Blue Phoenix

Hui Yue narrowed his eyes as he saw the bearded man’s gesture, clearly promising suffering later. This man was without a doubt the cultivator whom Hui Yue had the pleasure of sparring with the previous night, and the white-haired boy felt how the red mist within was boiling, fighting against the blue cloud to get out.

Hui Yue took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes as he calmed himself and slowly dimmed the killing intent, and as his eyes opened up once more they were filled with a coldness which coupled with his pale skin caused him to look like a grim reaper.

Both Sha Yun and Deng Wu noticed the difference in Hui Yue, but as they looked out the window there was the two of them saw nothing apart from the usual city streets which quickly swept past them due to the magical beast that was pulling the carriage.

The carriage suddenly had a tense atmosphere as nobody dared to ask Hui Yue what he had seen, then Deng Wu started to talk about the birthday celebration and all the new gossip he had heard that night.

The majority of the gossip was centered about cultivation and which ranks the different family members had obtained, not to mention which sons or daughters were now old enough to get married.

When meeting at social gatherings the different families would converse and find allies. Some would even decided to consolidate their alliance with marriage. Hui Yue was fortunate that his background was unknown which was why no one tried to speak about the subject to him.

Deng Wu kept speaking about rank the members of the many different families had gained until they arrived at a nice area in Riluo City.

This area was very much like the area with the family compounds with green trees by the sidewalks and smaller parks and gardens located between the mansions.

The house which they had stopped in front of was three stories tall, and each story was adorned with a roof that had beautiful red tiles, and a carved dragon on top. The second story had a balcony created with red wood, engraved with even more dragons. These dragons were all painted in golden colours which were shining brightly as the rays from the low winter sun touched them.

Leaving the carriage, Hui Yue was completely astonished, and he quickly forgot everything about the cultivator whom he had been fighting with earlier. Instead his entire focus was aimed at the house in front of him, as it was a lot more than what he expected.

The mansion was built on a mound raising it above street level, and the stone steps lead up to the beautiful mansion gate. This place was so big that Hui Yue could never imagine living there alone.

Moving up the steps, Hui Yue noticed that to the side and behind the mansion were three small gardens. One of these gardens was a stone garden. The gravel was neatly arranged to make a floor and on top various stone figurines were placed. The second garden had a lake and a small pagoda together with a bride. The lake took up a big portion of this garden in which Dragon Fish were swimming about energetically, their scales glittering in the sunlight.

The final garden was full of green trees and bushes, and it also had a small stream which fed water to the lake from an outside source. A small trail led through the garden and following it took Hui Yue, Deng Wu, and Sha Yun to a small clearing where there was space for training as well as a hot spring.

Having seen the surroundings, Hui Yue felt how the tranquil blue cloud within him was surging, as though it grew in size from just being within these three scenic gardens.

Hui Yue had also noticed a change in the essence which he absorbed in the these gardens, it was as though the plants and atmosphere produced much more essence than anywhere else in Riluo City, that Hui Yue was aware of. Not even the big family compounds had a place like this, because all the essence would be swallowed up before it had the chance to accumulate.

Walking into the mansion, he noticed that the middle had a lovely courtyard with a small water fountain. The rooms were all built around this courtyard, which was surrounded on all sides and one could see all three stories up, each room was massive comparable to the size of his old house.

Looking around, Hui Yue knew that this was a place he could call home, and he was as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve as he walked around the entire house, looking at the stunning engravings and the beautifully carved statues of magical beasts.

A big smile was evident on Hui Yue’s face. The difference from when he had arrived was like night and day, currently there was absolutely no question in Hui Yue’s mind that this was the place he wished to call home.

Purchasing the mansion required a hundred spirit coins, which was an astronomical price for such a building, and also the reason why it had not been sold despite being on the market for such a long time.

Although Hui Yue had earned a lot of coins when he sold the skills back in his first year within Riluo City, he had spent more than half of them on medicinal pills, and now he was spending a lot on a home, yet to Hui Yue it was worth every single coin that he spent.

His income had been increasing steadily, but even though he did get a good amount of money from the Deng Family and their watermills, it was still only around twenty to twenty-four spirit coins. Hui Yue easily used at least fifty spirit coins a year on medicinal pills for his friends and himself.

It would have been more financially stable had he received money from the insurance company as well. Even still Hui Yue never regretted giving the money to his village and his family. It allowed for his father to spend more time at home repairing their old shack and spoiling Hui Yue’s little brother as well as encouraging him to cultivate. Hui Yue highly valued his family which included his new little brother Hui Lei. Hui Yue wished them all the best.

The mansion which he was buying was big enough to allow for his entire village to move in, despite this Hui Yue already knew that they would not leave their home and come live with him. Still the doors were always open for the villagers whenever they happened to be in town, so that they had somewhere to rest up.

