Blue Phoenix

A wry smile appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he saw how everyone was getting ready to follow him in, but he waved them back.

“I will need you to cover my retreat,” He yelled out, partly as an excuse partly true. Hui Yue knew that if they were to go with him, he could not put his entire focus on stunning the beast, but instead he would be worrying about his friends.

Although Hui Yue believed in himself, he was not certain his risky plan would work out. Despite this it was still worth a shot. He could smell the scent of fresh blood and burnt flesh wafting through the air.

It originated from the Horned Snake as the blue flames were spreading on its body. Unlike normal flames, these would continue to burn as long as there was essence from the heavens and earth present in the location where they burnt, or if the cultivator who made them stopped them. These were the most dangerous flames one could come across, even elemental flame was not something that could be compared to it. The elemental flame required five men to make and a constant influx of spiritual energy containing the elemental affinity of the cultivators who controlled it.

The snake had its side showing to Hui Yue. The side which he burnt. Its eye was completely gone along with some of the side of its mouth, revealing a gaping hole as the scales and flesh had vanished completely. Some of it was corroded away by the beastly soul shadows while others were burnt by the blue flames.

Standing close by, Hui Yue noticed that the snake paid absolutely no attention to him, nor his friends. When he looked to the other side, there was no reaction at all from the formation specialists, instead the foul scent of fresh blood appeared from their side, causing Hui Yue to be even more vigilant.

Hui Yue did not mind that the group from the Dragon Corps was currently out of action, as he felt uncomfortable travelling around with so many friendly people whom he could not trust. He knew that these men were veteran fighters and Hui Yue’s friends, although they fought often, rarely fought battles against superior opponents putting them at a slight disadvantage.

Although Hui Yue himself was at a disadvantage, his face showed an excited smile and with a deep sigh he released the red mist from within his dantian cave.

As soon as it was released, an image flashed in front of Hui Yue’s eyes. The image of a man with a wild mane, his skin was not like a human’s but striped like a tiger. His eyes were shining red and a tail was seen at the back of the man. A enormous killing intent billowed out from the creature which was neither beast nor man. As the killing intent touched Hui Yue, it suddenly took over his body and the killing intent roiled out, spreading across the entire area.

Even the Horned Snake felt a shiver running through its body as the killing intent arrived. Zhou Long who planned on seeing what Hui Yue had in mind against an overwhelming opponent was shocked as his killing intent was released in its full potential, not in any way held back by the tranquil cloud.

A howl reverberated through the valley, as Hui Yue felt his body undergoing a change. His muscles were getting stronger and stronger, swelling to their limits.

His eyes were no longer serene and blue, instead they were red and filled with killing intent and chaos, his canine teeth grew in size as growling sounds could be heard and black stripes started appearing on his skin.

Hui Yue was aware of every change happening to him, however he felt as though someone else had taken over his body. It was the exact same feeling when Lan Feng took over his body, his consciousness was pressed down and he was unable to do anything.

Seeing the Horned Snake in front of him, Hui Yue felt how his body rushed towards it, the killing intent roiling out.

His hands changed to claws and a strength unlike any Hui Yue had ever felt before flooded through his body. This strength was not from Qi, nor was it spiritual energy or Wu Wei. It was a black energy which Hui Yue had never felt before, and as it rushed through his meridians, Hui Yue’s entire body was filled with astonishment.

Jumping at the large snake, Hui Yue wanted to stop his body, however stopping was completely impossible and instead his body controlled by the red cloud struck out against the snake, his claws increased in size and sharpness with help of the black energy as it had wrapped itself around the sharp edges.

The scales which previously felt as though they were impossible to slice through suddenly turned to butter. Although the claws stayed the same length, the black energy formed into extensions on his claws, digging deeply into the skin of the snake.

The snake which previously had completely ignored Hui Yue, could no longer do so and a piercing hiss of agony was heard from its broken mouth. The entire world shook once again, as the snake tried to shake off Hui Yue who was holding onto its head with just his new claws.

Shaking its head, the Horned Snake soon found that the one hanging on did not fall off, and in a fit of desperation it slammed itself against the mountain wall which formed part of the valley.

Banging itself against the mountain side, Hui Yue climbed his way into the mouth of the beast. He chose to hide within while hanging on to one of the sharp fangs which were as large as Hui Yue himself.

