Riluo City (Blue Phoenix Book 1) (9 page)

Lord Rong Liang was shocked when he noticed his qilins panic and was forced to use his power to forcibly calm them dowm.

Hui Yue’s eyes grew large as he saw how a grey mist had instantly calmed down all the mounts, causing them to look drugged.

‘That is spiritual energy,’ Lan Feng said with a quiet voice, ‘he has trapped all of them in an illusion so for now they can’t do anything. He is quite strong.’

Hui Yue felt lucky to be able to see such a high ranked expert, but he was also aware that the horses’ reaction had caused Lord Rong Liang to become alert, and he and his mother would most definitely be noticed very quickly.

“Come out little mouse,” the lord said with a friendly voice, and Hui Yue had no reason to stay behind, so he grasped his mother’s hand and slowly moved clear of the house they had been hiding behind.

The village elder raised an eyebrow upon seeing them, but he said nothing.

“I’m really sorry mister,” Hui Yue said with tears in his eyes and the most adorable voice he could muster, “I just really wanted to see someone from outside the village so I hid and accidently got my mother caught up in this as well.”

Lord Rong Liang was shocked upon seeing the mother and child, as he saw no reason why any of them would cause his qilins to panic, but the closer the two of them came towards the village square, the more spiritual energy was needed to keep the mounts pacified within his illusion.

The child was beautiful, the white hair and blue eyes was so exotic that Lord Rong Liang was refusing to believe that it really was a human child.

“Where is the rest of the villagers?” Lord Rong Liang finally asked while looking around the deserted village.

“We were not certain whether it was a friend or foe that was coming our way, so they have sheltered themselves in our protection shelter,” the elder answered in a humble and rather embarrassed voice.

“You knew we were coming?” surprise was evident in Lord Rong Liang’s voice as he was not used to anyone being capable of noticing him while travelling, and he was certain that everyone in this village were only in the student levels.

“This young one saw your noble party while guarding goats on the hillside your lordship,” Hui Yue said hurriedly, the personification of a slightly scared but also curious child.

Lan Feng was laughing loudly while enjoying the play. Lord Rong Liang nodded upon hearing that they had been spotted along the way, but his eyes never left the beautiful child in front of him. If it was a magic beast in human shape, it was a rare treasure that he would want to acquire at any price.

“You do not look like the other villagers, are you an orphan?” he asked curiously, and Hui Yue instantly felt a tinge of danger hidden within the words.

“No milord,” Hui Lifen spoke up this time, “Our Hui Yue looked like any other child at birth, but during the first year of life we experienced an incident that caused the current appearance.” She said with great respect while kowtowing on the ground.

Lord Rong Liang was used to a life of scheming against others, and he could instantly tell that the woman was telling the truth. This both confused and interested him, as the young child did not seem as simple as he had expected.

“Village elder please bring the rest of the villagers back. Our party will be setting up camp just outside of your village for a month as we will prepare for our trip into the forest.” Lord Rong Liang said with a firm voice and the village elder quickly nodded before turning towards Hui Yue and his mother, sending them to recall the rest of the villagers.

Hui Yue and Lan Feng were as quiet as possible, neither of them wished for this new Lord to look through their current level of strength, nor did they wish for anything else to be noticed, so they were quite happy when they were able to quickly leave.

Hui Yue quickly cupped his hands before he hurried out of the time under the gaze of Lord Rong Liang and his two children.

‘We are going to have some trouble,’ Lan Feng said with a worried voice and Hui Yue could only nod in agreement.

Chapter 4 – His first friend

Hui Yue did as he was told and quickly gathered the villagers who had barricaded themselves within the protective shelter. Every villager was astonished and proud when they heard that the great Lord Rong Liang had decided upon their humble village to be the campsite for his entourage.

Hui Yue, however, did not share those happy feelings as he felt a sense of danger whenever he was within sight of the esteemed lord. Lord Rong Liang would always look at Hui Yue with a certain degree of interest, and Hui Yue was very unhappy with anyone who showed interest in his affairs.  

The first day went by in chaos. The guardsmen were split into groups. Some were erecting their camp; others were hunting for provisions while a third group was scouting the area, ensuring that everything was safe.

The village that Hui Yue lived in was so small that it had never been given any specific name, and the villagers were so poor that no bandits would ever bother coming by, but Lord Rong Liang was a very important person, and he was currently travelling together with his two children. It was possible that his enemies would send small armies to deal with him in this situation.

The women in the village would find any excuse possible to walk past the campsite and look at the guardsmen. Some would blatantly flirt with the men, hoping that the guards would take a liking to them and bring them away from the poverty-stricken lives while others would blush and run away the moment their eyes met.

Hui Lifen was also interested in the campsite, but unlike most of the young women, she was interested in hearing stories from the outside world. Hui Lifen was a very beautiful woman, and the guards would gladly comply with her insatiable desire to hear stories from the busy cities.

Hui Yue had been dragged to the camp together with his mother; fortunately, he had managed to escape, as Hui Lifen was busy hearing the exciting stories.

Hui Yue had to be careful around any expert with a higher cultivation than himself, as they had the ability to screen his cultivation base. Lan Feng was capable of faking their cultivation base to look like someone who did not cultivate for a short amount of time, however, it did not last for very long, and neither Hui Yue nor the phoenix felt like risking revelation.

