Blue Phoenix

Seated within the courtyard Hui Yue let out a deep sigh as he no longer emitted the haughtiness from before, instead he once more seemed like a calm and collected youth who was stunningly beautiful but his noble air had dispersed.

“We will have to stay here for some time,” Hui Yue said apologetically as he looked around, noting every location of the recording stones, then he started to destroy them, one after another with the help of Black Blood.

Infusing it with spiritual energy, Hui Yue threw the dagger which landed on the stones with precision after which he recalled it by activating the spiritual energy that was stored within. Having removed every stone in their new residence, a big smile appeared on his face. A satisfied sigh escaped his lips as he leaned back against a tree, happiness evident on his face.

“As far as we know, Sun should be within this city right now.” As they all sat down, Hui Yue stated their reason for entering the city.

“At first I was slightly hesitant to enter this place because I feared our strength would not be enough, but looking at these cultivators I think we are safe, even though our foundation is still rather unstable after the spiritual energy spring”

Pausing for a bit, Hui Yue looked around. “We need to find Sun, but we know nothing about her. We don’t know what she looks like, we don’t even know if Sun is her real name, nor do we know why they brought her here. All we can do for now is to slowly investigate in a way that they won’t guess that we are planning something.” Hui Yue looked stern for a short time as he knew that although they were higher ranked than the majority of the cultivators in the city, it would not be a great idea to abuse this strength to fight the citizens just because they had not been careful enough.

“Let’s try and see how much information we can get from them tonight at the banquet. Then tomorrow we will try and enter the markets and see if we can buy some information. I am sure that everything we brought from the surface will be able to sell incredibly well in this place with such low cultivating.”

The group all nodded their heads. Anything from inscriptions, even the weakest which could only spark a fire, to simple and weak martial art skills could all be sold for a fortune. One could guess how much they would be able to earn should they feel like selling cultivation techniques.

Hui Yue was, however, not willing to sell anything which would change the lives of these citizens. He still felt guilty for providing the Deng family with the means to revolt, as he had given them the mechanism used in the watermills.

Not only the Deng family but also the Rong family had changed severely due to the technology Hui Yue had given them from his old world. His sudden thought about sharing his knowledge, which he previously had given out because of gratitude, had changed the lives of thousands upon thousands of citizens within Riluo City, not to mention the many casualties a result of the war.

Knowing that he was partly at fault caused Hui Yue to put himself at risk for the sake of ending the fighting in Riluo City once and for all. Although it ended with Deng Wu personally executing his own father and Wang Ju Long losing her father as well, Hui Yue knew that neither of them blamed him. But he still blamed himself, and this caused him to be much more tight-lipped with everything he knew. His knowledge was only for he, himself, to use, and in the worst case scenario he would share it with his very closest friends, but only if they were in a life or death situation.

This was the reason Hui Yue only allowed Deng Wu and the others to sell items with next to no value on the surface when selling at the markets the following day.

“Well, that is for tomorrow,” Hui Yue ended up saying, “Tonight we are going to be guests at the banquet so we better get dressed.” Hui Yue said laughing as he picked out a celestial blue cloak with silver embroiderys created with the finest materials which money could buy. Donning the celestial cloak, Hui Yue once more looked like a young master.

Deng Wu could not help but laugh a little at the transformation. He then quickly picked out a black robe with a red belt that had red embroidery on the edges. This was also made from the finest material making Deng Wu’s status seem no less than Hui Yu’s.

Wang Ju Long owned no clothes for women but she too dressed up in a beautiful golden robe with red and orange embroidery of phoenixes, causing Lan Feng to approve of her style.

Looking at the three young masters Sha Yun snorted in disdain. She was an enchantress and she prided herself with her good looks, so when she removed her cloak she instantly found some jewellery which she wore on top of her alluring and scaled figure.

‘One day you ought to make some small snake-babies,’ Lan Feng said with a dreamy voice, as he enjoyed the exquisite beast in front of him. Even Hui Yue could feel a dangerous heat rising from within and he quickly looked away, much to Sha Yun’s displeasure.

Coughing awkwardly Hui Yue turned back to see a knowing smile on Deng Wu’s face, a slight blush on Sha Yun’s cheeks as she looked at him coquettishly, and Wang Ju Long impatiently stomping the ground as she was everything but satisfied. As to why she was so unhappy, she blamed it on the stupid snake for showing off her figure. Although Wang Ju Long was a woman she would never try to be so alluring and for some way it rubbed her the wrong way every time Sha Yun caused the two men within the group to become strange.

