Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  It definitely also tasted better than the dried foods he had eaten within the carriage earlier that day, and with a satisfied expression on his face he gulped down his entire portion while smiling.

  After having eaten his entire portion of food, Yang Bai looked at Wang Ju Long with dreamy eyes and quickly, like a cat, rushed towards her side where he took her hands within his and fell to his knees.

  “Will you marry me?” He asked, his eyes still shining with adoration as he looked at Wang Ju Long, his words shocked the entire group.

  Deng Wu, who was seated next to Hui Yue leaned slightly to the side so that his mouth was right next to the white-haired boy’s ear and while laughing said, “It seems like you’ve gotten a rival!”

  Hui Yue was slightly disturbed by Deng Wu’s comment, but looking at Deng Wu all he did was snort in reply. It was true that he had been looking at Wang Ju Long more often after that morning, but he was certain that nobody noticed. In spite of that, the romance specialist of the group noticed the small changes in Hui Yue, making him somewhat embarrassed.

  While the quick exchange of words happened on one side of the bonfire, on the other Wang Ju Long looked at the young child with a vacant expression on her face before she smiled gently and with a very blunt voice uttered two words, “I can’t.”

  Hearing those words, Hui Yue had the urge to laugh, instead, he raised his eyebrows as the young master showed no signs of giving up. His grip on Wang Ju Long’s hands got tighter as he tried dragging her with him towards the carriage.

  “Don’t worry, I am old enough to get married. Let’s get married already!” He continued, however this time Wang Ju Long lost her patience and with a slight pull she regained her hands.

  “I won’t marry you,” She said with her voice flat, the voice she only used when she was either incredibly bored or against whatever it was Deng Wu had said. To see her use the voice against the young master caused Hui Yue to laugh out loud, it was no longer possible for him to hold back.

  A pout could be seen on the young master’s face as he turned around and rushed towards his carriage. After a few moments, Hui Yue and the others could hear loud sounds from the carriage he had just entered only to see that after a moment a servant came towards their campsite.

  Standing next to the group of mercenaries, the servant instantly made a deep bow, after which he sighed deeply, “I apologize for our young master and his behavior, it was in no way intended to insult you he just got too excited.”

  Hui Yue waved his hand dismissively, “It’s fine,” He said while laughing, “Ju Long already turned down the young lord so there is nothing to worry about.”

  Having said that, Hui Yue waited for a bit longer before he looked around the now black surroundings even the moon in the sky did not illuminate the ground that much and suddenly a feeling of things not being right appeared in Hui Yue’s mind.

  “Get back into the carriage and lock it,” He said with a low voice as he stood up, his friends instantly following his lead as they felt that Hui Yue was acting weird.

  Walking from campsite to campsite, Hui Yue wanted to make sure that every guard was where they were supposed to be.

  There were three campsites. The first belonged to Hui Yue and his friends. The second belonged to the four guards who had purchased a spot on the mission, and the final one belonged to the guards who were sent from the Yang family.

  The Yang family guards totaled ten, but when Hui Yue arrived at the campsite only nine men were seated around the bonfire, all of them loud and cheerful.

  “Where is your final man?” Hui Yue asked with a low voice his hairs starting to stand on end and a feeling of danger was descending upon him.

  “Wu and Ju Long.” Hui Yue called out with a low voice, “Take Xu Piao and Xie Lan and get to the carriage with the young lord. Make sure no one enters or leaves the carriage and make sure that no one gets close. Make anyone who tries to get inside wait outside. If they try and force their way, kill them.”

  “He went to piss.” One of the guards said with an annoyed voice, “Why should we keep track of where our man goes?”

  “How long ago was it since he left?” Hui Yue continued asking questions, something which clearly made the men unhappy. Although he was considered a genius, these guards did not care, instead, they felt like the young brat was trying to teach them their jobs.

  Hui Yue could do nothing else but sigh as he left the nine guards behind and moved towards the second campfire, the campfire with the four guards.

  All four were together, but they seemed somewhat uncomfortable and as soon as they saw Hui Yue hope filled their eyes.

  “There is something in the darkness,” One of the men said with a scared expression on his face. The comment made Hui Yue frown slightly, uncomfortable that he was actually right about being so worried.

  “Move towards the carriage with the young master and follow the lead of my men.” Hui Yue said before he once more moved towards the nine guards who were certain that nothing was amiss.

  As Hui Yue arrived, he saw that only eight were left, one more person having vanished. This time the group of guards were no longer arrogant, instead, they were slightly hesitant and their eyes were flicking to either side.

  “Go to the main carriage and protect the young master,” Hui Yue ordered, his eyes scanning the ground outside the campsite, yet nothing was out of the ordinary not giving him a hint as to what was after them.

