Dungeons of the Divine (Blue Phoenix Book 2) (51 page)

The man within the room was as young as Deng Wu, about twenty years of age. His face was incredibly handsome. His long black hair was tied up with elaborate white jade jewelry, his skin was as white newly fallen snow, and his eyes reminded on of a beautiful phoenix, black as the moonless midnight sky.

This handsome man was smiling as he was conversing with Deng Wu and Xu Piao, but his smile grew as Hui Yue walked through the door.

“Hello!” He called out, “My name is Zhong Fai. I am so sorry for interrupting you and your friends who are here together, but I am on my own and when I saw that there was someone living next door, how could I not come by to visit?”

This whole time he was friendly as ever, and although he seemed genuine, Hui Yue had an increasingly eerie feeling the more the young man spoke.

Looking at this young man Hui Yue kept moving forward into the room with a smile, however, each step he took was light and everything within his mind was screaming at him that something was wrong.

This man seemed as though he was a young master from some prominent family. His clothes and jewelry were all of the finest quality, his face looked innocent, but at the same time determined as though the man was used to things going his way.

Hui Yue had no idea why this man entered their house, but he knew that he was not here just because he was  curious about his neighbours.

What Hui Yue feared was that the young man was here to keep an eye on him. It was obvious that he was under suspicion for possibly killing two king ranked experts. This was the only obvious assumption as nothing had happened since he killed them, apart from this young man appearing out of nowhere.

Everything made him think that this guy was no ordinary person. The white-haired young man went next to Deng Wu where he sat down. Smiling at and nodding towards the newcomer he decided that the best reaction he could have was to cultivate. If he convinced the Dragon Corps that he was a Grandmaster then obviously the theory of him being the assailant would be dropped.

This was Hui Yue’s plan as he sat down and started to cultivate. He absorbed the essence of the heavens and the earth while making it obvious that the aura he released was that of a Grandmaster. No matter which way you looked at Hui Yue, he was without question a Grandmaster ranked expert.

Seeing this, Zhong Fai’s smile increased even further as he looked at Hui Yue with a curious expression on his face. He had previously heard about how Hui Yue who seemed to be weak could in the moment of battle be capable of producing powers which far outshone his actual ability.

Zhong Fai was completely certain that this was because the young man was sharing his body with the spirit of a genuine expert. Although it was rare, it happened from time to time, and it was more or less the only reason Zhong Fai could think of. Who was Zhong Fai? He was the Frozen General. An esteemed expert who could cause even the commander of the Dragon Corps to shiver in fear; a commander who controlled an entire tunnel system.

The Frozen General’s name was known far and wide by all supreme experts of the world. He was known to be a cold and callous expert which liked to collect beautiful humans or astonishing individuals. Many geniuses throughout the years ended up within his Frozen Brigade, a brigade which only listened to the orders of the Frozen General. As soon as one joined the Frozen Brigade, one’s normal life ended; none could ever leave.

No one, apart from the Frozen General, himself, knew for sure whether or not the members of the Frozen Brigade were truly dead or alive. However everyone knew for sure that one’s life was forfeit the moment one entered into the White Jade Palace.

All this was common knowledge of the supreme experts of the world. Sadly, Hui Yue was only a young man who had reached the age of seventeen. His real rank was nothing more than that of a Grandmaster and his knowledge about the world around him was severely lacking. Something which the young man was not even aware of himself.

Lan Feng was also oblivious of this fact. The phoenix was under the impression that anyone they came across was someone who the phoenix would be capable of dealing with because he was a Saint ranked divine beast. He had a great deal of self-confidence. Back when he lived in the world, Saint ranked experts were incredibly rare. But the phoenix forgot to take into account how much had changed during the thousands of years he was locked within the hairpin in the other world.   

Unaware of who Zhong Fai truly was, Hui Yue was seated on the side of Deng Wu his entire being already focused fully on cultivating. The essence of the heavens and the earth started to revolve around him. His speed in refining was seemingly neither slow nor quick for anyone who was observing him from the outside, and because it was impossible for the Frozen General to see just how pure the quality of his Qi was, nobody truly understood how monstrous his refining speed had become.