Hui Yue taking his cue from the stomping foot, instantly straightened out his expression and released the blue mist from within his dantian, allowing for his entire being to be enveloped in tranquillity.

A sudden hint of a smile was visible on his face and his eyes once more had a haughty expression as though everything was beneath him. By his side were Wang Ju Long and Sha Yun while Deng Wu had decided to walk behind him, covering his back.

Most people were unable to trust a person who had killed his own father, but Hui Yue trusted Deng Wu with his life. The young man behind him had the time to kill him multiple times yet he had never even told his secret to anyone. Although Deng Wu was a flirt he was reliable in the strangest situations and this was one of those. Hui Yue was willing to give his all for Deng Wu’s attempt to save his clan and in turn, Deng Wu was willing to give his life for the sake of Hui Yue.

Deng Wu and Wang Ju Long had both been banished from Riluo City, but they managed to succeed in their goal of allowing their families to continue living and as such both were eternally grateful for Hui Yue and his assistance. Both had since then decided that the rest of their lives would belong to the white-haired boy, and to their surprise this young boy whom they followed was someone who would take them journeying across the land and exploring places no one else had ever seen.

All these thoughts were swirling around inside Deng Wu’s head as he walked behind Hui Yue, and he firmly swore to himself that he would follow this young friend of his, even if it meant an early grave.

Hui Yue, completely unaware of the important oath Deng Wu just made with himself, was chatting merrily with Sha Yun. During this time the air around him caused everyone within the City Lord’s mansion to not dare come close to him, as he moved closer and closer towards the Main Hall.

The main hall which previously was just one empty room with five throne-like chairs at the back was now filled with one large table which was placed in a square in the middle of the room and cushions were placed on the floor all around the table, inviting the guests to sit down. The table itself was filled with all kinds of delicacies, and Hui Yue could not help but to feel slightly taken back by this banquet which they had managed to produce within such a short amount of time.

Hui Yue sat down and noticed how the City Lord Liu Wei sat down next to him, Deng Wu quickly moved to sit by Hui Yue’s other side, not allowing for the elders to follow suit and isolate Hui Yue from his retainers.

In the end Hui Yue had Deng Wu by his side who in turn was seated next to Sha Yun and then finally Wang Ju Long. On Hui Yue’s other side was Liu Wei and next to him the five elders in a row.

Apart from these nine people were a lot of people of high status from within this interesting city, mainly noble families yet none of them peaked Hui Yue’s interest as they all relied on the lower dantian.

Hui Yue was deeply confused as he did not understand why someone as strong as Sun would follow such weaklings to a city where they did not even seem to use her powers.

“Perhaps you could enlighten me as to where you are from?” Liu Wei asked curiously, as he grabbed various trays of food and offered them to Hui Yue who politely accepted.

Hearing the question, Hui Yue could not help but chuckle slightly. “Where do you think I am from Lord Liu Wei?” The question completely took the city lord aback as he was quite shocked to not receive a straight answer. Currently the City Lord was certain that Hui Yue had not arrived from beyond the tunnels, yet he had no way of knowing where else he could have come from. This cave was known as the final destination within their world, yet somehow a person had appeared from out of nowhere, and he was not a nobody.

“I would guess that you are from beyond the tunnels, yet I am curious as to whether or not I am correct,” The City Lord asked, trying to tempt Hui Yue into saying that he was indeed not from the tunnels, but to his disappointment the white-haired boy was not new to being interrogated, as he had experienced it a lot from his old girlfriends in his old world, and a complacent expression was visible on Hui Yue’s face as he answered “where else could we have come from?”

`

The question was a simple one yet as soon as it left Hui Yue’s lips, a collective shiver ran through the bodies of Lord Liu Wei and his elders. Everyone who came from beyond the tunnels were indeed terrifying cultivators and these youngsters were in no way geniuses compared to the last delegation that appeared from the tunnels.

“I apologize young master,” Lord Liu Wei no longer dared behaving haughty in front of Hui Yue, in fear of offending him.

“Pardon me for asking, but are you here due to personal interest, or as a delegation from the Dragon Corps?” Looking at Hui Yue everyone at the table held their breath, their hearts racing in their chests and eyes widened in fear. The seconds felt as if they lasted for hours, every pair of eyes glued to Hui Yue.

Laughing slightly, Hui Yue took his time to answer pressing the anticipation to its limit before he finally opened his mouth and answered, “I wished to see the world on the other side of the tunnels.” His voice was calm and filled with youthful yearning for different places. “I am here for personal reasons. Don’t get any funny thoughts though,” He warned them, “My family is aware of where I am.”