Blue Phoenix

The following two days went by quickly. Hui Yue was busy fighting the dummy to his heart’s content, and Xiao Ning was focused on breaking through. As one reached a higher rank, breaking through a bottleneck became increasingly difficult and it took a longer time.

Having been gifted a medicinal pill, even though he had enough energy to overcome the bottleneck, the energy still had to be refined and tamed. He took his time and slowly chipped away at the gap between him and the fourth star of the Saint rank.

These days while he slowly inched closer to the bottleneck, Hui Yue was fully immersed in familiarizing himself with his new cultivation level and just how profound his strength had become. One attack after another rained down upon the dummy, and the energy from these attacks caused the two opposing Saints to go numb time and time again. For them, the pressure waves did not feel like they belonged to a newly advanced Emperor, but someone at the peak of the Emperor rank. Even a newly advanced Saint was not much more versatile than this young man who had appeared in front of them.

After two days passed a massive boom resounded in the chamber and all the essence of the heavens and the earth was drawn towards Xiao Ning. He was like a whirlpool, greedily and forcefully absorbing all the essence from the surroundings. Hearing the boom and noticing the shocking effects, Hui Yue could not help but smile delightedly. It was obvious that he had managed to succeed.

The whirlpool sucking in all the energy lasted for a few hours then the suction force gradually died down before Xiao Ning finally opened his eyes with an excited smile was on his lips. Looking at Hui Yue, gratitude was evident in his eyes; however, since he had already allied himself with the white-haired young man he was not going to say thanks. He knew that his appreciation was in no way unnoticed by the young man, and their aim was to get as many treasures as they could together. They would rely on each other’s strength to do so, therefore, it was of utmost importance that they were as strong as possible.

Still, thinking about it Xiao Ning had to admit that even he was uncertain if he would have been able to bear parting with two golden pills. They were simply too outstanding. Without them, it would have taken him at least two more years to reach the fourth star of the Saint rank.

As Xiao Ning reached the fourth star of the Saint rank, he also needed to refamiliarize himself with his strength, much like what Hui Yue had been doing. Unfortunately, he did not have the time to do so as a creaking sound resounded throughout the room. A door had burst open after which a Saint walked through. His clothes were covered with dust and his facial expression grim; however, he was unhurt and relatively fit for a fight. It was clear that he had not used much energy to get through the final room before arriving at the massive hall they were in.

Entering the room, the Saint looked around his surroundings and was quite astonished to see that only four Saints present. He knew from his own path of rooms that multiple experts were charging behind him, and he expected that they would enter the room within a few hours, yet no lower ranked cultivators seemed to have followed behind these experts who were already present in the room.

Another thing that confused him was the obvious distance between the two groups of experts. As he looked closer at Hui Yue, he discovered that this expert was a mere Emperor.

Looking at the room, it was impossible to tell what had transpired since the first person entered the chamber, and instead of wrecking his mind over it, he decided not to think about it. Looking at these two groups he was somewhat uncertain about what to do. Should he pick a side? If he did, it was likely he would have to share all the treasures he found later, and between these two groups, one was not much stronger than the other.

One consisted of two Saints, yet both of them were clearly just of the first or second star. Whereas the other side consisted of a Saint and an Emperor. The Saint was surprisingly a star higher than him, but the Emperor next to him was definitely a liability. Therefore he assumed that the two groups were about even. One group was weak while in the other he would have to share his treasures with an Emperor ranked expert. Not really liking either group, he chose to be alone for now.

Coming to this conclusion, the Saint seated himself at the wall between the two groups making it clear that he was not joining either. Seeing this, Hui Yue was satisfied. This Saint was most likely a three star Saint, someone who was fairly strong. But he was not strong enough to face off against Xiao Ning. Especially now that he had broken through.

“That guy comes from the Yueliang Province,” Xiao Ning’s voice drifted into Hui Yue’s ear as he looked curiously at the Saint. “We don’t know much about him, but I would assume that he was my match before I advanced.” He continued his analysis.

Hearing this Hui Yue nodded his head as he sat down and started to cultivate. The last few days he had only cultivated to regain energy so that he could continue his training, but now that he had smoother control over his energy, he once more sat down and cultivated seriously. Although he had just broken into the Emperor rank, he was still very far from the Saint level. He knew every time he advanced it would be more difficult than the time before.

The new Saint was correct in assuming that it would only take a few hours for the experts who had been following behind him but just as they entered the chamber. Though what caused him to be dumbfounded was when he saw the pair of Saints jumped to their feet and charged at them forcing them to hand over their treasures.

