Blue Phoenix

Leaving the Black Lion, Hui Yue headed straight to the Black Market Auction House. He had been there before when he sold the cultivation stone, but this time, he was going to ask for a favor. He needed a new weapon. A weapon which suited his current cultivation level better than the daggers he had used ever since he was a cultivator of the lower dantian. The dagger had been a gift from the Ma family, a weapon created from Black Iron with an inscription engraved upon it. Although the dagger was reliable, it was clearly made for a lower ranked cultivator, and now it was only a question about when it would shatter. It was incapable of containing all the energy Hui Yue could use when attacking.

So far, Hui Yue had completely avoided using a weapon and instead used his wolf body because the deadly claws and sharp teeth were very good weapons. But now that Lan Feng was once more ready to train Hui Yue, the young man was going to once more train his human form.

While thinking about this, Hui Yue finally made his way to the Black Market Auction House and with a nod to the guards, he entered the massive building. He moved through the maze-like corridors and eventually ended in front of a door crafted from heavywood. Knocking hard on the door it slowly opened and inside was Ma Kong and his father. Both had their heads bowed over some documents and memory stones. As soon as the door opened, they looked up were surprised to see Hui Yue.

“Hui Yue, what can we do for you?” Ma Kong’s father asked curiously as he looked at Hui Yue slowly placing the memory stone he had in his hand on the table. “Once upon a time back in Riluo City I was invited to dine with the Ma family. At that time I met the manager of the Black Market Auction House of Riluo City, and he gifted me the dagger, Black Blood. It is the weapon I have used up until now,” He said. “This dagger has served me well throughout the years. It has been by my side while I struggled to survive these past few years, and it will always have a special place in my heart; however, now it is not suitable for me. It was forged for cultivators of the lower dantian, and now that I have reached the King level I need a more suitable weapon. I will obviously pay for it, but I cannot imagine a better place to find a weapon than here. I know that you might not have any available right now, but if you see a weapon I could use, please let me know.”

Nodding Ma Kong’s father contemplated for some time, “To think that you used the dagger for as long as you have shows how much you valued our present year after year. Although we do not currently have any weapons suitable for you up for auction, we do have some stored in the family armory. Sometimes we purchase weapons and store them in our own armory, for the sake of our family. I will let little Kong take you to the armory, and you can pick whichever weapon you want,” He continued. “Consider it our present to you,” He smiled and waved his hand gesturing for Ma Kong and Hui Yue to leave. Feeling grateful Hui Yue did not know what to do to return the favor he was given, so he just smiled thankfully to both Ma family members.

Following behind his friend Ma Kong, the two young men left the office and walked together through corridor after corridor. The feeling Hui Yue got was that they were heading deep underground, and the corridors changed from being beautifully adorned to raw stone walls. There were no longer any windows; instead, light came from torches that were placed on the walls. After walking a bit further, they reached a massive door made from heavywood. There was no adornment on the door. No carvings or symbols to show that it housed amazing treasures. Rummaging through his robe, Ma Kong finally found a set of cast iron keys. This was quite different from usual as most places were locked with memory stones, but these elaborate keys were clearly different. This was a door that if one tried to open the door by the use of a memory stone, it would be impossible. If one did this, a locking mechanism would activate and ensure that no one apart from the family head could enter until he unlocked it with his Qi.

With the key in hand, Ma Kong stepped forward opening the door with a heavy click. He then pushed open the door. Creaking sounds resounded as the heavy door opened revealing a room inside. Hui Yue was incredibly curious about what Ma family treasury looked like. He took a few steps forward following close behind Ma Kong as he entered the room, and his mouth went dry as he saw the vast amount of treasures surrounding him. The room was large, with hundreds of shelves located within. On each shelf, various items were seen. Looking around, Hui Yue was completely incapable of knowing where to look. The torches on the walls and on the shelves made the gold glitter in the light of the flames. Silver shone brilliantly and jewels sparkled in the light. Jade cases were placed on shelves hiding their valuables inside.

On the shelves, Hui Yue found boxes filled with less valuable herbs, jade cases containing rare herbs, and for the few heaven defying herbs present they were locked inside cases of pure gold. Looking at the herbs, Hui Yue suddenly remembered his time in the Dungeons of the Divine where he picked up one rare herb after another and placed them within a memory stone. He had used jade to store them, but it had already been at least a year since he last opened them; he suddenly felt curious about how his many rare herbs were doing with the treatment they had gotten.

