Blue Phoenix

Seated amongst the mercenaries, his eyes which had previously been haughty turned excited and his face was smiling as he looked from one person to another.

Just as he sat down, Wang Ju Long started to split up portions of stew she made and the food was shared with everyone at the bonfire, even the young master.

Yang Bai looked down at the bowl of food, his face looking somewhat uncertain about whether or not he dare taste it, but when he saw how Hui Yue and his friends were eating it with pleasure he swallowed the saliva in his mouth before he took a small spoonful and placed it in his mouth. He noticed instantly that it tasted much better than he had expected.

It definitely also tasted better than the dried foods he had eaten within the carriage earlier that day, and with a satisfied expression on his face he gulped down his entire portion while smiling.

After having eaten his entire portion of food, Yang Bai looked at Wang Ju Long with dreamy eyes and quickly, like a cat, rushed towards her side where he took her hands within his and fell to his knees.

“Will you marry me?” He asked, his eyes still shining with adoration as he looked at Wang Ju Long, his words shocked the entire group.

Deng Wu, who was seated next to Hui Yue leaned slightly to the side so that his mouth was right next to the white-haired boy’s ear and while laughing said, “It seems like you’ve gotten a rival!”

Hui Yue was slightly disturbed by Deng Wu’s comment, but looking at Deng Wu all he did was snort in reply. It was true that he had been looking at Wang Ju Long more often after that morning, but he was certain that nobody noticed. In spite of that, the romance specialist of the group noticed the small changes in Hui Yue, making him somewhat embarrassed.

While the quick exchange of words happened on one side of the bonfire, on the other Wang Ju Long looked at the young child with a vacant expression on her face before she smiled gently and with a very blunt voice uttered two words, “I can’t.”

Hearing those words, Hui Yue had the urge to laugh, instead, he raised his eyebrows as the young master showed no signs of giving up. His grip on Wang Ju Long’s hands got tighter as he tried dragging her with him towards the carriage.

“Don’t worry, I am old enough to get married. Let’s get married already!” He continued, however this time Wang Ju Long lost her patience and with a slight pull she regained her hands.

“I won’t marry you,” She said with her voice flat, the voice she only used when she was either incredibly bored or against whatever it was Deng Wu had said. To see her use the voice against the young master caused Hui Yue to laugh out loud, it was no longer possible for him to hold back.

A pout could be seen on the young master’s face as he turned around and rushed towards his carriage. After a few moments, Hui Yue and the others could hear loud sounds from the carriage he had just entered only to see that after a moment a servant came towards their campsite.

Standing next to the group of mercenaries, the servant instantly made a deep bow, after which he sighed deeply, “I apologize for our young master and his behavior, it was in no way intended to insult you he just got too excited.”

Hui Yue waved his hand dismissively, “It’s fine,” He said while laughing, “Ju Long already turned down the young lord so there is nothing to worry about.”

Having said that, Hui Yue waited for a bit longer before he looked around the now black surroundings even the moon in the sky did not illuminate the ground that much and suddenly a feeling of things not being right appeared in Hui Yue’s mind.

“Get back into the carriage and lock it,” He said with a low voice as he stood up, his friends instantly following his lead as they felt that Hui Yue was acting weird.

Walking from campsite to campsite, Hui Yue wanted to make sure that every guard was where they were supposed to be.

There were three campsites. The first belonged to Hui Yue and his friends. The second belonged to the four guards who had purchased a spot on the mission, and the final one belonged to the guards who were sent from the Yang family.

The Yang family guards totaled ten, but when Hui Yue arrived at the campsite only nine men were seated around the bonfire, all of them loud and cheerful.

“Where is your final man?” Hui Yue asked with a low voice his hairs starting to stand on end and a feeling of danger was descending upon him.

“Wu and Ju Long.” Hui Yue called out with a low voice, “Take Xu Piao and Xie Lan and get to the carriage with the young lord. Make sure no one enters or leaves the carriage and make sure that no one gets close. Make anyone who tries to get inside wait outside. If they try and force their way, kill them.”

“He went to piss.” One of the guards said with an annoyed voice, “Why should we keep track of where our man goes?”

“How long ago was it since he left?” Hui Yue continued asking questions, something which clearly made the men unhappy. Although he was considered a genius, these guards did not care, instead, they felt like the young brat was trying to teach them their jobs.

Hui Yue could do nothing else but sigh as he left the nine guards behind and moved towards the second campfire, the campfire with the four guards.

All four were together, but they seemed somewhat uncomfortable and as soon as they saw Hui Yue hope filled their eyes.