Although the villagers gained quite a bit of coin from the insurance, all these were used to improve the standard of living within the village, and although every villager was helping out it was still something which required both time and money.

Every youngster within the village was now training according to certain cultivation techniques, allowing the younger generation to become cultivators, all of them were inspired by Hui Yue who seemed so much more accomplished than their parents.

Having purchased the mansion, Hui Yue received the house’s key stone, and he returned to the academy with a feeling of nostalgia. The many events which had transpired at the academy kept appearing in his mind.

The time when he just entered the academy and sparred with Wang Ju Long. Finding out that Wang Ju Long was a girl. Meeting Deng Wu, Gao Yan, and Ma Kong. The many doubts he had about his new friends and the fact that he finally came to trust them. Hui Yue also remembered Li Shing, the first person he killed.

Thinking back on this, Hui Yue could not help but chuckle slightly. Back then, killing left him with an uncomfortable feeling, yet he steeled his determination and went through with it. Since then he had killed many humans and magical beasts, either while he was fighting for survival against assassins, or hunting beasts for their cores.

A smile appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he knew that although he was now leaving the academy, he would still live within Riluo City and the friends he made would be friends for a lifetime.

Unlike the others, Hui Yue was not graduating, instead he was dropping out. He had not achieved Master rank, nor was he twenty years of age, and therefore the academy considered him leaving as dropping out.

To drop out, Hui Yue was required to go meet with the Academy Chairman and hand in his student emblem, giving back everything he had gotten from the academy previously.

For Hui Yue, this was not a problem. Unlike the majority of the students, Hui Yue had never participated in lectures as the books from the library had always been there for him to read. He had not borrowed any martial art skills since Fire Spark which he returned years ago. The reason being that Lan Feng looked down upon the variety that was available at the academy and their quality was far inferior to what Len Feng knew.

Had this been years ago, then Hui Yue would have feared being in front of the Academy Chairman, as he feared that Lan Feng might be noticed, yet after Lan Feng absorbed the energy from the Divine Flower, not to mention the amount of spiritual energy he had refined during the passing years, Lan Feng was now only detectable by experts stronger than Lan Feng, himself.

The one thing Hui Yue felt depressed about leaving behind was his courtyard. He had spent the majority of his last five years inside that courtyard, and he had especially grown fond of that big tree which was located to the side, shading him from both sunshine and rain, allowing for the young Hui Yue to cultivate in peace.

Moving out of the academy, Hui Yue looked back once more, remembering how he had entered the place with nothing but an expectation of being able to buy medicinal pills, and now he was leaving after having gained friends for a lifetime, along with a cultivation base which both he and Lan Feng were satisfied with.

As soon as Hui Yue left the academy he no longer spent any time lamenting about the past and instead asked Gao Yan to meet him at his new home. Upon arriving, Gao Yan’s jaw had dropped so far that if it dropped any more, Hui Yue would be worried whether or not it was still attached to the joints.

“What an awesome house!” He exclaimed excitedly as he looked at the mansion which Hui Yue now was the proud owner of. A grin appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he nodded his head slightly, agreeing with Gao Yan. He too found his new home amazing.

“I need your help.” Hui Yue said as he led Gao Yan into the kitchen where he had cooked some food for the two of them. Sha Yun was busy running around and familiarizing herself with each room and the gardens.

“I need you to find someone who will work here. I need servants to look after the mansion, a chef to cook food because, god help me, I refuse to eat another dish cooked by Sha Yun, and I also need a messenger boy.” Hui Yue listed the men he needed and Gao Yan nodded his head each time. For him such a task was nothing hard, and he instantly went about interviewing everyone whom he would consider hiring for Hui Yue.

Seeing that Hui Yue had a new home, the Rong twins both felt that it was important for him to hold a housewarming party. Although it had only been few days since their birthday party both were ready for yet another party and no matter what Hui Yue tried to say, it was impossible for him to convince them otherwise. Both Rong twins were laughing happily as they left the mansion for the evening.

Following his guests to the door, Hui Yue froze slightly as his eyes locked onto a bearded man whom he instantly recognized. The assassin was obviously capable of following his trail, and Hui Yue felt a shiver run down his spine. The previous assumption that whomever sent these assassins did not wish for his death, suddenly vanished. This man truly wanted Hui Yue dead.

Looking at the man a cold and merciless light shone within Hui Yue’s eyes, as he took out a memory stone into which he left a message, which he then threw to the bearded man.

Catching the stone, the bearded assassin seemed slightly stunned, yet he quickly glanced at the memory stone and a smile appeared on his face as he got an invitation to his housewarming party.