Dungeons of the Divine (Blue Phoenix Book 2) (18 page)

More and more mercenaries moved towards the house in which Hui Yue was currently cultivating. The sudden change in atmosphere lured them in, and as soon as they felt how their bodies were embraced by a tranquil cloud they also felt an abundant essence of the heavens and the earth.

This essence was something which seemed to be emitted from within the tranquil cloud, as though it was filled with essence from the heavens and the earth, something which shocked Hui Yue greatly.

Although dense essence was emitted throughout the entire courtyard and the roads outside, it seemed as if it was never ending for as long as Hui Yue was seated in deep meditation.

Curiosity caused Hui Yue to allow his consciousness to leave his body and float through the cloud, looking at the many cultivators who appeared outside their courtyard, all of them seated in deep meditation. As soon as he paid attention to one of them, he noticed that it was possible for him to control their cultivation base as if it was his own.

He could activate various techniques using their cultivation base, and he laughed out loud as he saw how those cultivators he experimented on were caught by surprise as their bodies suddenly acted without their consent.

Thinking about how far he could go, his consciousness entered the body of one of the cultivators, however as soon as he did an imminent sense of danger swept over him. He instantly released his consciousness once more, feeling how the moment he had entered another body his own had started to no longer respond to him.

Never enter another body
, Hui Yue reminded himself with a relieved sigh that he managed to not make a permanent mistake,
I am afraid if I truly try it out I will die.

But even so, considering that he could control others from his dantian cave without merging with their bodies caused Hui Yue to be greatly satisfied. He returned to his own body where he planned on continuing his deep meditation and allow himself to focus on his cultivation.

As soon as he sat down he noticed that he could hear a loud breath, a breath which felt like a hundred breath’s together. It was everyone within the tranquil cloud, be that Sha Yun or the strangers outside, everyone was breathing in unison breathing heavily in a deep trance and all of them were under Hui Yue’s bidding.

Hui Yue gave one simple order, he told the cultivation bases to rotate, and a sudden force exploded out rushing into Hui Yue’s body. This was not the essence of the heavens and the earth, this was refined Qi and spiritual energy. All of it entered Hui Yue’s body where it manually started to refine itself into a quality equal to Hui Yue’s, and the young man was shocked to feel how he was rapidly approaching the seventh star of the Master rank. This was a speed which he never thought possible.

After a few moments, Hui Yue gave the order to stop and all within the tranquil cloud stopped pouring their cultivation base into Hui Yue’s body.Although it had been tempting for Hui Yue to let it continue, he knew that amongst the cultivators immersed within his cloud were his friends and their cultivation bases would be exhausted just like the others, had Hui Yue continued.

This was not a devouring ability. It felt as though the tranquil cloud was part of cultivation itself. It was as though no cultivation base could ever decline the beckoning sent from the cloud.

Thinking like this, Hui Yue slowly led the tranquil cloud back into the dantian cave where it patiently waited to be called on once more, shockingly what Hui Yue found was that the cloud’s size increased tremendously from having so many cultivators cultivating within its atmosphere.

Currently, the cloud was even bigger than the red mist, which caused enormous happiness to spring into being within Hui Yue.

Glancing at the green pearl, Hui Yue snorted. He understood the blue cloud and the red mist. One grew larger if he was killing while the other grew with cultivation. The green pearl, however, grew whenever it felt like assisting Hui Yue with his injuries. It was not something that he could say would always grow with injuries, nor could he say when it would grow. The uncertainty caused Hui Yue to completely ignore the pearl, pretending that it did not exist unless he directly looked at it after which he would feel an unexplainable anger.

Leaving the Qi cave, Hui Yue slowly opened his eyes and stood up, his body filled with a surging energy from within, a strength which he did not  have before. Although he had only absorbed energy from all the cultivators for a short moment, it had crashed into him like a wave onto a shore leaving behind the purest energy for Hui Yue to refine and keep as his own.

The amount of spiritual energy and Qi he absorbed was far more than what he could gain from cultivating through many months and happiness was visible on his face as he clenched and unclenched his hand, feeling his new strength.

The smile on his face turned to a determined expression, as he moved to the courtyard stood beneath the trees and closed his eyes as he activated the Qi within his body.

At first, he started his normal routine where he used Black Blood along with the Qi dagger after which he formed different stances, his focus purely on the two daggers within his hands.

Hui Yue was standing with all his muscles taut, not moving a single inch. Anyone who saw him would assume that he was just meditating while standing still, however what he was truly doing was imagining all the different varieties of attacks that were possible for him to perform with Black Blood which was resting within his hand.

