Blue Phoenix Chapter 87 – Asking for Assistance

Rushing through the dense forest Sha Yun’s beastly nature once more reasserted itself as she heard the familiar sounds of beasts bustling about in the woods. In the distance, the sounds of battle could be heard, and the smell of blood was wafting through the air.

The three clearings were placed quite far away from each other. The first one that mercenaries would encounter was the one belonging to Shui Wu causing her to be the sister who had killed the most humans.

After Shui Wu’s domain, the next one that the travelers would probably encounter belonged to Bing Niao. Bing Niao was the youngest of the three sisters. Sha Yun was quite confident that she would be the hardest to convince.

Bing Niao had never actually forgiven Sha Yun for leaving the forest together with a human boy. Every year when they met, although she was incredibly happy to see her sister again, a slight grudge had been growing within her young heart.

Worrying about how her sister would react, Sha Yun unconsciously slowed down when heading through the forest towards Bing Niao’s domain. Her heartbeat was slowly increasing, and by the time the clearing was within view, her heart was beating frantically.

Sha Yun paused, causing Shui Wu to do the same behind her, before she took a deep breath, with closed eyes, to steady herself.

Unlike Shui Wu, Bing Niao was not currently fighting against any mercenaries, nor was there the scent of blood being emitted from the clearing. The disappointment was seen on Sha Yue’s face as she noticed the lack of blood. Because Bing Niao was usually easier to deal with after she had killed someone and allowed herself to break out of the ice shell which encased her personality.

Slowly slithering into the clearing, a shiver ran through the snake-woman’s body, as the drop in temperature was simply too extreme. Snowflakes fell from the clear sky. The ground which should have been filled with beautiful, healthy grass and moss was covered in a blanket of white snow.

Within this white world, a beautiful woman was standing in the middle. Her legs were that of an eagle, long and thin, with three sharp claws on each foot. Her body and face were that of a beautiful woman. The skin, itself, was layered with small white feathers covering her entire body, closely resembling the feathers of Lan Feng, only in a different color.

This woman had no arms, only two long and beautiful white wings which spread out to a meter and a half each. Her white hair was long and curly, framing her beautiful human face with the ice-blue eyes that seemed to allow no mercy to be given out.

This one who was the hardest to deal with was Bing Niao, the youngest of the three sisters. Her face was filled with complicated expressions as soon as this white woman saw Sha Yun. It seemed as though anger won out as her wings suddenly flapped open and one spear of ice after another was tossed at the snake-woman.

Although Sha Yun loved her sister dearly, she usually did everything in her power not to enter her icy domain. Sha Yun was a snake-woman, and that meant that half of her body was that of a snake. For a snake, cold weather was her nemesis. Therefore she was unable to move at a decent speed. This caused her to get grazed by a few of the ice spears thrown her way.

A few drops of blood landed on the snowy world, tainting the purest white ground with these deep red drops. A few hisses were heard from Sha Yun’s lips. Even though those ice spears had only grazed her, Sha Yun had still felt the profound energy which was hidden beneath. Small threads of qi had entered her body, slowly corroding and freezing her up from the inside.

With a sigh and a flap of her wings, Bing Niao dispelled the cold qi as she started walking towards her two sisters. Furrowing her brows as she looked around to find the one human boy whom she detested more than anything.

“Big sis, are you alone today?” Bing Niao asked curiously. “Why did you not visit us last year?” A pained expression was now evident in the usually cold woman’s face, showing just how disappointed she had been when her older sister did not return home to visit.

“I am sorry,” Sha Yun apologized, looking downcast as she, too, wished to have visited. No matter what she wanted, she was aware that Hui Yue needed the time for cultivating. He had been through troublesome situations and currently each day of training was necessary for him to reach the highest possible level before the war brewing in Riluo City broke out.

“Hui Yue is not with me,” Sha Yun chuckled when she saw how Bing Niao kept looking around as if she expected Hui Yue to show up at any moment. “Things have happened within the city,” Sha Yun said with a serious face. “Do you remember that stone forest I told you about before?” the snake-woman asked, contemplating about the best way to convince her sisters. Seeing that the two other human beasts nodded their heads excitedly, a smile appeared on Sha Yun’s face.

Ever since the first time Sha Yun returned to the forest, she would spend the majority of her days explaining the outside world. Each sentence she spoke would cause her two younger sisters’ eyes to gleam with excitement and a hint of longing.

These two had no intention of handing over their freedom to a cultivator. Instead, they kept living the same kind of life that they had been living up until now.

“The stone forest is about to have a major fight,” Sha Yun explained, deciding to try and make it understandable for the sisters. “Imagine that this forest had two Saint ranked beasts, not only Old Snake,” she paused to give the two sisters time to imagine what it would be like. “The entire horde of beasts within this forest would have to choose which of the two Saint ranked beasts they should follow. That is the current situation within the stone forest.”

