Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  Hui Yue lowered his head and looked at himself. His body had been subject to unspeakable torture already, but he was far from having finished the first trial. Since it was like this, Hui Yue just wanted the next trial to begin, and the moment he thought this he felt as a massive stone mallet hit his body beating it to a pulp.

  This was painful, but compared to the grilling, Hui Yue found it much easier to handle. The pounding was not very different from some of the battles he had encountered where hard fists and frightening strength had been used against him. This was just quite a bit more powerful and destroyed his body in the process, but when thinking about the fact that he could not die from this, the pain was really not that unbearable.

  Living through the pain of being pounded to death by a mallet, the kind of pain changed from being pounded to being ground.

  Being ground by a stone was many times more painful than being pounded by a mallet, but although it was painful, Hui Yue just grit his teeth, clenched his hands, and endured. His lips were tightly shut, and his body was trembling from the severe pain, but he refused to give in to it and stayed strong. In his mind the picture of Wang Ju Long appeared and as long as he looked at her, Hui Yue was able to completely ignore the pain his body was going through. During this trial, he was fully focused on the first woman he had truly loved.

  Chapter 561 - Trial of the Mind

  * * *

  Chapter 561: Trial of the Mind

  As soon as the pain arrived, it disappeared. Only then did Hui Yue understand that he had already experienced the pain of the Fourth Court of Hell and he sighed heavily. The pain was slowly climbing in intensity, but even so, it was manageable.

  These punishments were not meant for Gods. They were meant for normal mortals, and they did not have the willpower or perseverance of a God, nor were their souls even half as strong as God ranked cultivators. Although it seemed like they were truly experiencing the pains of these punishments because of their strong souls and perseverance the punishments were not as terrible as it was for mortals.

  Hui Yue understood this, and when he was sitting in his beam of light looking at the many so-called experts, he narrowed his eyes in disdain.

  Many of them were sprawled on the floor, clearly screaming their lungs out. He knew that the pain was severe, but even so, he could not help snort in contempt that these people would dare call themselves experts with such lack of endurance. This was just the first trial, if they could not handle it, then they should never have started these trials.

  Just as Hui Yue was thinking about this sharp knife lacerations appeared all over his body, and he felt as if he had been thrown on top of multiple swords.

  These swords went straight through his body and left gaping wounds everywhere. He instantly recognized the punishment he was undergoing. This was without a doubt the Fifth Court of Hell's punishment of being thrown onto a mountain of knives. This was Yanluo's court so Hui Yue could not help but wonder if something special was going to happen, but after a bit of time, Hui Yue was disappointed.

  He just felt like he was hanging there losing blood and slowly becoming weaker and weaker, but he did not find the pain as unbearable as some of the other punishments he had encountered.

  This hill of knives was the only punishment in the Fifth Court of Hell, and Hui Yue was a little surprised that it did not hurt as much as he had expected. He was stuck in this weakened state for a full six hours before his body died on him. Afterwards, his body was rapidly healed by the formation, and this left him a few minutes worth of time to catch his breath.

  Looking around he saw that both Pei Ze and Pei Feng were still managing, but neither of them looked good at all. Their faces were as white as a sheet and sweat rushed down their faces. Their expressions were filled with grimaces as they went through this almost unbearable torture.

  Within the chamber, no other member of the Celestial Sword Sect remained other than Hui Yue, Pei Ze, and Pei Feng but a few from the Nightcrawler Sect were still present. Especially the young man who was considered the number one expert.

  Looking at him, Hui Yue saw that his face was slightly pale, but when he looked closer, he was uncertain about whether or not this paleness was natural to the expert or if he was having trouble with the trial.

  A few other members had persevered, but the majority had long since given up, and many of the experts that were now within the room were unaffiliated experts who had joined the trials in the hope that they would be able to sweeten their lives. They hoped they could carve a new future for themselves and become someone important.

  This was also why many of them were trying to hang on even though they were in so much agony that they laid sprawled on the floor screaming out in pain.

  None of the top sect members had ever reached that level of desperation. None of them had expected that they would be able to become the new Judge of Hell anyways so when they reached their limits, they gave up straight away and left the chamber.

  Just as Hui Yue had finished scanning the room, he felt a similar pain to the one he had just experienced. New, deep cuts appeared on his body, and although he observed them with curiosity, his mind had long since turned numb. He was feeling the pain and was able to tell that it was truly painful, but it did not affect him.

  As soon as he had spent some time thinking about the fact that even though his body was going through torture after torture, it would heal instantly afterwards, he realized that no matter how severe the pain, he would not die. Because of this, it was actually not such a terrible trial. If anything it was a trial of the mind rather than a trial of the flesh which at first glance is not what one would think.

