Blue Phoenix

Hui Yue was in the park and was once more fully focused on the Sacred Solarflare ability of his. Although he was now skilled at using it, as he could make a sun appear every time, but he was not able to make it the strongest possible every time. He had no intention of stopping his training before he had reached perfection when summoning the ball of fire.

While he was training Hui Yue completely emptied his mind. He did not think about the royal family’s mysterious silence nor did he think about the two kids he had just taken under his wing. All he thought about was the training he was undergoing.

The day was coming to a close, and Hui Yue heaved a heavy sigh as he moved towards the mansion. Going to the dining hall, he noticed that the two kids were not present, but everyone else was. Guessing that they had been too nervous to enter the dining hall on their own, he went to pick up them up and used this opportunity to introduce the kids to everyone present.

The introduction went smoothly, and the initial shock of Hui Yue adopting children quickly subsided as the days passed by. Everyone had returned to their daily schedules. Hui Yue would use one hour a day to train Lao and the rest of the time was spent on absorbing essence from the heavens and the earth.

Lao had started cultivating fairly late, but the speed with which he cultivated shocked Hui Yue. He was fast approaching the first star of the Student rank; something which took Hui Yue far longer to do, and the quality of his Qi was as pure as Hui Yue’s had been.

While Hui Yue was busy training and teaching the kids, three days passed by and then they had a guest arrive at the mansion. Hearing someone was here to see him, Hui Yue personally went to the front door to see who it was.

Opening the mansion’s doors his eyes landed on an elderly gentleman. He was wearing a black robe of good quality, and a large beard framed his face. He had an air of authority about him, and Hui Yue was dumbfounded when he saw him.

“Welcome Sir,” He said as he cupped his fists. “May I ask your name and your purpose in visiting us?” He continued as the gentleman sent a glare his way.

“I heard that you were searching for a tutor for some kids,” He said apathetically as though it did not matter to him at all, but the moment Hui Yue heard what was said a massive smile formed on his lips.

“I deeply apologize for my previous behavior,” He said with a deep bow toward the tutor before he gestured for the guards to let him inside. The gentleman did not so much as look at the guards before he entered the mansion.

“Let us talk about the conditions I work under. If you can accept my conditions, then I will work for you until your children are capable of managing on their own.” He said, and Hui Yue nodded in return as he led the gentleman into a room with two chairs, one table, and a large amount of books on shelves which lined the walls.

“I require two hundred gold coins a month; one hundred for each child I teach,” The tutor instantly started stating his conditions not showing any pleasantries. He was without a doubt the best tutor in town, and he could afford to be rude to the ones who asked for his skills.

As Hui Yue nodding his head carelessly, the tutor found that although he had asked a high price, higher than what he usually took, the young man was still interested in employing him. He did not even trying to argue about the price. Seeing this the man was taken aback but he quickly hid his emotions and grunted the next conditions. “You are to provide me with a room to live in and a room to teach the children in. All my food and drinks will be paid by you while I live here, and I require you to buy anything for your children that I think they will need for their education.”

Once more the elderly man asked for more than he ever had before. Without a thought, Hui Yue nodded his head and from a golden storage stone he pulled out four golden bags which he carelessly tossed to the elder man. “Here is your pay for the next two months,” He said as he got up, and gestured for the elderly man to follow him. The elderly man was again taken aback with Hui Yue’s uncaring use of money, but he quickly followed his employer. He had already been paid, so there was really no way for him to leave the household.

“I should never have come here in the first place; my curiosity really got the better of me today,” He mumbled to himself, “Why did I have to see what this white-haired man was truly like. I don’t want to teach kids of mixed blood; it will tarnish my reputation,” He continued mumbling. Hui Yue walking in the front showed no signs having heard what was said, apart from a cold gleam which flashed through his eyes.

After walking through the mansion they reached the floor where the rooms were located, and he picked one of the better rooms to give to the tutor. He summoned a maid and made her prepare the room before gesturing for the tutor to follow behind him once more. This time, they went to a middle-sized library.

