Blue Phoenix

Leaving behind the chambers the three of them, the eagle man, the white-haired young man, and the beautiful woman all headed towards a small arena. This arena was in a courtyard that led up to Wan Qiao’s private chambers. Not many servants came here so the two men would be able to fight one another in peace.

Hui Yue’s eyes glistened with determination. This time, he would win and avoid being beaten silly. This time, he would show that he had what it took to defeat the guard Wan Qiao picked out.

Although Hui Yue knew that this was just one guard, and as soon as this one was defeated another one would arrive. It was a never ending cycle of being beaten, yet his attention was fully focused on this one guard in front of him. To defeat this one man, Hui Yue worked the training schedule to the letter. He trained so hard that he transcended his limits over and over again, and spent the minimum amount of time eating and tending to his sore muscles.

When Hui Yue transformed into his wolf form, he had no need for weapons. His body alone had claws and teeth both as sharp as razor blades and as durable as black iron itself.

Stepping into the arena, the guard and Hui Yue both changed their shapes. While Hui Yue turned into a ferocious beast, the eagle-man turned into a human. His wings were gone, and a long sword suddenly appeared within his hands.

Hui Yue was in no mood to wait for his opponent to settle before they started the battle, and lifting his hand sharp claws were visible. With a hard stomp, the muscles in his leg shot him forward like an arrow. His claws were as sharp as a razor, and a small humming sound could be heard as the air contorted wherever the claws swept past. Ripples of energy were left behind in its wake, and the swipe released five strong energy ripples; all of which were red as they traveled further towards the guard.

Snorting, the guard lifted the long sword in his hand and used it to block the energy ripples heading his way. Although he managed to block the fearsome energy, he was pushed back a few steps.

Seeing that Hui Yue started his attacks, the young looking bird-man instantly lifted his sword.

“Zhing!”

The sword flew through the air, and the sharp edge came down at Hui Yue, but he did not fear it. Instead, he nimbly dodged it and counter attacked with a hard kick from his powerful legs.

Seeing the incoming kick the bird-man changed the direction of his sword in the last moment and managed to block the kick with the flat side of the sword. Once again the young man was thrown backwards.

The young guard was not the only one thrown backwards. Hui Yue too had to retreat because although his physical strength far outstretched this guard in front of him, the guard had a weapon which was far stronger than his defense. It was important for Hui Yue to learn caution, while at the same time understand that each of his attacks needed to be decisive because the time in which he could be a wolf was limited.

A loud howl escaped him before he charged at the young looking guard. This time, he focused all his power within his claws as he rushed forward. Wind started to gather around Hui Yue, and energy ripples emanate out once more.

The closer Hui Yue came, the calmer the guard became as he once more lifted his sword to block the young man who was pouring all his energy into the claws.

Hui Yue would not allow for his time within his wolf-form to be wasted and he knew that if he was to pull out all his strength of the wolf, he would have a higher chance of success than if he was to use smaller amounts and prolong the fight. Due to this, this would be their final exchange. If Hui Yue were to win then he would not have to fight against this guard again, but if he were to lose then he would go through the same thing again tomorrow.

The energy ripples around Hui Yue grew larger in size, and the wind, itself, started to make space for him. Suddenly, as he shot his arm forward a howling sound could be heard as the energy alone was enough to cause small holes to appear in reality, small traces of the black abyss could be seen.

Seeing this the guard swore loudly as he retreated quickly, however, no matter how swiftly he retreated it was impossible for him to retreat far enough to be safe. Hui Yue’s claws shone bright red with red mist enveloping them. The collision released all this energy and the young looking guard was shot backwards. He was shot towards the outside of the arena where he landed next to Wan Qiao, spitting up a mouthful of fresh blood. He slowly sunk to the ground where he was trying to catch his breath.

A big smile appeared on Wan Qiao’s face as she looked at the guard and then at Hui Yue, who slowly allowed for his body to return to human form. His body felt exhausted after having beaten the guard.

“Well done,” She said while clapping her hands. “You managed to defeat yet another King ranked expert by relying on strength alone. Tomorrow we are going to train against someone who uses mist energy. You can’t expect your opponent to be this lenient towards you when you fight them so prepare for tomorrow.” These were the final words she said before Hui Yue was allowed to go finish the rest of his training for the day.

One day took another and Hui Yue once more lost quite badly now that they were using mist energy. Hui Yue was seriously wounded multiple times. The mist energy was hard to control, but as he continued his training improved and his strength increased. Controlling the red mist made it possible for Hui Yue to improve his physical strength tremendously. Not only did his physical strength increased, but his ability in controlling the red mist improved alongside controlling his internal energies.

