Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  Not only was his growth changed, but everywhere the spiritual energy bird flew, major changes happened to Hui Yue’s body. His already taut muscles became stronger and more flexible. Looking at himself, Hui Yue thoroughly enjoyed the sight of his flexible and strong muscles strengthening beneath his skin.

  All of his meridians, which had been opened along with the blood-vessels and organs, all of them got purified by the bird, and the impurities were all turned into a mist which was forced out through the skin, which in turn caused the black smoke from before.

  Hui Yue felt that although he had gotten stronger, the main change was with his agility. His current strength would be enough to lift five hundred kilograms, but even so, he was slightly behind the majority of the Master ranked cultivators, as they should be able to exert at least one hundred kilograms more.

  This was something which Hui Yue had no control over himself. The fact that he had trained in Velocity Flow from such a tender age changed his body and it would never become one of those muscular types, instead he was nimble and swift, almost impossible to catch even for anyone in the higher ranks.

  Having his body changing throughout, Hui Yue was stunned to feel how his body was teeming with energy and ready for it to be unleashed at any moment. He felt a strength which he had never before experienced surge through his veins.

  The Phoenix created by spiritual energy slowed down noticeably and its entire body started to fall apart, drop for drop as it made its way back to the spiritual energy sea.

  Within the middle of this vast sea, the copy of Hui Yue had been seated and was refining drop after drop of spiritual energy, and a few drops had gathered below him. The dissolving phoenix rushed towards these drops, and as it finally reached the destination its entire body dispersed into a rain of spiritual energy drops.

  The small pond which Hui Yue had seen before was vastly larger than his current one, yet a lot of energy still managed to return to the spiritual energy sea. A lot more than what the majority of cultivators would get back.

  This was because Hui Yue had previously opened his Chong Mai meridian. Every time a cultivator managed to reach the rank of a second-star Master cultivator the spiritual energy would rush through their bodies and purify it. During its journey a lot of spiritual energy would be used to break into the Chong Mai meridian and purify the channels, the breakthrough required opening that meridian to access the body and purify the blood vessels alongside the organs.

  Hui Yue’s Chong Mai meridian had already been opened long before which allowed for much less spiritual energy to be used as there was nothing to break through. Instead, this excess energy was used to burn up more impurities than an average Master ranked Cultivator would burn.

  Another reason as to why Hui Yue had undergone a much more fitting transformation than most was that he was cultivating according to the zodiac, which held the most benefits for him. Although not many considered the Rooster important, but it was indeed very important for Hui Yue who shared his body with the sovereign of birds.

  Hui Yue’s mental projection followed the phoenix throughout its trip, and now he observed how a small lake appeared within his heart. This lake would be double its size when all the used spiritual energy replenished itself, after having been used during the travel just now.

  Suddenly Hui Yue’s eyes widened as he saw five flames appear from beneath the lake and all of them, ever so slowly, appeared to be floating just above the middle of the sea right below the cultivation technique copy.

  These five flames were not touching the lake, still it seemed as though they grew larger from the constant nourishment of spiritual energy, yet no matter how much Hui Yue tried, he was unable to summon the green and the blue flames. Both just flickered slightly and continued to grow in size from the aura of the spiritual energy sea.

  Sighing, Hui Yue allowed for the three other flames to return to their original position, before he exited the middle dantian and travelled to the lower dantian where Lan Feng was waiting for him.

  Although Hui Yue had opened the middle dantian, the lower was still filled with secrets and without the lower dantian Hui Yue would be unable to create even more spiritual energy.

  Lan Feng no longer needed to refine spiritual essence, as he could use Hui Yue’s. Though sadly, all his attempts at refining Wu Wei had failed, and that made the phoenix quite grumpy, as he was completely unaware of what could cause such an outcome.

  Looking around the dantian cave, Hui Yue noticed how the fourth cave-in was starting to display signs of opening up in the near future. The energy barrier had weakened tremendously, yet although it had weakened Hui Yue could tell that he did not have the power to break through the barrier just yet.

  From within a slight yellow light was flickering faintly, yet Hui Yue had no idea what shape this energy took. Could it be another cloud like the tranquil blue? Or a mist like the baleful red? Maybe it would even turn into a beautiful pearl like the healing green. No matter which shape and what effect it would have, Hui Yue could not help but feel excited about these unknown phenomena within his dantian cave. It was definitely something with no one else possessed as far as Hui Yue knew.

  The ability to completely change one’s demeanour with the flick of a finger, by allowing these mists to take control over his consciousness, were both frightning and also incredibly useful for the young man.

  ‘It is about time.’ Lan Feng said with a big smile on his face, as he was clearly pleased with Hui Yue’s current cultivation. He gestured for the white-haired boy to sit down in front of him, and a smile sprouted on Hui Yue’s handsome face as he guessed exactly what Lan Feng was planning.