“You can teach the children in this room. I will ensure that it gets cleaned every day and that no one dares to interrupt you,” Hui Yue said as he once more summoned a maid and gave out her tasks. The tutor was astonished to see the room in which he was to teach the kids. The quality was definitely better than any of his usual rooms. Although he was negative at first, excitement started showing in his eyes. Perhaps this was really not such a bad thing after all.

While Hui Yue was busy with the tutor, Gao Yan was in complete shock. His usual informants had told him nothing about what was going on within the royal castle. He knew that the best cultivators in the country had been gathered there, but he could not figure out why.

Gao Yan was not used to being unable to obtain information and the longer this went on, the more upset he became. “I think that perhaps I have no other option,” He signed as he looked out the window. “Perhaps he’ll help me out,” He mumbled and sighed deeply.

While Gao Yan was upset, Hui Yue introduced the tutor to the kids, and it was not before now that he heard the name of the tutor, Tang Mu. The tutor was surprised when he saw that the two children both had black hair and brown eyes. Both of them were clearly human children and also too old to be the young white-haired man’s own children. Looking at these kids, a quizzical expression appeared on the older man’s face, but he nodded his head resolutely.

“I will be teaching you from early noon till just after noon. I will teach you how to write and read. I will also teach you how to arithmetic and history. You will be molded into great little lords and ladies so that you can live up to the expectations we have of you,” The elderly man said as he looked at both kids. “We will begin our lessons tomorrow morning so do not be late,” He warned them and satisfaction was visible in Hui Yue’s eyes,

“Do I really have to study how to read and write?” Lao finally asked with some hesitation. “I have talent for cultivating but not for anything else. Will it not be better if I just train how to cultivate?” He asked a little less timid than before, and his questions made Hui Yue sigh slightly but he understood where the child was coming from.

“If I wanted you to be a guard then yes, reading and writing alongside etiquette and history would be useless; however, I am not here to make you a mere guard. I have taken you into the Hui family, and you are the eldest. You are my heir, and you need to know how to live and behave as a man should in a noble family.”

Hearing the words of Hui Yue both kid and teacher was taken aback. This was a child with no blood relation, yet even so, this young man was willing to make him his heir. Just what kind of child was this skinny young brat? The teacher, no matter how much he looked at the child, found nothing outstanding about him, yet he understood that his job was to groom an heir. Even if he had been unhappy before, he was now fully invested in this job and his eyes burned with the urge to teach the kids. He had to admit that he had made a great mistake when he judged Hui Yue purely on his mixed blood.

During dinner Hui Yue had the opportunity to introduce teacher Tang Mu to everyone in the house, even Cai Jie, Sha Yun, and Wang Ju long were present. While all of them were shocked to hear Hui Yue had adopted two children none of them were against it and the children were quickly accepted by the other people in the house. They all knew that Hui Yue had a reason to do the things he did, and if he adopted children then there was a reason.

“Hum, do you have a moment?” Gao Yan stopped Hui Yue as he was about to leave the dinner hall. The white-haired young man was surprised, but he quickly nodded and together they went to Hui Yue’s room, a place where they could talk in privacy.

“The last two weeks all the Saints and Emperors of the kingdom have gathered within the royal castle, and unfortunately, I have not been able to get any information about what is going on. I have sent various experts to investigate, but they all returned with nothing. Even the maids and servants who usually provide us with all the gossip we could use have remained quiet, it is as though they have a death sentence hanging over their heads.” Gao Yan said as he shook his head helplessly.

“The third prince told you that you could visit him anytime, perhaps you could go visit him and hopefully learn something while you’re there? We obviously can’t sell the information, but this mysterious silence is getting on my nerves. All I want to know is what’s going on. Honestly, I think you need to know as well,” He continued.

Nodding his head slowly, Hui Yue agreed. He definitely wanted to know what was going on, and there was a chance that he would be told if he really visited the third prince.

“I’ll go tomorrow morning,” He said as he had made up his mind. “I will tell you how it went when I return,” He smiled at Gao Yan and the older friend quickly left the room, leaving Hui Yue alone.

“I wonder what exactly is going on,” He mused to himself as he looked at the descending sky. Sighing deeply, he cleared his mind of all troubles before he sat down on the ground and waited for the ascending moon and the cold Yin energy hidden within the moonlight.