Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  Hearing this, a sigh of relief could be heard from all the youngsters present, yet they did not dare relax as they saw how vigilant Lan Feng was still.

  “The beast we injured earlier is not happy.” He frowned. “She is on her way here now, and it seems that she has called for reinforcements. In total there are three magical beasts of mixed heritage, so it will be highly unlikely that you can stay alive unless you go all out.”

  Having said that, however Lan Feng looked at Deng Wu with an expression of determination on his face. Survival was after all more important than keeping his secret.

  “I will be supporting Hui Yue from the side.” Lan Feng stated, before he returned control of the body to Hui Yue.

  ‘We cannot allow these beasts to kill us.” Lan Feng growled, clearly his sight was set on killing them, and he gathered drop after drop of spiritual energy, which was ready for Hui Yue to use during the fight.

  “Listen up.” Hui Yue said with a serious expression on his face, and the other five people instantly paid attention to him. “Deng Wu, you go for the one which we previously fought. She is likely to have much less Qi left and even if she does, then she would be injured from our previous attacks.” Hearing this, Deng Wu nodded his head, and his usually joking appearance turned completely serious, eyes sharp as they observed the outskirts of the forest waiting for his target to arrive.

  “The four of you.” Hui Yue said to the Rong twins, Gao Yan, and Ma Kong, “you need to deal with one of the unharmed beasts, and I will deal with one on my own.”

  Hearing this they all nodded. The air rippled and fluctuations of Qi spread out from the six bodies, different shades of white were being channeled within their hands. One was a large Qi Pillar, while another was bombs. A big fan appeared by Rong Xing’s hand. It was as tall as she was, and the wind which had been blowing gently through the air suddenly stopped, as though it waited for permission to continue its movements.

  Rong Ming was standing with a giant blade in his hand, a blade created from his white lustreless Qi, and it was humming as though begging Rong Ming to release it, to allow it to slash through the air.

  Hui Yue smiled gently as he looked at the outskirts of the woods, narrowing his eyes he noticed three figures making their way towards the six youngsters that were waiting for them.

  All of these figures were female, and Hui Yue rose an eye in surprise as he noticed how they seemed like mythical creatures from his old world.

  A blue woman with scales all over her body and hair like seaweed was walking on the left side. Her body was incredibly attractive although very tattered, as the scales were broken and black coloured blood was dyeing the blue scales and the pain was evident on an otherwise beautiful face.

  Next to this blue woman, who reminded Hui Yue of a water nymph, was a yellow woman. Her upper body was that of a woman, yet her lower body clearly resembled a snake. Her eyes were filled with hostility, and the red catlike pupils instantly locked onto Hui Yue who was standing in the middle. Hui Yue was staring back while dual wielding a Qi knife from Transforming Weapons and his Black Blood.

  The final woman was clearly mixed with a bird. Her arms wer big white wings while her legs were long and birdlike with sharp claws. Her torso and face were clearly that of a woman, but her white skin was filled with feathers.

  Looking at this last woman, Hui Yue could not help but think of Lan Feng. Had the two of them met in another circumstance, Hui Yue had the feeling that they would be the perfect couple. They were both birds looking slightly human after all.

  “Get ready.” Hui Yue said, and all of them focused their entire attention on the targets in front of them. Rong Xing quickly stood on top of her Qi fan, floating slightly over the ground, while one Qi dagger after another was solidifying next to her.

  Rong Ming was standing on the ground, his blade humming louder and louder after seeing the bird woman, as though it knew that this was his target.

  Deng Wu was looking at the blue scaled woman and his Qi pillar constantly grew in size. At first it looked like an ordinary staff, but since these women were taking their time crossing the distance, the pillar had grown to an unthinkable size. This pillar contained Deng Wu’s entire cultivation base, and one hit would be enough to finish off the blue scaled woman.

  Hui Yue could not afford to pay any attention to the others, as he himself had the hardest battle in front of him. It was obvious that he had the better martial art attacks, yet no one should forget that he was the second lowest ranked out of all of them.

  Suddenly a hiss sounded out from the half snake beast, and the three humanoid beasts rushed towards the six youngsters who were waiting for them, their attacks ready to engage in battle.

  Hui Yue gnashed his teeth so hard that he tasted blood within his mouth, but he paid no heed as he gripped Black Blood along with his Qi knife and got into a defensive stance, his eyes focused on the snake in front of him.

  The snake-woman went straight for Hui Yue. As she reached a hundred metres away from the smaller white-haired boy, the snake-woman suddenly increased her speed and lifted her hands, exposing nails as long as daggers. Looking at them a wry smile appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he met those sharp claws with his two weapons.

  The impact caused Hui Yue’s Qi knife to disperse into thin air, causing Hui Yue to frown slightly, feeling pretty sure the snake-woman in front of him was much stronger than he had anticipated. Still, Hui Yue was not a man who would back down, and as soon as his daggers had blocked the deadly claws, Hui Yue moved his hand and swept it across the arm and chest of the female beast in front of him.

