Dungeons of the Divine (Blue Phoenix Book 2) (46 page)

Having left the dark cave, Hui Yue and the group started battling their way through the dark tunnels. Shortly after they once more followed the flow of people traveling through the lit parts of the tunnels.

Their journey towards the capital was now done in a completely different manner than before. Before none of them were in a hurry. They met Scarface and the meeting with him caused the group to slow down further, however, he finally understood that Scarface was not the only danger they would encounter on their way.

To be honest, Hui Yue was slightly disappointed in Scarface. The man had shown up and started to kill members of his group, but then suddenly stopped. He left behind nothing but a bad feeling within everyone, a feeling of constant danger because no one knew when he would attack the next time.

At first, Hui Yue was very worried but having thought more about the situation, Hui Yue came to the conclusion that perhaps Scarface truly was not as dangerous as he thought at first. He never saw the man actually attack. The tiger by his side carried out the attacks. Seeing that he used sneak attacks proved that he had no confidence taking on the masses, including the two King ranked experts.

After having thought about this, Hui Yue no longer felt that worried about encountering Scarface. Instead inside of him was a flame of excitement burning; a flame from the anticipation he felt about the fight he knew was likely to break out when they met.

Traveling through the tunnels, they soon reached yet another cave. This cave was nothing like what they expected because the majority of the cave was used for agriculture. Looking in the distance, one could see a large city situated in a valley.

“This place is what feeds the Dragon Core and the Dragon’s Avenue Cave.” Xu Piao said and Hui Yue nodded in return. It made sense. As Xu Piao had said previously, the two final caves, the Dragon Core and the Dragon’s Avenue Cave, both contained two cities consisting of their entire caves leaving no space to farm. Instead they relied on the earlier caves and mainly this Cave of the Divine Feast.

Although Hui Yue was intrigued by the cave he kept moving quickly through the landscape. Only one night was spent in the city relaxing before they once more started moving.

Traveling through the Cave of the Divine Feast took a little more than one week. They spent every day spent traveling and only a few hours each night to rest. Entering another tunnel, they stayed on the lit parts; all of them astonished because the tunnels were much more trafficked than the previous ones. There were carriages bringing harvested vegetables, corn, and meats to the two cities ahead of them.

Seeing all the carriages, although it surprised them, had no influence on Hui Yue or his friends and the trip through the tunnels was uneventful as they reached the Dragon’s Avenue Cave.

This was considered a suburb of the Dragon Core, a place where the second most influential families lived. Looking around many Duke and King ranked experts were visible, and Hui Yue understood that it was incredibly important for him and his friends to not insult anyone. Although he felt capable of dealing with Duke ranked experts he was likely to suffer severe damage while doing so. Within this city the majority of the Dukes present had higher ranked experts at their back, experts ready to avenge them should they be beaten or killed.

Hui Yue’s intent was to travel through the city quickly entering the Dragon Core as soon as possible. Currently the strength of his group was quite low considering how powerful the citizens walking around were, and Hui Yue felt that they were tempting their good luck staying longer than needed.

What he forgot was that the city filled the entire cave; despite it being one big city, the cave was no smaller than the previous Cave of the Divine Feast. Traveling through this Dragon Avenue Cave was indeed more time consuming than what it had taken them to journey through the previous cave.

Traveling through the Dragon Avenue Cave took ten days. This was three days longer than the previous cave. This was due to them spending every night at an inn, not to mention the roads which were crooked making the trip more difficult, and finding the way towards the tunnel was not always easy.

However, now here they were in front of the final tunnel system. The final part of their journey and Hui Yue felt excitement within. They was finally closing in on the final cave.

“This is the true Dragon Avenue,” Xu Piao said with a wry smile on his face as he looked at the tunnels they were about to enter. Paying the fee, everyone stepped inside and breathed in the familiar stale air once again. The air which had at first felt stifling and discomforting suddenly made them feel excited. This was the final time they had to travel through these tunnels. It was time for them to get ready to finally exit these dark tunnels and this strange underground world.

The six travelers joked with each other as they made their way through the tunnels, and four days after they entered the exit was visible. Everyone, even Xu Piao and Xie Lan, had their hearts skip a beat as they paid the entrance fee and stepped into the Dragon Core.

As soon as they stepped inside, everyone was astonished as they saw King ranked experts moving about everywhere within the city. Only a few groups of Dragon Corps soldiers were lower ranked; all ranked in the middle dantian tier as they got ready to leave the Dragon Core.

