Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  Xie Lan paused again, a slight amount of fear creeping up on her. Was it really okay for her to tell on him? Was this something that he might get mad about and then come after her for?

  Although Xie Lan was stronger than Hui Yue by a large margin, something about the young boy scared Xie Lan to a degree she never thought possible. Even now she was worried about talking about him, in case he would get mad and return for vengeance.

  “He possesses powers that no one else does,” Xie Lan continued after a fairly long break, “He had a dangerous air about him and he managed to release a killing intent so thick that even the audience at the seats furthest away had difficulties breathing. To have such a killing intent, he is not someone we can afford to offend.”

  Xie Lan’s eyes narrowed as she said that, but at the same time she was reminded of the beautiful young man who looked as kind as an innocent child, not to mention the atmosphere of tranquility which was released as the two of them were about to leave.

  “Mmhm,” Neither an agreement nor a disagreement could be heard as Xu Piao hummed, his eyes sparkling with excitement as he heard about the fight.

  Seeing the expression on her boss’s face, a sigh once more escaped Xie Lan’s beautiful lips. From within her cloak, she located a small memory stone which she handed to him. This was a recording of the entire battle, however, it was only a recording and it could in no way do justice in showing the ice-cold, bone-chilling killing intent which Hui Yue had shown earlier, nor was it possible to hear the sentences which the white-haired boy said to his opponent as he had the knife pressed against his throat.

  But even so, even without the feel of the killing intent and without the sound Xu Piao was still incredibly excited as he received the stone, instantly placing it on his forehead as he closed his eyes and was immersed in the scenes which were playing out within his head.

  The fight did not take too long, only a few moments, but it was nevertheless these few moments which Xu Piao replayed multiple times, his smile growing each time he repeated the film.

  There were certain things which Xie Lan had not managed to see when she recorded the fight, but Xu Piao was used to looking at every single detail and only after rewatching the recording multiple times the smile on his face could not grow any further, as his eyes focused on the head clad in a black cloak.

  Just as Hui Yue was releasing the speed skill Velocity Flow, he moved quickly behind his target allowing his cloak to reveal a slight bit of his lower face.

  His face alone was not the interesting part, what was interesting and what caught Xu Piao’s attention was the long fangs were growing from Hui Yue’s teeth.

  Xu Piao was smirking, as he finally removed the memory stone from his forehead. Giving it back to Xie Lan he dismissed her, but instead of going back to his seated position at the desk he went towards his bookshelves behind the chair.

  Taking out one book after another, Xu Piao shook his head in annoyance until he finally found what he was looking for. Looking at the pages, he flipped through the book before he found the paragraph he was searching for.

  With one finger placed under the words, he mumbled with a low voice, “Demon beasts are able to transform into human form upon truly understanding the cosmos, which allows them to transcend into divine beasts. To become a divine beast, one is usually a Saint ranked expert.”

  Looking up from the book for a moment, a flash of excitement grew on the face of Xu Piao as he felt immense gratitude towards himself for having the foresight to realize just how important these four friends were. Who knew? Perhaps more of them were Saint ranked experts.

  Having looked through the book, Xu Piao ripped out the paragraph from its original place and placed it in a pocket of his clothes, smiling happily as he returned to clean up the many books he dumped upon deeming them wrong.

  ….

  Xie Lan was confused as to why her master acted the way he had. She could not understand why he had such an urge to rewatch the match multiple times, but even if he did wish to do so, why on earth would he smile the way he had?

  Using deduction, Xie Lan quickly reached the conclusion that Xu Piao had noticed something which she had not, but no matter how much she searched it was utterly impossible for her to see whatever it was that Xu Piao saw.

  Grumbling slightly, the woman made her way back to the courtyard which was currently in use as the residence for Hui Yue and his group. Since Xie Lan had become one of the group members she too had been given a room in the house, but she was greatly shocked as she got closer and closer.

  The first thing she felt was a gentle breeze, a feeling like a fleeting touch caressing her cheek. The closer she got the more the feeling changed into that of a hug from a loving mother, the tenderness one could only feel towards their own kin.

  It was obvious that the aura which Hui Yue exposed at the start had undergone certain degrees of refinement, changing from pure tranquility into memories of long forgotten lives.

  This immense change in such a short time was enough to alert Xie Lan and she rushed towards his room only to see Sha Yun was standing guard. Although it would be easy for Xie Lan to remove the snake-woman she decided to leave it be. Hui Yue had long since outshone her expectations time after time and even her master trusted him. Who was she to question whomever her master trusted?

  Comforting herself with such thoughts, Xie Lan went to her room where she sat down and got ready to cultivate only to notice that the tranquil atmosphere had heavily increased the amount of essence of the heavens and the earth; it seemed as if the atmosphere created by the young man was actually working like a magnet.

