Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  After waiting a few hours, he no longer had the signs of fatigue and was staring intently at the purple pills. Sighing he picked up one of them, and while trying to forget about the pain he had just gone through, he tossed the pill in his mouth.

  Energy once more appeared in his mouth as the pill slowly disintegrated, but the energy was completely different from the energies he had felt before. The energy did not enter his meridians, nor did it become refined. What happened was that the energy entered his body itself. This energy steadily entered his body, fortifying every single bit of the body itself.

  Much like the previous pill it was impossible for Hui Yue to control the energy he gained from the pill. Though thankfully this energy was a lot more subtle than the previous energy. It did not try to overwhelm his body, all it did was enter and strengthen his bones, organs, and vessels.

  While he was absorbing the energy, his entire body shone with a purple hue and continuously emitted cracking sounds as if his bones were being broken. Though this was not the case, instead the medicinal pill had forced his bones to grow making the young Hui Yue even taller than he was been before. His muscles were becoming more prominent and much stronger.

  Opening his eyes, this time a purple flame could be seen in his eyes before dying out, and purple smoke left his mouth as soon as he opened it.

  As he looked around he saw that the barrier was still present around him and Xiao Ning. The older man was currently shining with a golden hue as strong energy waves came from him. It was clear that he was absorbing the medicinal pill he had been given by Hui Yue.

  Behind them, the two experts were filled with sour expressions. They had opened all the storage stones they obtained yet the number of pills they had in front of them were few. So few in fact that they did not know how to share them between themselves. Their greed almost made them fight each other for the only golden medicinal pill they obtained.

  Although they had only gotten one of the golden pills, they had managed to get their hands on quite a few purple pills. To their disappointment none of the red or white pills were present in small pile of pills.

  Hui Yue looked at them for a short while before shaking his head. He put them out of his mind, not thinking about them any longer. Now that his personal strength had risen to the Emperor rank it was obvious that he was far stronger than before, especially if he merged with Lan Feng’s power. Those two experts were now easy to beat, not to mention that he had Xiao Ning by his side; the Shield of Taiyang.

  Wresting his eyes away from the two Saints who were venomously glaring at him, he once more looked at the pills in front of him. Putting aside the white pills, Hui Yue was in no mood to try them. They were the pills which consisted of Yin energy and they were as valuable as the golden pills because they helped him balance his energies.

  Looking at the pills that remained, the only ones he were still unaware of were the red pills. Looking at them he assumed that they were Yang energy pills; however, he was uncertain. After calming himself and sitting in the lotus position, he popped a medicinal pill into his mouth.

  This medicinal pill was far different from what he had expected, and soon energy flooded his body once more. However this was not Yang energy, nor was it Yin energy; it was something else entirely.

  Chapter 356 - Shield of the Taiyang Kingdom

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  Chapter 356: Shield of the Taiyang Kingdom

  The energy which flooded Hui Yue’s body was hard to describe. It was neither Qi, spiritual energy, or Wu Wei. In fact, it was an energy which could not be described, and Hui Yue was deeply shocked as he felt it enter his body.

  It did not refine itself into energy and increase his cultivation base, but just slowly dissipated into nothingness. It was as though the pill was completely useless.

  While Hui Yue was deeply depressed by this, Lan Feng started shivering with excitement. Looking at the bird, he could not wait to hear what was so exciting about these seemingly useless pills.

  ‘These pills were not made to increase your strength; they were made to increase your combat ability. When you use some of your energy, regardless if it is Qi, spiritual energy or Wu Wei, as soon as you use some of your energy, these pills will restore the energy used.’

  ‘Using pills like these, although you have thousands of them, is something you should only do when you really need to conserve your energy. Imagine being in a battle and your energy is about to be exhausted, then you can pop one of these pills and your energy will be replenished in a very short time,’ Lan Feng said excitedly. Hearing it explained like this, Hui Yue was incredibly excited as well. If he could restore his energy, then he needed to use less and less of Lan Feng’s energy. The two of them would now be able to contend against stronger opponents for a longer time.

  Storing the pills in a storage stone, Hui Yue was smiling from excitement. The other pills were also stored within storage stones, and Hui Yue could not help but shine with happiness. He had after all just broken through to the Emperor rank alongside getting his hands on energy restoring pills. One could easily guess just how excited he was.

  Having looked through his pills, Hui Yue wondered about the other treasures he had picked up during his trip through the various rooms. First, he took out all his herbs, even the withered ones and began examining them. Some turned to dust the moment he touched them while others were just dried out, but no matter what happened to the herbs, Hui Yue treated all of them with great care.

  Placing all the herbs in front of him, he placed the ashes in jade vials and finally looked at all the different plants he had obtained. The first thing he did was to move the herbs he had purchased to one side. All the herbs that did not originate from this world were quickly hidden within a storage stone while the herbs belonging to this plane were left out in the open.

