Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  After having been there for some time, Wan Qiao ensured that he ate food every day. Food filled with magical and medicinal herbs. Being a Lord of the Forest, and especially the strongest one, she got plenty of medicinal herbs gifted to her each year, not to mention the workers within her fiefdom who planted and harvested herbs.

  Within all of Shenyuan, the One-Horned Jasmine Eagle, Wan Qiao, was the most feared creature. Her strength was far superior to every other Lord of the Forest, and her age far outstripped even the oldest magical beast within the kingdom. She was revered and within her capital, she was worshiped like a deity.

  This woman, who usually stayed in her office or personal chambers had recently changed, and the thing which had caused her to change was a young man. No one knew where this young man came from, nor who he was. The only thing known about him was that he was invited into Wan Qiao’s private chambers at least once a day, that he was training hard, and that she would often oversee his training. They also knew he was capable of maintaining full human form although he did not have the aura of a Saint.

  What everyone was unaware of was that Hui Yue was summoned to Wan Qiao’s personal chambers for the sake of training. So he could train himself even more. This time, not physically or mentally, but to learn how to fully control the strength of the magical beast which resided within him.

  Through tough training, Hui Yue found out that the beast in his dantian cave was not a second soul as he had expected, no the beast in his dantian cave was a part of his soul.

  This also meant that Lan Feng and the wolf-man were two completely different kinds of souls. Although Hui Yue and Lan Feng’s souls were connected they were two individual souls; however, this red wolf was a part of Hui Yue. Because of this Hui Yue could ultimately control its strengths as though they was his own.

  At first, both wolf and man were apprehensive about accepting this fact, and even now when they stared at each other oddly, knowing they were the same person. They eventually came to accept the facts because they could merge and allow for Hui Yue to use the strength of the wolf.

  This made Hui Yue fully understand that this wolf was indeed himself. No matter how he looked at it, the wolf was his former life. Also, this meant that the others were his previous lives as well. If they were to materialize themselves, Hui Yue could control them much more efficiently.

  Another thing Hui Yue learned from when the wolf freed itself from his soul was that his affinity with Fire increased tremendously. This was due to the wolf having an elemental affinity for fire.

  Thinking along these lines, Hui Yue could not help but look at the green pearl within his dantian cave. If he managed to gain control over this pearl he would become much more proficient at healing. Alongside being able to become an alchemist. Knowing this was incredibly tempting, however, the only way to make his soul manifest was for it to grow stronger.

  Increasing the green pearl’s strength meant that Hui Yue had to be saved by the pearl, and that happened rarely. Another option was to feed the pearl high-quality medicinal pills, but Hui Yue found that the pearl refused to absorb them as though it knew what his plans were.

  Sighing deeply, Hui Yue came to the conclusion that he could do nothing but see what happened in the future. Standing in Wan Qiao’s room his body once more transformed into the shape of a wolf-man. The final transformation, the transformation to a full wolf, was still not possible for him.

  Although he could not fully transform just yet, his strength had already increased by an astonishing amount when he became a wolf-man. In this shape, when using his beastly mist energies alongside his spiritual energy, and elemental affinities he was as powerful as a King ranked expert.

  Wan Qiao managed to bring countless guards from her many armies into the palace to spar against Hui Yue. This let the young man learn how to use the strength he gathered in real battle.

  The guards whom Wan Qiao found all had to stay in the palace. None of them were allowed to tell anyone about what they did for her. All of them were curious as to what the relationship between this young man and the woman known as Shenyuan’s Queen was.

  Today was a day just like the others. Hui Yue had previously finished his physical training then his body had been sore, so he relaxed within the hot spring bath for an hour. After that he ate his lunch and now he was within Wan Qiao’s chambers, standing in front of her as a wolf-man.

  The amount of time Hui Yue could last in his transformed stage increased day by day. His control over mist energy, the energy used by magical beasts, was something which took time to control, and Hui Yue was working hard on it every single day.

  Magical beasts did not have dantians; instead, they had beast cores which were located within their heads. Although they were said to have the same ranks as cultivators, their energy was not the same as human cultivators.

  Beasts refined the essence of the heavens and the earth which would naturally circulate within their body, and after it was refined a mist would enter the beast core where it would combine with their elemental affinity. Unlike humans, beasts had elemental affinity from when they were born. Some had more than one affinity while others had only one. The mist energy would have the same color as Qi when the beasts were younger. As they grew older, it would turn silvery before it eventually took its color after their elemental affinity.

  This color was also the reason many inexperienced experts believed that magical beasts had the same sort of energy like humans, and ranked their strengths as such.

  Hui Yue did not know the actual difference between beasts and human energies until he had the beast within him. This was due to Lan Feng. Although he was a beast, he used Qi, spiritual energy, and Wu Wei.

