Blue Phoenix

The sight of the young man falling to the ground caused everyone to become completely silent. Glancing at the royal family, Hui Yue noticed that they weren’t surprised in the least.

It was clear that this family knew about the inscription which protected the stones, but they clearly didn’t care to tell everyone about it. Seeing the expression on the face of the royals one could see that they clearly knew more about this place than anyone else. To try to charge through with force would be incredibly silly.

Hui Yue looked at the royal family with a complicated expression on his face. ‘What is blood essence?’ Hui Yue asked Lan Feng who was seated deep his dantain.

Hearing the question, Lan Feng was quiet for some time before he finally explained.

‘The body of a cultivator is very different from the body of a regular human. Although everyone on this plane absorbs the essence of the heavens and the earth naturally, only cultivators refine it.’

‘Refining the essence of the heavens and the earth refines not only energy, but also the body of the cultivator. During this process, one’s body undergoes refinement as well.’

These changes are mainly in one’s dantains where their Qi swirl, spiritual energy sea, and golden Wu Wei core are located. The refinement of these energies is what qualifies one to call themselves cultivators. As you progress through the ranks of cultivation, you form these energies in your dantian on your path to defy the heavens and become immortal.’

‘To cultivate is to defy the natural order of things as now your body does not rely on its bodily needs, but derives everything from the energy you refine. To cultivate is to refine a body of an immortal. Although cultivators grow old, they do so very slowly. If one were to cultivate all the way to becoming an immortal, then your physical body would be the product of the essence of the heavens and the earth.’

‘Deep within the core of your Qi swirl, in the deepest depths of your spiritual energy sea, and at the center of your Wu Wei core is where your energy is the fiercest and purest. It is this energy that if you withdraw some and mix it with your blood, it will become incredibly powerful. If you use this infused blood to write an inscription, to enhance an attack, or to save yourself in a desperate situation, then its power will be undefeatable. Your entire being will become either white, silvery, or golden depending on which energy you used, and your whole body will become as strong as the purest energy deep within you, your energies overflowing as if you had no limits.’

‘The inscription guarding this tomb has been written with someone’s blood essence. The energy used is clearly ancestral Worldpower. Although it is strong, and a Saint should not be able to break through it, this expert has been dead for a long time and the power has diminished quite a bit. At least the power of this inscription blocking the outside world as it time after time has been forced to expel creatures and humans who accidentally roamed near the protective barrier.’

‘About things within the grave, we are not likely to be as fortunate. The energy inside has been protected by this outside barrier, and the traps will be frighteningly powerful. If Ancestral Worldpower is truly present everywhere inside then we will have to leave instantly,’ Lan Feng said seriously. ‘Although treasures are helpful, and we desperately want to kill the third prince, our lives are far more important. If this is the case and they try to push further into the grave you won’t have to fear the third prince ever returning.’

‘Can I also use my blood essence?’ Hui Yue asked curiously as he was enlightened about this new form of strengthening his attacks and making his inscriptions far stronger than normal. He was incredibly eager.

‘While it is possible, I would suggest you not do so,’ Lan Feng warned. ‘Every time you withdraw a strand of your Qi essence, a drop of your spiritual essence, and a ray of your Wu Wei it will be gone forever. In total, you only have ten of each of these so use them wisely..’

‘Using your energy essence is not hard. All you need to do is will it. You have never known about it before so you have never tried using it. All you need to do is to let your consciousness merge with your energies then search for the center where you will find the densest energy.’

‘When you have withdrawn the energy, you then merge it with your blood. This is a step you are familiar with as you have merged your blood with various energies before. You have fortified your body before and used the green energy of the pearl to heal yourself.’ Lan Feng continued, and Hui Yue nodded.

‘Well then, let’s get ready for this treasure hunt. Now that you know what blood essence is, don’t ever use it if you have other options. Even if we have to use all the energy I have stored up, that is better than to waste one of your core strands.’

Nodding his head, Hui Yue returned his focus to the low ripple of energy which was emitted from the energy shield in front of them. The man who had fallen lifelessly to the ground had been removed yet the blood stains. A reminder to everyone about how dangerous the barrier was.

“All Saints step forward!” The third prince called out causing many people to involuntarily step backward while the strong Saints came forward. All of them had a mighty air about them. None of them even looked at the lower ranked cultivators who were breathlessly staring at them. It was as though all the many cultivators present, even the Emperors, were nothing more than ants in their eyes. They were not even worth a single glance.

