Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  His soul no longer consisted of just his current life’s memories and thoughts, it was a mixture of many of his lifetimes. Thus he could not see how it could only consider his current life, yet he still took a step forward and slowly made his way towards the blank mirror.

  As he stood in front of it, he felt an ancient power streaming out from this mirror. A power so overwhelming that he was tempted to take a step backward, but he steeled his resolve and looked deep into the mirror which just reflected a picture of himself.

  The more he saw, the more confused he became. When the previous experts had stepped in front of the mirror, it had instantly started to show blurry figures, yet when Hui Yue stood in front of it nothing happened.

  He glanced around and saw that the ones who had passed and the ones waiting for their turn all frowned and looked at him oddly.

  While the others were uncertain about what was going on, Hui Yue and Yanluo had a general idea of what was happening. It was only going to consider his current life, but this was simply impossible because Hui Yue was a mixture of all his lives. It was not possible to judge him.

  Even King Qinguang was shocked when he saw that his mirror did not work on someone. He had never experienced this before, nor did he have any idea what could cause such a phenomenon, but when he saw how calm Yanluo was, he also calmed himself remaining seated.

  Murmur erupted amongst the other participants in the trial. Although they did not know each other, everyone spoke to the one next to them to hear if they had any idea what was going on, but no matter how much they thought about it, no matter how they wracked their brains, none of them understood why the mirror was not responding.

  Hui Yue stood in front of the blank mirror for a full ten minutes before Yanluo called out, "Passed."

  Although Hui Yue had been surprised that it had shown him nothing, he was elated when he heard that he had passed. He feared that the mirror would display all the sins of his previous lives, but he was quite surprised by this turn of events.

  When he understood that it would not display anything he became worried. Would he fail because of this? But when he heard the word passed, he felt much happier. He walked down from the mirror with a happy smile on his face.

  As he left the mirror and faced the other contestants, he noticed that the majority had sour expressions on their faces. It was clear that they felt that something was not okay with the fact that he had gotten through without having to face his sins.

  Chapter 574 - Unmeasurable Talent

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  Chapter 574: Unmeasurable Talent

  Although almost everyone beneath the mirror was unhappy with the fact that Hui Yue got through the trial without having to be tested, no one dared to speak up about it. Yanluo himself had passed him, and no one was stupid enough to question the King of Hell.

  Although Hui Yue did not care about what people thought about him, he was still relieved that he had passed as to him he could have just as easily failed the trial.

  "Don't worry, I won't discriminate," Yanluo chuckled as he could feel the unhappiness within the contestants. "If you stand in front of the mirror and nothing happens, obviously you too will pass the trial, but believe my words, passing the trial this way is magnitudes harder than the way that everyone else has passed it."

  Yanluo was clearly aware that the reason Hui Yue had not seen any memories was because his current life was convoluted with his previous lives and the mirror only showed one’s sins from this lifetime. It was simply not able to break apart what was from his previous lives and what was due to his current life, and because of this, it had just stayed quiet.

  Yanluo had not even considered failing Hui Yue. He was rather biased towards this human who had been resurrected by a phoenix, and for some reason, this carried a lot of weight with the King of Hell.

  The entire group of contestants were quite surprised when they heard the words spoken by Yanluo. To pass this way was harder than passing normally? How could that be? They saw that Hui Yue had done nothing but stand in front of the mirror and look at his own reflection.

  Still, Yanluo had not been too biased, he agreed to allow anyone who could also make the mirror remain unactivated to pass the trial, and this calmed the remaining experts quite a bit.

  Those who had already passed the trial all sighed as they wondered if they could have done something differently to cause the mirror to not react to them, while those who had yet to face the mirror’s trial all hoped that they were perhaps able to pull the same trick.

  Unfortunately, as the trials continued they soon found out that no one else was capable of making the mirror remain blank. Everyone else had to go through all their sins, and many cultivators failed the trial. In the end, only one-fourth of them managed to pass.

  As the trial came to an end, Hui Yue looked around and was shocked to see that only seventeen people had passed this third trial.

  None of the trials so far had tested the strength of the participants, but even so, to manage to get to this point was no easy task.

  "We will instantly continue to the next trial," Yanluo called out and picked up a sphere with circles upon circles within it. This was a device which Hui Yue remembered having seen before when he merged with the memories of the celestial wings.

  This was the sphere which tested the talent of an individual. When one's talent was being tested, they would try to light up as many rings as they could.

  This trial didn’t have the slightest bit of suspense for Hui Yue. His talent might have not been the best when was born in the Divine Beast World, however as time had passed he had merged with the memories of the past lives and this had increased his talent tremendously. Not just once or twice, but he had merged already with four past lives causing his talent to soar to the heavens. If he was not a nine-ringed talent, then he was at least an eight-ringed one of this Hui Yue was sure.

