Blue Phoenix

Hui Yue strode towards the pillar behind which the oldest martial brother was standing, and although the many Saints noticed his movements, no one tried to stop him. The oldest martial brother was the strongest of them while Hui Yue was a mere Emperor. How could their brother need help? Even with his overdraft of energy, just a simple slap should be able to beat this arrogant Emperor into submission.

Although they were slightly startled as they saw the black whip in Hui Yue’s hand, none of them truly paid it any attention and instead returned to their own battles. Truth be told, they were not doing as well as they expected they would.

Xiao Ning was holding down two of them while the other three had gathered around the final two experts. Having one expert as surplus allowed them some wiggle-room in their fighting so although they were not individually as strong, they still managed fairly well. Their ability had always been amongst the weakest Saints so this was a new experience to them, and it ignited their fighting spirit, causing them to become even more ferocious and dangerous for their opponents.

Hui Yue knew that he could leave the other experts to his friends as he reached the pillar. Lashing out with the whip, the black energy flew through the air and landed on the pillar in front of him. The hard jade these pillars were created from did not stop the whip, instead, it cut through the pillar like a hot knife through butter.

Attacking again and the pillar suddenly collapsed. As it collapsed, it was revealing the pale expert hiding behind it. His face was hideous, but his eyes were filled with rage, arrogance, and greed. Looking at Hui Yue a slim smile appeared on his face. “So you are bringing yourself to my table like a lamb to the slaughter?” He laughed loudly as he stood up and channeled the Wu Wei within his body. Once more started his Wu Wei rushed out twisting and churning forming a massive hammer.

This was not the first time they had seen this hammer attack, however, unlike last time these hammers did not seem as though they were made from Wu Wei, but instead they seemed real. This time, the expert was clearly serious about his attack and one could feel the intense energy coming from it.

Where the old hammer had clearly been made from Wu Wei, this hammer looked real. It was filled with inscriptions and patterns etched on its sides, and it seemed as though it had been cast from gold rather than created by fleeting Wu Wei.

Although Hui Yue was facing such a strong attack, he did not panic, but a smile played on his lips as he raised his whip lashing out to meet the incoming hammer. He allowed for the black energy to cut straight through the Wu Wei hammer.

The moment the whip came into contact with the Wu Wei hammer sparks of Wu Wei could be seen, but the whip did not pause as it slashed straight through the hammer. The Wu Wei from one side instantly dissipated into thin air while the other started to reassemble themselves into a pair of smaller hammers.

“That whip…” The oldest martial brother finally felt that something was not right. His hammer should not be easy to cut through let alone being forced to disintegrate, yet it had happened right in front of his eyes. All he could do was stare greedily at the black whip while he formed a few smaller hammers.

Although this oldest martial brother was disadvantaged, he did not seem rushed. He had used up almost all his Wu Wei. He was certain that this was enough to deal with Hui Yue. Hui Yue was a simple Emperor after all. An Emperor with various treasures that allowed him to do many things, but in the end, he was still an Emperor. He was someone a whole rank below him. There was no way he could lose.

“Such a fool,” Hui Yue mumbled as he looked at the expert in front of him and saw the denial in his eyes. Without waiting, the whip in his hands suddenly shot out like a snake. This time it was not heading for the Wu Wei hammers but instead the expert in front of him.

The black snake-like whip suddenly changed its shape and just as it reached the expert in front of him it turned into an arrowhead which buried itself deep in his arm.

At first, the expert did not think about it, but soon he felt an uncomfortably cold sensation drown his entire body. His eyes turned blurry, and soon all light vanished in front of him.

“What have you done?!” He yelled loudly as he staggered forwards. His hands reached out in front of him as he tried to catch the young man. Suddenly, the world turned silent as he realized his hearing was gone, and then everything turned black. The oldest martial brother was overcome by darkness. There was nothing left in his life, no color, no emotions, nothing. Staggering forward a few more steps the Saint could no longer hold on and he collapsed to the floor. He was still breathing, and his body was working perfectly; however, his senses no longer worked. There was nothing to hear, nothing to see or feel. Everything had vanished from his world in that instance. His entire body had been taken over by that small drop of black energy.

The battle between the other Saints had come to a standstill. They surrendered in the hopes that their oldest martial brother would return to them and save them from these other experts, however, as they looked at their oldest martial brother their hearts filled with fear. He was sitting on the ground with pitch black eyes, and his body was emitting a strange black hue.