  It was not only Xie Lan who noticed this particular trait of Hui Yue’s abilities, no, outside on the streets multiple lights could be seen as one cultivator after another moved into the range of the blue cloud. Allowing for it to swallow them whole, to make them one with the tranquil essence which was emitted from Hui Yue, and the young man enjoyed the sudden boost in his strength.

  One student after another sat down, greedily absorbing the abundant essence which was floating towards the sky. All their energy was focused on becoming one with the energy, so focused in fact that none of them noticed how their cultivation base suddenly started rotating at a speed they had not requested.

  It was obvious that they had not requested the sudden movement within their cultivation base as they were all deep in meditation, and as Hui Ye sat in the middle of everything a very satisfied smirk was apparent on his face as he felt how he could control anyone of the cultivators who were currently trying to abuse his tranquil cloud to increase their own cultivation base.

  Chapter 129 - To Seize the Moment

  * * *

  Chapter 129: To Seize the Moment

  More and more mercenaries moved towards the house in which Hui Yue was currently cultivating. The sudden change in atmosphere lured them in, and as soon as they felt how their bodies were embraced by a tranquil cloud they also felt an abundant essence of the heavens and the earth.

  This essence was something which seemed to be emitted from within the tranquil cloud, as though it was filled with essence from the heavens and the earth, something which shocked Hui Yue greatly.

  Although dense essence was emitted throughout the entire courtyard and the roads outside, it seemed as if it was never ending for as long as Hui Yue was seated in deep meditation.

  Curiosity caused Hui Yue to allow his consciousness to leave his body and float through the cloud, looking at the many cultivators who appeared outside their courtyard, all of them seated in deep meditation. As soon as he paid attention to one of them, he noticed that it was possible for him to control their cultivation base as if it was his own.

  He could activate various techniques using their cultivation base, and he laughed out loud as he saw how those cultivators he experimented on were caught by surprise as their bodies suddenly acted without their consent.

  Thinking about how far he could go, his consciousness entered the body of one
of the cultivators, however as soon as he did an imminent sense of danger swept over him. He instantly released his consciousness once more, feeling how the moment he had entered another body his own had started to no longer respond to him.

  Never enter another body, Hui Yue reminded himself with a relieved sigh that he managed to not make a permanent mistake, I am afraid if I truly try it out I will die.

  But even so, considering that he could control others from his dantian cave without merging with their bodies caused Hui Yue to be greatly satisfied. He returned to his own body where he planned on continuing his deep meditation and allow himself to focus on his cultivation.

  As soon as he sat down he noticed that he could hear a loud breath, a breath which felt like a hundred breath’s together. It was everyone within the tranquil cloud, be that Sha Yun or the strangers outside, everyone was breathing in unison breathing heavily in a deep trance and all of them were under Hui Yue’s bidding.

  Hui Yue gave one simple order, he told the cultivation bases to rotate, and a sudden force exploded out rushing into Hui Yue’s body. This was not the essence of the heavens and the earth, this was refined Qi and spiritual energy. All of it entered Hui Yue’s body where it manually started to refine itself into a quality equal to Hui Yue’s, and the young man was shocked to feel how he was rapidly approaching the seventh star of the Master rank. This was a speed which he never thought possible.

  After a few moments, Hui Yue gave the order to stop and all within the tranquil cloud stopped pouring their cultivation base into Hui Yue’s body.

  Although it had been tempting for Hui Yue to let it continue, he knew that amongst the cultivators immersed within his cloud were his friends and their cultivation bases would be exhausted just like the others, had Hui Yue continued.

  This was not a devouring ability. It felt as though the tranquil cloud was part of cultivation itself. It was as though no cultivation base could ever decline the beckoning sent from the cloud.

  Thinking like this, Hui Yue slowly led the tranquil cloud back into the dantian cave where it patiently waited to be called on once more, shockingly what Hui Yue found was that the cloud’s size increased tremendously from having so many cultivators cultivating within its atmosphere. Currently, the cloud was even bigger than the red mist, which caused enormous happiness to spring into being within Hui Yue.

  Glancing at the green pearl, Hui Yue snorted. He understood the blue cloud and the red mist. One grew larger if he was killing while the other grew with cultivation. The green pearl, however, grew whenever it felt like assisting Hui Yue with his injuries. It was not something that he could say would always grow with injuries, nor could he say when it would grow. The uncertainty caused Hui Yue to completely ignore the pearl, pretending that it did not exist unless he directly looked at it after which he would feel an unexplainable anger.

  Leaving the Qi cave, Hui Yue slowly opened his eyes and stood up, his body filled with a surging energy from within, a strength which he did not have before. Although he had only absorbed energy from all the cultivators for a short moment, it had crashed into him like a wave onto a shore leaving behind the purest energy for Hui Yue to refine and keep as his own.

