Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  "I came by today to tell you that you should not expect to see me for the next many years. I don't know how long these trials will take, but I will not return until I have finished them."

  "If the beast Gods return to fulfill their promise to meet up in ten years, then make them stay at the Hui mansion. I will come and pick up everyone up as soon as I finish these trials. That is hopefully after I get appointed as a Judge of Hell."

  Hearing that Hui Yue truly wanted to become a Judge of Hell, Xiao Ning could not help but shiver as a chill ran down his spine. To resurrect Wang Ju Long, Hui Yue would even become such a terrifying figure.

  "That is all," Hui Yue sighed as he stood up. "I know you have a lot to deal with in preparing your family for when you leave them, but remember you can always return to their side if you feel the need to do so. The Divine Beast World will always be with us so even when we go adventuring we will never be far from home."

  Xiao Ning nodded his head, but determination shone within his eyes. "I think it is about time that my family gets a new patriarch. I will be their ancestor, the one who assists the family, should they be in dire need, but now I cannot deal with the daily problems of my family. I have been the Xiao Patriarch for so many years already; it's time for my sons to take over. It is time for me to go out and explore the vast galaxy."

  "The only thing which saddens me is that my wife won’t be able to join me on this adventure." He sighed. "My wife will never become a Saint, and thus she cannot become a God either. But as you said, she lives in the Divine Beast World, and you have it with you at all times. This way at least I can visit her as many times as I wish to. It is not a problem at all."

  There was longing in Xiao Ning's voice, a longing not for the wife but to experience and visit the many various worlds. He had a longing to experience things he had never before seen.

  Xiao Ning was old. He had lived for many years already, and he who had thought he had seen everything, understood that what he had seen as but a speck of sand on the vast beach.

  "Be safe," Xiao Ning said as he stood up and together the two men left the room heading to the gate of the Xiao mansion. Here they split up, Xiao Ning returning to his family's home while Hui Yue headed into town.

  He went by the family homes of Ye Ling, Zhu Jun, and Luo Qiang speaking with every single one of them, telling them about the Netherworld and the trials to become a Judge of Hell. All of them were at first slightly terrified when they heard just how many Gods had appeared to attend the trials, but when thinking about it, they all felt less frightened.

  The reason they felt better about the situation was because of Hui Yue. He was a towering figure in their hearts. Everything impossible or dangerous that they had experienced so far, Hui Yue had managed to overcome. Their faith in Hui Yue was unwavering. Although they feared the danger, their fear was quickly replaced by the certainty that Hui Yue would succeed.

  Hui Yue was not dumb. He knew what they were thinking and understood how they felt, but he said nothing. He knew that amongst the many experts who had appeared in Skydragon Fortress, he was merely an average level cultivator. There were many cultivators much stronger than him, and therefore, it was highly unlikely for him to rank the highest in the trials. His only hope was to prove that he was exceptional and that the King of Hell would notice him through his hard efforts. Hui Yue was ready to give it his all to become noticed.

  Standing at the exit of Luo Qiang's home, and having visited all of the people he had to visit, he was hesitating for some time unsure if he should go straight back to the Hui mansion or if he should meet with the rest of his friends. Eventually, the desire to meet his other friends won out, and he made his way towards the smithy belonging to Cou Ling.

  As he reached the smithy, Hui Yue smiled as he saw that the shop was filled with people like always. He quickly jumped past the shop and headed straight to the back where he knew Cou Ling would be busy.

  As expected, he heard the sound of hammering, and he smiled as he entered her blacksmith and saw the hard working woman.

  "Hello," he called out, and she quickly looked up before she smiled and put down what she was working on then walked towards Hui Yue.

  "You always vanish and then reappear at the strangest times." She laughed as she looked at Hui Yue, but there was a softness in her eyes which did not match her harsh words. It was clear that she had missed him.

  "After seeing your flying swords, I made my own." She said as the two sat down in the smithy. "I can't make inscriptions as complicated as the ones you make, nor am I able to make my flying swords as swift as yours, but they fly nonetheless. Because of this, I am considered the second greatest Grandmaster Spiritual Blacksmith in the world, only beaten by you." She said cheekily. Hearing what she said, Hui Yue couldn’t help but laugh, and slowly the two friends started talking about their lives.

  Cou Ling had never sworn an oath to Hui Yue, but Hui Yue felt that he could trust her, and she knew what had happened with Wang Ju Long. Although he did not go into detail, he did inform her that he was working on a way to resurrect her. Hearing this, Cou Ling smiled.

  Every friend of Hui Yue could feel the change that had happened to him after he had lost Wang Ju Long. His usual innocence and naivety were completely gone.

  No one could blame him, though. Had they lost one of the most important people in their lives, they too would have changed, and not many of them were sure that they would be able to have held it together as well as Hui Yue had done.

  Hui Yue spent a long time together with Cou Ling just chatting. He felt nostalgic as a sad smile spread on his lips. Hearing the woman talking about her daily life was enough to make him feel a little better.