  A low growl appeared together with a cut on the woman’s left arm. The wound was not deep enough to be classified as a serious injury, yet it still managed to throw the woman off her game, and allow for Hui Yue to seize the momentum.

  A new Qi knife had been produced in Hui Yue’s hand, and this time he was the one to take the initiative as he activated Velocity Flow. Hui Yue appeared behind the snake-woman, both knives ready to slash the woman in front of him, yet the snake-woman managed to block both attacks with her tail.

  Rage was evident within the eyes of the beast, and a furious roar sounded out from her throat before she started a frenzied attack, swinging her tail around in a hope that she could hit Hui Yue by luck.

  The frenzied attack made things harder for Hui Yue. He could no longer read her actions as they were random, causing him to retreat slightly, yet even his retreat was pointless as the woman closely followed him, using her tail both as defence and offense.

  This battle had turned desperate as neither the snake-woman, nor Hui Yue dare give up, and as time went on both of them tried to push the other, in turn causing them both to take quite a few hits.

  Hui Yue had gone all out, and he had activated his Qi Guard to withstand a few hits while rushing in to injure the snake-woman, but while doing so, small cuts started to appear on his body as the tail managed to make small breaks in the Qi Guard.

  Usually a Qi Guard would be able to totally defend Hui Yue, yet right now his Qi was spread across three different high ranked skills, and all of them were working together which in turn was sucking Qi strand after Qi strand. Following these rushed exchanges, Hui Yue had already exhausted half of his Qi pool.

  A serious expression appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he dissolved the Qi knife martial art skill and also sheathed Black Blood, placing both his hands parallel as he ignited a small Fire Spark, which grew in size incredibly quickly.

  Looking at what had turned from a small spark into a giant fireball caused some fear to appear in the humanoid beast’s heart, yet she was a vicious sister of the Magical Forest, and she refused to back down against a small child. Instead she started mumbling some incantations causing the ground to move creating an earthen shield in front of herself, and using it she lessened the impact from the fireball which was aiming her way.

  As Hui Yue saw this he could not help but snort in contempt. Although Earth was strong, a smal
l earthen shield like this was unable to block the orb of fire which had been imbued with two drops of Spiritual Energy from Lan Feng.

  The fireball was roaring in the sky above Hui Yue. It kept revolving around itself, starting to affect the wind, causing the area to become filled with strong winds. These winds were dragged into the fire orb itself, bringing along grass and leaves, which got incinerated by the heat, even before they managed to land on the fire itself.

  The sudden appearance of the domineering orb of fire caused the blue woman, and the bird woman to exchange glances, and without waiting even a minute both of them rushed to the side of the snake-woman, intent on protecting her.

  While the snake-woman had created an earthen barrier, and the blue woman was using her remaining strength to make a water barrier, while the bird, which seemed quite uninjured, raised a barrier of snow.

  A murderous intent arose from within Hui Yue, embracing his body in a red mist which seemed to be drawn into the fireball. Everything happened within a few seconds and as Hui Yue lost control he threw the fire orb towards the three mixed beasts.

  Chapter 59 - The Price for Survival

  * * *

  Chapter 59: The Price for Survival

  A loud boom resounded throughout the entire field, scaring the magical beasts and all the villagers, and they rushed to see what was happening.

  A fire was spreading across the field, but in the middle of the conflagration the three humanoid magical beasts were kneeling, covered by a water prison like the one which had previously caught the Rong twins in this clearing within the magical forest.

  While coughing and inflicted with smaller burns, the three beasts once more left the water prison, and Hui Yue noticed how the bird and the scaled woman both released their snow and water spirits respectively, and managed to put out the fire.

  Looking at the three figures it was obvious that the three of them wanted to escape back to the forest, yet how could Hui Yue and the others not notice this?

  Hui Yue gestured to the others to surround the three wounded beasts, and as they did so the three woman like beasts quickly started growling at the six youngsters. The bird-woman even tried to attack, only to be stopped by a Qi blade, which was being wielded by Rong Ming, only after that did she quickly calm down.

  Looking at these beasts, Hui Yue saw that although they reacted as beasts, and they seemed unable to speak, it was obvious that there was intelligence within their eyes. It might be a bit lower than that of a human, but it was definitely superior to that of other beasts they had seen before.

  “Can you understand what I am saying?” Hui Yue asked curiously, as his ice-blue eyes gleamed with excitement. The beasts did not show any signs of understanding, instead they kept hissing, acting nothing like humans but like the wild beasts they were.

  Although they were humanoid their cultivation level was not high enough for them to be considered equal to humans, yet their strength was clearly superior as they did not rely on dantians but their beast cores. The beast core gave them special affinities from their birth, and they grew stronger and stronger as time went by.

