Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  The words which left Sha Yun’s mouth held so much temptation that the snake-woman could see both of her sisters hesitating slightly. Ever since Sha Yun had started to describe the outside world, both sisters wished to see what it was like, yet their pride would always stop them from going.

  Hunting humans within the Magical Forest, in their own territory, was one thing but to exit the forest would make them lose all the advantage they had built up for themselves, not to mention the perfect hunting environment with magical beasts everywhere.

  Looking at the two sisters who were close to being convinced, Sha Yun cheered inside as her face fell into an embarrassing expression. “I really want to show you two where I am living now,” She said hesitantly, as though she was too embarrassed to say it out loud.

  Seeing the shy look on their older sister, both Bing Niao and Shui Wu could not help but feeling giddy inside, and after looking into each other’s eyes for a few moments, both of them nodded their heads as they donned the cloaks they had been gifted by Hui Yue.

  Now that they had made the decision, excitement shone within their eyes, and even the usually stern and expressionless Bing Niao was sprouting a small smile onher face.

  The day was ending and Sha Yun was seated together with her friends at a big lake which had once been a volcano. This volcano was the tallest mountain amongst the few mountains within the Magical Forest.

  This was also a place where humans very seldom were seen as it belonged to the Forest King, Old Snake.

  “So what is the plan we are supposed to follow?” Bing Niao finally asked, as she looked into the starry sky with her ice-blue eyes her face showing impatience. Now that she had finally decided to join Sha Yun and travel to her home, she had trouble waiting for them to actually leave.

  Sha Yun on the other hand knew that they would gain nothing from leaving in the evening, as they could never make it back to Riluo City before the gate closed. Bringing two unsubdued magical beasts to stay outside the city gates all night seemed far too risky for her to attempt it.

  Sha Yun smiled slowly as she answered the question, “He called it the Trojan Horse,” she said, before she leaned forward and used her nail to start making small figures in the sand which she used to explain what would happen.

  ….

  Back in Riluo City, Hui Yue had been spending the majority of the day trying to get into contact with the Fire element, yet it was not going as smoothly as he had hoped. It was as though the connection between Hui Yue and the element was completely sealed off, but oddly at the same time he was able to cast Fire Spark without the need for incantations.

  Lan Feng kept telling him that this was a normal situation, and that the only reason that he had managed to merge with the earth was because of him forcing it. Everything else required patience.

  Patience was, however, one of Hui Yue’s strongest sides, and he slowly kept practicing the Fire Spark until his spiritual energy sea was all dried up. After which he would be seated and meditate for a couple of hours, to replenish and refine more spiritual energy.

  Hui Yue opened his eyes and felt slightly startled, as he saw that the sky was no longer as bright as it had been when he had started refining Qi into spiritual energy, instead it was now dark everywhere, clearly long since dinner time.

  Hui Yue could not help but sigh as he looked around. The garden felt much bigger than it had previously as Sha Yun was no longer around. Hui Yue and Sha Yun had been separated for a few days before. These separations mainly happened when they were visiting the Magical Forest once a year, or if Hui Yue had been invited to a gathering where magical beasts were not allowed.

  Yet year after year these separations had grown fewer in number and during the last two years, Hui Yu and Sha Yun had not spent more than a few hours away from each other at most. The two were as used to the other as they were to themselves, and Hui Yue was rather shocked when he found that he missed Sha Yun now that she was gone.

  Laughing at himself, Hui Yue stood up and made his way to the kitchen where the chef had left a hearty meal on the table for the master of the mansion, which Hui Yue ate with great satisfaction. Still the entire house was quiet and suddenly it felt much larger than it ever before because now no snake-woman was rushing through the doors, constantly blabbering.

  Chapter 88 - Fire

  * * *

  Chapter 88: Fire

  Lord Rong Liang was sitting in his office while staring at a message memory stone which had arrived shortly before. It contained a very simple but telling message.

  The week before Lord Rong Liang had sent a message to the royal family, warning them about the current situation within the city and asking for assistance to suppress the two scheming families. Rong Liang meant that when someone went against a City Lord of the major cities, one was going up against the judgement made by the royal family, and this was something which Rong Liang could not accept.

  However, the message which he had received contained very simple instructions.

  The two families in question belong to the Great Hundred Names which are families with as much history as our kingdom itself. We cannot dispatch soldiers to suppress such families, though should they start an actual rebellion then we will step in.