  A few hours had gone by before he finally stood up and left the smithy. When he returned to the Hui mansion, he found that Sha Yun, Lao, and Jo had finished their cultivation, and all of them were seated within the mansion eating dinner.

  "Father!" Both Jo and Lao called out as they saw him entering the room, and even Sha Yun felt excited as well.

  Seeing their faces, Hui Yue was happy. This was his family, and although Wang Ju Long was gone, he was not alone. Although he had lost a part of himself, he still had people to live for. He had someone to protect and someone who loved him. Thinking this, he felt a little better.

  Sitting down, Hui Yue went through everything he had experienced and explained what he was going to do to his family. Their hearts were filled with worry, but they also knew that this was their best chance to resurrect Wang Ju Long, so none of them tried to talk him out of it. All they could do was to support him and hope for luck to be on his side.

  Hui Yue felt better telling them what was going on. He felt less weighed down by his decision, and he felt relieved that they supported him. His family mattered a lot to him, and he was glad that they were on his side. He knew that they wanted to see Wang Ju Long again almost as much as he did, and he knew they would always silently support him.

  As night was descending Hui Yue left the Hui mansion and looked to the sky. He did not instantly leave the Divine Beast World. Instead, he looked to the north and vanished only to reappear in Siban empire.

  Chapter 510 - Going Back

  * * *

  Chapter 510: Going Back

  Hui Yue was the Crowned Sovereign of the Divine Beast World. He was one with the world, and the world was one with him. He could disappear and reappear anywhere he wished within this world; he could teleport to whichever location he had in mind.

  He knew every inch of land as if it were a part of his own body and this was why he could travel anywhere he wished.

  After saying goodbye to his family, Hui Yue instantly moved to the Siban capital. The capital was no longer a place full of humans, but looking around Hui Yue was surprised to see that it was not just filled with beasts either. As he arrived at the capital city, he saw humans and beasts moving together. Some were engaged in business while others were just walking down the street.

  Hui Yue had
suddenly appeared in the middle of a marketplace, yet nobody around him seemed to notice. He quickly became one with the crowd as he moved towards the palace where the emperor lived.

  As for who ended up becoming the emperor, Hui Yue did not know, and he did not really care either. What he did care about was where Wan Qiao and Li Xiaopeng were.

  It took him a lot of deliberation, but now he knew that he needed to speak with Li Xiaopeng. He had vanished when Li Meilin was turned into a crusader and lost her life.

  It was clear that the enmity between Li Xiaopeng and An He was massive. Hui Yue was in the position where he needed as much support as he could get in the war against An He, and gaining Li Xiaopeng as an ally, who was known as one of the strongest Saints, would be beneficial to him.

  Another thing which Hui Yue wanted to ask about was whether or not these experts knew of Xu Piao. He had vanished without a trace, and Hui Yue could not help but worry about his good friend. Was he traveling in the Divine Beast World? Or had he managed to break through and become a God on his own? He did not know, and he could not help but worry.

  Why had he not left a message? It was clear that something had happened, but as long as Hui Yue did not know what exactly was going on, he could do nothing.

  Striding towards the palace, Hui Yue was happy to see humans and beasts peacefully coexisting. Here beasts were not enslaved, the only ones who entered contracts were beasts and humans who treated each other like family rather than slaves.

  He soon reached the palace only to be blocked by a set of guards. Seeing this, he shook his head and took a step. With that one step, he managed to bypass them as simply as one would pass people while walking in the park.

  At first, the guards were astonished by Hui Yue's movement technique but moments after their faces showed traces of fear and worry.

  Was this an incredibly strong expert who had appeared to execute the emperor? They did not know, but what they did know was that they would not allow him to act as he pleased and one of the guards took out a horn and sounded the alarm.

  "What a pain," Hui Yue sighed to himself and allowed for his consciousness to envelop the entire palace. With but a thought every single person within the palace collapsed to the ground. Their bodies no longer responded to their beckoning, and their minds slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

  Hui Yue continued to leisurely walk through the palace, this time with no one to interrupt him and he soon reached the throne room.

  Hui Yue allowed for a strand of his consciousness to awaken the emperor, and he was surprised when he saw who had been elected as one of the highest ranked beasts within the Divine Beast World.

  This expert was Bo Jinyan. An incredibly smart expert whom Hui Yue had met during their conquest of Siban Empire. He was not one of the strongest experts around, but he had an intellect far above his peers. Even other Saints had to give him credit for his fast reactions and ability to adapt to any situation.

  Behind him in the shadows were four Saint ranked beasts, of these, Hui Yue recognized one as they had fought side by side in the beast war years before. The other three were beasts which had reached the Saint rank just recently.

  Bo Jinyan, waking up, was instantly alert. He looked around, and his expression turned grim until his eyes landed on Hui Yue. It was clear to see his expression turned from grave to relieved.

