Blue Phoenix

Standing on the stage, the contestants were unaware of what was going to happen. They knew it was a knock-out tournament, but who would fight who?

Although they were curious, no one spoke. Instead, they stood politely on stage and looked at the judges with veneration. They waited with bated breath to hear what was going to happen.

The minutes passed as everyone sat down one after another and this made the wait feel a lot longer than it truly was.

The sun shone down from a cloud-free sky on this day with perfect weather, and the tournament was almost ready to be started.

Seeing the last person sitting down, Yanluo stood up and waved his hand. In the air, in front of him, a small silver cauldron appeared, and it flew towards the stage.

"Everyone, within this cauldron are eight pieces of paper. Each piece has a number from one to four. There is two of each number."

"Those with the same numbers will fight each other. Now pick."

Having spoken, Yanluo quickly sat down again not sparing words for anyone.

Hui Yue looked at the others and started to feel the urge to fight erupt from within. This was what he had waited for; this was the battle he had to win if he wanted to resurrect Wang Ju Long and get his family together again.

Hui Yue was not the only person who was starting to feel the urge to fight; everyone was feeling restless. Their eyes were glued to the cauldron as it appeared in front of them, and slowly they all picked a slip of paper.

Hui Yue looked at his number and smiled. The number in front of him said one, meaning he would be the first to fight. He would need to win three fights in total, and if he went first, then he would have more time to relax afterwards.

Everyone had chosen their numbers, and soon six of the experts left the stage leaving behind Hui Yue and another of the experts. This expert was not someone Hui Yue had ever spoken with before, but he had noticed him a few times.

He was a peak Primordial Immortal and his eyes were filled with arrogance, but also pride.

"You were a new God when this trial began," he said casually as he looked at Hui Yue before the fight was to begin.

"You have just managed to pass through the threshold to become a true Primordial Immortal. I, on the other hand, have been at the peak of the Primordial Immortal rank for a very long time. You should simply concede as there is no hope for your victory."

Hearing the words, Hui Yue looked a little dumbfounded at first before he chuckled, "What do we have here? If I did not know better, then I would think you actually believe what you just said,"

"I came this far to win! King Yanluo has already promised us that we cannot die in these contests so what do I have to fear? Giving up ahead of time is just stupid, especially since we don't know how powerful your so-called peak strength really is."

The light chuckle that accompanied the words spoken from Hui Yue made the other contestant turn red in the face from anger. "To think I went to the trouble to save you from the suffering and embarrassment of being instantly defeated! You might be a genius of the Celestial Sword Sect, but in the end, you are but a younger generation genius. You are just a single expert and are nothing without your backing!"

The expert was furious. His eyes were red with anger and saliva flew from his mouth as he yelled. His demeanor had changed completely and together with it his body was also changing.

His body expanded. His back was now hunched, and a red mist permeated outwards from his body. Hui Yue was curiously observing it.

The fight had still not begun yet, but even so, it was fine to change their bodies.

"Since you are going to go all out from the start, I don't really have much choice!" Hui Yue said annoyed as he shook his head.

Suddenly he reached into his core for three caves at the same time and activated both the red mist, transforming him into a half-beast half-man, the celestial wings, making the beautiful celestial wings appear suddenly on his back, and the red gem, making his defense like a mountain’s.

The changes in the contestants shocked everyone present. Hui Yue's body was not as enlarged as the opponent, but every single muscle was taut and bulging; his body was filled with energy and strength.

"Well, no reason to keep up the tension, start the fight!" Yanluo called out as he waved his hand and the second the words escaped his lips Hui Yue’s opponent rushed forward with so much momentum that his feet sunk into the concrete stage, making cracks spread from each step.

"Powerful!" Hui Yue narrowed his eyes as he saw the force behind each step, but he did not retreat.

Instead, he stepped on the ground with a hard kick, increasing his own momentum and a blue ball of devouring force appeared in his clawed palm.

The two experts collided. Their hands caught each other, and as they did the blue cloud in Hui Yue's hand was pressed against the opponent's hand, slowly seeping into his body.

The moment the last ounce of blue cloud had vanished into the body of the opponent, Hui Yue retracted his claws and jumped backwards as a sinister smile appeared on his lips.

"You should be more careful," he snickered as the blue cloud erupted all around his body.

The small orb of blue energy which had been forced into the body of the opponent was easy to control, and with Hui Yue's guidance it ended up in his core. Here it started to absorb the Ancestral Worldpower of his opponent at a rapid pace.

This Ancestral Worldpower was not being sent to Hui Yue; instead, it was just collected by the blue cloud, locking it up so that the opponent had no way to use it.

