Riluo City (Blue Phoenix Book 1) (14 page)

Rong Ming walked closer to the embarrassed boy and slowly circled around him while rubbing his chin, deep in thought.

“How can a boy be this beautiful?” he asked shocked. No matter how many times he looked at the young white-haired child, he could not help but think that he was simply too pretty to be male.

“It’s true,” Hui Yue finally squeezed the words out with an uncomfortable voice, and Rong Xing’s eyes flashed in an interesting way as she nodded.

“I can say for sure that he is a boy,” she said with a cheerful and clear voice. A comfortable smile was placed on her face, but she did not feel the slightest bit of embarrassment while thinking back to the scene she witnessed last night.

Bu Huang however, had a shocked expression on his face, and could not help but cough violently as he realized what that sentence implied. Rong Ming too seemed quite surprised, but he quickly regained his composure.

“This sucks,” he said with a slightly sullen voice and complicated expressions spread across his face, switching between depressed, entertained and shocked.

Rong Ming sighed as he looked at Hui Yue, but he quickly noticed that the younger boy seemed worried about the whole situation so he sent him a gentle and reassuring smile,

“It’s not your fault,” he said gently to Hui Yue, “I could not expect that the most beautiful person I ever met turned out to be a boy.” He looked closer once more and frowned, “we should cut your hair. Your long hair and pure white skin is so misleading.”

Hui Yue instantly nodded, he did not care about his hair length after all, and he was quite satisfied when he realised that Rong Ming was still treating him with the same kindness he had shown prior to the conversation.

“Ah well,” Rong Ming finally sighed with yet another glance towards Hui Yue, “since you can’t be my wife, you can be my younger brother,” he said decisively, and the sentence did cause Hui Yue to feel a bit of relief. Those twins were the closest Hui Yue had to friends apart from Lan Feng.

Lan Feng had hidden himself completely within the qi cave, and he had absolutely no intention of even commenting on what was happening outside. Both Lan Feng and Hui Yue did not dare underestimate Bu Huang, but even then, Hui Yue could still feel the chuckles that proved that the phoenix was still attentive to what was happening, and the situation was clearly entertaining him.

“Younger brother Hui Yue,” Rong Ming said with a complicated expression that soon turned into a genuine smile, “Hui Yue is so beautiful that he will attract a lot of beautiful women later on. I am sure you can introduce me to someone pretty so I can get a beautiful wife later on.”

Hui Yue was slightly stunned upon hearing the twelve-year-old boy speak about a wife at this age. Hui Yue had been more than ten years older than this boy before his premature death, but even back then, he had never thought about getting married.

This subject caught Hui Yue completely off guard. He had understood Rong Ming’s intention of pursuing a pretty woman, he himself had done that multiple times, but pursuing a woman and intending a marriage was something completely unrelated to Hui Yue.

Rong Xing quickly noticed the stunned expression on Hui Yue’s face, and although she blamed the shock on his young age and poor upbringing, she quickly stepped in to help him in the awkward situation. Rong Xing grasped Hui Yue’s pale hand and lead him towards the table that was standing to one side in the tent.

This table was clearly the table used to dine at, as there was no paper scrolls or maps spread across it like all the others.

“We should all eat breakfast together. Do Hui Yue have any chores today?” she asked with a gentle smile while looking at Hui Yue who shook his head in reply, quite grateful that Rong Xing had come to his aid.

“That is great, let’s all spend the day together then,” she continued with another gentle and uncaring smile while setting the table with various foods Hui Yue had never seen before.

Hui Yue threw a glance at Rong Xing. She was an outstanding young woman. Hui Yue only saw her once during the first year that Lord Rong Liang led the entourage to their village, and she had usually stayed within the camp to cultivate the other times they had visited, so Hui Yue never had the time to really evaluate her.

At first Hui Yue had just assumed that she was the typical shy and noble girl with an above average innate talent for cultivating, but these two days he had noticed a maturity around her that could rival the women he usually hung out with in his old life.