  Knowing that the royal family would not step in before the fighting occurred, Rong Liang could only grit his teeth and do his best to be the winning faction. Closing his eyes Lord Rong Liang sat still for a few minutes before his voice could be heard through the wooden doors, saying “Bu Huang!”

  On the other side of Riluo City Hui Yue was seated within the stone garden of his mansion. Seated there one would be able to see two coloured auras being emitted from the boy. One was the Earth elemental affinity while the other was the Fire affinity.

  Although Hui Yue felt rather odd at first when he was alone, he had no intention of spending his energy on something which he could do nothing about, and instead he once more sat down and allowed himself to meditate, considering the changes between his control over Earth and Fire.

  Hui Yue knew that he had forcefully merged with the Earth element and he could attempt to do the same with Fire, yet this was not something he had any intention of trying. There was a feeling within Hui Yue which told him that it was not a good idea to try forcing Fire, as it would be much more destructive than Earth had been, yet syncing with Earth had taken a large toll on Hui Yue’s body.

  Instead, Hui Yue’s mental projection moved to the spiritual energy sea where it summoned the red flame which represented the Fire Elemental Affinity with the intent of having a natural merge with the element.

  Looking at the flame floating above his hand, Hui Yue gently touched it only to see the flame lick his hand, giving him a feeling of warmth yet not so warm as to hurt him.

  Sending a strand of his consciousness into the flame, Hui Yue suddenly felt how his entire soul was sucked into a world that was engulfed in a raging sea of flame. Looking at the inferno, a comfortable warmth spread throughout Hui Yue’s body.

  A rushing sound appeared as the sea of raging flames condensed and suddenly shot out from within the spiritual energy sea, as they travelled through his meridians and veins with incredible speed.

  An intense pain descended upon Hui Yue as the flames were raging through his body, vein after vein was being scorched only to get healed the moment after. His entire body was being strengthened by the intense flames.

  Agonizing screams could be heard from within the stone garden at the side of mansion. It was impossible for Hui Yue to stay calm and in his meditational pose and he collapsed. Blood sprayed from his mouth as his body convulsed on the ground, allowing for some of the stones to cut his skin as he was having spasms on top of them.

  The blue eyes were widened in immense pain, and the blood curdling screams seemed to become more and more desperate as the time went on, despite the intense pain the flames would not allow for him to lose his consciousness.

  The entire process lasted for hours and by the time the
Fire finally subsided, Hui Yue had no more energy left within his wrecked body, as his eyes closed and he was engulfed by sleep where he lay.

  The whole process occurred during the night and none of the servants were currently at the mansion, as Hui Yue preferred to be alone in the evenings. This in turn ensured that no one could hear the ghastly screams which the now unconscious young man had previously howled.

  After sleeping the majority of the night outside in the stone garden, Hui Yue woke up completely energized the following day. His body had already undergone a major transformation, the time he reached the first star Master rank, yet last night another transformation occurred.

  Hui Yue had successfully managed to sync with the Fire flame within his body, and by doing so his entire being had been refined. The body itself had become many times more resilient than it had been before. It was not possible to see the changes from the outside, yet Hui Yue could feel it in every movement he made.

  His body gained an immense amount of strength. This was not the kind of strength gained from Qi nor spiritual energy, but just pure physical strength. A strength which had greatly increased after the entire rebuilding of his body.

  Strength and resilience was not the only thing which Hui Yue gained. He also noticed how the opening to the Dai Mai meridian was very close to being broken through, as well as the barrier surrounding yet another of the caves within the dantian was becoming more and more transparent.

  Although both the meridian and the barrier had gotten closer to opening up they were still not open. Although Hui Yue was curious about what was hidden behind the curtains, he also knew that he could not rush their openings, as it would result in a much more difficult situation.

  Even though those two were only close to opening, Hui Yue was more than satisfied as he felt the tremendous changes which had been made to his body. Although he was only a second star Master ranked cultivator, Hui Yue would be able to compete evenly anyone within the Master and Grand Master ranks. He might even be able to challenge some Duke ranked cultivators, if he truly needed to do so.

  A satisfied smile appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he felt the newly gained strength rushing through his body, and the amount of energy which flowed out from his dantians. Finally, the young man felt as though his cultivation was on the right track. If he were to fight old beardy now, dispatching him would not take more than a few seconds, a minute at most.

  ….

  Within the Magical Forest, Sha Yun had just finished explaining the plan to the two sisters and both of them were gaping at the drawings which had been made in the snow. Everything about the plan seemed to have been thought out, to the finest detail, and no matter how the sisters thought about it, it was impossible for them to come up with a way for which it could go wrong which was not already addressed..

