Riluo City (Blue Phoenix Book 1), page 52
“Don’t expect too much,” Hui Yue warned them with a chuckle. “We have no cultivators within our village, and it is really poor since we can’t hunt within the forest itself.”
Hearing this caused doubt to surface on the two bright faces. Although they understood that they might be overestimating the village, the stories from their childhood had set up deep roots within their mind, and they could not understand how anyone without the proper cultivation base could survive in such a dangerous location as the Magical Forest.
“You should believe him,” Rong Ming laughed from the front while looking at the hills they were currently travelling through. “When I first met him he was always running around on these hillsides, looking after goats for his village.”
Hearing that Hui Yue, the young child who had gained immense fame within Riluo City, actually used to spend his days on these hillsides looking after goats made all of them laugh heartily as they kept their steady pace towards the village.
Hui Yue finally lost his patience and pushed the horse into a gallop after which he quickly overtook the Rong twins and Deng Wu, rushing towards his home. As soon as Hui Yue had started rushing towards the village clear laughter followed him from behind and within seconds, the calm
entourage had turned into a bunch of youngsters who were racing each other, truly enjoying their time together.
As Hui Yue got closer to the village he passed the few fields which the village had and he instantly recognised the many weather-beaten faces which were working hard with the crops.
As soon as these villagers heard the sound coming from the galloping horse, they had rushed to gather up their tools and inform the village elder that guests were arriving.
Hui Yue seeing the village within sight, slowed down his horse and allowed for the others to catch up. Everyone, apart from the Rong twins and Hui Yue, had shocked expression on their faces as they looked at the meager crops which were next to them, struggling to survive within the overused soil.
They all rode between these fields into the village square, yet arriving here none of them said a word, everyone flabbergasted. Hui Yue really had not exaggerated when he said that this village was poor.
At first, the villagers had hidden themselves the best they could trying to escape should it be a bandit attack. Instead, excitement broke out as they noticed the white haired boy who was riding atop of the magical horse.
“Hui Yue!” the village elder exclaimed with a shocked voice. Although it was the time when the Rong twins would usually come visit with the guards from the Rong family no one from the village had expected that they would be bringing Hui Yue.
The previously deserted village suddenly came abuzz, every hidden person rushed out from their hiding-places and greeted the darling child who had just returned for the first time in almost a year.
Hui Yue looked around, but even though he had been gone for almost a whole year everything in the village felt the same as it had before. The goats were all resting within their pens, and the houses seemed as though they could collapse with a slight gust of wind.
Everything was the same, and this feeling caused a wave of nostalgia to wash over Hui Yue as he looked for two specific faces in the crowd.
“Your mother is home,” the village elder said with a chuckle, “and your father is out in the forest together with the rest of the men in the village.”
Hui Yue nodded, it made sense that his father was not here, yet he could not understand why his mother was at home, rather than working together with the rest of the women out in the fields.
“Go,” a beautiful voice sounded from behind, as Rong Xing appeared and took over the reins of the magical horse he had been riding.
Rushing towards the edge of the village, excitement shown on Hui Yue’s face as the run down cabin appeared in his view. This cabin was considered one of the worst cabins within the village itself, yet it held incredible importance to Hui Yue, as he knew this was where his current parents were living.
As Hui Yue reached the house he suddenly came to a halt outside the door, and calmed himself before he knocked. He was nervous and suddenly unsure as to whether he should just enter the home or knock first.
Eventually he decided to knock on the door, before he slowly slid it open enjoying the creaking sound that the door made as it revealed the inside of the shack.
Hui Lifen was standing at the kitchen preparing porridge for her husband to eat for dinner that evening. Her beautiful face was exactly like Hui Yue had remembered, but her body had changed drastically as she was currently pregnant, and it seemed as if she could give birth at any moment.
Seeing this caused Hui Yue to be startled, but his shock was replaced by happiness. Hui Yue had no siblings in his old world, but it seemed as though he would be able to get younger sibling in this world, and a sudden feeling of protectiveness appeared from deep within Hui Yue’s very soul.
Hearing the sudden creaking of the door, Hui Lifen turned around and an expression of utter joy appeared on her face as she smiled, and rushed towards her young son.
“Little Yue!” she cried as she instantly drew the young boy into her arms, and gave him a big hug. “We have been so worried about you, you little rascal,” she scolded with love as she cried for some time. A mother’s love would always be the strongest feeling of connection, and Hui Yue had to admit that he felt good to be back home with his mother in their run down shack.
Being released from the hug, Hui Lifen dragged Hui Yue towards the table where she seated him, and went to brew some tea curious to hear everything her son had experienced throughout the last year when he had been gone.
Seated at the table, Hui Yue withdrew three memory stones. One was a storage memory stone of high quality while the other two were of medium quality and seemed to contain something different.