Frantic sounds were heard as the snake kept causing a ruckus, thrashing its body back and forth, trying its very best to get rid of Hui Yue.

“Xu Piao!” “Xie Lan!” A loud growling voice roared out through the sky, “Zhou Long!” all three stopped in their tracks as soon as they heard the voice.

So far neither of the three had done much during the battle waiting to see how Hui Yue would deal with it, but now that they heard their names and noticed how the entire mountain side was crumbling, they quickly left the trance-like atmosphere they had been in as they prepared their attacks.

Golden light appeared on all three of their bodies, rushing forwards towards the beast. The golden light which left Xie Lan turned into leaves, small golden leaves, yet Hui Yue could sense just how dangerous these leaves were.

As they reached the snake some of them were sharp and cut deep into its flesh, while others were like leaves and seated themselves upon its scales exploding in a large golden light as soon as the woman made an incantation.

The golden light which appeared from Xu Piao turned into flying daggers, all of which embedded themselves deeply into the Horned Snake, causing multiple streams of blood to fall down.

Wu Wei was just that the ability to create anything the way one wished to create it. As long as you could imagine it, then you could create it, as long as you had enough Wu Wei refined.

Wu Wei was much more than just that, but this was all Hui Yue had been told by the phoenix as he felt that there was no reason to go into detail.

Xu Piao and Xie Lan were not the only ones who attacked, Zhou Long was also participating finally. His Wu Wei took the form of a crescent moon blade. While Hui Yue was busy keeping the Horned Snake occupied, Zhou Long took his crescent moon shaped blade and using most of his strength, the blade soared down, much like a guillotine, finally decapitating the snake.

Hui Yue, who was still conscious was starting to worry about what the red mist in control of his body had planned for him. Was it going to attack his friends again? Was he going to go for Zhou Long perhaps? However, as soon as Hui Yue tried to struggle the red mist silently vanished, allowing for Hui Yue’s body to return to normal and his consciousness to once more gain control over his body.

Deeply surprised, Hui Yue looked at his hands, yet no matter what he did his body was now following his orders and there was nothing left of the red mist which caused Hui Yue great confusion. The tranquil cloud was not even needed to keep it in control, it just obediently waited within the dantian cave.

Straightening his back, Hui Yue left the giant head of the Horned Snake which had fallen to the ground after being beheaded, and he was quite proud as he walked away from the beast. It had been a long and grueling battle, and the entire formation specialist team had been killed when the snake started thrashing about, yet all of Hui Yue’s friends were still alive, something which caused Zhou Long some agitation.

“You did great today,” Zhou Long said as he patted the shoulders of the white-haired boy. The killing intent he felt was certainly similar to the one at the tournament, but this time it was much vicious, something which shocked even Zhou Long. This convinced him that this man was a young master with ties to the Frozen General.

“I will be taking the beast core and the horn,” Zhou Long said, as even more golden light appeared on his hands and he chopped off the horn and easily dug out the beast core.

“I need to return to town, when you have taken what you want from this beast, then come find me at the Dragon Corp’s headquarters. I have a mission which I planned to post, but considering you guys have helped me so much, I’ll hold it back for you.”

Having said that, Zhou Long shot one last glance towards the area where the formation specialists were buried beneath the debris after which he shot off into the distance, not looking back.

“Well then,” Hui Yue heaved a heavy sigh of relief as soon as Zhou Long vanished into the distance, “Let us start scavenging this beast.” Black blood suddenly flashed into Hui Yue’s hand and with a patience he start taking off the scales, one by one, as he moved down the snake.

Although Hui Yue wished to scavenge all the materials from the snake, he soon had to admit that from the massive snake he could not take everything, but in the end he shared all fangs with Xu Piao. The scales was free for all and Hui Yue took thousands upon thousands of scales. He took so much meat that one could not believe it and even bones were scavenged along with some of the skin from underneath the scales. Its skin was tough and although it could be pierced through, it still gave some protection.

Taking all the items took Hui Yue days, and eventually he had to leave the rest behind even though he did not wish to do so, however now he no longer had any space within his storage stones, something which sounded like a blessing in the ears of his friends.

The trip back to the mercenary city took a few days longer than it had taken to arrive as they no longer followed Zhou Long’s insane speed. Instead they took the trip leisurely, and every night Hui Yue would be seated completely absorbed in his work of refining the materials he gained from the large snake.