Blue Phoenix

”It’s our turn now!” Hui Yue said, as behind him four people could be seen taking a step forward. Wang Ju Long made a few incantations with her hands then picked up a seed which she crushed in her hands, allowing the dust suddenly flow towards the opposing men.

Seeing the dust rushing towards them, serious expressions were visible on the faces of the previously masked team and the leader grabbed two of the Silver Edged Sword’s men, one hand around each of their necks, then used them to shield him and the others against the dust.

This dust was swiftly blocked by the two men, and after having done so the leader threw them off the stage where they released bloodcurdling screams as their body were convulsing. Healers with the Wood element rushed to heal the now disqualified men.

Having seen how dangerous the dust was, a vigilant expression appeared on the faces of their opponents as they drew their weapons. While the majority of the masked men were using broadswords the leader had a sword in each hand and a menacing aura spread out, it was pure killing intent. Everyone could tell these weapons were bathed in blood.

As he looked at the opposition Hui Yue frowned slightly, he did not wish to go head to head against these men, but fortunately they were no longer unscathed like before. Their clothes and masks were all burnt and some wounds had appeared on their skin not only superficial wounds, but a few serious burns were apparent on the ones standing at the back.

“Wu,” Hui Yue called out in a very low voice, “Although I said not to use it, I think we cannot afford to not use them.” Having said that, excitement shone within his black eyes and Hui Yue almost laughed at the look on Deng Wu’s face. He was truly and utterly excited about getting to display his skills.

With fluid motions, the four inscription patterns which were floating around Deng Wu all vanished only to be replaced by another four, these four were, however, completely different and their menacing aura was in no way inferior to that of the opponents.

The inscription pattern was completely black and was made with dried blood and the paper had turned blood red because of what was sealed within.

Releasing his spiritual energy, Deng Wu spread open his arms and one word escaped his lips, “Devour!”. A silvery light shone from Deng Wu’s body into the four inscriptions and four shadows appeared, landing on the ground.

These shadows were over two metres tall and three metres wide their size took up a great deal of space on the stage and they all opened their mouths to howl. As soon as the shadows opened their mouths, the audience heard a soul rending howl, instead a tremor ran through the ground shaking the entire arena.

Surprise was evident in everyone’s eyes, as they looked at shadows which were clearly Black Wolves from within the tunnel, but these were like nothing they had seen before. These were not living wolves but shadows. These were beastly soul shadows!

Shock was evident within the eyes of the leader of the masked group, but he clenched his fists as he barked orders to the others. Facing a soul shadow head on was the worst thing one could do. Only spiritual arts or those who possessed Wu Wei who would be capable of defeating the soul shadows, but at the same time they had to constantly watch out for the wolves and their attacks.

The size of the wolves was also a great benefit for Hui Yue and his friends as they formed a nice divide, separating the three teams, with no one willing to walk near them. But just as Hui Yue was feeling safe, he saw a shining silvery light take over the stage and with great displeasure saw how the opposing team all held each other’s hands before a large five colored flame appeared between the five of them.

Each of the mercenaries had a different elemental affinity, and having drawn upon their combined affinities they created a five colored flame which continuously grew in size. The power it held was large enough to explode the entire stage, not to mention the soul shadows.

“Off the stage!” Hui Yue yelled after making a quick decision. Although he had never seen anyone work together in that way before, Hui Yue was not willing to test it as imminent danger was hanging right above them. And although Sha Yun and Deng Wu looked at Hui Yue with eyes begging to continue, they quickly understood Hui Yue was serious and without saying anything they jumped off the stage.

This flame was nothing like Hui Yue’s flame which consisted of one element alone. This was an elemental flame, birthed from the fusion of all five elements and no matter what Hui Yue did to protect them, it would not be enough.

Winning second place was far better than seeing any of his friends die, even he himself was likely to die, so he made the decision to forfeit.

Although Hui Yue wished to win as much as everyone else, his aim in joining this competition was to gain some coin and fame. He had already been contacted by the Dragon Corps and given the first mission so for him, possibly facing injury was something they could not afford.

Having jumped off the stage, Hui Yue noticed an ice cold gleam within Zhou Long’s eyes as he smiled and lifted his hand. A golden light shone from his fingertips and surrounded the elemental flame along with the beastly soul shadows. Clenching his hand, the wolves let out yet another soundless howl which caused tremors to run through the arena before they slowly vanished into thin air, becoming one with the essence of the heavens and the earth.

Along with the wolves, the elemental flame was completely destroyed by the simple clench of Zhou Long’s hand causing Hui Yue to narrow his eyes. Due to the destruction of the elemental flame, a rebound of energy ran through the entire masked group and a few of them ended up spitting out blood while collapsing on the floor. It was no way to treat a winning team.

