Blue Phoenix

As they arrived in the capital city of the First Court of Hell, Hui Yue noticed that a delegation of demons with an expert standing in front was waiting for them in the main courtyard.

Everyone was looking towards the flood dragons with respect and the demons even shivered slightly; all of them seemed rather nervous.

The group of flood dragons all landed elegantly in the large courtyard and Yanluo was the first to disembark after which he gestured for the others to follow suit.

As soon as everyone was off, Yanluo waved to the dragons, and they took to the skies one after another. Loud screeching sounds reverberated through the city and the surrounding valleys as they soared through the skies above. Everyone below watched these rarely seen, but terrifying beasts in awe as they tore through the sky returning from where they came.

Everyone stared at these dragons until they vanished into the distance, but for where they were headed only Yanluo knew.

As they had vanished, Hui Yue once more started to look at his surroundings. He found that the person leading the delegation was looking at Yanluo with reverence; however, when he looked at all the others it seemed like he was looking at the dirt beneath his feet, none of them warranted his respect.

Hui Yue felt his heart grow slightly cold as he saw this hate-filled gaze that was aimed at him, but even so, he said nothing. He did not use his soulforce to scan the surrounding areas as he knew that would give this expert no face, and even more so because he did not need his soulforce to tell him that the person in front of him was strong to an unbelievable degree. He was clearly one of the strongest experts Hui Yue had ever come across, most likely even stronger than Huli!

"Brother Yanluo!" The man called out as he strode forward. His arms wrapped around the King of Hell and a great smile formed on his face.

"To think that you would personally come over, I never thought you put so much importance on these younguns," he said. His voice was slightly sour, but the expert did his very best to hide these emotions.

"Please follow me into my palace and relax while I set up the next trial. This time quite a few of you have managed to get through the first trial, so the next ones need to be much more difficult!"

There was some hard to hide schadenfreude in his voice as he spoke and his eyes glistened with menace.

All the experts were able to sense it this time, but no one spoke. Instead, their hearts turned cold. It was clear that he would be in charge of this trial and he would make the difficulty harder than any other trial they had experienced.

Pei Ze felt his skull grew numb and his palms started sweating. Every time he thought about the first trial he would feel terrible, but hearing that this trial would be even harder, he felt genuine fear.

He was not the only one who felt like this. Pei Feng and everyone else who had gone through the trial forcefully, those who had managed to stand against every single torture through their own will, felt scared witless, and his words caused even Hui Yue to frown.

As he listened to what this man said, Hui Yue was deep in thought. It was clear that the difficulty of the trial would become harder and harder, but the ones who had forcefully gone through the first trial would most likely feel that this one was easier.

For someone like Hui Yue and the man from the Nightcrawler Sect, it was likely to be more challenging because they had managed to get through the trial the way it was planned. They had understood it was a trial of the mind and although they had felt occasional pain, it was nothing compared to what the others had experienced.

"Brother Qinguang, no need to frighten them. I can't have all of them quitting then I would have no one left to become the new judge. Brother Chujiang already passed away; we need to find a replacement as soon as possible. The court is filled to the brim with souls waiting to be punished, and although the demons are capable of controlling it to some degree, a court without a judge will never work as well as one with a judge."

"Brother is right," King Qinguang said with a nod, but his words were very quick and not heartfelt.

"Well, come this way!" Qinguang said as he turned to show them the way into the mansion.

In front were Qinguang and Yanluo, walking side by side speaking about things that no one else could hear and behind them were the demons. They walked taking the same size steps ensuring that their advance was uniform.

After the demons were the ones who were trying to pass the trials and become the next Judge of Hell and on their sides and behind them were Yanluo's guards. These people didn’t bother to try and walk in a similar way. All of them were busy looking around at their surroundings. They seemed curious about this new city. It looked exactly like any other city, except the black smog-like soul energy which permeated every single part of the air.

The city was very much like Youdu, except it was not underground. It was on top of a hill and stretched down the hillside with buildings everywhere.

Standing in the palace, it was possible to look down over the entire city and see the river that ran through the city, the different marketplaces, and the many buildings and pagodas that were reaching for the heavens above.