Hui Yue looked at them with a mocking smile on his lips. Although Lan Feng was not as strong as he had been before, he had been quietly cultivating for more than two years turning all the energy he had refined into Wu Wei.

Now that he had so much Wu Wei he was far stronger than ever before. Not only was he stronger when it came to the amount of Wu Wei he controlled, he could also transform into his beast form. Although that was on the condition that Hui Yue transformed first, but it was still possible for him to return to his original form. By doing so, he was many times stronger than ever before.

Because of Lan Feng’s power, Hui Yue was not afraid of these Saints at all. Even if he used his wolf form, he should be capable of fighting with a Saint and even escaping from him. Although he probably couldn’t win, it would be very hard for the Saint to kill him.

Therefore Hui Yue did not fear Saints. What he did fear was the unknown expert in this tomb. Was he alive or dead? It really was impossible to tell, and facing someone at the God level, Hui Yue was aware that he had no way of defeating him, or even protecting himself against him.

Although Hui Yue did not fear the Saints, he had no reason to provoke them either so he stayed silent with a slightly mocking smile on his face.

The Saints had reached the barrier now, and they were as close as they could be without touching it. Looking at this barrier, they all hesitated for a moment. The closer they came to it the more energy it released; they could feel that it contained a shocking amount of energy that could prove troublesome even to them.

Snorting one of the Saints started to pour his Wu Wei from his body into a massive golden spear. Looking at this Wu Wei spear, Hui Yue could tell that it was without a doubt much more dangerous than any attack he could currently use, but Earthly Tremor was only a bit below it in power. Although his best attacks were very strong, they were not as strong as this one attack currently being used in front of him, and this caused Hui Yue to truly understand the difference between him and a Saint ranked expert.

After the Saint started charging up his spear one attack after another appeared in front of them. The might these Saints showed was astonishing, and golden light flashed everywhere. The ripples from these attacks were in no way inferior to the ripples which appeared from the barrier when the young man charged at it.

“Attack!” One of the men called out, and the other Saints nodded their heads seriously as they launched their attacks towards the barrier. Boom after boom sounded out as the ground shook. Lightning sparked through the skies and smoke covered the entire area.

Although a lot of force was used, when the smoke vanished and the ground stopped trembling, the barrier was still there, but anyone could see that its strength had clearly weakened quite a bit. Staring surprised at the barrier which had managed to withstand the combined attack of so many Saints, the experts ground their teeth as they once more poured their energy into attacks without holding anything back. The golden Wu Wei attacked the barrier ruthlessly.

The ground shook much more ferociously than it had done before, and the smoke that surrounded the area turned increasingly dense. Lightning struck out at people causing blood-curdling screams to sound out from the thick, dense smoke.

Hui Yue’s eyes narrowed. The families who had just been by his side were now missing. The entire world had completely changed to a land of smoke causing everyone, even Hui Yue who was using his sharpened senses, to be unable to see very far in front of them.

Smoke from the aftermath of the attacks was all he could smell, and he could hear that many were unlucky as they were hit by the lightning bolts raining from the sky.

It did not take long before the smoke started to subside, and as it did the entire ground was completely different from before.

The massive stones everywhere had been shattered into thousand upon thousand of small stones which were lying on the ground.

With the stones gone a hole in the ground was revealed. This hole was an astonishing hundred meters wide.

No one rushed towards the entrance this time. Everyone was looked at the group of Saints shocked to see what had happened to them all.

‘The lightning was without a doubt a protective spell that had been added into the sealing inscription,’ Lan Feng said as he looked at the devastated ground around them.

It was not solely the stones which had been reduced to rubble; some people had become nothing but a meaty pulp while others had lost limbs. Quite a few had suffered quick deaths, and everywhere Hui Yue looked, he saw one dead person after another. At least a fifth of the experts who arrived had laid down their lives even before they had managed to enter the hole everyone assumed was a grave.

Even the royal family had pale complexions as more than a few of their guards had died as well. Even the first prince had become injured from the frightening lightning attack that had enveloped all the cultivators.

‘Your luck is good,’ Lan Feng grinned. ‘We could have easily died here. It just goes to show how dangerous the journey ahead will be.’

Hearing this, Hui Yue nodded while he glanced around hoping that all his friends had managed to survive the lightning. Seeing none of them, all Hui Yue could do was shake his head and hope for the best. Clearing his thoughts, he got ready. The seal had been broken, and it was time to enter the Grave of the Unknown.