Dungeons of the Divine (Blue Phoenix Book 2) (13 page)

Within the edge of the forest stood two figures clad in black. Neither moved as both kept a keen eye on the five men who were slowly making their way back to the city holding the storage stones that contained the many corpses.

Each step was slow as a downtrodden expression was apparent on all five faces and a grim atmosphere surrounded them.

Hui Yue’s eyes were filled with killing intent as he looked at these five men. They had been behind the matter with Sun, trying to sell her for the sake of keeping their own harvest to themselves, and although Hui Yue somewhat understood their sentiment he refused to accept the choice they had made.

“Why didn’t you kill them?” Deng Wu’s voice cut straight through the eerie silence left behind within the forest as the bloody battle had ended. The black haired man was easily capable of distinguishing the killing intent within his good friend’s eyes.

“Killing them would have solved nothing,” Hui Yue sighed, as he slowly turned around when they vanished into the distance. “If I had killed them then a new City Lord would take over, and who knows if he would want to challenge me, the King of the Forest,” Hui Yue explained, his voice tired and his body aching from the fight against the soldiers.

Although it seemed incredibly one-sided, it had truly been a challenging task for Hui Yue to move around that huge chunk of earth and even one moment of indecisiveness would have completely ruin the attack he was launching.

“Scaring them is far better than killing them. This way no new brave men will arrive after our departure. They should be safe for at least a few years to come.” Complaining slightly, Hui Yue walked on wobbly legs back the way they had come from earlier, their speed slowed drastically, as the white-haired young boy invested his entire cultivation base for the sake of terrifying the City Lord and his elders.

The return to the cabin took more than ten times as long as the trip out, and as soon as they made it to the clearing, Hui Yue sat down in meditation and started to meditate. He slowly replenish his dried up Qi and his spiritual energy sea.

Within Hui Yue’s body a small yellow flame was present, the Earth element, which was currently even smaller than the green, Wood flame and the blue Water flame.

As soon as spiritual energy returned into his spiritual energy sea the yellow flame would suck up every little drop and with each drop the flame would grow in size.

Having been seated in the same position for hours, Hui Yue was still not even close to satiating the devouring flame which seemed to grow tremendously. Trembling, Hui Yue watched in silence as the flame grew to more than double the size of any of the other flames. Excitement grew from within as he realized how he could now control much more earth at once. His affinity with Earth increased dramatically and he was now approaching Sha Yun’s level of oneness with Earth and a feeling of satisfaction rose up within him.

Seeing that the flame had finally stopped absorbing spiritual energy, Hui Yue could now start to restore his spiritual energy sea.

A few hours passed by as Hui Yue was seated outside the cabin cultivating and the day turned into night. Cheerful sounds could be heard from within the house as the seasons were thrilled to see their mother returned to them. The scent of delicious food was drifting out through the open door together with clear golden rays of sunshine as though night did not exist within the cabin.

It was to this scene which Hui Yue awoke after having finally replenished his entire spiritual energy. Seeing how the energy left ripples throughout his spiritual energy sea, Hui Yue was smiling satisfied, as he felt that he was inches from a breakthrough in his cultivation.

They had only been within the first cave of these vast dungeons and Hui Yue felt as though he had already gained an immense boost in his strength.

Not only had he gained a higher cultivation base, the quality of his spiritual energy was greatly improved by understanding some of the laws.

This understanding allowed for Hui Yue to increase the strength of his spiritual energy, which in turn made him capable of taking on even Duke ranked experts. However, it also helped him truly understand that there were no humans who followed the same paths. Each person made choices throughout their lives and these choices affected their path. It was this exact phenomenon which causes every human to be different.

Above Hui Yue, a strange phenomenon was apparent as a starry sky was hung below a stone ceiling. With a deep sigh, Hui Yue slowly stood up.

Having gazed at the stars, Hui Yue wristed his eyes away and made his way into the cabin itself where a feast was seen. Everyone was smiling gently as the white-haired boy entered the house and a party commenced.

Enjoying the great food and the company, Hui Yue could not help but worry about Sha Yun who was all on her own inside the tunnel. Without anyone noticing Hui Yue made a doggy bag of food, especially picking lots of sweets for his snake-like friend for when they would unite once more.

….

The entire night had been spent eating and chatting and even the usually indifferent Sun allowed for smiles to appear on her face, as she saw how the seasons danced around on the table.

Thanking their host, Hui Yue finally decided that it was time for him and the others to reunite with Sha Yun and the overgrown poppy.

