Blue Phoenix

“What? Can you repeat what you just said?” Xu Piao asked his face filled with disbelief. His eyes went wide and his heart was beating erratically causing him to pant. Xu Piao was not the only one shocked, Xie Lan was staring at Hui Yue with disbelieving eyes as well. She was not as emotionally invested in the group as Xu Piao was, hence her reaction was more controlled.

While Xu Piao and Xie Lan were shocked, happiness was evident on the faces of Deng Wu, Wang Ju Long, and Sha Yun.

Moments before, Hui Yue returned to the house with the news that he traded Scarface for the location of the Stairs of Hope, and the entire group was filled with happiness and excitement. It seemed as though they would be finally able to leave these underground tunnels. They could leave behind the feeling of being trapped by the ceiling above and finally return to their friends they left behind long ago.

Thinking back, Hui Yue was astonished to realize that it had now been around two years since the battle of Riluo City. It had been around two years since he last saw his good friends.

Thinking about this, Hui Yue felt a longing to once more return to Riluo City and see how much it had changed throughout the years. He wished to once more meet up with Ma Kong, Gao Yao, and the Rong twins.

Looking at his friends he knew that Deng Wu and Wang Ju Long both missed their families. It was also obvious that Deng Wu definitely missed Rong Xing a lot, although he never mentioned it. Sha Yun too missed her sisters, but throughout these two years of travels, none of the friends ever complained to Hui Yue; never stressing to him their discomfort of being away from home. They held out and gratitude flowed inside of Hui Yue’s heart.

However, although he now knew where the exit was he was not able to leave just like this. He promised Lan Feng to find the Laws and discover what was going on with them. A promise like this was one which he would never step away from. He was a man; a man kept his word.

“I’m sorry but I need to go look for the Laws once more,” Hui Yue said apologetically as he turned around to leave. He still had a few hours of sunshine which he could use to search. Now that he found the exit, Hui Yue felt that he was much closer to his goal. He was already halfway there.

The friends all nodded their heads or waved to him as he left. They had already waited for the day when they could exit these dark, depressing tunnels for more than a year, waiting a few more days was nothing. As Hui Yue rushed out the room, quietness once more descended upon the room as the three youngsters went back to cultivating.

The days they spent cultivating improved their strength a lot. Sha Yun and Wang Ju Long were both cultivating at the same speed and the two of them were close to breaking into the next star. Deng Wu spend half his time making more inscriptions and the other half cultivating.

Although one would expect that Deng Wu was wasting a lot of time on making the inscriptions, these were incredibly important for a Metal cultivator and while it took time, it made them incredibly strong.

….

Hui Yue had been in almost every room of headquarters, and his mood was turning more and more sour when he saw a small house on the outskirts of the city which he had never seen before. The house looked heavily guarded, and as Hui Yue walked closer and closer, upon reaching the house, he noticed how many guards were present.

“No unauthorized men are welcome within this house!” One of the men said with a stiff face. Seeing the man Hui Yue flashed his A ranked emblem, but no one moved and made space for him as he expected.

“I’m sorry sir,” The man said as he still blocked the way. All these guards were King ranked experts, and Hui Yue knew he had no chance if they were to fight against each other.

“This house is only open to S ranked experts.” He explained, “We only have three S ranked experts and we cannot give the S rank to anyone unless you are a leader of the Dragon Corps.”

Hearing this Hui Yue sent a final glance towards the house before he politely nodded his head and went on his way. Deep inside he was filled with conflicting emotions.

Hui Yue had entered everywhere else within the Dragon Corps’ headquarters, but he had found nothing. Now, though, when he finally found a building which seemed to be the one he was looking for, he did not have the clearance to enter.

This, however, made him even more certain that this was the room in which the Laws were being held. While walking back to the room a cold gleam flashed in his eyes. Now he knew where the Laws were hidden, and with the guards around them it was quite obvious that they were not there of their own freewill. It was easy to understand what he would do now.

Moving back to the main house, Hui Yue quickly noticed that he was being followed by one of the King ranked experts who was guarding the house earlier. Although he did nothing to attack, the fact that he was being followed so brazenly was enough to let Hui Yue know that they were serious about not letting anyone inside that house. Unfortunately for them, Hui Yue was sharing his body with a Saint ranked divine beast. Should Lan Feng wish to enter the house then no King would be able to stop him.

