Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  Although the man was screaming out loud, Hui Yue paid him no more attention. He would deal with him after he had finished the other two experts.

  He had not had the time to truly look at these two as they had stayed back. Although they were currently blinded by anger, neither did anything stupid like the large man who was now missing an arm. Instead, they bided their time waiting to strike.

  Seeing their opponent watching them, they nodded to one another with gritted teeth and rushed towards him. Their hands flickered, and weapons appeared in them. One of them had a barbed whip while the other had small knives which were thrown at Hui Yue.

  Avoiding the knives was no hard feat, unfortunately, they then continued their trajectory, and innocent bystanders were hit causing a few screams to sound out. Sighing, Hui Yue understood that it was not a good idea to simply ignore the small knives, so he channeled Wu Wei into his hands and effortlessly stopped them in the air. One knife after another fell to the ground.

  While he was catching knives, Hui Yue also had to deal with the whip which constantly harassed him. Despite their vicious attacks, it was impossible for them to stop him. Soon they understood that the man in front of them was far superior to them and that it was simply impossible to defeat him with their current abilities.

  Looking at one another, the two experts got ready to rush away from the location when a golden flash blinded everyone present, and moments later the two experts found themselves incapable of moving even an inch. Their feet and legs were rooted to the ground by golden roots that had sprouted upwards.

  No one knew where these golden roots came from, but looking at the two experts that had been caught, their surprise turned to shock as the last breath of air left their bodies. Then the two experts fell lifelessly to the ground. Only one of the four kings was still alive, and he had lost an arm. Looking at the man, Hui Yue went towards him and with an expressionless face severed his head from his body. Hui Yue had learned a lot throughout his adventures, and a big lesson was not to release a tiger back into the mountain unless one wanted to invite trouble to come later.

  Looking at the roots, Hui Yue bowed towards the large group of spectators. “Your highness, I never expected to meet you here,” He said and was rewarded with a chuckle from a person who was clad in a big hat and a black cloak.

  Hearing the words, everyone started mumbling to one another and glances were thrown at the chuckling figure before they all retreated.

  Hui Yue went to the dead experts and scoured their bodies. He picking up all the storage stones he could find before he handed the golden storage stones to Cou Ling. “Give the merchants back their money and keep the rest for yourself,” Hui Yue said with a voice loud enough for the closest merchants to hear. This caused gratitude to well up in them before they told the good news to the other craftsmen and merchants who had not heard the news.

  Being handed the golden storage stone, Cou Ling instantly gestured for Fang Wei to follow her and they left Hui Yue and the cloaked person alone as they started the deliver the coins to their original owners.

  “I see that your highness managed to successfully learn the Golden Roots,” He said in a friendly manner to the cloaked man, and slight admiration could be detected in his voice.

  ‘You are great at acting,’ Lan Feng commented from within, but Hui Yue completely ignored him as he kept smiling at the prince in front of him.

  “I just came to see how you were doing. Strangely enough, the Grand Marshall of the beast army was seen together with the spiritual blacksmith Cou Ling. It surprised me quite a bit,” He laughed as he sat down on the ground. Smiling, Hui Yue sat down next to him, “Cou Ling and I have history together,” He commented with a shrug. “When I saw her here, I figured she would be better off if I were here to protect her.” He continued, and the prince nodded his head.

  “Well I came to ensure that you are still interested in entering this grave,” He said with a smile. “This grave is supposed to be filled with treasure, enough treasure for everyone here to get at least something. I do not wish for people to kill one another, but, sadly, this is impossible to completely avoid.”

  Shrugging Hui Yue said nothing. He would do everything in his power to ensure that the third prince would not step out of the grave, and at the same time, he did not care about the majority of the people who were here. Although he was slightly worried about his friends, he knew that they would not do anything dumb, and because of this, he was certain that they would survive.

  The prince and Hui Yue were seated in comfortable silence for some time before they split up. The prince returned to the royal family while Hui Yue waited for Cou Ling to return.

  ‘I keep wondering how so much treasure can be kept at one place. Although he was a Saint, he should not possess so much right?’ Hui Yue said to Lan Feng, but he was answered with a snort.

  ‘Saints don’t just die,’ He said as though he was speaking to a small child. ‘He has most likely lived a whole life filled with excitement. During this life, he collected many things and while collecting them he has stored them within this grave. At first, it was his home. He must have created everything inside and used it as his base, but I wonder if this is truly the grave of a Saint ranked expert,’ Lan Feng mused, and his words caused Hui Yue to raise an eyebrow in surprise. If it were not the grave of a Saint then what could it be?

  Before he had time to ask Lan Feng, Cou Ling returned. Her face was flushed red, and the golden coin storage stone was in her hand. “I gave everyone’s money back,” She said as she quickly sat down next to Hui Yue. “They were incredibly grateful, some even a little too grateful,” She commented as her face turned even redder, yet Hui Yue pretended that he saw nothing. He nodded to her with a gentle smile on his face.