Setting out, the entourage had fewer people than it had the previous week when they arrived, however, a newfound feeling of happiness was evident. Now that it was just their normal party, Hui Yue went into detail about the appearance of the City Lord and his elders. This caused Wang Ju Long to smile slightly as she imagined the expressions of the said men.

Wang Ju Long was much more open than she had been while Sun was in their group and it was obvious that she was happy about finally returning to her flower. The overgrown poppy was something which Wang Ju Long deemed incredibly cute and although Hui Yue and Deng Wu had a hard time sharing her emotions whenever they looked at the large flower with deadly thorns and poisonous gas, they were both happy to see her expressions softening the way they did whenever she mentioned Little Poppy.

The trip towards the tunnel gate took no time at all, as Hui Yue rushed as much as possible, however, he slowed down as soon as the gate was in view and with slow and steady steps they closed in on the guards.

It was the same guards as those who had been here when they arrived with Sun previously. Seeing the black cloaked men, the faces of the guards almost turned yellow as fear was evident within their eyes. Rumors about the black cloaked men who killed guards had become a hot topic in Cave’s End City and these two especially felt likely to become targets, as they had interacted with the cloaked men previously.

Now that they were in front of these guards, Hui Yue nodded with satisfaction as he saw the expression of fear on the faces of the two guards, however, a sudden idea flashed through his mind.

Just before he entered the gateway he stood still for a few moments before turning towards the forest once more. Hui Yue raised his right hand and made it into a fist before he bumped the left side of his chest, just above the heart, and bowed deeply towards the forest.

“Farewell, Oh King of the Forest,” He said with a solemn voice, a voice which he once again changed to sound like neither his own nor the King of the Forest’s. Instead it was slightly squeaky.

Having said that he lingered for a few moments before he decisively turned around and nodded to the two guards, entering into the tunnels once more.

As soon as Hui Yue and his friends entered the tunnels the two guards looked at each other for a moment before they once more rushed towards Cave’s End City to report the incident.

“I am telling you that there were only three this time!” One of the guards was really excited as he narrated what had happened. “I am sure that they only appeared to follow the King of the Forest home. He was not with them and they even saluted him before they left.”

A sigh escaped the City Lord as he was seated within his hall, still rather shaken and every time he thought about what happened with his guards uncontrollable fear crept up on him, making his entire body shiver once more.

“Make a decree that no one shall enter the forest.” He said with a trembling voice, “although we never had any use for those forests they were still considered our land, however considering the barbaric actions of this so called king we have no other option than to follow his rule.”

Seating himself back in his chair, a look of helplessness flashed on his face and even the elders shook their heads in regret. But in spite of feeling unhappy, neither of them complained as they too remembered the previous encounter with the so called king. He was simply too gruesome for them to insult.

….

While Cave’s End City was busy wallowing in their pity for having lost the forests, Hui Yue and his friends finally met up with Sha Yun and little poppy who had been waiting just inside the tunnels for as long as they had been gone.

Seeing Sha Yun’s overly excited face the moment Hui Yue stepped through the gate caused him to feel even more guilty for leaving her behind. Steadying his determination, Hui Yue roamed through his memory stones until he found the bag filled with sweets. He quickly gave them to his snake-like friend, enjoying the way her smile increased tenfold by seeing those sweet treats.

Smiling happily, Hui Yue gave his tall friend a big hug, completely catching Sha Yun off guard causing her cheeks flushing pink from embarrassment and her hands to jerk up in surprise, almost dropping the sweets she was gifted.

‘Well done, now just a little bit closer and you will have snake babies,’ Lan Feng’s voice appeared from within the dantian cave and Hui Yue sighed deeply. He knew that the phoenix would never stop blabbering about those snake babies unless Hui Yue actually did go and create some of his own.

Hui Yue awkwardly let go of the snake woman, however his face was all smiles as the entire group was collected once more. However his smile instantly froze and his eyes widened, threatening to pop out of his head, as he looked at little poppy, the oversized poppy flower.

Before they had split up the flower was already fairly big, however now it measured around two meters tall and the vines were all as thick as an arm. On those vines were thorns as large as wolf fangs and sharp as a razorblades.

It was obvious that Sha Yun had not just spend the time within the tunnels waiting, instead she spent it feeding the flower. Allowing for it to digest and absorb so many beast cores that it had grown into a plant with a cultivation base of the Master rank.

The flower no longer had any weaknesses and its intelligence had similarly improved. While this flower might not be able to speak the human tongue, it was definitely able to understand everything that was said and it showed great affection as soon as it saw Wang Ju Long.

Looking at the weird flower almost writhing with excitement while Wang Ju Long petted its petals. Hui Yue laughed lightly as he knew that their trip would be fun as long as they stayed together.

