Riluo City (Blue Phoenix Book 1) (26 page)

When Teacher Li Yuan reached the part where he explained about the rewards of defeating an opponent, the chance of getting the higher ranked courtyards, and even the possibility of mountain top courtyards the students could no longer contain their excitement. Greed and expectation started to shine within their eyes, and the students were speaking with their sideman, discussing the possibilities about getting a mountain top courtyard.

Unfortunately, the excitement was quickly dimmed when Teacher Li Yuan continued the speech and published the two students who currently lived within those courtyards, Hui Yue and Wang Ju Long.

Although the mountain top courtyards were incredibly tempting, they were not so tempting as to give the students the illusion that they could defeat either of the two.

“However,” Teacher Li Yuan said, “there is another way to gain the rights to reside within a mountain top courtyard.” The comment caused the students to hold their breath, hoping to hear something that sounded much more possible.

“At the end of every semester will the Riluo City’s branch of the Royal Academy hold a tournament. The academy encourages all students to participate as anyone who participates are rewarded with an extra medicinal pill.”

Hui Yue slowly lifted his eyes from the scroll in his hands and looked at the teacher with curiosity. He had heard about the tournament before, but he had only heard that the mountain top courtyards were the prizes.

A pleased expression appeared on teacher Li Yuan’s face as he noticed how Hui Yue suddenly paid attention to him, and he quickly continued, “The higher the student is ranked the better the reward they will get. The rewards vary from the right to live within a mountain top courtyard, high grade medicinal pills or even permission to enter the high ranked martial art skill room within the skill hall!”

These additional prices were definitely of value for both Hui Yue and Wang Ju Long. Although they already lived within the mountain top Courtyards they could always use extra strong martial art skills. Hui Yue knew that he could rely on Lan Feng to provide martial art skills, however Hui Yue was also perfectly aware that Lan Feng did not have all the martial art skills created, so adding more to their collection could never hurt.

When looking at the rewards it was obviously the medicinal pills that were the most entrancing to Hui Yue. Especially the ones who were considered high grade. Currently Hui Yue was not aware how much money the martial art skills would sell for, nor was he aware how much medicinal pills would cost him, so he could not help but consider the possibility that even while selling the skills, he would still lack money to buy medicinal pills.

Teacher Li Yuan ended the lesson after the information about the Royal Academy Tournament, and just as the lesson ended the loud sound of a bell ringing could be heard all throughout the mountains, showing that the canteens were starting to serve lunch.

Some of the students instantly rushed out from the Qi Theory Lesson’s Hall and towards the canteens, while others gathered in groups and conversed about the subject that had been touched throughout their first lesson.

Teacher Li Yuan did not stayed within the classroom for a short while, seeing if any students had questions for him, but as none of them paid him any attention, he swiftly strode out the door.

Hui Yue stayed at his seat in the back of the room, observing one group of students leave after another. There were no more lessons this day, but Hui Yue still had some things he wished to get planned out.

He slowly rose from his seat and although he was one of the last students to leave the room, Wang Ju Long and his followers were still seated within. Wang Ju Long was in meditation, most likely refining the essence he had absorbed earlier, and the other noble children waited patiently for him to finish.

Hui Yue could not help but smile as he walked past them. Every single one of the children were glaring at him fiercely while reaching out their arms to protect Wang Ju Long as if they expected Hui Yue to suddenly attack him while the other was not paying attention.

As Hui Yue left the hall he did not walk towards the residential area where the canteens were placed, instead he moved further into the mountains that contained the different school buildings, causing a slight panic in his soul caused by Lan Feng.

‘No food?’ he asked, and sounded as if the world was ending causing Hui Yue to chuckle slightly.

‘Don’t worry,’ Hui Yue assured the blue feathered boy. “We will eat soon, but there is something we need to check up on first.’

Lan Feng felt puzzled. Although he and Hui Yue shared a soul, all they could feel was the other’s emotions. Whatever it was Hui Yue intended was completely hidden from the other. It was therefore with great curiosity that Lan Feng observed as Hui Yue moved towards the Library.

Hui Yue had to walk through three mountains to reach the library, and as he looked at the building he could not help but feel astonished. All the other academy buildings were built on top of the mountain sides, however this library was built from the mountain itself. Towers had been carved out from the mountain side while the inside had been turned into a giant hall connected with tunnels leading towards smaller rooms used for studying.

To enter the library, Hui Yue had to walk through two big stone gates and he felt goose bumps appear on his skin as he got closer to the building, the temperature was dropping as the mountain top covered the sun.

A small breeze of warm air exited the building and swept across Hui Yue, making him smile slightly as he hurried inside.

Although the library had taken the space of a whole mountain it was much less crowded than anywhere else, only a few elders were noticed here and there, spread out across the multiple bookshelves.

Hui Yue paused his steps while looking around, slightly uncertain as to where he could find the object he was searching for.

“Hello junior.” An aged voice sounded from the side, and Hui Yue quickly faced the elder who was walking towards him. The elder had a gentle smile upon his face, and gave of a feeling of serenity. The elder was wearing a grey robe that slithered across the ground without making a sound, causing Hui Yue to feel slight alert, however he quickly noticed that the elder was an ordinary librarian.

