Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  Hui Yue closed his eyes. The sword was held by his side and with a sudden swift movement, Hui Yue unsheathed the sword. Sword light flashed in the dimly lit room, and sudden a loud boom resounded as a bookshelf was cut in half. Even the stone wall behind the bookshelf had marks from the attack.

  Looking at the broken bookshelf, Hui Yue was stunned. For his attack to be so destructive considering it was the first time he attempted the attack, he was both incredibly pleased with the result but also deeply shocked.

  It only took a few moments before various maids, servants, and guards rushed to the room. The guards instantly broke into the room only to see Hui Yue standing in the middle, a large smile on his face and a sword by his side. The whole bookshelf that took up an entire wall was cut all the way through. Their eyes almost popped out as they saw the cut in the stone wall behind it. Had this mansion been build by wood and not stone, this attack could have brought it all down upon them. Even though Hui Yue was excited about the strength of his new attack, he also understood just how dangerous it could have been.

  ‘Mental memo, next time I try out some of these attacks, I better go outside,’ He thought to himself before he started shooing the many maids, servants, and guards back to their usual jobs while he moved back to the desk and his chair to sit down.

  “What an incredible technique.” Hui Yue sighed in praise. “Although we use Wu Wei to attack, the attacks we use are incredibly crude. It is equal to using spiritual energy or Qi to directly fight our enemies. No one does that, especially not when there are martial arts and spiritual arts.” Pausing for a moment, Hui Yue frowned slightly. “I wonder why no one has come up with the thought of making martial arts and techniques for Wu Wei.” He mused, but the answer was quite obvious. Creating Wu Wei martial arts required someone to be incredibly powerful. It was not that they did not exist in this world. However, the few individuals capable of creating Wu Wei martial arts would never share them with others. It was a way to improve one’s strength.

  ‘This is a treasure,’ Lan Feng too said with high praise. ‘I am unsure if even my exalted father was in possession of martial arts for Wu Wei. Although it is incredible, we Divine Beasts can use both our beast core and also the energy of the world around us. We are much like you, in possession of both beast core and dantians, yet we are mainly beasts, and thus our most powerful attacks do not rely on Wu Wei, but our beast core.’

  ‘Previously I was unable to use my beast core since it was left in my body somewhere, but since you now have a beast core, it is possible for me to borrow its power and become a blue phoenix once again.’

  ‘Back in my prime, I focused mainly on my beastly attacks. Attacks relying on the beast core, but due to curiosity I often dabbled in Wu Wei, Qi, and spiritual energy attacks as well.’

  ‘You need to understand while it is possible for humans to share their martial arts to one another, beasts need to come up with attacks on their own. They cannot be shared with others, and they take years to perfect. Beasts have always had a slight disadvantage against humans when it came to cultivating.’

  ‘But enough about that, what you found is truly a treasure! And you say that there are many of these attacks? Being able to unleash a Wu Wei martial art, I dare say you have reached the strength of an early stage Saint. Even genius early Saint’s are likely to be unable to deal with you. Not only that, if you ran into a middle stage Saint I am confident you will be able to escape with your life intact. You need to learn as many of these attacks as you can.’ Lan Feng’s voice was filled with excitement, and the same excitement could be found in Hui Yue’s eyes.

  ‘You are right,’ Hui Yue nodded his head. ‘This is an incredible opportunity. Even I do not know how many scrolls are within the Universe Box, but if I can learn just two of these attacks, the I have faith in being able to survive anything but an attack from a God.’

  ‘You need to look through the Universe Box again.’ Lan Feng suddenly said. ‘I fail to believe that the owner of this box was not in possession of a protective treasure. Being a God, the treasure should also be godly. Although, it is likely to be a one-time use treasure. But even still, it should be able to protect you against the attack of a God.’

  Hearing this, Hui Yue almost felt like drooling. Such a treasure would indeed be life saving. ‘I will have a look.’ He instantly said as he closed his eyes and his consciousness entered his palm. The moment it entered the palm a scar started to appear on his skin showing that the Universe Box was active.

  “Junior greets senior,” Hui Yue said with a bow as he saw the white-robed soul of the treasure. Although this was merely the soul of a treasure, Hui Yue understood that it was a treasure which was far, far older than himself. It had experienced many things by the side of it’s the previous master, and it had an intellect which was in no way worse than his own.

  “You have returned,” The androgynous voice said. It was not hostile, nor was it friendly. It just stated that Hui Yue had returned and as before, Hui Yue felt slightly confused.

  “Junior wonders if you can help me look for protective treasures in this space, alongside martial arts meant for the upper dantian.”

  Giving Hui Yue a long glance, the white-robed spirit seemed to consider for a short amount of time before he nodded his head and vanished inside the massive box behind him.

  The spirit was only away for around two minutes before it once more appeared in front of Hui Yue. With a flicker of his hand, two mountains appeared in front of him. One was a stack of treasures in all shapes and sizes while the other was a small mountain of scrolls.