  ‘Don’t trust them.’ Lan Feng said from within Hui Yue’s dantian cave. An expression of annoyance was evident on his face, as he hated the fact that they had needed to use some of his spiritual energy for the sake of capturing these three beasts.

  “Listen up, I know you can understand me.” Hui Yue said with a firm voice, his killing intent once again spreading out, causing everyone within the area to shiver in fear. Even the previously proud beasts were covering in fear as they sensed the primal killing instinct enveloping them.

  “I assume that you guys would love to survive.” Hui Yue stated, and the snake woman jerked her head, looking at the young boy with doubtful eyes. As a beast how would she not take any chance she had of survival?

  “We arrived here to train for a month by killing some beasts of lower cultivation level than the three of you.” Hui Yue explained the situation slowly. “Currently you ladies have gotten a Saint ranked beast from within the Magical Forest to be on guard for us, not allowing us to enter the forest to train. This leads us to the two options we have right now.”

  Hui Yue unsheathed Black Blood and started playing with it in his hand. The black dangerous dagger combined with his heavy killing intent, none of the three beasts dared move, not even a muscle. In a way this young man was even more terrifying than the aura Lan Feng had released previously.

  “I will need you ladies to enter the forest and make sure that the Saint ranked beast does not interfere with our training, nor will you interfere with us. In return we will not enter your domains in the forest either.” Hui Yue paused slightly before he continued, “The second option is that we kill the three of you, and take your beast cores. Since we can no longer enter the forest we might as well get some higher grade cores out of it.”

  Having said this, an eerie silence overtook the area, and a shocked expression appeared on the snake-woman’s face as she contemplated what to do. She did not for one moment doubt that this previously so naïve looking child would hesitate even the slightest when it came to killing her sisters and her.

  Hui Yue did not rush the three beasts in front of him, instead he just waited patiently with his arms crossed over his chest and Black Blood tightly clenched in his hand. Six youngsters and three beautiful but savage humanoid beasts were locked in a tense atmosphere which was weighted down further by the dense killing aura.

  Finally, the snake-woman sighed deeply, making her seem even more human, and then she nodded her head. She was one of the three sisters of this magical forest, and her honour and dignity was high, yet when it came to their survival she would give up every shred of dignity to live another day.

  “We have a deal?” Hui Yue asked once more, and the beast nodded again clearly unhappy with the outcome but unable to think of anything else they could do.

  “I don’t think this is a good idea.” Ma Kong suddenly broke in with furrowed brows. “How can we trust them?”

  Hui Yue chuckled slightly as he tapped his storage memory stone and withdrew a couple of jade bottles containing medicinal pills.

  “We cannot trust them.” He said as he shared the pills to his six friends. “But they cannot trust us either.” He continued and then tossed the medicinal pills to the beasts.

  Although these beasts have never eaten medicinal pills they often eat medicinal plants and enjoyed the raw energy within them, so when they opened the jade bottle and the thick and rich fragrance emitted from within, their nostrils twitched and greed appeared in their eyes. These were definitely much more enjoyable to eat than raw herbs.

  A feeling of doubt flashed inside the snake-woman as she looked questioningly at Hui Yue. Had he not just given these pills to his friends, then she would have thought he was about to poison her, yet now she believed that he truly held no more hostility towards them.

  The dreadful killing intent which previously had enveloped the entire area had disappeared, and the white-haired boy now smiled to the beasts who were greedily eating the medicinal pills.

  Finally, a low growl rung out and the snake woman started to make her way back to the forest where they lived. Her heart was filled with opposing and complicated emotions. In one way she severely feared this young boy, who wielded such strong and destructive power. The two of them had been evenly matched although she was suppose to be stronger, but as soon as he had unleashed the fireball, she was perfectly well aware that she was losing.

  To admit defeat had been hard, but this young human had allowed for her to stay alive and even keep her dignity by promising not to enter into their domains again. Not to mention that they had just been given medicinal pills to heal the injuries which they suffered. No one could argue that the injuries were their own fault, as it had been the beasts who attacked the humans first.

  Sighing, the snake-woman turned back, noticing that the white-haired boy was still looking at them, her heart clenched slightly an
d she was unsure whether she hated him or admired him.

  ‘What do we do now?’ The blue scaled woman growled to the Snake-woman who sighed at the question.

  ‘We do what we promised to do.’ She growled back, her eyes shining with a mysterious light. ‘Had we not agreed to this, then we would have died by now.” She said as she moved deeper into the forest itself.

  ‘But big sister.’ The blue scaled woman growled rather viciously, ‘they were the ones who entered into my territory. We can slay them the next time they step foot in the forest!’

  ‘I gave my word that I would allow for them to hunt for two months. They will not annoy us, and we will not annoy them. The enmity between the two of you was solved with the medicinal pills!’ The Snake-Woman roared back, finally getting angry. No one was going to get her to go back on her promise.