The reunion with Sha Yun and Little Poppy was rushed as the snake-woman wished to get out of the humid tunnels as quickly as possible. Neither Wang Ju Long nor Deng Wu disagreed as they remembered the many days spent waiting for the Dragon Corps to arrive. By now they were sick of looking at their dark surroundings, hearing the sound of growling demon beasts and breathing in stale air.

The tunnels were similar to the maze they first encountered upon entering the dungeons, but unlike the maze, this place was packed with magical beasts and the further in they went, the stronger the beasts became. That was with the exception of the wolves they met the first day they entered the tunnels. No beasts seemed to provide even a fraction of their resistance.

Sha Yun once more insisted on carving her own path through the walls, but Hui Yue stopped her. Fortunately, both Hui Yue and Sha Yun were now capable of using their affinity with Earth to find the most used way, the way leading towards the next gate.

During their trip, Hui Yue started by stubbornly keeping all the beast cores, the beast blood, the bones and meat, however after a few days even Hui Yue was tired of the constant amount of materials which were coming his way causing him to leave them to Little Poppy, allowing the flower to devour all it wished for.

Although Little Poppy ate hundreds of magical beasts all these beasts did not seem to do much for his evolution. Hui Yue assumed that it was at a bottleneck in its own cultivation.

Although it seemed as though it would not require much effort, Little Poppy was a flower that was normally very weak and it was incredibly rare to see them grow to the size as this one had grown. Only by relying on cultivators to kill immense amounts of beasts which it was allowed to devour could it have a chance to turn this large and this ferocious.

Having grown up within the tunnels in an environment where the strongest survive rather than being raised by a cultivator in a kennel, this flower had managed to grow to a size unimaginable by others. However neither Hui Yue nor Wang Ju Long were aware that this flower was everything but ordinary. To Hui Yue especially, it was nothing but a glutton.

Days upon days were spent moving through the dark tunnels, yet suddenly the tunnels changed from the crude appearance they had before.

The walls had an appearance much like one would expect in a dungeon, and the air was stale and humid. There were almost no magical beasts around here, however signs of attacks were visible as though someone had been killing the beasts that were moving into the area.

Seeing signs of other people, Hui Yue did not dare take any chances as he brought out the black cloaks and they once more wore them to hide their faces and abilities.

The walls were soon lit up by light stones and the stale air turned normal as Hui Yue and the entourage moved closer and closer to the gate.

He had long since sensed the gateway through his affinity, however the gate was not the only thing he noticed, he also felt how many groups of cultivators were moving through these tunnels, hunting down magical beasts which explained why no magical beasts were to be seen.

Walking by random groups, no one seemed to pay any attention to Hui Yue and his group causing him to feel relief as they inched on towards the gate.

Walking to the gate, Hui Yue saw that there were guards stationed on the inside too. Guards which seemed to all be Master ranked.

The four guards were standing in front of the gate itself while a fifth person was seated behind a table with a big box behind him. On the table was a sign saying ‘Entrance Fee’.

Seeing this, Hui Yue could not help but wonder whether or not they used the same kind of currency within this kingdom, however, upon closer inspection he saw a small leaflet which showed twenty beast cores for one person. Below it was another form for currency, and this was obviously something which Hui Yue had never seen before.

Walking towards the counter, Hui Yue withdrew eighty beast cores which they had gathered during their trip in the dungeons and although there was some regret in seeing his beloved beast cores vanish, Hui Yue showed no hesitation as he handed them to the man behind the counter.

Looking at Hui Yue and the group, the man pointed at the flower saying nothing but extending his hand once more, making Hui Yue sigh internally as he withdrew another twenty beast cores. To think that even plants had to pay such an exorbitant price to be allowed entrance into this second cave.

Having paid the entrance fee, the four guards in front of the gate stepped aside and the gate made from heavywood slowly opened up, allowing entrance to the four cultivators and the oversized flower.

Entering into the gate none of them knew what they should expect from this second cave, however their expectations were grand as they looked at the world unravelling itself in front of their eyes.

Unlike Cave’s End, this gate was placed in a town and Hui Yue stared shocked as he stepped through it. He could see how this city started right at the cave wall then spread like a half moon from the cave itself out into the surrounding areas.

The city was far more urbanized than Cave’s End City and it reminded Hui Yue of Riluo City as he looked at the many citizens rushing back and forth.

Looking behind him, Hui Yue saw how the gates were guarded by over a hundred guards. A long queue was leading towards the gate, and seeing the table at the entrance Hui Yue guessed that the price to enter the tunnels was as extravagant as the price to return to the city.

The city was bustling with energy and although Hui Yue and the others were wearing cloaks, no one seemed to notice.

