Dungeons of the Divine (Blue Phoenix Book 2) (50 page)

“What? Can you repeat what you just said?” Xu Piao asked his face filled with disbelief. His eyes went wide and his heart was beating erratically causing him to pant. Xu Piao was not the only one shocked, Xie Lan was staring at Hui Yue with disbelieving eyes as well. She was not as emotionally invested in the group as Xu Piao was, hence her reaction was more controlled.

While Xu Piao and Xie Lan were shocked, happiness was evident on the faces of Deng Wu, Wang Ju Long, and Sha Yun.

Moments before, Hui Yue returned to the house with the news that he traded Scarface for the location of the Stairs of Hope, and the entire group was filled with happiness and excitement. It seemed as though they would be finally able to leave these underground tunnels. They could leave behind the feeling of being trapped by the ceiling above and finally return to their friends they left behind long ago.

Thinking back, Hui Yue was astonished to realize that it had now been around two years since the battle of Riluo City. It had been around two years since he last saw his good friends.

Thinking about this, Hui Yue felt a longing to once more return to Riluo City and see how much it had changed throughout the years. He wished to once more meet up with Ma Kong, Gao Yao, and the Rong twins.

Looking at his friends he knew that Deng Wu and Wang Ju Long both missed their families. It was also obvious that Deng Wu definitely missed Rong Xing a lot, although he never mentioned it. Sha Yun too missed her sisters, but throughout these two years of travels, none of the friends ever complained to Hui Yue; never stressing to him their discomfort of being away from home. They held out and gratitude flowed inside of Hui Yue’s heart.

However, although he now knew where the exit was he was not able to leave just like this. He promised Lan Feng to find the Laws and discover what was going on with them. A promise like this was one which he would never step away from. He was a man; a man kept his word.

“I’m sorry but I need to go look for the Laws once more,” Hui Yue said apologetically as he turned around to leave. He still had a few hours of sunshine which he could use to search. Now that he found the exit, Hui Yue felt that he was much closer to his goal. He was already halfway there.

The friends all nodded their heads or waved to him as he left. They had already waited for the day when they could exit these dark, depressing tunnels for more than a year, waiting a few more days was nothing. As Hui Yue rushed out the room, quietness once more descended upon the room as the three youngsters went back to cultivating.

The days they spent cultivating improved their strength a lot. Sha Yun and Wang Ju Long were both cultivating at the same speed and the two of them were close to breaking into the next star. Deng Wu spend half his time making more inscriptions and the other half cultivating.

Although one would expect that Deng Wu was wasting a lot of time on making the inscriptions, these were incredibly important for a Metal cultivator and while it took time, it made them incredibly strong.

….

Hui Yue had been in almost every room of headquarters, and his mood was turning more and more sour when he saw a small house on the outskirts of the city which he had never seen before. The house looked heavily guarded, and as Hui Yue walked closer and closer, upon reaching the house, he noticed how many guards were present.

“No unauthorized men are welcome within this house!” One of the men said with a stiff face. Seeing the man Hui Yue flashed his A ranked emblem, but no one moved and made space for him as he expected.

“I’m sorry sir,” The man said as he still blocked the way. All these guards were King ranked experts, and Hui Yue knew he had no chance if they were to fight against each other.

“This house is only open to S ranked experts.” He explained, “We only have three S ranked experts and we cannot give the S rank to anyone unless you are a leader of the Dragon Corps.”

Hearing this Hui Yue sent a final glance towards the house before he politely nodded his head and went on his way. Deep inside he was filled with conflicting emotions.

Hui Yue had entered everywhere else within the Dragon Corps’ headquarters, but he had found nothing. Now, though, when he finally found a building which seemed to be the one he was looking for, he did not have the clearance to enter.

This, however, made him even more certain that this was the room in which the Laws were being held. While walking back to the room a cold gleam flashed in his eyes. Now he knew where the Laws were hidden, and with the guards around them it was quite obvious that they were not there of their own freewill. It was easy to understand what he would do now.

Moving back to the main house, Hui Yue quickly noticed that he was being followed by one of the King ranked experts who was guarding the house earlier. Although he did nothing to attack, the fact that he was being followed so brazenly was enough to let Hui Yue know that they were serious about not letting anyone inside that house. Unfortunately for them, Hui Yue was sharing his body with a Saint ranked divine beast. Should Lan Feng wish to enter the house then no King would be able to stop him.

