Riluo City (Blue Phoenix Book 1) (44 page)

Every time Lan Feng allowed his presence to be known by either communicating with Hui Yue or absorbing the Qi, trying to refine it into Spiritual Energy the ring which was now in Hui Yue’s pocket would start to rumble and growl as if it had a ferocious animal locked within.

‘What is his cultivation?’ Hui Yue curiously asked while chatting casually about school things with his friends. Only a third of his attention was focused on his friends while the rest was impatiently waiting for the answer from Lan Feng.

‘Don’t shit your pants,’ Lan Feng warned before he answered, his voice still filled with astonishment, ‘He is currently a nine-star Practitioner ranked cultivator.’

‘No way.’ Hui Yue was shocked. The Rong twins were both viewed as geniuses of their generation, so was Gao Yan, but everyone had viewed Deng Wu as an average talent. An oddity, but not one who stood out because of his swift advancement.

Thinking about what had happened the last couple of weeks it made some sense to Hui Yue, and he was now aware that the Deng family also knew of this high ranked cultivation genius within their clan.

I bet they keep laughing when the Wang family boasts about Wang Ju Long, Hui Yue laughed to himself before he accepted that Deng Wu was definitely the number one genius within this small city of Riluo.

‘He must have gotten help from him,’ Lan Feng mumbled to himself before he quickly returned to cultivating, causing Hui Yue to frown slightly. Who was ‘him’? However, since Lan Feng had gone to cultivate rather than explaining, Hui Yue knew that Lan Feng did not see it as important for now.

As the youngsters returned to the academy everything returned to how it had been the week before. Deng Wu did not come visit Hui Yue to discuss the ring and instead, Hui Yue spent the time cultivating much like he had done previously.

Finally, after waiting for two weeks did Hui Yue finally run out of medicinal pills. Excitement shone within his blue eyes as he struck out one fist after another, utilizing his low ranked martial art skills to test his strength.

Using these medicinal pills Hui Yue had managed to reach the eight-star Student rank, and it was so incredibly tempting to go and buy more pills so that he could charge straight to the ninth star, despite this he knew better.

Although these pills copied Hui Yue’s Qi, they also caused his Qi spiral to become unstable. It moved irregularly as the copied Qi was composed of some thick and other thin Qi threads, creating an imbalance within his lower dantian.

Hui Yue sighed deeply as he once again started to attend the classes and spent the hours during lectures to read through one massive book after another, each containing the history of this continent. Unfortunately, he was unable to find any more clues towards the Dark Age.

During his spare time, Hui Yue still fortified his insides and practiced the transforming weapons martial art skill. Currently he was capable of producing the simplest of all knives, however after doing so Hui Yue realised just how terrible he had become at armed combat.

Looking back, the last time he practiced wushu was when he lived in his old world and since he had come here everything he had done focused on his body rather than weapons. This lack of practice now came back to bite him and Hui Yue had to add an extra few hours of training for his wushu, forcing himself into shape.

The nights were when Hui Yue would sit still and cultivate, absorbing the essence of the world which he then refined into Qi that merged with the thin Qi threads. This caused them to grow thicker and become much more stable.

Another couple of weeks went by calmly while Hui Yue attended the classes and cultivated in peace, however, he had not forgotten Deng Wu and as his Qi finally settled down he decided that the following day he would go look for Deng Wu. If his secretive friend had no intention of finding him then it was about time for Hui Yue to go hunting for his friend.

A smile appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he looked out the dark window. Sleep was one of the few luxuries that he would only allow himself when something good happened, and tonight he would sleep perfectly well.

Hui Yue and Lan Feng were both sound asleep during the night. Whenever Hui Yue practiced and cultivated, Lan Feng spent his entire energy on refining Qi and merging it with his elemental affinity, in turn creating spiritual energy, inside their Qi cave.

Hui Yue had not gotten a proper sleep in weeks. He had been spending all his time and energy on stabilizing his Qi spiral, and upon finally succeeding, exhaustion washed over his young body and he knew that it was time to sleep.

This, in turn, had ensured that Hui Yue fell into a deep slumber as soon as his head hit the pillow and everything around him became unimportant.

Usually, a cultivator, even one in the Student rank such as Hui Yue, would be alert even in his sleep. However, Hui Yue was currently within the Riluo City’s Royal Academy, where it was impossible to enter without an academy emblem of some sorts.

Not to mention he was within his own courtyard, which the key he had with him in his bedroom could only open. The key being bound to his own Qi was an additional precaution.

All these safety measures, combined with his exhaustion, had caused both Lan Feng and Hui Yue to be sound asleep without a care in the world about their lowered guard.

Outside, the moon was fully illuminated in the night sky, indicating the turn of the month, and the second pill distribution day had transpired exactly like the first.

This time, however, Hui Yue had kept the pill and consumed it, only to realize that it was subpar to what he was used to.

A creaking sound filled the room and a shadow gracefully descended into the room from the outside black sky through the window. Her entire figure was bathed in the moonlight from behind, causing her features to be hidden in a pitch black shadow.

The figure crept into the room and stood, observing the sleeping boy for a moment before the hazel-brown eyes started shining with a red hue. A vicious smile spread across her beautiful and succulent lips, with the air of a tigress ready for the kill.

Stealthily moving, without a sound being wrought, the woman suddenly found herself standing next to the bed with the sleeping boy.

