Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  Wei who was still in the room simply stood at the side. He said nothing but he listened to every word as he considered when the best time would be to announce his intention of leaving Yanluo's guard and joining Hui Yue's instead. When he heard about Hui Yue's dead beloved, he suddenly realized things he had not understood before.

  He understood why Hui Yue had been so desperate to win this tournament; he also understood why the late Chujiang's wife had seemed to feel some sort of connection with Hui Yue. He even understood why he had had such changes to his mental and emotional state throughout the tournament. Everything made sense to him now, and he was thoroughly shocked, so shocked that he forgot what he originally wanted to say.

  "You are quite the smart one!" Yanluo continued. "At first I thought you mentioned how to resurrect Chujiang because of your pity towards the widowed wife, but after spending some time thinking about it, I understand that you wanted him to return. You are actually not willing to be the Judge of Hell for too long, are you? You just want to get the answers you are here for, and then have Diyu out of your life!"

  Hui Yue awkwardly scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. It was indeed true that he wanted the original Chujiang to return to his position as the Second Judge of Hell.

  "It is not completely true," he argued back. Something which neither Yanluo nor Wei expected to hear. "It is true that I do think that Chujiang is more suitable as a Judge of Hell, but it is not because I don't want to be the Judge of Hell. I am just not positive I am capable of fulfilling such a massive role. Chujiang, on the other hand, is someone who has already proven his worth, and no one could say that he should not be allowed to retake his position."

  "Also, one can not deny that me being the temporary judge, alongside the main reason that he has been resurrected, I have curried favor with Diyu and they owe me a favor now."

  It was just as Hui Yue said. He did not have the time to deal with affairs of the Second Court of hell; he had quite a lot of things he needed to do, amongst which the most important was to resurrect Wang Ju Long. He also had to get ready for the fight against An He, and he needed to find the Alchemist God. If all these things were taken into consideration then he truly was not fit to become the Judge of Hell.

  Sighing, Yanluo just shook his head. "You there," he called out as he looked at Wei. "I can't leave this kid alone. From now on you are to follow him anywhere he goes and report back to me. If he dies, you are to never show your face in front of me again unless you want me to throw you in the yellow river myself!"

  Wei was shocked silly when he heard the order, but moments after a smile appeared on his face. He could not ask for a better position than the one he had been given. He was now able to roam the galaxy together with Hui Yue, but he did not have to give up his position as one of Yanluo's personal guards.

  Yanluo looked at Hui Yue for a long time, and then he grinned as he shook his head. "I like you. From now on you are going to be my younger brother. Although you are most likely not going to be the Judge of Hell for long, you are still a martial brother of mine for life! Not to mention you have a phoenix within your body! Just because of this, I would treat you as a brother," he grinned, confusing Hui Yue.

  It seemed that Yanluo knew everything about the phoenixes. He had been able to tell that Hui Yue had been resurrected by a phoenix, just like he knew that there was a phoenix living within him. This made Hui Yue slightly apprehensive, but after a bit of time, he just shook his head. There were so many things that he still did not understand, and it was not likely he would understand it anytime soon either.

  "The elders from your family should arrive tomorrow. I made my flood dragons fly at their fastest speed, but for now, there are a lot of people who wish to meet you. That includes those two youngsters from the major sects. That guy you defeated and the boy from your own sect have been here multiple times every day, waiting for you to wake up."

  Chapter 590 - Friendship

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  Chapter 590: Friendship

  At first Hui Yue was surprised to hear that the Nightcrawler Sect's youth had managed to wake up earlier than him, but when he thought about it for some time it was not all that surprising.

  In their last attack, Lan Feng had drained all the Ancestral Worldpower he had within his body to be able to execute his final attack. Because of this, he needed quite a few days to recuperate and once more feel Ancestral Worldpower flowing through his body. It was during this time when he had very little energy that he had been in a state of comprehension.

  By now he was far more familiar with the daos he had at his disposal, and he had fully gained control over the dao of gale. All of this was due to his battle with the Nightcrawler Sect's youth, and he could not help but feel a bit grateful.

  Pei Ze was his friend, so for him to come looking for him a few times a day was not surprising, but Hui Yue could not help and wonder what he would say when they met face to face. Would he congratulate Hui Yue wholeheartedly or would he perhaps feel inferior?

  Hui Yue could not help but hope that nothing had changed between the two of them. He knew that in the future he would go by the name Pei Yue and that as a member of the Celestial Sword Sect, he would need friends, friends other than just the elders.

  When thinking about friends, he felt nostalgic as he was reminded of all his friends back in the Divine Beast World. He had left them behind for so long, and he could not wait to see them again. Now that the trials were over, he should be safe to let the nine beast Gods and Huli out of the Universe Box, but, sadly, there was still other friends, his best friends, who still had yet to become Gods.

