Blue Phoenix

“Someone is headed this way,” Hui Yue said with a low voice. “There are at least twenty walking towards us while there is a carriage pulled by a magical beast alongside four others riding magical beasts,” He continued after placing a hand on the ground.

Hui Yue had an elemental affinity with Earth, and he had just now merged with the element. He became one with the Earth letting him scan the area around him. As long as someone stepped on the ground within half a kilometer, Hui Yue would be able to feel it.

“We should get going. It could be troublesome to be here when they arrive.”

Hearing the words spoken by the young man both Cou Ling and Fang Wei agreed, and the three of them started leaving the altar. Glancing behind him, Hui Yue frowned. The group which was headed their way sped up, and the four people riding magical beasts started moving even faster than the people on foot.

“The two of you get behind that stone,” Hui Yue said seriously as he pointed at a massive boulder nearby. Although both Cou Ling and Fang Wei had faces which showed that they were about to argue, Hui Yue quickly shook his head; he pointed at the stone leaving neither of them with a choice but to do as he ordered.

Turning around, Hui Yue’s grip on the Sword of the Icy Tempest tightened. His eyes turned slightly red as killing intent flashed within. At the same time, energy started roiling within his body making it easier for him to use it in an instant.

“Since it is like this, let’s try it out,” He mumbled as he looked at the sword in his hand. As the riding experts came closer and closer, the sword seemed to vibrate more and more as though a fighting spirit was stirring within. It seemed as if the sword wished to fight as much as Hui Yue did.

It did not take long before the riders reached Hui Yue. All four of them were riding Qilins, and they seemed comparable to Practitioner ranked experts. The experts seated on top of the Qilins were all Kings, the same rank as Hui Yue.

Although they were the same rank, Hui Yue had quite a few aces up his sleeve. He had high ranked martial arts, high ranked spiritual arts, the ability to transform into a wolf, not to mention the reforged sword he held in his hand, and even the phoenix which was resting inside his lower dantian.

Looking at the four Kings, he saw them smirking as they rode closer, but their smirk soon vanished as they felt their Qilins start to tremble with fear. It was almost to the point where they couldn’t moving forward anymore.

“Useless trash!” One of the Kings said as he jumped from the Qilin, and with a decisive slash, he chopped off the head of the beast causing it to collapse to the ground. Its body twitching while blood flowed outward.

Seeing his decisiveness, Hui Yue could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. Although he was shocked, he showed nothing on his face nor did he allow it to affect him. It was after all just the murder of a beast, something he himself had done so many times that it would be impossible to count.

The other experts were not as decisive, but all of them dismounted their Qilins and allowed for them to stay back as they looked at Hui Yue and slowly stepped towards him.

“Little boy, what is someone like you doing out here?” He spoke as his eyes landed on the silver sword in Hui Yue’s hands. Instantly greed appeared on the faces of the four experts. One of them greedily licked his lips while all of them stepped forward.

“Give us that weapon of yours, and we will let you leave alive,” Another of the men said as he too focused on the weapon in Hui Yue’s hand. Seeing the greed in this person’s eyes, Hui Yue snorted in distaste.

“If you have the ability to take it, then come take it,” He said disdainfully. Raising the sword and taking a stance, Hui Yue was ready to start fighting the four Kings. His face was tranquil, but he had an air of coldness about him. Looking at this young man, all four Kings felt a shiver run down their spine before they started laughing.

“It is four against one. Little boy your talent might be good, but this is not your rich family’s home. We don’t care about killing a genius nor do we mind the retaliation from your family. All we care about is getting what we want. You had best hand over the sword if you value your little life.”

“Shut up, leave or die,” Hui Yue sneered at the man who had just spoken as a slight humming appeared from within Hui Yue’s body. A humming which resonated with his sword. Without waiting any longer, Hui Yue inserted Qi into his sword, and with a flick of his hand, he shot an icy whirlwind towards the four King ranked experts.

Although this was just a Qi attack, the sword in Hui Yue’s hands was in no way simple. As the whirlwind descended on the four experts, they were required to protect themselves against the wind.

“Shattering Rock Palm!”

“Stargazing Kick!”

“Golden Finger Attack!”

“Destruction Fist!”

The four experts called out their attacks as they attacked the whirlwind and moments later it slowly broke down and dissipated. Seeing this, Hui Yue did not expect that the whirlwind would have lasted as long as it did, and moments after he inserted his spiritual energy within.