  “What about our comrades?” One of the men asked his voice trembling somewhat. As the guard had never experienced anything like this before.

  “We will look for them tomorrow,” Hui Yue said with a harsh voice. Although he knew that these guards were worried about their friends going out to search would not help anyone, because they needed to prepare for an attack.

  Arriving at the carriage, everyone already set up new campfires and with vigilance were looking around their surroundings, some jolted as they saw the figures of Hui Yue and the remaining Yang family guards following him.

  “Has anything happened here?” Hui Yue asked Xu Piao with a low voice but the guild master shook his head as he look around.

  Standing in front, Hui Yue told everyone that they were not allowed to go anywhere unless they moved in groups of four or more, so that if something happened, then there would be more people to assist each other.

  The night was dark and the light from the moon was not strong enough to illuminate the campsite. The only light source came from the campfire next to the main carriage, but apart from everyone being on guard nothing else happened the rest of the night.

  As the morning sky in the east grew purple from the rising sun, the tired guards finally felt some relief. The eight guards from the Yang family all rushed towards their own carriage where they planned on entering to sleep, while the entourage once more moved further into the cave, moving towards the tunnels on the west side.

  However, things did not go as the men planned, and soon a shriek sounded throughout the camp warning Hui Yue and his friends that something had happened. Everyone rushed towards the carriage where the shriek had sounded out.

  Arriving at the carriage, Hui Yue’s face turned pale and out of reflex his hand suddenly covered the eyes of the young master. The smell of blood and gore was drifting out from within the carriage.

  “Take him away.” Hui Yue said with a stern voice to the servant, and with a serious nod the butler, the servant, and Yang Bai left the carriage heading towards their own.

  “Xu Piao, Xie Lan. Follow, then enter the carriage to protect the young master.” Hui Yue said with a somewhat odd voice and neither of the two questioned the order. Both of them rushed after the young master and his two servants as they entered the carriage.

  Looking back into the carriage, Hui Yue sighed deeply as he felt the red mist inside his dantian roiling slightly, but after a few heavy breaths and with some help from the blue cloud, Hui Yue managed to calm himself down.

  The corpses of the two
guards were left inside the carriage, but what he saw was not just two bodies. The two men had both been torn completely leaving none with a complete corpse to bury.

  Their limbs were severed, their heads halfway severed, their stomachs had been shredded, the guts falling out and a foul stench filled up the carriage.

  Looking over it, Hui Yue could sense that something was wrong with a single glance at the brutal scene. He quickly deduced that no human could leave behind such a wound, if anything it looked like the dismembering was caused by a demon beast.

  Turning around, a dangerous gleam was visible within Hui Yue’s eyes as he uttered one sentence, “Burn it.” After which he went towards the other carriage to inform them about the corpses they had found and the decision he made.

  The guards were all unhappy with his decision to burn the carriage, as it meant that they would have to walk, but nothing could be done as the young master quickly agreed with Hui Yue about burning the remains. They were on a road where they could not bury them beneath the ground, and it was impossible for them to turn around now to deliver the remains to their families. Instead they burned them, holding a short break of silence before heading out again on their journey . The eight remaining Yang family guards now travelling on their feet much like Hui Yue and the mercenaries.

  Walking slowly, the mood was somber as they had only travelled for a day yet they had already lost two of their men, and the worst part was that no one had seen who or what was behind it.

  Looking at the fact that the corpses were placed within the carriage, one would expect that a human was behind it, but looking at the injuries inflicted everyone would believe that it was done by a beast. Could it be a human who had a beast with him? No matter who it was, why was he after their caravan? They had not insulted anyone and their goal was not to earn money, instead, it was to arrive at the young master’s academy.

  Usually a mission such as this would succeed with only five Master ranked experts, but something was clearly different this time. Something was completely wrong with their trip, Hui Yue felt. His vigilant eyes never once neglecting what happened around him and his muscles were tense, constantly feeling killing intent aimed at him, yet no matter where or how much he looked around, he saw no one.

  Chapter 164 - Scarface

  * * *

  Chapter 164: Scarface

  Travelling through the entire day, the mood slowly turned better as nothing unexpected happened. But even still, Hui Yue kept feeling as though he was being observed, observed by someone who wished to kill him.

  The four guards who walked the previous day stored away their armor as they had experienced the harsh reality. It was not possible to keep marching while wearing such a heavy armor although it looked good, it was far from practical.

  The eight remaining guards from the Yang family did not understand that they would have trouble, however, as the time went on problems arose as they started panting and lagging behind.

  Seeing them lagging behind, Hui Yue instantly stopped the caravan, ordering the guards to drop their armor then they all slowly made their way forward once again. Although they moved forward their speed was far inferior to that of the day before, and the group of mercenaries started to feel uncomfortable with the time it was taking, fearing that danger would approach them from every side.