Although Hui Yue no longer needed to use the Qi for battling, and as a result one, might think that it was easier to settle with cultivating less refined Qi, however, Qi is further refined into spiritual energy. The finer the Qi then the better quality the spiritual energy will become. This was one of the reasons that Hui Yue was currently unmatched by any and all cultivators below the King rank.

While Hui Yue was focused on cultivating, Zhong Fai once more started conversing with Deng Wu and Xu Piao about everything and nothing. Their conversation varied from talk about expectations of the Dragon Corps’ headquarters to the weather within the cave, alongside their daily schedule to their plans for dinner.

Zhong Fai seemed interested in anything which had to do with this group of friends, and he managed to enter and learn an astonishing amount of information without having anyone apart from Hui Yue suspicious. As for how he managed to do this, no one seemed to notice. From the moment he arrived until the moment he was seated next to Deng Wu, not much time went by. But in that brief period of time, no one seemed to truly remember what exactly transpired.

Time went by, one hour took another and eventually Zhong Fai stood up, preparing to head back to his own residence according to what he said. Neither one of the girls were awake during the time Hui Yue had been back. Hui Yue, himself, was also fully immersed in his cultivation not noticing Zhong Fai leaving. Zhong Fai nodded his head in goodbye as he stood in the doorway, and sent one final glance towards the white-haired boy. He smiled to Deng Wu and Xu Piao and then headed out.

Neither Xu Piao nor Deng Wu were slow and both noticed the change in Zhong Fai’s behavior after Hui Yue arrived within the room, however, neither knew why this was and both assumed that Zhong Fai was either interested in his alternative appearance, or that he was curious about whether or not he had magical beast blood within his veins.

Having arrived at the Dragon Core, Xu Piao and the friends had all been locked up within the house. They spent time training and preparing to leave the underground world as soon as Hui Yue finished what he needed to do for Lan Feng.

All the friends were perfectly well aware that Hui Yue was planning something which would put them at odds with the Dragon Corps, but even so they all decided to stand by the white-haired young man helping him if he needed their help.

Right now, Hui Yue had finally found the Laws which he had been seeking for quite some time. What he saw shocked him. The way they were mistreated was far above anything he had conceived of before.

Having seen the way they were being used as a source of energy, Hui Yue understood that they could not die. That their bodies were filled with an astonishing energy. However, to harvest this energy was something completely different than to be capable of using this energy.

This energy was native to the Laws. It was the energy which they were created from. The same kind of energy which was used to created the tunnel systems. The energy used to create the entire world. It was called Ancestral Worldpower.

Ancestral Worldpower was incredibly powerful and indestructible. It was the power which ensured that the sun and the moon kept shining, cascading light onto the world. It was the power which made the seasons change and the tides rise and fall.

Within this world, everything, birth, life, and death were all controlled by the Ancestral Worldpower. Even the essence of the heavens and the earth came from the Ancestral Worldpower.

One could only cultivate it by refining the essence into Qi and further refine the Qi, to spiritual energy, and even further into Wu Wei. To harvest it the way the Dragon Corps were from these Laws was simply unheard of. To be able to harness such dense energy was both dangerous and astonishing.

Hui Yue thought deeply while spending time cultivating. Currently, he had no idea where the energy was being used, or what it was being used for. Neither he nor Lan Feng had any idea what such energy was even able to be used for because its strength far outstretched that of the essence of the heavens and the earth. It was very close to the Wu Wei of the upper dantian experts.

Thinking about this, Hui Yue decided to first figure out what the Wu Wei was being used for, and only after would he plan how to save all the Laws who were being kept as livestock. Who were being butchered as soon as their bodies recovered and milked dry of all their Ancestral Worldpower which they had gathered.

Having come to this conclusion, Hui Yue opened his eyes. He was shocked to see that the handsome young man had vanished, however, although he was taken aback he was also relieved. His instincts told him to stay away from the young man, that he was dangerous. Most likely because he was connected to the Dragon Corps, but no matter the reason Hui Yue did not feel as though he needed to befriend him for now. It was obvious that the more friends he had, the more likely he was to be betrayed again. His instincts told him to keep the few friends he had and battle through the many challenges which came their way.