  "Sorry for being rough," Hui Yue apologized. "But your guards were about to make a mess out of things. All that I could do was to put them all to sleep. Though don’t worry none of them will be wounded or suffer any negative effects. They are all just sleeping."

  Hui Yue reassured the emperor that his subjects were not wounded, and the atmosphere within the throne room became much more relaxed.

  "Milord, I doubt you would appear here without a purpose," the emperor said with a slight smile on his face. "What can I do for you?"

  Although he was the emperor, Bo Jinyan was not conceited. He knew his own strength, and although he did not know the full extent of Hui Yue's strength, he had never before heard about someone who was capable of putting an entire palace to sleep with nothing more than their mind. This proved that Hui Yue was now many times stronger than he had been during the war. He was simply too monstrous of a talent. The emperor did not wish to become enemies with such a person. Not to mention that without this person he would not have become the emperor in the first place.

  "I need to meet up with Wan Qiao, and I need information on two Saints: Xu Piao and Li Xiaopeng." Hui Yue asked straightforwardly. There was simply no need for formalities nor did he have the time for that.

  Hearing this, Bo Jinyan frowned. "Wan Qiao is in Shenyuan, at her own territory. She hasn't really left since we won the war for the Siban Empire. Seeing her detached attitude, one would never have guessed that she was the one who wanted to start this war."

  "Li Xiaopeng and this Xu Piao as for them... Sadly, I am unable to help you." The emperor shook his head regretfully. "Li Xiaopeng vanished after the last battle in the capital. He completely disappeared without leaving even a trace behind. He never returned for vengeance or anything else. Xu Piao I never even heard about before, sorry."

  Hui Yue nodded his head. He had not expected too much, but asking was still worth a try. At least he now knew where Wan Qiao was. He quickly thanked the emperor for his time. "The palace will awaken as soon as I'm gone," Hui Yue said with a smile and moments after he had vanished into thin air becoming nothing but an afterimage.

  As the image turned blurry and disappeared, every expert within the palace slowly started to wake up, and chaos erupted. The guards who had blown the horn to sound the alarm was certain that an assassin had been the cause of everything, but whenever they tried to describe the appearance of this assassin, they could not remember what he looked like.

  Soon it was determined that a deity had visited the palace to bless the coexisting relationship between beasts and humans. Only Bo Jinyan knew the truth, and he was not going to tell anyone about their conversation. Neither was he going to go against the common belief that it was a deity as he, in his heart, reached the conclusion that Hui Yue had become a God long ago. Only a God could display the level of power Hui Yue showed off.

  As soon as Hui Yue vanished, he reappeared within a dense jungle just outside a major city. Here no humans were present, but beasts in all shapes and sizes moved through the dense forest towards the city.

  Some of these beasts had a human shape, some of them had their beast shape, but all of them behaved exceptionally well.

  The city was built many thousands of years ago, but even now it was a stronghold within this chaotic region of beasts.

  At the top of the towers, there was a flag with a golden eagle fluttering in the wind to signify that Wan Qiao was present within the city. The flag both warned others that they could not come here to cause trouble, but also alerted other experts who wished to challenge Wan Qiao that she was already present and that they could challenge her at any time.

  Hui Yue was not here to challenge Wan Qiao, but he needed to chat with her, and seeing the flags swaying in the wind, he smiled.

  Moving through the city gates, he was astonished to see that there was, in fact, a few humans who were traveling on the streets; however, all these humans were at the Saint rank, and these humans were constantly stared at with a great mix of emotions from the surrounding beasts. Hui Yue felt excited to know that the always closed off Shenyuan had started to open up for humans to enter, that the humans and beasts were going to coexist as they did back in the day when the Divine Beast Gods were still the Crowned Sovereigns.

  Hui Yue felt nostalgic as he once more moved through the streets of Shenyuan, but he was in a hurry to finish his task so that he could return to the Netherworld and increase his strength. He already had a limited amount of time to train, and for him to waste a full day on visiting his family and friends, although it was not really wasted, he still felt guilty.

  Feeling like this, Hui Yue headed straight
for the biggest mansion in town and entered. There were no guards present, and Hui Yue scanned the area with his consciousness and found that Wan Qiao was seated in her small office on the third floor.

  Wan Qiao was completely unaware of Hui Yue's scan; no Saint would ever be able to sense a God’s consciousness, but she felt rather uncomfortable that day. It was as if she was waiting for something to happen without knowing what that something was. It troubled her to no end, and no matter how much she tried to focus on the work she was doing, she was completely incapable of staying on task. Within her was a restlessness which kept growing.

  Hui Yue moved towards the office and wondered why everyone he came across were normal mortals. They were beasts in human form who did not cultivate, but which had human blood in their ancestry somewhere to give them the intelligence equal to the intelligence of a normal human.

  Although Wan Qiao was strong, was it natural for her to have no guards by her side? Was it natural for her to be all alone? Once again, Hui Yue started to feel as if something were wrong as if things were not as simple as they seemed.