, not noticing that the five behind him had become only one.

  Rong Xing dragged her brother, Gao Yan, and Ma Kong toward her own courtyard, where the four of them would cultivate together. The original plan had been to follow Hui Yue, but this intention quickly changed as they noticed the thoughtful expression that kept appearing on his face.

  The reason that Rong Xing did not bring Deng Wu was because he kept smiling as if he had understood something which none of the others knew.

  “So did you figure out Wang Ju Long’s secret?” Deng Wu laughed as the two of them were within courtyard 1009, and Hui Yue had paused. Hearing Deng Wu’s question Hui Yue finally turned around and lifted an eyebrow.

  “You knew?”

  “Little Dragon told me,” Deng Wu said while feeling smug looking at the younger boy’s expression, but unlike what Deng Wu had expected no confusion was shown in his eyes.

  ‘You knew she was a girl?’ Hui Yue asked Lan Feng, and the blue phoenix laughed from within, ‘I did tell you that you didn’t need to worry about such a minor rival,’ Lan Feng said.

  Hui Yue snorted at the annoying birdlike creature within his Qi Cave as he looked at Deng Wu. “I know she’s a girl,” he sighed as he sat down below his favourite tree and gestured for his older friend to sit next to him.

  “What do you know about the Wang family?” Hui Yue suddenly asked out of curiosity, as he craned his neck and looked at the autumn sky above.

  “The Wang family used to be the City Lords,” Deng Wu started, yet this was something Hui Yue already knew. “Eventually their economy started to slow down, and the city fell behind in paying taxes. At that point the royal family sent Rong Liang here and ordered him to take over as a City Lord. The Wang family was granted space within the city to build their own family compound, and they were gifted a large sum of money to make up for them losing their job.”

  This was news to Hui Yue, and he listened intently. Hui Yue started to understand why Wang Ju Long was forced to live like a man.

  “The Wang family still wishes to regain their former position, but it is not possible to go against a royal decree. If they were dumb enough to do so they wouldn’t be able to hold onto the position of City Lord for more than a few days, before the royal army would come and exterminate the whole family.”

  Hui Yue nodded, then it did indeed make sense. “So the reason that they made her live as a boy is for the sake of proving that they have a more suited youngster than the City Lord himself,” as Hui Yue said this he nodded his head, this actually made sense.

  “In the end everything is just theory,” Deng Wu sighed as he leaned against the cold tree trunk and closed his eyes as he enjoyed the chilled air.

  After few moments, Hui Yue started practicing Transforming Weapons, sword style, and he was completely absorbed by training within a few minutes, not noticing that the smiling Deng Wu no longer smiled, but instead watched Hui Yue with a complex look on his face.

  A deep sigh escaped Deng Wu’s lips as he rose to his feet and walked towards the courtyard gate. Right before leaving he turned around and pain was evident in his eyes as he stepped out.

  There are certain things that you do not need to know, Deng Wu thought as he slipped away from the young boy’s courtyard; a profound sadness was evident within his eyes, yet no one was there to see it.

  The next morning arrived and before sunrise, Hui Yue was once again seated below his favourite tree and refining strand after strand of essence into Qi. As soon as he heard knocking on his front door, Hui Yue made a beckoning gesture and the gate slowly opened allowing passage for Deng Wu and the rest.

  The Rong twins along with Deng Wu and Ma Kong sat down in front of Hui Yue waiting for him to wake up. They all had serious expressions on their faces as they patiently sat there, not once looking at something else.

  The intense atmosphere caused mixed emotions to well up within Hui Yue. At first he was happy to see that his friends had no intention of disturbing him while he was cultivating, yet the intense staring caused Hui Yue to become curious as to what was so important that the five of them would sit and watch him in this way.

  Their well-meant intentions quickly caused Hui Yue’s curiosity to win out, and after a few minutes he had refined the essence which he had previously gathered.

  “What’s wrong?” He asked as soon as the Qi thread had joined the rest of the swirl.

  “We have been thinking,” Rong Ming started, “the cultivation technique that you gave Gao Yan, may we have something similar?” Hope was evident on their faces even Deng Wu seemed to be quite interested as well, but Hui Yue had no option other than to shake his head. Lan Feng had explained this to Hui Yue previously as he too had asked this same question.

  “You current Qi cannot handle a change in your cultivation method. Your only option is to empty your lower dantian and start cultivating all over. If you want the finest Qi you need to accept that it will most likely take you ten years to regain the rank you currently have. It might take even longer.”

  Hearing this, the excited expressions slowly turned dim as they were slightly disappointed in the answer.

  “I do have another way though,” Hui Yue said slowly. “I have quite a lot of spirit coins which were given to me by my teacher after he sold the h
igh ranked martial art skills,” Hui Yue continued. “I am going to purchase pills with them. Some of these pills will be the ones that further purify your already refined Qi. If you take enough of these and work hard, then you should be able to break through the upper dantian without too much trouble when that time comes.”

  Rong Xing and the others wished to decline the offer, yet getting free medicinal pills was simply too tempting for the lot of them. Excitement once again returned to their eyes as they listened to the younger boy’s words.

  Although Hui Yue was five years younger everyone viewed him as someone who had an immense knowledge about various things, and the expert which resided within Hui Yue was able to lead the youngest to be the one they went to every time they had problems.