  After this his body was cut in half, he experienced the pain of his tongue being pulled out, and also being thrown into a pot of boiling oil. He went through the experience of having his intestines and organs pulled out from his body and then had his body dismembered.

  At the very end he had his head and arms cut off, and finally, he was crushed under boulders, but despite all these trials, he just sat there. The more time that passed, the more tranquil his face became and by the last few courts, his body no longer shook from the pain.

  Anyone who saw him expected that Hui Yue was experiencing the break between the torture, but even so how could he always be in this state? People started wondering, and those who were leaving the chamber delayed their departure as they looked at Hui Yue and the genius from the Nightcrawler Sect. It seemed that amongst everyone present, these two were the only ones who had recognized that this trial was about the mind and not to see if one could experience the painful punishments that the souls had to go through.

  The beam of light that Hui Yue was seated within started shining with a strong green light as he had gone through the final Court of Hell and Yanluo's face lit up with a smile.

  "Young man from the Celestial Sword Sect, you can walk to the back of the building together with the others who have passed so far."

  As Hui Yue awoke, he heard this voice boom through the room. He quickly stood up, bowed to Yanluo who had a smile on his face, and moved towards the back of the building.

  On the way, he saw that both Pei Ze and Pei Feng were still persevering. Although they had not understood the true meaning behind this trial, they were still holding on. The speed with which they would finish the trial was slower than Hui Yue, and the strain on their soul was much harsher as they truly felt the constant pain. Hui Yue could not help but feel rather astonished by their pure willpower and unwillingness to give up.

  As soon as Hui Yue exited the chamber, all the experts who had been observing also finally left. As soon as they came out, all of them were talking about Hui Yue and his performance, but none of them knew Hui Yue's name.

  Still, the information that a young member of the Celestial Sword Sect had passed the trial quickly spread outside the black palace. Hearing this, all the members of the Celestial Sword Sect, even the head elders, were at first surprised, but then all of them become proud of
their sect member.

  The many experts from the Celestial Sword Sect started discussing whether or not the one who had passed was Pei Ze or Pei Feng, and some even started arguing about it as they were sure that their young master was the one who had passed.

  "Be quiet!" Pei Ziqi said with a stern voice, "It is either Pei Ze, Pei Feng, or Pei Yue. No matter who it is, it is a great honor for our family, and we will be answered as soon as the others appear."

  Hearing this, they all calmed down and said nothing else. Deep in their hearts, they were still all certain that it was their young master who had succeeded and not the others but having heard Pei Ziqi's words they also understood that they should no longer discuss it out loud.

  It was one thing to have internal discussions at home, but quite another to have it in public.

  While the outside was filled with excitement about Hui Yue having passed the trial, Hui Yue knew nothing of this as he entered the back of the building.

  He had expected quite a few experts to be standing outside as he had not found the trial too hard, but there were only seven experts present. All seven looked very different from one another. One was gnawing on his finger with vacant eyes as he was seated on the ground rocking back and forth.

  Another two were standing at a corner of the courtyard. Their eyes were dark, and their bodies trembled, but the remaining four were all seated in meditation occasionally glancing at the other three with disdain.

  When Hui Yue arrived, all of the ones present looked at him, and shock appeared in their eyes. All of them could feel that Hui Yue was a new God, but despite this, he had still managed to get through this terrible trial.

  Looking at the people present, Hui Yue understood that the ones who were cultivating all realized that this was a trial of the mind while the others had simply forced their way through like Pei Ze and Pei Feng were currently doing.

  As he arrived, he just shrugged his shoulders and did not care about the fact that these people were staring at him; instead, he looked around and found somewhere to sit down.

  Behind the building, Hui Yue was within a large courtyard surrounded by guards. These guards were in the corners looking at all of them with their carefree, purple eyes. Trying to see the strength of these guards, Hui Yue found that he was unable to see through their strength at all even with his soulforce, and this could only mean they were very high-ranked experts.

  Instead of caring about anyone else Hui Yue started cultivating and absorbed the heavy, dark aura from Youdu. This energy strengthened his soul at the same time as he was absorbing the energy of Ancestral Worldpower from the surrounding area increasing his Ancestral Worldpower pool.

  After sitting outside for approximately three hours, the expert from the Nightcrawler Sect appeared. His face was as serene as Hui Yue's has been, and when he saw Hui Yue, his eyes blazed with a desire to fight. Though, he quickly concealed this urge and sat down rather close to him to cultivate.

  After another two hours, Pei Ze appeared. He was pale and frightened seemingly still reliving the ordeal he had gone through. Half an hour after him Pei Feng appeared. Both of them were shaking, but their eyes blazed with excitement from having passed through the first trial. Especially Pei Ze felt accomplished as he had managed to defeat Pei Feng by a half hour.