Walking around the treasury, Hui Yue saw many priceless items. Some of them had obvious uses, some were medicinal pills refined by an alchemist, some were weapons made from black iron, gold, silver, or normal iron, and all of them were engraved with inscriptions to increase their durability. Some of the weapons even had abilities engraved into them to allow for one to use the ability as long as the user had enough Qi.

There was a part of the treasury which was filled with rare metals. It had large blocks of black iron at the bottom, and bars of silver and gold placed on top. Most of the metals were infused with spiritual energy to make them even stronger. Alongside these rare metals was jewels, all of which contained spiritual energy within. These jewels could be used in various ways. Jewels were created when a cluster of essence of heavens and the earth got trapped inside the earth or mountains. The essence would slowly and naturally get refined while the compression would form it into a jewel. The larger the jewels were, the more energy that had been compressed and refined by the earth. These jewels could be used in various ways. One way was to use them as a battery. One could absorb the energy of the jewels and use it to increase their own spiritual energy, but they could also be used in combination with weapons. When they were embedded in weapons, they could, with the help of inscriptions, be used to activate the skills inscribed into the armor or weapon. This would allow lower ranked experts to use abilities that they had inscribed on the weapons. Hui Yue, who had lived in Riluo City and studied at the Riluo City Royal Academy, had never seen these things before, yet here in the capital weaponry imbued with gems and inscriptions were everyday items. Things that families gave their talented youth allowing them some safety while fighting to become the strongest.

While gems could be used in various ways, there were also beast cores. Beast cores were very similar except the raw power contained within was far more potent than the energy within gems. The beast core contained the entire cultivation base of the beast that had been slain, and these cores were often used to help one cultivate. They allowed for the cultivator to very slowly absorb and refine the mist energy within. But unlike gems, beast cores could not be used to activate inscriptions because the energy within was mist energy; a different type than the one trained by humans.

Hui Yue did not look long at the beast cores as he had plenty of those. Walking through the treasury Hui Yue finally reached the very end, and here he found many weapons. Some were hanging on the wall, and others were placed on the shelves. Looking at them, Hui Yue felt his pulse rise and his eyes gleam with excitement. Moving closer, he saw so many different weapons that his head started spinning. Picking up a rod he saw Hui Yue observed it curiously. Fiddling around with it he saw that it was a long rod with an inscription engraved into it.

“Be careful with that,” Ma Kong smiled as he saw what Hui Yue was looking at. “If you add your Qi or spiritual energy to this rod it will start to shoot out small fireballs which would travel a distance before exploding upon coming into contact with something. They can travel up to three hundred meters before exploding. As long as you have energy, these rods will keep shooting. I’m surprised you did not meet them in the war. The Siban Empire should have been using them.” Ma Kong said slightly confused, but Hui Yue just shook his head. It was possible that they had been used, but he had just not noticed them. Placing down the rod on the shelf once more, Hui Yue looked at maces, axes, staves, spears, and swords. Although he was curious about all the weapons, he looked at the swords more than any of the other weapon. Picking up one sword after another, he found that all of them were masterpieces. Many of them had inscriptions on them. One had an inscription for fire orb, another used ice cluster, and yet another had lightning spikes in it. But no matter which one of the weapons Hui Yue picked up, he had a lackluster feeling. Something was wrong with each of them. They were good but not what he was looking for, and after going through almost every weapon in the room, he could not help but feel disappointed.

Looking around his eyes were drawn to a small stack of weapons on the floor. Some were rusty, and others were broken, but Hui Yue’s eyes were locked onto a rusty sword which was seemingly very ordinary. Looking at this sword, Hui Yue was suddenly reminded how he many years ago lived another life. He had entered a shop where he found a phoenix hairpin. The feeling he had back then emerged from his heart as he looked at this rusty and seemingly old sword. Although it looked old the emotion it brought reminded him of when he had first seen the blue phoenix hairpin. There was something within Hui Yue which told him that if he did not take this sword now then he would regret it for the rest of his life. So without a second thought, his hand dove directly into the stack of old worn out swords and with the hand on the rusted hilt he dragged it towards himself.