Chapter 81: Delay in the Plans
‘Rest now.’ Lan Feng told Hui Yue, but how was he supposed to rest when his entire body was shaking from adrenaline? Excitement about starting his new training schedule was definitely evident, and Hui Yue was unable to contain his impatience as he sat down in meditation once more. This allowed him to assist his cultivation technique in refining Qi, allowing for the speed to be double what it was previously.
Seated within the spiritual energy sea, Hui Yue could not help but allow for his mental projection to sweep out over his entire body, and what met him caused him to be greatly shocked.
Hui Yue had never had a masculine body, nor was he particularly tall, yet after breaking into the Master rank major changes took place which he did not noticed earlier. Hui Yue was still very effeminate, but his body was now streamlined with lean muscle all over. Looking around, Hui Yue noticed that his entire body had evolved, yet it had not changed into a manly, muscular body with great strength, instead it had changed into focusing on agility and nimbleness.
Hui Yue could not help but smirk as he felt how his entire body was like a cheetah. Whenever he used his taut muscles, he would be moving with an explosiveness which caused extra strength to be exerted.
Usually now would be the time where the Chong Mai meridian would be opened, yet Hui Yue had already opened it long ago. Due to the many years which had passed, his entire body was fortified with Qi already which put Hui Yue in a favourable position, ready to start practicing spiritual arts in the following days.
At least that was what Hui Yue had expected. Refining the spiritual energy was a process which took much longer than what the white-haired young man had expected, and although he was now able to learn spiritual arts he was unable to practice them unless he used Lan Feng’s spiritual energy, which the phoenix straight out rejected.
‘I need this spiritual energy to refine some Wu Wei.’ He said without any room for discussion, and Hui Yue could only smile wryly, as he sat down and once more started the cumbersome task of refining Qi to increase his cultivation base.
It did not take long before Hui Yue’s friends had found out that Hui Yue broke into the Master rank, and all of them came to visit him, bringing snacks as they seated themselves within the newly decorated rear garden.
Nothing from the rear garden survived the fire, which killed Old Beardy but it did not take Hui Yue’s servants many days to make the garden look as pretty as it had, although it cost Hui Yue a decent amount of coin.
Even if it cost him a few coins, Hui Yue did not mind it as one thing kept rolling around within his head. He was soon ready to face the Dungeons of the Divine. It was a place which Lan Feng wanted Hui Yue to go train, yet the bird refused to tell him what it was and where it was. The only thing Hui Yue knew was that it contained Divine Flowers.
One night while Hui Yue had been spending all day cultivating his spiritual energy, Deng Wu and Wang Ju Long both came to dine with him, and Hui Yue enjoyed a round of sparring against his older friend.
Hui Yue was perfectly well aware that he did not currently know any spiritual art skills, yet at the same time he also knew that it was possible to think up spells. As long as one had decent control over their element, and Hui Yue used this to try and create earthen spears much like the ones that old beardy had used.
Although Hui Yue did manage to create spears, they were a mere twenty centimetres tall and therefor not something which could come even close to threatening Deng Wu. In fact they shattered as soon as the older boy stepped on them.
That being said, Hui Yue was not completely defenceless, and as soon as he had pulled out the Fire Spark skill Deng Wu instantly forfeited the match as he remembered the last battle which he had watched.
Most Master and above ranked cultivators preferred using their spiritual energy to do battle, yet Hui Yue could not help but feel that it was slightly lacklustre standing far away from each other and chanting different spells to activate one’s elemental affinity. Based on this opinion, Hui Yue never gave up on training his Qi methods, thus his training schedule intensified.
From morning till noon Hui Yue would train various Qi methods and then from noon till the following morning Hui Yue would spend as much of his time as possible on cultivating.
Splitting his life into two like this had caused his cultivation base to jump by leaps and bounds, and after only two weeks did Hui Yue have as much spiritual energy as Lan Feng had managed to refine after a few years.
It had to be remembered that Lan Feng was refining his spiritual energy purely with his soul, yet Hui Yue’s speed was simply too amazing for anyone to keep up with. Although he had now gathered enough spiritual energy to start practicing the spiritual arts, it was obvious that he was still a one-star Master ranked cultivator.
“Hui Yue, I have something I need to speak with you about.” Deng Wu said, as he was about to leave the mansion. His usually cheerful expression was now filled with cautiousness and his usually laughing voice was grim and cold.
The contrast to Deng Wu’s usual personally caused Hui Yue to frown but he nodded and lead the way into the house after which the two of them spoke. An hour later, Deng Wu emerged from the front door, his face ugly to behold, as he slipped into the streets and rushed towards his home.