Looking around, Hui Yue saw that the majority of the citizens looked rough and that they might not be citizens after all. It was highly likely that they were mercenaries.

Looking around, Hui Yue also noticed how the entire place was filled with shops selling plants he had never even seen before. This was quite remarkable considering he had spent a large portion of his spare time within the library at the Royal Academy.

Even Wang Ju Long, the one who specialized in plants, furrowed her brows as she wondered which herbs they could be.

Looking around, Hui Yue was relieved to see that there were inns, quite a few actually, and while moving towards the closest one, Hui Yue could sense that the mercenaries had started to notice that these four people and the giant flower were new arrivals.

Hui Yue walked with the same steady steps towards the inn, seemingly ignorant of the many stares coming their way. Everyone quickly retracted their gaze as Hui Yue entered the inn, vanishing into the shadows of the house.

Inside the inn, the entire ground floor was made into a bar and restaurant. The room was lit by sunshine which shone through the windows, however, it was not strong enough to allow for a clear view. Because the room was dimmed, but also filled to the brim with people.

Ignoring the many guests who were staring at Hui Yue, the white-haired young man moved towards the counter where the barkeep was standing, intently staring at the four arrivals.

This cave was many times bigger than Cave’s End. It certainly contained more than one city, however all mercenaries were within this one. Mercenaries were people who sold anything for money, whether it be their materials they gathered from the tunnels, themselves to do dirty tasks or join armies, and even information.

Information was something everyone needed even the mercenaries themselves, however, none of them had ever heard nor seen this group of people before, making them all feel alert especially due to their complete lack of a cultivation base. Even the barkeep who usually was fairly rowdy turned mellow by the time Hui Yue had reached his counter.

“Two rooms with two beds in each,” Hui Yue said as he reached the counter not allowing for room to be dismissed and the barkeep quickly nodded his head. There was no hostility within the voice he had heard, just an aloof arrogance which belonged to nobles.

“Will young master be paying with demon cores or with demon coins?” The barkeep asked gently and Hui Yue furrowed his brows as he heard the two terms. Although the name was different, Hui Yue instantly recognized demon cores as beast cores. What demon coins were was something he did not know.

“We will be paying with demon cores,” Hui Yue said without hesitation and handed over one hundred beast cores.

Each room was ten beast cores a day and they needed a few days to gather information once more. They also needed a way to earn demon coins, as although Hui Yue had plenty of beast cores he wished to use them for his inscription and the attacks with Metal, however, now he was seeing his stockpile constantly being lowered.

Receiving two key stones, Hui Yue tossed one to Wang Ju Long before he gestured with his head for the others to follow. As if they had never noticed the silence within the bar itself, they all moved upstairs, looking for their rooms.

While Hui Yue and his friends were walking away silence rung throughout the entire bar and as soon as the shadows had vanished, murmurs started to be heard within the bar as many mercenaries began to ask around. Had anyone heard of this new mercenary group in town? Why would they hide their appearance so thoroughly? How had they managed to completely hide their cultivation base?

Many questions were asked, yet no one seemed to have the answers. Eventually the question was very simple, who were they? The fact that they paid with demon cores meant that they had come from the tunnels, in spite of that, no one had seen them before. Could they truly be from the trash place known as Cave’s End?

Along with the questions came the realization that these four people were not normal cultivators and the fact that they had chosen to pay with demon cores was quickly spread around. Those four cultivators had to be incredibly rich, however, as long as their cultivation base was hidden, no one dared provoke them.

Although tempting, many of the mercenaries within the city were used to living a dangerous life and their senses kept telling them to stay away from this mysterious group who had just arrived.

Rumors were spread through the entire city within a mere hour of Hui Yue and his friend’s arrival and the rumors also quickly died out as soon as everyone knew about them.

While Hui Yue and Deng Wu were seated within their room, cultivating, Wang Ju Long and Sha Yun were doing the same in their own room, resting and improving their cultivation as the city turned back to normal, the streets once again bustling with loud noises.

Seated within the inn, Hui Yue had no idea how his arrival had stirred a turmoil within the city, causing all the mercenaries to have various theories as to who the four friends were.

Some guessed that the newcomers were in truth some strong young masters who were on a trip to try hunting in the tunnels for the first time. Others guessed that Hui Yue and the entourage were originally from Cave’s End, and that the trash cave finally managed to produce some cultivators with a decent cultivation base. Yet others thought that they were spies sent out by the Dragon Corps.

No matter who they were and what they did, it had become the source of much consideration and even though they did not speak about it, every mercenary within the city kept contemplating their own personal theories.