Blue Phoenix

Moving to the side, Hui Yue followed Sha Yun and Wang Ju Long. The road they currently were travelling upon had villages on both sides and fields used for agriculture. Golden crops of corn were growing on both sides and the summer sunshine was reflected by the corn, making it seem as though two shimmering golden seas were spreading as out as far as the eye could see.

A frown appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he turned to the two women who were ready to do battle and heaved a heavy sigh.

“We need to find a patch of barren land.” Hui Yue said straightforwardly, and without waiting for an answer, Hui Yue moved his horse down the dusty road on the way towards a suitable location.

Glaring at Wang Ju Long, Sha Yun quickly followed Hui Yue, placing herself right next to him as they continued their trip on the lookout for a place where the two spar.

“We won’t find anywhere decent here.” Rong Ming started, as he was also looking around their surroundings. Today was one of the days for the admission test, and families from all over Riluo City and the adjourned villages were making their way towards the academy. Even if the group could find barren land, it was still going to be filled with families travelling to and fro, and a spar, even a friendly one, could easily harm passers-byes on accident.

Moving rapidly towards the location of the academy, Hui Yue could not help but silently agree with Rong Ming. The beautiful landscape got more and more barren, stones appearing everywhere along with pine trees. It was obvious that they were nearing the foot of the mountain range on which the academy was located.

“We can always just use the arenas.” Hui Yue finally suggested. At first he would have preferred not to do so, as he disliked how every fight would be recorded in their memory stones and all the teachers would be aware of the results.

Yet although Hui Yue was aware that the results would be known, he was also perfectly aware that it was impossible for him to keep Sha Yun a secret. Every creature which entered the Royal Academy had to pass through the entrance gates, and to do so one needed to have a memory stone key which had been imprinted with Qi.

This memory stone key would in turn allow for every creature with the mark of that Qi to enter, which included magical beasts which had undergone a beast pledge. The moment Hui Yue and Sha Yun were to walk through the entranceway, Hui Yue knew that all the academy elders would be aware of him bringing a magical beast back.

Knowing this, Hui Yue could not help but to inwardly sigh, because in the end he knew that the arenas were the only place in which he could get to see how much Wang Ju Long had improved after cultivating according to the new cultivation technique.

Arriving at the academy entrance, Hui Yue was flabbergasted, when he saw how the queues were longer than they had been back when he first went through admission, and all of these hopeful children were patiently waiting for their turn to be tested.

Walking past the queues, Hui Yue saw how the majority of these children were commoners, and each and every one of them were staring at their group with big eyes filled with admiration.

These children’s only wish was to one day belong to this academy much like Hui Yue and the others. This academy was their ticket into a much better world, a world of possibilities for them and their family.

Looking at these children, Hui Yue felt a slight tinge in his heart, as he remembered himself from a year ago. Although his age was far above those of this group in line, he still was the most naïve when he arrived.

At first he had thought of himself that he was invincible because of the extra tuition he had gained from Lan Feng, however his overconfidence had been utterly crushed by Wang Ju Long. This was the one thing which taught Hui Yue that in this world there would always be someone stronger than you. He could never allow for him to become complacent.

Not only had he learned about how to stay vigilant, he had also gotten himself a group of friends whom he trusted completely. These friends were the only ones who knew that Hui Yue was sharing his body with an expert. They were also the only ones who benefited from this information, but even though Hui Yue trusted them and told them the majority of his secrets, he still refused to inform them about his rebirth, nor did he wish to tell them anything about Lan Feng apart from him being an expert.

Thinking about the past year, one face loomed in Hui Yue’s mind. The face of Li Shing. Li Shing had been the first person whom Hui Yue had killed, and this caused serious change to Hui Yue’s mind. The determination which Hui Yue had been so proud of before his first kill had finally turned into an iron will. Hui Yue finally understood this world fully.

The strongest survives, and only the strongest can decide who survives with him. At first, Hui Yue had disliked this philosophy. He had sworn to never kill a fleeing enemy, and even now this was one thing which he would never back down from, yet although he was stubborn, there was no longer any hesitation in his thoughts when it came to killing the foes in front of him. Everyone who would cause injury to him and his friends were people whom he had to dispose of.

While moving up the stairs to the academy, Hui Yue had been in deep thought thinking about these various things, and when he finally looked up, he noticed that they had reached the arena. A sheepish grin appeared on his handsome face as he looked out on the deserted mountaintop.

