Riluo City (Blue Phoenix Book 1) (8 page)

“What’s wrong?” Hui Lifen asked with a grainy voice and rubbed her eyes.

“Yue Er got white hair now.” Hui Guang said with a disbelieving voice, as his eyes never once left the crib where their child was asleep. The words caused Hui Lifen to furrow her brows in disbelief, but she quickly looked at their baby, and instantly shrieked. The shriek woke up Hui Yue who opened his eyes and looked at his parents with a curious look, wondering why they would shriek upon seeing him. But, soon his question was quickly answered.

“His eyes are blue!” Hui Lifen gasped  in disbelief.

Chapter 3 – Unexpected visitors

The village was abuzz with activity as soon as the news of Hui Yue’s change in appearance had spread. Everyone who saw him had the impression that they were looking at an angel. His white hair was purer than new snow that had fallen to the ground and his beautiful blue eyes were like mirrors of the endless sky.

Everyone visited the Hui family shack to see the beautiful infant, but even if they did admire his looks, a certain fear crept into their hearts. No one could explain why the child’s appearance changed so suddenly overnight, however, everyone had their own theories.

Some said that he had a horrible nightmare that  scared him so much that his appearance had changed, others claimed it might be a curse from some strong magical beast that was unhappy with the villagers harvesting medical herbs in the forest. Yet, others were convinced that he suffered from some kind of disease, but no matter what theory they came up with, no one could find a proper answer.

Although Hui Yue’s appearance had shocked the village, it quickly became routine, as the infant did not seem to affect others, nor was he causing any disaster to the village, and within a year everyone had accepted that the changes to Hui Yue were unexplainable, and he once again returned to be the darling child of all the villagers.

Within the year, Hui Yue had managed to get some control over his body and he was able to walk around on unsteady legs; however, every movement that Hui Yue made required extra attention as he had no intention of revealing his real strength to anyone.

During this year, Hui Yue finally managed to get his speech under control. Lan Feng was entertained while listening in on his efforts to turn the baby language into actual words, but both Lan Feng and Hui Yue felt incredible relief when they finally managed to say their first word properly.

Saying the first word was like releasing a flood upon dried land, and Hui Yue managed to completely master the spoken language within a month. However, he had to conceal his linguistic skills, just as he had his strength, as he felt no reason to, once again, attract unwanted attention from the village.

Upon achieving the first start Student, Hui Yue noticed that twenty new paths had unsealed themselves within his body, each permeating a sensation of catharsis; of those twenty paths, only twelve were accessible and his Qi spiral constantly sent small threads of Qi to roam the open paths. The Qi would deviate between shades of white and black, depending on which of the paths it was travelling upon, and the shade could shift from grey to black and shades of increasingly pure white.

Lan Feng gave a brief explanation. The twelve open paths were the standard meridians, and they were a network of Qi connections that enabled his Qi to circulate through his body. The meridians were split into yin and yang clusters, and each path had a specific concentration of yin or yang energy. The eight closed meridians would require much effort to open, and currently Lan Feng saw no reason to work on them, as he was not likely to start fighting anytime soon.

Lan Feng refused to explain more on the mystery of yin and yang energy, as he stressed the fact that it had no actual usage before Hui Yue managed to unlock his middle dantian.

Hui Yue sighed upon hearing this information, however, he understood that there was no reason for him to insist on an explanation since he knew that Lan Feng would definitely tell him in due time.

Another benefit upon reaching the first star student level was that he was capable of gathering more essence at a time, while still refining it into the highest quality Qi.

Time rushed by as Hui Yue kept on refining Qi and understood just how different his new body was, compared to his old one. During those four years Hui Yue had managed to stay as average as possible, but he was still the most popular and liked child in the village due to his calm temper and stunning appearance.

At the time he was almost five years old, Hui Yue had the strength of a ten-year-old child, as he had finally reached the second star student level, after meticulously refining thread after thread of shining white Qi. Lan Feng had ordered Hui Yue to keep refining his Qi by using his internally manifested consciousness in the way he had been doing so far, even though he had long since gained enough control over his body to meditate.

For the sake of a perfect foundation, Hui Yue had to keep refining and absorbing essence with his consciousness until reaching the level of a first star disciple. Although it was a hard and ungrateful job, Hui Yue had no intention of complaining, and he now refined four qi threads a day, and each thread was triple the size of the first one he managed to create all those years ago.

As Hui Yue grew older he was given the task of guarding the few goats that the village was breeding each year, and he would usually wake up at dawn every morning, eat some porridge that his mother cooked up and then happily gather the goats before moving towards a random hillside outside the village.

At this age most of the children were given easier tasks, however, Hui Yue’s calm personality and great temperament had invoked admiration with the village elder, and Hui Yue had happily accepted the task, as it was beneficial for him to be outside the village to avoid curious gazes while cultivating.

It was one of those days where the sun was shining bright in the sky with no clouds in sight and the few goats were peacefully grazing on the hill all around Hui Yue as he was cultivating. However, Hui Yue furrowed his brow as he felt as if something was wrong.

