Blue Phoenix

Running down the stairs, Hui Yue slipped through the back doors without being noticed by anyone and slowly made his way through the back alleys before he managed to take a turn which led him to the main roads.

Hui Yue’s plan was simple, he wished to explore the city and see if he could come across any treasures. Finding his way back to the Mercenary Guild should not prove too hard, and the young man strode with confident steps into the busy road.

His apparently was attracting a lot of attention. Small children were pointing at his hair, their mouths agape as they asked their mothers about the beautiful angel walking amongst them. This caused their parents to blush with embarrassment and quickly apologize to the different man.

Most of the citizens assumed that Hui Yue was part demon beast which would explain his handsome, but very different features. Hui Yue, not bothering with the many glances thrown his way, was smiling happily as he made his way towards the first marketplace he would come across.

All marketplaces were fenced in, making it impossible to enter unless one went through the gate where the guards were posted. Some of these marketplaces required a fee to enter while others were free everything depended on which items were put out on display.

At first, Hui Yue believed that the marketplaces were owned by families much like the ones in Riluo City because they were heavily guarded, however, he quickly saw that it was not families who owned the marketplaces, but instead guilds.

One marketplace specialized in medicinal herbs and medicines and was owned by the Medicinal Guild, or the Pharmacy another name is was know by.

Another marketplace sold valuable ores and metals, obviously it was owned by the Mining Association, while just across the street another marketplace had tools on display, weapons, armours, and other items which were created by blacksmiths.

There were marketplaces which sold meat of all varieties and marketplaces which sold fabrics and clothes. Everything Hui Yue could think of was available in front of him, and he felt like a little child filled with excitement as he walked through one marketplace after another.

His excitement, however, quickly dimmed as all the things he saw were mediocre treasures. The herbs were all of great quality, but flowers were not something he needed right now. The metals were also interesting, but they could be found anywhere and none seemed to be very special.

Sighing, Hui Yue left one marketplace after another until he finally arrived at a small market, much smaller than any of the others. Unlike the other marketplaces this one had no guards, the fence was in bad shape and the stalls were not made from wood, but citizens just sitting on the ground their wares laid out in front of them on small pieces of cloth for all to see.

His interest was piqued instantly, as he saw the various old heirlooms laying around alongside broken demon cores and old memory stones. Entering the marketplace, Hui Yue suddenly felt as if he entered a completely different world.

This place was in no way as well looked after as the markets where the guilds were in charge, instead, it was filled with poor citizens, some selling items, others begging for coins or food. Any kind of scraps which could help them survive their daily life within the city.

Walking past one stall after another, Hui Yue stopped here and there looking at random things such as jewelry, a few memory stones containing martial art skills, and other memory stones containing items of unknown origins.

Having walked through half of the shabby marketplace, Hui Yue saw various items he knew nothing about, but none struck him as being exceptional. That was until he saw a larger stall.

Stopping here, his eyes were drawn towards a stack of scrolls and old books. His interest piqued every time he found old documents which might in some way help his search concerning the Dark Age and the Great Sin.

Picking up the books, dust was released from them and a stale scent filled the air as soon he open one of them. It appeared that some of the pages were damaged from years of use.

“These books,” Hui Yue said while looking at the man, “These books and those scrolls, how much do you want for them?”

Seeing that the young man was dressed in fine clothing the seller squinted his eyes slightly, wondering how greedy he dared to be, while he was contemplating Hui Yue did nothing but patiently wait by the side.

Eventually the older man made a decision and lifted his wrinkled hand, gesturing for five demon coins. He himself felt as though he had asked for a tremendous amount of money as the books were all worn down from years of use, the scrolls almost impossible to read.

Looking further into the stall, his eyes stopped momentarily on a large black stone which seemed to have been mined long ago, but after looking at it for some time he decided against purchasing it.

‘You idiot!’ Lan Feng’s voice suddenly boomed within the young white-haired man’s head, catching him completely off guard as he had not heard anything from the phoenix for weeks by now.

‘Why am I an idiot?’ The retort was quite indignant and the young man felt like he had been treated wrongly. All he did was ignore a big stone.

‘This stone is the purest memory stone I have ever seen, you have to buy it!’ The phoenix’s voice was determined and pushy, leaving almost no space for disagreement.

‘What use do I have for a memory stone?’ Although the phoenix left no room for disagreement, Hui Yue had known him for a long time already and was used to the overbearing personality of the bird. This request was both too sudden and too greedy for him to approve.

Lan Feng left Hui Yue alone when they were stuck within the illusion. He had not shown up when they were in danger against the Horned Snake, nor had he said anything at all about Zhou Long. Instead he was busy cultivating Wu Wei, yet here he was suddenly conscious when the young white-haired man was about to make purchases. What made him think that Hui Yue would listen to him now?