A few Duke ranked experts were walking the streets, all wearing astonishing clothing and having King ranked experts by their sides.

Looking around, Hui Yue was unable to find traces of anyone familiar, not Scarface, nor anyone else.

“Let’s find the Dragon Corps office first and hand in the mission,” Hui Yue said with a sigh as he looked around. They started moving towards the center of the city thinking that the office had to be there.

With his friends following behind Hui Yue made his way through the city. They slowly saw more lower ranked experts, who  were youngsters much like Hui Yue and his friends, clearly the younger generation.

Just as Hui Yue was observing his surroundings various people on the street noticed a large group of lower ranked cultivators; all of them curious as to why they were in this city and whom these newcomers were.

Arriving in the middle of the city, they saw a massive marketplace and not the building they had expected; however, after asking around for a while they figured out where the Dragon Corps’ main office was.

The office was located where yet another tunnel should be. It seemed like the reason it was located there was so the Dragon Corps could determine who entered the tunnels leading to the other three parts of the Dungeons of the Divine.

Along with the entrances to the other tunnels, it also had the Stairs of Hope, leading towards the Center Palace above ground. The location He had claimed to be his own.

Traveling towards the office took nine days as the group rushed as fast as possible, and suddenly they arrived in front of a magnificent castle which was built into the cave wall.

The castle was more than two hundred meters tall and a hundred meters wide. The gates were open, but King ranked experts were standing guard; they ensured that only those who were allowed inside could enter.

Walking towards the entrance, Hui Yue flashed his B ranked emblem. This was something which made the two King ranked experts instantly show a great amount of respect towards the group, as they stood aside allowing the group to enter.

“What can I do for you?” A woman asked who was standing at the front desk waiting for groups to return from their missions. Seeing this group of youngsters who clearly did not look at all like Dragon Corps members made her incredibly curious. When Hui Yue handed over the items he got from Zhou Long, she was deeply shocked.

“Please wait here for a moment,” She said before she rushed up some stairs, leaving the six alone in the lobby.

The six friends standing in the lobby did nothing but wait; none of them knew anything about the message within the scrolls and memory stones. Hui Yue had a premonition that it had information about him, however, he had no way to prove it as he dared not check the information within.

….

“You say that the white-haired young man arrived with this information?” The Dragon Corp’s Lord was sitting behind a desk, looking at the woman who was kneeling in front of him. Her hands were raised above her head with the scrolls and the memory stone in them.

With a flick of his hand the scrolls and the memory stone flew towards him, and as he grabbed them the memory stone was placed to his forehead while the scrolls stayed within his hand as he checked the information within. A blue light shone briefly within the room before the man removed it from his forehead. A smile crept onto his face as he kept muttering “Good. Good.”

“Find Zhou Long for me,” He said to the woman who had not dared move the slightest, “He should have arrived a few days or even weeks ago considering his usual speed.” The Dragon Corps’ Lord continued, and with a nod the woman backed up and left the room never once turning her back towards the master.

As soon as the woman left loud laughter rang throughout the room as the Dragon Corps’ Lord leaned back in his chair.

After a few moments, knocking could be heard on the door and Zhou Long stepped inside, “Commander, you called for me.”

Unlike the woman before, Zhou Long did not kneel, instead, he bowed deeply in front of the commander who was before him. The commander nodded back showing that he too respected the man in front of him.

“The white-haired boy has finally arrived at the Dragon Corps’ main office,” The Lord said his words causing Zhou Long to look up; his gaze filled with happiness. “Commander, I am sure you agree with me that we need a better relationship with him. He is without a doubt an important figure for the Frozen General.”

“I do not disagree,” The Lord said with a smile, “However we need to inform the Frozen General that this young man has arrived at our Dragon Core. And if possible, try and keep him here. Allow him an A rank clearance and let him have some fun in town. Make sure that four King ranked experts follow him and leave his friends be for now. There is no need for us to personally remove them.”

Hearing this, Zhou Long could do nothing but acknowledge it. He bowed deeply once more before he turned around ready to carry out the orders he was given.

As soon as he left the room a large smile grew on his face and a self satisfied chuckle could be heard as he moved forward. It was obvious that they had done something which the Frozen General would approve of. This was something that Zhou Long would be heavily rewarded for.