  Hui Yue was not the only one who felt as though there was someone behind them, Xu Piao shared this premonition and his eyes were flickering from side to side, his brow furrowed and his muscles taut.

  Hui Yue could not help but hope that whomever it was that was behind them was unable to follow into the tunnels. The thought of having vicious killers following them in the lawless world of the tunnels where no light shone, a world where no one cared for what happened to others and one could pretend that a murder was done by a magical beast.

  Thinking about this, Hui Yue’s eyes grew cold as he went to the back and decided to ensure that no one fell behind. He had already lost two men; he did not plan on losing more anytime soon.

  As soon as the beautiful cave sky started turning dim, the group stopped their advance and unlike the previous evening did not set up three campfires, only one next to the carriage belonging to the young master Yang Bai.

  Although the group of friends joined the mission as an excuse to travel towards the capital, and also partly for protection, Hui Yue had no intention of doing a half assed job, instead, he was planning on working hard to deliver the young man to his academy and then slowly continue on towards the capital.

  Looking at the darkness which had descended outside the campsite, Hui Yue once more looked towards the guards who no longer had a somewhat cheerful expression, but rather a dark and somber atmosphere overtook them. Even Deng Wu had a serious expression on his face, and Wang Ju Long’s beautiful features were twisted into a frown as she tried to strain her eyes peering into the darkness.

  Sha Yun was the same as usual, seated on the ground her back leaning against the carriage wheel and her tail leisurely tapping the ground as her eyes were narrowed. She was looking at the guards with undisguised contempt.

  Hui Yue sighed as he saw the snake-woman, Her feelings were always obvious and although she had good reason to dislike people like them, people who felt superior to magical beasts, and even though she felt wronged the snake-woman had long since learned not to act on every insult that was thrown her way. Instead she was seated there, clearly opposing the guards who had taken rest around the campfire.

  Deng Wu, and Wang Ju Long quickly went towards Sha Yun and sat down next to her. The three friends were sitting next to each other, as Hui Yue made his way to them and sat down, none of them saying anything as everyone was vigilantly checking their surroundings, listening to even the slightest sound out of the ordinary.

  Every hour, the four friends would search the perimeter of the camp only to find that everything was peaceful and quiet, nothing out of the ordinary. None of the guards dared to move away from the fire during the night either, and eventually the shining light from the rising sun could be seen in the distance. The young lord, his servant, and their butler finally woke up. Now that none of the guards were wearing their heavy armor it was possible start at a fast pace.

  Although they were not traveling at their fastest speed, they no longer had people lagging behind and the pace was steady. The caravan moved the entire day and did not stopping until they reached a smaller town where they reserved a whole inn for the entourage to rest.

  Being at the inn, Hui Yue ordered his friends to get a good night of sleep as he assumed that they would be safe. The guards all slept in a room of their own while the mercenaries, along with the four guards, slept in another room. A third room was prepared for the young master and his two servants.

  While the others could go days on end without sleep, it would at some point affect their judgement and ability to control their bodies. Thiswhich was why he sent them off to bed, while he, himself, stayed awake. Having opened the Yin and Yang Qiao Mai meridians, Hui Yue no longer needed to sleep his body was capable of resting as long as it was within the essence of the heavens and the earth.

  Walking around the closed off inn which was completely dark and silent, Hui Yue suddenly felt a killing intent so extreme that even his own red mist would not lose out.

  Walking past a window, Hui Yue looked down into the courtyard only to see the shadow of a person, a person who had a demon beast by his side. The moonlight shone brightly down onto this person illuminating him in front of the white-haired young man, and the sight that was shown to him shocked him to the core.

  The shadow on the ground raised his head looking straight at the window where Hui Yue was hidden, the silvery moonlight cascading onto his face revealed a disfigured face. A face which seemed to have been maimed by a beast.

  His face had no skin at all on the lower half His nose was nothing but two holes, and his lips were gone as well. Looking at the man, his face seemed like that of a skeleton. Meat and bone were evide
nt on the middle and lower face, but his eyes were filled with vitality and cruelty, but the moment their eyes locked together the terrifying looking man bowed deeply and the killing intent instantly vanished.

  Having bowed to Hui Yue, the man turned around and with his giant red tiger by his side he left the courtyard. Leaving behind a worried young man, who still felt how his hair were standing on end.

  The man, and his demon beast, were definitely the ones who had been following them since they left the capital of the Demon Dwelling Cave and his beast was obviously the one who disfigured the two guards from that night.

  The demon beast was a giant tiger. It was easily seven metres long while counting the tail and almost three metres tall. Its claws were massive and looking at them they seemed to be the right size for the cuts on the corpses.