Blue Phoenix

The first thing Hui Yue did upon arriving within the room was to look around. It was incredibly bare, looking almost like a prison cell with nothing more than a stone bed, a stone chair, and a stone desk. Everything looked cold and gloomy, but Hui Yue knew that all he needed was right there. The room itself did not have any storage space, but having a belt filled with storage stones this was in no way a problem.

On the stone desk, Hui Yue found pen and paper and he quickly sat down to write the letter to his friends. Knowing not where Sha Yun, Deng Wu, and Wang Ju Long were, he addressed his letter to the Rong twins which he knew were within the Main Branch of the Royal Academy. He guessed that the three of his friends would have gone to meet up upon arrival.

Dear Rong Ming and Rong Xing

I write to you as I guess that the two of you are still attending the Royal Academy’s Main Branch. It has been how many years since we last met? I hope the two of you are doing well within the capital.

I imagine that you have met Deng Wu, Wang Ju Long, and Sha Yun recently, and I request of you to tell the three that I am safe and sound, however, I am caught up with something right now; something which will keep me occupied for an unknown amount of time.

I am sure that our friends have told you the stories of our travels and when I return I will tell you the rest.

Your friend

Hui Yue.

Looking at the letter, Hui Yue knew that it left out all a lot of important information, but it informed them about him being alive, and that was the main reason why he wrote the letter in the first place.

Rolling up the scroll he fastened a small thread around the document which he added some of his spiritual energy within and then sealed the letter shut.

Leaving the letter on the desk he moved towards the stone bed where he sat down and started cultivating. He knew that the next day would be the start of the training which Lan Feng considered hellish. He could not wait to see just how terrible it truly was.

While Hui Yue was within the room no one came to disturb him, not even a servant to bring food or water. It was obvious that he would have to look after himself. Thankful that he had stored plenty of food and drinks from before his travels and during his travels themselves. Saving dried meats, fruits, and nuts was something he considered necessary.

Although Hui Yue had a lot of food with him, it was quite rare for him to be hungry. Hui Yue was currently a Duke ranked cultivator. Internal energy rushed through his body, fortifying every cell, and every organ. The body itself constantly absorbed the essences of the heavens and earth something which kept his body filled with nutrients.

Eating and drinking was, at this point, something he did not need to do daily. Only once every week was enough, and considering this, Hui Yue could not truly blame Wan Qiao for not looking after his meals.

The night was spent in quietness while they, man and phoenix, cultivated their internal energies. Although they cultivated the speed with which they refined their energies was far slower than it usually was.

Lan Feng was frightened about the thoughts of going through training once more, training which had traumatized him while Hui Yue was excited to undergo the harsh training, a training which was capable of making him even stronger. So strong that he could stand tall without having to always rely on Lan Feng, something he looked forward to.

As the expectation of training overtook Hui Yue he was not capable of refining much essence into Qi nor much Qi to spiritual energy. All he did was to imagine the training program he was to undergo.

*knock* *knock*

As soon as the first ray of sunshine appeared in the sky, a servant knocked on the door. Hui Yue instantly stood up, opened the door, and followed him with a gleam of excitement in his eyes.

The trip to the training grounds was long and winded. They walked past multiple corridors, beautiful gardens, and elaborate terrasses. There were human, or beast, made lakes and within the lakes were various fish species and birds moving around. The entire palace was so beautiful and exotic that Hui Yue could not help but stare in amazement.

Finally after having walked through multiple gardens, buildings, and terrasses the servant who was leadíng Hui Yue finally arrived at the outskirts of the castle. At a place where green fields stretched far and wide. Thousands of different human shaped beasts were standing in the chilled morning air split into various groups.

All of their faces were filled with astonishment and confusion as they stared at one person who was leaning against a tree which served as a fence around the practice grounds.

Moving closer, Hui Yue instantly recognized this figure to be Wan Qiao. Somehow he remembered the slaps he was given the day before and shivers ran through his spine as he thanked the green pearl for healing him. Had it not then he was likely to have been seriously injured and unable to leave the bed for a couple months.

But here he was and as soon as he stepped onto the grass an energy ripple emanated outwards, and within less than a second, the woman who was leaning against a tree suddenly found herself right in front of the young man.

Seeing this, all the guards attention were now fully focused on Hui Yue. The newcomer who was getting special attention, something which they did not like.