  Hui Yue was rather impatient. He was eager for his friends to become God ranked cultivators so that they could all roam the galaxy together, gain strength together, and explore the many mysteries together. He could not wait to see them increase their strength little by little so that everyone could finally stand strong against An He.

  When he thought about An He, hate flared up inside of Hui Yue. He hated An He and Rong Liang so much that he knew it was impossible for the three of them to exist in the same universe. Soon it would indeed be necessary to kill or be killed! Someone would die!

  When he thought about Rong Liang, Hui Yue's mood turned increasingly foul as he not only thought about Wang Ju Long's sacrifice but also about Rong Ming. There were so many things he did not know, and he could not help but feel worried about Rong Ming with whatever he was doing now. He was also worried that one day he would have to fight him.

  Deep in his mind, he remembered the years when he was a small child, and he would wait every year for Rong Ming and Rong Xing to visit him when they traveled to the magical forest. He remembered how Rong Ming would gift him flowers and he chuckled when he remembered how this old friend of his had thought that he was a girl.

  He remembered how they had attended the Royal Academy together and there they had encountered hardships but stuck together nevertheless.

  He remembered everything that he had experienced together with Rong Ming and his heart ached. Those days were the simplest and happiest days of his life, and he would sacrifice anything to protect the ones who were dear to him.

  Sighing, Hui Yue stopped thinking about it and looked out a window instead. Wei was still by his side, but the guard could sense that Hui Yue was deep in thought and did not want to trouble him. He had heard Yanluo mention the resurrection of a loved one, and when he thought about this, he finally got to see some of the true pain that this otherwise cheerful person carried with him.

  Hui Yue was still deep in thought when a knock was heard on the door which drew him back to reality. Nodding to Wei, the guard went to open the door and outside was Pei Ze, smiling brightly, and standing next to him was the Nightcrawler Sect's youth. He seemed to be grumbling slightly, but not putting up much of a fight.

  "I met the young master on the way here," Pei Ze explained with laughter as he dragged the Nightcrawler Sect's Youth into the room with him. He then turned
to look at Hui Yue.

  "Honestly, when you said that you would become the next Judge of Hell, I truly did not believe you! Yet look at you now! Soon you will be bestowed the title of Chujiang!"

  "We are amazed by your ability, and we wished to see how you were doing, but why is it that when I look at you, I get the impression that you are even stronger than before?"

  Pei Ze did not hold anything back and asked straight away, but Hui Yue just laughed and waved his hand. "I had a lucky breakthrough while I was unconscious," he said without going into details. But his simple statement made both Pei Ze and the youth stunned. They had thought that he was on the verge of collapsing because of the state of his physical body, but in fact, the reason it had taken him so long to recover was that he was in a state of enlightenment!

  Pei Ze had no words to describe how much he revered Hui Yue. It had long since become clear that Hui Yue was someone who could not be considered apart of their younger generation; he was indeed a dragon amongst men, a tiger ready to pounce!

  Even the Nightcrawler Sect's youth, who had always thought of himself as a blessing from the heavens reigned in some of his arrogance when he heard this. Now he really understood that he was no longer the most talented person around. Although this should have made him unsatisfied, for some reason, he was filled with excitement. He would make Hui Yue acknowledge him as his rival!

  While all three were busy thinking their own things, they all had smiles on their faces as they made small talk with one another. They talked about how the tournament had gone, how their performance had been, and even the weather was discussed yet none of them seemed to notice what was being said.

  On the side, Wei had a wry smile on his lips as he saw this. It was clear for him to see what all of them were thinking but he still said nothing and just laughed silently.

  He understood that Hui Yue was like a force of nature. He was uncontrollable and could erupt with tremendous power if needed. Even he, who was an esteemed Immortal of Creation, dared not take the Phoenix Descent head on. Heck, he was scared silly by just the golden lightning bolts of the Nine Tribulation’s Lightning that he had seen.

  When thinking this, he also noticed that although Hui Yue was stronger than the two experts in the chamber, and had beaten both of them before in the trials, neither seemed to hold any resentment towards Hui Yue. in fact, it seemed as if they were grateful.

  "I will stay here for the duration of your coronation," the Nightcrawler Sect's youth said with a smile at Hui Yue. "After that, I will return to the sect, but a year later in the great sect assembly you better show up! Then we will see if your phoenix or my world of darkness is stronger!"

  Hui Yue could not promise anything. He knew that it was not likely that he would stay in the sect for long as he had plenty of things to do, but he still nodded his head. With a calm voice, he said, "If I can make it, then I definitely will. If I cannot then, I will come find you and we can fight at that time."

  Hearing this, a smile broke out on the youth’s face. This was something not even Pei Ze had ever seen before on his face. Both he and Hui Yue could only stare stunned at the youth in front of them, who then seemingly became self-aware. His face flared red, and he looked down embarrassed.

  "I will take my leave," he said quickly as he turned to leave.

  "Who would have guessed that a few casual words would make him so happy," Pei Ze mumbled to himself, but he quickly shook his head forgetting all about it. He then turned to Hui Yue again smiling as his eyes glistened.

