Chapter 339: City in Turmoil
A tremor ran through the earth as Hui Yue internally called out ‘Earth Tremor, Shaking the Earth!’ It had been three months since he had first been given the high ranked Saint skill. He knew all the practical aspects of the skill, but despite this it had still taken him three months of painstaking training before he finally reached the perfection in Shaking the Earth.
In these three months, Hui Yue had more or less followed a very simple schedule. First, he would rise as soon as the moon disappeared into the horizon and then he would spend two to three hours training and guiding Lao.
While Hui Yue felt as though his own training had come to a standstill, he was shocked to see that Lao had jumped from the Student rank to the Disciple rank in a mere three months. Even though his speed was swift, his Qi was still of superb quality. It was pearl white with a luster that would make anyone jealous.
In the time Hui Yue had taught him the young boy had already perfected a wide array of martial arts skills, and while all of them were ranked rather low, they should have posed some difficulty for the young boy. But that was not the case; it seemed his talent was indeed monstrous, and he managed to perfect one skill after another with ease.
After two hours in the morning teaching, Lao Hui Yue would go to the gardens where he would wholeheartedly focus on his Earth Tremor skill. Every single day he would spend five hours honing this ability. Although Hui Yue felt as though his speed learning the skill was incredibly slow, Lan Feng was actually astonished by the speed with which he was comprehending the intricacies of the skill. Earth Tremor was without a doubt one of the hardest skills he knew.
After training Earth Tremor for five hours, Hui Yue would then spend hours focusing on his physical training and sharpening his sword skills. At first, he was useless with a sword. He would use it the way one used a dagger; therefore, he was required to start from scratch. He stood still in one position and would spend every single moment for the following six hours repeating one strike. He would repeat it so many times that it became as natural to him as breathing. By now, after three months of training, Hui Yue had learned all the basics, and his sword had become quite lethal.
After six hours of sword practice was two hours of physical training. All the things he used to do while in wolf form he now used in his human form. He ran for an hour while wearing metal weights in his clothes to weight him down.
The rest of the time was spent using various training techniques to enhance his strength. Everything he did was in human form, and although the training was worse than he expected, Hui Yue did not give up. He stubbornly continued the training he had planned, and one day after another the exercises became easier and easier. So much so that he had to increase it twice in the last three months.
During the day when his body was pushed to its limits, it absorbed an astonishing amount of Yang energy through the essence of the heavens and the earth. This energy directly entered into the upper dantian, and although he absorbed Yin energy during the night, it was far from enough to balance the energies inside of him.
Contemplating the options he had, Hui Yue continued working his hardest and after three months a great change occurred.
Although he had only perfected the Earth Tremor, Shaking the Earth, he was perfectly well aware of just how astonishing this one attack was. He hoped that in the remaining three months he would be able to perfect Sharpen the Earth as well. If he could manage that, then he would have perfected half of the skill, and this would give him a very a strong attack to use in the Grave of the Unknown. He was ready to sneak some treasures into his storage stones and hopefully also get rid of the third prince. Although he had given the prince a high ranked skill, he had already ensured that it was a skill which did not do much against Hui Yue. With his wings, it would be impossible to root him to the ground.
While Hui Yue was focused on training, the third prince had been there to visit him once. This visit was only a few weeks after his visit to the castle, and their meeting was brief. It was clear that Shiu Ye was uncomfortable with the fact that Hui Yue did not have any demands after giving him such an amazing skill, and when they met, Hui Yue had made it clear that it was a gift in return for telling him about the grave. Even more so now that he was invited to join them.
The prince had asked why he gained the reward when it was his father who had both informed him about the grave and also invited him, yet Hui Yue snorted and asked the prince how much of a backing the King had within the court. Everyone knew that the princes were the ones in control. Therefore the gift was destined to go to a prince, and if he had to chose between the princes, he only had a relationship with the third prince.
This had caused a great smile to emerge on the third prince’s face. He gladly stayed for a bit to talk. However, when he heard that Hui Yue was training to improve his combat skills for the raid on the tomb, he quickly excused himself after making the young man promise to join Shiu Ye’s personal squad.
It was not only Shiu Ye who was satisfied with this, but Hui Yue was beaming with excitement as well. He quickly agreed to follow close by the third prince. Even if he did not gain any treasures at least he should be able to find an opportunity to lure him away from his guards, and at that point get revenge for his two friends.