  Closing his eyes, Hui Yue suddenly saw a sharp light between his closed eyelids, yet he did not open them as he knew that Lan Feng was currently subtracting different spiritual arts from within his mind which he was then passing onto Hui Yue.

  Suddenly the white-haired boy felt as though his entire body had been thrown into an icy sea, and his consciousness went into shock causing his body to twist slightly.

  The information which was shared this time was simply too profound for Hui Yue’s brain to fully comprehend all at once, which in turn caused a backlash to his consciousness, but after a few minutes Hui Yue managed to contain the freezing experience as he slowly stayed within his meditational stance and started to make heads and tails of the information he had been given.

  The first skill which came to mind was the Earthen Spikes, which Hui Yue had seen old beardy use before. The skill was relatively simple, yet it still required some incantations to increase the affinity with earth so that it would blindly follow the orders given.

  ‘Forget that!’ Lan Feng uttered annoyed, ‘Incantations are used for the sake of allowing a cultivator to gain a better affinity with the specific element.’ Lan Feng went into lecture mode and Hui Yue opened his eyes looking at the bird in front of him with interested eyes. Although the bird could get annoying, his information was always worth gold.

  ‘Do you know why stronger cultivators no longer need to use incantations?’ Hui Yue nodded his head solemnly, as he was asked and a pleased expression appeared on Lan Feng’s face before he continued.

  ‘It does not happen because they get a stronger cultivation base, but because their affinity with the elements grows stronger.’ Hui Yue furrowed his brows. As far as he was aware the affinity grew stronger alongside the strength of one’s cultivation base, but it seemed as though this phoenix had another way of increasing affinities. Excitement suddenly appeared within Hui Yue, and a wry smile sprouted on Lan Feng’s face as he felt it.

  ‘Good, good.’ Lan Feng rustled his body slightly causing the thousands of celestial feathers to flutter and shine. ‘What you need to do is constantly train one skill.’ Hui Yue’s face sank slightly. Train one skill?

  ‘Much like the martial art skills.’ Lan Feng continued, ‘When you perfect a spiritual art you no longer need to chant the incantations but it is hard work. At least ten times h
arder than it was when you had to practice the martial art skills. Think you can do it?’

  Hui Yue snorted for his reply and once more closed his eyes, starting to group up the many spiritual skills he had been gifted.

  Firstly, was the fake skill which was Fire Spark, yet now it no longer relied on Qi to ignite the flame, but sprung from his own spiritual energy. Since Hui Yue had already perfected the original spell it no longer required him to practice it, as he already managed to summon flames within his hands without having to call them. This was also partly because his affinity for flames were far above the norm considering Lan Feng was within him.

  The biggest change to Hui Yue’s flames were that unlike the ones which had sprouted from Qi threads, his flames now had changed, and the flame core was now celestial whereas the outside was an azure blue. The flames were definitely quite flamboyant, but Hui Yue found that he loved these colours.

  The second art which Lan Feng imprinted within Hui Yue’s mind was the Earthen Spikes, which allowed Hui Yue to create spears composed of Earth in all varieties. Previously he had tried to create one solely based on his memory, yet that had turned into a disappointing result never getting bigger than twenty centimetres. After chanting the incantation which allowed for greater affinity with his element, Hui Yue noticed that he was now able to make spikes which were as long as up to three metres and one metre in diameter.

  The flash of memory also contained information on other spiritual arts such as Earthen Hand, Fire Storm, and Flame Sea. These three all relied on the elemental affinities, yet none of them had metal affinity abilities since Lan Feng himself had no metal elemental affinity.

  However, the elemental affinity spiritual arts were not the only ones, and Hui Yue was excited as he looked at the many abilities which popped into his mind.

  The Spiritual Guard, of which the Qi Guard was a copy, was one of these skills, but no matter how entrancing these abilities were Hui Yue knew that it was something he should not start now; instead he sighed deeply and stood up, focusing solely on perfecting Earthen Spikes.

  Chapter 84 - Syncing Elemental Affinities

  * * *

  Chapter 84: Syncing Elemental Affinities

  Hui Yue was standing within the rear garden, his clothes tattered and his hair dishevelled as he was panting heavily. There was no blood on his skin, nor were there any wounds and although the young man looked to be in a sorry state excitement was evident within his eyes, and a smile was sprouting on his face.

  “Yun, you are simply amazing!” Hui Yue exclaimed, as he sat down and instantly closed his eyes in a meditational position. Then he went through the entire sparring match which had just happened.

  Sha Yun usually refused to spar against Hui Yue as she could not bring herself to try to injure Hui Yue seriously, yet Hui Yue kept asking for her help. Due to Hui Yue’s persistence the snake-woman eventually gave in and decided to try and help him.

  Standing in front of each other, Hui Yue was only allowed to use the Earthen Spikes, which he had become much more proficient in. Although Hui Yue was still unable to summon the spears to a fitting size without incantations, he had noticed that his affinity with Earth definitely improved.

