Blue Phoenix

Pei Ziqi was stumped for words when she heard what Hui Yue said. Her face showed complete surprise. She was an expert that had lived for an eternity already. She had roamed the galaxy when she was younger and seen many things.

Now that she was old, she no longer felt the need to go out and see the world, but at the same time, she was not interested in staying in the sect doing nothing as a dao protector. She wished to experience more exciting things.

"Am I seriously contemplating this?" She suddenly asked herself, shocking both her and Hui Yue before she started laughing.

"I will protect you until you are an Immortal of Creation," she said after being quiet for a bit. "In this time you can not leave the Celestial Sword Sect's world, but when it is time for you to leave and experience the galaxy for yourself, then I will probably already be tired of following you around," she laughed.

"I see," Hui Yue was not too surprised with her rejection, and just casually shrugged his shoulders. He would not mind having a strong ally like Pei Ziqi with him, but on the other hand, he felt okay with the large group of friends he already had.

"Well you can go to Diyu on my behalf," Hui Yue grinned. "I am sure King Qinguang would love to see you again."

"Brat, don't try your luck!" Pei Ziqi said as she waved her fist at him bashfully. Although she had lived for a long time, she was quite bad when it came to being honest with her emotions.

Her expression just made Hui Yue chuckle slightly, but he said no more. There was no reason to say anything, and afterwards, as he thought about the future, he just stared into the distance.

"Let’s hurry up," Pei Ziqi finally said, and Hui Yue nodded his head. The two left the sect together and flew around hundred kilometers away until they reached a city which had a forcefield around it.

"This city is known as the City of Endless Clouds. It is a city which is build with the Celestial Sword Sect as its base. Since no one can enter the sect unless they are direct descendants of the Great Roc, this is the place where everyone can freely enter and interact with the sect. It can also be considered the capital of the Celestial Sword Sect's world."

Pei Ziqi spoke as she introduced the city in front of them, "Many sect members come here to sell things they have gotten on missions for Worldpower Stones, or they take on missions for Worldpower Stones from the Mercenary Guild."

"There are two big factions within this city; one is the Celestial Sword Sect, the other is an underground auction house. I don't know if you have ever come into contact with them before, but they are in all major cities. They are also in our City of Endless Clouds, and they are the primary trade partner for our sect."

"I know about them," Hui Yue said casually as he flicked his hand and a black emblem appeared in his palm. This was the emblem he had been given back in Diyu when he had visited the Black Marketplace.

"Not bad," Pei Ziqi exclaimed surprised. "It took me a very long time to get my emblem but you brat, have already gotten yours!"

"It was merely luck," Hui Yue smiled back as he stored the emblem in his Universe Box once more before he looked at the city spread out in front of them.

"It is illegal to fly within this city," Pei Ziqi continued as they landed a few kilometers away from the city itself and started walking down the road that led towards the city walls.

Many people were walking on the roads, and all of them were looking at their surroundings with caution. When they saw Hui Yue and Pei Ziqi everyone made ample space for them.

This was not because of Hui Yue who wore normal white robes but because Pei Ziqi was wearing a black robe with the embroidery of the Great Roc. Only those of the elder rank and above wore such clothes in the Celestial Sword Sect.

Although Hui Yue seemed like a normal youth, everyone could not help but ask who was this young man who had an inner sect elder as his bodyguard? Almost immediately everyone guessed who it could be.

The news about Hui Yue had long since reached the Celestial Sword Sect's World, and everyone knew that a new person had joined the sect.

They were also aware that Hui Yue had become the Second Judge of Hell, and that he was a figure that was highly regarded not only by the Celestial Sword Sect but also by Diyu.

Though there were a few travelers on the road from outside the Celestial Sword Sect who were unaware of who Hui Yue was, and some of the residents had not guessed it, but the majority had already guessed who he was, and thus, they advanced without any trouble.

As they reached the sect, Pei Ziqi turned into a small side alley and stopped Hui Yue. "I will be following you from a distance. You are going to meet up with your guard from Diyu, and that is a personal affair. Although I will be within reach to interfere if something happens, I will try to stay out of your way," she said politely as she merged with the shadow in the alley. It was clear that her control over the dao of shadows was at the peak.

