Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  His analysis made the others nod their heads and smile sinisterly. They understood exactly what it was he trying to say. That although they might be weak, they were beasts and could hunt in a pack. They knew each other very well, and during the eons that they had spent in the red realm, they had often sparred against one another for the sake of relief from their boredom. They all knew each other's attacks by heart, and therefore they could rely on one another in combat much better.

  Causing destruction everywhere they went, it did not take long before the inhabitants of the stronghold started to realize that something was wrong.

  The second floor where the beast Gods were currently running rampant was a floor filled with many rooms. The small, narrow hallway and the rooms on both sides were being overturned. Furniture was being destroyed, and walls were leveled.

  "Stop!" A loud voice reverberated through the hallway, and all the beast Gods left the rooms they were in to look at the opponent that was standing down the hall. His hair and clothes were disheveled, and his face was filled with surprise and shock.

  "This is the home of master Xunran! Master will slay all of you! Surrender now, and he will just kill you. Otherwise, he will devour your souls and never again let you enter the circle of reincarnation! He will turn you into his stepping stone to advance into the Immortal of Creation realm!"

  The God who had appeared was panicked. He had felt the strength of the Gods in front of him and knew already that they were many times stronger than he, himself, was. He could feel that there were even Immortals of Creation amongst them. How could he possibly defeat such a monstrous group? Using the name of his master was the only way he could deal with these Gods who didn’t know who they were up against.

  Hearing his words, laughter erupted from the divine beast Gods; their faces were filled with sinister smiles as they looked at this God in front of them, "your master Xunran is going to be quite busy on his own," Yan Lei, the turtle, said with a shake of his head. "Our master has already gone there to take care of him, calling out for a dead person will do you no good! Just watch as we kill you so you can follow your master to the Yellow River!"

  All these beasts were the same. Although they had hesitated to follow Hui Yue in the beginning, now that they had seen his strength, all of them revered him in their hearts.

  "This will not be difficult," the bull said with a snicker, and the others started grinning as well. Ancestral Worldpower erupted from their bodies, and the temperature of the hallway increased steadily as flames appeared all over the bodies of the beast Gods.

  The expert that was looking at this group of beasts at first had a smug on his face as he threatened them by using his master’s name. This smug expression turned ugly as he heard the Gods speak and even uglier as he felt the heat of the hallway rise, but he had no other option than to go all out. Unlike the beast Gods who had complete control over their Ancestral Worldpower, this expert that was fighting by himself had chaotic waves of Ancestral Worldpower flowing out as he merged with one of the daos that he had comprehended. Although he was gathering his Ancestral Worldpower and was preparing for an attack, nine flames came out of nowhere and instantly blew up his body before he could even react.

  On the third, fourth, and fifth floor similar scenes played out; the Gods were causing havoc and destruction everywhere they went causing the Gods near them to be alerted and many fights broke out.

  All the Gods that Hui Yue had brought with him were either incredibly strong or had the benefit of being able to outnumber their enemies, none of their enemies lasted very long, all of them being simply overpowered by the outstanding force they met.

  While the first six floors were being ransacked, looted, and destroyed by Hui Yue's friends, Hui Yue paid no attention and headed straight for the stairs to their master's location.

  Strangely enough, no one was guarding this staircase and the closer Hui Yue came to it, the more oppressing the aura which was seeping down the staircase became. Darkness enveloped the sixth floor, and the further one tried to go, the harder it became to move. It was as if one was facing an invisible wall and had to push it with all their power to advance.

  This was not the first time that Hui Yue had tried something like this. When he had forced his way into the Formation of life the first time, the oppression that he faced was even greater than it was now. Therefore, he was not too troubled when he started going up the stairs.

  "I wonder what exactly this forcefield is composed of to force me back like this," he mumbled to himself as he felt the pressure on him increased with each step he took. His body was starting to turn numb, but although the pressure was rather domineering, Hui Yue was not someone who gave up easily. He reached two possible conclusions. One was that this aura was weighing down on him, then it would also weigh down his opponent so during their fight they should be evenly matched in battle.

  Another situation that was possible was that this master was the source of this dark energy and so it had no influence on him. But even if this were true, Hui Yue was not frightened. Had he not devoured many different energies before? Was it not possible for him, if he connected with the dao of devouring, to also consume this energy?

  Having understood that amongst these two possibilities, he would be able to deal with both, he continued his advance.

  The staircase was long and winding. With every step he took, he felt as if there were a mountain weighing down on his shoulders.

  Step by step, he forced himself further into the tower until suddenly a voice sounded through the tower, making it shake.

  "Anyone who disturbs me will die!" the voice said as cold as ice. As it spoke, the pressure emitted on the ground became even heavier making Hui Yue assume that the atmosphere was something that the master controlled.

