by Tinalynge
For him, becoming the City Lord was not something he had aimed for, nevertheless, he had been given the position by a royal decree when the Wang family had problems. Rong Liang was a very loyal and hardworking man, and due to this he had been working hard every day to live up to the expectations of the Royal Family.
“Lord, sir”, a servant had opened the door and called out with fear to the City Lord. He had knocked several times without gaining any answer, and as he slipped his head inside the office he noticed that the City Lord was viewing memory stones and sorting his paper-scrolls.
“What do you want?” He hissed at the servant who had interrupted his work. Although he had been greatly annoyed, Lord Rong Liang quickly rose to his feet and gave a deep bow towards the seven men who entered through the door not waiting to be invited inside.
“Esteemed crusaders, the humble Rong Liang greets you. This lowly one wonders why such magnanimous figures such as yourself have returned to this lowly city.” Lord Rong Liang retained his bowing posture for a moment showing the utmost respect before slowly straightening his back again.
Rong Liang was not certain as to what kind of experts these crusaders were. What he did know was that the Royal Family of the Taiyang Kingdom had given an order to every city lord to always cooperating with the crusaders. They were to be treated as the king himself.
Knowing this, Rong Liang could only follow the order and did so gladly. Because Rong Liang was willing to do anything for the Royal family.
The black cloaked figures seemed as if they had not heard a word of what Rong Liang had said. Instead, the one at front flicked his hand and a memory stone appeared within. The memory stone floated to Lord Rong Liang who quickly placed it on his forehead.
“Assist these crusaders in catching the Saint ranked expert which sold those skills. His name is Sang Young”
This was the only order which rang through the head of City Lord Rong Liang. Although this was a short order, it was one which left Rong Liang in complete confusion. The Saint ranked expert who had arrived to town was a woman and her name was Li Fen, not Sang Young.
Lord Rong Liang could understand if this unknown expert had masked herself, nevertheless, it was impossible, even for a Saint ranked expert, to turn into a woman for a disguise. Rong Liang sighed as he realised that he would have to inform and assist them with catching Li Fen no matter what, and he picked up an empty memory stone which he placed on his forehead.
Within his head, a copy of all the knowledge he had about ‘Li Fen’ transformed into a silvery mist which then exited the forehead and floated into the lacklustre black memory stone within his hand.
As soon as he had finished, Rong Liang passed the stone along to the seven crusaders.
“Attend me!”, Lord Rong Liang yelled and within a few seconds the office door was opened by a servant.
“What does milord request?”, the servant asked frightfully as he glanced towards the seven black-cloaked men. Although these servants knew nothing they could still feel how their lord was humble towards them along with the fact that their inscribed black cloaks invoked fear within their hearts.
“Prepare a remote courtyard for these esteemed experts, and provide each of them with a City Lord’s Medallion”, Rong Liang said, with a tired voice, after which he once again bowed towards the esteemed experts.
As soon as the crusaders had been placed within the courtyard one of the experts moved around, making incantations and writing down inscriptions around the courtyard itself while another was merging with the information within the memory stone they had been given by Lord Rong Liang.
When he finished absorbing the information within the memory stone it caused no display of feelings from the crusader instead he made a few hand gestures, and a shadow wrestled itself free from the black cloak then turned into a black bird.
This bird was unlike any other bird. It had no eyes nor did it have any voice. This bird was nothing but a shadow. Nevertheless, this shadowbird was sitting on the shoulder of the crusader.
Slowly, the shadow opened its mouth and the crusader put in the memory stone after which it vanished within the bird; instantly, the shadowbird rose to the skies flying towards the icy castle far within the beast mountain.
Chapter 41 - Despair
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Chapter 41: Despair
The beautiful sky-blue eyes had turned as cold as the frozen sea, as Hui Yue ran towards the stage on which Gao Yan was laying, blood flooding from his abdomen.
Minutes before had been the start of the first quarter finals match, Gao Yan had been filled with positive energy as he jumped onto the now blood-soaked stage.
Gao Yan’s opponent had been Li Shing, the second cultivator who was a nine-star Disciple. Every spectator had expected this fight to be the most thrilling, the most nerve-wracking display of all the quarterfinals, nevertheless, it had ended within mere minutes.
“Nurses!” Someone finally yelled, breaking free from the daze. The referee’s face was pale and green specks of light appeared on his hands. This man was a Grandmaster ranked cultivator with wood elemental affinity.
This Grandmaster was, however, not specialised in healing humans so he could not perform any serious recovery. Still, he managed to stop the bleeding as both friends and teachers had made their way onto the stage.
The Rong twins were both pale, all blood had left their faces as their eyes were glued to the puddle of blood. Although Gao Yan no longer bled the puddle below him alluded to the fact that he had lost a considerable amount of blood already. His life was at risk.