The dagger had long since become a part of Hui Yue, it worked as if it was an extension of his arm and thoughts alone was enough for Hui Yue to train.

Moving slightly, a Qi dagger shot forward. A curved slash appeared, however if one were to look at the attack from another side, it would appear like a straight stab. The attack changed depending on where the person was viewing it.

Although Hui Yue had multiple martial art skills along with spiritual art skills, he still preferred to train his muscles and his body along with his mind. Lan Feng had long since taught him to never skip on the basics, and Hui Yue could not help but agree on this. He already knew how much of a difference it made for him and his determination would never drop, his eagerness to improve would always strive for perfection.

Standing within the house, Xie Lan was looking out at the young man who was working hard in the closed off courtyard and her eyes were filled with a complicated expression. She too had been enveloped by the tranquil atmosphere which had been spreading out earlier, however unlike the others, she was perfectly well aware of how he had sucked up some of her cultivation base.

Looking at the young man now, Xie Lan could see how his body was bursting with strength, even more so than it had been earlier that day. She was greatly confused as she was uncertain what to do with the information she discovered. The young man in front of her was unlike anyone she had ever met before and it scared her, but what scared her even more was how obsessed her master was with this unknown boy.

In Xie Lan’s mind, Xu Piao was the most important person and to keep him safe was her life’s goal. To see him so intoxicated by a stranger which she, in no way, was able to see through was something which caused the woman to feel danger.

Although Xie Lan felt danger, she was unable to do anything as she had been given a direct order by Xu Piao. That was to work together with Hui Yue, assist him in winning the tournament, not to mention saving him should he be in a dangerous situation. In a situation like this even though Xie Lan wished to get rid of the young man she had to accept that it was not possible for her to do so and she bit down hard as she turned away from the window, returning to her own room where she started cultivating once more.

….

“What do you mean you still haven’t found him?” Zhong Fai was looking at the seven crusaders who were cowering on the ground in fear as they had brought the news to their master.

Seeing that they were cowering, Zhong Fai could not help but sigh deeply. He knew that it was impossible for these crusaders to lie to him, however he also knew that it was impossible for anyone to completely vanish from the surface of the earth.

Thinking through his various options, Zhong Fai suddenly smiled sinisterly, as he waved his hand sending away the still cowering seven crusaders which were kowtowing on the ground.

“There is one option,” He mumbled quietly before he looked up, “Xiao Min!” He yelled loudly and a beautiful white man appeared. His hair and skin were as white as newly fallen snow, his hair filled with small flowers made from frost. His eyes blue with a slight mist in the middle.

“Milord called,” The frozen man said, as he bowed to the young beautiful man seated atop the frozen throne.

“Contact the Dragon Corps,” Zhong Fai said with a smile on his lips, “Have them look out for a white-haired young boy. If they find him, have them treat him with great care and don’t allow them to lose track of him until they have notified me and I have managed to catch him.”

“Yes, Milord,” Xiao Min answered before he bowed deeply and backed out the room, never once turning his back to his lord.

“I look forward to seeing your young white-haired friend’s reaction when he notices all the things that have happened on the surface in all these months when he has been missing,” A voice suddenly sounded out, as yet another frozen man appeared.

Unlike the previous one, this one did not show respect towards Zhong Fai as one would have expected, but surprisingly enough the handsome man on top of the throne seemed as though he did not care at all about the lack of respect, instead his face was all smiles and happiness.

“I wonder how he will react indeed,” Zhong Fai agreed as he seemed to look into the distance. “Not only him,” He continued, “But as far as I am aware, our cute little boy is traveling around with a daughter of the Wang family and a son of the Deng family. They will definitely be shocked upon hearing what happened while they were gone.”

The two men were silent for some time before a loud ringing laughter sounded out within the throne room and Zhong Fai’s face showed great amusement.

“How do you think they will react?” Zhong Fai asked the frozen man next to him who only shrugged his shoulders, “How can they act?” He questioned, however his attention was no longer focused on the conversation, “No matter what they do, what is done has already been done, they can’t change anything.”

Hearing this Zhong Fai leaned back on his throne, his expressions slightly disappointed as he nodded his head. What the frozen man said surely made sense.

“I assume that the young boy you are hunting will not even get to know about the changes up here,” He said while laughing, “I mean to say you will make him into one of the Frozen Brigade long before he has anything to say.”