  "This trial is simple," Yanluo continued. "To be a new Judge of Hell you need talent. Not just any talent, but enough talent where you are able to grow! You might not be the strongest person right now, but as soon as you become a Judge of Hell, you will have to grow fast and become a top-tier expert. Although we can provide you with resources and the like, talent is important to become a strong expert!"

  "Because of this we only want people with above average talent. Seven rings and above are allowed to stay, below seven rings, and you will have failed this trial."

  What Yanluo said made perfect sense. To be a Judge of Hell one truly did need to have personal strength at some point and to have such strength one needed talent.

  Although he asked for talented individuals, he had also been reasonable. He could have said he only wanted the most talented. Those with a nine-ringed talent, but he had also accepted seven and eight-ringed talents as well. He understood that although talent was needed in the end, it isn’t everything. One also needs hard work, and sometimes hard work can make up for one’s lack of talent.

  Everyone's faces were different. One could see expressions ranging from shock and unhappiness to excitement and relief. This kind of trial was not hard in any way, but it was one where no matter how much one tried, it would be impossible to change the result.

  Not only that, almost everyone already knew exactly what they could expect from this trial as anyone who had been born a God knew their talent from when they were young.

  One’s talent was one thing which did not change, and since they had been tested as children, they already knew what their outcome would be.

  One after another they lined up in front of Yanluo. Some were more eager to stand in line than others, and Hui Yue was around the last half part of the group.

  The first person up was the youth from the Nightcrawler Sect. His face was filled with pride as he laid his hand on top of the sphere and a strong light shone as his Ancestral Worldpower entered the sphere.

  The first five rings lit up almost instantly, shining brilliantly, and they were quickly followed by the sixth, seventh, and
eighth rings lighting up as well.

  Even as the eight ring lit, the light did not stop. With his energy pouring into the ninth ring, it also lit up emitting an intense light.

  "Not bad, your talent is definitely first class," Yanluo praised with a nod of his head and a satisfied smile appeared on the youth's face as he looked at Hui Yue.

  His glance did not contain arrogance, but curiosity. It was clear that he wished to see the expression on Hui Yue's face, and Hui Yue was indeed quite surprised. Not only was this person a nine-ringed talent, but his ninth ring was very clear and bright. To find anyone with better talent than this would almost be impossible.

  The next person stepped up, and rightly enough, he did decently. He was a clear seven-ringed talent, and very close to being an eight-ringed talent. Although this could be considered a great result, next to the Nightcrawler Sect's youth, it was not that amazing.

  One cultivator after another stepped forward, and all of them were seven to eight-ringed talents until it was Pei Ze's turn. Stepping forward, he too managed to light the ninth ring, but it was not as bright as the ring from the youth before. It was clear that although he was a heavenly sent talent, he was not as talented as the Nightcrawler Sect's youth.

  As they progressed further and further into the line of experts, the level of talent dropped significantly. There were a few eight-ringed experts, but the majority were seven-ringed, and slowly a few six-ringed experts appeared. Even a five-ringed expert showed up.

  Just as before, as soon as the experts had failed the trial, they were led out of the chamber and left to leave on their own. Yanluo had no interest in others.

  Finally, almost at the end, it was Hui Yue's turn to be tested. The air suddenly turned tense, and everyone held their breath as they observed this expert that had intrigued everyone earlier.

  In all trials so far he had excelled. As for whether or not he would manage to get through this trial as well, everyone was quite curious, and many hoped that he would fail.

  Hui Yue was calm as he stepped forward and reached out his hand. He summoned a wisp of Ancestral Worldpower and pushed it into the orb.

  Suddenly, something shocking happened. Every single ring lit up instantly, and the rings shone more and more brilliantly in a matter of seconds. Soon they shone so brightly that it was impossible to even keep looking at the rings, and suddenly a cracking sound was heard as the orb split in two. The light rings broke free and grew in size expanding outwards until they filled up the entire room before the energy finally vanished and the rings dissipated into the air.

  Everyone was stunned. Their words were stuck in their throats, and their eyes widened in shock. Never before had they seen, or even heard of an orb exploding like this.

  What they didn't know was the reason it had exploded was not because Hui Yue was born as an amazingly talented individual, but because he had been talented and as the years had gone by he had merged with the memories of his previous lives. He had gained their traits, and their talent had merged with his own. In this way, his own talent had been boosted time and time again until now where it was simply unmeasurable.

  "Surprising," Yanluo said, with a voice that sounded as if he was not surprised at all, yet King Qinguang was shocked to his core as he sat there staring at this young man through narrowed eyes.