Hui Yue and his friends waited for what seemed like a couple of hours before the woman returned. She brought with her a large stack of papers and a friendly smile was on her face.

“Dear esteemed guests,” She started and her voice caused Hui Yue to be slightly apprehensive. Why was she being this friendly to someone who did not belong to the Dragon Corps? However before he had the time to think about it, the woman continued, “Perhaps I can convince you to stay within our Dragon Corps compound. We have a luxurious small residence with a courtyard where you will fit in perfectly. You are welcome to stay for as long as you are within our magnificent city.”

“Not only that,” She continued her face smiling brightly as she gave one benefit after another which stunned the group of cultivators. “Finally, if you chose to stay here then you will be given an A rank clearance and allowed to experience the Dragon Core in any way you wish.”

Hearing that they were even willing to give them an A rank clearance shocked all six of them. They already understood how important a B rank clearance had been to them, however, now it could be raised to A rank.

Thinking about this a gentle smile appeared on Hui Yue’s face. He nodded his head, contrary to what his friends believed he would do.

Hui Yue was not lured by the prospects rewards, nor did he want the A rank clearance to tour the Dragon Core, instead, he remembered the promise he made with Lan Feng. A promise to see what was happening to all the Laws who had been abducted by the Dragon Corps; something which seemed to have been going on for years now.

Hui Yue, for good reasons, could not tell his friends why he suddenly chose to stay at the Dragon Corps’ headquarters, but, fortunately, none of them asked. Everyone just accepted the decision he made.

As soon as Hui Yue nodded his head, it seemed as though everything happened at once. The group was instantly brought to a big house in a quiet area. The house was big enough to be occupied by over hundred men, however, only six people entered through the guarded doors something which caused Hui Yue to chuckle slightly.

As soon as they had entered the house another servant appeared who changed their B ranked emblem to an A ranked emblem. This took less than a minute, however, the usage of this A ranked emblem was enough for Hui Yue to feel truly excited. As long as he possessed this emblem he had access to almost anywhere, and his goal of finding the Laws was no longer far away.

As the woman and the servants left the house, everyone looked towards Hui Yue waiting for an explanation. Their original plan was to hand in the mission and find a way to escape the dungeons, a way to return to the world above.

“Relax,” Hui Yue said while he laughed, “With this A ranked emblem we should be able to quickly find the exit,” He explained while he took the time to look around. “Not only the exit, with this emblem we should be able to figure out what is happening with these Laws.”

“The laws have been around since the dungeon was created by the four divine beasts. It is only natural that they matter to Lan Feng,” He continued. Xu Piao and Xie Lan were both confused as to why the expert who had a merged soul with Hui Yue cared about some laws; however, they said nothing as their opinion did not matter too much anyways.

“He wants us to find and determine what is happening with the Laws,” A golden gleam appeared in his ice-blue eyes and his lips curled upwards in a grin. He continued, “He has allowed us to act as we see fit, use any means necessary, and should a battle occur then he has promised me I can use all the Wu Wei he has been painstakingly refining during our time here within the Dungeons of the Divine.”

Seeing the smile on Hui Yue’s face, along with hearing the words the young man said, all his friends could not help but heave a heavy sigh of relief before they all started smiling as well.

“We might have the upper hand because everyone will underestimate us, but I am unable to say exactly how much battle prowess I can provide; so we should think of other means to achieve our goals besides brute force if possible,” Hui Yue said his face finally serious.

“For now, let’s rest a few days to recover from traveling. Then we can start looking through the entire area for any leads. Afterwards, we can look for the exit,” Hui Yue said as he finished looking around.

Having said what he wanted to say, Hui Yue spoke no more, instead, he picked a room within the massive residence and sat down in meditation. He allowed himself to become one with his surroundings, to feel the essence through the heavens and the earth, and to start refining it into Qi and spiritual energy.

Watching Hui Yue, his friends did the same, and after only a short moment the entire house was as quiet as it was before they had arrived. No sounds could be heard, but energy ripples kept flooding outward from the house displaying that someone truly was within.

….

“I have been ordered to exterminate the friends of this white-haired boy,” A voice sounded out from beneath a cloak. The man who spoke seemed to be ancient, his body crooked and his voice low and hoarse.

“Commander, I understand your position,” He said once more before he turned around and started leaving the room. “I understand your position, but I am on a mission and no one will stop me from completing it,” He muttered as he walked out and closed the door behind him.

Sighing deeply, the commander could do nothing but look at the man as he closed the door and walked away.

