Chapter 27: Secrets
“Rong Xing, my heart, my flower, my life! How can you look even more stunning tonight than you did when I left you this morning? Your beauty can rival that of a goddess and your eyes are shining like the most elusive star in the sky. Oh my queen of the night, how can this brave warrior be good enough for you? I give you my heart, my soul, my everything!”
As soon as the monologue started everyone turned towards the person who was speaking, their faces lighting up in smiles. Even Hui Yue could not help but laugh every time he heard Deng Wu act as this. Although Deng Wu was dangerous there was an understanding between the two of them and Hui Yue knew that Deng Wu would gain nothing from informing others about him.
Deng Wu walked towards the group at a slow pace, nonetheless Rong Xing unexpectedly decided to kick out at him which caused the handsome youth to yelp out of surprise. Deng Wu fell right on his buttocks and scurried towards Hui Yue whom he intended to use as a meat shield.
For all that, as soon as Deng Wu’s hand touched Hui Yue’s shoulder a current of electricity exploded between the two, causing both Hui Yue and Deng Wu to be shot away from each other in opposite directions.
The electric current had shocked Hui Yue, and although his body was currently in alot of pain his eyes were alert as he stared at Deng Wu, who in turn stared at Hui Yue.
Looking at each other it felt as though time stood still as both searched the other’s eyes to see if they had been found out.
Hui Yue’s heart sank when he saw that shock that was evident on Deng Wu’s face, however there was a fear and alertness within the beautiful eyes which usually looked at the world with apathy.
Hui Yue had felt it. An energy very similar to that of Lan Feng, and Hui Yue knew where it came from.
Suddenly Deng Wu let out a scream of agony and his arm grabbed the finger on which he had ring with an embedded storage memory stone, pain evident on his face as he finally managed to take of the ring.
On the hand a burn mark remained and the scent of burnt skin could be smelled all over the area. Hui Yue was quiet as he moved towards the dropped ring and picked it up, seemingly unaffected by the scorching heat that had been emitted from it moments before.
“I’ll hold on to this for you,” Hui Yue said with his sweetest voice. “Big brother Deng Wu can come pick it up whenever it fits you.” Having said that he shamelessly placed the ring in his pocket and Deng Wu did nothing to stop him. The storage ring was already bound with his Qi and no one was able to access it other than him.
The other four people were staring at the two in shock. Hui Yue currently had his back towards the friends and he quickly mouthed the words ‘we’ll talk later’ to Deng Wu before he grabbed his arm and hoisted him up and a smile appeared on both Hui Yue’s and Deng Wu’s faces,while they allowed laughter to ring out.
The four people who stood next to them were dumbfounded. Although Deng Wu always acted in an odd way this was definitely quite out of line even for him.
Neither Deng Wu nor Hui Yue felt as if they needed to explain what had happened, and none of the four who observed what had just occured felt that it was their place to question it either. It was obvious that neither Hui Yue nor Deng Wu had any enmity between the two, if anything they had gotten closer.
‘That man is a monster,’ Lan Feng said within the dantian cave, his celestial voice sounded both astonished and shocked.
Every time Lan Feng allowed his presence to be known by either communicating with Hui Yue or absorbing the Qi, trying to refine it into Spiritual Energy the ring which was now in Hui Yue’s pocket would start to rumble and growl as if it had a ferocious animal locked within.
‘What is his cultivation?’ Hui Yue curiously asked while chatting casually about school things with his friends. Only a third of his attention was focused on his friends while the rest was impatiently waiting for the answer from Lan Feng.
‘Don’t sh*t your pants,’ Lan Feng warned before he answered, his voice still filled with astonishment, ‘He is currently a nine-star Practitioner ranked cultivator.’
‘No way.’ Hui Yue was shocked. The Rong twins were both viewed as geniuses of their generation, so was Gao Yan, but everyone had viewed Deng Wu as an average talent. An oddity, but not one who stood out because of his swift advancement.
Thinking about what had happened the last couple of weeks it made some sense to Hui Yue, and he was now aware that the Deng family also knew of this high ranked cultivation genius within their clan.
I bet they keep laughing when the Wang family boasts about Wang Ju Long, Hui Yue laughed to himself before he accepted that Deng Wu was definitely the number one genius within this small city of Riluo.