The palace had been built on the very top of the hill, towering above anyone else in this capital.

The First Court of Hell was also located within this palace. It was here there was a large pavilion where King Qinguang would sentence every single mortal soul to their future punishments or would let them walk over the two bridges that led to the Plains of Despair.

The group walked through the palace. Everywhere they went they would encounter demons and souls who hurried to the corners and bowed as deeply as they could while waiting for the entourage to pass them by. They never dared to even glance at the ones who were walking past them.

King Qinguang and Yanluo were walking at a rapid pace and it was clear they had something specific in mind. The group walked past numerous gardens and buildings before they reached a small part of the palace where there were multiple small courtyards and houses.

"Each of you take a building. You will be staying here until this trial is over. You are allowed to enter the city as you please and wander the palace as you wish, but you need to have the guards by your side at all time. Should you die in the city, then you can only blame yourself!"

Hearing this, Hui Yue guessed that this expert would actually hope that they died during their time in the city, but he couldn’t possibly say that out loud.

Hui Yue quickly found a small building which he liked and chose it. Inside it was clean and beautiful, very similar to the room he had in Yanluo's mansion. These rooms contained bathrooms, meditation rooms, studies, bedrooms, and even a kitchen and sitting room.

After a short moment, everyone decided on their residence. These buildings had two bedrooms, one for the expert participating in the trial and another for the guard that was following them, and it seemed that the two would be living together.

The first day, Hui Yue spent his time within the meditation room. Even though he was unsure exactly how long they had before the next trial would start, he took this time to calm down after being on the road for as long as he had been.

He had absorbed so much soul energy on the trip, and now he needed to stabilize his foundations. Hui Yue needed to slowly adjust to his new level of strength and to do so he needed to meditate normally.

The guard who was following Hui Yue was rather surprised as he saw the young man avoid the city to instead focus on solidifying his foundation.

Time went by and soon three days had passed in a flash before he opened his eyes again and looked at the guard who was standing vigilantly by his side.

It was clear that this guard had been prepared to protect him.

"Young master the servants of King Qinguang came a while ago to inform you that it will be ten days before the trial commences. Three days have gone by so you still have a total of seven days before the trial begins. If you wish to visit the city then now is the best time."

Hui Yue stared in shock at the guard when he heard him speak. This was the first time he had heard the guard speak so much at the same time, and it caused him to be rather surprised.

He quickly got past his surprise when he heard what the guard said and nodded his head. He had managed to adjust to the changes of his strength and now was the time if he wished to visit the city.

"Let’s go then," Hui Yue said and nodded his head. He was the only one who had not gone out of the house so far, and when he did, he noticed that the other houses were empty.

"The young masters have all gone to the city and are enjoying themselves with the different kinds of entertainment the city has to offer. Young Master Pei Ze is strolling the many marketplaces on the lookout for something amazing, while young master Pei Feng is at one of the popular brothels."

"These two are both members of your Celestial Sword Sect, do you want me to lead you towards one of them?" The guard asked, and Hui Yue, who was at first stunned that he knew about the location and actions of these two, pondered for a short while on where to go. He had nothing specific that he needed or wanted to do.

"Lead the way to Pei Ze," Hui Yue finally said as he had nothing better to do. The guard nodded his head and started to walk towards the marketplace.

"Brother Ze!" Hui Yue called out as he saw Pei Ze right in front of him, and Pei Ze turned around, surprised to see Hui Yue.

"Brother Yue, you finally left your house! Are you also here to find treasures? Although I haven't found many treasures yet, I have spent a large amount of my fortune on buying medicinal herbs. They are as common here as ordinary grass, but back in the sect you can sell them for quite a few contribution points!"

It was clear that Pei Ze was very eager to gain contribution points, but even so, he shared his new idea with Hui Yue not keeping it for himself.

"I actually need some of these herbs for alchemy," Hui Yue said slowly, and Pei Ze stared at him surprised. "You are an alchemist?" He asked dumbfounded, and Hui Yue could only nod his head.

"You are like an onion, layer after layer hiding yourself within. When I finally think I have grasped your abilities, you display something new. You truly are formidable!"