“Very soon, the two Saint ranked beasts, and their followers will clash in an all-out battle to see who gets to call the stone forest their territory,” Sha Yun continued to explain it the best she knew. She was smiling as she saw the shock evident on her sisters’ faces.

“Hui Yue had not planned to participate in this battle. However, some things have happened, and now he is planning on making a stand. He told me to ask if the two of you want to join us.”

“Has living among humans made you as dumb as them?!” Bing Niao exclaimed, as soon as Sha Yun finished her sentence. “If we join in a battle like that we could very likely be forced into submission by anyone we face!”

Sha Yun smiled subtly, as she pulled out two cloaks which she threw to her sisters respectfully. ‘These garments were made for Hui Yue by an able inscriber. It is impossible for any aura to leak out from within the cloak. While wearing it, no one would be able to tell that the two of you are magical beasts.’

“Before the fight, you will be staying at my new home,” Sha Yun said excitedly. “During the fight, no one will be able to tell that you are beasts. Even if you were to reveal yourself no one would be capable of doing anything to you, they would be far too busy trying to survive.”

The words which left Sha Yun’s mouth held so much temptation that the snake-woman could see both of her sisters hesitating slightly. Ever since Sha Yun had started to describe the outside world, both sisters wished to see what it was like, yet their pride would always stop them from going.

Hunting humans within the Magical Forest, in their territory, was one thing. But to exit the forest would make them lose all the advantages they had built up for themselves, not to mention the perfect hunting environment with magical beasts everywhere.

Looking at the two sisters who were close to being convinced, Sha Yun cheered inside as her face fell into an awkward expression. “I want to show you two where I am living now,” she said hesitantly, as though she was too embarrassed to say it out loud.

Seeing the shy look on their older sister’s face, both Bing Niao and Shui Wu could not help but feel giddy inside. After looking into each other’s eyes for a few moments, both of them nodded their heads as they donned the cloaks gifted by Hui Yue.

Now that they had made the decision, excitement shone within their eyes. Even the usually stern and expressionless Bing Niao was sprouting a small smile on her face.

The day was ending, and Sha Yun was seated together with her friends at a big lake which had once been a volcano. This volcano was the tallest mountain among the few mountains within the Magical Forest.

This was also a place where humans very seldom were seen as it belonged to the Forest King, Old Snake.

“So what is the plan we are supposed to follow?” Bing Niao finally asked. As she looked into the starry sky with her ice-blue eyes, her face showed impatience. Now that she had finally decided to join Sha Yun and travel to her home, she had trouble waiting for them actually to leave.

Sha Yun, on the other hand, knew that they would gain nothing from departing in the evening, as they could never make it back to Riluo City before the gate closed. Bringing two unsubdued magical beasts to stay outside the city gates all night seemed far too risky for her to attempt it.

Sha Yun smiled slowly as she answered the question. “He called it the Trojan horse,” she said before she leaned forward and used her nail to start making small figures in the sand which she used to explain what would happen.

Back in Riluo City, Hui Yue had been spending the majority of the day trying to get into contact with the fire element. It was not going as smoothly as he had hoped. It was as though the connection between Hui Yue and the element was completely sealed off. But oddly at the same time, he was able to cast Fire Spark without the need for incantations.

Lan Feng kept telling him that this was a typical situation. The only reason that he had managed to merge with the earth was that he forced it. Everything else required patience.

Thankfully patience was, however, one of Hui Yue’s strongest traits, and he slowly kept practicing the Fire Spark until his spiritual energy sea was all dried up. After which he would sit and meditate for a couple of hours, to replenish and refine more spiritual energy.

Hui Yue opened his eyes and was slightly startled, as he saw that the sky was no longer as bright as it had been when he had started refining qi into spiritual energy. Instead, it was now dark everywhere, apparently long past dinner time.

Hui Yue could not help but sigh as he looked around. The garden felt much bigger than it had previously as Sha Yun was no longer around. Hui Yue and Sha Yun had been separated for a few days before. These separations mainly happened when they were visiting the Magical Forest once a year, or if Hui Yue was invited to a gathering where magical beasts were not allowed.

Year after year these separations had grown fewer in number, and during the last two years, Hui Yu and Sha Yun had not spent more than a few hours away from each other, at most. The two were as used to the other as they were to themselves. Hui Yue was rather quite shocked when he found that he missed Sha Yun, her presence, and her ministrations to him, now that she was gone.

Laughing at himself, Hui Yue wondered if he was foolish feeling this emptiness. Hui Yue stood up and made his way to the kitchen where the chef had left a hearty meal on the table for the master of the mansion. Hui Yue ate with great satisfaction. Still, the entire house was too quiet. Suddenly it felt much larger than it ever had before, because now there was no snake-woman rushing around and moving through the doors, constantly blabbering.