Riluo City (Blue Phoenix Book 1) (12 page)

Sharing a body with Hui Yue had its benefits. Lan Feng naturally felt everything that Hui Yue felt, however he had no way of taking over the body, so he only sat back and enjoyed the experiences.

Hui Yue smiled at the phoenix who had changed slightly over the years. Back when they first met, Hui Yue had been sure that Lan Feng was the haughtiest creature in the world, however after years of conversations it was easier to look at Lan Feng as a spoiled boy with an extensive amount of power and knowledge in odd subjects.

Lan Feng still would act arrogant from time to time, however he was easy to coax into a good mood and friendly behaviour. Especially since Hui Yue started practicing his martial art skill and would make use of it to hunt down critters in the forest and bring home for dinner.

Lan Feng was definitely a beast, and the easiest way to tame a beast was to feed it. Hui Yue could not help but smirk while thinking back upon the way he usually convinced Lan Feng to behave.

Hui Yue decided it was time to return to the village and have a look at the great surprise that was waiting for him, so he hoisted two birds and a hare onto his shoulder while gathering the goats and moved down the hillside towards the village.

However, just before Hui Yue entered the village he noticed something out of the ordinary. There were a large number of tents erected on an empty lot next to the village, and the tents looked uncomfortably similar to those that had been there a year before.

‘Lan Feng,’ Hui Yue had a premonition that someone would be waiting for him, ‘do you think Rong Ming was serious when he said that he would return for me?’ he asked in a worried voice, but the only answer he got was a snickering grin.

Hui Yue could not help but let out a sigh before he slipped into a personality that would fit a six-year-old child who saw visitors in their quiet town.

“Hui Yue!” a voice called out, and with an internal sigh Hui Yue turned towards the voice with a shocked and excited expression on his face,

“Young master!” he said, with a smile beaming on his face, “Hui Yue did not expect to see you here!” he continued, while he actually wanted to say something along the lines of ‘please do not take another month away from my cultivation. It is already slow enough as it is.’ However, Rong Ming quickly took Hui Yue’s hand in his and after safely returning the goats to their pen, he dragged the white haired boy towards the campsite.

Hui Yue felt a surge of uneasiness arise within. He was currently still a second star student, however even a second star was not something that most six-year-old children achieved.

Both Hui Yue and Lan Feng knew that they would not be able to hide their cultivation base from Rong Ming’s father, there was even a chance that they would be unable to hide the presence of Lan Feng.

Fortunately enough, Rong Ming did not bring Hui Yue to meet his father, instead he brought him to meet his sister. Rong Xing was a beautiful young girl with a gentle temper. She quickly greeted Hui Yue but apart from that she just sat there with a smile on her face while Rong Ming was talking, telling Hui Yue about the past year.

“I really did miss you a lot,” Rong Ming said multiple times during the conversation, “oh and we are doing very good at the academy. We are here for more real practice you see. Do you want to cultivate too?”

Rong Ming spend the following month on once again following Hui Yue around. He would teach Hui Yue different cultivation methods, and promised that he would definitely take Hui Yue with him to the academy when he turned ten years old.

Hui Yue could only sigh, but deep inside it was impossible for him to hate the other boy, as his feelings were genuine. As to why Hui Yue received these genuine feelings was a mystery to Hui Yue himself, and although Lan Feng claimed to know, he refused to tell.

After yet another farewell, Hui Yue guessed that Rong Ming would return to the village next year, but he did not have any intention of wasting time worrying about that now, instead he returned to his usual schedule of cultivating and practicing of his martial art skills.

‘I don’t understand’ Hui Yue complained slightly. It had been almost a year since Rong Ming and his entourage had camped at the village last time, and Hui Yue was now a seven-year-old child. He was still as breathtakingly beautiful as ever, and his figure was depressingly short.

‘I am definitely using the Velocity Flow skill perfectly, but even when I execute it right my fists are still not able to deal any severe damage and instead I often get injured instead.’ Hui Yue continued while rubbing his head, wondering where he went wrong.

Lan Feng snorted, which usually happened whenever Hui Yue said something incredibly stupid.

‘It is a high king ranked movement skill. MOVEMENT SKILL dumbass.’ He said with a sigh, ‘it allows you to move your body with great speed and accuracy, but it is your body it moves. It’s not the skills fault you are weak.’ Hui Yue could only grumble in reply. What Lan Feng said make perfect sense, and he should have understood it himself without needing Lan Feng’s explanation.

Hui Yue could not help but feel grateful that he had Lan Feng to explain things to him. There was so many things that Hui Yue had a hard time understanding, even now, seven years after entering this new world.

Hui Yue had reached the rank of a third star student and he had perfected the movement aspect of his Velocity Flow skill. He was capable of producing a mirror image at a previous location, and he was currently practicing the final aspect of the high ranked skill, the optical illusion.

Hui Yue did not have sufficient qi to create more than one optical illusion, but upon perfecting the one illusion now, it would automatically increase later on together with his qi levels rising.

‘Oh,’ Lan Feng said smilingly, ‘Your friends are arriving early this year.’

Hui Yue had expected that Rong Ming would appear fairly soon so he was not greatly shocked upon hearing the information. Instead he was slightly surprised to find himself not hating the idea of having a friend to talk with.