“To think you made it in time, even though Lan Feng knows what this is about, I am shocked to see it.” The woman said with a grin on her face and with a flick of her hand she brought out a vest, two leg guards, and two arm guards.

“Wear these. They will increase your weight. For the next four weeks, you are not allowed to use your internal energy unless I tell you otherwise.” She said and Hui Yue, confused, nodded his head as he stripped off his shirt and took on the weight while asking no question. As soon as the weights touched his body it was as though all internal energy had been stopped. Although he could still refine energies passively, he was completely incapable of controlling them.

Seeing the determined expression within Hui Yue’s eyes, Wan Qiao was very satisfied, but she knew that although someone was determined at the start this did not mean that they had what it took to get through her training.

Having his internal energy not rotating, Hui Yue felt exactly the same way as when he lived on earth. Had he not lived a life on Earth for as long as he had, then he was certain that this feeling would have been incredibly odd.

Seeing that Hui Yue made no fuss over the sudden removal of his energies, Wan Qiao silently approved of his reaction, but she showed none of this on the outside. With a barking voice she told Hui Yue to run as far as he could. He was not allowed to stop for the first two hours at least, but she hoped he would run for longer.

Running was something which Hui Yue had been used to do back when he trained Wushu on Earth. Currently, his body was many times stronger than it had been back then. Even if he could not use his internal energy, his physical body had changed from the many years of having energy roaming inside. Now he was capable of running both faster and longer than ever before.

In spite of this, Hui Yue chose a steady pace. A pace he would have run had he been training for wushu, and the reason he chose this was due to the extra weights he was wearing.

The first ten minutes he felt absolutely nothing. The following half hour was slowly heading towards disaster, and after an hour sweat was flooding down his body as he kept running with fifty kilograms weighing down his body; ten on each leg, five on each arm, and twenty on his chest.

Running past the first hour, Hui Yue was quite satisfied with himself, but he then remembered Wan Qiao’s words of having to run at least two hours. He gritted his teeth and staggered onwards. At this point every muscle in his body was burning, his legs were like jelly but Hui Yue forced himself to continue. one more step. He kept telling himself as he was running.

At some point, Hui Yue entered a trance where his legs kept moving and he kept urging them forward, but he had forgotten everything else. The only thing he was focused on was his body and running. He no longer felt heavy, instead, he was light. Light and filled with an unexplainable energy.

As for how long this trance went on, Hui Yue did not know but suddenly he found himself in one of the fields that was filled with guards. He was uncertain as to how he had ended there. As soon as he came back to reality his legs were so sore that he could almost not keep himself walking as he made his way back towards Wan Qiao who was smiling happily.

“You did a great job!” She said smilingly. Hui Yue was in a trance for far longer than he expected. Truthfully, he had run with these weights on his body for a little more than three hours, something only possible because he had entered a perfect training trance.

“Follow me,” was all Wan Qiao said, and then she started walking towards her office. Hui Yue was trying his best to follow on his extremely sore legs, making him fall slightly behind.

Falling behind was bad as Wan Qiao showed no signs of waiting for him she just kept walking. He was at a loss for where she was going and eventually was forced him to run once more.

The road back felt many times longer than when he first walked to the grounds, but he had no choice than to follow behind the eagle-woman in front of him. As they finally arrived at her private rooms, Hui Yue wondered if he was in for another slap.

Fortunately, that was not the case Wan Qiao just smiled at him. Her smile seemed a tad sadistic, her face showing schadenfreude as she looked at him.

“Yesterday you said that this beast inside of you increases your strength. I would very much like to see you unleash this beast. Don’t worry I’ll keep you in check. Of course, it will be hard for me to not kill you if you become too wild, but I will do my best.”

Hearing this, a wry smile appeared on Hui Yue’s lips and he could not help but feel rather helpless. Still he removed the extra weights which made it impossible for Hui Yue to activate his inner energies. Moments after the red mist billowed through his body, his eyes turning red and his body transforming into that of a massive wolf-man. His hind legs were now ten times stronger than before, his hands had sharp claws and were now more deadly than ever before. His eyesight improved drastically and so had his sense of smell and taste.

But while Hui Yue allowed for this transformation to happen, he himself was pushed away, the red mist taking over full control of his body.