Sighing deeply, Hui Yue looked towards each of his friends, and clearing his throat he began, with a serious voice, to describe what he found. If any of them wished to leave the tunnels rather than assist him and help the Laws, then Hui Yue would never blame them. It was important they truly understood how dangerous task they were undertaking truly was.

“What do you take us for?” Deng Wu asked with an indignant voice as Hui Yue explained what happened, “Do you think that we plan to run away and leave you with all the danger? You already did everything you could to save us when we were captured. You helped us when our families had problems, and you have always been there to assist us; to help us improve our cultivation,” He said, his voice turning more and more sour. “You seriously think, that after all we have been through we would just run away because it’s getting dangerous?”

Hearing what Deng Wu said, albeit quite indignant, it was still warmed Hui Yue’s heart making him happy to hear that his friends were ready to battle by his side.

Although the two girls were too weak to battle against King ranked experts, Xu Piao, Xie Lan, and Deng Wu were all capable of assisting Hui Yue and Lan Feng. While Wang Ju Long and Sha Yun were incapable of partaking directly in the battle, both of them would be capable of assisting with support, or perhaps carrying out other parts of the plan which did not require them to directly engage into combat. The fact that they had decided to stay behind, and that their faces were filled with determination was something which warmed Hui Yue’s heart.

Now that he knew exactly who would be present for his plan, Hui Yue sat down and considered what he should do next. He had many fragments of plans within his mind, however, none of them were coherent yet. He did not have a plan for the entire rescue and escape.

Ideally, Hui Yue and his friends would manage to escape the cave system with all the Laws before the commander of the Dragon Corps came to know about what happened; however, should they not escape in time then he needed to plan how to deal with a situation where they, six men only, had to escape from the clutches of thousands of men. Although Hui Yue undertook the job of rescuing the Laws, he also decided long ago that it was important for him to ensure his friends survival, alongside his own. He still had goals to reach in this world.

While Hui Yue was busy coming up with various plans for how and when to make their move, Zhong Fai had not returned to the house next door, instead, he went to the Dragon Corps commander’s main office.

As soon as the commander saw the smiling young man who entered his office, the commander instantly stood up. His face was devoid of all color as he bowed as deeply as he possibly could.

“My lord, Frozen General!” The commander said with shock as he slowly straightened up. “I never knew that you would come here by yourself, what can I do for you my lord?”

Glancing at the commander, Zhong Fai’s smile quickly vanished, instead, replaced by a serious expression on his face.

“I am here because a human who has caught my attention is here. For now gift me the residence next to his and treat me as a young noble of the Dragon Core.”

Without waiting for a response, Zhong Fai turned around and started to walk away. He did not wait for the commander who was scrambling to get to his feet and find the key for the residence which the Frozen General wanted.

“Milord,” The commander said with a quiet voice, “The young man whom you’ve shown interest in is showing interest in our energy supply. You know to whom the energy we harvest goes to. I hope you understand that should he, by any chance, become a liability for us in continuing to supplying
him
with energy then we will have to erase him from the world. Perhaps, it would be better if you made your move soon and enlisted him in the Frozen Brigade.”

He spoken his hopes in a subtle voice. He knew that above the Frozen General there was only one, and no one dared to offend him not even the Frozen General himself.

The commander clearly disliked Hui Yue. The young man behaved in a way which was not paying respect to the commander as he wished, especially the situation about Scarface which resurfaced in his mind a few times. This coupled with the fact that he killed a few of his King ranked experts was enough to make him feel tremendously uncomfortable about the young man. The commander was unaware of what rank the young man truly was, nor was he aware of what his plans were. So to ensure that he did not become a liability making him a living corpse was much better. It would also please the commander personally to know that the cocky young man was unable to ever make a decision on his own again.

Hearing the words the commander spoke a cold smile gleamed on Zhong Fai’s lips, and low laughter rang out in the silence.

“You want me to make him a part of my Frozen Brigade?” He asked, his voice dangerously low as a smile which did not seem too friendly adorned his handsome face.

“As a matter of fact, I won’t be able to make this man a part of my Frozen Brigade,” He continued not waiting for an answer, nor giving the man any time to respond. “My Frozen Brigade is for the talented individuals who have still not bloomed yet, however, this young man is far different.”