While the Rong twins were focused on Gao Yan, Hui Yue narrowed his eyes as he looked at the complacent Li Shing. His eyes were wide open and alert as he looked around the bustling stage, yet within these alert eyes was a certain amount of disdain and ridicule every time his eyes hovered above the now unconscious Gao Yan.
From the start of the fight till the finish, Li Shing had only used one attack. This attack seemed to be a middle ranked Grandmaster skill. Although this was not as rare as the high ranked skills, it was definitely not something to laugh at.
This particular martial art attack skill created a Qi whip. This whip was as sharp as any sword and agile. The main problem was that while the attack was fierce and sharp it quickly lost its usefulness if the opponent was to use his Qi defensively.
This downside had caused Li Shing to immediately go all out, lashing out and cutting deeply into Gao Yan’s abdomen seriously injuring him in the process.
The nurses had now arrived, and while one of them focused solely on healing the wound the others slowly moved the wounded Gao Yan onto a stretcher; after which they ran towards the temporary infirmary tent.
“What do you think?” Deng Wu asked Hui Yue with a low voice. It was obvious that while the Rong twins were filled with grief and worry, Deng Wu and Hui Yue were the ones who kept an overview of the situation together with Ma Kong.
As soon as Hui Yue saw the injury, he had sent Ma Kong to send a message to Lord Rong Liang containing the recording of the video. The reason Hui Yue had chosen to send a message to Lord Rong Liang was that the city lord had personally taken in Gao Yan. Whether or not he survived was still a question, and it would fall to the Lord to inform the parents.
“It was possible for him to win without causing such grave injuries,” Hui Yue answered, with a low voice, as he still looked at Li Shing who was smiling happily as if he had done nothing wrong.
“Let us hope his next opponent is me,” Hui Yue said with a sinister gleam in his eyes. “I would love to return the gratitude he has shown Gao Yan.”
After saying this, Hui Yue turned around and walked briskly towards the infirmary closely followed by Deng Wu.
“He will survive,” Stated the nurse who was currently inspecting the wound on Gao Yan’s abdomen. “His dantian is broken, but he can have a life as a cripple,” the nurse said coldly and she quickly removed her hands from the wound stopping her healing which caused the blood to
once again start flowing.
“Can you repair his dantian?” Hui Yue asked as he walked through the tent. The young boy was followed by Deng Wu a boy who was both older and had a much more intimidating background, yet the speaker Hui Yue was a ten-year-old boy who acted as if he was in control.
“Listen, little boy” The nurse said with disdain as she looked at Hui Yue, “This is a commoner boy. Although I am able to repair his dantian who will be able to pay it for him?”
Hearing this caused great displeasure to arise within all present, but Hui Yue was the first to react as he withdrew three spirit coins from a memory stone which he threw at the face of the nurse.
“Repair his dantian, and never again show your face in front of me.” Hui Yue hissed with undisguised contempt within his voice. A sudden gust of cold wind entered the tent and sent shivers down the spine of the woman. The gust of wind on top of the cold voice and disdain within the ice-blue eyes caused the woman to feel an uncontrollable fear.
The nurse was shocked. She had just gotten threatened by a ten-year-old boy, and although he was obviously within the Student rank he, nevertheless, managed to cause her to feel fear from deep within. She, who was a Grandmaster ranked cultivator!
Picking up the coins, the nurse quickly shook off the fear, and instead gave her all to heal the dantian of Gao Yan.
“I’m back”, Ma Kong said breathlessly as he entered the tent. Rong Ming and Rong Xing were, if possible, even paler now than they had been before. Even Deng Wu was pale as he did not even attempt to use this opportunity to get closer to Rong Xing. Deng Wu was standing behind Hui Yue patiently as he watched the green specks of life entering Gao Yan’s abdomen.
“His dantian is broken,” Hui Yue explained his eyes never once leaving the nurse. “We are currently healing it. Unfortunately, his Qi has already dispersed, and he needs to cultivate from the beginning again.”
Hearing this, a glint of black killing intent flashed through Ma Kong’s eyes as he knew what this meant.
“Do not worry,” Hui Yue assured Ma Kong while still coldly observing everything which was done. “I will help Gao Yan establish his cultivation base so that he will not suffer too great a setback.”
Hearing this caused a bit of colour to return to the faces of everyone present, albeit somewhat unwillingly. Although Hui Yue had many secrets he had never acted the way he did today. He was no longer a small child, but an adult who seemed to be taking responsibility for the entire group.
Hour after hour passed as Hui Yue and the others stood guard in front of Gao Yan. During these hours the nurse was working hard using up her entire capacity of Qi.
Finally, the last speck of green light had disappeared, and the nurse collapsed to the ground sighing deeply in exhaustion.
“Ugh….,” Sounds arouse from the previously unconscious Gao Yan as he slowly woke up, “what happened?” he asked groggily as he rubbed his eyes. A feeble feeling had overtaken his body. A feeling of utter uselessness.
