Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  "The elders already decided that you should join so that everyone can meet you, but I have to warn you, you already have the nickname bastard of the Celestial Sword Sect."

  Pei Ze was worried that Hui Yue would feel discontent at this name, but he clearly had no reaction. Hui Yue already expected it, and he had also previously been warned by Pei Tian. If they considered him a bastard then so be it.

  "When is it? Am I allowed to bring Huli with me?" Hui Yue asked, but Pei Ze shook his head. "The only people who are invited are the members of the family, not their companions. You will have to follow me. The banquet is tonight, so we need to hurry. You have been training for a long time so take a bath and find some nice clothes, then come find me and we will head out."

  Hui Yue nodded his head, and the moment that Pei Ze left, he took a warm bath. The warm water calmed his mind which had worked hard for the last few days comprehending the dao of the sword and his mind finally eased up as he bathed.

  Huli entered the room and gently started to massage his back so that he could be as relaxed as possible before it was time for him to go.

  When he finished the bath, Hui Yue found that a robe that had been laid out on the bed for him to wear. The robe was white with blue and silver embroideries of a great roc soaring in the sky among beautiful clouds. The quality of the cloth was very high, and it was clearly very expensive. On the top of it was a small note saying, "A present from uncle Pei Tian."

  Hui Yue felt warm at the heart when he saw this note, and he hurried to put on the robe. With these clothes and a beautiful white hairband, he looked everything like a distinguished young master of a large sect or family.

  When he left the room and knocked on Pei Ze's chambers, he was met by the young, black-haired man wearing a black robe with golden embroideries also of the great roc, but instead of clouds, his robe depicted the sun and stars.

  Seeing Hui Yue wearing such fine clothes Pei Ze was at first shocked. One had to know that the clothes Hui Yue was wearing had to have cost at least a thousand Worldpower Stones. This was no small amount of money, and although Hui Yue had this amount of money, Pei Ze was aware that he had been training non-stop the last seven days. He never had time to order such a nice set of clothes.

  Pei Ze had actually been worried for Hui Yue when he heard that they were going to a banquet. If Hui Yue came in the clothes he usually wore, he would be made fun of, not only by the other sects but also by their own members.

  "Where did you get this set of clothes?" He could not help but ask. Although he understood that people would have their secrets, Pei Ze was a curious person, and when he saw the clothes, he could not help but ask.

  Smiling, Hui Yue answered honestly. "Ancestor Pei Tian gifted them to me." For him, who had been gifted a communication orb and a set of clothes by Pei Tian, he was rather excited and happy, but when Pei Ze heard this, he stared at him with shock in his eyes.

  "I guess it is because the first ancestor does not have any children of his own left," he said after a bit of thinking. "Now that he has found a long lost nephew he might be giving all his love to you."

  Hui Yue, who knew that Pei Tian was certain that he was his son, said nothing but nodded his head. He had no intention of telling people that Pei Tian was, in fact, his father.

  Huli was in Hui Yue's Universe Box and had been sent to the Divine Beast World where she was going to spend the time until Hui Yue was back from the banquet. Hui Yue felt the safest when Huli was by his side, even though he was not allowed to bring her, he still felt better knowing she was with him this way.

  Pei Ze brought Hui Yue to the front yard of the family mansion where members of the Pei family were already gathered, and even some of the head elders were present as well.

  When they saw Hui Yue, many looked at him with jealousy, hate, and rage while others looked at him with curiosity, interest, and reverence.

  Even the head elders who arrived all nodded politely to Hui Yue. Even though he was a younger generation member, he was also a third generation descendant. Thus he was ranked highly in the sect.

  Pei Feng showed neither reverence nor hostility; he was completely neutral as if Hui Yue were just another member of the sect.

  The followers of Pei Ze were, however, different. All of them looked at Hui Yue with jealousy, hate, indignation, and hostility.

  When they saw his fine clothes, they felt inferior. When they thought about his pure bloodline, they felt inferior. When they thought about his insights into the dao of space, they felt inferior. If they compared their looks to Hui Yue, they had to admit they were inferior. No matter how they looked at it, Hui Yue was much more talented and important than any of them, and none of them could tolerate this. He was a new sect member, and he was a bastard on top of it all.

  According to rules, he should be slain, but now he was enjoying their rewards and cultivation resources! Who knew, with so many talents he might even end up as the next sect leader! After knowing that Pei Ze and Pei Feng had battled for this position for years, all of them felt that he was not entitled in the least to join the fight to be the next sect leader.

  Even some of Pei Ze's followers felt indignant about this, however, when they saw how good the relationship between Pei Ze and Hui Yue was, all of them understood that there was not likely to be any rivalry between them. With this in mind, they started to become much more open towards Hui Yue.

  "We are all gathered here now," a melodious voice sounded out, and when Hui Yue turned around, he saw that Pei Ziqi was standing right behind him. Looking at Hui Yue, she winked slightly and smiled happily. She had seen all of Hui Yue's performances, and it was clear that she was on his side.

