Blue Phoenix

“Ju Long!” Hui Yue exclaimed the moment he saw the beautiful woman in front of him and the woman stopped in her tracks. She lifted her head to look at the young man who was rushing down the stairs. She had just arrived home, and she had not had the time to hide away in her room. Her cheeks were flush red as she remembered her behavior when she first saw him, but seeing a radiant smile on his face and eagerness in his eyes, Wang Ju Long decided not to try and flee and instead waited for the young man to reach her.

“What is it?” She asked somewhat curious. Seeing the young man this excited was enough for her to be smitten by the mood. When she saw the memory stone within the hands of Hui Yue, she was suddenly impatient to see what was hidden within.

Hui Yue did not waste any time as he gently placed the memory stone in Wang Ju Long’s hand. After which she moved it to her forehead and a silvery-blue light shone forth in the room. It took less than a minute for all the information to enter Wang Ju Long’s mind, and as soon as all the information had gathered, she handed back the memory stone. A smile formed on her face, “That park-like garden is very small. Do you think there is space for me to have a small herb garden?” She asked. Her cheeks were slightly red as she felt greedy for asking such a question; however, herbs were important for her. Both when it came to her healing abilities but also for creating poisons.

Hui Yue was taken aback by the question, but he felt his heart grow warm and fuzzy as this was the very first time that Wang Ju Long had asked something from him. He knew that it had taken much of her. He did not wish to scare her away, and a gentle smile spread on his face.

“The park is so large obviously there will be enough space for your herb garden,” He promised her, while fighting his urge to take the blushing woman into a warm embrace. He knew that if he kept reacting on his urges, Wang Ju Long would never want to see him again. Knowing this, Hui Yue could only hold back and smile at the beautiful woman. He had experience with hiding his emotions, but he had also learned to be honest with himself. Looking at Wang Ju Long, Hui Yue swore that he would not become friend zoned again. He would, without a doubt, tell Wang Ju Long about his emotions and make her his. He just had to wait for her to become ready for his confession. Until then he would just hint about it so that she knew his thoughts.

“I pity Sha Yun,” He mumbled to himself. A pained expression flashed through his eyes, but he could not make himself love her the same way she loved him. He could not change his emotions.

“What did you say?” Wang Ju Long asked as she had heard him mumbling, but couldn’t make out what he said, and Hui Yue just shook his head. Reaching out, he gently patted her head and a sad smile appeared on his lips, “It’s nothing you should worry your pretty little head with,” He told her as he withdrew his hand, “I need to go and speak with Cai Jie.” He excused himself as he left Wang Ju Long alone in the front hall. While walking away, he was fighting his urge to turn around and look at her once more as he rushed up the stairs towards Cai Jie room.

Back in the entrance hall, Wang Ju Long’s cheeks were burning as she felt proud of herself for asking the question. Ever so slowly she raised her hand and touched the top of her head where Hui Yue had touched her moments before. A small smile appeared on her face, but quickly after she shook her head; her warm expression and gentle smile changed to a dark and sad one, “I cannot become complacent.” She mumbled to herself, “I cannot run around playing girlfriend with Hui Yue when my entire family has been killed. I cannot afford to focus on anything other than revenge.” Still, although she said this, deep within her eyes was a longing and shaking her head once more she slowly made her way towards her room getting ready to cultivating to increase her strength. Although Hui Yue was going to help her get revenge, she had no intention of sitting back and letting him do everything, “I am going to kill the third prince personally.” She whispered to herself as she sighed deeply starting to get control of her emotions, and once more she became cold and apathetic to anything other than revenge.

Hui Yue saw that it was late and he stopped Cai Jie from cultivating further, “Gao Yan is returning soon, we should ask him if he has ever heard about An He. If he has any information about the Crusaders.” He said, and although Cai Jie looked slightly annoyed, his annoyed expression swiftly changed to one filled with excitement. He jumped to his feet, and almost pushed Hui Yue out of the door and down the stairs. Hui Yue found himself once again in the entrance hall where he had been moments before talking with Wang Ju Long, but now the beautiful woman was nowhere to be seen; instead, Cai Jie and Hui Yue were now waiting for Gao Yan’s return.

