Blue Phoenix Chapter 88 – Fire

Lord Rong Liang sat in his office while he stared at a message memory stone which had arrived shortly before. It contained a very simple, but important message.

The week before Lord Rong Liang had sent a message to the Royal Family, warning them about the current situation within the city asking for their assistance to suppress the two scheming families. Rong Liang inferred that when someone went in opposition to a City Lord of the major cities, one was going up against the judgment made by the Royal Family, something which Rong Liang could not accept.

However, the message which he had just received contained straightforward instructions. The two families in question belong to the Great Hundred Names which are families with as much history as our kingdom itself. We cannot dispatch soldiers to suppress such families, though should they start an actual rebellion, then we will step in.

Knowing that the Royal Family would not step in before the fighting occurred, Rong Liang could only grit his teeth and do his best to be the winning faction. Closing his eyes, Lord Rong Liang sat still for a few minutes before his voice could be heard through the wooden doors, saying “Bu Huang!”

On the other side of Riluo City Hui Yue was seated within the stone garden of his mansion. Seated there one would be able to see two colored auras being emitted from the boy. One was the earth elemental affinity while the other was the fire affinity.

Although Hui Yue felt rather odd at first when he was alone, he had no intention of spending his energy on something about which he could do nothing. Instead, he once more sat down and allowed himself to meditate, considering the changes between his control over earth and fire.

Hui Yue knew that he had forcefully merged with the earth element. He could attempt to do the same with fire, yet this was not something he had any intention of trying. There was a feeling within Hui Yue which told him that it was not a good idea to try forcing fire. It would be much more destructive than earth had been, and syncing with earth had taken a significant toll on Hui Yue’s body.

Instead, Hui Yue’s mental projection moved to the spiritual energy sea where it summoned the red flame, the fire elemental affinity, with the intent of having a natural merger with the element.

Looking at the flame floating above his hand, Hui Yue gently touched it. The fire licked his hand, giving him a feeling of warmth yet not so warm as to hurt him.

Sending a strand of his consciousness into the flame, Hui Yue suddenly felt his entire soul being sucked into the world that was engulfed in a raging sea of fire. While looking at the inferno, a comfortable warmth spread throughout Hui Yue’s body.

A rushing sound appeared as the sea of raging flames condensed. Suddenly the flames shot out from within the spiritual energy sea, as they traveled through his meridians and veins with incredible speed.

An intense pain descended upon Hui Yue as the flames were raging through his body. Vein after vein was being scorched only to be healed the moment after. His entire body was being strengthened by the intense flames.

Agonizing screams could be heard from within the stone garden at the side of mansion. It was impossible for Hui Yue to stay calm and in his meditational pose thus he collapsed. Blood sprayed from his mouth as his body convulsed on the ground, allowing some of the stones to cut his skin as he was having spasms on top of them.

His blue eyes widened in immense pain. The blood-curdling screams seemed to become more and more desperate as the time went on. Despite the intense pain, the flames would not allow him to lose his consciousness.

The entire process lasted for hours. By the time the fire finally subsided, Hui Yue had no more energy left within his broken body. His eyes closed and he was engulfed by sleep where he lay.

The whole process occurred during the night while none of the servants were at the mansion, as Hui Yue preferred to be alone in the evenings. This ensured that no one could hear the ghastly screams which the now unconscious young man had previously howled.

After sleeping the majority of the night outside in the stone garden, Hui Yue woke up completely energized the following day. His body had already undergone a major transformation during the time he reached the first star Master rank. Last night another change occurred.

Hui Yue had successfully managed to sync the fire flame with his body, and by doing so, his entire being had been refined. The body itself had become many times more resilient than it had been before. It was not possible to see the changes from the outside, yet Hui Yue could feel it in every movement he made.

His body gained an immense amount of strength. This was not the kind of power obtained from qi nor spiritual energy, but just pure physical strength. A strength which had significantly increased after the entire rebuilding of his body.

Strength and resilience were not the only things which Hui Yue gained. He also noticed how the opening to the Dai Mai meridian was very close to being broken through. The barrier surrounding yet another of the caves within the dantian was becoming more and more transparent.

Although both the meridian and the barrier had gotten closer to opening up, they were still not open. Hui Yue was curious about what was hidden behind them. He knew that he could not rush their openings, as it would result in a much more difficult situation.

Even though those two were only close to opening, Hui Yue was more than satisfied as he felt the tremendous changes to his body. Although he was only a second star Master ranked cultivator, Hui Yue would be able to compete evenly with anyone within the Master and Grandmaster ranks. He might even be able to challenge some Duke ranked cultivators, if he truly needed to do so.