  Having a magical beast within his body using the same sort of energies as himself, Hui Yue did not understand that this did not apply to all magical beasts.

  It turned out that the reason Lan Feng could use these energies was because he was a divine beast.

  Divine beasts were beasts far stronger than other beasts. From when they were born, they were capable of taking full human form, alongside cultivating the same way humans do. Lan Feng and the other three sons of the four Divine Beasts were all cultivating like humans. This was one of the few things which set divine beasts apart from standard magical beasts.

  Thinking this, it was evident that the wolf whom Hui Yue had been in his previous life was not a divine beast; however, his strength far surpassed that of Lan Feng. That was something which Hui Yue knew for sure.

  All of these things Hui Yue did not know before but learned at the time he underwent Wan Qiao’s personal training. Having transformed into a wolf-man, Hui Yue quickly turned back to a human.

  He had a limited amount of time he was capable of keeping up his wolf-man form, and he knew that Wan Qiao planned yet another battle for him to participate in; a fight he could only win if he was in his wolf-man form.

  It was Hui Yue’s bad luck should he not manage to keep his wolf-man form long enough to defeat his opponent in which case he would be beaten black and blue by his opponent. This was something which Wan Qiao ensured happened often. The reason that Wan Qiao used this sort of training was so that Hui Yue, who disliked being beaten, would take the fights seriously. Due to this, he would strive his best to win. If Hui Yue did not have the ability to win then, he would learn from the match and train harder to become stronger.

  Hui Yue fought the same guard each night until he was capable of defeating them. This was done to ensure that he would increase his strength little by little.

  The guard he was set to fight tonight was one he had already met three nights in a row, obviously, he had not won any of the matches. The first night, Hui Yue had no chance of victory. He lost with record speed in a few minutes. The second night he managed to last for about ten minutes, and last night he came very close to winning with the match ongoing even after fifteen minutes.

  These fights were what made Hui Yue truly understand how much he was progressing every single
day. Standing within Wan Qiao’s room, Hui Yue looked out the window only to see a seemingly young man making his way through the courtyard outside the window. He was headed straight for the building in which Wan Qiao’s personal rooms were located.

  Looking at this young man, Hui Yue could not help but smile a depressing smile. He knew that this man, who was an eagle-man, was nowhere as young as he seemed. He had chosen to stop his body from aging; a sign that he had long since entered the upper dantian becoming a King ranked expert.

  When Hui Yue said that he had long since entered the upper dantian, he was not overstating. The guard had indeed been a King for over a hundred years by now, and he was one of Wan Qiao’s most trusted guards.

  Not waiting for the young man to enter the premises, Hui Yue sighed deeply as he stood up and left the room in which he was standing together with Wan Qiao. The woman following him behind, a smile on her face as she looked forward to the battle that was about to commence.

  Chapter 212 - Prowess of a Wolf

  * * *

  Chapter 212: Prowess of a Wolf

  Leaving behind the chambers the three of them, the eagle man, the white-haired young man, and the beautiful woman all headed towards a small arena. This arena was in a courtyard that led up to Wan Qiao’s private chambers. Not many servants came here so the two men would be able to fight one another in peace.

  Hui Yue’s eyes glistened with determination. This time, he would win and avoid being beaten silly. This time, he would show that he had what it took to defeat the guard Wan Qiao picked out.

  Although Hui Yue knew that this was just one guard, and as soon as this one was defeated another one would arrive. It was a never ending cycle of being beaten, yet his attention was fully focused on this one guard in front of him. To defeat this one man, Hui Yue worked the training schedule to the letter. He trained so hard that he transcended his limits over and over again, and spent the minimum amount of time eating and tending to his sore muscles.

  When Hui Yue transformed into his wolf form, he had no need for weapons. His body alone had claws and teeth both as sharp as razor blades and as durable as black iron itself.

  Stepping into the arena, the guard and Hui Yue both changed their shapes. While Hui Yue turned into a ferocious beast, the eagle-man turned into a human. His wings were gone, and a long sword suddenly appeared within his hands.

  Hui Yue was in no mood to wait for his opponent to settle before they started the battle, and lifting his hand sharp claws were visible. With a hard stomp, the muscles in his leg shot him forward like an arrow. His claws were as sharp as a razor, and a small humming sound could be heard as the air contorted wherever the claws swept past. Ripples of energy were left behind in its wake, and the swipe released five strong energy ripples; all of which were red as they traveled further towards the guard.

  Snorting, the guard lifted the long sword in his hand and used it to block the energy ripples heading his way. Although he managed to block the fearsome energy, he was pushed back a few steps.

  Seeing that Hui Yue started his attacks, the young looking bird-man instantly lifted his sword.

  “Zhing!”

  The sword flew through the air, and the sharp edge came down at Hui Yue, but he did not fear it. Instead, he nimbly dodged it and counter attacked with a hard kick from his powerful legs.

