Blue Phoenix

The entire camp was filled with morning mist as the cultivators started stirring. Hui Yue had been awake all night and a smile was present on his face as he looked at the massive forest and mountains that towered in front of him. Excitement boiled in his blood, and his adrenalin was pumping. The young man was so eager to rush into the forests, but he forced himself to stay back.

For one, he was simply unaware of where the so-called grave even was; all he knew was that it was an opening in the ground covered with a locking inscription. An inscription so strong that Hui Yue assumed at least four or five Saints would need to pour all their energy into them to forcefully break the inscriptions. Unlike everyone else who thought that this was a Saint’s grave, Hui Yue fully believed Lan Feng who said that the grave belonged to a God. A God who had entered this lower plane for the sake of resting in peace. As to why he decided to enter this specific plane… Well that was something Hui Yue did not know, nor did he know the circumstances of this expert’s death. Was he dying from a battle he lost, or had he lived for so long that death was the only thing he sought?

Hui Yue waited with the craftsmen until he saw a group of ten royal guards. These ten guards were joking with each other, but as soon as they reached the area with the craftsmen, they pulled themselves together and properly introduced themselves.

‘Knowing that they are here, I think it’s time to say my goodbyes,’ Hui Yue thought as he smiled to Cou Ling and Fang Wei. Hugging both of them he smiled. “Don’t worry about me.” He grinned. “I can look after myself. I will return to the city before you even notice i’m gone.”

Knowing that Hui Yue was saying this mainly to calm her down, Cou Ling was a bit ashamed. She was far older than him and yet even still she was the one who needed to be cared for. Deciding not to disappoint her friend, she pulled herself together, steeling herself.

“Go get some treasures!” She said while nodding. “We will be assisted by the guards while traveling back to town; we will definitely be fine so don’t worry about us. Just do what you can to reach your goal. We’ll be awaiting your return.” Cou Long quickly smiled at the young man before she started packing up all her items. She didn’t even as much as glance back at Hui Yue, it was as though he had already left. The young man understood that this was her way of managing the farewell. She was obviously still thinking about him and his safety.

“Thank you,” He whispered gratified. “I had a lot of fun on the way here,” He said with a low, gentle voice. “Oi Fang Wei, look after your master well,” He grinned as he rustled the other man’s hair. Although they were around the same age, Hui Yue was far more mature and the other man had grown attached to Hui Yue, much like one would to an older brother.

“I do not believe that I will be gone for long,” Hui Yue said while shrugging his shoulders. “But as soon as I’ve return I will come by your smithy and show you im safe,” He continued. Hearing this Fang Wei nodded his head solemnly. He understood that men had to protect women. Even if that woman was stronger than him then he had to assist her to the best of his ability.

Having said his farewells, Hui Yue started moving and managed to move so swiftly that an afterimage remained at the location he left.

Leaving the merchants and craftsmen, he soon found himself surrounded by multiple cultivators. The majority of these cultivators were all in groups. The groups being mostly families, clans, dojos, friends, or mercenary groups. No matter where Hui Yue looked he found no one apart from himself on their own.

This did not matter to Hui Yue, in fact, it was beneficial as it allowed for him to slip further and further into the crowd, and soon he had the royal family within sight. As soon as he caught sight of the person he wanted to watch he no longer tried to push forward; instead, he found a good spot between two families he had never seen before; families who were all very tanned and they had an accent unlike any he had heard before. Looking at these families he instantly assumed that they were nobility from the Yueliang Provence.

Hui Yue was someone almost nobody noticed. He was wearing his black cloak, the one he bought back in Riluo City. This was the cloak which hid his cultivation base from others. The reason Hui Yue used this was partly for the sake of being easily overlooked as it help him fall in with the shadows around him. The other reason was to hide his white hair.

Although some were unaware of the traits of the Grand Marshall of the Shenyuan beast horde, more than a few were aware of his appearance and knew that some of the families here used to be nobility of the Siban Empire. These families had managed to take their wealth with them when they left Siban and they migrated to the Taiyang Kingdom adn the Yueliang Province. If they were to see the man who caused their kingdom to fall, it was highly likely that they would gang up on him; something he would prefer did not happen. Even if there were no Saints, they would be incredibly troublesome to deal with.

