Blue Phoenix Chapter 5 – Laws

‘Sun?’ Hui Yue asked curiously as he heard Lan Feng’s comments, and the phoenix finally started speaking. ‘When our forefathers created this plane they created a sun and moon. Those two split the year in half, with each taking responsibility for half a year. This was how the seasons were born.’

‘Sun would enter meditation where she would meditate for half a year. Meditation allows for her to become one with the world, and through her care flowers bloom and spring arrives. During the half year she is meditating her cultivation soars, and the world feels her presence more and more as the days go by. This is why spring is not as warm as summer.’

Lan Feng paused slightly to see if Hui Yue understood. With a nod from the white-haired boy, the phoenix continued, “When Sun manages to merge with the world fully, her powers are at their strongest. At this time, the sun is at its most radiant, sending her warmth to the surface.’

‘As soon as she reaches the apex, then Moon will come and take over. He will enter isolated meditation, and when he reaches his peak winter will be upon us. It is autumn now so Moon should be meditating, but that means Sun should be here to look after their children, the seasons.’

‘If Sun has four children then who is Xingye?’ Hui Yue asked curiously. He was not a season but instead the night sky.

‘Xingye was created by our forefathers along with sun and moon. As long as he lives, the stars will always be shining.’

Upon pausing slightly, Lan Feng’s brows were furrowed. He pondered how to explain something as profound as what they were currently talking about.

‘Are you sure she is not just somewhere else?’ Hui Yue asked quizzically, yet upon seeing the phoenix shake his head. A frown appeared on his forehead as he observed the five children who were all playing with Deng Wu, happiness evident in their eyes as they remembered a time long gone.

“Xingye,” Hui Yue called out, and the child instantly turned around. His face beaming with happiness as the many stars within his eyes shone brightly. “Where is Sun?” Hui Yue asked curiously. Yet as soon as he asked a tense atmosphere appeared in the clearing.

Looking at Hui Yue, hope seemed to flourish within the eyes of the small child. “Mother was taken away,” the small boy said with a depressed voice as he shook his head in despair, but moments later he no longer seemed sad. It was as though he could not stay depressed for long.

‘I did not plan for you to deal with something this serious just yet...’ Lan Feng complained, but Hui Yue could feel excitement bubbling up within the phoenix, and he instantly understood that this had turned into training for him and his friends.

Hui Yue was slightly daunted by the thought of having to save Sun. Sun was the one who granted summer and spring to the world alongside allowing humans to survive. Sun had to be incredibly strong, yet even she was caught. How could Hui Yue possibly help?

Yet no matter how worried and unsure Hui Yue was, he felt more and more excitement and determination within Lan Feng’s soul which caused Hui Yue to sigh. Although he felt he was not ready for the task just yet, Hui Yue had promised the phoenix that he would follow any orders given when it came to training. Making Hui Yue strong would definitely benefit Lan Feng on his road for revenge.

Hui Yue said nothing as he stood to the side and started looking for tents within his storage stones, which he then set up in the clearing. After setting up the tents, he started a bonfire where he began cooking food for the children and his friends.

Sha Yun quickly understood that they were planning to stay for a bit, but Hui Yue had not told her his plans yet causing the snake-woman to be slightly confused. She looked at Hui Yue with tender eyes before she slithered into the forest where she picked up branches to use for the bonfire. Although she would have preferred cooking, she knew that Hui Yue would decline her offer.

Soon the smell of stew drifted out from the pot, and the season’s stomachs growled as drool dripped from the corners of their mouths.

Seeing how the children finally released Deng Wu, the friends laughed. Within a short while, everyone was eating their stew while chatting with each other. Hui Yue intentionally placed himself next to Xingye.

“Can you tell me what happened when your mother was taken?” Hui Yue asked gently as he filled the boy’s plate with plenty of meat. The boy’s face only showed a trace of depression before it became excited from seeing the glistening, tender meat on his plate. Coercing a child was something Hui Yue felt capable of doing, even if that child was thousands of years old.

“She had just come out of meditation,” Xingye said while stuffing his face with stew, expertly avoiding the vegetables and only eating the meat. “Mother says that we are not allowed to fight with the nearby villages unless they do something very bad. Mother had absorbed the energy from the heavens and earth then they took her away.”

“Why would they take her?” Hui Yue asked quietly while trying to get as much information as possible from the small friend next to him.

He already learned that Sun was taken away as soon as she left her isolated cultivation and that she followed without putting up too much of a fight.

“They want her for the sake of increasing their harvest,” Xingye said with a sad expression on his face. Though as soon as his eyes fell on the pot which had been used to cook the stew his smile resurfaced.

