Blue Phoenix

As the ring slipped onto the finger, a small light appeared and the azure dragon figurine appeared from within and Deng Wu placed it on the table between the two.

“When I turned ten years old I was allowed to pick up a smaller treasure from within the family treasury as a reward for being accepted into the Royal Academy.” Deng Wu said with a sigh.

Since Hui Yue had arrived here it was obvious that he knew something and the best way was for the two of them to share their secrets and then keep them hidden from the rest of the world.

Another reason as to why Deng Wu decided to explain his history with the figurine was because he knew nothing about this figurine, but when he had touched Hui Yue back at Riluo City, Deng Wu got the feeling that the Azure Dragon Figurine had been terrified by the beast currently imprisoned within Hui Yue’s body. Consulting Hui Yue about it could perhaps bring him some answers.

“My father was thrilled when I took this item since everyone considered it a useless piece, only worth using as a decoration. The first year I brought it with me everywhere and just as my father thought, this figurine was really quite useless.” Hui Yue was quiet, but he had an interesting premonition as to what this dragon figurine was, and he could not help but wonder how Lan Feng felt about finding it here while both were as weak as they were.

“One day when I returned home, someone came and stole my storage stone where my figurine was in and I spent three days fighting to get it back. I know it was not useful but I still fell in love with its beauty.” Deng Wu shook his head ruefully and Hui Yue could only muster a wry smile. He, if any, understood how it was to fall for an item the second one’s eyes locked on to it. Unfortunately, the one Hui Yue had found ended up killing him within the hour.

Deng Wu saw the wry smile on Hui Yue’s face and he got the impression that Hui Yue knew exactly what sort of emotions he felt.

“When I finally got it back, the figurine started speaking with me,” Deng Wu said, at this point rather quickly and a little embarrassed. Deng Wu understood perfectly well how insane it sounded.

“The figurine has a lot of effects. It has given me a cultivation technique that is much stronger than anything I had seen before. It is capable of masking my own cultivation base but also look through any disguise of someone weaker than him. He instantly recognized the aura of a divine beast on you, but I never would have thought that it was someone he knew.” Deng Wu went past the abilities the azure dragon figurine had, and this time he hid nothing from Hui Yue.

“A cultivation technique is not enough to get such a high rank in your cultivation base in five years,” Hui Yue pointed out with a smile, and Deng Wu in turn gave an embarrassed smile.

“This figurine used to be very strong and it was well-versed in pill concocting when it was still alive, and it has helped me with various herbal extracts that has improved my cultivation by leaps and bounds.”

Hui Yue grinned upon hearing that this one was capable of being an alchemist, something Lan Feng had wanted to do badly.

“I need to have a small talk with my dear cohabitant, I am not sure how much he wishes to tell you.” Hui Yue said and internally asked, ‘Lan Feng, what do we do?’

‘Let me speak through you,’ Lan Feng said with a sigh, and Hui Yue quickly accepted tacitly. He wandered inwards and materialized a mental projection and headed down to the dantian cave where the feathered blue boy started to get transparent before he turned into ball of light which exploded into thousands of strands that went through the meridians and eventually overtook the body.

Unlike last time, this was not a forced takeover, rather a permission which Hui Yue granted Lan Feng, and it was a skill which Hui Yue had not known about prior to the fight with the black-cloaked men.

“Listen up boy,” the celestial voice sounded from Hui Yue’s mouth, causing Deng Wu to get startled and the figurine on the table to rumble loudly.

“Have you been told about the history of our world?” Lan Feng continued while Hui Yue had sat down in the dantian cave, leaning against the wall and allowing the phoenix to take care of everything this day.

“I have not.” Deng Wu said politely. He was after all aware that he was currently speaking with the genius behind Hui Yue. The mysterious expert who destroyed the Shan family compound with a single low ranked attack.

“I will not tell you the long story, but this world used to belong to the families of the four divine beasts, until we got tricked by a human and sealed within various decorative items, after which we were scattered amongst different planes in the universe.” Saying this caused Deng Wu’s eyes to widen in shock as he had never expected anything like that to be true.

“The one you have gotten your hands on is none other than the descendant of the Azure Dragon, and I have to tell you, it brings me great joy to see him locked up in such a small figurine.” Lan Feng said with a certain amount of schadenfreude and a toothy grin. This was karma.

“The Azure dragon’s descendant?” Deng Wu repeated while frowning. Unlike Hui Yue, he had never heard about the four divine beasts before. Deng Wu had grown up within the Taiyang Kingdom and due to this, he had never heard about what transpired during the Dark Age.

