Riluo City (Blue Phoenix Book 1) (50 page)

Tears welled up within Deng Wu’s eyes as he looked at Rong Xing. A small puppy would not have managed to look more pitiful than the black-eyed youth did at that moment.

“Really?” He asked with a low and pitiful voice, causing Hui Yue to burst out laughing. His laughter was quickly followed by everyone else. Within few seconds, Deng Wu lost his devastated expression and replaced it with a self-assured smile.

“It’s fine, even if she decides not to fall for me just yet,” Deng Wu said, relaxed, as he took a large gulp of his beer, “she will realize how awesome I am one day.”

Following that, the talk returned to discussing the different opponents they could potentially face the following day, but everyone assured each other that, unlike Deng Wu, they would all do their utmost to proceed to the top eight at least.

During the entirety of the conversation, Hui Yue could not help but keep Deng Wu under his scrutiny, a twinkle in his eyes evident. This man had so many secrets, but the same time he was so open about his feelings. Hui Yue had gotten to know Deng Wu quite well through the past half a year, as none of them kept any secrets from the other. He could easily see that the black-haired youth truly cared for the ice-queen Rong Xing.

Rong Ming and Rong Xing were the first to leave. Both seemed to be tempted to return to their courtyards to have a quick spar, preparing for their matches the following day. After the departure of the Rong twins, Ma Kong decided to go to the infirmary to get something against his headache and Gao Yan followed him.

“Who do you think will win?” Deng Wu asked with a cheeky smile as he looked at the many students and visitors who were rushing by at the arena mountain top.

“Me,” Hui Yue answered with no hesitation within his voice. He was ready to let everything apart from Lan Feng be known to the outside world, as long as he got to have a rematch with Wang Ju Long. That was how much he wished for this fight, and also how much he respected his rival.

“Right,” Deng Wu smiled as such an austere reply came from what was but a young child, ironically. A chuckle escaped his lips, as he thought back to the first time they met and he had tried chatting him up for the fun of it.

“You know, Rong Xing will most likely choose me,” Hui Yue said with a devilish gleam evident within his eyes. “She’ve even seen me naked before, she ought to take responsibility.”

After finishing the sentence, Hui Yue had rushed to his feet and was already running towards his own courtyard, leaving behind a shocked and dumbfounded Deng Wu.

“YOU LITTLE SCOUNDREL!” roared throughout the entire mountaintop, causing Hui Yue’s smile to increase along with his speed; he activated velocity flow and turned into a beam of light, aiming for his home.

Deng Wu did not catch up before he reached the courtyard and saw a smiling Hui Yue standing outside the gates, looking at him as if he was greatly entertained.

“You little bastard,” Deng Wu gasped, leaning against the chilled courtyard wall as he slowly allowed his breath to steady. Trying to follow Velocity Flow was simply impossible with his suppressed cultivation base.

“What was all that about?” He asked indignantly, and a slight uncertainty had appeared within his eyes, as if he was worried about the answer he was asking for.

“When I was younger, Rong Xing walked in on me bathing,” Hui Yue said truthfully. “She even stayed for a bit to look at everything before telling me I’m a boy.”

Hearing this made Deng Wu gape before he started mumbling, “my innocent Rong Xing. My innocent queen…. Is she really not innocent?”

Laughter rang through the chilled air as Hui Yue saw the depressed expression on Deng Wu’s face.

“Relax,” he laughed, “I was around five or six years old back then. It is as if you look after a child.”

“But you have never been a child,” Deng Wu retorted, looking at him with a complicated expression, “you were born a monster.”

“Ouch,” Hui Yue said, but his face did not show any sign of pain, contradicting his words, “that stung. Of course I was a child. A very long time ago.”

Deng Wu looked at Hui Yue for some time, contemplating whether or not he wished to know the answer to a specific question, but eventually he could no longer hold back and asked: “Do you like Rong Xing?” His face was filled with dread and worry, but a small smile appeared on Hui Yue’s face.

“No,” Hui Yue answered, a profound sadness appearing within his eyes. “I will only love one woman in this life.”

This was a promise of a lifetime. A promise which seemed to have lasted for an eternity waiting to be fulfilled. Sadness was emitting from Hui Yue, and once again this child in front of Deng Wu seemed ancient.

Deng Wu was scared, taking a few steps back. This was not the beast hidden within that small body; this was the soul of Hui Yue, the soul which was supposed to be only ten years of age.

Hui Yue smiled wryly as he felt the tense atmosphere and shook his head, “I’ll tell you some day,” he promised as he slipped into the courtyard, leaving Deng Wu outside.

Deng Wu should have been thrilled upon hearing that Hui Yue was not interested in Rong Xing; however, the profound sadness had spread to Deng Wu, and instead this black-haired playboy felt depressed and slightly guilty for bringing up the subject.

Inside the courtyard, Hui Yue took a few deep breaths before he steeled his mind once again.

‘Sorry.’ A quiet voice suddenly sounded from within Hui Yue, causing the boy to raise a brow in surprise.

‘Why are you sorry?’ he curiously asked, although he had a good idea as to what was going on.

This soul fusion had caused their thoughts to sometimes intervene with each other.

The sadness emanating from Hui Yue had spread to the phoenix and caused him to finally open up.

‘Ten years ago, I said that I didn’t cause your death, but I did,’ Lan Feng said, but before Hui Yue had the time to reply, he horridly continued.