‘He must have gotten help from him,’ Lan Feng mumbled to himself before he quickly returned to cultivating, causing Hui Yue to frown slightly. Who was ‘him’? However, since Lan Feng had gone to cultivate rather than explaining, Hui Yue knew that Lan Feng did not see it as important for now.
As the youngsters returned to the academy everything returned to how it had been the week before. Deng Wu did not come visit Hui Yue to discuss the ring and instead, Hui Yue spent the time cultivating much like he had done previously.
Finally, after waiting for two weeks did Hui Yue finally run out of medicinal pills. Excitement shone within his blue eyes as he struck out one fist after another, utilizing his low ranked martial art skills to test his strength.
Using these medicinal pills Hui Yue had managed to reach the eight-star Student rank, and it was so incredibly tempting to go and buy more pills so that he could charge straight to the ninth star, despite this he knew better.
Although these pills copied Hui Yue’s Qi, they also caused his Qi spiral to become unstable. It moved irregularly as the copied Qi was composed of some thick and other thin Qi threads, creating an imbalance within his lower dantian.
Hui Yue sighed deeply as he once again started to attend the classes and spent the hours during lectures to read through one massive book after another, each containing the history of this continent. Unfortunately, he was unable to find any more clues towards the Dark Age.
During his spare time, Hui Yue still fortified his insides and practiced the transforming weapons martial art skill. Currently he was capable of producing the simplest of all knives, however after doing so Hui Yue realised just how terrible he had become at armed combat.
Looking back, the last time he practiced wushu was when he lived in his old world and since he had come here everything he had done focused on his body rather than weapons. This lack of practice now came back to bite him and Hui Yue had to add an extra few hours of training for his wushu, forcing himself into shape.
The nights were when Hui Yue would sit still and cultivate, absorbing the essence of the world which he then refined into Qi that merged with the thin Qi threads. This caused them to grow thicker and become much more stable.
Another couple of weeks went by calmly while Hui Yue attended the classes and cultivated in peace, however, he had not forgotten Deng Wu and as his Qi finally settled down he decided that the following day he would go look for Deng Wu. If his secretive friend had no intention of finding him then it was about time for Hui Yue to go hunting for his friend.
A smile appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he looked out the dark window. Sleep was one of the few luxuries that he would only allow himself when something good happened, and tonight he would sleep perfectly well.
Hui Yue and Lan Feng were both sound asleep during the night. Whenever Hui Yue practiced and cultivated, Lan Feng spent his entire energy on refining Qi and merging it with his elemental affinity, in turn creating spiritual energy, inside their Qi cave.
Hui Yue had not gotten a proper sleep in weeks. He had been spending all his time and energy on stabilizing his Qi spiral, and upon finally succeeding, exhaustion washed over his young body and he knew that it was time to sleep.
This, in turn, had ensured that Hui Yue fell into a deep slumber as soon as his head hit the pillow and everything around him became unimportant.
Usually, a cultivator, even one in the Student rank such as Hui Yue, would be alert even in his sleep. However, Hui Yue was currently within the Riluo City’s Royal Academy, where it was impossible to enter without an academy emblem of some sorts.
Not to mention he was within his own courtyard, which the key he had with him in his bedroom could only open. The key being bound to his own Qi was an additional precaution.
All these safety measures, combined with his exhaustion, had caused both Lan Feng and Hui Yue to be sound asleep without a care in the world about their lowered guard.
Outside, the moon was fully illuminated in the night sky, indicating the turn of the month, and the second pill distribution day had transpired exactly like the first.
This time, however, Hui Yue had kept the pill and consumed it, only to realize that it was subpar to what he was used to.
A creaking sound filled the room and a shadow gracefully descended into the room from the outside black sky through the window. Her entire figure was bathed in the moonlight from behind, causing her features to be hidden in a pitch black shadow.
The figure crept into the room and stood, observing the sleeping boy for a moment before the hazel-brown eyes started shining with a red hue. A vicious smile spread across her beautiful and succulent lips, with the air of a tigress ready for the kill.
Stealthily moving, without a sound being wrought, the woman suddenly found herself standing next to the bed with the sleeping boy.
Her smile, full of malice, turned into a vicious grin and the red sheen within her eyes intensified, making her look like a ferocious beast.
Two slim hands slowly moved towards the boy, their slender fingers slithering around his frail-looking neck. Insanity was replacing the viciousness evident on her usually beautiful face and for a moment her hands halted there, poised to end the short-lived life with a swift strike.