  “Okay,” Shui Wu finally said as she nodded her head. Since the plan had been created and planned to such detail she felt as though she could trust this human who had been looking after her older sister for the last many years.

  Bing Niao was quiet for a long time. Although the promise of leaving the forest and seeing the outside world, for a short while, without having to submit to a human was incredibly tempting, but at the same time she could not help but worry about what might happen.

  Looking at her sisters a small sigh escaped her beautiful human lips, as she finally decided to go with the two sisters. Being left alone was one thing which she would never enjoy and with a nod she quickly grasped the cloak, which she then put on.

  Those cloaks suppressed their auras letting nothing leak out.Considering that they were humanoid beasts, it would be impossible for common people to determine whether these creatures were human or beasts because of the cloaks. The only one who was unable to use this cloak was Sha Yun because her tail was far too long to fit underneath.

  Fortunately, everyone would be able to see Sha Yun’s silvery eyes and know that she was already under a beast contract. For her to be in such a contract it was highly likely that the cloaked persons who went with her were humans who had subdued the high ranked beast.

  These cloaks were one of the reasons that the sisters even dared to consider making the trip to the stone forest, but it was not the only reason. On the way back, the three beast sisters would be taking a detour to avoid various villages and in that way they made the risk drop tremendously.

  ….

  Three days later an entourage of three made their way through the city gates. Two of these were cloaked in black with inscriptions which hid their aura, causing every cultivator near them to look at them with hesitation. These cloaked men could either be incredibly strong, or possibly incredibly weak.

  Either way they were clearly a group not to be messed with, who had strong backing, as no one would be capable of purchasing such exquisite cloaks without parting with quite a few coins. This fact alone was enough to allow for them to travel in peace.

  These three cloaked people were clearly the three beast sisters. Their trip to Riluo City had taken a lot longer than it would have normally if they were travelling through the villages, yet this way they had greatly cut down on the places they needed to be wary of humans at.

  Entering the city, both Shui Wu and Bing Niao was as overwhelmed as Sha Yun had been, causing the snake-woman to gloat with pride. She was no longer a country bumpkin from the Magical Forest, no. Now she was an enchantress from one of the major cities. Although she was a magical beast, she lived a life much superior to that of many humans.

  It was true that there were certain laws which made magical beasts unable to enter certain places, such as the City Lord’s mansion, to avoid the risk of enemy forces smuggling in beasts. Yet apart from laws like that, Sha Yun lived a life filled with respect from the humans around her, and no one treated her as a magical beast, instead they treated her equal to the rest of their friends or acquaintances.

  Making their way through street after street, Sha Yun masterly lead the two sisters through the bustling city, and she happily explained everything they saw on the way, making the return slightly delayed. Still, Sha Yun was so proud that she had managed to fulfil Hui Yue’s request of her.

  Arriving at Hui Yue’s mansion the guards outside quickly opened the gates with a respectful appearance, as the noticed Sha Yun. The snake-woman nodded in reply to the guards as she moved inside the mansion, instantly turning towards the stone garden where she had last seen Hui Yue days before.

  When Sha Yun had left, Hui Yue had only managed to forcefully sync himself with his Earth affinity but now, just four days later, Hui Yue had managed to perfectly sync the Fire affinity as well.

  When the snake-woman entered the garden she instantly noticed the young man who was hovering in the air, a very pale silvery hue was shining from him.

  This silvery colour was obviously that of the Metal affinity, the final affinity which Hui Yue still managed to call upon from within his spiritual energy sea.

  Although Hui Yue was currently training the Metal elemental affinity, trying his best to increase his affinity with the element it was obvious that he had just started it recently and his entire body was filled with beads of sweat, as he pushed his body to its limits.

  As soon as he heard the slithering sound of Sha Yun making her way through the gravel, Hui Yue’s body no longer floated in the air, instead it landed on the stones as he opened his eyes and a smile adorned his face.

  “Welcome to my home,” He said politely as he stood up, and clasped his hands together in greeting the two beast sisters behind Sha Yun.

  Chapter 89 - Frozen Brigade

  * * *

  Chapter 89: Frozen Brigade

  Clasping his hands in greeting, Hui Yue gave a slight bow to the two cloaked beasts which were following behind Sha Yun, as he slowly made his way towards them.

  “I am glad to see that the two of you were willing to lend me your strength. I promise to make this trip worth your while.” Hui Yue was speaking with a smile on his face as he led t
he three beast sisters into the mansion itself.