Blue Phoenix

Pushing the door open, Hui Yue's heart started beating faster. His body was currently reinforced with the strength of the red gem, but even so, he was not invulnerable. The expert he was up against was someone who consumed souls like he did; it was likely that he also possessed soulforce. If he had developed his soulforce to the point of being able to attack, then Hui Yue's soul could be in danger.

Even if this expert did not have soulforce, he still walked down the dao of devouring much like Hui Yue. He had discovered earlier, it was possible to rip the soul of one's enemy out of their body when one reached mastery in the dao, and Hui Yue did not wish to have to deal with such an attack.

As the door swung open, Hui Yue looked inside the tower only to see a large room. In the middle of this room, there was the corpse of an elderly man handcuffed and hanging from the ceiling. His body had been lacerated, and his head was dangling from the side. It was obvious that he had died a miserable death filled with enormous pain.

Although the sight shocked Hui Yue, it was not the first time he had seen a lacerated corpse, and he quickly adjusted as his eyes continued to roam across the chamber.

No matter where he looked, he could not find even the shadow of the master who had been refining souls, but soon he did find the souls that were being refined.

At the far back of the room were a desk and a chair. Both were made from wood but had long since been turned black by the soul energy which had permeated it. On top of the desk was a big black round ball of energy which constantly leaked soul energy. This ball of energy was no longer under the control of the master and therefore was losing energy. It seemed like now it was leaking energy much quicker than before.

"You will do just fine!" The cold voice from before sounded in the chamber. It sounded like it came from everywhere at once, but even so, Hui Yue stayed calm. He knew that this was a very simple technique to make it impossible to find one's location from the sound of their voice. It was a technique which did not even use a dao, as long as one had Ancestral Worldpower they could use it.

"I am wasting the souls of these mortals, but they cannot compare to the soul of a God! To have you, a new God, appear at my doorstep on your own, I should be grateful!" Laughter followed the voice, but although it kept speaking, Hui Yue just shook his head. Although he was alert, he started to think that this expert was underestimating him a little too much.

Continuing to observe the room, Hui Yue lifted his arm. "Devour!" He said with a firm voice, and from his hand, a strong suction force appeared. This force drew the large black orb from the desk to his hand, and slowly it turned smaller and smaller as everything was being absorbed.

Strangely enough, the master did not interrupt him. "So you want to play hide and seek," Hui Yue mumbled as he clenched his hand after having absorbed the entire ball of souls.

Although the souls had not yet been fully refined, Hui Yue was able to absorb them all and feel an instant change to his soulforce. It was clear that the souls which the other man needed to refine could be instantly consumed by him. As for why this was, Hui Yue did not know, but it was similar to when he had consumed the souls of other mortals before he became a God.

Hui Yue was in no rush to enter the room. The more he looked, the more certain he became that the master of the tower had hidden behind the door. He almost felt like banging his head against a table as he looked inside the room. Hiding behind the door was simply too cliche.

Sighing, Hui Yue took a step forward and entered the room. Just as he stepped forward, he expected to be hit by a formation, some attack, or in some other way be assaulted by the tower master, but nothing happened. Everything was really quite anticlimactic.

Still, Hui Yue dared not lower his guard as he took another step and then another one. He closed the door to find the master who was hiding behind it, only to see no one there. The small place behind the door was empty.

A chuckle sounded out in the room, and now the alert Hui Yue became, even more, alert, and his body became taut.

There were not many things within this tower only some furniture here and there and a corpse in the middle. Looking at the furniture, it was clear that it was not possible for a person to hide behind them, and he started to get slightly anxious. Where could this master of the tower be? Was he even within this tower? Was it all a trick from the beginning?

Hui Yue had heard about teleportation seals and the dao of teleportation which was related to the dao of space, but if this expert had teleported away, his voice should not have been able to be heard within the room. It was simply impossible for one's voice and mind to stay behind when the body had been transferred away without completely severing the two. This was something no one would do unless faced with the complete destruction of their body.

Hui Yue closed his eyes and activated his soulforce. Although his eyes were closed he could sense everything which was happening within the room as clearly as if his eyes were open, and, even better, he managed to locate the God.

For some reason, this God was covered by layers of energy, and he was slowly moving towards Hui Yue. Using soulforce, Hui Yue noticed an excited and sinister smile on the face of this God.