‘When you picked up the hairpin, there was a connection I had not felt for all those years of endless waiting in your world. When I saw that girl and felt your connection to her, I just knew you were going to give me away. I really thought I had no choice. I am sorry for tricking you for all these years, but I had to do it. I’m sorry.’

Chapter 34 – An Unlikely Opponent

‘I know,’ Hui Yue said with a sigh. Hearing the haughty and arrogant phoenix sound so genuinely apologetic caused Hui Yue to feel better about the subject.

It was true that Hui Yue had been fuming with rage, back when he had first learned about Lan Feng; however, the phoenix had given him plenty in return in the last ten years, which included paving the way to the path of being an unrivalled cultivator for him to walk.

Back in Hui Yue’s old life, he was only a friend of Li Fen. A friend with the same value as a brother. The feelings which Hui Yue had felt for Li Fen were obviously in the way. If he were to confess to her, he could have broken their relationship; not only that, he would troubled and saddened her, which was the last thing he wanted.

Li Fen already had a great life together with her boyfriend. Losing Hui Yue was going to be a source of pain for her, that was true, but it was a pain she would have been able to overcome and then live out her life in peace with the man she loved.

When Hui Yue manages to reach the rank of a god, Li Fen would have already lived a presumably satisfied and long life and died from old age; at this point, Hui Yue would reincarnate her into a young body and give her back her memories, after which he would offer her to live with him and start all over, return to being reborn or perhaps wish for him to also reincarnate her husband.

It was true that Hui Yue really did not want to carry out the final option; however, whenever he thought of Li Fen’s beaming smile, he knew that he would do it to make her happy. The most important part for him was to tell Li Fen that he truly loved her. After that, whatever happened, happened.

‘Just make sure to help me become the strongest human in the world,” Hui Yue sighed as he moved under his favourite tree, ‘then it really does not matter that you killed me.’

‘Wait. You knew?’ Lan Feng said, his apologetic intentions quickly switching to feeling insulted. ‘Are you saying that you do not trust me?’ he asked, upset.

Hearing the upset phoenix, Hui Yue laughed lightly. He definitely preferred this type of personality to the previous guilty bird.

‘Look at me,’ Hui Yue said calmly, still laughing a little. ‘Can’t you see that I follow everything you say like a good disciple? It’s just very obvious that something was behind my death, that’s all.’

Lan Feng could do nothing but grumble; the subject was left alone as Hui Yue proceed to his unceasing training and cultivation.

The morning on the second day of the tournament, Deng Wu was the very first thing that Hui Yue saw when he opened his courtyard gate. The handsome black-haired boy was standing outside, fidgeting slightly.

No apologies were given, nor was anything said about the previous day; the tense atmosphere quickly turned comfortable as the two started to joke about Hui Yue’s expectations of winning the tournament.

As the two of them moved around at the mountain top where the arenas were located, the other friends eventually joined them. After an hour, they had gone from only Deng Wu and Hui Yue to all six friends gathered together, betting amongst themselves as to who would win and at what price.

Today, unlike the planned days before, everyone had to draw a number and fight the person who had drawn the same number within their group.

Hui Yue was up first, but his match was over before it even began, as his opponent was one of the students from his year. This student had witnessed how Hui Yue had dealt with Shan Ping and he had also seen the previous day’s display of power, causing him to forfeit as soon as he drew the number.

Rong Xing and Rong Ming was in a much similar position. Rong Xing’s opponent forfeited as soon as the match started, while Rong Ming’s opponent was a first year who was beaten within the first move.

The final participant of the group was Ma Kong, and as he stepped onto the stage, Hui Yue’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw Wang Ju Long standing next to him.

This was a match which Hui Yue had not expected. Wang Ju Long was a nine-star Student rank cultivator while Ma Kong was a seven-star Disciple ranked cultivator. It was obvious that Ma Kong had the upper hand; but Hui Yue could not help but wish for Wang Ju Long to win, despite his friendship with Ma Kong.

Although he was the friend of Ma Kong, he was currently giving his very best to reach the final stage just to fight Wang Ju Long. What he had forgotten was that, to do so, Wang Ju Long had to win in his group, which currently included both Ma Kong, Rong Xing and Rong Ming.

Hui Yue had the impression that Wang Ju Long was capable of defeating Ma Kong. Unfortunately, it was not easy for him to win against the Rong twins, as they had broken into the Practitioner rank.

Hui Yue looked at the stage and furrowed his brows. Something was different about Wang Ju Long. He had a tranquillity Hui Yue had not seen before, and his eyes were steady, filled with determination.

Ma Kong on the other side showed no sign of being complacent. Although he had been fighting another seven-star Disciple ranked student the previous day and only received a wound on his eyebrow, he still showed great alertness while facing off with this young child from the first year.

The audience was split into two groups. Both of these two children originated from very important families within Riluo City, and these two families happened to be from two opposing factions. One was the leader of a faction while the other was a strong pillar of support for the other.

This caused the audience to look selectively at the two youths standing there on the large, square stage, staring at each other and waiting for the fight to begin.

One had the upper hand when it came to quantity of Qi while the other had the upper hand when it came to quality. Not to mention the high ranked martial art skill in Wang Ju Long’s repertoire was definitely a cause of worry for Ma Kong as he looked at the younger child.