Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  He glanced at Wei, clearly contemplating whether or not this young man was trustworthy and sighed deeply. Understanding his conflict, Hui Yue thought for a moment before he smiled, "Don't worry about Wei," he said finally. "Although Wei is different from you and our other brothers since he has not sworn an oath to follow me, I know he is loyal and trustworthy. He would never mention what happens here to anyone other than Yanluo, and Yanluo already knows everything. He has seen through me long ago."

  Hearing this Cai Jie was shocked. Cai Jie had been a God for a long time and knew about Yanluo being the strongest expert in the galaxy, but even so, he was still shocked to know that Yanluo had been able to guess Hui Yue's secrets.

  With a final glance at Wei and a sigh, Cai Jie placed his chopsticks on the table and cleared his throat.

  "I need to speak with you about your previous lives," he said seriously. "I know you have nine caves in your core, and of these caves, you have fully unlocked the red mist, the blue cloud, the green pearl and the celestial wings. You have opened the red gem, the black figure, and the star. That means that you still have two caves that have not opened, and I think I knew one of these lives."

  "I was born in an immortal city to two Gods and was born as an immortal. My parents were cultivators who earned their living as mercenaries. They would guard caravans, hunt magical beasts, and explore danger zones."

  "One day when I was merely twenty years of age, my parents took a mission and never returned."

  "Although twenty years is a lot for you, for someone who grew up in the immortal cities, I was merely a child. I was still trying to fully stabilize my Ancestral Worldpower, and because of this, I was incapable of becoming a mercenary to earn a living.

  "At that time I ran into a group of youngsters in the same situation as me. The leader of this group became my sworn brother, and while we would beg and steal to get through the day, we would spend the nights cultivating and dreaming. Our dreams were to have our names resound throughout the galaxy, that we would join a major sect, and that we would never again live such a miserable life."

  "Years went by, and our cultivation rose. We comprehended dao after dao and had many enlightenments and breakthroughs."

  "We would spend day after day cultivating in the slums until finally one day we became Immortals of Creations. By then we had lived nearly a thousand years side by side! We were maybe not brothers by blood, but to each other, we were much closer than even many blood-related brothers. We were willing to give our lives for the other without a second thought."

  "As we became Immortals of Creation we finally managed to step out of poverty. We joined a mercenary company and fought time and time again side by side."

  "Our path was one of carnage. We would kill anyone who threatened us, and we would kill whatever beast came our way. It was a magnificent time."

  Looking at Cai Jie, one could see that he was fully immersed in his thoughts of the past, his eyes were glazed over and his mouth curved into a slight smile. It was clear that these memories were of great value to Cai Jie.

  "At some point, we found the ruins of an old realm. It was clear that this had been an important world once upon a time, but it had disintegrated into a realm and was slowly dying."

  "Both me and my sworn brother were eager to see what was within and we could not help but enter. We knew it was dangerous to do so but with real threats come opportunities."

  "We entered and found hordes of treasures. They were all amazing and outstanding items; however, the realm was too much for us to handle and both my brother and I were severely injured as we were forced to flee the realm."

  "We figured it was not a problem as they were mere physical injuries and as long as we absorbed enough Ancestral Worldpower our bodies would be restored."

  "Unfortunately we came across a group of five cultivators when we exited. These five saw that we were injured and that we came from a small, old world, and so they only saw us as a way to earn easy treasures and money."

  "They started hunting us, and although we were injured, we fled for as long as we could. We fled all the way until we reached the Divine Beast World."

  "Unfortunately we were wounded and as we fled it made our wounds all the worse. As we reached the Divine Beast World, we could no longer flee. The opponents were all Primordial Immortals, but our strength was greatly diminished because of our injuries."

  "We stopped to fight, side by side, knowing that we were likely not going to survive, but we still decided to fight together. When we saw the five experts approaching us, their face were filled with greed and smiles. They were joking with one another, talking about how they were going to kill us and steal our things."

  "My brother became furious, but he sent me a message. He told me that if I had a chance to flee, then I should do so. He told me that spending his life to save mine was worth it, but dying side by side was a waste. That it would sully his heroic death."

  "I am a man of no tears, yet that day I shed the first and the last tears of my life. My brother whom I had lived with for thousands of years gave his life so that my soul could flee. I wished to stay, but his dying eyes showed me that he would never accept it."

  "When I finally fled a happy smile appeared on his dying face. I gave up my Immortal Body and had my soul flee on its own to the Divine Beast World."

  "As I fled I found a safe haven where I could create a new body for myself, but I knew I had to hurry."

  "My power was rapidly depleting because of the severe injuries that my soul suffered. As my body was created, I finally had the chance to relax, but my strength dropped to that of a mortal."

  "The man who had hunted me was An He! Because of him, I swore to never relax! I would never give in! I would fight until the end and get vengeance for my sworn brother!"