Rong Xing seemed calm and collected, and the only time Hui Yue had seen her slightly flustered was when she had stumbled upon him in his birthday suit the previous night.

Hui Yue had to admit that Rong Xing was mysterious. Not only was she much more mature than what you would expect, she also seemed to enjoy stirring trouble. It was obvious that she knew of her brother’s misunderstanding, however she had not commented upon it before Hui Yue himself brought up the subject.

Hui Yue even remembered the slight flash of disappointment he had noticed in her eyes when she realised that the misunderstanding was being cleared up.

It was obvious that Rong Xing was a girl that enjoyed watching others struggle in one way or another while comfortably watching at the side-line, however Hui Yue could not feel any hostility towards her as she was swift in supporting him, when she thought that Hui Yue was overwhelmed with the situation.

All in all, Hui Yue had a very good impression of the two twins. Rong Ming was straight forward and cheerful while Rong Xing was mysterious and gentle. Both of them had proved reliable and caring.

The four of them where quietly eating their breakfast together while talking gently about what had happened during the last year at the academy and the village respectively. Bu Huang couldn’t help but feeling slightly awkward next to the three children, who had caused such a scene early in the morning, so he ate in silence while observing the white haired child that had been the cause.

Lord Rong Liang had previously informed him that there was something different about the child that even Lord Rong Liang was unable to explain. He had, however, previously confirmed that Hui Yue was a human and not a divine beast in the shape of a human, but even if the body belonged to a human, there was something about his aura that could scare magical beasts, even those of a fairly high rank.

Although Lord Rong Liang was curious about this child, he was still reasonable and since it had been confirmed that he was human, he had no intention of troubling the young child. Lord Rong Liang had however asked Bu Huang to have a look at him if they were to meet, and Bu Huang decided to use this opportunity to do so.

As Bu Huang looked at the younger boy he furrowed his brows slightly,

“You cultivate?” he asked the young boy with a neutral voice, and Hui Yue looked at him with big eyes,

“yes lord Bu Huang,” Hui Yue said fearfully, “The young master taught me some methods last year and I have tried my best to follow them while looking after the goats,” he said faintly, the more he said the quieter his voice became. He was the personification of a scared child, and if Lan Feng did not have to hide, then he would definitely have commented on the brilliant acting.

“Uncle Bu,” Rong Ming asked with shining eyes, “what is his cultivation like? Is it any good?” Rong Ming and Rong Xing were still not strong enough to recognize another person’s cultivation, so they were relying on the elder to help them,

Bu Huang looked at Hui Yue for a moment, and the latter could feel his heartbeat increase rapidly. Hopefully Lan Feng was hiding really good, or the two of them would have quite some problems.

Bu Huang could feel that Hui Yue’s body was hiding something, but he was incapable of seeing through what it was. Lord Rong Liang himself had decided not to spend too much time on analysing this mystery as of now, so Bu Huang did not feel like he needed to look into it either, and instead focused on the cultivation base and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“He is a third star student. It is not bad for a year,” the older man said appraisingly. For a seven-year-old to have reached the third star was not bad, especially not if he had started to cultivate by the age of six.

“His talent does not seem to be as high as the two of you, but it is definitely not bad,” Bu Huang continued. With this speed it was certain that Hui Yue would reach the required five stars by the age of ten to be considered above average.

Hui Yue had to agree with Bu Huang. He would most likely reach the five-star student rank by the age of ten, but the reason his speed was this slow was due to his cultivation method.

Hearing this caused both Rong Ming and Rong Xing to smile happily as that would make it possible for the three of them to be together at the Royal Academy.

Rong Ming instantly shot up from his chair and yelled “stay there!” before rushing out of the tent. The three people who were left behind in the tent could hear the commotion that was caused by the little lord rushing through the busy campsite.

Hui Yue looked blankly after the running young boy and the amount of guards who were being pushed aside on the way towards a smaller tent where he ducked below the entrance flap. The tent-wall was being pushed randomly and weird sounds were emitted from the inside of the tent, before Rong Ming once again ducked back outside and ran back to the central tent with his arms filled with unknown scrolls that he quickly dumped on a clean part of the table.  