“There is something in the darkness,” One of the men said with a scared expression on his face. The comment made Hui Yue frown slightly, uncomfortable that he was actually right about being so worried.

“Move towards the carriage with the young master and follow the lead of my men.” Hui Yue said before he once more moved towards the nine guards who were certain that nothing was amiss.

As Hui Yue arrived, he saw that only eight were left, one more person having vanished. This time the group of guards were no longer arrogant, instead, they were slightly hesitant and their eyes were flicking to either side.

“Go to the main carriage and protect the young master,” Hui Yue ordered, his eyes scanning the ground outside the campsite, yet nothing was out of the ordinary not giving him a hint as to what was after them.

“What about our comrades?” One of the men asked his voice trembling somewhat. As the guard had never experienced anything like this before.

“We will look for them tomorrow,” Hui Yue said with a harsh voice. Although he knew that these guards were worried about their friends going out to search would not help anyone, because they needed to prepare for an attack.

Arriving at the carriage, everyone already set up new campfires and with vigilance were looking around their surroundings, some jolted as they saw the figures of Hui Yue and the remaining Yang family guards following him.

“Has anything happened here?” Hui Yue asked Xu Piao with a low voice but the guild master shook his head as he look around.

Standing in front, Hui Yue told everyone that they were not allowed to go anywhere unless they moved in groups of four or more, so that if something happened, then there would be more people to assist each other.

The night was dark and the light from the moon was not strong enough to illuminate the campsite. The only light source came from the campfire next to the main carriage, but apart from everyone being on guard nothing else happened the rest of the night.

As the morning sky in the east grew purple from the rising sun, the tired guards finally felt some relief. The eight guards from the Yang family all rushed towards their own carriage where they planned on entering to sleep, while the entourage once more moved further into the cave, moving towards the tunnels on the west side.

However, things did not go as the men planned, and soon a shriek sounded throughout the camp warning Hui Yue and his friends that something had happened. Everyone rushed towards the carriage where the shriek had sounded out.

Arriving at the carriage, Hui Yue’s face turned pale and out of reflex his hand suddenly covered the eyes of the young master. The smell of blood and gore was drifting out from within the carriage.

“Take him away.” Hui Yue said with a stern voice to the servant, and with a serious nod the butler, the servant, and Yang Bai left the carriage heading towards their own.

“Xu Piao, Xie Lan. Follow, then enter the carriage to protect the young master.” Hui Yue said with a somewhat odd voice and neither of the two questioned the order. Both of them rushed after the young master and his two servants as they entered the carriage.

Looking back into the carriage, Hui Yue sighed deeply as he felt the red mist inside his dantian roiling slightly, but after a few heavy breaths and with some help from the blue cloud, Hui Yue managed to calm himself down.

The corpses of the two guards were left inside the carriage, but what he saw was not just two bodies. The two men had both been torn completely leaving none with a complete corpse to bury.

Their limbs were severed, their heads halfway severed, their stomachs had been shredded, the guts falling out and a foul stench filled up the carriage.

Looking over it, Hui Yue could sense that something was wrong with a single glance at the brutal scene. He quickly deduced that no human could leave behind such a wound, if anything it looked like the dismembering was caused by a demon beast.

Turning around, a dangerous gleam was visible within Hui Yue’s eyes as he uttered one sentence, “Burn it.” After which he went towards the other carriage to inform them about the corpses they had found and the decision he made.

The guards were all unhappy with his decision to burn the carriage, as it meant that they would have to walk, but nothing could be done as the young master quickly agreed with Hui Yue about burning the remains. They were on a road where they could not bury them beneath the ground, and it was impossible for them to turn around now to deliver the remains to their families. Instead they burned them, holding a short break of silence before heading out again on their journey . The eight remaining Yang family guards now travelling on their feet much like Hui Yue and the mercenaries.

Walking slowly, the mood was somber as they had only travelled for a day yet they had already lost two of their men, and the worst part was that no one had seen who or what was behind it.

Looking at the fact that the corpses were placed within the carriage, one would expect that a human was behind it, but looking at the injuries inflicted everyone would believe that it was done by a beast. Could it be a human who had a beast with him? No matter who it was, why was he after their caravan? They had not insulted anyone and their goal was not to earn money, instead, it was to arrive at the young master’s academy.

Usually a mission such as this would succeed with only five Master ranked experts, but something was clearly different this time. Something was completely wrong with their trip, Hui Yue felt. His vigilant eyes never once neglecting what happened around him and his muscles were tense, constantly feeling killing intent aimed at him, yet no matter where or how much he looked around, he saw no one.