Blue Phoenix

Hui Yue spent the rest of the evening conversing about various things with Deng Wu and Wang Ju Long before they all moved towards the main hall once more, finally regrouping with the Rong twins, as they finished their duties and were now celebrating their birthday without constantly greeting the arriving guests.

Moving to a small corner of the room, Hui Yue and the group sat down in chairs, and they started to chat about their everyday life at the academy.

Years had gone by, day by day, and through all these years Hui Yue had always had his friends by his side. These friends at first had been nothing more than people whom Hui Yue enjoyed spending time with, but as the days passed by and as one event after another occurred, Hui Yue learned that no matter how dangerous the situation, none of these people would turn their backs on him and leave him alone.

These friends were willing to do anything Hui Yue asked of them, even things which brought them trouble, yet all of them considered friendship the most important aspect of their lives. How could Hui Yue not be moved by such genuine feelings?

As the days had gone by, he had exposed the majority of his secrets, telling them about the hidden expert within his body. He even shared his skills with them all, together with the medicinal pills at his disposal. By relying on Hui Yue, all his friends had managed to become incredibly strong, and they stood behind Hui Yue, protecting his back from anyone or anything they considered a threat.

Some secrets were best left untold. No one knew about Hui Yue’s reincarnation, and only Deng Wu was aware of the four divine beasts. Had little dragon not been with Deng Wu, then Hui Yue was certain that he would not have told anyone about the four beasts and Lan Feng.

Year after year, Hui Yue worked hard, and he had long since perfected his transforming weapons: dagger style, bow style, and sword style. Instead, he had started to train the Qi Fan, which he had previously given Rong Xing, as he felt it was useful for him to have the ability of flight.

The Qi fan could easily be used for battle, which Rong Xing had shown previously, yet it also had the ability to allow for its cultivator to stand on top of the fan and float in the air. As long as the cultivator had enough Qi to sustain the fan, then it was possible to stay flying in the air indefinitely.

Throughout the years, Hui Yue had perfected all the martial art skills he had passed along to his friends. His main focus was, however, still Velocity Flow, Transforming Weapons, Qi Guard, and now Qi Fan.

The years had gone by and now the Rong twins were twenty years old, and so was Deng Wu, Ma Kong and Gao Yan. These students were now at the age where they would say good bye to the Royal Academy, as it was time for them to graduate.

Deng Wu had long since been invited to stay at the main branch of the Royal Academy within the capital, yet he had declined due to personal reasons.

Hui Yue had previously asked what his reasons were, yet Deng Wu refused to answer. He would only smile slightly and shake his head, patting Hui Yue’s hair, as though he was an older brother who told his younger sibling to patiently wait.

Seeing this behaviour, Hui Yue could not help but frown slightly and wonder what was so important that Deng Wu could not tell him, yet at the same time Hui Yue decided not to turn it into a big issue. He trusted Deng Wu. In any case, Hui Yue knew more about this mysterious friend of his than anyone else, and strangely enough, Hui Yue trusted Deng Wu.

Looking at the many people within the City Lord’s mansion, nostalgia erupted within Hui Yue as the subject turned to graduation.

It was obvious that his friends at their twentieth birthday were going to graduate, but whereas Deng Wu had declined to join the main branch of the Royal Academy, Rong Ming and Rong Xing had both accepted the invitation. After a year, the two of them would be moving to the capital where they would stay for who knew how long.

Hui Yue and Wang Ju Long were both at the age where they should stay at the academy, yet Hui Yue saw no reason to stay any longer, as he had never enjoyed the lectures; his main reason to attend had been to spend time with his friends, and also to have a place for his purchase of medicinal pills.

Hui Yue had long since read through the entire library and his knowledge about the world and different animals was far above the norm. He had even read through the different martial art skills in hope of finding something else like Fire Spark, which could be evolved, but he did not find any.

“Oh yea.” Deng Wu turned in his chair and looked at Hui Yue, “I heard that there is a small mansion up for sale, why don’t we go have a look together?” Hearing this, Hui Yue’s interest was piqued.

The fact that he was leaving the academy obviously meant that Hui Yue no longer had a place to live, yet the young man had no interest in returning home to his parents’ village. Instead, he planned on settling in Riluo City, until he manages to reach the Master rank. Unfortunately, Hui Yue was realistic, and he knew that although he was currently at the ninth star of the Practitioner rank, the envisioned breakthrough to Master Rank remained a distant light. It was likely that it would take him a full year to do so.