With a wave of his hand, the Sword of the Icy Tempest appeared in his palm, and a soft light shone from the sword. With the appearance of this sword, an iciness descended upon the room.

The master of the tower stopped for a short while, his face showing a bit of concern, but he quickly returned to normal. After pausing for a few seconds, he once more smiled carefreely and sinisterly as he slowly advanced towards Hui Yue.

Having his eyes closed, the master of the tower was certain that Hui Yue was trying to listen to where he was, but little did he know that Hui Yue had already located him and was locked onto his every move waiting for this God to act.

Though Hui Yue was quite curious about this ability to conceal oneself, and after some time he assumed that the reason he could conceal himself this well had to do with the dao of concealment, or something similar.

He had never heard about it before, but he could not imagine any other explanation. Using the dao of concealment, this God should be able to hide everything he wished to hide: himself, his attacks, or even other people, but it had one major flaw. Although it could conceal his aura and hide one from view, it was not possible to hide from soulforce.

Observing the God who was moving forward grinning sinisterly, Hui Yue suppressed his arrogance. Yes, he was able to feel and see how this God was moving, but he was still not certain that he could easily beat him. His best chance was a surprise attack, but if he were dumb enough to be overconfident, then the attack might not end well. If this happened, he was likely to end up being injured in the process.

Taking a deep breath, Hui Yue steadied himself and calmed himself mentally as the tower master steadily approached

Ancestral Worldpower started to gush out from this hand, but although it was clearly making ripples when Hui Yue looked at it through his soulforce, he could feel nothing with his normal body.

Just as his opponents attack was about to land, Hui Yue took a step forward and struck out with the sword in hand. Everything happened in a split second. His step forward followed by an instant stab, but despite his speed, the tower master had managed to move in that split second. He avoided a lethal stab through his heart and instead got his arm impaled.

Seeing that his attack had failed, Hui Yue instantly retreated taking a step backwards. All his senses pushed their limits as he observed the tower master.

The tower master's face had been filled with a malicious smile, but after being stabbed and seeing the swift retreat of Hui Yue, his face was now hideous to behold.

It seemed as if the air was twisting and churning and suddenly the tower master was no longer concealed but standing right in front of Hui Yue.

The Ancestral Worldpower that the tower master had gathered completely vanished when he lost his focus under the sudden ambush of Hui Yue. Despite the sudden change of the battle, he did not seem troubled. Instead, he displayed himself right in front of Hui Yue, and the hideous expression on his face turned even more sinister as he looked at the younger man. If looks could kill then, Hui Yue would have already been dead.

"You stabbed me!" He exclaimed shocked as if he could not understand it himself, "I was concealed, and you stabbed me! Good. Very Good! It seems that I underestimated you before so feel honored that I will destroy your soul with my true power!!"

Hearing this Hui Yue was slightly uncomfortable. His ambush had failed because the other expert had amazing reflexes. Seeing this Hui Yue knew this was likely to be a terrible and drawn out fight.

"You are no ordinary God. Although you are so weak, you were able to stab me. Very well, I will use my death scythe against you!"

The tower master was certain of his victory. As long as he could stall for time, Hui Yue would run out of Ancestral Worldpower and then he would be incapable of fighting back. Fighting against such a cultivator, delaying was the best tactic. No one knew what secrets Hui Yue had hidden up his sleeve, but no matter how many he had, could they really outstrip his opponents many years as a God and his overwhelming supply of Ancestral Worldpower? He was on the verge of breaking through to the Immortal of Creation rank so it was only natural that he could beat someone who had not even been a God for a decade.

Hui Yue said nothing. His entire body was taut, and the sword was raised in his hand. He saw how the expression of this God in front of him changed from being filled with pain and anger to have an overbearing smile hanging on his lips once more.

Although his arm was bleeding and it was hard to use it, this God was certain that he could win, and this certainty made Hui Yue feel nervous. Still, he could not retreat, he had sought this battle to test himself and his limits. If he could not even defeat this man, how would he possibly defeat his other opponents in the trials that were to come?

Reaching this conclusion Hui Yue's eyes focused on the opponent and he smiled a little smile himself. He might not have a lot of Ancestral Worldpower, but he had things that others did not have. It was now time for the battle to really start!