“What have you done to our brother?!” One of the experts yelled out, yet Hui Yue did not answer. He was quite curious about this ability, but to think that it would devour one’s senses was simply unimaginable.

‘It is highly likely that you can do more than just this,’ Lan Feng commented from the lower dantian. ‘When you launched your attack your thought was to defeat this man. So now he is defeated. Utterly defeated. Had you thought of something else, then the result would have been different. Still, this merged energy is quite strong. We need to refine more as soon as possible,’ Lan Feng said before he once turned silent.

Sighing Hui Yue looked at the experts who had been subdued and wondered what to do. Killing them seemed excessive now that they were clearly not his group’s match, but letting them go was not an option either. Contemplating for some time, Hui Yue went to the oldest martial brother and went through his pockets picking up one storage stone after another.

“I will let you all go.” He finally said with slow words, clearly still thinking while he spoke, “However give us your storage stones before leaving, and afterwards, bring this Saint and leave the grave. As for whether or not he returns to his usual appearance, I really don’t know. Only time can tell.” He said with a shrug. To him, it did really not matter whether or not this Saint would get his senses back, or if they would be gone for the rest of his life.

The four Saints looked at one another, and their expressions were sour, but no matter how much they thought none of them could come up with any way to get out of their current situation. It had been them who started the battle and had they won then the others would have died. No doubt about it, that was the style of their oldest martial brother. At least they were allowed to leave with their lives, but handing over their hard earned treasures and memory stones was enough to make them vomit blood.

Ignoring their behavior Hui Yue took all the stones and randomly kept the ones from their oldest martial brother himself while equally sharing the others among his friends. No one complained about this as Hui Yue had personally dealt with the oldest martial brother, therefore, his treasures should naturally belong to the young man.

Watching Hui Yue and his friends move further into the grave, the four Saints left behind were filled with remorse. Unfortunately, it was now too late to change their fate, and all they could do was to pack up, grab their oldest martial brother, and slowly make their way out of the grave. If they were to meet weaklings on the way, then they would be robbed, but that was about it. Going further into the grave was now impossible.

….

Further back behind Heaven’s door many of the experts had turned tail and ran away when the Saints started robbing them. They left the grave for a period of time before they once more entered, only to follow in the footsteps of the Saints. They all hoped that some treasure had been left behind as although most Saints had been very careful to not leaving anything behind, it was not possible for them to get everything. Due to this, some treasures were still being found by the lower ranked cultivators.

Amongst these groups were both Deng Wu and his group, Sha Yun and her group, the medicinal team that Wang Ju Long was a part of and finally the merchant group where Ma Kong had been assigned by his family.

Although these groups often met, none of them truly assisted one another, though neither did they hinder each other. The beast group was somewhat split into two groups, one against Sha Yun due to her relationship with Hui Yue while the other supported her. This group was not currently finding lots of treasure as many of the members were too busy arguing, but they still moved forward ever so slowly.

Another group which worked well together was Deng Wu’s group with the Rong twins and Gao Yan. The Rong twins were supposed to travel with the Rong family; however, they were allowed to follow Deng Wu in the hopes of tempering their personalities and becoming more mature. Their father hoped that while being in the grave, they would experience dangerous situations and would be able to learn from them. This group had been fairly lucky obtaining treasures and since they all were friends sharing was simple for them.

Ma Kong was from a family which focused on trading and selling items, and while he was in the grave he was busy conducting business. Although he was not currently trying to find treasures, he managed to trade many items for the secret treasures in the grave. Everyone needed medicinal pills, and those were something that their family had aplenty. Being the only trading group that was actively traveling through the grave, they had a monopoly on the markets and the further in they went, the thicker their wallets became. Although they were clearly wealthy, no one dared go against them. Everyone knew the Ma family had a few hidden experts among them, so robbing from them was very risky.

Wang Ju Long was still worried as she moved forward. Every step she feared that the corpses she saw at the side of the grave belonged to Hui Yue or one of her friends. This was something she feared more than anything, yet as time went on there were no sight of a dead Hui Yue or her friends. Slowly she calmed down and did her work perfectly. Sighing she started to imagine what Hui Yue was doing. Thinking about him her eyes became stern, and she found a place to cultivate. She swore that from now on she would be by Hui Yue’s side and help him in the dangerous times to come. If she was not strong enough then how could she stand by his side? Thinking about this, the young woman once more focused on her entire body filled with energy and eagerness to improve for the sake of Hui Yue.