Deng Wu arrived and found three chairs which he placed in the entrance hall. The three of them sat there together. Deng Wu was obviously staring at Cai Jie, examining him through and through. He was trying to seeing if he could understand some of his secrets. Cai Jie was clearly uncomfortable with being stared at with such intensity, but at the start, he pretended that he did not notice. As time went on, he started to fidget and finally he could no longer keep quiet, “Why do you keep staring at me? I know I am attractive, but I am not into men!” The words did nothing to Deng Wu, and he was not even insulted by at suggestion that he liked men; instead, he just stared a little more before he decided to answer, “Do you share your soul with something? A tiger perhaps? Or a turtle?” Hearing the words, Hui Yue was curious as to what Cai Jie would answer, but seeing the completely lost expression on his new found friend’s face he could not help but laugh.

Hui Yue and Cai Jie were good friends, but none of them had told the other about their secrets. Just as Hui Yue was incapable of knowing how Cai Jie killed the Crusaders, Cai Jie was completely ignorant about the fact that Hui Yue shared his body with a divine beast. Of course, he was also unaware that Deng Wu was the same.

“Why on earth would I share my body with a tiger?” He asked completely confused. His confusion even greater when he saw the snicker on Hui Yue’s face. “I am serious, sharing your body is really not a great idea. How do you even share your body with someone?” He asked. His previous annoyance was changed to curiosity and confusion. Understanding that Deng Wu expected that he was sharing his body was the reason why the older-looking man was staring at him. He started to wonder what it meant to share one’s body with a tiger.

“Don’t tell me you’re sharing your body with a tiger?” He asked curiously. He knew that Hui Yue and Deng Wu were quite different looking than normal people, “Since you brought it up I assume that you guys are not really of mixed blood but actually having something living inside you?” He speculated, but all Hui Yue did was shrug neither approving nor denying the claim. Seeing this, Cai Jie had the feeling that he was correct, but the young man said nothing. “Why does he feel so familiar?” Cai Jie asked himself for the hundredth time, completely uncertain about whether his senses were messed up or if Hui Yue truly hid more within than what he let on.

Just as Cai Jie was about to open his mouth again to ask more questions, he was interrupted as the front door opened. Gao Yan came in with the Rong twins. Seeing how all three were seated in the entrance hall not only was Gao Yan surprised, but the Rong twins were as well. Seeing Hui Yue looking impatient was not something which happened often, and Hui Yue could not help but smile sheepishly at their confused look.

“Gao Yan.” He called out, “We need a little help with some information. Think you have a moment before dinner to talk with us?” He asked, and Gao Yan nodded his head as he excused himself and led all three young men into the office which was previously used by Xu Piao; however, the older man was no longer using the room because he was now quite focused cultivating. He cultivated every waking hour of the day, something which caused Hui Yue to remember was not great for one to do. He would have an overwhelming amount of Yang energy and not enough Yin making it impossible for him to balance them perfectly. This would cause it to be impossible to ever advance to the next rank. Making a mental note, Hui Yue made sure that he would tell the older friend later to be careful, or his focused training would ruin his hopes for the future.

“What is it you need my help with, so much so that you were waiting for me to return, but did not come meet me at the Black Lion?” Gao Yan asked curiously as his eyes rested on Hui Yue. He had long since guessed that his white-haired friend would do all the talking.

“Crusaders.” Hui Yue said instantly, “I need all the information you have about them. I need to know whom they visit, where they reside, what they do in town, and what you know about how they are created.”

Hearing the words Gao Yan frowned, “You want information about Crusaders?” He asked as though the question made no sense to him, “Why on earth do you want to know about the Crusaders? And what do you mean created?” Hearing his questions Hui Yue and Cai Jie looked at each other, and Hui Yue cleared his throat, “Is it possible for you to get us all the information you have about the Crusaders? And I mean everything. Every little detail. How long their visits to the capital are, and how many are currently residing here.” He asked as Gao Yan scratched his chin while pondering. “I should be able to get it for you,” He said slowly. “But it will take quite a long time. We do not have anything specific about the Crusaders. It would be the same as asking about information on all mercenaries in town.” He continued, “All we know now is that the Crusaders belong to the royal family, and those who the royal family trusts have at least one Crusader in their family.” The more Gao Yan spoke, the larger the eyes of Cai Jie and Hui Yue became. It was no wonder that Cai Jie had seen Crusaders within the city if there were that many of them.

“I need all the information you have on Crusaders, and I need it as soon as absolutely possible,” Hui Yue said. He was still incredibly shocked hearing what Gao Yan had just said. Did he also need to have a Crusader within his house later on? There was no way he could leave this be, especially since he knew that they did not belong to the royal family but in fact An He.

“One more question,” Hui Yue asked feeling breathless. “Have you ever heard the name An He?”