Zhong Fai did not answer the statement, instead, he slowly waved his hand and the frozen man bowed slightly before turning around and walking out from within the throne room.

“Frozen Brigade, huh?” Zhong Fai asked himself with a small smile on his face before he once more stared into the distance while seated on his frozen throne.

Hui Yue was seated in the middle of the group at the arena waiting for their turn to participate in the next round. The fight which was currently ongoing was the masked group of five against a team of nine of which five incredibly strong men out of the nine had been chosen to get the win.

Unfortunately for the opposing team, the ones with the masks were not intimidated by the sheer size of their opponents and after releasing an attack, it was easy for Hui Yue to determine that the majority of the masked team members were Grandmaster ranked. Their cultivation base was definitely at the higher end of the Grandmaster level .

Looking at them, Hui Yue knew that they were likely to face each other later on. Although he had thought that winning would be as simple as a walk in the park, he suddenly realized that although they were only within the second cave it was obvious that these cultivators underground were far superior to those above ground.

Making a mental note, Hui Yue made sure to remind himself that he needed to get some information on these men from Xu Piao later on. Seated back in the chair, Hui Yue’s eyes landed on their leader and as if the man was capable of sensing this, he lifted his face staring straight at Hui Yue.

The stare did not go unnoticed by anyone present at the arena, silence rung throughout the many seats as everyone held their breath in excitement, waiting to see what would happen between the two masked people, but just as the atmosphere tensed to the extreme the masked man looked away, lifting his hand and barking a word in a language Hui Yue did not understand.

As soon as the word was spoken blood sprayed over the stage as the entire opposing team had been beheaded within seconds, something which caused Hui Yue’s mouth to twitch and the red mist to roil within him.

Outside no one noticed any changes. To them, Hui Yue was as cold as he had been before, but on the inside Hui Yue was struggling to keep the red mist under control, his face turning increasingly alarmed.

Having killed the opposing team in such a brutal and sudden way the entire arena went quiet for a long time before they suddenly broke out into a loud cheer. They saw the blood they had come to see.

Currently four groups were still alive and active within the tournament and Hui Yue and his group were to fight next,  the final match of the day.

From the beginning, nine groups were chosen to be in the third group, the group belonging to the strongest teams in the mercenary town, however four lost the previous day. Today another group had already lost, leaving four behind, but one of these groups had drawn a pass propelling them straight into the finals the following day.

The masked men were just chosen to enter the final, and now the final group had to fight for the last position to enter the final.

The final match this tournament was going to be far bloodier than what any of the previous fights had been as it consisted of three groups going up against each other. The last group standing would be crowned the winner. Through such a battle it was obvious that many would die, and those who did not die would still lose teammates.

The only reason that Hui Yue still wished to participate was because he believed in his own power to protect his friends. Should it turn into a situation where they were about to die, Hui Yue felt that he would have enough strength because of the clashing phenomena within his dantian cave, not to mention Xie Lan’s strength and his own Velocity Flow, these should be sufficient for him to get his friends to safety.

Not participating in the final would in many ways be futile now that the mercenaries around the city were targeting him. It was about time for them to prove their strength and gain a way to enter the next tunnel-system, leading towards the next city.

The fight today was much simpler than the previous one they had fought in. It was one on one and the first team to win three times would proceed to the final.

Knowing that the fights were like this, Hui Yue had decided that he would start. Hoping that he was capable of dealing with all the opponents, keeping the abilities of his friends a secret until the final the following day.

The masked men quickly left the stage as the host announced their win their leader constantly looking at Hui Yue, his eyes shining from beneath the mask.

Hui Yue acted completely ignorant to what he was seeing and instead he looked at the messed up stage which was filled with dead mercenaries. Heads were lying far from their bodies and blood was sprayed all over.

Sobs could be heard followed by crying women who entered the stage, picking up the heads of their loved ones before they slowly went on their way.

Hui Yue was taken back by the strength of those women. They had been watching from the sidelines from the very beginning, yet they had never screamed or tried to run onto the stage to stop the fight from proceeding. Not even once had they poured out their hate and sadness over the winners.

In one way, Hui Yue could not understand how it was possible to stand by, accepting the death of one’s loved ones, but on the other side he could see that their strength was not enough to save their loved ones, nor was it enough to protect the families in case they did intervene. The only option left was to have the mental strength to support their loved ones in life and death.

