Dungeons of the Divine (Blue Phoenix Book 2) (24 page)

Standing in front of the massive head, Hui Yue’s heart clenched slightly as he felt that he might have underestimated the snake in front of him. Even so, he felt that this was a battle they needed to fight. It was simply too late to back out.

“GO!” Zhou Long’s voice was not low and gentle as it had been every time so far, instead, it was filled with killing intent and echoed throughout the valley and into the distance.

The yell instantly caused the previously still snake body to start moving Hui Yue spared no time to look closer at the body, instead, he fed the blue flame in his hand drop after drop of spiritual energy, allowing it to suck up as much as it could. At the same time, Hui Yue pulled out some of the refined bone marrow, the refined bone dust, and unrefined beast cores.

All of these extra things were added to the flame causing it to increase in size and increase an immense amount making the fire soar into the sky. A roaring filled the air, and Hui Yue pulled one small fire orb from the large one after another, bombarding  the snake.

Although Hui Yue was using the most dangerous fire he could produce, he was after all only Master ranked and his elemental affinity was and spiritual energy just so. The beast he was up against was an Emperor ranked beast. The fact that the blue flames managed to destroy one scale at a time causing it to catch on fire and crack revealing some of the flesh beneath, was already a shocking effect from a flame sent forth by a Master ranked cultivator.

Hui Yue was not the only one who was attacking to his heart’s content. What Hui Yue did was destroy small groups of scales, which then the flesh underneath was attacked by Wang Ju Long’s small poppies under the orders of the large one.

The poison within the poppies was weak when compared to the poison which existed naturally within the flesh of the Horned Snake, but even so one poppy after another gave up their lives to infect even a slight bit of its flesh. They were attempting to add enough poison to stun the snake. If the snake was stunned for even a moment it would increase their opportunity to defeat it.

A roar sounded out from the massive mouth of the awakening Horned Snake. The roar alone was enough to make the mountains tremble. A rain of stones and boulders started falling down towards the three groups of cultivators who tried to get rid of them.

“Yun!” Hui Yue called out with an urgent voice, and the woman who was merged with Earth nodded before she lifted her arms, and by her side, the earth started moving. It created two barriers that the boulders slammed into, slowing their fall down significantly making them much easier to avoid.

With an approving nod, Hui Yue wiped the sweat from his forehead, as he continuously fed his spiritual energy to the blue flame above his head summoning forth one small fire ball after another which he used to break open the heavy armour of the Horned Snake.

Hui Yue and his friends were situated right in front of the snake and the only thing they could see was the area around the mouth. The snake’s eyes were each placed on the sides of the head.

Hui Yue, Zhou Long and the formation specialists were placed in a triangle, making Zhou Long stand in front of the right eye and the formation specialists at the left. Although Hui Yue’s location in front of the mouth seemed dangerous, the two other groups had the most dangerous positions as they were the first thing the snake would see.

Hui Yue was unaware, but the Horned Snake had indeed opened its eyes moments before. Although the damage dealt by Hui Yue was not a lot, it was still enough to hurt the snake and also they were not the only ones attacking.

From one side, Hui Yue could feel the aura of the elemental flame he had summoned and this one was even more domineering than the one he summoned at the tournament. On his other side fluctuations of very powerful energies were sweeping about.

Behind Hui Yue, Xie Lan, and Xu Piao were quiet for some time as both of them were preparing two attacks which contained a great deal of Wu Wei, but for it to succeed Hui Yue and his friends needed to make the snake open its mouth.

Continuing to destroy scale after scale, Hui Yue saw how the beastly soul shadows were corroding its flesh, destroying everything in their path. Even more agonizing hissing sounds could be heard coming from the beast as its skin was corroding and its scales burning, constant pain being inflicted upon it.

Xu Piao and Xie Lan combined their Wu Wei into a golden spear which shone with an intense and highly dangerous aura, even Hui Yue was certain that he could do nothing to block an attack of this magnitude. He gritted his teeth before he determined that it was no longer time for him to play around with the small blue flames.

Lifting both his hands, the massive Fire Orb above his head started moving. It did not move quickly and because it was no longer producing smaller Fire Orbs it was gaining in size every second. Slowly it made its way towards the awakening Horned Snake.

This snake, although large and deadly, seemed to take forever to react and wake up. It already noticed both the formation specialists along with Zhou Long and it was perfectly aware that a third group was right in front of it, but its large size was disadvantage in a battle such as this. All it could do was hiss in pain while slowly activating its cultivation base.

