Blue Phoenix

Moving through the city, nothing looked any different from before he left for the Grave of the Unknown. Most commoners were busy with their chores for their masters while others were busy selling their goods. In the capital city cultivators flooded in from everywhere. Lots of cultivators were looking to buy medicinal pills and elixirs to help them when they left the city to go on their adventures, others sold treasures they had acquired, and most were just looking through the many treasures available unable to afford them.

The streets were bustling with people, and although Hui Yue moved through them as swiftly as the wind, even he found it difficult to move around within this maze of people. At least he had Velocity Flow to assist him, and therefore neither the people by his side or the ones left in his wake were able to see him. All they felt was a slight breeze which they enjoyed in the hot summer air.

Using Velocity Flow to move like a phantom, Hui Yue soon made it to his destination, but as soon as he walked down the alleyway leading to the shop, he saw that there was already a very long line of people waiting to enter the store. Most likely these were young masters of families who had benefitted from the trip to the grave and had been gifted some coin. Any expert with enough money knew that the most important item one needed was a weapon. The weapon was what one’s strength depended on, and no one made better weapons than the spiritual blacksmith Cou Ling.

Contemplating whether he should stand in line, Hui Yue quickly decided not to. He still had other things he needed to do today; thus he once more activated Velocity Flow and jumped to the top of the store. He moved a little and then jumped into the courtyard behind the shop and the blacksmith.

Arriving at the back, Hui Yue looked into the store where he saw Fang Wei working hard in the store running from one end to the other. Wrapping weapons in cured beast skins and oiling the weapons that required it.

However, although Fang Wei was busy, Cou Ling was not present in the store, and the regular sound of a hammer landing on metal could be heard from within the smithy itself. Knowing that there was only one spiritual blacksmith in the shop, Hui Yue instantly moved towards the sound.

Opening the door, he was assaulted by hot air which for a moment almost made him take a step back. The temperature within the blacksmith was so warm that it was impossible to consider it comfortable, yet in the middle, Cou Ling was standing near a massive furnace. She was fully focused on the metal in front of her and not even the slightest bit of sweat could be seen on her face.

Standing to the side, Hui Yue said nothing as he waited patiently for Cou Ling to finish what she was doing. He knew that if he interrupted her when her mind was so focused, it would effect the weapon she was forging.

It took Cou Ling roughly four hours to finish the weapon in her hands, and that was while using her hammer which had been formed from the Nine Heaven’s Blood Devouring Metal.

As soon as the weapon was dropped into the water bucket, Cou Ling turned around and looked at Hui Yue with surprise. “You already returned home?” She asked curiously, and Hui Yue nodded his head before he found a storage stone in his pocket which he threw towards Cou Ling, who caught it by reflex.

“This is?” She asked curiously, but Hui Yue said nothing. All he did was smiling and wait for the woman to look into the stone. Frowning, she looked through its contents, and her face quickly changed. The frown on her face disappeared as her jaw dropped and her eyes filled with disbelief.

“This… This is a priceless treasure! Why would you throw it to me?!” She asked. Her voice was shaking as she couldn’t help but withdraw one rare ore out after another to look at them.

“I am not a spiritual blacksmith, and I do not know how to forge these ores into metal. Since you are a blacksmith, I’ll give them to you. All the weapons you make from it, I will purchase, same goes for the armor. If there are any of the items you wish to keep, then you can keep them. Just don’t sell them to outsiders.” Hui Yue laughed, his words making perfect sense. These ores were truly treasures that no one could get within this world, yet here they were, sitting in front of Cou Ling.

“The forge is my gift to you. Although you already have a forge, I am certain that this one, although smaller, will be of great help to you. It originates from the same place as the ore.”

Cou Ling was already busy looking at the forge, and her eyes were filled with disbelief. “This forge is filled with an energy I have never seen before,” She mumbled as her hands slowly felt certain engravings. The more she observed the forge, the more certain she felt that this forge was anything but ordinary.

Cou Ling was so focused on the new forge that she forgot everything about Hui Yue who was standing by her side; instead, she started forging a normal clump of black iron. The more she worked the iron, the wider her eyes grew.

After finishing the sword, which took her only an hour on the new forge, Cou Ling looked at Hui Yue with big eyes. “This forge is simply too precious. The energy within allows me to create weapons far quicker than ever before, and it also infuses them with the energy from within the forge making them much stronger than any other weapon I have created. It feels as though they are on a higher level! Of course, that is not counting your sword.”

