Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  “I will get going then.” Gao Yan said excusing himself, “I am still looking for information about An He. This matter has proven to be far more difficult than I expected.” Once again a frown appeared on his face, but it quickly vanished. “Can you give me any information about him?” Gao Yan asked, and Hui Yue pondered for some time. What exactly did he know about An He? “He is at least as strong as the Frozen General. Where Zhong Fai has the Frozen Brigade, An He has the Crusaders.” Hearing this the eyes of Gao Yan widened and mouth opened, “I assumed he had something to do with the Crusaders but to be their leader and that no one knows about this? That is astonishing.” He whispered. As soon as he heard about this, Gao Yan was clearly caught by a train of thoughts, and he started mumbling to himself as he bit his lips. Gao Yan stayed deep in thought for a few minutes before a smile spread across his face, as he once more looked to Hui Yue, “I will do all I can to get information about An He.” He said smilingly as he nodded to the two cultivators and excused himself. After which he rushed back to the Black Lion confident he would be capable of getting information from the Tang twins about An He.

  While Gao Yan returned to gather information, Hui Yue started going through the memory stones. Silvery-blue light shone and he felt information press into his mind. One rumor after another about the Frozen General appeared. One said that he was a monster from the time when the world was frozen, a fiend who had survived since the frozen era by living from eating people. Another rumor said that every night the Frozen General would sweep down on the cities and kidnap bad boys and girls. He would bring them home and turn them into his frozen soldiers. Another rumor said that the Frozen General was secretly the leader of the world. That he controlled every royal family without anyone knowing. Another person had stated that the Frozen General would hunt down all the skilled youngsters and kidnap them for his own army. Thinking over the countless rumors, Hui Yue could not help but feel that the last was the most reasonable. Though despite having met Zhong Fai, he had no idea why he acted the way he did. A shiver ran down Hui Yue’s spine as he thought about the last rumor. Hopefully, he was not considered a young talent in Zhong Fai’s eyes.

  It was not only Zhong Fai who the rumors were about; the Frozen Brigade was also well known. They were an army filled with ferocious beasts and humans who had been turned into monsters. When experts went missing, they would appear in the Frozen Brigade. If an expert were to die, then they could be resurrected and become a Frozen Officer. Hearing all of these rumors Hui Yue could only snort in contempt. He had seen what was truly underneath the crusader’s capes, and he was no longer shocked that Zhong Fai too was using necromancy. He knew that he needed more of an understanding of what it truly meant to be a necromancer. He made a mental note to find Deng Wu when he finished absorbing the information within the memory stones.

  Reaching out, he picked up one of the memory stones containing information about the Crusaders. As soon as he placed it on his forehead, more information surged through his mind. This time, it was a long list of nobles and royal families who had Crusader’s living in their households. It included how many crusaders each had, and what schedules they kept.

  These Crusaders usually did not do anything but guard about the premises they were sent to. But once a week they would leave and head to the royal castle. There they would be inside for a few hours before they returned to the houses which they belonged. The servants in the castle were aware that the Crusaders met up but as for what they did no one knew. The servants were not allowed entry, and no noble or royal were a part of these meetings either. The action the Crusaders took once a week was something that no one questioned. Though Hui Yue could not help but wonder what they did at that time.

  Placing the stone on the table, Hui Yue picked up another memory stone and within a few seconds, more information about the Crusaders appeared in his mind. According to history Crusaders were seen as far back as anyone could remember. At least all the way back to the Dark Age. The Crusaders had different tasks throughout the years. At first, they were in charge of keeping the peace within the major cities. They ensured the safety of the citizens, but slowly, as the cities became more and more secure and the Dark Age became a thing of legends, the Crusaders changed from peacekeepers to guardians of prominent family taking up posts at their residences. Despite the Crusaders change of status they never lost the respect the citizens showed them. Throughout the years the citizens viewed the Crusaders as a sign of the stability of the kingdom. Their belief was that as along as they were around nothing would be able to shake the kingdom. However, it was only in the capitals of the former three kingdoms that the Crusaders now lived. Hui Yue could not help but wonder what happened to the Crusaders within the Siban Empire as the ones he fought against definitely were not the ones who had been living in the city. They had obviously been sent specifically for the war.

  As to Crusaders’ background, every commoner expected that they belonged to the royal families throughout the world. That they acted due to the royal family’s bidding.

  Removing the memory stone, Hui Yue was deep in thought. It was clear that An He used his Crusaders when he was taking over the world. He then kept them around to keep order, but now, four thousand years later, it seemed that this exalted being did not care about the world anymore. Hui Yue had a fear that perhaps An He had already left this world. He was strong, very strong, and perhaps he had already reached the God rank. If he had it is likely he had already left this world behind, leaving it be so he could experience the different worlds that only deities could travel to.