Returning to the house, the whole way he was followed by the expert and only when he entered the front gate did the man turn around. Sneering at the stupidity, Hui Yue went towards the room where his friends were seated. All of them cultivating, even Deng Wu had stopped writing inscriptions and was cultivating.

Seeing this, Hui Yue moved towards Xu Piao and allowed himself to slump to the floor. The last many days had been stressful for the young man. He was constantly searching for a way out alongside looking for the Laws. During his search, he found the corpse of the Azure Dragon, something which he had not expected. Many things happened in the past few days, and he knew that before the evening he would have to calm down.

Hui Yue could choose to sit down for a bit and relax next to Xu Piao. After relaxing instead of cultivating the young man went towards the bed which was in the corner. This whole time when the room was filled with people, none of them had truly slept as they spent the nights cultivating. When Hui Yue landed on the pillow a comfortable black world descended upon him; a world he had not experienced in a very long time.

As Hui Yue slept, Xu Piao and Xie Lan watched over the group not aware of the actions which Hui Yue planned before he went to sleep. Although he had plans, he would not tell his friends before he was completely certain. Only then would he let them know.

Waking up in the middle of the night, Hui Yue saw that some within the room had fallen asleep as well. Some were sleeping, others were cultivating, but no one was awake. With a doting glance towards his many friends, Hui Yue slipped down from the bed and left the house before he handed over control of the body to Lan Feng.

Lan Feng was a Saint and as long as he was in control of the body, the body belonged to a Saint ranked expert. Withdrawing his aura, he quickly made his way towards the building he saw before.

Using no abilities and wearing the black cloak, Hui Yue became one with the shadows on this dark night. He easily managed to evade the first set of guards. His main issue was how to get in through the door which was guarded by two King ranked experts.

Abusing the shadows, Lan Feng moved all the way around the house looking for a window, or any nook or cranny in which he could enter the house, unfortunately, though there were none and his mood turned somewhat sour.

There was only one way in and that was to knock down every single one of these King ranked experts. Not killing them, just making them unconscious.

Withdrawing from the house and once more merging into the shadows, Lan Feng moved away from the many guards. At the outskirts of the grounds he ran into the first guard he would deal with.

Having withdrawn his aura it was impossible for anyone to know that he was there. Even if they used their Wu Wei to scan the area it would be impossible for them to locate someone of a higher rank than themselves. Therefore, Lan Feng was fairly safe as he inched in on the man in front of him.

To be honest, Lan Feng did not care whether or not these men died, however, he knew that if he massacred a group of King ranked experts in the middle of the Dragon Corps’ headquarters then it was quite likely that the high ranked experts would enter the scene. If they did then things would no longer be as simple as they had been so far.

Moving self-confidently through the shadows, Lan Feng arrived behind a King ranked guard, and with a flash of his hand the phoenix controlled Hui Yue’s spiritual energy to enter his hand. He then knocked the guard hard below the ear. As soon his hand touched the skin, his spiritual energy was inserted into the brain.

Although spiritual energy was something the King ranked experts could easily defend against they needed to know that the energy was coming and used their own internal energy to defend against it. Unfortunately, this man did not see the attack coming. The spiritual energy of a Grandmaster ranked youngster was far from enough to kill the guard, but it was still enough to knock him unconscious for at least a couple of hours.

Glancing at the unconscious man with a cold glare, Lan Feng swiftly moved towards yet another guard and knocked the man out. He allowed the bodies to stay on the ground, laying there unnoticed in the moonless night.

One after another, guards fell to Lan Feng’s swift attacks. One after another was sent to the ground, and soon the ground was littered with unconscious guards. Leaving behind only the two men in front of the door of the house.

Pausing slightly in the dark, Lan Feng wondered what to do to get the two men to move from the door. Attacking two at the same time was not an easy task unless he used Wu Wei, and using Wu Wei against a King would most likely mean that one, or both, of the guards, would die.