  Cai Jie took a deep sigh and looked at Hui Yue. "I am telling you all this because of something I have been thinking about for a long time, yet I dare not hope for it. I fear my heart is not ready."

  "When I met you the first time, I felt a familiarity with you. I felt that I knew you and that I was already very good friends with you, yet I could not explain the feeling at all."

  "When I heard your name, I decided to follow you. We had the same goal in life, to kill An He, and your name was one which I could never forget."

  "You see, the name of my sworn brother was also Hui Yue!"

  As Cai Jie said these word, he became completely silent. And looked at Hui Yue with eyes that were filled with hope.

  "I dare not believe that my brother is alive again, that his reincarnation has come back to me, yet somehow I desperately wish it were true."

  "I know it is impossible for you to know whether or not the caves that are not open have anything to do with me, but I could no longer stay quiet. I hope that you are my long lost brother. I hope that he has truly returned to me. If you are, I will finally be able to forgive myself for fleeing while my brother stayed behind to die!"

  Hui Yue understood just how important this was to Cai Jie and he nodded his head, "When I met you, I too felt a certain familiarity," he admitted. "It was long ago, but I felt instantly that you were my brother. I don't know if this is because your real brother is my previous life or not, but as soon as I know, you will be the first to know!"

  Cai Jie nodded his head in gratitude. He said no more but his face relaxed, and his entire body slumped down. It was clear all the tension had left him.

  Chapter 624 - Heavenly Dragon Gate's World

  * * *

  Chapter 624: Heavenly Dragon Gate's World

  The room turned silent as everyone digested the words said by Cai Jie. The story of his life was tragic. First, he lost his parents; then he lost the brother who had been by his side every single day for thousands of years.

  Where Huli, Deng Wu, and Hui Yue all understood what Cai Jie meant when he referred to Hui Yue's previous lives, Wei was unaware of them. Yanluo had not told him about the phoenix resurrection, nor had he told him about t
he many wonders Hui Yue controlled. Thus he felt a little left out.

  Although he was ignorant of Hui Yue's many lives, and he was curious as to what such a thing exactly meant, he was still a soldier. He was used to just following orders, so he decided not to ask for clarification. He believed that Hui Yue would tell him when he needed to know.

  "Who is this An He?" Wei finally asked a question he felt was very important. He had noticed that when this God was mentioned earlier, Hui Yue's face had turned ugly, and even more so, he could understand that this God was someone important to Cai Jie as well. Someone that he needed to kill, but why would his name cause Hui Yue to show such hostility?

  "An He is an expert who we will kill," Hui Yue said with a cold, calculating look on his face. "Either he dies, or I die. He and I cannot live in the same galaxy."

  There was a slight trace of bloodlust in Hui Yue's voice, but mainly he was just direct and frank. It was clear that he meant every single word he said, and it shocked Wei.

  Wei felt that he knew Hui Yue well, but he had never thought that this gentle and calm young man could show such hate and killing intent. It shocked him to the core and made him wonder what exactly had transpired between the two parties.

  "I said what I needed to tell you," Cai Jie sighed as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "You have always treated me well, and I will be your brother in the future, whether you turn out to be the reincarnation of my brother or not."

  "My brother's and my dream was to join one of the major sects in the galaxy, and you just waved your hand and ensured that I could join one of the strongest guardian sects to the Celestial Sword Sect. This is truly like heaven, and to be honest, I am very suitable to the sect you have found for me."

  "I have not used any of the Worldpower Stones you gave me, but I have taken on several missions, all of which I have completed perfectly. Therefore, I am thinking of taking on bigger missions that will take me out of the Celestial Sword Sect's borders."

  "You will be stuck here until you are an Immortal of Creation and until then I will work hard to be able to gain resources from the sect. We will need to look after the younger ones, and guide the unknowing ones. I will do what I can to increase my strength while we wait for them to enter the Formation of Life one after another. When we are all gathered, we will still have some new Gods amongst us. We will need as many strong experts as possible!"

  Hui Yue could not agree more. He understood that there would be experts who had just become Gods and thus their strength would not be great. Although all of them had gained an understanding of the dao of inferno from the red realm, it was still far from being enough to wander freely through the galaxy.

  "We will have to wait and see," Hui Yue sighed. He truly wished to exit the Celestial Sword Sect as soon as he became an Immortal of Creation and look for the Alchemist God, but he also understood that some people would not be strong enough to go through this trial quite yet. Thus it would be better to leave them behind in the sects where they would be safe.

  "We will have to wait and see what happens," Hui Yue repeated himself. "There is a chance that I am slow at becoming an Immortal of Creation, and thus they might all have become Primordial Immortals instead of just new Gods. Everything depends on what happens in the future."