Hui Yue was the first to notice the difference. The previously mud-green snake was changing colour and was becoming golden. A golden hue was even shining from its scales which he no longer had any ability to destroy.

Pushing the blue flame faster, Hui Yue guided it inside the mouth of the beast, however, just as it reached the open cavern the head started to move!

Loud creaks were heard as everything shook. Hui Yue and his friends all struggled to keep their balance, the worst was Sha Yun who was merged with Earth, as a recoil hit her and her face paled as pain welled up from within.

The Horned Snake was a highly intelligent beast, and it was perfectly aware that the real problematic one of the many cultivators present was Zhou Long. It turned its face towards him, causing the other eye to be right in front of Hui Yue.

Seeing such a perfect target, Hui Yue did not wait many seconds before he commanded his flame to strike its eye; it hissed in pain and suddenly the world started crumbling around them.

The Horned Snake lifted its upper body above the ground and slammed it down with as much force as it could muster, in the hope of crushing some of the cultivators in the process.

Seeing the snake lift itself up, Hui Yue’s eyes widened with terror and he turned around yelling out loud, “BACK UP!”  He rushed away and was followed by the others, but not all of them were lucky.

Little Poppy had been too close and too slow to make it out alive. It was crushed under the massive snake, the death of the flower cutting its connection with Wang Ju Long, making her offensive powers limited.

“Wait behind!” Hui Yue shouted to Wang Ju Long, “We will definitely need your healing later on!” He continued before the entire cave shook from the massive snake slamming down..

Seeing that the snake was waking up, Hui Yue knew that they did not have a lot of time to stay around. When he looked at the right eye, the eye which the blue flame struck, satisfaction was evident on his face as he saw how the blue flame was still burning the eye and flesh with an intensity which no other flame could match.

Rushing back to where they were before, Hui Yue gestured to Xie Lan and Xu Piao as the mouth of the beast was wide open, and they threw the Wu Wei spear with as much force as they could, the spear pierced through the back of its head before it got stuck halfway through the throat.

The spear did not make it all the way through, but the fact that half of it had pierced into the tough scales showed how powerful the spear truly was. Hui Yue decided to follow up their spear attack with his own. Although he had no wish to get close to the snake he knew that it was necessary for him to attack with another Fire Orb. Once more summoning a small flame in his hand, after which he withdrew a little of Lan Feng’s affinity with Fire and watched the flame turned from red to lighter colors until it was finally blue

Not waiting for a second longer, Hui Yue fed this small blue flame with as much spiritual energy as he could, knowing full well that he was going to run out of spiritual energy fairly soon. He still wished to attack with one more Fire Orb before he and his friends withdrew.

While Hui Yue was focused on his Fire Orb, Sha Yun was busy creating Earthen Spears which kept empaling the beast on all the wounds left behind by Hui Yue and Deng Wu.

Deng Wu summoned one soul shadow after another going through his scrolls quickly. Although it was rare for a necromancer to have a lot of beast shadows, this was not the case with Deng Wu as he had gained thousands of them during the time they  waited within the tunnels for the Dragon Corps to appear. Now was finally the time to use them.

One beastly soul shadow alone would do nothing, but as all the shadows merged together they became stronger and stronger until there was just one shadow left, corroding the scales and flesh of their opponent. Although it took the shadows a long time to corrode even a small bit of the snake, these shadows were completely unaffected by anything the snake had done so far.

Just as Hui Yue was about to release his second blue Fire Orb, a feeling of immediate danger washed over him and he once more retreated backwards, rushing out of the range of the snake.

It turned out to be the right decision, as moments later a golden flash filled the area causing blood-curdling screams, from the side where the formation specialists were at, followed by a tremor which ran through the ground.

The screams only sounded for a few moments before everything turned eerily silent Hui Yue gritting his teeth, as he threw a glance towards the location where Zhou Long was supposed to be fighting the snake. So far, Hui Yue had not seen much help from either of the groups sent by the Dragon Corps.

Knowing that they could not expect much help from either of the teams he desperately sought out the phoenix within his dantian cave, but the phoenix completely ignored him. No matter how Hui Yue tried to get into contact with Lan Feng, the bird just stayed there with closed eyes golden light shining from within his body.

Looking at Deng Wu, Hui Yue noticed an ugly expression spreading on his face, and as soon as the handsome boy noticed Hui Yue’s glance he shook his head. He was not able to contact Little Dragon either. It was as though the two divine beasts entered a trance, unable to be woken up and unaware of anything which happened around them.

Clenching his hand, Hui Yue summoned Black Blood and the Qi Dagger as he looked up at the snake, contemplating the best options they had for survival.