  "At this banquet, it is likely that you will be allowed to spar with the other sect's younger generation. Remember that these young experts also are the geniuses of their sects; never look down upon them and never take victory for granted! If you become complacent, you will be the one who ends up losing!"

  As she said this, everyone present nodded their heads in acknowledgment. What she said made perfect sense, and no one wished to be the one who embarrassed their family.

  "You have to be extra careful," Pei Ze said to Hui Yue with a low voice. "Many of our own members wish to see you embarrassed, and many of the other sects are very curious about you. Who is this person who was able to make the patriarch ignore the sect’s rules, is what everyone wants to know."

  "We from the Celestial Sword Sect usually win our sparring matches because we have our wings for support. Our training mostly concerns aerial battles for this reason, and we have a great advantage against opponents without wings. However, you are different. You have never been trained to fight in the air, so many will target you. I hope you are good at fighting on your own."

  Hearing this, Hui Yue grinned. Although he was a new God, he was not new to fighting with his life on the line; he had fought many battles against experts, and time and time again, he had bet his life in them.

  Compared to these young masters who had protectors with them when they went out to train, he had far more experience in real battle, and he had faith in himself. Even if he could not convince the black figure within his core to help him, he still had plenty of secrets up his sleeve to use.

  No matter how people looked at it, Hui Yue was not an easy person to bully. He might be a new god, but he was as dangerous as any other member of the younger generation, if not even more dangerous because of his deeply hidden secret techniques.

  Hui Yue looked at the gate which opened and smiled slightly. This banquet was going to be quite entertaining.

  Chapter 555 - Yanluo

  * * *

  Chapter 555: Yanluo

  Leaving the Celestial Sword Sect's manor, Hui Yue followed by Pei Ze's side. Neither of them spoke, but where Pei Ze was completely calm and looking straight ahead, Hui Yue was busy looking around observing the bustling life of Youdu.

  The red moonlight shone down upon the city creating an eerie atmosphere as sou
ls and demons made their way through the busy streets.

  Some souls were busy selling items and food; some were setting up stalls while others were packing down their stalls. There was no day here far beneath the surface, and everything was one long night filled with the color of blood. If one were here for too long, then it would be easy to lose track of time.

  Hui Yue was eager to learn about this new world, but even more so, he was eager to get to the banquet. This was a banquet held by Yanluo himself, and such a banquet meant that maybe he could meet the King of Hell, himself, and ask him about how to resurrect Wang Ju Long.

  Hui Yue had no actual interest in becoming a Judge of Hell. All he wanted was to resurrect Wang Ju Long. If he could do so without entering the trials then obviously he would. He knew his limitations, and he was only willing to gamble it all if he had no other choice.

  Seeing that Hui Yue was deep in thought, Pei Ze gently nudged him and brought him back to reality. They had walked through street after street and after a while arrived at a gigantic black palace. Within all of Youdu only one palace was bigger than this one, the forbidden palace. A palace where no one tread unless they had been personally invited by Yanluo.

  This black palace though was bursting with life. There were new experts arriving constantly in large groups similar to the size of Celestial Sword Sect’s.

  Every single group looked upon the others with arrogance. They each felt that their own sect was the best and that they could fight the others easily. Still within their arrogance was a slight trace of uncertainty and curiosity when they looked at the Celestial Sword Sect.

  The Celestial Sword Sect was one of the strongest sects in the entire galaxy, and they were famed for their aerial combat. They were feared in spars and often won the battles they participated in.

  But this time there was a difference. This time the bastard of the Celestial Sword Sect had arrived. He was new to the sect and for some reason had been allowed to live. His name, Pei Yue, had already spread through Youdu and was also spreading throughout the entire galaxy as they understood that this young man was special.

  Although this was the case, he was still new to the sect. Therefore everyone knew that the usual sect skills such as aerial combat were not his forte.

  Fighting him would make it possible to trample on the Celestial Sword Sect, and everyone set him as their target.

  Rumors of this white-haired young man’s appearance had spread to all the great sects, and everyone was looking for this specific youngster. But when they saw him, everyone was stopped in their tracks.

  Not only did he not cower in fear, but he was proudly walking next to Pei Ze. His face was held high, and he had an air of arrogance to him as he took step after step forward. His clothes were of the best quality, and his appearance was the epitome of a young master. Was this person really the so called bastard of the Celestial Sword Sect? If he were a bastard, would he walk with his head held high and even be looked at with respect by his peers?

  No one outside the Celestial Sword Sect knew that Hui Yue was of the third generation. All they knew was that Hui Yue was a bastard that had been allowed to enter the sect, the specifics were something no outsider knew as the sect kept it to themselves.

  This was also one of the reasons that everyone looked down upon Hui Yue. Had they known that he was a third generation descendant then the eyes that looked at him would be filled with fear.