“Can I assist you with anything?” the elder said with his melodious voice that held the secrets of a long life, and in general gave Hui Yue a pleasant feeling about this man, however Hui Yue had also seen a flash of interest within the elder’s eyes, and he stayed alert as he politely greeted the elder.

“I am in need of a map of the continent, I was wondering if elder could help me find it?” Hui Yue asked with a slight smile on his face as he felt a sudden bubbling of excitement rising from within his soul.

The elder assumed that the smile was meant to be a politeness, however what Hui Yue felt was Lan Feng’s feelings that were overflowing.

Lan Feng was not completely dumb. The blue phoenix did lack social skills and morals, however his intellect was far above what Hui Yue had ever seen before, and the word ‘map’ instantly explained what it was that Hui Yue was intending.

Hui Yue followed the elder with great respect, and while nothing was noticeable on the outside, Hui Yue was smiling widely on the inside as he could feel the excitement and happiness bubbling in his soul, spreading towards every part of his body, this was one thing that meant a lot to Lan Feng.  

The library was much bigger than first assumed. Although it was not located in different levels, the mountain hall was spread out across hundreds of metres where the only thing visible was bookshelves upon bookshelves.  

The elder led Hui Yue all the way towards one of the walls. The mountain walls were filled with doors that lead to small rooms that had been carved further into the mountain itself. The room that the elder had brought Hui Yue to had not been opened in countless of years as a thick layer of dust was evident upon the door handle, and the elder needed to use his entire strength to pry it open.

A heavy bang sounded as the mechanisms finally started working, followed by a loud creaking noise that rung through the entire library. As soon as the door opened a stale air escaped the room and assaulted Hui Yue’s nostrils, making him wrinkle his nose slightly.

The elder clapped his hands and a dimmed light lit up within four crystals that were placed upon the walls, shining through the room. The room was considerably small, in the middle was a round table that took up the majority of the space. It was made from stone, carved out from the mountain itself, giving the entire room a rustic and slightly chilled feeling as no heat had entered in all the time the room had been sealed.

The walls were covered with stone shelves, and scroll upon scroll was placed upon. Hui Yue gently picked up one scroll and moved towards the round table in the middle. He observed the elder from the corner of his eye, wondering why he still stayed to observe him, however even if the elder noticed Hui Yue pay attention to maps, it was not possible for him to know why he needed these maps.

As soon as Hui Yue opened the first school the smell of soil appeared and the map started decomposing in his hands. Hui Yue could not help but wonder why the maps had been stored in a room like this, however it did nothing to help him find an answer, and instead he picked up a few more scrolls.

At first he took the smaller scrolls, however he quickly found out that those contained maps of cities throughout the Three Allied Countries and he then moved on to the larger maps. The search took a lot longer than what Hui Yue had expected as he needed to be incredibly careful with the old maps to keep them from disintegrating, but finally the map he needed had been found.

A big smile spread across his face as he moved the large map towards the stone table to observe the full view and gain more understanding of the new country he had lived within for ten years.

The elder had been watching him the entire time, and he narrowed his eyes when he noticed that Hui Yue had indeed looked for a map of the continent. Most students who looked for maps would come with an excuse like this, however they were truly searching for maps leading to treasures within Magical Beast territories.

A whistle escaped Hui Yue’s lips as his gaze swept across the map in front of him. Lan Feng had previously told him that the four divine beasts had created the continent and then split it evenly between them, and now he understood just how correct that sentence had been.

The continent itself was in an almost rectangular shape. A few places had gotten dents where the sea had swallowed up some of the land, or even created peninsulas throughout the many years the continent had existed, however it was obvious that the land had originally been split into four equal sizes as the middle of the continent had been split into four even countries by a cross shaped mountain range.

Hui Yue knew that they were currently in the Taiyang Kingdom, and located it quickly at the bottom left side of the map. Above Taiyang Kingdom was the elusive Shenyuan landscape located. The Siban Empire was the neighbour to Shenyuan, and beneath the Siban Empire and next to the Taiyang Kingdom was the Yueliang Province.

When looking at the map, the three allied countries were all drawn in astonishing detail. Mountains, cities, rivers and forests were mapped accurately, however in sharp contrast to the three detailed countries was Shenyuan. The map had only managed to map out the edges of the country, and even the seaside was not completely finished with the map and instead had straight lines. It was obvious that no one had any idea as to what was locked within that area of the continent.

‘This is odd,’ Lan Feng commented after observing the map for quite a while, ‘Taiyang Kingdom is placed upon the Azure Dragon’s Kingdom, but who would have thought that my home has turned into a cursed land.’

Hearing this made Hui Yue curious. It was four thousand years since Lan Feng had been sealed and banished from this world. It was obvious that a great fight had occurred but everything was shrouded in mystery, and now the mysteries were tied with Lan Feng in one way or another.

Hui Yue and Lan Feng both observed the map for a little longer while their desire to leave Riluo City and travel to Shenyuan struggled within, however, after a few more minutes Hui Yue finally managed to supress his desires and packed down the map before he moved towards the elder with a smile.