The only person who came to visit on a regular basis was Cou Ling. She often came to hear how Hui Yue was doing. When she came she would usually bring gossip, and often information about how she had convinced some of her friends to visit the Ma family and join Hui Yue faction. Every time she spoke, she was filled with excitement and her pretty face would flush red. When Cou Ling came around, Hui Yue always had time to speak with her as he too enjoyed their conversation. It was a brief, relaxing escape from his training.
Although Cou Ling often came by, most of the information the woman brought with her was things Hui Yue already knew because every night when he dined with his friends, Gao Yan would give him an overview of was happening in the city, as well as in the entire Taiyang Kingdom. Hui Yue valued this information, but his main focus was always training.
While Hui Yue was busy training, the city of Muchuan grew increasingly busy. Mercenaries from all over the kingdom came to the city and stayed around the area. This ensured that they knew when the raid on the grave had started. Experts from various families in the Taiyang Kingdom and Yueliang Province came to town. Not just the ones invited but also many who were not invited. The information about the Grave of the Unknown appearing turned into the worst kept secret. Even some magical beasts heard about and were tempted by the treasures causing them to also appeared in town in their human forms. Even if they got treated as mixed blooded creatures, it was worth on the chance they could grasp at least a bit of treasure.
Most humans were unaware that some beasts were capable of taking human shape. The most trusted source of information said that beasts need to be Saint ranked expert to transform; however, Hui Yue knew from his time in Shenyuan that this was not true. It was true that to control and change one’s appearance one needed to be a Saint, but every beast had the ability to transform into a human. This would change their features in a variety of ways. They would gain different colored hair, different eyes, and even skin of various colors among other things. In general, they would stand out in the crowd.
Many of the citizens the general population considered as mixed blooded were in fact fully fledged beasts, though no one said anything about it. This was a secret the beasts would take with them to the grave.
It had only been three months since Hui Yue had walked out of the castle, but by this time every house within Muchuan City had been filled to the brim with excited cultivators ready to take their share of the treasure. Any house or mansion which had been up for sale was sold, and all rooms had been rented out. The inns were completely filled with no free rooms. Soon even the cities surrounding Muchuan had become as filled as the capital itself.
Another two months went by before a sudden, joyful outburst was heard. Hui Yue was standing on the same plot of land he used to perfect the Sacred Solarflare yet, this time, no crater was present. What was there was now thousands of sharp spikes jutting up from the ground. Some were no more than one meter tall while others were up to three meters tall. No matter which one of the sharp spikes one looked at, all they could see was a tip so sharp that it could easily impale anyone. If one did not have the proper defenses, then they would definitely meet a bad ending. Even a Saint would not feel safe unless he had Wu Wei protecting him.
‘It took me three months to master the first level of Earth Tremor,’ Hui Yue mused to himself. ‘Then it took two months to perfect the second level. Should I try and see if I can improve my use of the third level this month?’ He questioned himself as a smile playing on his lips while he was looking around. “Even if I don’t succeed, I should, without a doubt, try!” He said determinedly as he straightened his back and sat down in meditation. At first, he closed his eyes and emptied his head of any thoughts which appeared. He was completely empty, like an abandoned shell while he was searching through his memories.
It did not take him long to locate the process to use the Hand of the Earth within his mind and as his eyes were closed he looked at the intricate pattern he needed to push his spiritual energy through. This usage of the skill was many times harder than the two he had previously succeeded in, yet he was not the kind of person to easily give up. A sinister smile spread on his face as he continued to memorize the pathway within his mind before he started actually putting theory into practice. He had long since understood the importance of taking his time when he was learning the pathways his spiritual energy had to flow. If he made a mistake, it was obvious that he would suffer. This was something he could not afford now that he was so close to the raid on the grave. Every time he thought about it, an uncontrollable excitement grew within his heart.
This was the first time that Hui Yue would go treasure hunting, and considering that even Lan Feng found it interesting, it would for sure be a good opportunity to test his skills and gain valuable cultivating treasures. This was something he wouldn’t miss for the world. Grinning, Hui Yue focused once more fully on the ability in his mind, and after two hours passed he stood up. He was ready to try out the skill Earth Tremor, Hand of the Earth for the first time.