  Cai Jie, Huli, Deng Wu, and Wei all nodded their heads in agreement. It was indeed true that they might all have become primordial immortals by the time he became an Immortal of Creation and thus they might all be strong enough to follow him. Only time could tell what would happen in the future.

  Hui Yue stayed at the restaurant for a few hours together with his good friends. He was told how his friends' cultivation was developing and about what things they needed from the sects they had joined.

  The sun was setting in the sky before Hui Yue and Huli left the restaurant first. Deng Wu and Wei were drinking together with Cai Jie. They had invited Hui Yue, but he had declined. Right now his responsibility lied with the sect and the job of learning formations as fast as possible.

  Returning to the sect, Hui Yue headed straight to the Formation Palace where he once more buried himself in the formations that he needed to control, the seals that he needed to compress, and the formations he needed to learn.

  Once a month he would visit the City of Endless Clouds together with Huli, and once a week he would visit the Divine Beast World bringing with him cultivation resources to give to his friends and family.

  Soon the time had come for Pei Bai and Hui Yue to leave the Celestial Sword Sect.

  "I will send a hundred guards with you for your safety," The patriarch said with a smile as he looked at Pei Bai and Hui Yue. He was unaware of how well the training had been for Hui Yue, and he did not ask. Rumors would soon spread from the Formation Master's debate about how his performance went. By then he would naturally know, but just looking at Pei Bai, it was clear that Hui Yue was a true talent.

  Pei Bai was gloating. His face was glowing, and a smile he could not control sprung to life on his lips. Every time he thought about Hui Yue's performance and advancements the last couple of months his happiness was impossible to suppress.

  "I see that Miss Huli is also going to follow you," the patriarch said smiling as he looked at Hui Yue. One was not allowed to bring anyone to the Formation Master's debate apart from guards, but Huli had refused to give up and had even transformed herself into a small, adorable little fox again.

  This small fox was going to follow Hui Yue to the formation master's debate. Although it was impossible for her to join him in her human form, Huli was willing to do anything to always be by his side. Therefore, she didn’t mind if that meant spending a couple of months as a small and adorable fox. Although she liked her human form more for Hui Yue’s sake, she would gladly be a small fox again.

  The passing by sect member watched the entourage of guards and the two members of the Celestial Sword Sect depart from the inner sect as they set off for the Formation Master’s debate.

  They traveled for a full month before reaching a world which was slightly smaller than the Celestial Sword Sect's World and the density of Ancestral Worldpower in the world was also lower. It was clear that this world was ranked lower than the Celestial Sword Sect's World on the heavenly rankings.

  This was the world of the Heavenly Dragon Gate. They were the biggest competition in this Formation Master's debate and also the hosts of the entire event.

  As a matter of fact, no one expected that they would be able to deal with the Heavenly Dragon Gate when it came to the formation debate, but they still participated to fight each other for second place. The only one who was not willing to let go of first was Hui Yue. When he went to compete, he would give it his all and strive for the best.

  They had traveled a full month through the galaxy. They had seen one phenomenon after another. They had traveled through complete darkness and fields of stars. They had seen auroras and traveled past constellations.

  They had seen multiple worlds and even more realms. Some had been on the verge of collapsing while others had been bursting with life and Ancestral Worldpower.

  Some of these realms and worlds had been filled with mortals and no Gods were heading for them, while others were destinations for immortals.

  The world of the Heavenly Dragon Gate was one such immortal destination. Although the Heavenly Dragon Gate was not the strongest sect around, it was still quite powerful; its world was a world of immortals, filled with immortal cities and resources.

  As they entered the world, Hui Yue had expected a world similar to the Celestial Sword Sect's World but the world here was different. Where the Celestial Sword Sect's World was a world of warmth and gentleness, this Heavenly Dragon Gate's World was cold and filled with snow and frost.

  The entire world was white. Hui Yue looked around but everywhere he looked, all his eyes landed on was a blanket of white that had laid itself over the entire world as snow was constantly falling from the dark sky.

  There
was no sunlight in this world. The entire heaven was clouded by dark clouds, but the world was still bright. The snow illuminated everything, and although it was night, the snow shone with the pure white sheen lighting up the world around it.

  Looking at all of this, Hui Yue was shocked. He simply could not understand how this world could be so white, and the more he looked, the more shocked he became.

  Observing him, Pei Bai chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder, "The world is vast." He said with a smile on his face. "There are so many phenomena out there, so many worlds that you cannot imagine exist."

  "The Heavenly Dragon Gate's World is famed for its year long snows. It is always snowing here yet no one knows why. It is the mystery of the world, but also a great intriguing subject that causes many to venture into this world to see it for themselves. Some come to try and understand why, others come to see it, and yet some come because this is the only world in the galaxy that has some certain herbs such as the Ice Phoenix Grass, the Snow Lily, and the Ten Thousand Year Frozen Bone Ginseng."