A short break commenced where the Mercenary Guild went to the stage. The stage was created from concrete, yet on top of it was a layer of sand which worked to soak up blood and ensure that the participants would not skid around. Looking at the sand  most of it had clumped together from the high amount of blood which was then removed before a fine new layer was sprayed upon the scene. The bodies were picked up and carried towards the homes of the fallen mercenaries.

Within moments, it was impossible to see that a bloody scene had adorned the stage just before, and Hui Yue felt a little queasy as he stepped towards the stage knowing that below him was the blood of countless people who had laid their lives down in tournaments like this one.

The queasy feeling did not come from him disliking death, but from the red mist which was roiling so hard that he almost lost control of it once more. Though with the slight help of the tranquil cloud, the red mist was finally subdued once more as Hui Yue heaved a heavy sigh of relief. To have such a strong will within his body which he could not fully control was the one thing which made him feel the greatest discomfort.

Hui Yue’s friends were all standing behind the stage as Hui Yue went on to the stage. A loud cheer could be heard from within the arena as everyone was excited to see the leader standing up from the very beginning.

The group Hui Yue was up against sneered in anger. For Hui Yue to go up at first rather than at the end showed that he had complete faith in his own strength to win the battle without being injured so that he could also participate in the following day’s fight.

Looking at Hui Yue, their eyes shone with anger and displeasure as all of them felt like the former was looking down upon them. All of them were battling just to fight against him and prove that they were capable of taking down the cocky newcomer.

Hui Yue looked at them with pity. He would prefer to not kill his opponents, if he had the chance to neutralize them in other ways he would definitely take it. But he did not wish to be soft just for the sake of being soft.

Having looked at his opponents, all of them were Master ranked cultivators and although the strongest was a nine-star Master, none of them truly proved to be a threat in Hui Yue’s eyes. If Hui

Yue were honest, the only group which posed some threat was the masked group which had just exited the stage.

Just as Hui Yue was observing the fight between the masked group and their opponents, the masked group now sat in the front row ready to observe Hui Yue and his battle prowess.

Completely ignoring those masked cultivators, Hui Yue stood as still as a statue atop the stage, patiently waiting for the first opponent to appear in front of him.

“Don’t worry big bro,” The largest of the group said, his voice rowdy and his appearance anything but appealing to the eye. He smacked his hands together as he looked at Hui Yue with great hostility, “Let me deal with such a scrawny little shit,” He continued, as he made his way towards the stage, his size at least double the size of Hui Yue.

Looking at the giant man, Hui Yue’s neck was turned all the way up and an eyebrow was raised in surprise, but worry was something not on his face hidden under the cloak.

“Let the battle begin!” The host called out and he quickly stepped away from the stage, signaling the start of the battle.

Just as before, Hui Yue was standing completely still, waiting for his opponent to make the first move. That was what the audience saw, however, Hui Yue had already started circulating Qi through his meridians, activating Velocity Flow, and allowing for the cultivation base of a lower dantian expert to become released into the surroundings.

Once more, everyone was shocked to see that Hui Yue, the man who was considered the most challenging of all the newcomers, only used the cultivation base of the lower dantian. Some of the audience had been there the day before and knew that he had previously used the lower dantian,

but the majority were unaware of this and as such many of them began booing, laughing at Hui

Yue and even taunting him.

Sighing deeply Hui Yue blocked out sound from outside the stage and instead summoned Black Blood after which he activated the Velocity Flow Clone, having a copy standing side by side with him, instantly shut everyone up.

This was the first time it was possible to actually see what Hui Yue was doing, and the ability to copy oneself was something which usually was not possible unless you were a King or above. To see someone using such a high class skill while only having activated the lower dantian was enough to quiet everyone who had previously been talking.

Not only the loud mouths within the arena went quiet, even the masked cultivators and the other group which Hui Yue would face the following day stared at him intently, deeply shocked by what they saw. Could it be he really was an upper dantian ranked expert who somehow managed to make it seem as though he was nothing more than a lower dantian cultivator?

Hui Yue did not wait for long, as soon as the shock stunned the man in front of him, Hui Yue took action along with his copy, both of them lifting up Black Blood as they rushed towards the giant.

Jumping from the ground, Hui Yue landed on the back of the giant man with the copy right by his side. With the shaft of Black Blood, both Hui Yue and the copy slammed into the back of his neck, causing the giant man to fall instantly.

Silence swept across the arena as the fight lasted less than the blink of an eye. From the moment Hui Yue started moving to the time the man was on the ground less than a moment had passed, and everyone was stunned to see how it happened the way it did.