Dungeons of the Divine (Blue Phoenix Book 2) (30 page)

Leaning against the door, Hui Yue knocked lightly so that it would not interrupt anyone else, and after a few moments sounds could be heard from inside and the door opened, allowing for the young man to enter.

“What are you doing here?” Deng Wu asked curiously. After they had started travelling together it had been a long time since they had the time to sit down next to each other and just talk with one another. Finally, now they had the time to chat so  here he was, the white-haired young boy, who wished for nothing else than just return to the days at the academy where they would talk long into the night.

A sheepish smile was on his face because he had no special reason to visit, nothing more than a wish to talk with his good friend. Hui Yue ignored the question and instead moved to a chair where he sat down, smiling to his friend.

Sensing the room, Hui Yue could feel that the essence of the heavens and the earth within the room had been disturbed recently, a clue that Deng Wu was meditating moments before he entered. With a smile, Hui Yue tossed the stone to his friend who caught it awkwardly.

“Is this a item you just bought?” Deng Wu asked, as the young boy nodded his head.

“Next time you need to cultivate have this in your hands. When you become a second star Grandmaster, then hand it over to either Sha Yun or Wang Ju Long,” Hui Yue said while shrugging.

“It really is a treasure, Lan Feng was right when he told me to purchase it.” He sighed, clearly unhappy at the fact that he could not laugh at the bird and tell him that he had been wrong.

“I’m sorry for dragging you guys into these long and dark tunnels,” Hui Yue finally sighed. Although they were all friends, he felt somewhat guilty for bringing them to this damnable place. They had already been down underground for months and it was likely that they would have to stay here for years before they managed to make their way to the surface.

Time was not the only reason, a lot of unknown things had happened as well as the constant worry about Zhou Long and the Dragon Corps. Truthfully none of them were safe right now.

Hearing the apology, a wry smile appeared on Deng Wu’s face and he shook his head, “What other choice did we have?” His small laugh rang through the small room, “Both me and Wang Ju Long were banished from entering Riluo City, what other options did we have? We are happy that you invited us along.”

“To be honest we have a lot to be grateful for.” His usually playful voice was no longer filled with laughter and cheerfulness, instead, it turned serious and somber, “When we were kids, you always helped us out,” He began, “You gave us all the skills we could dream of; you helped us improving our cultivation techniques and even went as far as to help our families.”

“When we had problems you were there to help us, even if it required you to do something very risky. You never asked for anything in return. Is it not obvious that Wang Ju Long and I are following you because of all the gratitude we feel towards you? You not only saved us, you also gave our families a possibility to survive, which they did. For us to follow you for the rest of our lives is a suitable price to pay. Not to mention we really have nowhere else to go.” Having said his final sentence, Deng Wu’s face no longer had a wry smile, instead it had a self-depriving one, causing great pain to Hui Yue.

“I don’t care about the reason why, but travelling with you is something which has made the days not only much more interesting, but you also managed to be of great assistance to me.” Having assured Deng Wu that they were very helpful, neither of the two young men said anything else as they sat down next to each other, just quietly enjoying each other’s company.

After a short while, Deng Wu looked at Hui Yue his previous mischievous expression was now back and with a smirk on his face he turned to the younger of the two, “So what is happening between you and Wang Ju Long?”

Hearing the question, a small blush crept onto the usually pale face and without saying anything Deng Wu sudden had an idea of what might have happened.

“It’s nothing serious,” Hollow laughter followed the statement and wishing the change the subject the young man looked around; he was surprised to see lots of scrolls lying all over the room. “You’ve been working pretty hard, huh?”

“I used quite a few Fire Orb scrolls during that last battle,” Deng Wu shrugged as he spoke, “Creating more is the only way to replenish my supply. I cannot afford run out.”

Deng Wu’s abilities were all focused on the Metal element and as a man who wished to become strong with the affinity he had this meant that he needed to prepare for each battle way in advance.

The two young men were seated on the ground neither of them saying anything, just savoring the silence and the good company with each other. Both feeling good after finally having the time to speak with each other.

Hui Yue had for a long time felt guilty for what he brought Deng Wu and Wang Ju Long into, yet Deng Wu had been waiting for a chance to tell him just how grateful he was. Knowing that the two of them were truly where the both of them wished to be, a satisfied feeling spread out and they sat in a comfortable atmosphere.

….

Waking up the second morning, Hui Yue found himself within Deng Wu’s room. The air smelled of alcohol and looking at the floor it was littered with bottle after bottle of liquor. Within the bed was Sha Yun and Wang Ju Long all tangled up, for once it was not him who was the victim of that curled tail.