  More and more time passed, and slowly more people appeared within the courtyard. Days went by and servants came with food for the experts time and time again. The experts did not spend too much time conversing as all of them understood that they needed to focus on recovering their strength for the rest of the trials, therefore, they spent every single moment cultivating, not letting a free moment slip by.

  Chapter 562 - We Are Staying

  * * *

  Chapter 562: We Are Staying

  While cultivating, Hui Yue looked deep within his core. There were the different caves filled with his memories and also the Nirvana Phoenix Flame alongside Lan Feng.

  Recently, in the last few days, Hui Yue had tried to get into contact with Lan Feng, but he found that the phoenix was completely lost in a trance and he was unable to speak with him.

  Ever since Hui Yue had spoken with Yanluo at the banquet, he had tried contacting Lan Feng to hear if the King of Hell was correct when he said that Lan Feng had given up his own future reincarnations for the sake of resurrecting Hui Yue. He wanted to ask why on earth he had done that for someone he did not even know back then.

  But no matter how curious Hui Yue was, the phoenix did not respond to him. By now the phoenix had been quiet for a very long time, and it was impossible to say when he would return to his usual nagging self, and also be able to answer any questions that Hui Yue might have.

  Although Lan Feng was quiet, Hui Yue was not too worried about it as he just waited patiently. Hui Yue and Lan Feng's souls were connected, and he felt no distress or discomfort. All he could feel was that Lan Feng was concentrating intensely on something and he dared not interrupt Lan Feng when he was busy cultivating.

  Sighing, Hui Yue noticed that Lan Feng was still busy cultivating and since he could not get into contact with him, he started cultivating once more like everyone else around him.

  The ones who had been shaking because of the pain they experienced or the mental backlash they had suffered from the ordeal, slowly stabilized after a certain amount of time, and now all of them were cultivating silently.

  The group was seated in the back courtyard of the black palace for the better of two weeks. That was how long it took to test out the many people who had arrived for the sake of the Judge of Hell trial.

  During these two weeks more and more people appeared in the courtyard, but at most a handful appeared every day. In total as the first trial finished, around sixty experts were gathered in the back. Some of them had gotten through the trial easier after realizing it was a mental test, but the majority had persisted through sheer willpower. These people had been shaken to their core by the severe pain they had experienced, but they had also gained something from this forceful perseverance.

  Suddenly the door opened again, and just as everyone lazily turned to look at this newest person to pass through the trail, they were all shocked when they saw that it was not a participant, but Yanluo himself.

  Looking at all of them, Yanluo's eyes scanned their bodies and understood every single secret which was hidden within. He understood everyone’s strength and also their characters.

  Smiling, he nodded his head in approval before he started speaking, "All of you were the ones who passed through the first trial in the search for a new Judge of Hell."

  "I will continue with trials for as long as is needed until only one person remains. Only one person will rise above everyone and inherit the position as a Judge of Hell!"

  "While these trials are ongoing you will not be allowed to roam about freely. For now, we will give you some chambers where you can wait for your turn in the next trial. If you need anything tell the servants that will be tending to you."

  "Your rooms will be right next to one another, but fighting is strictly forbidden. If I catch any of you fighting or even having the intent to taunt the other contestants, then you will instantly be disqualified!"

  Yanluo's voice was stern, and everyone understood that this was no empty threat. He really would disqualify anyone who taunted the others or in any way wanted to sow discord amongst the competitors.

  "Every single trial covers important aspects of the Judge of Hell’s duties, and if you wish to become the new judge, you must be the last man, or woman, standing."

  "Since you are not allowed to leave the chambers we have prepared for you, you can write some letters, and we will bring these to your sects or dear ones. They will then know that you are undergoing the trials and that it might take years before we finish... That is depending on how tenacious you all are."

  Having said this Yanluo grinned, but the faces of all present turned rather surprised and then discomforted. None of them wished to spend years here.
Although it was clear that it would be of great benefit for them to become the new Judge of Hell, they were also aware that only one person would become this illustrious figure the rest would have wasted their time.

  While Hui Yue was listening to Yanluo, his soulforce stirred, and he suddenly felt a set of eyes staring at him. Turning around he was facing a very attractive young man who was looking at him intently, yet the moment his gaze was noticed he just smiled and nodded his head before looking elsewhere.

  Using his soulforce to scan the strength of this person, Hui Yue was shocked. He might look young and handsome, but he was at least a couple thousand years old, and his Ancestral Worldpower pool was incredibly deep; his potential seemed limitless.