Seeing Hui Yue draw his weapons, he was no longer alone. Behind him, Sha Yun was now carrying her halberd, Wang Ju Long carried her red staff, Deng Wu carried the sword, and the two King ranked experts both carried weapons of their own. Seeing the determination in everyone’s eyes, Hui Yue nodded to them. There was only one way they could possibly kill the snake and that was to destroy the beast from within, the scales were simply too formidable!

A wry smile appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he saw how everyone was getting ready to follow him in, but he waved them back.

“I will need you to cover my retreat,” He yelled out, partly as an excuse partly true. Hui Yue knew that if they were to go with him, he could not put his entire focus on stunning the beast, but instead he would be worrying about his friends.

Although Hui Yue believed in himself, he was not certain his risky plan would work out. Despite this it was still worth a shot. He could smell the scent of fresh blood and burnt flesh wafting through the air.

It originated from the Horned Snake as the blue flames were spreading on its body. Unlike normal flames, these would continue to burn as long as there was essence from the heavens and earth present in the location where they burnt, or if the cultivator who made them stopped them. These were the most dangerous flames one could come across, even elemental flame was not something that could be compared to it. The elemental flame required five men to make and a constant influx of spiritual energy containing the elemental affinity of the cultivators who controlled it.

The snake had its side showing to Hui Yue. The side which he burnt. Its eye was completely gone along with some of the side of its mouth, revealing a gaping hole as the scales and flesh had vanished completely. Some of it was corroded away by the beastly soul shadows while others were burnt by the blue flames.

Standing close by, Hui Yue noticed that the snake paid absolutely no attention to him, nor his friends. When he looked to the other side, there was no reaction at all from the formation specialists, instead the foul scent of fresh blood appeared from their side, causing Hui Yue to be even more vigilant.

Hui Yue did not mind that the group from the Dragon Corps was currently out of action, as he felt uncomfortable travelling around with so many friendly people whom he could not trust. He knew that these men were veteran fighters and Hui Yue’s friends, although they fought often, rarely fought battles against superior opponents putting them at a slight disadvantage.

Although Hui Yue himself was at a disadvantage, his face showed an excited smile and with a deep sigh he released the red mist from within his dantian cave.

As soon as it was released, an image flashed in front of Hui Yue’s eyes. The image of a man with a wild mane, his skin was not like a human's but striped like a tiger. His eyes were shining red and a tail was seen at the back of the man. A enormous killing intent billowed out from the creature which was neither beast nor man. As the killing intent touched Hui Yue, it suddenly took over his body and the killing intent roiled out, spreading across the entire area.

Even the Horned Snake felt a shiver running through its body as the killing intent arrived. Zhou Long who planned on seeing what Hui Yue had in mind against an overwhelming opponent was shocked as his killing intent was released in its full potential, not in any way held back by the tranquil cloud.

A howl reverberated through the valley, as Hui Yue felt his body undergoing a change. His muscles were getting stronger and stronger, swelling to their limits.

His eyes were no longer serene and blue, instead they were red and filled with killing intent and chaos, his canine teeth grew in size as growling sounds could be heard and black stripes started appearing on his skin.

Hui Yue was aware of every change happening to him, however he felt as though someone else had taken over his body. It was the exact same feeling when Lan Feng took over his body, his consciousness was pressed down and he was unable to do anything.

Seeing the Horned Snake in front of him, Hui Yue felt how his body rushed towards it, the killing intent roiling out.

His hands changed to claws and a strength unlike any Hui Yue had ever felt before flooded through his body. This strength was not from Qi, nor was it spiritual energy or Wu Wei. It was a black energy which Hui Yue had never felt before, and as it rushed through his meridians, Hui Yue’s entire body was filled with astonishment.

Jumping at the large snake, Hui Yue wanted to stop his body, however stopping was completely impossible and instead his body controlled by the red cloud struck out against the snake, his claws increased in size and sharpness with help of the black energy as it had wrapped itself around the sharp edges.

The scales which previously felt as though they were impossible to slice through suddenly turned to butter. Although the claws stayed the same length, the black energy formed into extensions on his claws, digging deeply into the skin of the snake.

The snake which previously had completely ignored Hui Yue, could no longer do so and a piercing hiss of agony was heard from its broken mouth. The entire world shook once again, as the snake tried to shake off Hui Yue who was holding onto its head with just his new claws.

Shaking its head, the Horned Snake soon found that the one hanging on did not fall off, and in a fit of desperation it slammed itself against the mountain wall which formed part of the valley.