  “Well, I can’t do anything about that.” Hui Yue sighed as he looked out the window, “No matter where An He is, I will not give up before I find him. Even if it means that I have to look for an eternity.” He swore and slowly rose to his feet. Looking at the very focused Cai Jie, Hui Yue chuckled as he shook his head. It was obvious that he was thoroughly look through the information that was gathered about the Crusaders, but Hui Yue was much more curious about the skills of his necromancy wondering how such astonishing results were achieved. Because of this, he had not sat down to fully scour his mind for information gained from the memory stones.

  Knocking on the door, he heard the familiar voice of Deng Wu call out, “Come in!” And Hui Yue entered closing the door gently behind him. He walked in and sat in front of the dragon-man. “I need some help from you,” Hui Yue said straight out as he looked at his long time friend. The two of them had gone to hell and back together, and this caused Deng Wu to become who he was now. Now he shared his body with Little Dragon, but regardless of how Lan Feng had forced the merger of the two, Deng Wu still followed him faithfully. Hui Yue and Deng Wu were martial brothers and trust had been built between the two during their adventures together. They would both trust the other with their lives, and they knew that this affection was shared. They were like family to one another, especially now when Deng Wu had lost everyone else. He had turned to his one friend whom he believed could help him gain revenge.

  “I am not certain how much you know about the Crusaders,” He started, and Deng Wu shrugged. He knew nothing more than the average man, that Crusaders did not talk, that they never showed their skin, and that they were strong but impossible to understand. “We fought against them in the war, and I saw what’s truly underneath their cloaks,” He continued. “The Crusaders are dead,” Hearing this Deng Wu seemed perplexed. “They are dead,” Hui Yue stated again. “They are not your normal soul shadows, instead of just a soul they have their body as well. Their bodies are at different stages of decomposition. Some are corpses with flesh; some are rotting while others are only bones, but no matter what their bodies are still being held together somehow. The only thing I can say with certainty is that their personal will is completely gone.”

  “They know how to act. They know what is expected of them and how to fight,” He continued. “Although they have no personal will they are still capable of behaving. How does one accomplish this as a necr
omancer?” Hui Yue asked Deng Wu with his eyes glued to the young man in front of him. He saw confusion on Deng Wu’s face. After grumbling for some time, Deng Wu was obviously contemplating this matter. “Necromancers usually deal with the soul of a person or beast. We can store these souls in inscriptions and use their life force to fight. Dealing with a body is far more complex. We cannot make them into inscriptions because they are too big and real. I would guess that I can control one or two bodies by inserting my own Qi into them, but we are talking about a massive amount of people with all those Crusaders. To be able to control all these Crusaders someone would need an enormous amount of inner energy,” Deng Wu said. “But even if I can control two bodies, I would need to focus on them to make them act. Controlling two bodies is difficult to begin with, but normally would be outright stupid during a battle. To be able to control their inner energy I would need to focus on that one body, and while doing that it would leave my body vulnerable. With my attention focused between the two the second body would become what it is, a corpse. To be able to control so many bodies, and make them all move at once, you either need an army of necromancers or a mind you have split into thousands of fragments. I cannot imagine how that is possible!” Deng Wu was astonished. Although he felt it should be impossible, but he knew that his younger friend would not lie about something so important. He could not help but feel a shiver run down his spine. The technique to control so many corpses at once was something he would love to get his hands on.

  Chapter 311 - First Step Towards the Future

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  Chapter 311: First Step Towards the Future

  Seeing the interest in Deng Wu’s eyes, Hui Yue could not help but smirk a little. He understood how tempting it was to see someone who had found a way to control multiple corpses at once, and at the same time not spend one’s focus on them. To make them tools for fighting without having to be there himself would be incredibly useful. Currently, he relied on inscriptions and the skills locked within were always weaker than the actual skill used by the practitioner who had the elemental affinity with the said skill causing the caster to be at a disadvantage in direct battle. Although he was capable of inscribing any sort of skill, no matter the elemental affinity, they would always be weaker than the real attacks causing the Metal affinity experts to almost always have weaker attacks making them worse fighters than most cultivators.

  Due to this many who had the Metal affinity were craftsmen. They created inscriptions that increased one’s strength, martial art skills, or other abilities then forged them into weapons, armors, and other things. The few Metal affinity users who focused on cultivation after unlocking their middle dantian would concentrate on either necromancy or inscriptions. The inscriptionists would have a multitude of different inscriptions to ensure that despite them being weaker, they had quantity on their side. This was generally enough to overwhelm and defeat their opponents. Deng Wu though was both a necromancer and someone who specialized in inscriptions. He spent all his time working hard on either inscriptions or creating soul shadows.

  Hui Yue could not help but snort a little as he saw Deng Wu’s eagerness. He knew that the older man was willing to do nearly anything to increase in strength so he could become much more dependable, and get closer to taking revenge for his family. Seeing this Hui Yue could only smile. If it were truly possible for a necromancer to move corpses in the way that presumably An He could, then Deng Wu would sooner or later certainly discover how it was done. When he did, he would be sure to tell Hui Yue about it. Especially if they found a way which allowed them to track down the user of the technique.