Suddenly the young man stopped in his tracks and looked back at the mansion with sadness in his eyes as he mumbled, “You really should not trust us so much.”
After looking at the mansion for a few moments Deng Wu heaved a heavy sigh, as he once more turned around and walked away with rushed steps.
Back in the mansion, Hui Yue was seated in a chair and his hands were tapping the table slowly, his eyes appearing sunken as he was deep in thought. Sha Yun was seated next to him, and her eyes were glistening with a menacing silvery light as she looked out the door from which Deng Wu has left earlier.
“I’m sorry Yun.” Hui Yue said quietly as he closed his eyes and slowly stroked his forehead. “It seems as though we need to stay here in Riluo City for a while longer.”
Across the city in the Deng family compound Deng Wu’s face was still twisted in disgust as he was summoned by his father and the elders to hurryto the main hall.
“So.” Deng Tsang Ying started, as he looked at his son with expectation in his eyes, “Did you convince that child to join our faction in the battle that is to come?” He asked directly, not bothering any sugar-coated words. The entire Deng family knew about the plans which were to be executed within a year’s time.
“No.” Deng Wu said with a clear voice as he looked his father in the eyes. “He said that he does not wish to join our cause, and that he would suggest us to stop what we are doing right now.”
“Who does he think he is?!” Deng Tsang Ying roared throughout the entire main hall, his cultivation base erupting and all flames within the room roared as though they were fuelled by the man’s anger alone.
“Let us get rid of him,” one of the elders said, his face pale. “We cannot allow for him to know about our plans, if he does not join us.”
“It is not that easy,” Deng Wu said with gritted teeth as he glared at the elder, “He already took care of old beardy from the Silent Raven. Do you think we can do better than that?”
Hearing that Hui Yue had dealt with a Silent Raven caused everyone present to suck in a breath of air. They all knew about old beardy and to know that he had been killed by a mere child was impossible to understand.
“Well old beardy was only a Master ranked cultivator after all,” Deng Tsang Ying said with a laugh, “If we send someone who is a higher rank then there should not be any problems.”
“Hui Yue was only a Practitioner ranked expert when he dealt with old beardy. Unless you plan on sending one of our higher ranked cultivators to deal with him.” Deng Wu was quiet for a moment before he continued, “Oh I forgot.” He said with a badly hidden sarcasm, “If we were to send any of our higher ranked cultivators, then we will end up with having to come up with a good excuse when the water affinity scouts track the combat traces back to our Deng family.”
Hearing this an ugly expression appeared on Deng Tsang Ying’s face, as he knew that killing Hui Yue would be a bad idea. The water affinity cultivators were capable of finding traces from other cultivators. Each item sent ripples throughout the world much like how ripples would appear on the surface of a lake if one were to throw a stone into it.
“We will need to discuss this with the Wang family.” Deng Tsang Ying said eventually as he summoned a servant who was given the task of getting one of the Wang family elders to visit them.
Not only was the Deng family sending out messages, even Hui Yue was considering which steps he should take with the information he had been given. The Deng family had pulled together with the Wang family, and those two family leaders wished to end Lord Rong Liang’s reign over Riluo City.
For them to actually try and recruit Hui Yue, the white-haired boy knew that things were not longer able to be calmed down with talking. The only end result that he could see was that the two factions would end up in a violent clash, yet the Rong family and their allies knew nothing of the Deng and Wang families advances.
Sighing deeply, Hui Yue looked out the window once more as the faces of all his friends appeared in front of him. Wang Ju Long and Deng Wu were without a doubt the ones Hui Yue spent the most time with, yet he would never sacrifice the Rong twins after everything they did for him when he was young.
Gao Yan and Ma Kong were both part of the Rong faction and should it come to actual combat, it was likely that all of them would struggle against each other. Hui Yue was not interested in seeing his friends battling one another, and he sunk into deep thought as he considered his options.
“Did you tell him?” Wang Ju Long asked Deng Wu the following day, as the two of them met up at the Deng family where the two families were once more gathered, discussing the plans of what was to come.
Deng Wu nodded his head as he looked into the horizon. “Hui Yue trusts us.” He said with a wry smile on his face, and a happiness bloomed within his eyes. “He actually trusts us even after telling him what is going on.” Wang Ju Long smiled back at the handsome boy next to her, a small blush appeared on her cheeks, as if she had been given the most beautiful compliment in the entire world.
“I knew he would trust us.” She said happily, “He is so kind when it comes to his friends that there was no way he would not trust you after everything you have been through together.”
Looking at Wang Ju Long and hearing her words, Deng Wu could not hold back his laughter. He stood up from the pair of chairs that they had occupied and slowly moved towards the hall where the elders were frantically discussing which plan they should follow.