“These are martial art skills,” Rong Ming said with his eyes shining with excitement, “they are all quite low level, the highest is practitioner low rank. They are just copies of some skills we have at home.”

Hui Yue looked at the pile of scrolls with shining eyes, and although he was slightly conflicted due to the promise he made with Lan Feng, he could not help but feel some curiosity towards the skill rolls in front of him.

“We will try and explain to you what martial art skills are within this month,” Rong Xing said with her melodious voice, “and then you can try training them before we return next year.” Hui Yue nodded with no voice, although he was not certain whether or not he would actually get to use these scrolls, he was still overwhelmed with the amount of care the twins showed him.

Chapter 7 – Three years later

Xia Lang, the village elder’s grandson, ended up looking after the goats for the rest of the month, as the Rong twins insisted that Hui Yue went to their campsite every day. The reason they gave the elder, was that Hui Yue had the talent to become a cultivator and they would spend the month helping him improve his cultivation method and teach him martial art skills.

Lan Feng didn’t care about Hui Yue learning the martial art skills that the Rong twins were bringing. The proud phoenix would not even bother with learning the names of the three skills that Hui Yue had been given.

When Hui Yue told Lan Feng that he was too arrogant, the phoenix answered that he did not care about the low ranked skills as he was certain that he would be capable of providing Hui Yue with much better skills whenever the latter had perfected Velocity Flow.

Such an answer obviously stunned Hui Yue, but he had no way to retort, as he knew that Lan Feng was not bragging, but merely stating the truth.  

Hui Yue spent the rest of the month together with the Rong Twins and Bu Huang. Bu Huang quickly stopped scrutinizing Hui Yue, which allowed Lan Feng to stop hiding and instead participate in whatever was happening, although only Hui Yue noticed him.

Learning martial art skills from scrolls were very different from the mind transfer that Lan Feng had used previously with Velocity Flow. The body instantly knew how to use the Velocity Flow skill, and the pattern needed to make the qi flow within the meridians was also mapped out within the body, while now, although the skill was explained and the qi flow pattern within the meridians was mapped out in the scroll, the user needed to be perceptive to apply the written skill into the body.

Hui Yue was greatly helped by his previous experience with Velocity Flow and his old occupation as a university student while trying to understand and imprint the lower ranked martial art skills, and Hui Yue had to admit that the only reason that he could succeed was due to the simplicity of the low ranked skills.

The month flashed by much quicker than usual while Hui Yue was practicing martial art skills and cultivating together with the Rong twins. Rong Ming left three martial art skills for Hui Yue to start learning, and the goal was to perfect those three by the time Hui Yue turned ten years old.

The village was proud upon hearing that Hui Yue was skilled enough to become a cultivator, and they would assist the Hui family even more than before. The village elder had even offered that Xia Lang could take over the chores of looking after the goats permanently so that Hui Yue could focus on cultivating.

At first Hui Yue had been slightly annoyed by the extra attention that everyone had paid him, and he quickly rejected the offer of having Xia Lang taking over his chores, as he needed the daily visit to the hills to practice his martial arts and get some privacy.

Fortunately, it did not take long before the village returned to its usual calm self as everyone were busy with their own work, so that they could survive in this poverty stricken village.

One month took another and Hui Yue spent the time practicing his Velocity Flow skill together with the three skills he had been given by Rong Ming. They were called Raging Strike, Shattering Kick and Stone Fist.

The Rong entourage would visit the village after a year had passed, and Hui Yue would take a month break from looking after the goats while sparing with Rong Ming and getting pointers on how to improve the three martial art skills he had been given the year earlier.

One year took another while Hui Yue and Lan Feng trained martial art skills and refined high quality qi, but for once the time felt as if it was rushing by, as the two of them were trying their best to reach the five-star student level needed to grant them entry into the Royal Academy.

Soon the three years had vanished and Hui Yue had turned ten years old. He had managed to reach the fifth star half a year ago during the cold winter, and he had perfected the three lower ranked martial art skills along with Velocity Flow.