Sighing deeply, Lan Feng made his decision and charged towards the two guards. Although neither of the two were capable of seeing him clearly, both saw a dark shadow nearing them. Golden light burst out from their bodies, covering them fully in golden rays of light, however, how could a Saint possibly be scared of two mere Kings? With a snort golden rays of light appeared on both of his hands, forming two golden blades. As soon as he reached the two men, Lan Feng swung his arms around him decapitating both guards with ease.

Looking at the two decapitated guards, Lan Feng sighed heavily. He did not intend to kill anyone, however, this was the only way he could think of to enter the house without making any noise and alarming other guards nearby.

Having killed the two guards and knocked everyone else unconscious, the phoenix slowly opened the door to the house only to find that it was locked. Snorting at this attempt to keep him out, a ray of golden light flashed once more and the door opened as the lock completely vanished without sound.

Entering into the building everything was black. There was absolutely no light inside, nor did any shine in through windows. The only entrance into the house was the door which he entered through, and from a storage stone Lan Feng withdraw a light stone which shone over the eerily silent darkness which dominated the inside of this house.

Looking around, Hui Yue saw that the entire building was just one large room with one person after another lying on the floor on small mats, completely unconscious.

There were about three hundred men, women, elders, and children within the room. All of them unconscious, but none of them were dead. Though none of them seemed alive either. Their bodies were warm, but none were breathing.

Hui Yue could feel anger welling up within Lan Feng, an anger which he had never felt before. Considering that the Laws were created by his father, and the other divine beasts, it was obvious that he felt protective towards them. He felt some kind of connection with them.

Looking around, there was nothing in the room to suggest that these people were being mistreated. All of them had their own mattress, however, some mattresses were empty. Looking closer one could see that there were marks of someone lying down. The ones who belonged to the mattresses had been removed. As to where they were, neither Lan Feng nor Hui Yue had the smallest idea. However, they both quickly understood that this house was just a storage room.

With a final glance at the Laws, although Lan Feng wished to take all of the laws with him, the phoenix buried his urged and turned around and left. Rushing back to the room with his friends.

As they returned home, Hui Yue was given control of the body once more, and Lan Feng asked to be left alone so he could think. Hearing this, Hui Yue nodded his head as he leaned back against the wall for a moment. His eyes closed as he relived what he had seen within the house. A cold, callous expression appeared on his face and an urge to fight for their freedom was born within.

….

“But, Commander!” Seven guards were standing within the main office of the Dragon Corp’s headquarters. “Xiao Li and Wang Yan both died last night! It was obviously done by that young white-haired man. He was the only one paying attention to the house yesterday; it has to be him!”

“Shut up!” The commander yelled once more, his eyes dark from anger. “Even if it was him he did nothing but take a look around the house. Had he asked me to let him in, I would have let him look. So what if he killed two King ranked experts? Think about it, he is a Grandmaster how on earth is it possible for him to kill two King ranked experts just like that? If he could, and he happen to be hiding his true aura then he has to be a Saint. Do you truly think that such a young man could fool me with his aura?”

“But Commander! We need to get revenge for our comrades! They died a dog’s death; they deserved better!”

“I do not want to hear another word about this. Just go back and keep watch. If the white-haired young man appears again, allow him to enter. Although he only has an A ranked clearance treat him as if he was S ranked. We need him to have a positive experience here.”

Although the commander disliked Hui Yue, he had to admit that the young man had a connection with the Frozen General. If anything were to happen to the young man then it was him who would answer to the general. Something which he did not want to do. Although, he was the commander of the Dragon Corps, he was after all only a commander. If He stepped in on behalf of the general then it was easy to even remove the entire Dragon Corps.

No matter what the white-haired man wished to do, he was allowed to according to the commander. Although these actions annoyed the commander and he disliked the white-haired young man greatly, he could not help but feel that as long as he acted properly, he would get through this without any problems.

….

Hui Yue stayed back at the house the following day for two reasons. Firstly, he expected that the Dragon Corps would arrive and start questioning him because he had shown interest in the house the day before. But, oddly, no one appeared, and Hui Yue could not help but feel quite confused.

Although he was surprised he was also relieved about the fact that no one had come to visit him, but it gave him time to wonder where the Laws could have been taken to. He had already gone through all rooms and various places within headquarters. Now the only option left was that they had to be in another house, much like the house in which the Laws were being held.