  Seeing the incoming kick the bird-man changed the direction of his sword in the last moment and managed to block the kick with the flat side of the sword. Once again the young man was thrown backwards.

  The young guard was not the only one thrown backwards. Hui Yue too had to retreat because although his physical strength far outstretched this guard in front of him, the guard had a weapon which was far stronger than his defense. It was important for Hui Yue to learn caution, while at the same time understand that each of his attacks needed to be decisive because the time in which he could be a wolf was limited.

  A loud howl escaped him before he charged at the young looking guard. This time, he focused all his power within his claws as he rushed forward. Wind started to gather around Hui Yue, and energy ripples emanate out once more.

  The closer Hui Yue came, the calmer the guard became as he once more lifted his sword to block the young man who was pouring all his energy into the claws.

  Hui Yue would not allow for his time within his wolf-form to be wasted and he knew that if he was to pull out all his strength of the wolf, he would have a higher chance of success than if he was to use smaller amounts and prolong the fight. Due to this, this would be their final exchange. If Hui Yue were to win then he would not have to fight against this guard again, but if he were to lose then he would go through the same thing again tomorrow.

  The energy ripples around Hui Yue grew larger in size, and the wind, itself, started to make space for him. Suddenly, as he shot his arm forward a howling sound could be heard as the energy alone was enough to cause small holes to appear in reality, small traces of the black abyss could be seen.

  Seeing this the guard swore loudly as he retreated quickly, however, no matter how swiftly he retreated it was impossible for him to retreat far enough to be safe. Hui Yue’s claws shone bright red with red mist enveloping them. The collision released all this energy and the young looking guard was shot backwards. He was shot towards the outside of the arena where he landed next to Wan Qiao, spitting up a mouthful of fresh blood. He slowly sunk to the ground where he was trying to catch his breath.

  A big smile appeared on Wan Qiao’s face as she looked at the guard and then at Hui Yue, who slowly allowed for his body to return to human form. His body felt exhausted after having beaten the guard.

  “Well done,” She said while clapping her hands. “You managed to defeat yet another King ranked expert by relying on strength alone. Tomorrow we are going to train against someone who uses mist energy. You can’t expect your opponent to be this lenient towards you when you fight them so prepare for tomorrow.” These were the final words she said before Hui Yue was allowed to go finish the rest of his training for the day.

  One day took another and Hui Yue once more lost quite badly now that they were using mist energy. Hui Yue was seriously wounded multiple times. The mist energy was hard to control, but as he continued his training improved and his strength increased. Controlling the red mist made it possible for Hui Yue to improve his physical strength tremendously. Not only did his physical strength increased, but his ability in controlling the red mist improved alongside controlling his internal energies.

  It took Hui Yue a month to defeat the first person he fought against who used their internal energy. This month he had been skewered through his arm, the muscles on his legs had been severed, and he had been impaled multiple times before he finally managed to overcome his opponent.

  Now, two months later, Hui Yue perfected the mist energy and his physical strength, even as a human, was now capable of attacking King ranked experts. In human shape, he would be able to survive and escape, but as a wolf, he would now be capable of defeating Kings, even those who use Wu Wei to fight him.

  His rank, when looking at his internal energy, had also risen quite a bit while being within this world and following Wan Qiao’s training schedule. His body absorbed a lot of essence of the heavens and the earth while doing physical training. His rank rose to the fourth star of the Duke rank, and his internal energies rushed towards the ranks of a King.

  In all the time Hui Yue was within Shenyuan he had done everything he could not to use the souls within his dantian cave. He wished that they would not condense into a real part of his soul much like the wolf did. He wanted to trust his own strength, his strength which was rapidly increasing.

  *Knock* *Knock*

  Opening his eyes, Hui Yue looked at the door where Wan Qiao appeared with a smile on her face.

  “Get ready, time for some new training. A human delegation from the Siban Empire has entered Shenyuan. We are going to meet them and hear why they entered my home.”

&nbs
p; Hearing the order, Hui Yue knew he had no other option than to obey. He quickly stood up and did a few stretches before he followed Wan Qiao out of the palace.

  In front of them on the palace grounds were multiple guards waiting for Wan Qiao’s arrival. All of them were filled with pride as they saw her appear; however, brows were furrowed, and eyes were glaring as they saw their goddess walk side by side with a white-haired young man whom apparently wasn’t anything special.

  All the guards were aware of Hui Yue being someone whom Wan Qiao personally trained, someone whom even guards were able to trash.

  But this young man was an enigma. He was capable of looking like a human although he was not a Saint. His beastly aura was very restrained, and it was as though it did not exist unless he took beast form.

  Wan Qiao made him fight both in human form and in the beast form. She made him fight against one guard after another, and rumors about him had quickly spread amongst the guards. All of them unsure why Wan Qiao spent this much time and effort for one single man.