  “I’ll keep you safe until we reach the grave,” He said while smiling at his two friends. “Afterwards head straight back to Muchuan City. I imagine that the royal family will send someone to protect the merchants and craftsmen. When it comes down to it, you are all very important to the royal kingdom of Taiyang.” He said, and Cou Ling nodded. It made perfect sense.

  Hui Yue said nothing, but he was ready to ask Shiu Ye for a favor to have someone protecting Cou Ling and Fang Wei on the way back to Muchuan City. There was no reason to not use the favor he had earned from giving out the Golden Roots. The prince was supposed to die within the tunnels anyway.

  His gentle and clear eyes suddenly turned hard and chillingly cold as Hui Yue thought about the third prince. Fortunately, none of his friends noticed anything, and he quickly forced himself back to his normal expressions. No one was allowed to know anything before it was too late.

  Sighing, he looked up into the sky and laid down on the grass. He was smiling as he allowed himself to be enveloped in the warm feeling of being with his friends before he slowly dragged his body into a cultivating stance and started refining the Yin energy from the moonlight.

  Chapter 345 - Arriving at the Grave

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  Chapter 345: Arriving at the Grave

  The Blood Vulture family were not the only ones who attempted to extort money from the many merchants and craftsmen who followed the group of cultivators slowly making their way to the Grave of the Unknown. Though every time they reached Cou Ling and demanded her to pay a fee, Hui Yue showed no sympathy nor mercy as he got rid of one group after another.

  Every time, he delivered the money back to the people who were robbed he would then give the rest of the gold to Cou Ling to share with the other merchants. Hui Yue kept all the storage stones with items for himself. Already halfway to the grave, Hui Yue had accumulated quite the haul of treasures. Shortly after he made a small stall for himself selling weapons, armor, and various items. All the medicinal pills he came across he kept for himself; however, the martial art skills that he found were sold. None of them could hold a candle to the skills Hui Yue gained from Lan Feng.

  At first, the merchants looked confusedly at the young man who suddenly c
reated a stall from a few branches, but they could not help but laugh slightly when they saw what he put up for sale. While these items he sold were of great use to other experts, they all meant little to Hui Yue, therefore, selling them was a great way to waste time during their trip.

  His friends noticed that he was selling items, and they all came to chat with him. Everyone was quite amused to find that Hui Yue had gained all these items as loot just from protecting Cou Ling. Even the prince who visited the stall ended up laughing at how Hui Yue had obtained the items.

  This time was also when Hui Yue requested someone to lead Cou Ling back to Muchuan City safely, and the prince instantly agreed. He said that he could not afford for any of his merchants or craftsmen to be wounded. They were important for trade within the capital and paying them extra attention was, of course, necessary.

  Hui Yue had been incredibly relieved when he heard this. While he knew the main reason for the prince to send out his personal bodyguards was due to his gift from earlier, but he didn’t care in the least. As long as Cou Ling arrived safely, that was all that matters. Especially since the main reason was to cause the third prince to be less alert around him. Anything else was merely icing on the cake.

  Ma Kong, Gao Yan, the Rong twins, and Deng Wu all came to visit Hui Yue when they saw that he had a stall open, but their conversations were short. They were all part of other groups whom they needed to socialize with, and didn’t have a lot of time to spend with Hui Yue. While they were together, Hui Yue managed to stress the importance of their lives, warning them not to be blinded by treasure as he was worried about them.

  After a few days, even Sha Yun and Wang Ju Long came to visit him. Sha Yun was behaving as odd as she had been before; she casually greeted Hui Yue, but she did not stay long, and she did not introduce Hui Yue to the people whom she was with.

  Wang Ju Long came by one evening, and she had greeted him quietly. She reminded him that he needed to be careful in the grave and that if he was injured, he should find her. By the time she stopped speaking her face was completely red, and even her ears were burning as she rushed into the crowd of people clearly embarrassed.

  While Hui Yue was talking with Wang Ju Long his demeanor had completely changed. His entire being was gentle and warm, his voice alluring, and his eyes filled with admiration. Seeing him like this, Cou Ling felt her heart skip a beat after which it ached. Shocked she looked at herself as raising a hand to cover her breast. Why did she react this way, she thought bewildered.

  “Halt!” A scream sounded out as everyone was walking through the uncomfortable terrain. The voice called everyone to a standstill, and even the many chatting cultivators abruptly stopped.

  From the front, the voice which had called everyone a halt belonged to a Saint who reinforced it with Wu Wei to ensure everyone heard it. “The grave is located deep within this magical mountain range,” The voice continued informing everyone in the area. “We will need to move through quite a bit of land that belongs to magical beasts; it is in no way an easy feat to even reach this grave which is why we will wait until tomorrow morning to move into the forest.”

