Blue Phoenix

“What is it?” Hui Yue asked curiously as he looked at both Wang Ju Long and Deng Wu, neither of them looked especially interested in speaking about the subject, yet Hui Yue had no intention of allowing them to go free.

It had been a long time since he had last heard anything remotely interesting, yet here he was and both Wang Ju Long and Deng Wu were acting strange as if they knew something but had no interest to allow others to know.

“If it helps then I’ll throw in some high ranked martial art skills.” Hui Yue said casually, as he could feel that the phoenix was as interested in this new gossip as he himself was.

“No.” Deng Wu said sternly, while Wang Ju Long nodded with a solemn expression on her face, “This is not information which can be sold.” she said with gritted teeth, clearly struggling with herself as to whether or not she should say anything.

“We are not completely sure what is going on.” Deng Wu said apologetic. “Something is going on within our families.” He continued while looking around to check that no one was listening in on their conversation.

“Our fathers have always had a good bond between one another. It has most likely always been due to both families belonging to the Great Hundred Names.” Wang Ju Long took over. She shook her head slightly before she continued. “Recently our fathers have been meeting frequently, but unlike before their meetings are in secret and it seems as though they are planning something.”

“We gave a copy of the blueprints to the Wang family.” Deng Wu suddenly said, his eyes shining with indignation. “Those blueprints were a gift to the Deng family from you, not something that the old man can use as a bargain chip for the sake of gaining some extra strength. What does he even want with more strength?” Deng Wu said enraged and although Wang Ju Long was from the Wang family, she too agreed with Deng Wu.

Having been gifted the cultivation technique from Hui Yue, Wang Ju Long understood Deng Wu’s feelings perfectly well and both the Wang and the Deng young masters were currently filled with indignation.

Hui Yue furrowed his brows. His impression of Deng Wu’s father was not good. Firstly, he disliked the way he had been treating his son, and secondly he felt he was the one person whom Hui Yue would never trust. It was obvious that this older man would do anything, even betraying his closest allies, if it meant that he got more power.

Knowing that the Wang and the Deng family leaders were having meetings behind closed doors did cause Hui Yue to feel slightly nervous. This was especially so when the Deng family had been willing to part with their precious blueprints. The blueprints which they had obtained from ‘Li Fen’ were priceless treasures, so for them to part with one, it was easy to guess how much the Deng family had been promised by the Wang family.

As to what the Wang family was interested in, Hui Yue had no idea. The Wang family had calmed down recently and Hui Yue was unable to understand what was motivating these families to move. For now he could do nothing about it as his knowledge was simply too lacking.

“Keep an eye on them.” Hui Yue said with a smile on his face as he noticed Gao Yan and Ma Kong moving their way. The current subject was now closed, until the next time the three of them had the chance of speaking together without being heard by others.

“Hello there.” Gao Yan said with a big grin on his face, his breath smelling strongly of alcohol, and a pint of beer in his hand as he was swinging himself around, before he planted his bum on the ground, drinking his beer.

It was obvious that this friend of theirs had been at the birthday celebration for an extended amount of time, and that he had been spending the majority of his time drinking.

Ma Kong was the same as usual. His aloof attitude caused many misunderstandings due to people who thought he was taunting them.

Looking at Ma Kong, Hui Yue could not help but frown slightly as he realised that there was almost none present from the Ma family, which seemed odd considering that they were one of the pillars supporting the City Lord within the City Lord’s Mansion.

“Where is everyone?” Hui Yue asked. He knew the faces of many of the outstanding members of the Ma Family as he often went to dine with them or discuss the insurance, yet none of them were present today causing Hui Yue to feel as though something was indeed amiss.

“Actually.” A smile appeared on Ma Kong’s face as he opened his mouth, “This is a secret.” He continued, “but since it is you guys it should be fine to tell you.”

“Ever since we started this insurance aspect of our business it has been booming.” Ma Kong explained, and a satisfied expression appeared on his face. Satisfied that he had managed to see the potential in the idea which Hui Yue had suggested to him.

“We are now getting ready to expand into Richu City.” Hearing this, Hui Yue raised an eyebrow. Even he had not been informed of this major development for the Ma Family, but he was thrilled to hear so. The bigger their power became the more beneficial it would be for Hui Yue later on. For him to help them was obviously because they were friends, but investing so much into friends also meant that they could be relied on later in his life.

“Congratulations.” Hui Yue said meaning it with all his heart, even Deng Wu and Wang Ju Long could not help but want to congratulate him as well.

“Schlet us shave a toasth!” Gao Yan said mumbling on the floor, before his head dove into the soft soil. A crunching sound could be heard as his nose broke, and blood started pouring out onto the ground.