  Hui Yue had a great many herbs. Looking at them all, he counted that he had fifteen Divine Flowers, all of which were worth far more than any he had seen before. The golden Wu Wei that had gathered in the middle was so rich that Hui Yue started salivating as he looked at it. These divine flowers had no other use than to allow for him to increase his strength.

  ‘Don’t be naive,’ Lan Feng commented as he felt the giddy emotions bubbling up inside of Hui Yue. ‘Although the flowers did a lot for your cultivation when you were younger, it is completely different now. You need so much energy to advance from one star to the next in Emperor ranks. Even if you use all these Divine Flowers, you will not become more than a two star Emperor at most. Even if you swallow all your golden pills and the Divine Flowers you will only become a three star Emperor if you are lucky; however, absorbing that much energy into your body without letting it get used to the increased, will harm you instead of help.’ Lan Feng explained, and Hui Yue nodded his head sobering up.

  Hui Yue knew that it was too good to be true though he had still hoped he could quickly raise his strength by relying on these golden pills and the Divine Flowers.

  Sighing, he took one Divine Flower in his hands and sat down getting ready to cultivate and slowly absorb the flower. This was something he had done before, and he was quite used to it. He had two options; one was to absorb it externally, letting it sit in his hands and slowly drag the power inside. The other was to eat the flower directly and let its turbulent and violent energy flood his body.

  Having experienced the flood of energy from the golden medicinal pill, he decided to take this slower and go the steady route. Closing his eyes, he sighed as he enjoyed how the energy slowly entered his body and refined itself through the meridians then afterwards it poured into both the lower, middle, and the upper dantian increasing his strength all over.

  Hui Yue spent the next many hours absorbing one Divine Flower after another; however, he no longer touched the golden pills. Those he kept for later. For now, he was just building his strength at the first star of the Emperor level.

  Thinking back to how a Divine Flowers let him advance over multiple levels back when he first use
d it to now where one flower boosted him less than a fifth of a star. This made him truly understand the difference between the ranks. Not only did his strength increase but the difficulty to increase his strength did so as well.

  Having absorbed four of the Divine Flowers, Hui Yue stopped and opened his eyes. His cultivation base had risen as much as he dared without spending time to familiarize himself with his new level of strength. He was more than happy with what he obtained.

  Xiao Ning had also just finished absorbing the energy from the golden pill, and he was excited to see that although he had not risen a star, he had reached the peak of the third star. This was something he had tried to reach countless times over the past few decades. Seeing that he reached this level with the help of a pill given to him by Hui Yue, Xiao Ning felt enormous gratitude in his heart.

  Hui Yue was equally thankful for the barrier that protected him, letting him cultivate without fearing being disturbed. Seeing that Xiao Ning was so close to breaking through, Hui Yue contemplated whether or not it was worth giving him one more golden pill.

  It hurt his heart greatly to even consider giving away such a pill; however, building a relationship with Xiao Ning was even more important right now. Having a Saint as strong as him owe him a favor was something which he could definitely use later on.

  ‘You already gave him one pill,’ Lan Feng said sourly. ‘I get your idea but using up the pills like this, is something I disagree with it. We need them for later.’

  ‘Actually, I have a feeling that we will come across more of these pills later on,’ Hui Yue said with a smirk. ‘He mentioned that he had left many treasures in the inner grave. They surely have to be either the same quality as these treasures or even better. If we can get our hands on them then would it not be good to sacrifice one more pill to have a Saint who specializes in defense on our side?’

  Hearing Hui Yue’s argument Lan Feng snorted but he could no longer disagree. Hearing nothing in reply, Hui Yue, with a bleeding heart, withdrew another golden pill from his storage stone.

  “Here,” He said as he tossed it to Xiao Ning. “Breakthrough to the fourth star and let us show the other experts that we are a force to be reckoned with.” He grinned and was rewarded with another grin from Xiao Ning. At the other end of the room the two Saints who had been arguing about who should get their golden pill paled as they heard the words. These were saints and their senses were sharpened countless times over regular cultivator’s hearing. How could they not hear what was said?

  What made them fear what they heard was not only the fact that Hui Yue had just given away two golden pills, but that he allowed for Xiao Ning to break into the fourth star of the Saint rank. The fourth star was currently the highest ranked of any Saint in the Taiyang Kingdom. Although Xiao Ning had been famous as one of the strongest with his defensive abilities, he was not the strongest.

  Now, though, this could very well change. If he successfully broke through into the fourth star of the Saint rank, then his strength would almost be unparalleled. Even if someone were as strong as him, they would avoid fighting with him because his defensive abilities were seriously troublesome. It had been troublesome when he was weaker, and would only be more troublesome as he increased his strength.

  Hui Yue was not aware of what he had done by allowing this Saint to breakthrough to the fourth star of the Saint rank. Had he known then he would not have felt as heavy at heart about giving away one of his golden pills but instead be gleeful about the partner he had found in Xiao Ning.