Sighing he pulled the cloak further down as he intently observed everything around him. Every expert was ready and it was clear that some of them were very eager to rush into the mountainous forest ahead of them. Hui Yue was fine with being around the middle of the massive group of people. In the front they would be taking the heaviest hits from magical beasts, and even if they were first now, the inscription locking down the area everyone wanted to enter still needed to be deactivated.

‘It would really funny if they completely misunderstood and this is was not a grave,’ Hui Yue suddenly said to Lan Feng as he observed the many experts around him. Everyone had come under the assumption that great treasures would be gained; how ironic it would be if there was nothing but an empty immortal’s cave.

It did not take long before the sea of humans started moving forward and moments after some families rushed ahead into the forest. This was something everyone had assumed would happen, but the royal family did not rush. They were after all the only family present who knew the actual location of the entrance. Even if someone were to rush into the forest, they were highly unlikely to find the specific location.

Even if they did find the location, they would be at a loss for what to do. The grave, or whatever it was, was sealed by a strong inscription. An inscription so strong that multiple Saints were needed to work together to break it, even after thousands of years had passed since it was made.

As the first group vanished into the forest the royal family finally started moving. Entering the forest Hui Yue could hear the sounds of battle in front of them and on the sides. It was obvious that the families who had charged into the forest were now being held up by various magical beasts. Most of the cultivators encountered their fair share of magical beasts; however the further into the forest they went the more cautious the beasts became.

These beasts were stronger than the ones at the entrance to the forest. They had lived for eons and throughout the years they had learned caution because their intelligence had risen along with their cultivation.

Moving through the forest everyone were on high alert. Although most of the beasts kept away, no one knew if there were any traps laid down. They could be from people attempting to take the grave for themselves, or they could be traps set up by the original owner of the grave. Some of the smarter beasts even like to lay traps for human cultivators as well. The beasts within this part of the forest were all as intelligent as humans.

The travel through the forest took the better part of a day and they soon found themselves on a slope leading up into the mountains. Following this slope the speed of these daring adventurers became slower and slower, yet the fevered gazes within everyone’s eyes grew increasingly intense. The more they moved the more excited they became.

Even Hui Yue who was normally quite calm couldn’t help but also became more and more excited about the journey they were about to undergo. He had been below ground before in the Dungeons of the Divine yet this was completely different. This was a place where no man had set foot in thousands of years. As to what waited inside, no one knew, but it was definitely certain that it was nothing like the dungeons.

‘It is a shame that it has been such a long time since the grave was sealed,’ Lan Feng commented as he understood Hui Yue’s excitement. ‘Many of the treasures will definitely have become spoiled. I cannot imagine that many herbs will have been able to survive thousands of years passing by. Many of the armors and weapons are likely to have rusted away unless they were sealed by the practitioner who died here.’ Lan Feng was quiet for a bit before he chuckled. ‘Although I say that it is a shame, it is actually a good thing for us,’ He continued. ‘If we had found the grave years before we would have been incapable of entering it. The only reason we can enter it now is because the sealing inscription has weakened so much that even the Saints around here assume it is a Saint ranked expert that set it.’

Hui Yue chuckled in reply. ‘You win some you lose some,’ He said with a shrug of his shoulders. They found the grave but many of the items would have spoiled. Yet although this could be the case Hui Yue was certain that many treasures would be fine, and he could not wait to see which kind of treasures he could find. His main goal was to find Yin energy somehow and to get rid of the third prince. Even if there were no treasures around he still had one aim that he could strive for.

Finally the heat of the day subsided as the sun started to set, and only then did the royal party stop in front of a few stones. Looking at these stones one would notice anything out of order, but if one were to probe them closely they would feel a faint energy ripple being emitted from the stones.

One could only guess why there had been experts out here on a mission, but seeing that they had noticed these strange looking stones, it had to have been a very thorough mission. In fact, Hui Yue did not care too much, what he cared about was how to enter the tomb.

He soon found that he was not the only one interested in entering. A young man only a few years older than himself charged straight towards the stones, but when he was around ten meters away the man came to a halt. The energy ripple which had been barely noticeable before grew increasingly strong, and the man was stopped in his tracks and forced to his knees. Blood sprayed from his mouth and moments after his body fell to the ground. As for whether or not he was alive, no one could tell knew.

‘The expert has indeed used blood essence in the inscription that seals this place,’ Lan Feng commented slowly as his brows furrowed. His words were all spoken very silently but with mixed emotions that made it clear to Hui Yue that this was something out of the ordinary.