Outside the room, his crooked back suddenly seemed to untwist itself. The previous feeling of being ancient vanished and instead a feeling of power emanated forth.

A cloak was covering the man, however, had he taken it off then a face with a scar would have appeared. Showing that this was the exact same assassin that previously attempted to clear out the soldiers in the caravan heading for the Thousand Rivers’ academy.

By his side a small cat moved its tail, meowing as it looked at its master. Dashing stripes could be seen all over its body and it looked nothing like the monster which had followed the man previously.

Paying the cat no attention, Scarface made his way through the various routes and grounds of the Dragon Corp’s headquarters before he finally arrived next to a house which seemed to be his destination.

This house was the one at which Hui Yue and his friends were currently resting, meditating, and allowing for ripples of energy to flow out.

Looking at the gate, his face twisted in annoyance as he saw the vigilant guards by the entrance, not to mention the patrolling guards who were constantly on the lookout in the  residential area.

Seeing the patrols, Scarface moved swiftly like he belonged within the residential area, and he managed to reach the back of the building without anyone paying close attention to him.

The walls surrounding the place were five meters tall. So tall that humans would normally have a rough time making it over. But the little cat by his side soon changed into the large beast from before, a beast who was easily capable of jumping past the walls into the perimeter of the house. Even with Scarface on its back, it jumped with ease.

Landing on the grass no sounds could be heard, and the tiger once more shrunk in size turning into an adorable kitten. Scarface slowly crept closer and closer towards the house, deeply satisfied as he felt the rippling energy.

For him, it was beneficial if the group was focused on cultivating. The more focused they were, the more they would become one with the elements around them; making them less able to notice him approaching.

The house was massive, big enough to house hundreds of people at once, which also meant that there were entrances into the house from all sides.

Abusing this, Scarface could not help but chuckle at his own luck as he noticed that the whole staff section of the castle was completely empty.

Usually, when new residents entered houses such as this, multiple servants would be bustling around doing their very best to accommodate the guests. Here though not one servant was visible. Clearly the group decided not to accept any servants and just had them bring food three times a day.

Thinking about this, Scarface could do nothing to stop the smile which was creeping onto his face as he slowly made his way further and further into the house. The kitten following behind him.  

Scarface was as quiet as a mouse while walking around the residence. His eyes steeled on finding the weakest friends first. He was aware that just one sound would expose him, so a sneak attack was his only option.

At the same time, he knew that he had to be careful. Although he was strong, even incredibly strong for someone his rank, he also knew that if the two King ranked experts fought against him he would be done for. Even if he relied on his kitten to help.

Everyone who had heard about Scarface was certain that he was a King ranked expert. He had previously killed King ranked experts and he was highly valued within the Dragon Corps, however, this was not the truth. The truth was that Scarface was only a Duke ranked expert. An expert who was capable of fighting others at his level or even above his rank. He had managed to get rid of King ranked experts before with the use of clever tactics, ambushes, and decisive attacks; something most were unaware of.

He knew that if he ran into one of the King ranked experts without being prepared, it would end in his own death. Despite all of that, he still kept advancing within the house until he finally made his way towards the corridor where the group of people were currently cultivating.

Sensing all the people, Scarface smirked as he positioned himself in one of the shadows of the corridor. The cat was on his shoulder and both of them were completely silent, merged with the shadows and impossible to sense.

Waiting like this, one moment took another, minutes went by and now he had spent an hour  lying in wait.

Most people would wait for maybe a few moments before growing tired, whereas this man was used to waiting. As time went by the smirk on his face grew larger and larger. He was more excited and thrilled the longer he waited, and eventually one of the doors opened and a youngster stepped out.

At first, his face was filled with extreme bliss and expectations, however, as he noticed whom the person was, his face grew ugly to behold.

In front of him was none other than Hui Yue, the white-haired young man who was moving towards his location. Scarface now had a hard choice to make.

His first option was killing Hui Yue which would make him fail his mission; so such a thing was not possible.

Secondly, he could wait and do nothing. Wait and hope that the younger man was incapable of sensing him, incapable of locating him.

Lastly, there was the option of attacking. He could render the young man unconscious; however, he needed to be certain of his power. If he used too much force the man would die, and if he used too little he would not manage to knock him unconscious then he would alert the others.

Gritting his teeth, Scarface watched the white-haired young man draw closer. He needed to make a decision fast.