Blue Phoenix

“Sorry to frighten you,” A growling voice sounded out from the strong muzzle as Hui Yue saw the shocked expression on Cou Ling’s face. He embarrassingly scratched the top of his head with his sharp claws and looked down at himself. He had transformed from a human to a beast, and his clothes had burst as his body grew. His entire being was now quite intimidating.

“I won’t do you any harm, but you see my body is a hundred times stronger in this form than it is when I am a human. If I wish to withstand five lightning bolts today, I will have to be at my best. I promise I am not as dangerous as I look.” Pausing for a moment a toothy grin appeared on his face, “Please don’t tell anyone about my beastly appearance. Although it is known by all that I am the Grand Marshall of the beast army, not many have actually seen this transformation, and I would like to keep it a secret.”

A little numb, Cou Ling nodded her head. Her mouth was still gaping and her eyes widened. It took her quite some time before she finally managed to pull herself together, and as she did she shook her head to reset her mind.

Glancing at the wolf-man that was standing by her side, she could not help but be fearful Everyone knew that beasts were dangerous, and the fact that Hui Yue could transform into one proved that he was definitely not a normal human.

“Let’s start,” Hui Yue said solemnly and with a sharp claw, he managed to cut a long gash on his arm. This allowed for the Metal infused blood to run down onto the altar causing the inscriptions within to shine and the altar to once more activate.

The sky started rumbling, and clouds gathered above Hui Yue as the young man clenched his teeth. He summoned some of his mist energy to surround him as his blood flowed down upon the sword. The sword which was being forged by Cou Ling. Suddenly, the first lightning bolt struck and landed straight on Hui Yue. It caused him to grit his teeth in pain yet no sound was emitted, and a stubborn expression was visible in his eyes.

Unlike last time, Hui Yue needed less power to protect his body when he was in his wolf form, and the mist energy was, therefore, capable of protecting him against two lightning bolts. Using the remaining mist energy, the second lightning bolt slammed into his tense body causing him to feel blood pushing itself up his throat and into his mouth.

Forcefully swallowing the blood, some Wu Wei exited his body and wrapped around him as he got ready to welcome the third lightning bolt. As he did, he saw that Cou Ling was working hard. She was perspiring, and sweat was constantly rolling down her forehead, but it was all removed with the back of her hand as she rhythmically swung her hammer against the beautiful sword she was restoring.

Looking at the sword, a frown appeared on Cou Ling’s face. The day before when Hui Yue was in his human shape the blood which left his body had been silver; a perfect silver much like the time when she had created her hammer, but now the blood had a slightly red hue. As to where this red hue came from or what it meant, the woman had no idea.

Focusing on this red hue, she felt a ferocious air coming from the sword. It was as if a beast were trapped within. Feeling at a loss, Cou Ling mumbled to herself, “This must be because of his transformation,” While she could find no other reason, she also found that the metal on the sword seemed to be sharper than she had expected. The blade was thin but at the same time incredibly durable. The edge was sharper than anything she had ever seen before. Creating this sword from the Nine Heaven’s Devouring Blood Metal mixed with the blood of a beast and the nine heaven’s tribulation lightning, it was obvious that this sword in no way could remain as broken down as it had been before.

Deep within the sword was its core. Deep within was the original sword, but the material had been devoured by the blood metal. The inscriptions, rust, and metal had all become part of the blood metal, and now that Cou Ling spent her time creating it, she felt as though this was a masterpiece. A weapon unlike any she had created before, and deep down she was aware that she would never create anything like it ever again.

As Cou Ling was busy thinking this, Hui Yue was using all his energy to withstand the lightning bolts. He had almost used the rest of his energy when the fourth lightning bolt descended. ‘I need help,’ He said dejectedly, and a snort could be heard within the mind of Hui Yue.

A gust of wind appeared and the wolf suddenly changed shape. His red fur turned into blue feathers, and long arms turned to beautiful wings. His legs turned to the legs of a bird. A screech sounded out, and the wolf had completely changed shape into a massive blue phoenix. A bird which was covered with a golden veil to protect it. The wing was injured much like the arm had been before, and where the blood that previously fell onto the sword had a red hue, this blood had a blue hue to it. The magnificent bird roared into the skies, and as the final energy bolt descended upon it, the pride that was contained in its eyes caused Cou Ling’s heart to skip a beat as she hammered away on the sword.