On the floor, not far from Hui Yue was the culprit of the previous night’s consumption of hard liquor, Deng Wu.

Thinking back of what happened the previous evening, Hui Yue smiled gently while going over the events

The previous night, after having been seated still for some time the enjoying the silence, Deng Wu had slowly stood up and left the room. After a few minutes, sounds could be heard from outside the door and a grumpy Sha Yun entered, followed by a confused Wang Ju Long.

The two newcomers were both surprised to see that they were not the first to enter the room, and their surprise caused them to stay quiet as they entered, finding random seats on the ground to sit on.

Back at the academy the lot of them usually drank together, but since they entered this new area no place had been safe. On the surface of the earth Hui Yue was constantly on the run causing them all to be on alert, and not allowing for even the slightest bit of indulgence.

The same happened when they entered the Dungeons of the Divine. Everywhere they had been up until now was dangerous, but now they were finally somewhere where they could enjoy themselves without worrying too much about what might happen.

Deng Wu did not invited either Xie Lan nor Xu Piao. Although he liked both of them, and also trusted them this was a party which he wished to hold for the ones who had been together for years. The ones who had started this journey with him.

Spending the evening together drinking, all of them ended up talking about their futures and their pasts. Many old memories resurfaced and new wishes of their future were announced, however, everyone had one wish they all shared.

Everyone was fully focused on getting through the Dungeons of the Divine. All of them aware that this was a trip which would take them years, though despite this none of them regretted joining Hui Yue. Instead, everyone seemed to be excited and as Wang Ju Long put it, her abilities have improved by far  after having found herself a teacher below the surface of the earth.

The first to fall asleep was Sha Yun, her senses were more keen than those of a human and the alcohol was much more efficient on her sending her to sleep fairly early.

Wang Ju Long did not last much longer and she too fell asleep on the bed. To the amusement of Hui Yue and Deng Wu, Sha Yun’s tail curled itself around the unconscious girl, the two of them nestling up and sleeping serenely A comfort they had not been able to enjoy for months on end while they were travelling outside in the unknown world of the dungeons.

Deng Wu and Hui Yue were seated next to each other on the floor cheering and laughing all night, talking about how much things had changed.

“Some things sure feel different down here,” Deng Wu said sighing as he looked up to the ceiling. “I miss Rong Xing.” He finally said with longing in his voice. “Travelling the world is the most exciting thing I have ever done, but I wish we could have taken her with us.”

Hearing the heartfelt words, Hui Yue could do nothing but smile wryly. He too missed the three friends they had left behind in Riluo City, but they all had to grow up. While Deng Wu, Wang Ju Long, and Hui Yue were all unable to return to their home city, the Rong twins and Ma Kong were no longer children. All of them needed to move on with their lives, yet moving on was something they had to do in accordance with their lives as young masters of their families.

Silence was settling within the room, a silence which was comfortable as the two young men kept drinking both reminiscing about the choices they made.

Deng Wu’s only regret was leaving behind Rong Xing and looking at the pitch black night outside the window a sigh escaped his lips as the figure of a beautiful woman appeared in front of his eyes, the woman he dearly missed.

Moments after, Deng Wu slumped to the ground, snoring sounds could be heard even before his head hit the floor.

Low laughter escaped Hui Yue’s lips, as he looked at his sleeping friend and with great effort he stood up and pulled a blanket from his storage stone which he gently laid over the two sleeping women on the bed. After ruminating through the stone he found another blanket which he placed on Deng Wu and finally found a blanket for himself.

With one last glance at his friends, and gratitude beaming from his eyes, Hui Yue laid down on the ground. It did not take long before exhaustion overwhelmed him and sleep dragged him into the black world of comfort.

Looking at the sleeping people, Hui Yue was happy as he managed to leave the room without waking anyone up and on tiptoes he manage to enter his own room. He then instantly went to take a bath. He once more enjoyed how he slowly got rid of the sluggish feeling in his body and the heat was so comfortable that the young man fell back asleep.

Standing outside the room where all the friends were still sleeping, was Xu Piao, he lifted his hand as though he was ready to knock on the door, yet after a few moments he lower it as a smile appeared on his face and he turned around.

On the way, he ran into Xie Lan who was about to knock on Wang Ju Long’s door, but after shaking his head, the woman followed him down the stairs and towards the main building of the Mercenary Guild in the capital. It was time for him to do some proper work.