Hui Lifen quickly moved to the table her eyes big in surprise as she saw the three black stones which were placed on the table.
“These are…?” she asked curiously.
“They are gifts for you,” Hui Yue said with a big smile on his face. He picked up the storage stone, and placed it in front of Hui Lifen. “Open it,” He said with a happy smile on his face which showed some kind of anticipation. He could not wait to see how happy his mother would get when she saw what he was gifting them.
Hui Lifen did not need to be told more than once, and she quickly opened the memory stone. Her excited face quickly turned shocked as she noticed the large quantities of food, drinks, fabric and even money.
“Little Yue, you did not steal this right?” she asked with a shaking voice as she had never seen such extravagance before.
“They are a gift from my teacher,” Hui Yue said, not actually lying since Lan Feng was a part of him and anything gifted from Hui Yue was therefore also gifted from Lan Feng.
“You found a good teacher?” Hui Lifen asked as a pleased expression removed the shock she had felt before.
“I found a very good teacher; he also gave me these,” Hui Yue picked up the two mediocre memory stones. “One of these contains a cultivation technique, and the other contains a martial art skill,” Hui Yue started to explain, “I originally wanted to give them to some random kids within the village so that they can start cultivating and protect you all, but seeing that I will be having a little brother or little sister I would ask you keep them for him or her. When the child is born, put these memory stones against its forehead and then you can give the stones to the village elder.”
Hearing this, Hui Lifen’s face had turned stern, and she nodded her head seriously. It was only natural for Hui Yue to prioritise his own family’s safety before others, it was that kind of world after all.
Hui Yue was seated in his old kitchen for a few hours where he spoke with his mother, telling her everything which had happened the past year. He had explained how he had found an old item which contained the soul of an expert, and that since then the two shared a body.
He even went as far as to tell his mother about his alternative personality, which was ‘Li Fen’. Hui Yue knew that his mother would not tell anyone. He also knew that it was better to tell the truth to the people he truly trusted.
After a few hours Hui Yue heard knocking at the door, and the Rong twins appeared bringing along with them the other friends.
“Come on out,” Gao Yan laughed as he did not dare knock on the door like Rong Xing had done. He feared that if he tried, then he would cause the door to instantly fall off its hinges.
“We caught a fanged hog, and we are going to make a spit roast tonight and have a proper party with the villagers. We have plenty of food and wine with us to last for much longer than our training period so let us kick it off with a major party. God knows these villagers could use one.” Gao Yan was also a commoner, and he knew what could be used to energize other commoners.
It was Gao Yan who had hunted down the fanged hog while the others set up tents and build a pen for their magical beasts.
As the men came back from their daily trip to the outskirts of the Magical Forest, they were met by the scent of roasted meat, and they all rushed towards the scent.
On a small grassy field where the Rong entourage usually stayed every year was now a great bonfire over which an entire Fanged Hog was being roasted.
The hog was not the only food which was being cooked on the bonfire, small clay pots had been placed in the embers and from these the scent of spices and vegetables being cooked wafted out.
Tables had been placed on the uneven floor, and these tables were filled with bottles of different kinds of wine or juices.
Behind the tables and the massive bonfire was smaller bonfires where villagers were seated with their children eating to their heart’s content and chatting together like they had not done in years.
A relieved expression appeared in their eyes and gratefulness was shown on their faces.
As the sun went down and the moon took to the sky, the villagers kept dancing on the old field enjoying their time together. Although these villagers were far from anything that Hui Yue’s friends had expected, they quickly found that they enjoyed the company of these down to earth commoners, and Gao Yan’s impression of Hui Yue was now filled with veneration.
The young genius child which could request anything from within Riluo City, had originated from such an impoverished family. This was something which made Gao Yan awestruck because of the young boy’s determination.
Chapter 54 – Morning Hunt
The sun rose early in the summer months and Hui Yue woke together with the first rays of sunshine as they shone through his tent door. Although Hui Yue had only returned to his village for a month or two, he was aware that he had moved away from home, and soon his bed was going to belong to his younger sibling.
The Rong twins seemed aware of this as Rong Ming had said that they needed to make a tent for Hui Yue while he was conversing with his mother and Gao Yan was rushing around, hunting fanged hogs.
A Fanged Hog was quite similar to the warthogs which Hui Yue knew from his previous world, except these Fanged Hogs were many times bigger. A Fanged Hog was two metres long and a metre and a half tall. Its cultivation base was extremely low, and the same could be said about its intellect.
These animals were usually used for the sake of breeding and eating, and the outskirts of the magical forest was filled with these animals as they breed quickly.
Although Fanged Hogs all had a low cultivation level they were by no means something which Hui Yue would underestimate. Firstly, although the cultivation base was low, the sheer size of the hog made it dangerous and secondly, even if it was had a low cultivation base it was still sufficient to grant the beast enough speed to pose a threat to Student ranked cultivators and Student ranked commoners, much like Hui Yue’s father.