Hui Yue on the other hand remembered how shocked he had been when he found out that this azure figurine was the descendant that was tricked into betraying the others, and whether it was intentional or not, he was also the cause of the four descendants being sealed within the various decorative objects.

“This world was created by our fathers and given to us after a rite of passage. Unfortunately, SOMEONE got tricked by a mere human and we ended up like this.” Lan Feng reached an octave higher for a split second and snorted, “That useless son is in your figurine and he ought to stay there to think about his misgivings.”

“Shut up, you damn bird!” a voice roared from the azure figurine. “You would have been tricked as well, and unlike you I am still sealed!”

“So what?” Lan Feng retorted, “you caused us to be sealed, is it not fair that you are the last to be unsealed.”

“You aren’t too lucky either,” the figurine mocked back, “I see you got free from the hairpin but instead you are locked up as some stupid servant to a brainless kid.”

“Oh yeah? At least I managed to form a soul contract….” Lan Feng said, before his expression went from proud to annoyed, “I should not have said that. I should definitely not have said that.”

While Lan Feng had gotten annoyed for saying something unintended, the figurine was completely quiet. This was most likely due to the shock of hearing that anyone was willing to establish a soul contract with a divine beast.

Deng Wu was staring blindly at the figurine and at the possessed Hui Yue. The conversation was really impossible for him to follow.

“So I take it that the two of you are old friends.” He said calmly, while looking at the two, causing both to be slightly embarrassed.

“Ahem,” Lan Feng cleared his throat. “As you most likely have understood, this figurine used to be a divine beast much like myself, same saint rank as me too. He was even slightly stronger back then, but right now he surely is quite fragile.”

The satisfaction within Lan Feng’s voice was impossible to mask and the grin that had appeared on his face had Deng Wu wondering which kind of creature this beast was, and how Hui Yue could stand spending every waking hour of the day together with him.

“In the end, both of us have a secret that no one else is supposed to know about,” Lan Feng continued with a long sigh. “You keep quiet about Hui Yue and our secrets, and in turn we keep quiet about little Dragon and you.”

“Little Dragon?” Deng Wu looked confused, “this figurine is named little Dragon?”

The figurine gave a harrumph in reply, and Lan Feng let go of Hui Yue’s body, allowing him to take back control.

“He is named after his father Qing Long, but it was too confusing to use the same name for both, so we never called him anything else than little dragon.”

Hui Yue decided that it was time for him to go back to his own courtyard as Deng Wu now knew the truth about his item but also knew that both him and Hui Yue shared the same secret; if one was to be exposed, the other would likely follow.

After visiting Deng Wu, Hui Yue had returned to his own courtyard where he prepared for another visit to the Medicinal Pill Outlet, intent on purchasing an amount of medicinal pills worth three spirit coins this time.

Hui Yue was aware of how the more pills he took of one kind, the less effective they became. This had caused Hui Yue to mix a few different pills into his purchases to see how they were compared to the others.

The life within the academy was exactly like it had been since admission. The students were moving around from lectures to mountain tops. The arenas were filled with students who held grudges against each other or those who simply felt like they needed to spar in order to improve their skills.

However, unlike the royal academy, Riluo City was bustling with energy and new waves. The Ma family had decided to expand their business to no longer only focus on only their Black Market Auction House.

An immense amount of wealth had been used to advertise the new business idea of ‘insurance’. Both the Ma family and Hui Yue had expected that it required a long time for the insurance to be accepted amongst the common people and noble families within the city, but contrary to their beliefs, the interest proved overwhelming.

The insurance covering the houses was mainly bought by the noble families that had seen first-hand how the Shan family lost everything.

The life insurance, on the other hand, was incredibly popular amongst the various guards, soldiers and especially mercenaries.

Within the span of a few months, almost every family within the city had either a personal insurance or a family insurance, causing the Ma family’s reputation and importance to soar high into the sky.

According to the contract, Hui Yue got paid 3% of the profits each month, and although it was a very slim amount of money in the beginning, it was still enough money to change the fate of his home village.

Hui Yue had not been back home since he had left to attend the admission ceremony. He asked Gao Yan to help him find an errand boy whom he could trust, and just a few days later,a young man was ready to take on the task that Hui Yue had in mind.

This task was to, once a month, travel to Hui Yue’s village and deliver the money from the Ma family, and in return he would be heavily rewarded. The reason a heavy reward was plausible was based on the fact that this man was a cultivator at the practitioner rank, and secondly because Gao Yan had insisted on making a blood contract.

A blood contract was, as the name suggested, a contract signed in the partner’s’ blood. Signing a contract in blood meant that it was implausible for the people who had signed it to break their promise and should they do so, then they would die in the process.