A satisfied smile appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he felt the newly gained strength rushing through his body and the amount of energy which flowed out from his dantians. Finally, the young man felt as though his cultivation was on the right track. If he were to fight Old Beardy now, dispatching him would not take more than a few seconds, a minute at most.

Within the Magical Forest, Sha Yun had just finished explaining the plan to the two sisters, and both of them were gaping at the drawings made in the sand. Everything about the scheme seemed to have been thought out, to the finest detail. No matter how the sisters thought about it, it was impossible for them to come up with any possibility not already addressed that could go wrong.

“Okay,” Shui Wu finally said as she nodded her head. Since the plan had been created and designed to such detail, she felt as though she could trust this human who had been looking after her older sister for the last many years.

Bing Niao was quiet for a long time. The promise of leaving the forest and seeing the outside world, for a short while, without having to submit to a human, was incredibly tempting. At the same time, she could not help but worry about what might happen.

A small sigh escaped her beautiful human lips as she looked at her sisters and finally decided to go along with them. Being left alone was one thing which she would never enjoy. With an affirmative nod, she quickly grasped the cloak, which she then put on.

Those cloaks suppressed their auras letting nothing leak out. Considering that they were humanoid beasts, it would be impossible for ordinary people to determine whether these creatures were human or beasts because of the cloaks. The only one who was unable to use this cloak was Sha Yun because her tail was far too long to fit underneath.

Fortunately, everyone would be able to see Sha Yun’s silvery eyes and know that she was already under a beast contract. For her to be in such a contract, it was highly likely that the cloaked persons who went with her were humans who had subdued the high-ranked beast.

These cloaks were one of the reasons that the sisters even dared to consider making the trip to the stone forest, but it was not the only reason. On the way back, the three beast sisters would be taking a detour to avoid various villages. By taking a detour in that way, the risk dropped tremendously.

Three days later an entourage of three made their way through the city gates. Two of these were cloaked in black with inscriptions which hid their aura. This caused every cultivator near them to look at them with hesitation. These cloaked men could either be incredibly strong or possibly extremely weak.

Either way, they were a group not to be messed with. They had strong backing, as no one would be capable of purchasing such exquisite cloaks without parting with quite a few coins. This fact alone was enough to allow them to travel in peace.

These three cloaked people were the three beast sisters. Their trip to Riluo City had taken a lot longer than it would otherwise have if they had traveled through the villages. This way they had considerably cut down on the places in which they needed to be wary of humans.

Both Shui Wu and Bing Niao upon entering the city were as overwhelmed as Sha Yun had been, causing the snake-woman to gloat with pride. Sha Yun was no longer a country bumpkin from the Magical Forest. Now she was an enchantress from one of the major cities. Although she was a magical beast, she lived a life much superior to that of many humans.

It was true that there were certain laws which made magical beasts unable to enter certain places, such as the City Lord’s mansion, to avoid the risk of enemy forces smuggling in beasts. Apart from laws like that, Sha Yun lived a life filled with respect from the humans around her. No one treated her as a magical beast. Instead, they treated her as equal to the rest of their friends or acquaintances.

Making their way through street after street, Sha Yun masterfully lead the two sisters through the bustling city, and she happily explained everything they saw on the way, making the return slightly delayed. Still, Sha Yun was so proud that she had managed to fulfill Hui Yue’s request of her.

Arriving at Hui Yue’s mansion, the guards outside quickly opened the gates with a respectful appearance, as they noticed Sha Yun. The snake-woman nodded in reply to the guards as she moved inside the mansion, instantly turning towards the stone garden where she had last seen Hui Yue days before.

When Sha Yun had left, Hui Yue had only managed to sync himself with his earth affinity forcefully. But now, just four days later, Hui Yue had managed to sync the fire affinity as well perfectly.

When the snake-woman entered the garden she instantly noticed the young man who was hovering in the air, a very pale silvery hue shining from him.

This silvery color was obviously that of the metal affinity, the final affinity which Hui Yue managed to call upon from within his spiritual energy sea.

Hui Yue was currently training the metal elemental affinity. Trying his best to increase his affinity with the metal element it was evident that he had just started it recently. His entire body was covered with beads of sweat, as he pushed his body to its limits.

As soon as he heard the slithering sound of Sha Yun making her way through the gravel, Hui Yue’s body no longer floated in the air. Instead, it landed on the stones as he opened his eyes and a smile adorned his face.

“Welcome to my home,” he politely said as he stood up and clasped his hands together in greeting the two beast sisters behind Sha Yun.