  “I am done cultivating for now,” Hui Yue said with a smile as Xiao Ning looked at the pill in front of him with great astonishment. “I need to train some attacks to familiarize myself with my new level of strength,” He continued, and Xiao Ning nodded his head and waved in acknowledgment.

  Suddenly dense Wu Wei appeared in his hand, and as he tossed it near Hui Yue, it took the shape of a dummy. The dummy was incredibly durable and seemed to have been made from golden metal rather than Wu Wei.

  “Use this,” He said with a smile on his lips. “It works like my barrier. As long as I have Wu Wei within my body my Radiant Aegis and the training dummy will stay intact. While you play with them I will focus on breaking through to the fourth star,” He said with a decisive nod of his head as Hui Yue nodded in return.

  He was excited as he saw the dummy and instantly went towards it. He covered his body with Wu Wei before he released his energy. Wu Wei swirled around him and with a clench of his hand, Hui Yue created a massive palm which attacked the dummy. A massive boom sounded out, but the dummy was not damaged at all. The smile on Hui Yue’s face increased quite a bit as he drew his sword. Wu Wei poured into the sword, activating the snow storm. Hui Yue wished to improve his strength with the sword so he focused on fortifying the sword itself. This made it possible for him to increase the power of the sword without having to rely on its inscriptions.

  Imbuing the sword with Wu Wei without activating the inscriptions took some time for Hui Yue; however, after trying for a few hours he had almost perfected it. After training for a bit, he launched an attack at the dummy. This time, he used both his sword and his Wu Wei attacks together to learn how to fight like this. He needed more skill in combat if he wanted to survive.

  Looking at the two Saints at the other end of the room, Hui Yue understood that it was a dog eat dog world he had entered here in the grave. Even Saints from the same empire fought each other for treasures. Had he not already forged an alliance with Xiao Ning, then he would have been in a much worse position. Increasing Xiao Ning’s strength also meant increasing his own, for now.

  Sighing he no longer spared a glance for the Saints. Thinking about too many things would be disruptive therefore he emptied his mind. The only thing which existed was the dummy in front of him and the abilities he was fighting against. The air in the chamber started to turn turbulent as one strong energy ripple after another exploded from Hui Yue’s body.

  Chapter 357 - Saints Arriving

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  Chapter 357: Saints Arriving

  The following two days went by quickly. Hui Yue was busy fighting the dummy to his heart’s content, and Xiao Ning was focused on breaking through. As one reached a higher rank, breaking through a bottleneck became increasingly difficult and it took a longer time.

  Having been gifted a medicinal pill, even though he had enough energy to overcome the bottleneck, the energy still had to be refined and tamed. He took his time and slowly chipped away at the gap between him and the fourth star of the Saint rank.

  These days while he slowly inched closer to the bottleneck, Hui Yue was fully immersed in familiarizing himself with his new cultivation level and just how profound his strength had become. One attack after another rained down upon the dummy, and the energy from these attacks caused the two opposing Saints to go numb time and time again. For them, the pressure waves did not feel like they belonged to a newly advanced Emperor, but someone at the peak of the Emperor rank. Even a newly advanced Saint was not much more versatile than this young man who had appeared in front of them.

  After two days passed a massive boom resounded in the chamber and all the essence of the heavens and the earth was drawn towards Xiao Ning. He was like a whirlpool, greedily and forcefully absorbing all the essence from the surroundings. Hearing the boom and noticing the shocking effects, Hui Yue could not help but smile delightedly. It was obvious that he had managed to succeed.

  The whirlpool sucking in all the energy lasted for a few hours then the suction force gradually died down before Xiao Ning finally opened his eyes with an excited smile was on his lips. Looking at Hui Yue, gratitude was evident in his eyes; however, since he had already allied himself with the white-haired young man he was not going to say thanks. He knew that his appreciation was in no way unnoticed by the young man, and their aim was to get as many treasures as they could together. They would rely on each other’s strength to do so, therefore, it was of utmost importance that they were as st
rong as possible.

  Still, thinking about it Xiao Ning had to admit that even he was uncertain if he would have been able to bear parting with two golden pills. They were simply too outstanding. Without them, it would have taken him at least two more years to reach the fourth star of the Saint rank.

  As Xiao Ning reached the fourth star of the Saint rank, he also needed to refamiliarize himself with his strength, much like what Hui Yue had been doing. Unfortunately, he did not have the time to do so as a creaking sound resounded throughout the room. A door had burst open after which a Saint walked through. His clothes were covered with dust and his facial expression grim; however, he was unhurt and relatively fit for a fight. It was clear that he had not used much energy to get through the final room before arriving at the massive hall they were in.

  Entering the room, the Saint looked around his surroundings and was quite astonished to see that only four Saints present. He knew from his own path of rooms that multiple experts were charging behind him, and he expected that they would enter the room within a few hours, yet no lower ranked cultivators seemed to have followed behind these experts who were already present in the room.