Blue Phoenix

Tears fell from Hui Yue’s cheeks as he was overwhelmed with sadness from the green pearl as he relived her life. He watched as one by one her beloved tribesmen succumbed to the enemy.

The green pearl was quite different from the red wolf and the blue monk. Both of them had long since been satisfied with what they had accomplished in life. Both of them wished for death and a new life. The green pearl, however, was different. She was still young and striving to reach her goal of having her name resound across the entire Thousand Plains as the most skilled Tribal Witch.

Merging with her, Hui Yue gained all the knowledge she had discovered in her previous life. Most of her knowledge though was on the subject of herbal medicine and how to become renown as a herbal healer. This was something that was not useful now as the medicinal herbs she knew about were all from another world; here this knowledge was not very useful.

Although there were many of the abilities he could not use, he had gained the innate talent of a Witch of the Thousand Plains. He obtained the ability to give life and also to take it away.

In a way, a witch was a mixture of a necromancer and a healer. When attacking, they would use curses that siphon lifeforce from their opponents and deadly poisons. They could draw out the soul of foes and raise the dead to fight for them by using the lifeforce they had absorbed. Fighting with lifeforce was very different from using his internal energies because lifeforce would dissipate as soon as it was used. It would not automatically restore itself like his internal energies. What made Hui Yue considerably curious about it was that it could possibly be used to study how Crusaders kept moving after death.

Although all of this seemed wondrous, there was a high price to pay for it. A witch had to pay for using their abilities with their lifeforce. Every time they attacked something their lifeforce would be the energy they burned.

Realizing this, Hui Yue was shocked until some other information appeared in his mind, information about harvesting lifeforce.

When a person died a natural death, they would have no lifeforce left. However, if a person died prematurely, either from an accident or murder, then they would still have a great amount of lifeforce left. This lifeforce upon one’s death would swiftly dissipate into the energy of the heavens and the earth. This energy before it dissipated could be harvested by a witch and merged with their own life force. It was also possible for them to withdraw life force from their soul and pour it into someone else to increase the other person’s life force.

It was also lifeforce that was needed when it came to healing. If Hui Yue wished to heal others’ wounds, or his own, he would have to sacrifice his life force. The more life force he sacrificed, the more efficient the healing would be.

He finally understood exactly why the green pearl had diminished every time it healed him and then grown larger as time passed. As a part of Hui Yue, the pearl was able to absorb the lifeforce of the opponents that Hui Yue had slain.

Understanding that he was going to be using his lifeforce as a new energy, Hui Yue did not feel too worried. He understood that it was possible to harvest more when needed, but he knew that there was only so much he could use to attack and heal.

Sighing Hui Yue decided that he should not use these attacking or healing methods unless he was in a terribly bad situation as once your lifeforce was drained you would die.

‘I suggest you do not use those attacks until you have at least one hundred years of lifeforce more than what you have now. What a reckless way of fighting!’ Lan Feng’s voice sounded in Hui Yue’s mind. The two had been together for so long, and all that Hui Yue had just experienced was also projected straight to Lan Feng as well.

Hui Yue took a quick glance at the two other open caves. One had Wu Wei Wings within, that were constantly flapping waiting for Hui Yue to summon them. The final cave held a gem-like stone which pulsated with a strange energy. Hui Yue had no idea what this gem was. Whether it could assist him later on or not, was something to be seen.

Taking one more deep breath, Hui Yue left his lower dantian and entered his middle dantian where his spiritual energy sea and the elemental flames were present. Looking at the flames, a smile spread on Hui Yue’s lips as he saw a green flame flickering atop the sea of refined spiritual energy together with his other elemental flames.

Looking at this flame and reaching out, he saw that it was as obedient as the other flames. It shot to his hand and filled his entire body with vitality. He could feel how any hint of exhaustion vanished the moment he touched the flame. Returning the flame to its position above the spiritual energy sea, Hui Yue finally opened his eyes once more and looked around at the four Saints standing in front of him. They were guarding him vigilantly to protect him against anyone who came close.

“How long was I training?” Hui Yue asked casually as he stood up and gently patted the dust and soil from his robe. It seemed as though it had been only a few moments. Still, he knew that it was likely far longer than he had expected. Reliving the green pearl’s life was not something he could have done in a few short moments.

The moment Hui Yue opened his mouth all the Saints jumped in surprise before they turned around and looked at him with excitement. Wide grins were on their faces, but Hui Yue felt no joy from them.

Every one of the four Saints, even Xiao Ning, had wounds on their faces. Zhu Jun had even lost a tooth while Ye Ling had a long gash down his face which ran from his forehead down to his cheek. One of his eyes had been caught in the slash, and it was clear that he could see nothing from it anymore.