”Let’s go over here!” Sha Yun said, her voice cheerful as she pulled on Hui Yue’s arm dragging him along with her.

The entire group was awake by now and as it was still midday, all of them decided to go look at the different marketplaces because Hui Yue only had a chance to see them so far.

Moving around outside, their group caught lots of attention due to the fact that there was a white-haired young man and a snake-woman with a long tail who was around two meters tall.

Being dragged behind Sha Yun, the young man said nothing but instead laughed a little and gestured for Wang Ju Long and Deng Wu to follow as well.. With smiles on their faces they all rushed after the running snake-woman.

The place where Sha Yun dragged Hui Yue was towards a marketplace owned by blacksmiths; it was one of the largest marketplaces in town.

The marketplace did not only have armors, weapons, and tools it also had a section that specialized in jewelry and cosmetic items. This was something which instantly caught the eye of Sha Yun and the snake-woman paid no heed to anything else as she dragged her friend, or more precisely her wallet, with her towards the beautiful sparkly items.

Deng Wu and Wang Ju Long followed the two into the marketplace, and instead of following Hui Yue towards the jewelry section, they stayed in the armor, weapons, and tool area. Deng Wu also possessed many beast cores, so there was no worry about the two being unable to purchase the items they wanted.

No one minded much that the group broke up and a satisfied smile appeared on Sha Yun’s lips as she saw how she succeeded in isolating the two of them, a happy and childish smile.

“What did you see?” Hui Yue asked curiously as he looked at the jewelry around them  jewelry created by jewelcrafters, a subsection of the blacksmith craft.

Looking around, Sha Yun picked up a beautiful hairpin which was made from the purest gold, shaped into a flower with the most beautiful red and yellow gemstones.

Looking at the hairpin, the young man felt his heart clench slightly as his experience with hairpins was quite bad, however, he had to admit that the hairpin was beautiful and that it was a perfect fit for Sha Yun.

Taking the pin, he turned towards the stall owner who was looking at the two of them skepticism evident on his face.

“Excuse me, sir,” Hui Yue began, “This hairpin, we’d like to purchase it.”

The old man glared at Sha Yun and Hui Yue and after being quiet for some time, then he finally open his mouth, “The price is a hundred demon cores.” He said with a grin on his face. The price was exorbitant, it was without doubt a much higher than what he would have normally asked for, because Sha Yun was a magical beast and Hui Yue did not look like your average person causing the man to assume that he was a half demon beast. A being which, although not frowned upon, was someone who was often made fun of in the society.

Hui Yue narrowed his eyes for a short while. How could he not know what was being thought by the seller and a gleam of annoyance crossed his eyes.

Hui Yue did not mind that someone mistook him for a half demon beast. If anything it made it much easier for him to come around looking the way he did, however, what he disliked was the amount of arrogance and contempt which was shown to him and, especially that which was shown to Sha Yun; but despite this the snake-woman looked at him with pleading eyes and with a sigh he withdraw a hundred demon cores.

Demon cores was really not something he lacked, but Hui Yue felt great pain every time he spent them. Demon cores were good for increasing the strength of his attacks and they were something which could help him survive, but here they were regarded as money, letting each and every one of his hard earned demon cores go was something which was hurting his heart.

Seeing all the demon cores piled on his counter, the shopkeeper was deeply shocked. He was rejoicing because of the profit he just made, but at the same time a feeling of dread replaced his happiness.

The reason he mentioned such an extravagant price was because he knew it would be hard for anyone to pay, much less a mere half demon beast; however, now that he had paid the hundred demon cores it was obvious that the young white-haired boy was not ordinary, by any means. The fact that he paid in cores instead of coins meant that he was hunting demon beasts, and the fact that he could throw such a large sum of cores away for the sake of a hairpin showed that he was a strong cultivator who hunted demon beasts very efficiently, someone who was best left unoffended.

Grabbing the hairpin, Hui Yue completely ignored the shocked stall owner, instead, a big smile was evident on his face as he with gentle hands tied up the snake-woman’s hair and placed the beautiful hairpin within.

The hairpin matched Sha Yun’s glowing yellow and red scales, her beautiful and warm colors were shining even more radiantly than usual, and with a smile Hui Yue took her hand and started leading her back towards their other two friends they had separated from earlier.

Finding Deng Wu and Wang Ju Long did not take long and smiling they walked towards the two black-haired youths who were busy looking at armory and weaponry, both thinking about quality much more than which vanity items would suit them.