Banging itself against the mountain side, Hui Yue climbed his way into the mouth of the beast. He chose to hide within while hanging on to one of the sharp fangs which were as large as Hui Yue himself.

Frantic sounds were heard as the snake kept causing a ruckus, thrashing its body back and forth, trying its very best to get rid of Hui Yue.

“Xu Piao!” “Xie Lan!” A loud growling voice roared out through the sky, “Zhou Long!” all three stopped in their tracks as soon as they heard the voice.

So far neither of the three had done much during the battle waiting to see how Hui Yue would deal with it, but now that they heard their names and noticed how the entire mountain side was crumbling, they quickly left the trance-like atmosphere they had been in as they prepared their attacks.

Golden light appeared on all three of their bodies, rushing forwards towards the beast. The golden light which left Xie Lan turned into leaves, small golden leaves, yet Hui Yue could sense just how dangerous these leaves were.

As they reached the snake some of them were sharp and cut deep into its flesh, while others were like leaves and seated themselves upon its scales exploding in a large golden light as soon as the woman made an incantation.

The golden light which appeared from Xu Piao turned into flying daggers, all of  which embedded themselves deeply into the Horned Snake, causing multiple streams of blood to fall down.

Wu Wei was just that the ability to create anything the way one wished to create it. As long as you could imagine it, then you could create it, as long as you had enough Wu Wei refined.

Wu Wei was much more than just that, but this was all Hui Yue had been told by the phoenix as he felt that there was no reason to go into detail.

Xu Piao and Xie Lan were not the only ones who attacked, Zhou Long was also participating finally. His Wu Wei took the form of a crescent moon blade. While Hui Yue was busy keeping the Horned Snake occupied, Zhou Long took his crescent moon shaped blade and using most of his strength, the blade soared down, much like a guillotine, finally decapitating the snake.

Hui Yue, who was still conscious was starting to worry about what the red mist in control of his body had planned for him. Was it going to attack his friends again? Was he going to go for Zhou Long perhaps? However, as soon as Hui Yue tried to struggle the red mist silently vanished, allowing for Hui Yue’s body to return to normal and his consciousness to once more gain control over his body.

Deeply surprised, Hui Yue looked at his hands, yet no matter what he did his body was now following his orders and there was nothing left of the red mist which caused Hui Yue great confusion. The tranquil cloud was not even needed to keep it in control, it just obediently waited within the dantian cave.

Straightening his back, Hui Yue left the giant head of the Horned Snake which had fallen to the ground after being beheaded, and he was quite proud as he walked away from the beast. It had been a long and grueling battle, and the entire formation specialist team had been killed when the snake started thrashing about, yet all of Hui Yue’s friends were still alive, something which caused Zhou Long some agitation.

“You did great today,” Zhou Long said as he patted the shoulders of the white-haired boy. The killing intent he felt was certainly similar to the one at the tournament, but this time it was much vicious, something which shocked even Zhou Long. This convinced him that this man was a young master with ties to the Frozen General.

“I will be taking the beast core and the horn,” Zhou Long said, as even more golden light appeared on his hands and he chopped off the horn and easily dug out the beast core.

“I need to return to town, when you have taken what you want from this beast, then come find me at the Dragon Corp’s headquarters. I have a mission which I planned to post, but considering you guys have helped me so much, I’ll hold it back for you.”

Having said that, Zhou Long shot one last glance towards the area where the formation specialists were buried beneath the debris after which he shot off into the distance, not looking back.

“Well then,” Hui Yue heaved a heavy sigh of relief as soon as Zhou Long vanished into the distance, “Let us start scavenging this beast.” Black blood suddenly flashed into Hui Yue’s hand and with a patience he start taking off the scales, one by one, as he moved down the snake.

Although Hui Yue wished to scavenge all the materials from the snake, he soon had to admit that from the massive snake he could not take everything, but in the end he shared all fangs with Xu Piao. The scales was free for all and Hui Yue took thousands upon thousands of scales. He took so much meat that one could not believe it and even bones were scavenged along with some of the skin from underneath the scales. Its skin was tough and although it could be pierced through, it still gave some protection.

Taking all the items took Hui Yue days, and eventually he had to leave the rest behind even though he did not wish to do so, however now he no longer had any space within his storage stones, something which sounded like a blessing in the ears of his friends.

The trip back to the mercenary city took a few days longer than it had taken to arrive as they no longer followed Zhou Long’s insane speed. Instead they took the trip leisurely, and every night Hui Yue would be seated completely absorbed in his work of refining the materials he gained from the large snake.