Nodding his head, Hui Yue agreed to Deng Wu’s proposition. They made plans for the following day to go look at the mansion and possibly buy it. Hui Yue could not help but laugh candidly, as he found it funny how he now, as a fifteen-year-old boy, was considering becoming a house-owner, while in his old world, at the age of twenty-four, he still lived at home with his parents.

Laughing and chatting with each other, Hui Yue stayed at the City Lord’s mansion all night and it was not until the sun was rising that he left through the mansion gates, moving back towards the inn.

So far, Hui Yue had only been targeted when the sun had just set, never in broad daylight, and this was one of the reasons why Hui Yue had waited so long before he left the party. He spent the whole night drinking and eating, and his body was slightly wobbly as he left the mansion, slowly making his way back to the inn while enjoying the crisp morning air.

Hui Yue had made it back halfways, when he suddenly furrowed his brows in confusion. Although he had not felt someone tailing him, he still felt a constantly looming feeling of danger, and the red mist within his dantian cave was roiling, trying to free itself from its cave like a wild beast bound by a cage.

Hui Yue was not dumb, instantly entering a state of alert allowing for his Qi to channel through his meridians and enter his body, expunging the alcohol. He kept walking as though he was slightly drunk, no longer heading for the inn, but instead sighing as he went through the streets wherein citizens were slowly waking up and moving around as the first rays of sunshine broke through the sky.

Hui Yue moved through the streets, yet the further he went, the more citizens he walked into. As he reached the marketplace, where all the mercenaries had awoken long before, he saw them queued up in front of various stalls, preparing for their daily trip to the Magical Forest to look for magical crystals, beast cores, or medicinal herbs.

Walking past the marketplace, Hui Yue traversed through the city for more than an hour before he finally found a shaded alleyway where no one was looking, as he once more faced his back against the wall, preparing to welcome whoever was following him this time.

Turning around, Hui Yue saw a black cloaked man behind him, yet this time he could not sense anything from this person.

‘Be careful.’ Lan Feng growled from within, ‘this guy is higher ranked than any of the ones you have faced before. Do you want me to take over?’

Having Lan Feng with him caused Hui Yue to feel slightly calmer, yet he shook his head. It was important for Hui Yue to learn how to fight his own battles and his eyes slowly got a hint of red deep within, as the red mist was released from his dantian cave.It rushed through his meridians and entered every cell in his body, causing the jade white skin to turn slightly red and an oppressive aura quickly appeared, putting pressure on the unknown man in front of Hui Yue.

Hui Yue quickly used both Velocity Flow and Transforming Weapon: sword style, before he rushed towards the stunned man.

The slash was perfect. Had it been any of the men whom Hui Yue had previously met, then their head would have been sent rolling, yet this man only grunted slightly in response as a whistling shockwave boomed out the moment his spiritual shield yellow in colour rose to block the sword.

Hui Yue could not help but swear slightly as he quickly retreated, once more allowing his back to push against the wall for protection, yet a sudden pain arrived from his right shoulder. Hui Yue gasped in pain as he looked down and saw an earthen spike which had been summoned from the wall behind him. This spike had penetrated through his shoulder, skewering sinew and muscle, sticking out from the other side, and Hui Yue gritted his teeth to not allow himself to collapse from the sharp pain.

Throwing the Qi sword to his left hand, Hui Yue sliced off the earthen spike before he jolted away from the wall. Now he no longer had anything protecting his back and with his right arm no longer functional, he knew this would be a tough fight.

Blood kept dripping out from the hole in Hui Yue’s shoulder, and the blood caused the beautiful white robe to be dyed red. Circulating his Qi, Hui Yue managed to close the wound, yet even in doing so, Hui Yue noticed that he could not heal the wound and his right arm remained dysfunctional.

Relying solely on Velocity Flow, Hui Yue managed to dodge one earthen spear after another. Hui Yue dispelled his Transforming Weapons and instead he grasped Black Blood with his left hand and at the same time materialized the Qi Fan, which he jumped on, the addition of flight giving him a slight advantage against an Earth affinity cultivator.

Using the Qi fan’s mobility to avoid the spears, Hui Yue managed to get closer and closer to the man in front of him, using Black Blood to attack the spiritual shield, but no matter how much he attacked, the shield remained staunch.

Black dots appeared in front of Hui Yue’s eyes, as the world slowly started to turn black in front of him. Gritting his teeth, Hui Yue once more guided the Qi fan towards the man in front of him. Once more the attack did no damage, and Hui Yue could only watch helplessly, as yet another earthen spear appeared underneath him.

Forcing him to use the rest of his Qi to dodge, Hui Yue managed to turn the Qi Fan away, and ever so slowly, Hui Yue managed to fly out of the alleyway before a black world engulfed him.