The following morning, Hui Yu rose alongside the sun as usual and after a night of meditation the energy within Hui Yue’s body was was overflowing, making him slightly restless. Had he been at the academy, then he would have moved out to sit under his favourite tree and absorb the sun’s early morning rays, yet today he felt as though he needed to try something different.
Moving through the tent’s opening Hui Yue squinted his eyes slightly as the early sun was sharp, but his eyes had gotten used to the new light within seconds. Looking around the field in which they were camping, Hui Yue noticed that the morning mist was rolling around exposing the fact that they were currently hidden deeply within a valley.
At the end of the field was a small trail which lead towards the Magical Forest, and this morning Hui Yue found himself moving towards this trail quietly making his way towards the thin line of trees which he could see in the distance.
A smile appeared on Hui Yue’s lips as his adrenalin started pumping. He no longer walked slowly towards the trees instead now he was jogging, but even so he was still as quiet as before.
Hui Yue had decided that it was time for him to put his Transforming Weapons, bow style to the test while moving around in the outskirts of the forest.
Hui Yue, having rushed to the trees, quickly arrived at the tree line which had been visible in the distance a few moments ago. The small boy was as quick as the wind and as silent as the morning air as he shot into the forest on his hunt for prey.
After making his way through the forest for a few moments, Hui Yue came across a lone Fanged Hog. This was clearly a male as it was bigger than the one Gao Yan had found yesterday. Hui Yue had a hard time not whistling in respect for this massive animal in front of him.
Yet, even though this was an impressive animal, it was also the perfect target for Hui Yue. The boy slowly made his way up into one of the big trees where he sat perched on a thick branch. Slowly he allowed for his Qi to circulate through his meridians making a specific pattern internally, before it gushed out of his hands forming itself into the shape of a bow.
The bow itself was a little shorter than a longbow, and the string required quite a bit of strength to pull back. The arrows were created by Hui Yue’s Qi, and what he lacked in strength the purity of the Qi more than made up for in damage.
Currently Hui Yue was capable of hitting his target dummies every time, yet he had still only managed to create the most basic of all arrows. The arrow which was created by Hui Yue’s Qi was insanely sharp and filled with a ferocious energy which made Hui Yue proud, yet every time Lan Feng noticed this he would start asking why his arrows did not explode yet, or why they were not capable of being as swift as the wind.
Hui Yue would always feel slightly depressed as he heard the disdain within Lan Feng’s voice, but he kept training hard and now he finally had the chance to prove that his arrows might be simple, but they definitely were not inferior when it came to causing damage.
Steadily, Hui Yue pulled the bowstring back, and Qi gathered into a sleek and white arrow. Slowly, Hui Yue took aim and then let the Qi arrow fly through the air quicker than the eye could see, before it buried itself within the Fanged Hog’s neck.
Although the arrow hit the hog right on the neck it was not enough to kill the boar right away, and Hui Yue instantly loaded another arrow. From the beginning, he had known that he would need to use more than one arrow should he wish to defeat this giant hog.
Arrow after arrow rained down from the big tree in which Hui Yue had located himself. The first shot had hit where he aimed dead on, yet, after the first arrow, the others were slightly off target three even missing it completely.
Hui Yue sighed as he looked at the enraged and bleeding Fanged Hog below the tree, before he created yet another arrow and waited patiently.
Finally, the arrow was let loose and a squishing could be heard before a loud thump sounded, followed by screams of agony. Looking down a satisfied smirk appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he saw the Qi arrow slowly dissipate, leaving behind a bleeding eye.
The arrow had dug straight into the skull and although the hog was currently screaming it did not have long left to live. Looking down at the beast, Hui Yue wondered whether he should wait patiently for it to die, or if he should try out his new dagger and kill it swiftly.
In the end he decided to wait it out. Although the hog was on the verge of dying it was obvious that it still had the strength to wail in agony, causing Hui Yue to feel slightly apprehensive about allowing his ten-year-old body to get close to the giant pig. Instead he leaned back against the large tree trunk and watched the wailing hog waiting for it to breathe its last breath.
The wailing sounds were loud, and they could be heard all across the area even way back at the village. Deng Wu was the first to wake up, yet he was calm as soon as he had been told by little dragon that the sounds came from a beast which Hui Yue and Lan Feng were currently playing with.
Leaving his tent, Deng Wu noticed how the villagers were gathered into groups, and terrified they stared in the directions of the wailing cries. Next to them was the Rong twins both vigilantly keeping an eye on their surroundings, behind the group was Gao Yan and Ma Kong, also keeping an eye on the surrounding areas, ready to defend should they suffer an attack from a strong magical beasts.