‘Don’t be so shocked,’ Lan Feng commented when he felt how Hui Yue was quite astonished. Their mother has disappeared yet the children have done nothing about it this whole time.

‘They’re not children,’ Lan Feng continued, ‘They are the laws which this world is built upon. They are the laws which the four divine beasts created at the same time they created the continent itself. We will meet many of these laws on our travels. They are laws created by the Gods. To be created by a God makes it impossible for one to go against them. To go against a law is the same as going against this world. Imagine what would happen, should the sun die and fall from the sky. Should the moon never again raise the tides, should the seasons never change.’

‘These laws are far older than us. They are as ancient as the first rock in this world. The laws are all around us. It is the law that binds the world together, allowing for it to exist. When you become an upper dantian user, I will tell you far more about them as you will begin to sense them.’

Hui Yue nodded his head. Right now he did not need to know more about the laws, what he did need to know about was what kind of people kidnapped Sun.

‘They should be from the closest village so that we will go there after a few days of rest. Make sure that you train properly during these next few days; we cannot waste too much time on this.’ Getting her back here was of utmost importance before the four of them could move on to the next dungeon.

Looking at their surroundings, Hui Yue could not help but wonder why this place was referred to as dungeons. It was obviously a whole new world which was spread out under the entire continent, but it did not look dead. Quite to the contrary, it was filled with living beings, trees, and plants. Even a sun and moon were present within the underworld kingdom they now traveled through.

Having put all the kids to bed, Hui Yue was seated with his friends in front of the bonfire where they warmed themselves. Being beneath the earth and inside this cave, the stone walls which surrounded them sucked all the warmth which the sun had produced during the day.

The moment the sun vanished, the warmth was slowly absorbed by the cave walls, and the previous comfortable temperature changed. At night the cave would be filled with chilled humid air, much like how the weather felt on an autumn night on the surface.

“We need to rescue her, or if she hasn’t been captured then at least we need to bring her back here,” Hui Yue said, as he finished passing on Lan Feng’s words from earlier.

Seated at the back, Hui Yue was contemplating the laws which had been mentioned earlier. Truthfully, Hui Yue understood that it was something which he should not encounter until he reached the upper dantian. He felt as though it was impossible to comprehend such things before his upper dantian was opened, yet at the same time, there were these thoughts just out of reach. Thoughts that made Hui Yue feel as though he would understand some of it at least if he were to think just a little more.

But no matter how much time Hui Yue spent thinking, that feeling remained. He never caught hold of what exactly the laws were. With a sigh, he stood up and decided to think about it when he had more time.

“Let’s go,” Hui Yue said with a low voice before he turned around and gestured for the friends to follow him. Silent as a shadow, the four young cultivators made their way through the forest and moved towards the village which had taken Sun.

Following the path set down by Lan Feng, Hui Yue quickly passed on information which he was being given on the way.

The village was not a big one as approximately a hundred people lived in it. They all earned their living through agriculture, and Lan Feng assumed that Sun had been caught for the sake of increasing their harvest by a noticeable margin.

Having gained every bit of information, Hui Yue and the others nodded their heads. They felt like they were much more prepared now than they had been before. Rushing towards the village, they hoped to get into contact with Sun without anyone noticing them and then they would convince her to return to the cabin to once more look after the seasons.

The forest they traveled through was dense and only allowed one to see a few meters in front of them, yet suddenly all the trees vanished. Looking around, one could tell they were clearly removed to clear land for agriculture.

As soon as Hui Yue saw this, he raised his hand and gestured at the others to stop. Slowly Hui Yue and his friends snuck closer and closer, and as they expected, a small village appeared outside the forest.

However as soon as the four of them broke through to the open clearing, they expected to see a village, but what they saw caused them all to stop in their tracks. They stood there, staring agape at fields which went on as far as the eye could see. Far off in the distance, a city rose with pagodas reaching towards the dungeon’s ceiling.

“Well...” Hui Yue said while looking at the city in the distance and sighed deeply. “It seems that even things within this closed off area have managed to evolve quite a bit in four thousand years.”

Upon hearing this, the three others solemnly nodded their heads. A blank look was present in their eyes as all the plans they had prepared beforehand had become completely useless.

“We won’t get anything done by standing here,” Hui Yue said after a short while, and he started walking towards the city. “Let us change our plans slightly. Our first goal is to locate Sun,” having said that, Hui Yue walked with steady steps towards the city in the distance; his friends quickly caught up to him as they walked on in silence.