  "Your last battle, tell me, did you use a third bloodline or was that an Ancestral Worldpower Skill?"

  Although Pei Ze was curious, he was also asking for the sake of the sect. The elders had not been able to find an answer, and thus they had gone to ask Pei Ze to see if he could wrist the answer from Hui Yue, but the white-haired young man just shook his head and said nothing.

  Understanding that he was not willing to answer, Pei Ze was not angry. He was just even more curious than before. Could it be that Hui Yue himself did not know what this magnificent attack was?

  Without spending any more time discussing it, Pei Ze continued to talk about how marvelous he thought Hui Yue was, and he would ask questions here and there. Hui Yue would answer most of them honestly, yet as soon as it had to do with Lan Feng and his power, Hui Yue would apologetically shake his head and not answer at all.

  Wei was listening curiously. He too found Hui Yue's powers to be outstanding, and he could not help but wonder just how on earth Hui Yue had reached such a level in a mere fifty years. He must have had lucky encounters every single year to have such amazing skills!

  Although he thought like this, Wei was not jealous of Hui Yue but excited for the future. As a guard who had been given the order to look after this young man, Hui Yue had become the focal point of his life. He would rather die than let someone else lay a hand on his new master.

  This was the true heart of a knight. Where many were selfish creatures, Wei was fully devoted to his master Yanluo. Now that Yanluo had given him a new master, he would be fully devoted to Hui Yue. Especially since he had been treated so well during the time they had been together, and even more so now that he was a Judge of Hell.

  Hui Yue was starting to feel how his entire body was greedily absorbing Ancestral Worldpower in the entire room. He could feel his soulforce growing rapidly from devouring the soul energy, and he excused himself telling the older man that he was rather tired and needed rest. Pei Ze, letting Yue get some rest, instantly got up and left saying he would come again later.

  Hui Yue felt slightly guilty about lying, but he could also feel that something was happening in his body, something he could not ignore. He sat still in meditation, greedily absorbing all the energies around him.

  His body had become like a sponge that had been placed in water. The Ancestral Worldpower and soul energy in the surrounding area became chaotic, and all of it rushed to Hui Yue.

  At first, it was rather subtle, and even Wei did not notice it, but it kept increasing in power, and soon, even the rest of the castle started noticing that something was attracting the Ancestral Worldpower and soul energy that surrounded the entire palace!

  Chapter 591 - The Body of a God

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  Chapter 591: The Body of a God

  As for what was happening, not even Hui Yue knew. He could feel how the surrounding energy was rushing into his body.

  It was as if his body was suddenly capable of holding even more Ancestral Worldpower than he had been able to before. All of a sudden his Ancestral Worldpower pool was rapidly expanding.

  It was not only Hui Yue who benefited from this sudden influx in Ancestral Worldpower; he could feel that Lan Feng's soul was constantly evolving as well; the two, man and beast, were growing together at a rapid pace.

  Suddenly the door opened, and Yanluo stepped inside. Hui Yue did not notice him as he was simply too busy absorbing all the energy that was flooding towards him, but Wei instantly noticed him. He bowed deeply and looked at him confused.

  Was Hui Yue in trouble? Had he done something wrong, or was he doing something wrong right now? He was nervous, but Yanluo just waved his hand casually at Wei.

  "Pei Yue is experiencing a side effect from having forced every single ounce of Ancestral Worldpower out of his soul," Yanluo explained.

  "He did not use any of the Ancestral Worldpower that his body is built from, but he used every other drop of energy within his soul, and since every single drop was used up this has made his capacity to hold Ancestral Worldpower explode."

  "And it was not only his own Ancestral Worldpower that was emptied but the phoenix's too. Now he is absorbing energy like a black hole... Truly a wondrous state to be in."

  "While he is absorbing energy like this, he will probably not notice anything that happens around him, so I'll stay here together with you and protect our little King of Hell."

  Wei just stared at Yanluo with confusion. He had not understood wha
t the King of Hell said at all. Especially when he mentioned a phoenix. What phoenix? Was it because he had transformed into a phoenix that Yanluo was referring to a phoenix that had used all its energy? Wei was at a loss, but he asked no questions. He simply stood there guarding Hui Yue against whatever might threaten him.

  The minutes turned to hours and the hours turned to a full day where Yanluo and Wei guarded Hui Yue. As the day came to a close, Hui Yue opened his eyes wide and gasped for air. He almost doubled over as he felt his body on the verge of exploding from the power he had absorbed.

  It literally felt as if cracks were appearing all over his body. Small cracks but thousands of them, and even more energy entered his body through these cracks in return creating more and more of them.

  It was clear that he was not able to contain all the energy that his body had absorbed, but it was also not possible for him to stop his body from absorbing more energy. He felt how the pain was even more intense than when he had experienced the combined punishments of the ten Courts of Hell in the first trial of the judge tests.