Velocity Flow had been perfected a year ago after years of intensive training, and Lan Feng had kept his promise of giving him another high ranked skill.

The new skill was a Lower Duke ranked defensive skill called Qi Guard. An unknown cultivator had created this skill as a qi version of the spiritual energy shield that was gained after opening the middle dantian.

While this guard was not as strong as the spiritual energy shield, it was still the strongest defensive skill that a practitioner below Master Rank could get. Hui Yue had hoped that Lan Feng would have given him a strong attack style martial art, however the phoenix had pouted and complained that since Hui Yue got three attack skills from Rong Ming, he did not need to get one from Lan Feng just yet.

Hui Yue was standing at the village square where he was saying goodbye to his parents and everyone else who had gathered to wish him well in the future.

The Rong entourage had been to the Magical Forest, but this time they would not go straight back to Riluo city but rather revisit the village to pick up Hui Yue.

Both Hui Yue and Lan Feng were incredibly excited as it was finally time for them to leave this place that had been their home for the first ten years of their life in this new world. Although Lan Feng originated from this plane, he was unable to tell if he was in his old kingdom or what had changed since his last visit.

Both boy and phoenix were aware that they were taking a risk upon entering the Royal Academy. Lan Feng was capable of hiding himself almost perfectly within Hui Yue’s body, however there were some variables that they needed to consider.

Lan Feng was hiding himself while using his Saint ranked soul, but if he were to meet another saint ranked expert then he would be able to recognize his presence. Also King and Emperor ranked experts would be able to notice that something was hiding within Hui Yue’s body, however they would be unable to break through the layers of defence that Lan Feng had erected around his usual home in the qi cave.

Another problem was that although Lan Feng had hidden himself within Hui Yue, it was impossible for him to completely conceal his aura, which caused some of it to seep out, scaring any magical beast that came close to him.

However, both Hui Yue and Lan Feng had decided that even if it was dangerous, they still needed to take the chance and attend the Admission Ceremony at the Royal Academy.

Joining the Royal Academy could be a great help to Hui Yue’s cultivation. Lan Feng had promised that refining qi would get much easier upon reaching the disciple rank, however to reach that point, he needed to rely on cultivation rooms that had more natural essence or even medicinal pills that could directly increase his qi. Otherwise Lan Feng and Hui Yue would be stuck as students for a very long time as each star required more refined qi, and the requirements to break through to a higher star would soar now that he was at the fifth star rank.

The village was also very pleased by knowing that they had produced a person who could qualify to study at the Royal Academy, and the whole village had saved up enough money to buy him a new set of clothes.

Hui Yue was wearing the clothes while waiting for the Rong entourage to pick him up. It was a white robe with blue embroidery and blue ribbons to close it around his waist. The fabric was much more luxurious than anything Hui Yue had ever owned in this world before, and he was quite touched as the price had to have been incredibly high for this poor village.

The women had also spent time on patching up all the rest of his clothes and washing them so that they were in their best condition when Hui Yue reached the Academy.

Hui Yue was very well aware that his family were unable to pay anything for him when he went to study in town. Fortunately enough, the Royal Academy had no tuition fee and both boarding and food expenses were paid by the Royal Family. It was obvious that the Academies spread across the country was used to discover geniuses and rope them in, or at least giving them a feeling of belonging to the Royal Academy, and therefore also the Royal Family.

Hui Yue forced his thoughts back to the present and looked down upon the gravel road leading out of the Village. He was wearing his white clothes and had a small bundle hanging on his back which contained his spare clothes and the few personal belongings he had.

They had been waiting since early morning, but Hui Yue did not know when the Rong twins and their family guards would arrive to pick him up. The sun had broken through the sky long ago and it was now past noon, but Hui Yue was still patiently waiting.

The villagers had decided only to do the absolute necessary chores today so that they could send their promising young boy off with flair. Every villager was coming up to Hui Yue and had wished him the best of luck in the future, or told him to come visit them every now and then or even asked him to become someone great, who could bring fame to their unknown village.