  The two ancestors and the patriarch were legendary figures renown throughout the galaxy. They had roamed the world, fought their enemies, and carved their names into history. To be of the third generation meant that he was the child of one of them, and knowing this, no one would want to attack him just out of fear of retaliation from the terrifying second generation, the leading generation, of the Celestial Sword Sect.

  Hui Yue completely ignored the many experts looking at him and snorted inside. The young generation of the Celestial Sword Sect had truthfully stunned Hui Yue when he met them. They were indeed very strong, but even so, Hui Yue only feared fighting a few of them such as Pei Ze and Pei Feng as it would take quite the effort if he wanted to beat them.

  But when looking at the many experts around him, he could tell all of them were weaker than the younger generation of the Celestial Sword Sect.

  That was until his eyes landed on a group where everyone was wearing simple black clothes. Their bodies were filled with Ancestral Worldpower, and when Hui Yue scanned them with his soulforce, he found that their strength was even more profound than he first thought.

  Just as he was scanning them, his soulforce was abruptly cut off as something shielded the entire group, and Hui Yue was surprised when he saw one of their elders looking at Hui Yue with sharp eyes.

  Noticing his eyes Hui Yue cupped his hands and bowed in apology, and the stern expression on the elder's face softened somewhat when he saw his respectful apology.

  Some of the elders of the Celestial Sword Sect followed Hui Yue's line of sight, and their eyes turned serious as they looked at the black clothed group.

  "That is the Nightcrawler Sect. They are ranked just beneath the Netherworld in the galaxy, and their younger generation are the only ones who can fight us in aerial combat well. Try to avoid them if you can, and if you can't do your best to not embarrass yourself."

  Pei Ze's voice came from the side with brutal honesty. Hearing that they were the strongest sect in the galaxy, it made good sense for Hui Yue that they had an elder who had soulforce and he felt excited. Although these experts were strong, Hui Yue still had faith in himself. He might be a new God, but everyone present was of the younger generation. In the end, everyone of this generation was limited in how long they had been able to consume Ancestral Worldpower and comprehend the dao. Although they had Ancestral Worldpower skills, they could not rival Hui Yue when it came to having comprehended three complete daos.

  Next to the soulforce elder was a young man. He was clearly the most outstanding younger generation member of the Nightcrawler Sect, and his eyes landed on Hui Yue. Deep within his black eyes were doubt and curiosity.

  Noticing the staring gaze of this expert, Hui Yue nodded his head before he once more looked forward and followed the elders of the Celestial Sword Sect through the gates entering the black palace.

  The elders seemed to know their way around the palace, and they headed straight for a small building that was to the side of the main building.

  This building was filled with lights that shone out through open windows. Chattering could be heard from within that drifted out with the light alongside the sound of a zither being played.

  The elders headed straight for this building and entered inside. Their faces were filled with pride, and their backs were straight as they walked with a noble air. Behind them, every single member of the Celestial Sword Sect was standing proud. They were well known, and it was only natural for them to have this arrogance when walking.

  At the very front Pei Ze, Hui Yue, and Pei Feng were walking together side by side. Originally Hui Yue should not have walked with them, but due to his rank as a third generation descendant he was even entitled to be ahead of them, but he was happy by their side. Together the three entered the mansion right behind the head elders.

  As soon as the Celestial Sword Sect entered the banquet hall many of the speaking experts turned quiet as they turned to look at these new arrivals.

  Some in the hall bowed slightly, others cupped their hands, and some nodded their heads in respect greeting these newcomers.

  While everyone was looking at them with curiosity, many eyes landed on Hui Yue. He was clearly the bastard, but he was allowed to walk with Pei Ze and Pei Feng, two absolute geniuses of their generation. This caused quite some turmoil in the hearts of many experts present.

  Hui Yue looked around, and unlike the others, he did not feel too important. What he was there for was not the many sparring matches that the younger generation geniuses were looking forward to.

  Many assumed tha
t he wished to display his skills, wished to show his sect that he was truthfully a genius and assumed that he also wanted the fight, but the elder from the Nightcrawler Sect frowned slightly. There was something uncomfortable about this youth; something that made even him feel threatened.

  "Welcome!" A loud voice reverberated through the banquet hall and turning to look at the voice, Hui Yue felt his heart skip a beat.

  At the end of the hall was a raised podium with a big throne and within this chair was a young-looking man. This man had long black hair; his skin was without any wrinkles, but his eyes were deep and seemed as if they contained eons of knowledge making it difficult to describe the feeling they gave.

  Looking into the eyes of this man, Hui Yue understood that he was actually nowhere as young as he seemed and that this person in front of him was as old as the galaxy itself.

  The old man looked at Hui Yue with curiosity similar to the many other families, but where the others seemed to be unable to see through him, Yanluo's eyes saw right through his every secret. It was as if his innermost thoughts were exposed and all his secrets, including the nine past lives in his core, were ripped out and displayed for Yanluo to see.