Returning to the house, the whole way he was followed by the expert and only when he entered the front gate did the man turn around. Sneering at the stupidity, Hui Yue went towards the room where his friends were seated. All of them cultivating, even Deng Wu had stopped writing inscriptions and was cultivating.

Seeing this, Hui Yue moved towards Xu Piao and allowed himself to slump to the floor. The last many days had been stressful for the young man. He was constantly searching for a way out alongside looking for the Laws. During his search, he found the corpse of the Azure Dragon, something which he had not expected. Many things happened in the past few days, and he knew that before the evening he would have to calm down.

Hui Yue could choose to sit down for a bit and relax next to Xu Piao. After relaxing instead of cultivating the young man went towards the bed which was in the corner. This whole time when the room was filled with people, none of them had truly slept as they spent the nights cultivating. When Hui Yue landed on the pillow a comfortable black world descended upon him; a world he had not experienced in a very long time.

As Hui Yue slept, Xu Piao and Xie Lan watched over the group not aware of the actions which Hui Yue planned before he went to sleep. Although he had plans, he would not tell his friends before he was completely certain. Only then would he let them know.

Waking up in the middle of the night, Hui Yue saw that some within the room had fallen asleep as well. Some were sleeping, others were cultivating, but no one was awake. With a doting glance towards his many friends, Hui Yue slipped down from the bed and left the house before he handed over control of the body to Lan Feng.

Lan Feng was a Saint and as long as he was in control of the body, the body belonged to a Saint ranked expert. Withdrawing his aura, he quickly made his way towards the building he saw before.

Using no abilities and wearing the black cloak, Hui Yue became one with the shadows on this dark night. He easily managed to evade the first set of guards. His main issue was how to get in through the door which was guarded by two King ranked experts.

Abusing the shadows, Lan Feng moved all the way around the house looking for a window, or any nook or cranny in which he could enter the house, unfortunately, though there were none and his mood turned somewhat sour.

There was only one way in and that was to knock down every single one of these King ranked experts. Not killing them, just making them unconscious.

Withdrawing from the house and once more merging into the shadows, Lan Feng moved away from the many guards. At the outskirts of the grounds he ran into the first guard he would deal with.

Having withdrawn his aura it was impossible for anyone to know that he was there. Even if they used their Wu Wei to scan the area it would be impossible for them to locate someone of a higher rank than themselves. Therefore, Lan Feng was fairly safe as he inched in on the man in front of him.

To be honest, Lan Feng did not care whether or not these men died, however, he knew that if he massacred a group of King ranked experts in the middle of the Dragon Corps’ headquarters then it was quite likely that the high ranked experts would enter the scene. If they did then things would no longer be as simple as they had been so far.

Moving self-confidently through the shadows, Lan Feng arrived behind a King ranked guard, and with a flash of his hand the phoenix controlled Hui Yue’s spiritual energy to enter his hand. He then knocked the guard hard below the ear. As soon his hand touched the skin, his spiritual energy was inserted into the brain.

Although spiritual energy was something the King ranked experts could easily defend against they needed to know that the energy was coming and used their own internal energy to defend against it. Unfortunately, this man did not see the attack coming. The spiritual energy of a Grandmaster ranked youngster was far from enough to kill the guard, but it was still enough to knock him unconscious for at least a couple of hours.

Glancing at the unconscious man with a cold glare, Lan Feng swiftly moved towards yet another guard and knocked the man out. He allowed the bodies to stay on the ground, laying there unnoticed in the moonless night.

One after another, guards fell to Lan Feng’s swift attacks. One after another was sent to the ground, and soon the ground was littered with unconscious guards. Leaving behind only the two men in front of the door of the house.

Pausing slightly in the dark, Lan Feng wondered what to do to get the two men to move from the door. Attacking two at the same time was not an easy task unless he used Wu Wei, and using Wu Wei against a King would most likely mean that one, or both, of the guards, would die.

Sighing deeply, Lan Feng made his decision and charged towards the two guards. Although neither of the two were capable of seeing him clearly, both saw a dark shadow nearing them. Golden light burst out from their bodies, covering them fully in golden rays of light, however, how could a Saint possibly be scared of two mere Kings? With a snort, golden rays of light appeared on both of his hands, forming two golden blades. As soon as he reached the two men, Lan Feng swung his arms around him decapitating both guards with ease.