The moment the final lightning bolt landed on Lan Feng’s bird-like body a shiver went through him. He had used a fair bit of the energy that he had spent countless hours refining, and the moment he took over the body its shape automatically changed from a wolf to a phoenix. Standing there, the lightning ran over his body making the phoenix seem like a Thunderbird. A mythical bird born from lightning and thunder, and before the final sparks died, the shape of the phoenix slowly returned to the shape of Hui Yue.

As soon as the final lightning bolt had descended the heavens above turned calm as if the lightning had never appeared in the first place, and the altar slowly stopped shining.

The hammering kept sounding out for a few minutes after the altar died down, but slowly that sound too stopped.

Hui Yue was currently too exhausted from withstanding the lightning bolts, and he had no energy to stand up and see how his amazing sword was after being reforged. But great interest could be seen in his eyes and Cou Ling gently lifted the sword and went towards Hui Yue where she handed it to him.

Saying his thanks, Hui Yue picked the sword up and held it in his hand. The sword was created from a silvery metal, but a red and blue hue shone from it. These colors alternated and merged together shining on their own. The feeling Hui Yue had when he sat with the sword in his hand was overbearing to the extreme. The sword felt ferocious as if a dangerous animal was stored within asking for blood.

Remembering what Cou Ling said about feeding the sword blood, Hui Yue gently cut his arm and placed the sword on the wound only to see it greedily absorbed the blood. It was as though they were drawn into the metal itself. When it absorbed his blood, the hue of blue and red increased dramatically.

As the sword absorbed the blood, it started to become warmer and warmer in Hui Yue’s hands, and eventually, it became so hot that he had no other option than to let it go. Looking at it with expectant eyes, Hui Yue could not understand what was wrong with the sword until he found that the sword was humming again. A humming very similar to the one it had when Hui Yue had first found it.

As soon as the humming sounded, Hui Yue felt how it was answered by a humming that came from his lower dantian. Suddenly the lifeless sword on the ground floated a meter into the air and started to spin around. When this happened, the humming increased and became louder and louder.

As it was spinning small streaks of light started to appear. As Hui Yue looked closer at the sword, he found that it was currently being inscribed with inscription patterns he had never seen before. Looking closely, he guessed that these patterns were the ones which had been on the original sword; the sword which core had been devoured by the Nine Heaven’s Devouring Blood Metal.

Together with the inscriptions a name was carved close to the hilt. The name Sword of the Icy Tempest. As the inscriptions finished engraving, Hui Yue reached out his hand and grasped the sword while look at every detail. Standing up, he swung the sword around and a whistling sound could be heard as it flashed by leaving nothing but a shadow in its wake.

Thinking for a moment, Hui Yue added his Qi into the sword and suddenly a massive whirlwind seemed to grow from the tip of the sword. A whirlwind which he could toss wherever he wanted. The more Qi he pushed through, the larger the whirlwind grew.

Contemplating for a short while, Hui Yue stopped adding Qi into the sword and instead added his Spiritual Energy. This time, the sword trembled slightly and the inscriptions flared up as one shard of ice after another appeared around the sword. With a flick of his hand, the ice shards speed towards a massive boulder Hui Yue targeted. Whistling sounds were heard as the ice shards collided with the boulder. Some sharp cuts could be seen in the stone as a result of the collision with the ice.

Hui Yue was silent for a short while before he retracted his spiritual energy and instead pushed his Wu Wei into the sword.

The moment his Wu Wei entered the sword the temperature around him instantly dropped. A gale appeared behind him and started to blow everything around him. Thousands of ice shards appeared, and this time not around the sword but around the young man. These ice shards were even larger than the ones previously, and their edge was as sharp as a knife itself. Seeing how an icy tempest had surrounded him, a satisfied nod could be seen as he withdrew his energy once more. This sword definitely lived up to its name as the Sword of the Icy Tempest.

Cou Ling and Fang Wei were both completely shocked as they saw how Hui Yue could summon one attack after another from the sword alone. They were shocked that the inscription from the original sword had actually survived the Nine Heaven’s Blood Forging.

Hui Yue was completely focused on the sword and paid no attention to the two other people who were waiting for him to finish so that they could return to the capital. Although Cou Ling had now finished the job she had promised to do, she was still hesitant when it came to leaving without her employer.

Hui Yue, who had been completely absorbed in the sword, suddenly paused as he lifted his head. He could feel through the ground that someone was moving this way, and this someone was not alone.