‘You can refine it into whichever kind of stone you need!’ Lan Feng argued, unaware of the grudge which was growing within Hui Yue’s heart.

‘Oh look!’ The bird continued completely ignoring the emotions he felt being emitted from Hui Yue, ‘That over there is a treasure when it comes to training, it’ll help your cultivation improve drastically,’ The bird continued while pointing at a stone which was in the same stall.

‘Oh and that one, that ought to be a treasure as well,’ Lan Feng continued, the bird on a roll while pointing out things completely ignoring Hui Yue.

‘That ought to be a treasure?’ Hui Yue mocked while looking at the items. The seller was greatly confused about the many odd facial expressions appearing on Hui Yue’s face, yet he dared not chase away this costumer as he had the impression that the well-dressed youth, although slightly insane, was rich and willing to spend money.

Completely unaware of the expressions on his face he continued the internal conversation with Lan Feng.

‘I have never seen anything like it before,’ Lan Feng explained, ‘That alone is enough to make it into a treasure.’

‘How stupid,’ Hui Yue replied, while looking at the item and inserting his spiritual energy, only to see that nothing happened. The item, a small round metal sphere, was nothing but a piece of metal. ‘Since when can you sense treasures?’ Hui Yue mocked. ‘You think you are a chicken laying golden eggs? Dream on you’re just a phoenix, all you can do is burn things and complain.’

‘I’m serious here!’ Lan Feng continued, ‘But if you want to let go of a peerless treasure then that is your own problem.’

Sighing deeply, Hui Yue knew that Lan Feng was right. Even if there was just the slightest possibility of the sphere being a treasure, it would be worth buying because the price had to be low.

Eventually the scrolls and books were no longer the only thing purchased by the white haired boy; he also purchased the stone and the metal sphere, paying another five demon cores.

Having purchased the items their discussion was far from over, instead, it was just starting and the young man found himself a nice dark alleyway where he sat down and finally allowed for his feelings to be let free, his annoyance with Lan Feng blossoming to the heavens.

‘Why did you suddenly appear after all this time?’ He asked the indignation evident within his voice, as he felt slightly betrayed.

‘I told you that I can’t help you within these dungeons,’ Lan Feng reminded him, his face smiling as if he was flattered that Hui Yue missed him.

‘Well you don’t have to help, but don’t just pop up when I am buying items! I am not your purse!’ Hui Yue still felt that it was not right that the phoenix only appeared whenever he wanted to gain something, but he knew that discussing with the bird was the same as speaking to a door. He would never see things from any side other his own, he was very stubborn.

‘Well never mind that, quickly tell me how to use this stone,’ Giving in, the white-haired boy changed the subject and pulled out the stone he bought at the market place. Had Lan Feng not told him to purchase it, he would never have imagined that it would help his cultivation in any way, but he did not doubt Lan Feng when the bird said it would.

‘I’ll tell you this before I go back to cultivate,’ Lan Feng said with a self-righteous smile on his face, ‘When you cultivate have it in your hands and see what happens.’

Having said that, the bird did exactly what he had said he would and sat down within the dantian cave, once more fully absorbed in his cultivation and refinement of spiritual energy into Wu Wei.

Seeing that the bird went back to sleep, Hui Yue sighed and looked around. He had already purchased a few things and he had no idea where the library was so instead of looking around on his own he quickly decided to head back to the Mercenary Guild and spend his time looking through the haul he acquired.

….

Walking through the entrance, the guards instantly remembered the white-haired young man as the person who arrived earlier together with Xu Piao and instantly bowed to him, allowing him access to the Mercenary Guild.

Walking past the guild’s main building and towards the back, a low sound could be heard from within the building where Sha Yun and the others were currently residing. Hearing the sound a sigh escaped his pale lips, as the young man was well aware of what was occurring and he rushed towards the building, ready to apologize for the problems and pay for the repairs.

Hui Yue vanished on his own, and did not inform anyone about his trip causing Sha Yun, who always preferred to have Hui Yue in eyesight, to panic.

As Hui Yue reached the upper floor, what he expected to happen happened and he could only swear at himself for being so forgetful as to not inform his friends of his small trip to the marketplaces.

The entire first floor was no longer as pretty as it had been before, in fact all the doors were shattered. All his friends were gathered in one room, serious expressions on their faces as they were conversing in low voices, so low that Hui Yue could not hear them.

Walking through the door, Sha Yun was the first to see him and she threw herself into his arms, tears of joy falling from her eyes. An apologetic nod was all that Hui Yue gave them before they all surrounded him, curious to hear what happened.