“Your dantian was destroyed,” Hui Yue said straight forwardly, shocking everyone present. “It has been repaired, but you will need to redo your cultivation all over again.”
Hearing this an ugly expression appeared on Gao Yan’s face, but it only lasted for a minute before it changed to shock.
“Why would they waste their time to repair my dantian? I am nothing but a commoner,” he asked quizzically, as he looked at the exhausted nurse who was currently seated in meditation on the floor in front of them.
“Hui Yue paid for the healing,” Deng Wu bluntly stated, causing a wave of gratitude to sweep over Gao Yan.
“I have some things to explain. Let us head back to my courtyard,” Hui Yue said quietly, as he turned around and started walking.
Although Gao Yan was feeling feeble and currently with no cultivation base it was still possible for him to walk to the courtyard. He no longer had any injuries within his body as the nurse had done a perfect job healing it.
The six people were moving at a slower pace than usual, nevertheless they still moved as a group. Hui Yue was walking at the front with Deng Wu at one side, and Ma Kong at the other. Gao Yan and the Rong twins were right behind him following at the fastest speed possible for Gao Yan.
On the way towards the residential mountaintops Hui Yue took a small trip away from the group as he went to the Medicinal Pill Outlet. None of the students knew why and Hui Yue said nothing as to what he was doing. The only one who seemed to understand him was Deng Wu who also kept quiet.
Returning to courtyard 1009, Hui Yue went to his room where he put down his student emblem and made the others do the same.
“Why do we need to remove the student emblems?” Rong Ming asked curiously, as he did what he was told.
“The emblems are capable of recording everything it sees,” Hui Yue said matter-of-factly. “What I am about to tell you is something no one else can ever know about. This includes your families and your friends.”
Hearing this caused curiosity to arise within all the friends, and they swiftly placed down every memory stone they were wearing, that included the storage stones and message stones as well. One couldn’t be too careful.
After leaving behind their memory stones, everyone moved outside the courtyard where they sat down beneath the tree in a circle.
“As you most likely all noticed I have some secrets which I did not feel like explaining before, but I now feel like I need to tell you.” Having said that Hui Yue took a deep breath before continuing.
“When I was walking around in the magical forest, I came across the tomb of an ancient expert”, Hui Yue had edited the story slightly, as he knew they would have trouble understanding the backstory. This was one thing that only Deng Wu knew.
“The soul of this extreme expert was sealed within a magical item, and when I touched it the soul entered my body. The two of us are now sharing a body.”
After each word Hui Yue said their eyes widened until they were so large that they could no longer open any further.
“This expert is helping me increase my cultivation, and is teaching me various high ranked attack skills to improve my ability to survive.”
Ma Kong gaped for a bit before he started laughing, “You are Li Fen!” he said between the laughter, and as soon as he had said this the others suddenly realised that this was the case and an expression of veneration appeared within their eyes.
Hui Yue just smiled neither confirming nor denying the statement. Instead he pulled out a large case created from jade which he placed in front of Gao Yan.
“These are Qi Congregating Pills,” Hui Yue said as he opened the jade case and revealed a hundred pills. “Take them,” he said as he pushed them to Gao Yan.
“I am going to give you a cultivation method,” Hui Yue continued while looking at the now crippled Gao Yan. “This cultivation method is not creating Qi as pure as mine and Wang Ju Long’s,” Hui Yue explained, “but it will give you slightly higher quality Qi than you had before which will allow for quick cultivation.”
As Hui Yue said that Lan Feng moved within the dantian cave, and he quickly took over Hui Yue’s body. A finger was quickly pressed against Hui Yue’s smooth childish forehead and a silvery light shone. This light stayed on the pale finger before it was quickly placed on Gao Yan’s forehead.
The light shone brilliantly before entering his head. This was a cultivation method which Lan Feng had gained somewhere back when he was still the Blue Phoenix. It was known to be a decent cultivation method those four thousand years back, but it was far superior in speed to the one Hui Yue had been using.
Cultivation methods were methods which determined how the user gathered the essence and refined it into Qi. These methods were what built one’s foundation, and although it was possible to change the cultivation method during the period of cultivating, usually it was not beneficial, but harmful.
If the Qi that was within a dantian cave was of different qualities, then it was highly likely that the Q
i would be unbalanced which would cause severe damage to the cultivators themselves, as well as make the martial art skills unbalanced and unreliable as some Qi was purer than others.
Two types of purity would not be able to work together, and this would cause the skills to either fail to activate or their outcome to be unknown whether it would be strong from the pure Qi or less efficient from the lower purity Qi.
“Gao Yan this cultivation method and the hundred Qi Congregating Pills are a gift from me to you. The rest of you I will also give a high ranked martial art skill so that you can defend yourself in the future. I will not allow for my friends to be hurt.”
Hearing everything which Hui Yue had said and seeing how he had treated Gao Yan instantly caused the five others to tear up. Giving away a high ranked martial art skill was not something people would do unless they truly valued the recipient.