"I will rip you to shreds!" he yelled savagely in anger and hate as he once more launched an attack at Hui Yue, but the white-haired young man just smiled as he flapped his celestial wings and took to the sky.

Avoiding the opponent completely was not possible, but all Hui Yue had to do was waste time. The more time he wasted, the more Ancestral Worldpower the blue cloud would absorb and the more it absorbed, the harder it would be for him to fight back.

Flapping his wings gracefully, Hui Yue flew higher into the air and elegantly evaded the many attacks that were being thrown at him from the ground.

Swords made from rocks came at him one after another together with something as desperate as Ancestral Worldpower attacks.

"Don't fly around like some annoying bug!" the opponent was clearly infuriated. "Come down and fight like a man!"

Although Hui Yue was slightly embarrassed by his roundabout way of fighting, he was not stupid enough to meet the opponent head on. Not only was he stronger than Hui Yue due to the body enhancing ability he was using, but he was also in possession of much more Ancestral Worldpower.

To win this tournament, Hui Yue would use everything to his advantage. He would use all the tricks he could think of and be as calculating and ruthless as he needed to be. All that mattered was winning; how he won did not matter.

As Hui Yue was flying in the air, he closed his eyes for a brief moment and reached out to the dao of gravity. Suddenly, a heavy pressure descended on the stage. This forced his opponent’s body into the ground, even further into it than he had been before when he was running towards Hui Yue just moments ago.

This pressure was only on this cultivator, and it posed no threat to Hui Yue who flew down like an eagle. As he was just above the opponent, he landed a solid kick on the back of the expert in front of him.

As the kick landed on the back of the expert, he was forced forward by the sheer force. Stumbling forward, he almost gave in due to the pressure alone.

The fight was obviously very one sided from the audience’s point of view. Hui Yue kept harassing his opponent, kicking him with his legs, slashing him with his claws, punching him with his fists, and no matter what he did, the opponent had no way to protect himself as he was rapidly running out of Ancestral Worldpower.

Within him was this constantly increasing small blue cloud which kept absorbing his energy, while the pressure from the dao of gravity pushed him down and further sapped his strength.

Sweat started beading on his forehead, as he tried to shrug the pressure off, but he was never allowed much time as Hui Yue constantly flew down from above to attack him.

He tried to get rid of the blue cloud within his core that was unrelentingly absorbing his Ancestral Worldpower, but any energy that came close to this blue cloud was instantly absorbed.

Gritting his teeth, he finally understood that although Hui Yue was an expert who had just passed the threshold to become a Primordial Immortal, he was anything but ordinary. He was a fierce beast in human form. Looking into the cold eyes of Hui Yue, the opponent finally understood that Hui Yue would never give up this match, and if the need arose, then he would do anything in his power to defeat him. Right now, Hui Yue was the personification of carnage; he was cold and ruthless and seemingly willing to give it his all to destroy the opponent in front of him.

"I concede," Hue Yue’s opponent gulped as he spoke the words. He had not planned on giving up so soon, but the moment he saw the ice-cold blue eyes of Hui Yue, he understood that if their fight were to continue, it would not end well for him. It was true that he could not die in this tournament, but he was likely to suffer some injuries that would be hard to cure later on.

That the opponent conceded made many in the audience yell out in disappointment. But the judges were smiling happily. After some silence, one of them stood up.

"Young one, although you were defeated, your defeat was a just one. Would you be willing to be adopted into my, Judge Pingdeng’s family?"

The speaker was surprisingly enough the Ninth King of Hell, King Pingdeng. He had quite the reputation both within Diyu and outside, and the fact that he stepped forward proved that he had seen the potential that this expert had.

At first, the opponent's face was completely blank, yet within moments it changed, and a great smile bloomed on his face as he bowed deeply. "This young one is very honored by the offer and will accept!," he agreed readily. Although he did not become the judge of the second court, becoming family with the Ninth Judge of Hell was truly not to be looked down upon.

While he bowed deeply to the judge, Hui Yue landed gracefully on the ground and his body transformed back to his normal self. His features were as handsome as before, and when one looked at him, it was impossible to tell that he was the one who had been so savage and ferocious only moments before. There were no signs left of the red wolf, but the other contestants could not help but shudder slightly. This handsome young man who seemed so serene and humble was actually just a bomb waiting to explode.

While the judges had managed to see everything which had happened during the fight, the other contestants were still unsure. What was this blue cloud that had entered his opponent? What was with this ability to have two bloodlines? Everything was a mystery to them, but Hui Yue said nothing and returned to his position in line.