Hui Yue was slightly excited. It had been a very long time since he had last been in a city. It had been months since he left Diyu and the trip back to the Celestial Sword Sect had been incredibly boring. They had not stopped anywhere on the way, and although the inner sect had some comparison to a massive city such as this, it was not an actual city. The inner sect lacked many things that cities had.

Hui Yue sent his consciousness inside the Universe Box to see how many Worldpower Stones he had and was surprised to see that there was still more than fifty million. This was a rather high amount and enough to make him considerably rich.

Hui Yue usually did not care much about wealth, but if he were to experience being in a city, then it was best to have some money on hand. He was tempted to visit the auction house, however, before he did that, he had to visit Wei.

Wei had been placed in one of the Celestial Sword Sect's guardian sects. This sect was located just outside of the City of Endless Clouds.

In this guardian sect, Wei had no tasks, and he was treated like an esteemed guest. He often had nothing to do so he spent most of his time within the City of Endless Clouds, and he was lucky enough to have been given an emblem that allowed him access to the Black Marketplace.

Because he strolled around the city almost every day, he knew the city well. As a member of Yanluo's personal guard his salary was rather high, and although he never cared much about it before, he finally started enjoying the easy life after entering this city. He started spending the money he had saved up through countless years.

He would do things like visit restaurants and try out their delicacies as many of these were extraordinary magical beasts which increased one’s Ancestral Worldpower pool. He would spend money to visit meditation rooms and train for a while, and he would even visit the dao gardens. The most secretive place within the entire City of Endless Clouds.

Hui Yue had spoken with Wei through the communication orb, and they had agreed to meet up at the pagoda that was towering in the middle of town. Wei had said that this was the best place to meet up as one could simply not miss it, and as Hui Yue entered the city, he had to agree.

The tower was so tall that Hui Yue had to bend his neck back to just see the top. This pagoda was the headquarters for the Celestial Sword Sect within the City of Endless Clouds.

It contained many things, from rooms for the sect members that needed some place to stay to offices for officials that dealt with everything that had to do with the sect and interactions with the outside world.

The Black Marketplace had their biggest market in this world within the city as well. Where the sky above the City of the Endless Clouds belonged to the Celestial Sword Sect, the ground beneath the city belonged to the Black Marketplace.

There was a whole city beneath this city, but this place was closed off to others. Only a select few were aware of its existence, but Hui Yue, who had been at a Black Marketplace before, could easily determine that this was a massive organization. He knew that because they had such a massive market under the city, they had to be absolutely massive.

"Pei Yue! Over here!" Wei called out, and Hui Yue turned to see Wei leaning against the massive pagoda, a great smile on his face. He was still wearing his Yanluo Guard uniform, but he had a casual air about him. He no longer seemed as uptight as he had been before.

"How are things going with you?" Hui Yue asked as he headed towards his friend, but Wei just smiled and shook his head. "We can't just stand here in the middle of everything and talk," he laughed. "Come with me to one of my favorite dining places, and we will have a good talk!"

Hui Yue just laughed and followed. He knew that calling out for Pei Ziqi would be pointless, the woman would not show herself after having merged with the shadows, and thus, he was not polite enough to invite her to join them. The only thing he did was follow Wei.

"There are a lot of great restaurants within this city," Wei spoke as they walked. He introduced all his favorite places and what they each excelled in, but although he talked about many different places, he had chosen to go to the one which served the rarest magical beasts.

He had chosen this place not only because these beasts were rare, but mainly because such rare beasts were very good at raising one's strength. Directly consuming their meat was a great way to get stronger.

As they reached the restaurant, Hui Yue noticed that it was not as he had expected. The place had many rooms, and when one entered, they would get a room of their own. They did not sit in an open room with other guests like most places. It seemed that here, everyone had their own privacy, and he secretly approved of this. It made talking much easier.

"So tell me, how are the ones in the sect treating you?"

This was the first question that was asked the moment Hui Yue sat down, and he looked a little awkward as he answered. "I am currently pretty disliked because I caused the death of an inner sect guard," he said straightforwardly, and Wei instantly looked at him confused.

"My hearing must be bad," he said after a second. "I could swear you said you caused the death of an inner sect guard? They are all Immortals of Creation... Killing one is nearly impossible!"

"Well, you see, things happened," Hui Yue shrugged his shoulders as he explained what had happened.