The commander was stunned to hear what the Frozen General just said, and he waited to hear in which way he was different, but Zhong Fai did not seem to wish to say any more. He just quietly walked towards the house that was his.

Seeing that the general said nothing, the commander was incapable of asking. This left him filled with questions. The main question was what rank was this young man who seemingly appeared to be a Grandmaster, no matter which way the commander looked at him.

The commander was quite curious and the further they walked the more curious he became. Sadly, he was incapable of asking any longer as he watched the Frozen General arrive in front of the house right next door to Hui Yue’s residence. With a satisfied nod the Frozen General accept the key and enter into his new home. His face was smiling once more as he looked towards the room in which he knew the many friends were gathered.

It did not seem as though Zhong Fai had even the least amount of worry when it came to the warning he was given by the commander earlier. Nor did he seem to have any thoughts about speeding up his plans.

….

Hui Yue’s eyes were closed and he was in deep cultivation as he and Lan Feng were discussing various plans and options they had. Now that they were going to rescue the many Laws.

As  night descended upon the house, Lan Feng once more took control of Hui Yue’s body and together the two traversed the short distance towards the house where the Laws were being kept. On the way they noticed that far more guards were now present. Not only were there double the amount of guards present at the house itself, but patrols were now walking everywhere within the Dragon Core. Had Hui Yue not given the control to Lan Feng, then it was obvious that they would have been noticed long ago.

Traveling through the Dragon Core, and headquarters, Hui Yue spent more than triple the amount of time than he had needed before. This time though he decided not to kill any of the guards he saw on his way, nor did he plan on entering the house. Seeing all the extra guards, it was clear that none of the Laws had been moved to another location.

Although there were many Kings around them, Hui Yue knew that there was only King ranked experts nearby. Even with the amount that appeared now, Lan Feng would be able to remove all of them very easily.

Having looked around for some time, the man and phoenix went back to their current home where they both once more entered meditation, adjusting their plans and their expectations.

‘Do you think Little Dragon will be capable of dealing with the commander, if he had to?’ Hui Yue suddenly asked Lan Feng, musing about a few things.

Looking surprised at the young man, Lan Feng shrugged. ‘According to our plans I am going to make him regret that he got the job as commander,’ He said carelessly, ‘Why would it matter if Little Dragon can battle him? It would likely be much more bloody and troublesome than having me dealing with it.’

‘I know,’ Hui Yue said with a sigh, ‘I just have a feeling that we have overlooked something. I have a feeling that someone strong is near. Let’s say that a Saint ranked expert appeared that we needed to battle, would Little Dragon be able to fight the commander?’

Lan Feng was quiet for some time before he nodded his head, ‘Little Dragon should have the upper hand. He still has more or less all of his Wu Wei, and he used to be a Saint ranked expert. Although he has fallen, his strength is still far superior to a normal Emperor.’

Musing a little further, Hui Yue nodded his head. He felt a bit more satisfied knowing that he had Little Dragon on his side, alongside the two King ranked experts. Although the two girls were unable to fully assist in the battles, Hui Yue still found the perfect job for Wang Ju Long and Sha Yun, something which was of utmost importance, but at the same time something which did not need the two of them to participate in the battle itself.

Sitting still, Hui Yue awoke from his cultivation. His eyes gleaming in the silvery moonlight which cascaded down from above. The young man smiled grimly because he knew soon the final day for him to prepare would arrive.

While thinking this, the heart of the young man was beating rapidly and he closed his eyes to steady his breath.

After having sat like this for some time, Hui Yue opened his eyes and a cold gleam was visible within. As he looked at his many friends around him the coldness in his eyes slowly melted and he moved towards the window where he looked out.

Looking out caused a shiver to run down his spine as right on the other side of the road was the figure of the young Zhong Fai who had just been inside to chat.

Although he seemed gentle and friendly, there was something about him which caused Hui Yue to feel alert. Currently the man was standing right outside, his face smiling as he saw that Hui Yue noticed him. His hand rose into the air as he waved towards the white-haired young man.

Seeing this a shiver ran down his spine once again. The young man outside did not even seem to care that he was staring at their room in the early dawn. No matter what, the young man made Hui Yue feel even more uncomfortable and he quickly nodded towards the man before he turned around and moved back into the room itself, hiding from the staring stranger.