“How can the treasures from the outer grave have such an effect on a Saint?” He mumbled shocked. Although he had not left all the treasures alone on the way here, he did not seek them out as he was aware that this was just the outer grave. But it seemed that these two Saints were acting shamelessly without a care.

Hui Yue and Xiao Ning showed no signs of stopping them. Hui Yue cultivated, and Xiao Ning had taken over training using the dummy. The energy ripples that came from their part of the chamber were so strong that the hearts of all experts within the chamber were secretly shocked. Even amongst Saints, this was the strongest energy many of them had ever experienced. Even when they broke the seal, not many of the Saints were able to produce such a tremendous amount of energy.

Unfortunately, these experts could not stay in the grand hall for long due to the strong energy ripples that crashed against everything. The stream of new arrivals was constantly decreasing as word of the thieving Saints had gotten to the majority of the experts headed to the hall. Most of them soon decided to be grateful for their treasures and head back to the city. Better to have a few treasures and keep them than be greedy and lose everything.

Although while Hui Yue was cultivating he had spread out his spiritual energy in the chamber allowing for him to sense what was happening around him. If any of his friends were to enter the chamber, he would instantly know about it and would be able to support them. Although he was not willing to fight the Saints for no reason; he was definitely going to defend his friends if they made it this far. But, sadly, none of them appeared and soon no more experts made their way into the hall.

The silence from before once more descended upon them, but only a few hours passed before one more gate opened up and yet another Saint walked in. This Saint was from the former Siban empire, and his eyes went wide when he saw Hui Yue sitting in the corner.

Unlike what one would have expected, the Saint did not rush over to Hui Yue to get revenge for his fallen empire; instead, an image played out in his mind. It was what he saw back during the war; an image of a massive blue phoenix which appeared for only a few moments. Even though he did not see it for long it was a sight he would never forget. The might of the bird and the pressure that appeared the moment he transformed was so great that even the strongest Saint of the Siban Empire was like dirt under his feet.

Remembering that day, he could only snort at the level of strength this Emperor ranked young man showed. He knew that he was hiding his true strength. Seeing this, the pair of Saints misunderstood and thought it was a sign of disdain for an Emperor to be amongst them, but these two Saints felt worried as they remembered the sudden energy ripples that had appeared when his strength had suddenly shot up to the Saint rank. Not just the first star of the Saint rank, but he seemed so powerful that even they would be rendered useless next to him.

A few hours later the experts started pouring out from the entrance where the Siban Empire Saint had appeared. Once more the Saint pair started robbing people below their rank, and it did not take long before the rush of people again died out. This time they had not touched anyone who had the backing of a Saint, yet at the same time the experts feared that it would be their turn when no other experts were left. Therefore they rushed to leave the chamber together with everyone else.

This happened multiple times. Saints appeared followed by experts who were then robbed by the Saint pair. Every Saint within the room looked at them shocked wondering how they could throw their face away in such a manner, yet they did not move to stop them.

Unfortunately, no matter how many cultivators these two Saints robbed there were no more golden pearls. All they got was inscriptions, items, and herbs. Looking at all the herbs they had gathered a cold feeling appeared in Hui Yue’s heart, and he greatly considered killing them for all their items. Sighing, he knew that this was no way to do things so instead he stood up and headed towards them.

Seeing the Emperor starting to move, all eyes were drawn to him. Some were filled with disdain, yet a few knowledgeable experts felt anticipation for what would unfold, as well as fear and apprehension towards the Emperor walking across the room.

“What do you want?” One of the Saints asked nervously as he saw the white-haired man stop in front of him. “Let’s trade. You each want a golden pill, and I want all the herbs you have obtained. What do you say? You get a golden pearl, and I get something I would like as well.”

Hearing the words fervent gazes appeared in the eyes of the two Saints and after a quick glance at one another, the two Saints nodded, and the herbs were quickly traded for two golden pearls. Although these pearls were almost priceless, herbs from outside this world were truly priceless, and they were only found in this grave. If Hui Yue ever wanted to create any with the celestial alchemy, he would need them anyways so getting as many as possible were of the utmost importance.

Seeing them trade everyone was dumbfounded. Why this Emperor wanted these herbs no one knew, but everyone was much more interested in this golden pearl they saw. Especially when the two Saints popped it into their mouth, which caused energy ripples to exploded out from their bodies. And in no time, their cultivation base soared to the heavens.

Seeing this, many of the Saints started eyeing Hui Yue greedily. Perhaps the young man had more of these miracle pills. Sensing the gazes on his back, Hui Yue smiled as if he did not know what everyone was thinking. If they were to attack him, he would prove that he was in no way a pushover. Perhaps this was for the better. He was slightly annoyed by the glances of disdain he had been given for the past few hours after all the new Saints appeared in the grand hall.