“Congratulations to the Masked Murderers,” Zhou Long said with a fake smile on his face as he spoke to the audience, “I bring you your winners!”. It was obvious that the host was mad yet no one in the audience noticed anything. They did, however, notice the leader who was still on the stage, his face pale and his hands shaking slightly.

“I think second place deserves a round of applause for managing to survive the entire battle!” Zhou Long continued, but the audience booed at Hui Yue instead, causing a wry smile to appear on the young man’s face.

It was to be expected that they were booing at them. The first half of the battle was between the two other groups where Hui Yue and his friends did nothing but observe. After that he created one explosion and as the fight was about to finally begin with the beastly soul shadows and the multi-colored flame, they gave up.

Giving up just as the fight was about to get interesting was definitely something which the audience disliked, but Hui Yue could care less as he bowed towards Zhou Long and after which he turned around and left the stage. No one wished for the losers to hang around after all.

Moving back to the courtyard, multiple thoughts were flowing through Hui Yue’s mind. It was obvious that the masked cultivators were part of the Dragon Corps, as Hui Yue noticed the captain’s emblem on his chest below the burnt clothes of the leader, not to mention the interaction between Zhou Long and the group.

Although Hui Yue was able to determine that the masked cultivators were from the Dragon Corps, he was getting a headache trying to think why Zhou Long wished for Hui Yue to win, along with his friendly behavior earlier.

Now, Hui Yue once more was wondering what was happening with the Dwelling Demon Beast. Was it truly waking up, or was it being woken up for the sake of creating an event? Why would everything happen just as Hui Yue appeared, and how come the Dragon Corps, whom Hui Yue at first wished to avoid, wanted to please him?

Hui Yue could not grasp what was happening, and his eyes showed confusion as he was leaving the area quickly making his way towards the courtyard only to see that Xu Piao was waiting for him.

Looking at the man, Hui Yue wondered for a moment whether or not he had told Zhou Long about Hui Yue being from the world above. Upon closer inspection, it seemed as though Zhou Long and Xu Piao did not have a lot in common neither did they interact much with each other, but Hui Yue could not leave any possibilities out.

Nodding to Xu Piao but not speaking , Hui Yue moved into the courtyard where he sat down instantly, entering meditation. This time it was not for the sake of cultivating but clearing his mind allowing for easier understanding of what happened.

They had entered Cave’s End cavern at the start where they had been moving around for quite awhile to save Sun. During this time, they had killed and hidden an entire group sent from the Dragon Corps, but that was the only interaction they had with the Dragon Corps before entering the Demon Dwellings Cave where Zhou Long was incredibly friendly towards Hui Yue from the beginning.

Having spoken with Xu Piao and told him that they were from above, the man paid great attention to Hui Yue and his group, yet his excitement seemed to be more like a man who was wishing to experience the world above for himself rather than selling the information to others.

No matter how Hui Yue thought about it, he was unaware of how and why Zhou Long, a high ranked expert, would suddenly gain interest in Hui Yue, but all he could do was stay vigilant and try to escape from him as soon as possible.

At least Zhou Long was friendly, and Hui Yue was quite certain that Xu Piao would not in any way become hostile which in the end made the decision for him.

As he opened his eyes, Hui Yue saw that all his friends surrounded him and they were curiously waiting to hear what answer he had decided upon. Although they all had a say in what happened, they long since decided to follow Hui Yue, causing his words to be law.

“Get some rest,” Hui Yue said with a sigh, noticing that Xu Piao and Xie Lan were watching at the back. The look on Xu Piao’s face was filled with worry for which decision Hui Yue would make.

“We will join Zhou Long to see this Dwelling Demon Beast,” Hui Yue said with a sigh. He knew that his friends were looking forward to the beast hunt, and having seen how easily Zhou Long extinguished the elemental flame, which would have annihilated at least some of Hui Yue’s team, he knew that there was no way to run away from the man. It was better to stay on his good side and hopefully get some clues as to why such a high ranked expert cared for Hui Yue, who as far as he was concerned had nothing to do with the Dragon Corps.

Hearing Hui Yue’s words, everyone had big smiles on their faces as they excitedly started talking about the hunt. Although they all were aware of the dangers, none of them wanted to wallow in worry and instead they were filled with excitement. It did not take long before they were busy with either cultivating or preparing for the beast hunt in their own ways.

Xu Piao was as thrilled as any, as he too wished to participate in the hunt, however he felt that something was not quite right looking at the worried expression on Hui Yue’s face. Xu Piao could not prevent a bad feeling from emerging in his heart.