Spending the majority of the day cultivating, Hui Yue waited for night to descend before he once more allowed his body to be controlled by Lan Feng. He then left the house, ready to go searching for yet another building. A building which should be close by the house which contained the unconscious Laws. Moving them back and forth would attract a lot of attention, had it been done in the middle of headquarters. Therefore, Hui Yue assumed that another house would be visible on the outskirts of the city.

Today was purely scouting. Hui Yue’s plan was that when he finally started moving, started acting for real then his friends would either have already been sent up the Stairs of Hope, or be by his side, battling their way through the entire Dragon Corps if needed.

Hui Yue heaved a heavy sigh deep within the dantian cave. He knew that this was something which mattered a lot to Lan Feng and he decided that he would do anything he could to support the phoenix in his attempt to rescue the Laws.

One thing which worried Hui Yue was why were the Laws seemingly neither dead nor alive, and how had they managed to keep them in such a state. It was odd, even more so when some of them had been removed.

Moving through the night, Lan Feng found yet another building not far behind the house where the Laws were; however, whereas the first house was surrounded by guards, this house was deserted with no guards standing watch outside.

Entering inside, they saw that this house had many smaller rooms. Each room’s door was locked, but there were windows in every room so that anyone in the corridor could observe the occupants inside.

In the first few rooms nothing was happening, but Lan Feng and Hui Yue slowly made their way through the building. Each room had a single bed with a belt attached to it. These were the only things visible inside of the rooms. Staying in the building, Lan Feng waited for the sunshine to break through the sky in the cave. He waited for the many cultivators in the city to wake up and wanted to see if he could find out what they were up to within this house.

Lan Feng was in control of the body, and on top of him withdrawing his aura he also wore the black cloak. This made it virtually impossible for people to notice him. Lan Feng managed to hide himself well in the building because it was kept rather dark.

Just as Lan Feng was growing impatient the front door opened and in came three King ranked cultivators. Each of them holding one law. Two were children while the other was a teen.

Each of the laws were placed into a room, and a King followed them inside. Seeing that they left the corridor empty Lan Feng positioned himself so that he could view the windows, but what he saw shocked even him. His eyes went wide with shock as he saw them put belts around the necks of the Laws.

They were not tied yet, however, that was because the Laws were not currently breathing. He saw that as soon as one of them started to breathe again, as soon as their eyes were about to open, then the belts around their necks were tightened while the Laws struggled. The King ranked experts ensured that they could never once regain consciousness.

As soon as they were about to die a golden ray of light came out from within the Law; a light filled with energy which sent ripples throughout the entire house. The King ranked expert opened a small jade case and used this case to absorb the golden light. Then he lifted up the once more not dead but not alive corpse and left the house. Carrying the small child back to the house filled with silence and Laws.

Lan Feng finally understood what was going on. A law was unable to die as long as the world was standing. Their bodies were filled with energy, an energy they were granted from the four divine beasts. As soon as one of the Laws was close to dying, this energy would be released and their body went into a state that was neither living nor dead; a state where the body was repairing itself.

Some of this energy would leave the body and this was the energy the Dragon Corps was harvesting. This caused the blood to boil in both Lan Feng and Hui Yue’s veins, both phoenix and man were filled with cold killing intent and both were doing their very best to hold it back.

It was obvious that these laws were being used for their energy, but as to what the energy was used for, Hui Yue had no idea. Even Lan Feng did not know what it was used for he only knew that he would do anything in his power to stop it from happening.

Silently slipping out through the door, Hui Yue and Lan Feng quickly rushed back to the house where their friends were located. Rushing back to control their emotions. Both knew that although these Laws were not dead, but they were not alive either. The young man wished to give them their freedom back. His eyes turned dark as he remembered how Sun had been caught earlier, and how the Dragon Corps referred to their cargo back when Deng Wu and the friends had been captured.

Filled with fury, Lan Feng gave control of the body back to Hui Yue, and the two were both completely quiet as they moved towards the room where their friends were located.

As soon as he opened the door, the anger within Hui Yue vanished to be replaced by alertness. In the middle of the floor, a man whom he had never seen before was seated, chatting with Xu Piao and Deng Wu while Sha Yun and Wang Ju Long were both cultivating at the side.

Seeing Hui Yue enter the room, the man who was seated looked up, and a big smile appeared on his face as his eyes landed upon the alert young man.