Blue Phoenix

The sizzling meat on the fire smelled delicious as various herbs had been rubbed into it before it was cooked. In a small pot, vegetables were being cooked, and Cou Ling alongside Fang Wei and Hui Yue were all calmly resting beside the fire.

More and more of the stalls selling weapons and items closed for the night while the food stalls started getting busier as cultivators and mercenaries went to buy food rather than cook after a long day. Brawls would appear here and there when someone felt that they had been insulted either by someone skipping the queue or if someone accidentally bumped into another.

Unlike the city, no guards were here to break up the brawls, and some of them turned into big fights where observers were dragged into the battle as well. Most of the fights though were just for entertainment and people would gamble on them.

Leaning back, Hui Yue watched everything with an indifferent smile on his face. His ice-blue eyes observed what happened around them to ensure that no fights broke out nearby.

After moving some distance away from their stall their small group of three was left alone. They managed to enjoy their food with good conversation and relaxing weather. Observing the brawls and the increasing rowdy behavior, Hui Yue made the decision to stay close to the blacksmith’s area. Although they were here to sell items they would be in dire straights if they got mixed up in the many ongoing fights. Neither of the two blacksmiths were strong cultivators, and neither had the ability to protect themselves on this trip.

When everyone reached the grave, all the merchants and craftsman would return to Muchuan City but until then they were easy prey. Looking around, Hui Yue frowned slightly as he saw a group of menacing-looking cultivators going from one group of mercenaries to another. As they moved back and forth, the merchants all passed them coins. As for why they did this, Hui Yue did not know.

‘Oh well, we will find out soon,’ He thought as he saw the group of experts coming closer and closer. Seeing Hui Yue looking at something specific, Cou Ling gaze drifted in the same direction and her brows furrowed as she saw what was happening. Her hand instinctively grasped the golden memory stone, and she swiftly stored it within a storage stone.

Although she felt slightly worried, she looked at the calm Hui Yue, and her worries drifted away. He had previously taken care of six King ranked experts at once. Although a group of four was coming their way, these experts were not a threat to their little group. As long as Hui Yue was by her side, Cou Ling was confident that he would not let anyone harm her.

It did not take long before the group of experts appeared in front of Hui Yue, Cou Ling, and the younger Fang Wei. Their smiles instantly increased the moments they laid eyes on Cou Ling, but their happiness dimmed quite a bit when they saw Hui Yue calmly sitting by her side.

“We are here from the Bloody Vulture family,” One of the men said smilingly as he looked at Cou Ling. “We are here to help all the merchants and the craftsmen stay safe. For a modest fee of five hundred gold coins, we will ensure your safety. No one will threaten you while you are on the move. We will even go as far as to escort you back home to Muchuan City, so you have nothing to fear.” He said in a polite voice. Had it not been for the sacred expressions the other merchants had shown, Hui Yue would actually have considered it to be a decent deal.

“Sorry,” He spoke out casually completely cutting off the words Cou Ling was about to say. “We are not interested.” After having spoken, he once more withdrew his attention from the newcomers and started talking to Cou Ling.

The woman was at a loss for what to do. But seeing that Hui Yue took the initiative to talk, she ended up following the lead of the young man. Although her answers were a little confused, the young woman still managed to ignore the cultivators.

Seeing that this group of people were completely ignoring them, the man who had just spoken now had a throbbing vein on his forehead. His face had turned red and his eyes were filled with anger. Taking a step forward, he was suddenly stopped by his friend.

This new person was far smaller than the angered man. His body seemed fragile, but from his aura one could tell that he was a King ranked expert like the others. Unlike the other three though a smile was still playing on his lips and his eyes seemed sharp. It seemed as if he was constantly observing what was happening around him and contemplating his next move from the information he gathered. He was clearly not as easily angered as the other men.

“Young man, I don’t think you really know what is going on,” The fragile-looking man said with a fake smile on his face, and the slyness in his voice could be easily detected. Lifting his eyes his gaze landed on the skinny man’s face and as soon as their eyes met, a shiver ran down the spine of the other man. He involuntarily took a step backwards and the fake smile on his face turned strained; his eyes turned serious.

“Hui Yue had not done anything. He had not released his killing intent, nor had he displayed any form of power, but the sleazy man still felt uneasy and withdrew. As he looked at this young man in front of him, he felt danger.

At first when the feeling had arrived it overwhelmed him, but this man was a veteran when it came to life-threatening battles. He had been through so many fights where he could have died any moment that he was no longer the kind of man who withdrew because of a little danger.

As the seconds went by, his senses overcame his initial fear and he started mocking himself for feeling danger from such a young man. Smiling, the older man once more stepped forward. “Little brother, we are here to help all the merchants and craftsman, but how can we help when someone like yourself doesn’t want to join in. After all everyone will travel together, so we need everyone to pay the fee.”