  Although the voice sounded out a warning, looking around at the many cultivators in front of him, Hui Yue knew that plenty would attempt to enter the forest during the night and personally look for the grave on their own. This was something Hui Yue had no intention of doing. He understood perfectly well that the grave would be hidden very deeply inside the mountain walls; it would definitely be sealed by inscriptions and traps, and going on his own was most likely suicide.

  Looking around their current location, Hui Yue sensed that Lan Feng had stopped refining Wu Wei and that the bird within his dantian was quite restless; it was almost as if something in the air caused him to stir.

  ‘What is the matter?’ Hui Yue asked worriedly when he noticed Lan Feng behaving oddly, something dangerous was definitely afoot.

  ‘This grave…’ Lan Feng muttered as he started pacing around in the dantian cave. ‘I can feel the ripples of energy from the sealing inscriptions all the way out here. Although they have diminished over the many years, I fear that this expert is not a Saint but rather the grave of a God.’

  ‘A God?!’ Hui Yue exclaimed in shock, his entire consciousness was shaken to the core. For once, he was grateful that he had not said anything out loud. The words would have caused the entire area to turn into a frenzied group of greedy people.

  ‘We need to be careful,’ Lan Feng said. ‘It is not unusual for Gods to enter lower planes like this one and then build their graves there because they know that the chances of their final resting place being disturbed or entered are a lot less likely. But we need to keep this quiet. Don’t lead the way, let others set off the traps. Might as well use these experts as a flesh shield for you.’

  ‘You seem pretty confident that this is not a Saint grave. How come these Saints haven’t noticed anything?’ Hui Yue asked, but before he received an answer he looked shocked at Lan Feng, ‘They all know but they just keep quiet? They allowed this many people to join because they knew they would need them for the traps?’ He asked curiously, but Lan Feng shook his head. ‘I have been around Gods before. I know what they feel, but they definitely do not. All they think is that he was a strong Saint.’ Lan Feng explained.

  While conversing with Lan Feng, Hui Yue had been just standing silently saying absolutely nothing and he hid his emotions deep within. He had been so busy focusing on the conversation that he had not noticed Cou Ling pulling on his sleeve a few times. After a second he finally noticed and a gentle smile was on his face as he looked at the woman by his side.

  “You’ll be careful when you enter the grave, right?” Cou Ling asked. Her eyes were looking down, and her hands were slightly shaking. She watched as Hui Yue protected her daily on the road. They had talked about everything and nothing, eaten their meals together, and sold their items side by side. It was impossible for her not to be taken by this young man.

  Hui Yue smiled at her while patting her head. “I’ll be fine. All you need to do is make sure you return to the city safely.” He laughed before he contemplated for a while about the task at hand. Lan Feng told Hui Yue that he should stay in the middle of the pack of experts that entered the grave, so following the prince was not an option. He would definitely be at the front, and Hui Yue had no intention to disregard the suggestion Lan Feng had given him. Inside he was struggling with his emotions. He was not certain if he wished for the third prince to have an accident and die swiftly or if he wanted to to be the one to drive the knife through his heart.

  Sighing, he shook his head and laughed mockingly at himself. It was impossible for him to determine whether or not the prince would survive the traps, and he had no power to end the prince’s life with one of the assumed traps within the grave. All he could do was enter the grave and hopefully find a way to meet up with the prince when he was by himself and kill him. The chances of that happening were incredibly low, but the young man had no other option than to hope that his luck was great.

  The entire horde of humans were filled with excitement as they had heard the words that floated through the air. They were excited that they were finally close to the grave which they had traveled so many days for. They were almost at the end of the kingdom; they could see the mountaintops which bordered Shenyuan.

  Many experts felt a chill go down their spines as they looked at those cold mountains, but all of them shook the fear away. They needed to overcome their fear if they were to defeat the other experts and gain the treasures hidden inside this tomb.

  Hui Yue showed no signs of worry, nor did he seem overly excited about the fact that they had arrived. All people was a casual smile on his lips while he was coaxing Cou Ling into cooking some more of the delicious deer meat she had brought from Muchuan City.

  Seeing the playful behavior of the young man, many merchants and craftsmen were secretly surprised. He had shown his strength time and time again by getting rid of mo
re than a few groups of experts that wished to abuse them. Still, now that he was not fighting, he seemed as docile as a cat while playing around with his friends, in no way did he seem like a dangerous youth.

  The evening came, and the scent of deer meat wafted through the air as a satisfied expression was seen on Hui Yue’s lips. He was happy to have won their small discussion about the evening meal. Hui Yue was leaning back on the ground and was enjoying life. Because of Cou Ling he had a very comfortable and calm trip towards the Grave of the Unknown. He was secretly incredibly grateful to the woman for the time they had spent together. He had also gotten to know her better, and she was now someone whom he considered a genuine friend.

  He also quickly noticed that the woman was worried about him, and it warmed his heart to have someone worrying about him. In many ways it made him feel as though he had an older sister who truly cared about him. To Hui Yue, friendship was something he valued greatly, and he promised himself quietly that he would always be there for his friends if they ever needed him.