  As he stepped forward his dao of devouring erupted from his body turning him into a massive black hole which gobbled up all the dark energy which was surrounding him. The more it consumed, the stronger Hui Yue's soulforce became. Using the dao, he was getting an unending stream of energy which fed his soulforce. It felt much like when he had been consuming the soul of the God in Skydragon Fortress, except this time it was many times weaker.

  Hui Yue had activated his dao of the devouring to rush up the staircase, however, now that he had realized that he was benefitting from this devouring, he instantly slowed down. An amazed expression appeared on his face before he finally understood what was going on.

  This tower was a tower of sin. It was a tower where the souls of all those unfortunate mortals had been gathered and were being refined. The energy which was being created was simply too much for this man to contain and thus it had started to spread down the tower. The further up one went the heavier it became. Although this was created by the tower master, he seemed to not have full control over the soul energy as it was leaking out.

  The reason it had been increased while the expert was speaking was obviously because he had lost some of his focus while refining.

  Reaching this conclusion, Hui Yue felt somewhat uneasy knowing that this energy belonged to the many mortals but he knew that it was too late to save them. The option was for the energy to dissipate into thin air or to be absorbed by him, and thinking this, he greedily absorbed the energy in his surroundings. Taking one step after another to the top of the stairs, Hui Yue could feel that this energy, which at first had laid like a blanket over the stairs, was now faltering. The energy was becoming much less burdensome, and Hui Yue was like a fish in water.

  Step by step the tower seemed to go on forever, but wherever he went, he absorbed more and more energy. "It would be best if this climb up the tower went on forever," Hui Yue mumbled to himself before he finally reached the end.

  A door was right in front of him, and the energy he had been absorbing was leaking out in black streaks.

  Seeing this, Hui Yue stopped. His drunken feelings of absorbing all this energy also stopped. He was instantly brought back to reality.

  The truth
was that no matter how Hui Yue looked at this, he could not rush through the door in front of him without being prepared. Hui Yue had become a God just recently, and his Ancestral Worldpower was lacking compared to others. Although he understood this, Hui Yue was still certain of his victory.

  He knew three daos: the dao of devouring, the dao of inferno, and the dao of the sword. His support skills were the dao of ignition and the dao of flames from Lan Feng. Also, he had his ability to turn into a wolf not to mention the open caves in his core.

  Taking a deep breath, Hui Yue considered all the strengths that he could use. This fight could potentially be very tough and was a big gamble for him so he realized that he might have to use everything he had in this battle. he had never before reached out to the mysterious star within the core but the one time he had reached out for the red gem it had helped him, making him incredibly durable.

  Sighing slightly, Hui Yue closed his eyes for a moment, absorbed the rest of the dark energy that was leaking through the door, and reached inside of himself.

  He quickly entered his core where he saw the red gem and reached out to it. The moment his mind touched it, a tremor ran through his body, and every single part of it became incredibly durable. His skin now looked like black iron.

  Seeing this he was rather surprised, and even more surprised was he when he found that it did not require him to use any Ancestral Worldpower at all. It was as if this durability was an innate talent much like the wings, but what could be so durable that not even an ordinary weapon would be able to cleave it in half?

  Shaking his head, he decided not to think more about it for now. It was time for him to finish what he started. He needed to kill this person before he killed anyone else! Hesitating no longer, he placed his hand on the handle and pushed it open.

  Chapter 539 - Concealment

  * * *

  Chapter 539: Concealment

  Pushing the door open, Hui Yue's heart started beating faster. His body was currently reinforced with the strength of the red gem, but even so, he was not invulnerable. The expert he was up against was someone who consumed souls like he did; it was likely that he also possessed soulforce. If he had developed his soulforce to the point of being able to attack, then Hui Yue's soul could be in danger.

  Even if this expert did not have soulforce, he still walked down the dao of devouring much like Hui Yue. He had discovered earlier, it was possible to rip the soul of one's enemy out of their body when one reached mastery in the dao, and Hui Yue did not wish to have to deal with such an attack.

  As the door swung open, Hui Yue looked inside the tower only to see a large room. In the middle of this room, there was the corpse of an elderly man handcuffed and hanging from the ceiling. His body had been lacerated, and his head was dangling from the side. It was obvious that he had died a miserable death filled with enormous pain.

  Although the sight shocked Hui Yue, it was not the first time he had seen a lacerated corpse, and he quickly adjusted as his eyes continued to roam across the chamber.

  No matter where he looked, he could not find even the shadow of the master who had been refining souls, but soon he did find the souls that were being refined.

  At the far back of the room were a desk and a chair. Both were made from wood but had long since been turned black by the soul energy which had permeated it. On top of the desk was a big black round ball of energy which constantly leaked soul energy. This ball of energy was no longer under the control of the master and therefore was losing energy. It seemed like now it was leaking energy much quicker than before.