Although there were many children in the village, none of them could be considered a playmate as all of them had their own chores to do throughout the day, and it was always far away from Hui Yue’s hillsides.

Hui Yue gathered the goats and led them back to the village. He wondered what had happened the last year, but when he reached the village he noticed that things seemed slightly different from the previous years.

Firstly, there was no Lord Rong Liang present, and although this did calm Hui Yue down slightly, he could not help but worry as to what the reason could be.

“Are you Hui Yue?” A voice suddenly rang from behind, and Hui Yue spun around. In front of him was a burly man with a kind face. He was wearing a Rilou city guard uniform and had no feeling of danger around.

Hui Yue nodded.

“Please follow me, the young master has requested that you are brought to him as soon as you returned.” He explained, and politely lead the way towards the tent in the centre of the camp.

Hui Yue was greatly surprised to see where he was taken, but he dared not say anything. Lan Feng too was incredibly silent, hiding away in the qi cave and hoped to not being noticed by any of the exceptional experts that were present in the camp.

“Hui Yue!” a familiar voice rang out the moment the young boy stepped into the tent, and Hui Yue looked upon Rong Ming with confused eyes.

Rong Ming was now twelve years old. He was sitting behind a desk in the middle of a tent and had an elderly man next to him. They seemed to be discussing something about the magical forest, as a map was spread across the desk and multiple flags were placed randomly on top of it.

“I am sorry that I could not come pick you up this time,” he said with an apology evident in his voice, and while he spoke, Hui Yue noticed that the middle aged man at his side was clearly measuring Hui Yue. A slight fear crept into Hui Yue’s heart. This man was definitely no weaker than Lord Rong Liang was.

However, the man quickly retracted his gaze and returned to looking at different paper scrolls on the table, and Hui Yue breathed a sigh of relief.

“I am in control of this year’s beast hunt.” Rong Ming explained proudly, “Father had some things that he needed to deal with in town, and he decided that it was time for me to learn something about managing a party of soldiers. This is Bu Huang. He is father’s councillor and he is assisting me on this trip,” Rong Ming explained while making a gesture towards the middle aged man.

Hui Yue quickly clasped his hands together and made a deep bow before saying in a fearful voice, “Hui Yue greets Lord Councillor.”

His actions seemed to cause some approval in Bu Huang’s face, and he nodded as a reply.

“But,” Rong Ming continued, this time with a slightly depressed expression in his face, “I have a lot of things that I need to do. Because of this I won’t be able to entertain you that much this month.” Hui Yue nodded before answering

“This lowly one is but a poor child, young master should focus on his responsibilities.” The look of approval within Bu Huang’s eyes grew stronger, and Rong Ming himself sent Hui Yue a sad smile before nodding.

“At least have dinner with us tonight!” Rong Ming exclaimed suddenly, and Bu Huang nodded. Hui Yue had no choice but to agree, and a feast was served for the three of them.

Rong Ming was speaking constantly during the meal. He spoke about the past year and how he had reached the second star disciple rank. Rong Xing had reached the third star, but she had an incredible innate talent. Hui Yue sensed no jealousy towards the sister, rather Rong Ming was proud after realising the latter’s talent.

Hui Yue did enjoy the evening and the food. Even more so when he realised that Rong Ming would be incapable of interrupting his training for the next month, and he happily went towards a small lake at the edge of the forest.

It was summer and the heat was both hot and humid. Hui Yue had been training all day, and although it was late, he really wanted to take a bath before going home.

The still water was chilled, and every drop of it caused Hui Yue to feel refreshed when he washed the old sweat and dirt of his skin. His long white hair was glistening in the moonlight and his blue eyes shone with a feeling of being content. Hui Yue was as stunning as an immortal fairy.

‘someone is observing you’ Lan Feng quietly commented, and Hui Yue turned to look at whomever it was. At first he had been worried, but upon noticing the person, a smile appeared on his face.

“Lady Rong Xing,” he said with his childish voice that bubbled with happiness. He quickly stepped out of the water and walked towards his clothes, clearly noticing a shocked expression appear on Rong Xing’s adorable face.

“Is there anything wrong?” he asked worriedly. Perhaps she had noticed something? He thought while being slightly scared.

“You… You are a boy?” she asked while her usually perfectly white skin had turned crimson with embarrassment. Hui Yue looked at her with a puzzled expression on his face, which caused Rong Xing to become even more shocked.

“Yes?” He answered confused. He had assumed that it was obvious. However, while thinking about it, he always said Hui Yue rather than I and they had never discussed his gender.

‘Lan Feng,’ he thought with a dreadful voice, ‘don’t tell me that Rong Ming thinks that I am a girl?’

Before Lan Feng had the chance to answer a bright laughter suddenly rang out from within the trees and Hui Yue looked at Rong Ming who was laughing so much that tears were streaming down her cheeks.

“This is perfect,” she giggled while trying to contain her laughter, “I’ll come visit you tomorrow at the hillside,” Rong Xing laughed while she turned around and returned to the campsite leaving Hui Yue and Lan Feng behind.

‘That Rong family is really quite messed up,’ Lan Feng finally said, before the two of them returned to their home.

Rong Xing walked into the central tent and saw how Rong Ming and Bu Huang were discussing the list of magical beast cores they were expected to produce from this trip, before she giggled slightly