  “Well if you find out anything make sure to tell me about anything you discover,” Hui Yue said with a smile as he left Deng Wu to tackle the problem, and headed towards his room. There was still some time left before he could move into his new mansion, and until then, he wished to work hard cultivating. He needed all the strength he could get as soon as possible to deal with the third prince and An He.

  ….

  The days went by swiftly. Hui Yue spent all his time cultivating while Cai Jie would vanish from time to time. Some days he was gone an hour, others he was gone the whole day, leaving at daybreak and returning at dusk. Deng Wu was shut in his room, and occasionally curse words could be heard alongside explosions while other days were completely silent. Every evening he would leave the mansion and return with various dead fish and other small animals that clearly had been meant for consumption, but instead became a part of Deng Wu’s experiments.

  Gao Yan did not visit the Rong family as he spent all his time at the Black Lion going through one memory stone after another searching almost desperately for information about anyone named An He. Unfortunately, although the search became more and more intense, the result was the same. Gao Yan could no longer wait for the two Tang twins to return with information. He waited as patiently as possible as he knew their task was not an easy one. As one day passed another, Gao Yan still had nothing more to tell Hui Yue.

  It was not only Gao Yan who was busy. Ma Kong was also busy with his family and the Black Market Auction House. The family was busy because they were about to switch factions, information no one yet knew. Because of this a lot of things had to be prepared in advance. Since only Ma Kong, his father, and his grandfather knew about their new stance, Ma Kong was left with most of the work. Although it might not sound like much, he was very busy with all the practical aspects that would be changing when they switch who they supported.

  Suddenly, without noticing it, two weeks had gone by, and it was time for Hui Yue to stop his closed door training and visit the Lord of Mansions. While gripping the handle to his door, he looked out over his room. He did not feel any sentimentality, but instead, he was overwhelmed by the fact that it had only been two weeks since he had arrived. Two weeks since he had arrived and reunited with his friends, not to mention hearing the terrible tragedy that struck the Deng and the Wang families. Thinking about the current situation Hui Yue nodded his head with determination. This was something he could never forget. Although fourteen days was not that long, it was indeed far too long considering that he had done nothing for his friends. ‘I cannot rush this,’ He ground his teeth and reminded himself. ‘I need to ensure victory. I cannot afford to let my friends suffer anymore! The only way to achieve my goals and protect the ones I love is strength! Heaven defying strength!’

  Leaving his room, he waited for a short time before Cai Jie left his room. As soon as the golden young man saw Hui Yue, he smiled before the two young men made their way down the stairs. In the hall was Ma Kong, Gao Yan, Deng Wu, the Rong twins, and Xu Piao. Sha Yun was nowhere in sight, but Hui Yue had spent the last couple of years away from his friends, and he did not think anything of it. All of them were seemingly waiting for Hui Yue’s arrival. Ma Kong had a small bracelet with a memory stone in his hand. This memory stone was handed to Hui Yue, “This is your key,” He said. “Today is the start of our new faction; we have invited all the guests we could think of, and the entire upper class of Muchuan City are awaiting your arrival at the mansion to hear what you have to say.” Ma Kong started, and Hui Yue could not help but grimace. He knew this was something that had to be done, and he had dressed as well as he could, but he could not help sighing as he knew that first impressions would determine how well his new faction would be received.

  “Well, nothing will get sorted, waiting here,” He sighed and straightened his back. On his right hand side was Deng Wu, the young man who shared his body with Little Dragon, and on the left was Cai Jie, the mysterious young man whom no one truly understood. With the two friends by his side, Ma Kong and Gao Yan fell behind the three of them and at the back was Xu Piao. These were the friends who had sworn to help Hui Yue.

  “Thank you so much for having us,” Hui Yue said full of gratitude as he looked at the Rong twins. He gently hugged both of the twins feeling sorry for them that they had no choice about who they could support. Wang Ju Long was nowhere to
be seen neither was Sha Yun. Both of them had done everything in their ability to stay away from Hui Yue since he had returned to the capital.

  That Wang Ju Long was avoiding him was not surprising considering how embarrassed she had been right after falling into his embrace and crying from relief. Hui Yue expected that she would need some time to get past the embarrassment and pretend it never happened; however, what worried him greatly was the fact that Sha Yun had vanished as well. She was a magical beast, albeit one with a beast contract, but she was still a beast and Hui Yue could not help but worry about what she was doing. About where she was and why she wanted to distance herself from him. In the end, he understood that she had been hurt by him choosing Wang Ju Long, but he hoped to keep his friendship with the snake-woman even if they would not love each other romantically.

  “I really should make a trip back to my family and the magical forest,” He sighed with a voice so low that no one heard anything but a mumble. Perhaps Sha Yun wished to return to her roots. Perhaps she wanted to see her sisters and return to the life of less luxury, but to more of the world she had known previously. While letting her return to the magical forest, Hui Yue would like to visit his family. He was worried about how they had been doing. He had not seen his younger brother or parents for years.