  “Since you do not know these treasures, I will gift you with a book explaining every single treasure, their name, and how to use them.” The spirit said, and suddenly a book appeared in front of Hui Yue. Seeing this, he was thrilled. He bowed deeply to the spirit full of gratitude. Waving its hand the spirit vanished within the box and Hui Yue opened his eyes. Hui Yue looked at the book and the two mountains in front of him.

  “The Universe Box sure is amazing, but I am too weak to fully control it, sadly.” Hui Yue sighed to himself. “I cannot sense all stars and know what kind of treasure they are. I guess I need to be a God before then.” He guessed, but he quickly placed the thought at the back of his mind. He had managed to get his hands on so many incredible skills and treasures just now. What he wanted the most was to sit down and look through them all, but he understood that now was not the time.

  Scanning the mansion with his spiritual sense, he quickly found that Wang Ju Long, Lao, and Jo had returned home after their trip to town. After storing the many items in storage stones, Hui Yue stood up from the desk. There was no reason for him to stay in the library any longer.

  With his scan he had noticed that the children were in their own rooms cultivating in the moonlight while Wang Ju Long was in her own room, cultivating as well. Deciding that he would wait until the following day to talk with them, Hui Yue went towards his own room. He picked up the book he had just been given while leaving all the protective treasures on the bed in front of him.

  Chapter 390 - Protective Charms

  * * *

  Chapter 390: Protective Charms

  Looking at the mountain of treasure in front of him, Hui Yue found that some of them were jade bottles full of pills. These were pills he had never seen before, not even from what he had obtained within the grave. From this, one could tell that the pills he had gained earlier were ordinary. The ones he had now were the pills that actually mattered to the deceased expert.

  “Circlet of the Deep Abyss. A black circlet which allows the user to create a dimensional space which can suck in any opponent. It is impossible to leave the dimensional space unless the circlet is broken.”

  “Locket of the Nine Heavens. When activated the locket makes it possible to withstand the attack of a God for one breath of time.”

  “Scroll of the Vengeful Yama. Summons a Hell-demon. Any attack you suffer will be moved to the Hell-demon instead. The Hell-
demon will battle by your side for as long as it takes an incense stick to burn.”

  “All three of these are one-time use charms. Although they are strong, they can only be used once, but I guess saving your life once is better than nothing. I guess there is a reason why he had more than one protective charm.”

  Looking over the many treasures, Hui Yue was shocked as he picked up one item after another. One skill created a shield with incredible defense, and another skill he found sealed up one’s enemies inside a dimensional space. A unique skill he found transferred damage inflicted upon the user’s body to a doll they would carry with them. The pills he found had many incredible abilities, and one could tell that a master alchemist concocted them. One of the pills increased one’s strength during battle, or even some which said that when eaten, even if one died then, within a certain amount of time, the person would be resurrected again. Some of the pills could recreate his body from a mere drop of blood, and some could, if crushed, create a poison that anyone who breathed it in would die within moments. Naturally, the jade vial containing the poison pills also contained the antidote.

  ‘I need to give some of these to my friends,’ Hui Yue decided quickly. The Circlet of the Deep Abyss, the Locket of the Nine Heavens, and the Scroll of the Vengeful Yama were all packed into a storage stone; a stone which he planned to gift Wang Ju Long the following day.

  For Lao, he picked out three items as well. The first was a scroll known as the Scroll of the Summer Sea. This scroll would let Lao become one with Water. No matter how he was being attacked, it would be like attacking a flowing river. Any attack would just pass through him without effect.

  The second item he took out was a bracelet known as the Bracelet of Summer Rain’s Dance. It came paired with the scroll of the Summer Sea. The bracelet of the Summer Rain’s Dance did not help him become one with Water like one might expect, but instead, it created a rain shower around him. The rain would block any attack which came near him.

  The last item he found suitable for Lao was the Disk of the Lonely Dreamer. It was an item which, much like the Circlet of the Deep Abyss, had a mini-dimension inside it and when used it would devour any expert below Saint rank into the mini-dimension. Much like the circlet, it was impossible to leave the dimension unless the disk was broken or one was let out.

  Hui Yue found three peerless treasure to give to all his friends, and while looking at the storage stone he was going to give Sha Yun when she returned home, he thought out loud. “I hope nothing has happened to her.” He mumbled to himself before he stored all the stones in the Universe Box.

  He was currently wearing the locket of the Blazing Firefly. It worked much like Lao’s Scroll of the Summer Sea, however, instead of making his body one with Water, his body became one with Fire for the time it took one instance stick to burn. He only wore one life-saving treasure and the others were stored away safely. If he needed them then in the short moment that he used the locket to protect his life, he would have enough time to take out the next charm.

  ‘Well, there is nothing to be done before tomorrow. Hui Yue decided and moved in front of the window where he sat down and started to cultivate. Although he had multiple Yin energy pills, he also understood that it was not healthy for his cultivation base if he solely relied on medicinal pills to increase his strength.