Ma Kong sighed deeply before he hoisted up his friend and excused himself as he moved towards the entrance of the City Lord’s mansion. It was obvious that he was leaving the party now to get his friend healed and then sent home.

Hui Yue watched his friends as they walked out the gates before turning around. His friendly expression had been replaced by a stern and serious one. Clearly Hui Yue was not in the mood for jokes, and the two friends present instantly understood his emotions, staying silent and just following the white-haired boy as he turned around, moving towards a closed location and he beckoned for the two to follow him.

“So you fathers are meeting secretly and the Deng family has shared the watermill blueprint with the Wang family?” Hui Yue quickly summarized, as he looked at the two friends of his which were both nodding.

“I see.” Hui Yue thought for a short while before he continued. “The fact that he gave the watermills to the Wang family could mean that they need to build these watermills before they start taking action, but for now I need the two of you to keep an eye on your family and tell me as soon as you know something.”

Roaming through his storage stone, Hui Yue finally withdrew two memory stones. One was golden while the other was white. Hui Yue tossed the golden one to Deng Wu and the white one to Wang Ju Long.

“I have a new cultivation technique for you.” Hui Yue said calmly, as he looked at Deng Wu. “Your Qi is not of the finest quality, but hopefully you can integrate the newly cultivated Qi considering your Qi has some dragon Qi within.”

“Dragon Qi?” Deng Wu looked shocked at Hui Yue as though he had never heard it before.

“You know that little dragon helped you with your cultivation?” Hui Yue asked curiously and as he saw a nod from Deng Wu, he continued. “Little dragon gave you some of his own Qi. That Qi belonged to a dragon and therefore is dragon Qi. Dragon Qi is obviously extremely pure and also extremely tyrannical. We can use this to our advantage.”

Having said that, Hui Yue sighed deeply and looked around. All this was information he had been given only hours before by Lan Feng.

“The Qi is tyrannical because it gobbles up all non-Dragon Qi and uses it to expand itself. At first it grows fatter, but lastly it will split into two Qi threads rather than one. The Qi method we gave you relies on the zodiac of the Dragon. It should be the most suitable technique for you, so practice hard. Who knows when we suddenly need to protect ourselves.”

Teaching a new cultivation technique to Deng Wu was a great risk. As Hui Yue knew from before, it was almost impossible for others to learn new techniques as imbalance within the Qi Spiral would result in disaster, yet Hui Yue, and more importantly Lan Feng, had a lot of faith in this due to the Dragon Qi.

The white misty memory stone was thrown to Wang Ju Long and Hui Yue smiled as he saw the girl accept it. “This contains my Qi guard.” Hui Yue stated, knowing full well that with the evolution of her Qi lightning, Wang Ju Long needed some help with the defensive aspect of her attacks.

“It also contains the Qi whip.” Hui Yue said, and he saw dark expressions spreading on Wang Ju Long’s face as she remembered the severe pain caused by the whip before. “This is an evolved version of Li Shing’s.” Hui Yue continued, completely ignoring the obvious discomfort on the girl’s face as he explained the weapon.

“I chose it because it fits you perfectly.” Hui Yue said with a smile, “it’s a weapon which requires distance for it to be beneficial, and when you are flying around using your lightning wings it would be ideal to have more than just those lightning bolts.

Hearing this, there was no way that Wang Ju Long could disagree with Hui Yue. She was not a girl who was easily spooked, nor did she have a trauma. Instead she was shaking with excitement as she had personally experienced the kind of damage the whip could inflict. This whip technique was even stronger than the previous one causing, once more, great gratitude towards Hui Yue to fill her heart.

Wang Ju Long was not the only one who felt immense gratitude for the gifts. Deng Wu was very excited as he heard about the Dragon Qi, but he was even more excited when he was given a new cultivation technique, as he had already seen what kind of changes one cultivation technique could do to a person. Gao Yan was a clear example of that.

Deng Wu allowed for a wry smile to escape his lips, before he quickly imprinted the cultivation technique into his head and then a gasp escaped him as he was filled with knowledge.

The Qi within his dantian cave surged upwards, sucking in essence at a speed which Deng Wu had never experienced before, and this essence was automatically being refined into Qi which was then gobbled up by his Qi spiral.

Everything was happening exactly as Hui Yue had described it would, astonishment filled Deng Wu’s heart as he was observing these changes through a mental projection.

Cultivation would definitely become much simpler in the future. Hui Yue looked at the two people once more and he could not help but smile slightly. These friends of his were turning stronger by the day, and when they were stronger they would definitely not be left behind, but instead become pillars which he could lean against one his way to become the best. Support would always be important when one attempted to become the strongest in the world.