  Another astonishing development was discovered by Hui Yue. Upon perfecting his Earthen Spikes, he would be able to perform any sort of earthen creation, as his affinity would allow for Earth to act according to his desires.

  Knowing that unlike martial art skills, Hui Yue would only have to perfect one of each elemental affinity, then he would be able to perfectly mould those elements in the future. This was one of the reasons higher ranked cultivators were so much more deadly. Not only did they have strength and a higher cultivation base, but as soon as they managed to sync perfectly with their affinity, then they would be in a completely different league than others of the same rank who had not perfected their affinities.

  Hui Yue had perfected his Fire Spark, because he had trained it relentlessly in the past. His relentless training coupled with Lan Feng’s spiritual power and their shared soul helped him perfect the Fire elemental affinity faster than a normal cultivator would. Hui Yue was now working hard on the Earth elemental affinity.

  At the start, Hui Yue had managed to produce small Earthen Spikes, but they had already grown to be just over a metre tall now. Sha Yun had been born with a synced affinity with Earth, and she had never even heard about incantations before she met Hui Yue.

  Her Earthen Spears would grow up to four metres tall and two metres in diameter when they were maxed out, yet she was able to twist the Earth in every way she could possibly want. Her ability to create things from the soil was smooth and graceful like it was a dance.

  Next to Sha Yun, Hui Yue could not help but feel slightly inferior. Although his attack could grow to the same size, he still needed the incantation, which required a few moments to mumble. Waiting for a moment within a fight was enough for Hui Yue to be completely annihilated if he was against a veteran fighter.

  As Hui Yue spent more and more time practicing the Earth spiritual arts, he felt a great change within his body and the surrounding world. He was no longer just Hui Yue, he had become one with the ground, with the soil, and with the energy which flowed from Earth.

  Seated on the ground, Hui Yue felt as though something broke through and underneath him the earth started to ripple with energy, slowly transforming as though it was heeding Hui Yue’s summons. The white-haired boy however kept his eyes closed, yet a slight wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows, as sweat started to appear on his body.

  During the sparring match against Sha Yun, Hui Yue felt something different than when he was practicing on his own. He had observed the snake-woman throughout, and the way she treated Earth was very much akin to how Hui Yue treated his Qi and Spiritual Energy. Both were a part of him, as they live within, and Hui Yue seemed to have gained enlightenment because as soon as the match ended he created a mental projection, and then entered the spiritual energy sea.

  Within the spiritual energy sea, Hui Yue was seated in a meditational position with the yellow flame floating slightly above his two hands as he focused his entire being on this flame alone. This flame was in no way different from the red flame which Hui Yue had already perfected, yet there was a different feeling about it.

  Hui Yue was trying to merge his consciousness with the Flame of Earth, and sweat was trickling down his skin as the rumbling around his body grew larger and more profound until it eventually settled in the pattern of a five pointed star.

  Sha Yun was standing next to Hui Yue and her eyes were alert, yet she did not interrupt, instead she stood guard. The snake-woman’s main offense was her control over Earth, how could she not know that currently Hui Yue was forcing a perfect elemental affinity?

  Forcing an affinity to merge with the soul was a very risky move, it could easily backfire if the cultivator did not take caution, or if the elemental affinity had not already been thoroughly trained. Sha Yun had no intention of stopping Hui Yue, as she felt that the young man would be capable of accomplishing everything he wanted.

  The five pointed star suddenly erupted with soil and all of it turned to mud before it all covered Hui Yue, creating what looked like a statue of mud, not even the face was left out.

  Hui Yue could not help but feel shocked as he felt the sudden opportunity, yet he also felt secretly thrilled. Earth was responding to him. Everything went dark, even the inside of Hui Yue’s dantian caves. No light could shine through.

  Hui Yue was laying in this black but very gentle world for an unknown amount of time before the picture of growing plants appeared in his eyes. The small plants quickly grew into large bushes and trees, towering above while their roots were firmly fastened within the comfortable soil.

  A chuckle escaped Hui Yue as he felt as if he was a child once more, laying in his mother’s embrace, and the white-haired boy did not resist although he knew that this was not his real mother, instead it was mother earth.

&nb
sp; Hui Yue was taken for a long journey through the world of earthen power. He saw how the earth got corroded at some beaches, but also how other beaches were growing in size. He saw how mountains sprouted from the underground, and even how islands were created from magma.

  Finally, Hui Yue saw how the fields allowed for seeds to grow, and he finally understood that to live one needed the earth, and the earth was everywhere, the earth was created by the element Earth, giving the practitioners with that affinity an immense strength, should they be capable of unlocking it. Hui Yue suddenly knew that once he became one with the earth, he would always have a part of this history within him. He would become a part of the earth itself.

  Ever so slowly, the soil which encased Hui Yue started to crumble, and after a few minutes Hui Yue was once more free. He opened his eyes and shock instantly appeared within his soul. The world had changed from how he saw it before.