  The night passed as the sun rose. Just like the previous day, Hui Yue went to the dining hall where he waited for his friends to arrive. In the storage stone for Wang Ju Long, Hui Yue placed a Wu Wei martial arts. It was not just a random martial art but one known as the Thousand-spiked Staff Formation.

  This Thousand-spiked Staff Formation was a staff technique that required at least four staves. These four staves would be able to attack together to create a domineering force, or the user could choose to use two staves to attack while the other two were used for defense. When perfected this formation was also capable of creating thousand of staff illusions, hence the name. This was a very rare Wu Wei martial art as it required a staff to work. One could not just create a Wu Wei staff and hope to use it. This was the reason why Hui Yue picked out this skill for Wang Ju Long because she was the only one focusing on the path of the staff.

  Hui Yue was taking his time eating breakfast, and his eyes glistened as he saw Cai Jie enter the room. “Come here, come here!” He called out, and Cai Jie instantly moved towards him. Although Cai Jie was slightly arrogant, and had the power to be, he showed no arrogance in front of Hui Yue, but great respect one would show a true friend.

  “I got my hands on some interesting things.” He started while tossing a storage stone to Cai Jie who caught it. Upon sending his energy into the stone and seeing what it was, he could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise.

  “Protective treasures? So many of them?” He was quite shocked when he looked at Hui Yue. Even he had problems getting his hands on protective treasures. The ones he had were mostly self-created, and there they were far from the level of these protective charms Hui Yue had tossed to him.

  “I acquired quite a lot of treasures in the grave,” Hui Yue said with a shrug. “It is only fair I share. In the end having you alive is worth more than these treasures. If you end up using some of them, come to me to get more.” He laughed. The words were so carefree that Cai Jie understood that although these items were important to him, to Hui Yue they were nothing much.

  “Tell me, why do you have a grudge against An He?” Hui Yue suddenly asked finding even himself surprised that he was asking such a question out of nowhere, but after asking he found that he really wanted to know.

  Looking at Hui Yue for some time Cai Jie sighed. “He killed my older martial brother and severely injured me causing my cultivation base to drop significantly. It was a massive fight, and I would have won had it not been for his friends who appeared out of nowhere ambushing us. We managed to kill two of his companions before my older brother died. I, on the other hand, managed to escape to this plane while deeply wounded. Suddenly I found myself in a plane I had never been and very vulnerable.”

  A fierce look was visible within Cai Jie’s eyes. The usually calm man was trembling with anger and Hui Yue was surprised. He was not surprised that Cai Jie let go of his emotions, what he was surprised about was what Cai Jie had just implied.

  He had traveled the realms together with his older martial brother which meant that he had to have been a God ranked expert. But even though Cai Jie had been with his older martial brother, both of them still suffered terribly. It seemed that An He truly had some powerful followers.

  Understanding this, Hui Yue could not help but grit his teeth in annoyance. Hearing Cai Jie’s words made him realize just how weak he was.

  “How strong is An He?” Hui Yue finally asked with a sigh. He needed to know. This man was his goal. To kill An He, Hui Yue would have to be incredibly strong, but so far he never met anyone who had fought against him directly. This was a chance he could not let go.

  Looking at Hui Yue with a sidelong glance, Cai Jie once more had his emotions under control. “Compared to you, he is thousands of times stronger. When I fought him four hundred years ago, he had already reached the rank of Crowned Sovereign. His followers, however, were nothing more than Primordial Immortal.”

  Hearing these words both Lan Feng and Hui Yue frowned as they did not understand. “What do you mean? A Crowned Sovereign? Primordial Immortal? What is all this?” Hui Yue finally asked curiously confused. He thought that Gods were the final rank, but now it seemed as though he had been ignorant.

  Seeing the eagerness on Hui Yue’s face, Cai Jie could not help but laugh. “Mortals or mortal cultivators do not know about the ranks after reaching the God level. Usually, you will find out when you reach the God rank yourself, though, a few places you will know about this when you reach the Saint rank.”

  “I guess it does not matter too much, so I’ll tell you. When you reach the God rank, the first rank is Primordial Immortal, and the cultivators ranked a step
higher are know as Immortals of Creation. An Immortal of Creation has the strength to create a world on their own, and when they manage to create their own world, they will ascend to become Sovereigns. Crowned Sovereigns are Gods who have managed to create worlds which are ranked amongst the ten thousand worlds ranking.”

  “There are millions upon millions of planes in our vast universe. Some of them don’t even cultivate, and naturally, these are ranked as the lowest of them all. Then you have worlds where they cultivate but there might not be enough essence of the heavens and the earth to sustain a high level cultivation base and, sadly, they are unable to cultivate to the peak. These worlds are almost as bad as the ones where you cannot cultivate. Then there are worlds where you can cultivate. These all have various ranks based on their density of the essence of the heavens and the earth, but all of them create strong experts. Every world is ranked by how many experts they have, and a cultivator is only considered an expert when they have reached the rank of a God. Somehow this world is ranked amongst the top ten thousand worlds and An He has gained the benefits of owning one of the best worlds in this vast universe.”