“Not my problem; we’re not interested,” Hui Yue said as he shrugged, and finally lifted himself up from his seated position to stand in front of this group of experts. He shook his hands slightly to warm them up and cracked his neck. His eyes were as patient as before, but his actions had drawn the attention of many of the merchants and craftsmen who had been forced to paying the abnormally high safety fee earlier.

Looking at Hui Yue, all the surrounding people felt a slightly sour in their hearts. If Hui Yue were to win, he would most likely take all the money for himself. In that case, they would still have lost their money and also the group protecting them. Well, that is if this group from the Bloody Vulture family had actually been serious about giving up on the Grave of the Unknown for the sake of leading them back safely. No one knew if they spoke the truth, but with them alive they at least had a chance of getting some help on the way back. Because of this, the majority of the people close by were secretly rooting for the group who had extorted money from them.

Aware of everything, Hui Yue did not pay any mind to the people surrounding him. He could care less about anyone else; he only cared for Cou Ling and Fang Wei. He knew that they were not getting robbed tonight. How could he ask for their support if he could not even protect them in something as simple as this?

Seeing his movements, the four experts were perplexed. It was clear that Hui Yue intended to not let them have their way, but they couldn’t understand why he would do such a thing. It was four against one, and they were clearly older than him by a great deal. Seeing his foolish actions caused the four of them to grin. The man who had been filled with anger before was now laughing manically as though Hui Yue had done something absolutely hilarious.

Hearing the laughter and seeing the smiles on their faces, Hui Yue rolled his eyes and wondered what he should do. One option was to instantly disable them with the blue cloud, and then behead them when they collapsed to the ground, but then again the four cultivators in front of him were men. He already had enough Yang energy and needed Yin energy. To absorb more Yang energy would definitely not be beneficial to him.

Another option was to use his sword, and after some contemplation, he flicked his hand. Moments later a beautiful silvery sword appeared in his hands. The many spiritual blacksmiths around all sucked in a deep breath of air as they caught sight of this unique metal.

Nine Heaven’s Devouring Blood Metal was something of a legend. Only Cou Ling had managed to successfully forge a hammer from this metal, and every spiritual blacksmith in Muchuan City had at one point in time gone to see her. They would beg her to let them see the hammer she had created. Due to this all of them knew what the metal looked like and seeing this young man standing near Cou Ling’s side they all knew what metal this weapon was forged from. Everyone revered the Nine Heaven’s Devouring Blood Metal, but the only blacksmith who had ever succeeded in refining it was Cou Ling. Everyone else had died trying. So far the only item which had been created from this elusive metal was her personal hammer, but seeing this sword in the hands of the young man in front of them every blacksmith couldn’t help but suck in a breath of fresh air. A new supreme weapon had arrived within the world.

The four experts in front of him noticed that something had changed by the time Hui Yue had drawn his weapon, but this just made them even more eager to defeat the young man. They wanted to steal his good items when he died. A dead man had no need for items after all.

Seeing that Hui Yue decided to use the sword, Cou Ling was quite surprised. She knew that Hui Yue wanted to keep his wolf shape a secret, yet facing as many opponents as he was, she could not help but worry about whether or not he would be able to keep it hidden.

Hui Yue, on the other hand, did not feel that his opponents were much of anything. Looking at them he decided that his best option was his sword, and on the off chance that his newly forged sword was unable to deal with them, then he would be forced to use the blue cloud.

Although he also wished to keep the blue cloud a secret, he would rather use that than his wolf form. The blue cloud was a branch of techniques not known on this plane so even if they saw it, they would have no idea what happened.

Lifting his hand, spiritual energy poured into the sword and one ice shard after another was thrown at the four experts. Seeing the shards coming their way, they snorted. A direct attack such as this wasn’t even enough to threaten them. They had faced far stronger attacks in their life, but it seemed their decision caused a grin to appear on Hui Yue’s face.

To think that these were normal ice shards was to greatly underestimate them. These shards were created by a sword forged from the Nine Heaven’s Devouring Blood Metal. During the forging of the sword, the inscription pattern had undergone a transformation and fused with the lightning. This refined the inscription and strengthening it to a frightening degree, so much so that the attacks were more than twice as strong as they had been in the past, back when the sword was at its peak. The Sword of the Icy Tempest was now far more lethal than ever before.

Looking at the four experts who were defending with Wu Wei, Hui Yue grinned as he launched one cluster of ice shard after another. Although a group of ice shards was not enough to deal with the Wu Wei surrounding their bodies, a constant barrage of ice shards, which showed no signs of letting up, started to cause cracks to in their Wu Wei cloaks. Annoyed the four experts were forced to increase the Wu Wei they were using to defend themselves.