‘There is a large group of people coming this way,’ Lan Feng said with a worried voice as he sensed the aura of cultivators. Hui Yue did not waste any time, and gathered the goats while rushing back to the village.

“Village elder!” Hui Yue yelled the moment he entered the village, and upon speaking, everyone turned their attention towards the beautiful child. The face that was usually indifferent had changed to a slightly frantic appearance, as he called for the village elder.

“What’s wrong boy?” The elder asked in a tender voice, no one had ever seen Hui Yue this flustered before.

“A large group of people are coming this way!” Hui Yue said breathlessly after running all the way back, “they have some cultivators in the group. They seemed really strong!” Hui Yue’s big blue eyes were staring at the village elder, who paled upon hearing the information.

The news quickly spread around the village, but all the men were working in the forest gathering medicinal herbs, and only the women and children remained in town.

“Everyone!” The elder quickly roared, “Gather your belongings and move towards our protective shelter in the forest.”

As soon as the order was given, everyone rushed around gathering the livestock and items that had any value before they gathered in a long snake towards the shelter. The village elder himself refused to follow, as he was uncertain whether the visitors were bandits or adventures, and someone had to welcome the guests either way.

Hui Yue stared at the elderly man for a moment before making the decision of staying to observe what a real cultivator looked like. If things went wrong, he was certain that he should at least be able to flee.

“Yue er, we need to go now,” his mother said with a frightened voice, but she noticed a strange determination within Hui Yue’s eyes.

“Mother, please let me stay. I promise I won’t be hurt,” Hui Yue said with a sweet voice. This was the first time that Hui Yue had ever asked his parents anything, and his mother hesitated slightly. Although Hui Yue’s temperament did not fit a four-year-old he was still her baby, and she was very worried,

“It’s okay mother,” Hui Yue guaranteed her with a stunning smile, “they will not even know that I am here, and if it is bandits then I will run right away.” Hui Lifen could only sigh, and turned around, passing along all her items to one of her friends, as she stayed behind together with Hui Yue to await the uninvited visitors.

The two were hiding behind a building close to the village square and kept observing the road into town. The Village Elder himself was waiting in the middle of the square, right next to the well. He was standing straight and had a dignified look upon his face.

It did not take long before the group of people entered the village, and Hui Yue gasped in surprise as he saw them. It was a large group of around fifty people, and half of those were mounted on student ranked magical horses.

At the front of the group were three people, one middle aged man and two children who seemed to be around ten years old. These three individuals were not riding on normal magical beasts but qilins instead. The Middle aged man was riding on an adult qilin while the children were riding on what seemed to be yearlings.

Hui Yue was astonished by the beauty of the qilins. The entirety of their bodies were covered with dark green scales that got lighter underneath the stomach and on the inside of the legs. Its tail, mane and hooves were covered in red flames and its red eyes were constantly observing the surroundings.

This was the first time that Hui Yue saw a real magical beast, and he was greatly impressed by the beauty, but at the same time he understood just how savage these wild beasts would be if they were not tamed.

Hui Yue noticed that his mother was also stunned by the appearance of the beautiful qilins as her breath had gotten quite hurried. The village women never saw magical beasts as they lived within the safe borders of the village and had no reason to travel outside.

Suddenly the village elder’s voice rang through the air and made Hui Yue retract his focus from the qilins.

“This lowly one greets Lord Rong Liang,” the village elder said before kowtowing on the ground in front of the middle-aged man.

Hui Yue was confused for a moment before he understood that this man was not a bandit. The name did ring a bell, but he was currently unable to pair the name with anyone specific.

‘It’s because you don’t do anything else than cultivating,’ Lan Feng said with a mocking voice as he observed what was happening with keen eye.

‘I just follow your orders,’ Hui Yue dismissed Lan Feng before asking, ‘do you remember who he is?’

However, everything he got was a depressed ‘no, why on earth would I remember a middle-aged man? The girl on the other hand will definitely turn into a beauty later.’ He continued while looking at the girl who was riding on the left side of Lord Rong Liang.

Hui Yue could not help but snort at the reply, ‘She is ten years old you pervert,’ he said with disdain, as his attention still focused upon the elder who had now risen and while the two children and Lord Rong Liang had dismounted.  

‘That’s why I said when she grows up!’ Lan Feng continued. ‘Don’t be so shocked by something like this. They are not even that strong of qilins to be. If you want to see a real one then we need to go find the wild qilins. The ones who still have their antlers and whiskers. They are worth some respect.’

Lan Feng was once again arrogant, but Hui Yue could not help but suck in some air as he heard what the phoenix had said. He was already astonished by these magical beasts, but they only achieved disdain in Lan Feng’s heart. An incredible urge to go searching for a real qilin suddenly appeared in Hui Yue’s heart.

Lan Feng laughed upon sensing Hui Yue’s desire, but just as he laughed a breeze moved from behind them and carried their scent to the village square where the qilins were standing.

The moment Hui Yue and Lan Feng’s scent reached the group of horses and qilins they instantly panicked. Lan Feng and Hui Yue had merged their souls, so Hui Yue carried the scent of a saint level beast, which was enough to terrify any other magical beast around.