Xiao Ning, although not as injured as the three others, had bruises on his face and a swollen eye. Seeing all their wounds, Hui Yue felt his heart squeeze tight, and even worse, an urge to use the healing arts he had just learned was taking hold of him. Unfortunately, at the moment he did not have enough lifeforce to do so just yet, and he held back. Still, his eyes darkened in anger.

Seeing his expression darken, Xiao Ning grinned and placed a hand on Hui Yue’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it,” He said still smiling even while one of his eyes was so swollen that it was impossible to even to see the eye beneath. “If you think we look terrible, then you should see the others.” Luo Qiang joined the conversation. His robe had been blue when Hue Yue started to merge with the green witch, but now his chest was dark red from all the blood it had been dyed in.

“Are they dead?” Hui Yue asked, his voice was strangely calm. His eyes were frosty and so terrifying that the other four experts shivered involuntarily.

“No. You have been cultivating for around seven days. During these days most of the Saints have arrived here. Most of the groups here have become part of alliances that assist each other. You know the group that appeared in this room before us, they were killed and their treasures shared amongst the alliance who murdered them.”

“They tried to go against us as well, but as long as we have Xiao Ning, they could do nothing to us. At the start, we fought them, but as you can see we were not very successful. Since then Xiao Ning just put up his barrier, and they could do nothing. Right now all of them are waiting for us to leave the room, then they will get rid of us together.”

Hui Yue nodded his head and closed his eyes while he contemplated. ‘While you do need lifeforce, killing too many Saints could change the balance of the world.’ Lan Feng said casually, and his words made Hui Yue snort. ‘Since when did you care about the balance of the world?’ He asked and Lan Feng just smiled as he replied. ‘Exactly. So why not go and stock up on some lifeforce since they are offering it to you. These guys are Saints so they should have an incredible amount of lifeforce since they can only die if they get killed by others.’

“We will need to show them that we are not easily bullied,” Hui Yue said as he picked up some of the red pills from his storage stone. Looking inside he noticed the black and purple pills, the ones he still hadn’t had the time to look through, but he quickly decided that now was not the time. Tossing the pills to the wounded Saints, he saw how their bodies immediately started to heal.

“Are you going to go all out?” Luo Qiang suddenly asked. The words he said caused the other four experts to look at Hui Yue with curiosity. None of them had ever truly seen Hui Yue go all out, and they all wished to see it.

“It depends if they have what it takes to make me go all out,” Hui Yue answered. After waiting for around two hours, the five experts were all ready to go and meet the Saints who knew they were coming.

Summoning his Sword of the Icy Tempest, Hui Yue felt his adrenaline pumping and both red and blue energies started to fluctuate around him. The blue energy seemed to increase the rate of cultivation for the four friends around Hui Yue, and all them were scared witless when they saw how their bodies were greedily sucking in energy in a way they had never seen before. This blue cloud was also the one Xiao Ning had seen him use against the stone beasts, and back then he had personally seen how destructive it was.

Hui Yue looked at Xiao Ning for a moment. “You should protect the three others. I’ll be useless if I have to continually worry about them, and your protective abilities are far better than mine,” Hui Yue stated before he shot out of the room like an arrow. Sword of the Icy Tempest was in his hand as the Nine Heaven’s Devouring Blood Metal was shining dangerously. Wu Wei was covering Hui Yue’s body like a piece of armor and some had even entered into the sword causing a windy gale to brew. A snowstorm appeared, masking the blue cloud.

Running out of the room, Hui Yue found that around twenty Saints were waiting for him, but instead of looking worried, a smile played on his lips as the whole grave was plunged into a freezing snowstorm and engulfed by the lurking blue cloud.

Popping a red pill into his mouth, Hui Yue felt the energy he was using instantly replenish. The twenty Saints were all taken by surprise, and the blue cloud made them sluggish. The ice storm made it impossible for them to see anything around them, and all of them spread their spiritual energy around them only to realize that this blue cloud absorbed and devoured any and all energy they released. It was impossible for them to see or feel if anyone was close to them.

Standing in the door to the chamber was Xiao Ning and the three other Saints, all of them hidden beneath his Radiant Aegis. They were just watching this dangerous, white snowstorm spread before them.

Looking at each other they felt fear once more, and all of them were suddenly grateful that they were Hui Yue’s friends rather than his enemies. While thinking this, the first scream was heard from within the snowstorm, but the steadily falling snow almost drowned out the terrifying noise.

Looking at the snow at his feet, Hui Yue noticed how it was dyed red while glancing at the corpse below him. The moment he had killed this Saint, he felt an unnatural force entering his body, but it was not something he saw. It slowly entered his body and vanished, but Hui Yue knew he had just gained more lifeforce. One Saint alone had given him enough lifeforce equal around a hundred years. Thinking about this, Hui Yue had only one thought in his mind, and that was unrestrained slaughter.