  "You will do just fine!" The cold voice from before sounded in the chamber. It sounded like it came from everywhere at once, but even so, Hui Yue stayed calm. He knew that this was a very simple technique to make it impossible to find one's location from the sound of their voice. It was a technique which did not even use a dao, as long as one had Ancestral Worldpower they could use it.

  "I am wasting the souls of these mortals, but they cannot compare to the soul of a God! To have you, a new God, appear at my doorstep on your own, I should be grateful!" Laughter followed the voice, but although it kept speaking, Hui Yue just shook his head. Although he was alert, he started to think that this expert was underestimating him a little too much.

  Continuing to observe the room, Hui Yue lifted his arm. "Devour!" He said with a firm voice, and from his hand, a strong suction force appeared. This force drew the large black orb from the desk to his hand, and slowly it turned smaller and smaller as everything was being absorbed.

  Strangely enough, the master did not interrupt him. "So you want to play hide and seek," Hui Yue mumbled as he clenched his hand after having absorbed the entire ball of souls.

  Although the souls had not yet been fully refined, Hui Yue was able to absorb them all and feel an instant change to his soulforce. It was clear that the souls which the other man needed to refine could be instantly consumed by him. As for why this was, Hui Yue did not know, but it was similar to when he had consumed the souls of other mortals before he became a God.

  Hui Yue was in no rush to enter the room. The more he looked, the more certain he became that the master of the tower had hidden behind the door. He almost felt like banging his head against a table as he looked inside the room. Hiding behind the door was simply too cliche.

  Sighing, Hui Yue took a step forward and entered the room. Just as he stepped forward, he expected to be hit by a formation, some attack, or in some other way be assaulted by the tower master, but nothing happened. Everything was really quite anticlimactic.

  Still, Hui Yue dared not lower his guard as he took another step and then another one. He closed the door to find the master who was hiding behind it, only to see no one there. The small place behind the door was empty.

  A chuckle sounded out in the room, and now the alert Hui Yue became, even more, alert, and his body became taut.

  There were not many things within this tower only some furniture here and there and a corpse in the middle. Looking at the furniture, it was clear that it was not possible for a person to hide behind them, and he started to get slightly anxious. Where could this master of the tower be? Was he even within this tower? Was it all a trick from the beginning?

  Hui Yue had heard about teleportation seals and the dao of teleportation which was related to the dao of space, but if this expert had teleported away, his voice should not have been able to be heard within the room. It was simply impossible for one's voice and mind to stay behind when the body had been transferred away without completely severing the two. This was something no one would do unless faced with the complete destruction of their body.

  Hui Yue closed his eyes and activated his soulforce. Although his eyes were closed he could sense everything which was happening within the room as clearly as if his eyes were open, and, even better, he managed to locate the God.

  For some reason, this God was covered by layers of energy, and he was slowly moving towards Hui Yue. Using soulforce, Hui Yue noticed an excited and sinister smile on the face of this God.

  With a wave of his hand, the Sword of the Icy Tempest appeared in his palm, and a soft light shone from the sword. With the appearance of this sword, an iciness descended upon the room.

  The master of the tower stopped for a short while, his face showing a bit of concern, but he quickly returned to normal. After pausing for a few seconds, he once more smiled carefreely and sinisterly as he slowly advanced towards Hui Yue.

  Having his eyes closed, the master of the tower was certain that Hui Yue was trying to listen to where he was, but little did he know that Hui Yue had already located him and was locked onto his every move waiting for this God to act.

  Though Hui Yue was quite curious about this ability to conceal oneself, and after some time he assumed that the reason he could conceal himself this well had to do with the dao of concealment, or something similar.

  He had never heard about it before, but he could not imagine any other explanatio
n. Using the dao of concealment, this God should be able to hide everything he wished to hide: himself, his attacks, or even other people, but it had one major flaw. Although it could conceal his aura and hide one from view, it was not possible to hide from soulforce.

  Observing the God who was moving forward grinning sinisterly, Hui Yue suppressed his arrogance. Yes, he was able to feel and see how this God was moving, but he was still not certain that he could easily beat him. His best chance was a surprise attack, but if he were dumb enough to be overconfident, then the attack might not end well. If this happened, he was likely to end up being injured in the process.

  Taking a deep breath, Hui Yue steadied himself and calmed himself mentally as the tower master steadily approached

  Ancestral Worldpower started to gush out from this hand, but although it was clearly making ripples when Hui Yue looked at it through his soulforce, he could feel nothing with his normal body.

  Just as his opponents attack was about to land, Hui Yue took a step forward and struck out with the sword in hand. Everything happened in a split second. His step forward followed by an instant stab, but despite his speed, the tower master had managed to move in that split second. He avoided a lethal stab through his heart and instead got his arm impaled.