Her smile, full of malice, turned into a vicious grin and the red sheen within her eyes intensified, making her look like a ferocious beast.

Two slim hands slowly moved towards the boy, their slender fingers slithering around his frail-looking neck. Insanity was replacing the viciousness evident on her usually beautiful face and for a moment her hands halted there, poised to end the short-lived life with a swift strike.

Chapter 28 - Confrontation

With her hands still held firmly around the young boy’s neck, a low growl appeared in the woman’s throat as she slowly withdrew her shaking hands. Within her eyes the insanity had been suppressed and instead profound sadness flooded in like a tide.

The woman swiftly raised her hand, and with a sharp nail stretched out, swinging down fluidly, she cut a fine line on Hui Yue’s cheek.

Small blotches of blood started to drip from this cut, painting his snow-white skin crimson, but even then Hui Yue did not wake up.

A sigh of vexation escaped the lips of the intruder, as she lifted her outstretched finger and made a beckoning gesture towards the wound. Three drops of blood slowly rose from the wound on Hui Yue’s cheek before they started to float towards her.

As the three drops of blood came closer, the woman gently touched her belt and one jade vial appeared in her hand. The three drops of blood trickled down the neck of the vial before the woman sealed it with spiritual power.

Just like how she had arrived, this stranger moved towards the window and stood there for a short while, tarrying reluctantly, gazing at the sky. Eventually she turned her head and looked at the sleeping boy, an emotionally rich and ineffable expression appeared on her face.

“Stay alive, little lord. At least till we meet again,” she whispered before faintly mumbling a few words. As she mouthed out the words, a large inscription array lighted up, releasing the courtyard from a temporary spell.

Upon exiting the window, big hazel-brown eagle-like wings sprouted from the woman’s back and with a few flaps she was soaring high into the sky, the moonlight spraying her figure silver for a moment.

Unlike the previous visit, this woman no longer flew back to Riluo City and disappeared into the darkness, instead she flew towards the cold north. Towards the mountain range which separated the Taiyang Kingdom from Shenyuan.  

Hui Yue’s heavy eyelids slowly opened, crusted by overnight rheum, greeted by the rising sun from outside his window. Usually, when Hui Yue allowed himself to sleep, he would be fully rested and energized after a good night of sleep, however, this morning an inexplicable feeling kept making his hair stand on end; random shivers ran down his spine and his heart pounded harshly.

This feeling was not completely unfamiliar to Hui Yue, as he alertly examined his entire courtyard. This was the exact same feeling he had when he stood face to face with the seven black-cloaked men, although this time it seemed even more dangerous. The feeling of immense danger crawled within Hui Yue’s skin and once he looked in the mirror his eyes widened as the small wound came into his line of sight.

The shock within his eyes quickly turned into a chilled hatred, his pupils contracting. Someone has been in here last night, Hui Yue thought with a murderous expression appearing on his face. The one night he had been asleep was the one night a visitor had arrived.

Having lived in this world for so long allowed Hui Yue to know that there was no such thing as a coincidence and that the person who had visited him last night obviously had kept him under surveillance.

I must hurry, Hui Yue thought with certainty, I must become much stronger. The decisiveness within his eyes shone out. Hui Yue quickly gathered his clothes, washed his face and stepped into the early morning air.

‘I am sure that this azure figurine has something to do with Deng Wu’s cultivation speed,’ Lan Feng commented from within the Qi cave, ‘we need to speak with the two of them together. If we do not we might get cheated.’

‘The two of them? How can we speak with a figurine?’ Hui Yue asked with scrunched eyebrows. He had long since understood that the item was far from the norm, but to directly speak with it was something which he had not expected.

‘Don’t worry your white little head about this,’ Lan Feng said with a snicker, ‘this is good luck for us. Very good luck indeed. I’ll explain it to you when we manage to catch Deng Wu and sit down for our lovely talk.’

“Younger Brother Hui Yue!” A voice called cheerfully just as Hui Yue stepped out of the courtyard. Hui Yue flinched, staring blankly as he turned around and spotted Ma Kong running towards him with a big grin on his usually calm face.

“They want to go for it!” he said breathlessly as he leaned forward and held his knees in his hands to catch his breath. It was obvious to Hui Yue that Ma Kong had run all the way from his own mountaintop to Hui Yue’s abode. A breeze of warm air surrounded Hui Yue and it also quelled some of the hatefulness surging within him after the devastating discovery just prior.

However, to see Ma Kong rushing all the way for the sake of speaking with him was something that warmed his heart; he allowed the warmth to sink in and let go of his worries. At least for now.

“What is wrong?” Hui Yue asked with a raised brow, as he looked at the panting Ma Kong. Usually he would not have been short of breath if he had just run, Ma Kong was a cultivator after all. However, for him to be this much out of breath could only be caused by him sprinting at his top speed the entire way.

“I got the reply from the elders,” Ma Kong smiled, his breath finally steady. The two made their way towards a nearby canteen where they could eat breakfast together while discussing the matters mentioned by Ma Kong.

“We have had multiple elders spend some time calculating the potential and premise of your insurance concept, and they were supposed to give the results at a family meeting last night.” Ma Kong said, his eyes shining with excitement. Hui Yue could not help but lightly chuckle. The always stoic Ma Kong turned into a boy who acted his age whenever they were dealing with their insurance project.