Ice shards once more appeared at the edge and tip of the sword. Every single ice shard glistened in the sunshine, and with a wave of his hand, all the shards rushed at the four experts who once more were forced to defend themselves.

This time they no longer used attacks to counter, but instead, golden light surrounded and protected them. But despite this, all four still underestimated the ice shards’ power, and a few got through superficially wounding the experts.

Smirking Hui Yue was satisfied with the strength of the second attack from the Sword of the Icy Tempest. It was incredibly rare for a spiritual energy attack to wound someone who was of the upper dantian so to see the blood which flowed from a few scratches, he knew that this attack was superior to most spiritual energy attacks.

It was not only Hui Yue who was surprised by the potency of the attacks, but the four experts were staring dumbfounded at their wounds before their faces turned increasingly ugly. Their fists clenched and their eyes turned red. Four Kings ranked experts were fighting one, and not only had he wounded them he had done so with a weak spiritual energy attack.

“Kill him. Shred him to pieces so nothing remains,” One of the men said with a low but dangerous voice. “Get the sword. Our master will pay a hefty award if we provide him with such a valuable treasure!” Another said, but their words did not cause Hui Yue any fear; instead, a sneer appeared on his face. He sneered as he poured his Wu Wei into the sword, and the wind suddenly picked up. The blue heaven above suddenly turned cloudy. Thunder rumbled in the distance and the temperature dropped several degrees.

Looking at the sinister expression on Hui Yue’s face the four Kings shivered, but all four had been through many battles before, and they all understood that his attack was coming.

Snow started falling from the sky on this warm summer day. The temperature kept dropping, and the four experts unreservedly used their Wu Wei. One of them created a massive disk-like platform which he pressed downwards towards Hui Yue. In response, the young man just watched the descending disk with disdain in his eyes.

The falling snow turned stronger and soon it became a real snowstorm. The snow was so dense that it was impossible for the four experts to see Hui Yue in front of them; all they could see was a wall of snow.

Suddenly, a whistling sound was heard followed by a blood-curdling scream. Looking to the side, they found one of their companions had fallen to the ground his hands hugging his leg, or what was left of it.

A massive ice shard had cut clean through his leg tearing the muscles apart leaving behind nothing. Seeing this, the three other experts turned pale and golden Wu Wei gushed out of them forming a much stronger protective layer around their bodies.

“Ding,” “Clang,” Sounds could be heard as more and more ice shards landed on the Wu Wei cloaks of the three remaining Kings. The one on the ground had turned eerie silent, yet none of the other three had the luxury to worry about anything else than themselves. This attack was relentless, and it seemed as though the speed of the ice shards was increasing. The more Wu Wei that was released into the sword, the worse the situation became for the experts.

“What is going on here?!” A voice suddenly rang out from outside the snowstorm. When the voice sounded the faces of the three experts grew increasingly uncomfortable, “Young master do not enter!” One of the experts called out, and although the master who was waiting outside had a sour expression, he did not enter the snowstorm.

“Master, we encountered a foreign man who seemingly used the blood altar. He is in possession of a sword forged with Nine Heavens Blood Metal. This snow is all from that sword! I am positive that he is weak on his own, and he should run out of strength soon. He cannot sustain this attack for much longer. Please leave this to us. We will exhaust his energy, and when he is weak, we will shred him to pieces then give you his weapon. Without it, he is worth nothing!” One of the King ranked experts inside the snowstorm yelled out, and his words caused Hui Yue to laugh while he was surrounded by white snow whirling around him. If they thought that this sword was his power, then they were in for a great surprise.

“Why don’t you try me,” He whispered, and the sound traveled on the wind making its way into the ears of the three King ranked experts still fighting against him. The sudden voice made their hearts shiver. Perhaps he had other aces hidden up his sleeves they thought.

A few meters away unnoticed were two people. One of them was the spiritual blacksmith Cou Ling, and the other was her assistant Fang Wei. Both were staring agape at the sudden snowstorm which had appeared out of nowhere. The energy that Hui Yue poured into the sword was so strong that it caused a snowstorm so dense that one was unable to see through it. All they could hear were the voices that drifted out, and what she heard did not bode well for Hui Yue. Although Cou Ling was worried about Hui Yue, deep within she had a feeling that the young man was not as easily to beat as everyone assumed. After all, the image of a red wolf was ingrained within her memory. The wolf had seemed so incredibly powerful that even if it was up against a group of ten men, she was sure that this young man would be able to get rid of all of them. Sitting behind the stone she had her hands clasped together and her eyes were closed; she prayed that Hui Yue was as strong as she thought he was.