“Let me see the sword.” Hui Yue said smilingly as the sword appeared in his hand. He could instantly feel the energy within. This sword, created from simple black iron, was nothing like the other weapons he had seen Cou Ling create.

‘This is equivalent to a Saint ranked weapon!’ Lan Feng said shocked. ‘To be able to create one when she is not a Saint herself. Is too shocking!’

Hui Yue slowly nodded his head as he looked at the sword in his hands. Cou Ling was already acknowledged as the best spiritual blacksmith within the country, yet now she could easily be considered the best spiritual blacksmith within the entire plane thanks to the forge she had received.

“I cannot even begin to thank you for what you have done for me.” Cou Ling said emotionally. ‘I want to keep this forge. It is simply too amazing to give up. I will spend some more time understanding if the power within constantly replenishes itself making it possible to create every single weapon as amazing as this one or not. If it does I will start selling them, however, if there is a limited amount of energy then I will keep the weapons I’ve made for you.” She said decisively. She understood perfectly well that Hui Yue needed marvelous weapons to give his friends and family.

“That’s all I needed to know.” Hui Yue said smilingly as he said his goodbyes and then jumped into the air. He jumped up to the roof once more. With a last glance towards the blacksmith, Hui Yue rushed on the top of the buildings towards his next stop, the Black Lion to see his good friend Gao Yan.

Traveling atop the buildings was easier for Hui Yue as there were no people he needed to beware of. He could move unrestricted on the buildings and each kilometer was traversed in the blink of an eye.

With such a speed it did not take him long before he reached the Black Lion, and he quickly descended to the road once more. In this part of town, there were a lot fewer people moving around than in the busy shopping districts and at the entrances to the city, but there were still enough people to look surprised as Hui Yue seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Ignoring the glances that were sent his way, Hui Yue instantly entered the inn in front of him. Without speaking to the barkeeper or looking around the room he went towards the stairs and entered the floor which was owned by Gao Yan. He entered the headquarters for Gao Yan’s information gathering.

Knocking on the door, Hui Yue did not wait for anyone to answer to enter the office. Nor did he wait for anyone to open the door for him as he instantly slid into the room. Gao Yan had many times told him to treat the headquarters as his home, and so Hui Yue did just that.

Entering the room everyone quickly glanced at him to see who it was that entered, but upon recognizing him, no one paid any extra attention to him. Hui Yue easily moved towards the desk at the far end of the room. He moved toward the desk belonging to Gao Yan who was looking at him with a great smile on his face, waiting for his friend to reach him.

“What can I do for you?” He asked as soon as Hui Yue reached him and the white-haired young man tossed another storage stone to Gao Yan. “I got this for you.” He said smilingly as he sat down in front of the black-haired friend.

Accepting the storage stone, Gao Yan instantly opened it to find a set of weapons and armor for him. Both had the aura of some sort of energy he could not place anywhere. It was clear that they were spoils from within the grave, items which others would kill to get. But here Hui Yue was, gifting the weapons and armors as if they were nothing.

Scouring the storage stone, he also found medicinal pills of various color and a memory stone containing information about every single pill he had been gifted.

This storage stone was a true treasure for anyone below the Saint rank. Even if he were a Saint, he would still value the content of the storage stone.

Feeling gratitude well up inside him, Gao Yan quickly looked at Hui Yue but said nothing. He knew that words of thanks were not needed between good friends and instead he kept the gesture deep in his heart.

“What information can I find for you?” Gao Yan instead asked and Hui Yue was greatly pleased to see his friend accept the stone. As a result, a large smile formed on his face as he started speaking.

“A lot of Saints died within the grave. Some were killed by other Saints some were killed by the traps, and some were killed by me.” Hui Yue said, his words completely without emotion, but the meaning they carried caused a chill to run down Gao Yan’s back. “I need to know which Saints died within the grave and all the information you have on the dead alongside all information you have about the surviving Saints. I also need you to investigate what happened with Sha Yun. She still has not returned home, and I have not seen even one of her friends around either,” He said casually. Sha Yun was strong and smart. She was likely to be alive somewhere, but she had most likely forgotten about returning home.

Nodding his head, Gao Yan made a memo before he called out a few people to assist him. Barking out orders, he quickly made his employees start gathering information then smiled at Hui Yue.

“It will be a few days before I have all the information you need. Why don’t we eat some food at one of the better restaurants in the city? I have some information about the third prince I am sure you would like to know.” Gao Yan snickered causing Hui Yue to become increasingly interested. News about the third prince? He was instantly intrigued.