After killing Li Shing in the final, Hue Yue had never again entered the arena mountaintop because he had been busy cultivating in his courtyard and attending the lessons, but now that he was here he felt no sense of guilt within.

Contrary to the guilt, a small feeling of excitement started bubbling inside, as Hui Yue moved to the small arena on the side where he and Wang Ju Long had fought each other that first day, one year back. The smile grew in size as he thought of how he would not have to partake in the fight, but rather he could just enjoy it as a member of the audience.

It was a warm summer day, and the sun shone down with rays of warm sunshine, heating up the ground and allowing for the arena to be bathed in a comfortable welcoming light. A slight summer breeze was floating through the mountaintops, constantly bringing fresh air and causing the heat to be comfortable rather than stifling.

Standing at one of those mountaintops, Hui Yue looked curiously as he saw how Wang Ju Long and Sha Yun both moved into the arena in front of them. Both wore serious expressions on their faces as they turned towards each other.

A vicious smile appeared on Sha Yun’s face, causing her stunning features to look sinister. Her silvery eyes lit up from within with a strange light, and the tip of her tail was tapping hard against the solid ground, raising a cloud of dust with each hit.

Wang Ju Long did not smile, but her eyes were shining with an unyielding light and within her hands, a small hurricane started to appear. Much like the other times, the wind picked up and the hurricane grew, yet this time it was no longer just wind which was visible, but a large quantity of Qi which was floating around the young woman. No Qi lightning bolts were visible, and Hui Yue felt excitement as he guessed that this hard to train high ranked martial art skill once more had evolved at the hands of Wang Ju Long.

Seeing the wind pick up a snort escaped Sha Yun’s lips as she coiled up her tail, forming a spring which she used to propel herself forward straight into the raging hurricane in front of her.

While rushing through the sky, Sha Yun finally activated her Qi, and a small pearl like orb suddenly appeared on her forehead, just above her eyes. The Qi circulated outside the body, flooded down her beautiful figure before all of it gathered at her hands, creating long dagger like nails which she used with utmost precision.

These Qi nails were ready to shred the hurricane, yet as soon as Sha Yun reached Wang Ju Long, the latter jumped up high leaving behind the safety which the fierce winds provided her.

Only a moment later the sound of slashing could be heard, and the fierce winds slowly died down. Sha Yun had managed to perfectly slice through the hurricane, yet no Wang Ju Long was inside, and the snake-woman instantly became alert as she looked around.

Wang Ju Long was nowhere to be seen on the ground, and a loud gasp could be heard as Hui Yue looked into the sky. The former was currently hanging in the sky with wings created from Qi lightning that were attached to her back, and with each flap of the wings more energy was created. Each small flap of energy was then fed to a larger Qi lightning bolt which patiently was swirling around the young woman’s waist.

This was an evolution which Hui Yue had never expected, and it was also something which made him wonder just what the young girl had to go through to unlock the insights needed for such a transformation.

A loud hiss could be heard coming from Sha Yun, and the Qi which had previously been used as an offensive attack was channelled to her tail where it clad the tail in a protective layer, giving the scales a white shine.

Now it was Wang Ju Long’s time to sneer as she flapped her wings, allowing for multiple Qi lightning bolts to descend down upon Sha Yun. Seeing this, the snake-woman hissed in indignation, and by using her swift reactions she managed to avoid the majority of the bolts, while the Qi covered tail took care of the few she was unable to avoid.

Neither human nor beast were in their best condition, as both the Qi Lightning had sucked a lot of Wang Ju Long’s Qi pool and Sha Yun had needed a lot of her Qi to block those lightning bolts, yet none of them wished to bow to the other.

Sha Yun was a snake-like magic beast, and she was unable to fly in the sky unlike Wang Ju Long, however she was used to sparring against her bird sister and she had picked up multiple tricks along the way.

One of these tricks was poison. Channeling her Qi, Sha Yun gathered everything in her mouth where she spat out some of her poison and covered it completely in small Qi energy balls after which she spat hard towards the floating woman and then created another poison ball.

At first, Wang Ju Long considered these poison balls easy to avoid, yet after few moments when more than ten had been thrown her way, she realised that Sha Yun was not aiming to hit her, she was aiming to exhaust the former’s Qi pool and in that way force her to land on the ground.

Gritting her teeth, Wang Ju Long did just that, but as she landed on the ground her wings did not dissipate as Sha Yun had expected, instead they transformed from wings to a glove which was draped upon her beautiful slim jade hand.