  Hui Yue had not triggered the mirror of retribution, and now he had displayed an unmeasurable talent. If he, King Qianguang, were to chose someone to become a new fellow Judge, he would pick Hui Yue straight away.

  He also started to understand that Hui Yue was a special individual and a smile appeared on his face. Diyu was the strongest faction within the entire galaxy, but unlike the sects and families, they did not have leaders born to become the Judges of Hell, they had to scout talents instead.

  To strengthen their own position they needed someone talented, and Hui Yue seemed to be just what they were looking for. Right now he was weak, but given the resources and time to train, he would become the most outstanding judge, and King Qinguang was excited just thinking about the unlimited possibilities.

  Sneaking a glance at Yanluo, he noticed that a knowing smile had appeared on his lips and he nodded his head, "I assume no one questions this young man's talent and ability to continue the trial," he said before he waved his hand summoning another orb.

  It was clear that he had prepared more than just one orb which was rather unusual as most sects only had one. Their orbs were ancient as they never broke. Even if Diyu did have more of them, why would Yanluo have bothered to bring two with him?

  It was not before now that the others started to understand that Yanluo had already expected the orb to break and realizing this their skulls turned numb, and their bodies shivered in fear.

  They were also worried about Hui Yue. To have such talent, his ability must be simply unfathomable, and it was obvious he would become a truly supreme expert in the future. It was important that they curry favor with him, but how should they go about it?

  While most were busy considering this, the youth from the Nightcrawler Sect’s fighting spirit soared. This was someone from the younger generation, and he was a true opponent! Were it not for the fact that Hui Yue was still here, then the Nightcrawler Sect's youth would not be here either.

  Chapter 575 - Filial Son

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  Chapter 575: Filial Son

  Although everyone was stunned by Hui Yue's results in the test, Yanluo did not bother to waste any time, and the remaining people were tested.

  The remaining four experts all failed the trial, and now only a handful had managed to pass.

  Yanluo looked at these eight experts and contemplated for some time. "The trials for today are over," he said honestly and stood up stretching his body. "You have a total of three days to rest before we leave the First Court of Hell and enter the second court where we will find the new Judge of Hell!"

  Everyone felt their blood burst with excitement as they heard this. They had feared that there would be many more trials, but considering how many had failed every single trial so far, it was understandable that it would not take too long before the victor was decided.

  The group all returned to their own courtyards and started training. Although they had spent the first many days leisurely around the city, they now felt pressured. The trials were going to end soon, and they all wished to become the new judge.

  The courtyards were now very quiet. Not only was everyone training, but only a few experts managed to pass the trial that had been prepared here in the first Court of Hell.

  Considering the difficulties of the first court's trials, everyone could imagine just how difficult the trials in the next court would be.

  "I almost wish that it was a tournament. If we were fighting, then I have faith in my own abilities. No Immortals of Creation are left, and I would be able to defeat the other contestants if I used all I had."

  Hui Yue mumbled to himself, but far away, in the palace, Yanluo was sitting with closed eyes, and suddenly a smile appeared on his lips. "A tournament, huh?" He mumbled to himself and then nodded his head. "A tournament it shall be! But I don't want to lose this talent so let’s give him a helping hand. If he cannot win the tournament even with this, then he is not worthy of becoming the new Judge of Hell!"

  King Qinguang was seated not far from him and nodded his head, "Why don't you just choose him already?" He asked confused. If he were Yanluo, he would have already have made the decision. Although everyone left was indeed very talented, none of them were as promising as Hui Yue. For them, the most interesting individual was Hui Yue.

  Hui Yue, unaware of the fact that Yanluo was watching him, took out the glass orb that he had gotten from Pei Tian, and after hesitated for a moment he poured his Ancestral Worldpower into it.

  It did not take long before the misty orb turned into the image of a man. A man he had seen before. This was Pei Tian, and he was smiling broadly as he looked at Hui Yue.

  "The news about your
unmeasurable talent has already spread from Pei Ze. He recorded the memory and traded it to the head elders who instantly sent it to the highest echelons of the sect." Pei Tian said proudly as he looked at Hui Yue who just smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head unsure of what to say.

  Clearing his throat, he finally started speaking about why he had called. "During this trial, I have spent more and more time interacting with my bloodline." Hui Yue said slowly, "and the more I connected with it, the more I have remembered."

  "I remember a village filled with my brothers and sisters, my mother and aunts," he said honestly as he spoke of the memories he had relived. He named some of his brothers and sisters alongside some of the aunts and his mother.

  "I remember how I was always a child chasing my dreams. Back then, I was certain that I was a peerless talent, but it turned out to be nothing more than average. I remember how I joined the department that dealt with gathering and spreading the news, and I even remember the missions that went south resulting in my death."