The group met up once more and as Sha Yun had expected, compliments were given for her new hairpin making the beautiful snake-woman blush and feel happy, her scales turning slightly red.

“Let’s get some of those delicacies that Xu Piao mentioned before,” Hui Yue said laughingly as he patted Sha Yun’s back, causing the snake-woman to blush even further.

The attraction of food caused everyone to suddenly pause for a moment, saliva almost dropping from their mouths. To eat delicious food was something they truly wanted to do, and the group of four moved towards the marketplace filled with different kinds of delicacies.

Walking into the marketplace, a voice suddenly sounded out from behind them, a voice which none of them recognized.

“Hey you there! The one with the snake beast, stop!”

Hearing the way the voice regarded Sha Yun, flames of fury sprung into being within Hui Yue and the white-haired boy turned around to face whomever it was that was calling for him.

Seeing the owner of the voice, Hui Yue snorted in contempt. The man was a Master ranked cultivator and his age seemed to be similar to their age, however, his face was twisted in arrogance, and his eyes were looking at Sha Yun lasciviously.

Seeing the way the man looked at Sha Yun there was no way that he would tolerate it and stood in front of her, blocking the insolent man’s line of sight. This caused the young man to become pissed.

“I want that beast. Sell her contract to me.” He said with a calm demanding voice, a voice that left no room for discussion. Hearing his words Hui Yue’s eyes narrowed slightly as he gestured for his friends to keep moving and ignore the man. Bringing up the back of the group the young white-haired man deemed the young man not even worthy of an answer.

“I spoke to you, you half-breed.” The man continued, his mocking tone obvious to all and he seemed to find the situation comical and entertaining..

Stopping, Hui Yue turned around. His eyes full of anger and he was struggling to keep the billowing killing intent down.

“Do you not know who I am?” The young man continued, his voice sounding into the area, loud and filled with self satisfaction. Hearing himself talk was clearly something he enjoyed.

Everyone in the marketplace noticed the commotion occurring and even people outside the marketplace could feel the tension, many people entering curious to see what was happening.

“I heard you,” Hui Yue spat out a word at a time his voice dripping with anger as he turned around, his eyes locking onto the loud man behind him.

Although the loud man was slightly taken aback by the coldness within his blue eyes, his haughty air quickly returned and anger flared into being.

“How dare you look at me like that?!” The young man yelled out and with a clap of his hands multiple guards appeared from his surroundings They stood behind the young man, watching the white-haired boy in front of them with a menacing expression on their faces; a few of them even started clenching their fists causing cracking sounds to be released.

All the guards felt an unexplainable danger emanating from the young man. They were all Master ranked, but the moment they saw Hui Yue they felt they could not compare to him..

“Stop glaring at me like that,” The young man said dismissively, “You are nothing but a mixed breed human. I admit that you are handsome, but that means nothing. I am the young master of the Demonic Dance family. You are nothing compared to me, so sell me that magical beast right now!”

Hearing the words from this young master made Hui Yue want to tear him apart and to vent all the anger billowing up inside of him.

Instead he activated Velocity Flow and as if he had teleported, the young white-haired man was suddenly right behind the insolent man, back to back as he spoke casually, “I don’t care if you are from a dance-group or the City Lord, himself, if you touch my group of friends I will personally ensure that you won’t see tomorrow’s sunrise.”

His voice was neither loud nor was it rushed, instead, it was just loud enough for the shocked young master and his followers to hear.

As soon as the words had been said, Hui Yue once more activated Velocity Flow and returned to his previous location. The move had been so sudden that many of the guards wondered if they had imagined it. It had only been a few seconds but during that time Hui Yue had thoroughly scared the young master.

“Attack!” He yelled, his eyes wide with horror as he thought how the white-haired boy had moved. To so fast meant he was definitely strong, yet looking at him he was clearly just Master ranked. This caused the young master to feel confident that his large group of guards, even facing this dangerous man, would beaten him thoroughly and upon being beaten he would gladly hand over the snake-woman for the sake of living.

Unfortunately, this was not how it transpired. As soon as the guards arrived, Hui Yue once more activated Velocity Flow and with beautiful simple movements he bypassed all the guards quicker than they could react and once more stood next to the young man who wanted Sha Yun.

Without any mercy, he lifted his leg up high and spun around before he kicked the man in the gut, performing a flawless roundhouse kick sending the young man flying straight  back, his body slamming into one of the food stalls at the marketplace.

The entire marketplace went silent, as they watched the young master of the Demon Dancing family fall from just one kick. A man who managed to bypass over ten guards easily.