  The amount of spiritual energy and Qi he absorbed was far more than what he could gain from cultivating through many months and happiness was visible on his face as he clenched and unclenched his hand, feeling his new strength.

  The smile on his face turned to a determined expression, as he moved to the courtyard stood beneath the trees and closed his eyes as he activated the Qi within his body.

  At first, he started his normal routine where he used Black Blood along with the Qi dagger after which he formed different stances, his focus purely on the two daggers within his hands.

  Hui Yue was standing with all his muscles taut, not moving a single inch. Anyone who saw him would assume that he was just meditating while standing still, however what he was truly doing was imagining all the different varieties of attacks that were possible for him to perform with Black Blood which was resting within his hand.

  The dagger had long since become a part of Hui Yue, it worked as if it was an extension of his arm and thoughts alone was enough for Hui Yue to train.

  Moving slightly, a Qi dagger shot forward. A curved slash appeared, however if one were to look at the attack from another side, it would appear like a straight stab. The attack changed depending on where the person was viewing it.

  Although Hui Yue had multiple martial art skills along with spiritual art skills, he still preferred to train his muscles and his body along with his mind. Lan Feng had long since taught him to never skip on the basics, and Hui Yue could not help but agree on this. He already knew how much of a difference it made for him and his determination would never drop, his eagerness to improve would always strive for perfection.

  Standing within the house, Xie Lan was looking out at the young man who was working hard in the closed off courtyard and her eyes were filled with a complicated expression. She too had been enveloped by the tranquil atmosphere which had been spreading out earlier, however unlike the others, she was perfectly well aware of how he had sucked up some of her cultivation base.

  Looking at the young man now, Xie Lan could see how his body was bursting with strength, even more so than it had been earlier that day. She was greatly confused as she was uncertain what to do with the information she discovered. The young man in front of her was unlike anyone she had ever met before and it scared her, but what scared her even more was how obsessed her master was with this unknown boy.

  In Xie Lan’s mind, Xu Piao was the most important person and to keep him safe was her life’s goal. To see him so intoxicated by a stranger which she, in no way, was able to see through was something which caused the woman to feel danger.

  Although Xie Lan felt danger, she was unable to do anything as she had been given a direct order by Xu Piao. That was to work together with Hui Yue, assist him in winning the tournament, not to mention saving him should he be in a dangerous situation. In a situation like this even though Xie Lan wished to get rid of the young man she had to accept that it was not possible for her to do so and she bit down hard as she turned away from the window, returning to her own room where she started cultivating once more.

  ….

  “What do you mean you still haven’t found him?” Zhong Fai was looking at the seven crusaders who were cowering on the ground in fear as they had brought the news to their master.

  Seeing that they were cowering, Zhong Fai could not help but sigh deeply. He knew that it was impossible for these crusaders to lie to him, however he also knew that it was impossible for anyone to completely vanish from the surface of the earth.

  Thinking through his various options, Zhong Fai suddenly smiled sinisterly, as he waved his hand sending away the still cowering seven crusaders which were kowtowing on the ground.

  “There is one option,” He mumbled quietly before he looked up, “Xiao Min!” He yelled loudly and a beautiful white man appeared. His hair and skin were as white as newly fallen snow, his hair filled with small flowers made from frost. His eyes blue with a slight mist in the middle.

  “Milord called,” The frozen man said, as he bowed to the young beautiful man seated atop the frozen throne.

  “Contact the Dragon Corps,” Zhong Fai said with a smile on his lips, “Have them look out for a white-haired young boy. If they find him, have them treat him with great care and don’t allow them to lose track of him until they have notified me and I have managed to catch him.”

  “Yes, Milord,” Xiao Min answered before he bowed deeply and backed out the room, never once turning his back to his lord.

  “I look forward to seeing your young white-haired friend’s reaction when he notices all the things that have happened on the surface in all these months when he has been missing,” A voice suddenly sounded out, as yet another frozen man appeared.

  Unlike the previous one, this one did not show respect
towards Zhong Fai as one would have expected, but surprisingly enough the handsome man on top of the throne seemed as though he did not care at all about the lack of respect, instead his face was all smiles and happiness.

  “I wonder how he will react indeed,” Zhong Fai agreed as he seemed to look into the distance. “Not only him,” He continued, “But as far as I am aware, our cute little boy is traveling around with a daughter of the Wang family and a son of the Deng family. They will definitely be shocked upon hearing what happened while they were gone.”

  The two men were silent for some time before a loud ringing laughter sounded out within the throne room and Zhong Fai’s face showed great amusement.

  “How do you think they will react?” Zhong Fai asked the frozen man next to him who only shrugged his shoulders, “How can they act?” He questioned, however his attention was no longer focused on the conversation, “No matter what they do, what is done has already been done, they can’t change anything.”