Hui Yue had been staying at home since he escaped his mother and managed to refine yet another Qi thread before both parents returned home and got ready for dinner.

Dinner was quite luxurious today as Lord Rong Liang’s party had handed out all the extra meat they had acquired on their hunt.

“Yue er,” Hui Lifen said when she saw Hui Yue, “Lord Rong Liang asked about you,” she continued happily, “he has never seen a disease like yours before, and he would very much like to examine it later on.” Hui Yue felt his blood freeze over. It was clear that Lord Rong Liang did not believe that Hui Yue was an ordinary boy.

“I am fine, I am sure it will just waste the time of an esteemed lord,” Hui Yue said meekly, but his mother quickly dismissed his worry, “Lord Rong Liang was the one who requested to examine you, I am sure he wishes to understand your disease. It would be rude to not comply with his request now that he has granted our village a visit.”

Hui Yue could only grit his teeth as he agreed to visit the camp early in the morning before going out with the goats.

The morning broke as usual, and after eating a quick breakfast Hui Yue ran out the door and disappeared within the thick morning mist.

Hui Yue had left the shack earlier than normal; as he had no excuse to not visit Lord Rong Liang on the way. However, Hui Yue was not dumb, and he was very well aware that there was no way that the lord would be awake this early, and since Hui Yue had a specific task to do throughout the day he had a good reason to come by at this ungodly hour.

“Halt!” a stern voice suddenly roared out in the chilled morning air, and Hui Yue instantly stopped while waiting for the guard to arrive at his location. The guard furrowed his brow and looked at the beautiful child which was definitely no older than five years old. The morning mist that was gathering around his white hair and pale skin made him seem as if he was a fairy that had stepped out from an ancient legend. Beauty was usually dangerous and the guard got very alert upon seeing the young child.

“State your purpose,” he said with evident hostility in his voice, and Hui Yue was quite impressed with the guard’s vigilance.

“I’m Hui Yue,” he said, once again with his sugar-coated voice, “Lord Rong Liang said that he wished to examine my disease, but unfortunately it is my job to look after the goats and I have to take them to the hillside before dawn every morning,” Hui Yue continued with a saddened voice and a downcast face.

The guard could not help but feel a slight tinge of sadness upon seeing his downcast face, but even if he did pity the child, he had no intention of waking up Lord Rong Liang at this godforsaken hour.

“I understand,” Hui Yue said with a low voice, while he internally cheered together with Lan Feng, “can you please tell his lordship that I wished to be here for his examination, but mama always tells me that I have to be responsible and I am not allowed to skip my work?” Hui Yue looked at the guard once more, this time with a hint of unshed tears lining his eyes.

“Of course I’ll tell him!” The guard said right away, and he was rewarded with a happy and naïve smile that spread on Hui Yue’s face. No one would have expected that this was exactly the result the said child wanted by arriving this early.

Hui Yue quickly thanked the guard and waved goodbye before rushing back towards the village pen so that he could get far away from the village in case the sensitive Lord Rong Liang should have noticed him and suddenly woken up. Hui Yue could not help but feel slightly paranoid, as he remembered Murphey’s Law from his past.

Hui Yue decided to move to a hillside that was quite difficult to find, and he finally managed to relax a little after cultivating for a couple of hours with no one interrupting him. He was certain that even if Lord Rong Liang wanted to locate him, he would have a very hard time. as no one knew these hillsides as well as Hui Yue did.

However, Lan Feng warned him that someone was coming his way, just as Hui Yue had decided upon eating his packed lunch.

‘It is not Rong Liang,’ Lan Feng said with a curious voice, ‘but it is definitely not anyone from the village either.’

Hearing Lan Feng say that caused Hui Yue to be on guard but he quickly realized that even if he did want to protect himself and the goats, there was really nothing he could do.

Hui Yue was spending all his time gathering essence and refining qi, and he did not even know one martial art skill to make use of his accumulated strength.

‘You useless phoenix,’ Hui Yue was swearing in his mind, ‘what is the point of this well refined qi if I can’t even protect my life against some bandits?’ he was growing frantic, as he really had no other option than to hope that the approaching person was friendly.

Both Lan Feng and Hui Yue were quite surprised when they finally saw who the person was. This person should never have been able to find his hiding place; however, here he was, Lord Rong Liang’s son. He had a big smile plastered upon his face when he noticed Hui Yue, and he even carried a beautiful flower in one hand.

Hui Yue was not dumb, and guessed that Lord Rong Liang most likely was busy at the camp, and had sent his son to try to gather information. Therefore, Hui Yue had no other option than to be friendly towards this newcomer.

“Young master, what are you doing all the way out here?” Hui Yue asked with his big eyes and a voice as clear as the cloudless sky. The voice seemed to cause Lord Rong Liang’s son to smile, as he handed the flower to Hui Yue,

“I saw this flower in the forest and thought of your beauty so I decided to come and deliver it personally.” This was the first thing that the young master ever said to Hui Yue, and Hui Yue could not help himself from freezing up momentarily before Goosebumps appeared on his skin. Something was definitely wrong with the Rong family.