It took Hui Yue a month to defeat the first person he fought against who used their internal energy. This month he had been skewered through his arm, the muscles on his legs had been severed, and he had been impaled multiple times before he finally managed to overcome his opponent.

Now, two months later, Hui Yue perfected the mist energy and his physical strength, even as a human, was now capable of attacking King ranked experts. In human shape, he would be able to survive and escape, but as a wolf, he would now be capable of defeating Kings, even those who use Wu Wei to fight him.

His rank, when looking at his internal energy, had also risen quite a bit while being within this world and following Wan Qiao’s training schedule. His body absorbed a lot of essence of the heavens and the earth while doing physical training. His rank rose to the fourth star of the Duke rank, and his internal energies rushed towards the ranks of a King.

In all the time Hui Yue was within Shenyuan he had done everything he could not to use the souls within his dantian cave. He wished that they would not condense into a real part of his soul much like the wolf did. He wanted to trust his own strength, his strength which was rapidly increasing.

*Knock* *Knock*

Opening his eyes, Hui Yue looked at the door where Wan Qiao appeared with a smile on her face.

“Get ready, time for some new training. A human delegation from the Siban Empire has entered Shenyuan. We are going to meet them and hear why they entered my home.”

Hearing the order, Hui Yue knew he had no other option than to obey. He quickly stood up and did a few stretches before he followed Wan Qiao out of the palace.

In front of them on the palace grounds were multiple guards waiting for Wan Qiao’s arrival. All of them were filled with pride as they saw her appear; however, brows were furrowed, and eyes were glaring as they saw their goddess walk side by side with a white-haired young man whom apparently wasn’t anything special.

All the guards were aware of Hui Yue being someone whom Wan Qiao personally trained, someone whom even guards were able to trash.

But this young man was an enigma. He was capable of looking like a human although he was not a Saint. His beastly aura was very restrained, and it was as though it did not exist unless he took beast form.

Wan Qiao made him fight both in human form and in the beast form. She made him fight against one guard after another, and rumors about him had quickly spread amongst the guards. All of them unsure why Wan Qiao spent this much time and effort for one single man.

Although all these people looked at Hui Yue with hostility, none of them dared to say a single word; all of them were quiet as they awaited the orders from Wan Qiao.

The woman glanced over them and she knew exactly what they thought, but she felt no reason to say anything, nor did she feel like protecting Hui Yue. This trip would teach him to trust no one. Teach him to always be on guard, and to follow the orders she gave. The guards were magical beasts, all of them would take their original forms before they went to hunt down the delegation which was sent. Hui Yue would have to follow suit in his human form and it was rather likely that the beasts would do whatever they could to torment him.

This was, in Wan Qiao’s eyes, also a form of training. It was the way the young beasts were taught to be individuals, and Wan Qiao was somewhat feeling that Hui Yue was her little chick; someone whom she wanted to mold and train.

Hui Yue, looking at the guards, and instantly understood what Wan Qiao was planning. With a heavy sigh he understood that he would be bruised and beaten during this trip, but his eyes gleamed with a cold light as he swore that anyone who went after him, he would pay back a hundredfold. Anyone who dared lift a hand against him would learn that he was not such an easy person to defeat, not an easy person to bully.

Wan Qiao observed Hui Yue and was satisfied with what she saw. Looking at him for a few moments more, she then opened her arms, and her eyes were focused on the hundred guards in front of her.

“Brothers! We have been informed that the Siban Empire has sent a delegation towards us, a delegation of cultivators who are destroying one village after another. Our subjects are being hunted down and captured, our lands destroyed.”

“Everyone! Follow me. Follow me to hunt down these humans who dare to enter our empire. Let us show them what happens when they are this arrogant!”

Hearing the words said by Wan Qiao, everyone within the courtyard lifted their arms, and slowly they all turned into beasts of various kind. Some were birds and others were land animals. Looking around there were Blood-eyed Foxes, Purple Maned Lions, Scaled Demon Horses, One-Horned Eagles, and Swift Queen Sparrows. Everywhere Hui Yue looked beasts appeared all over. Even Wan Qiao by his side turned into a massive eagle, two meters tall with a four meter wingspan. Looking at this a thought appeared in Hui Yue’s eyes and after transforming his legs into the legs of a wolf, he managed to jump high into the air and land on Wan Qiao’s feathered back.

“Thank you for offering a lift,” Hui Yue said shamelessly taking Wan Qiao aback, but the woman ended up laughing out loud. She never expected that anyone would act so shameless, but she could not help but to laugh out loud. “Sure, I’ll give you a lift if you can hang on, if not, don’t die while falling!”

Having said this, the large bird took to the sky. The beasts following behind on ground and in the air, glaring daggers at the young man who was now comfortably seated on top of their beloved queen.