Chapter 46: First Blood
Hui Yue felt as though his body was breaking from within. Every muscle in his body was cracking and stretching, filling with strength. His bones felt as though they all broke at once, yet none of them were actually breaking apart. Instead Hui Yue’s body started to grow. A few centimeters were added to his height while all of his muscles swelled.
While Hui Yue still looked feminine he was now, obviously, a handsome young man. His muscles had much better definition than before, yet were still lean, as they played beneath his jade white skin. His handsome face had become much more refined. The chiselled jawline allowed for the stubbornness within his ice cold eyes to be projected into the outside world.
The previously shoulder length hair had grown so much that it now pooled on the floor, and the baleful aura which he had previously emitted was now perfectly concealed within, replaced by a tranquil facade.
This change was as though someone had replaced the moon with the sun and this sun was shining so brightly that everyone in the audience went silent as they observed the young man who was standing within the blazing flames; he was looking at them as though they proved to be no threat to him.
Truthfully these flames were no threat to Hui Yue as they had been created by his own qi and fortified with Lan Feng’s spiritual energy. If one’s own fire was to damage the cultivator, then every fire affinity expert would be in for a world of pain.
This was, however, something which the audience did not know. It was obvious to everyone present that Hui Yue had just broken in to the rank of Disciple and he, obviously, had no way of using, nor possessing spiritual energy.
Seeing Hui Yue standing within the flames his white hair billowing in the wind, his ice cold eyes caused a shiver to run through every one present. It felt like a premonition; this child would make the world burn and the ground shake in terror.
The tranquillity which was currently being emitted from the boy was ten times more terrifying than his previous killing intent, and the calmness which was shown on his face frightened everyone present as it clashed against the fierce aura from moments before.
Within those ice cold eyes was a small glint of the previous killing intent, but while looking at the boy he seemed otherworldly, as though an angel had descended from the heavens.
This tranquillity was something which Hui Yue felt as he broke through into the Disciple rank. In a corner of his lower dantian two small caves occurred forming to small caverns. Inside one was a red mist full of hate and blood.While inside the other cave in was a cloud of blue mist. This cloud was calmly floating around giving the impression of gentleness. It was this cloud which Hui Yue had currently touched and allowed to float through his meridians causing the aura to become one with him.
Hui Yue looked at the sea of flames and furrowed his brows. The killing intent inside his dantian was raging and a feeling of danger appeared within Hui Yue’s mind.
Dodging by instinct, Hui Yue noticed how the Qi whip soared out from within the flames, followed by a heavily wounded person. Li Shing was heavily burnt, and his eyes were filled with rage as he swiftly attacked Hui Yue.
A flash of mercilessness appeared within Hui Yue’s eyes, and the two daggers created by the newly refined Qi suddenly moved swiftly.
The baleful aura had reemerged, and this time Hui Yue was too slow to suppress it. He was overwhelmed by a thirst for blood, a thirst to kill, and his hands brought the two daggers toward Li Shing’s neck and without feeling the slightest resistance Hui Yue suddenly felt a warm liquid spread across his hands.
Shock filled the eyes of Li Shing as he plummeted to his knees, all the while blood sprayed from a cut on his throat. Two hands rose to grasp the wound, yet before they were able to do so, the already kneeling student collapsed onto the floor, his life vanishing into thin air.
Everyone was silent as the fire was raged on in the arena, and then as if someone had planned a countdown, chaos broke out.
Elders with the water affinity appeared rushing to the grounds where they used various spiritual arts to kill the fire. Extinguishing the fire took much longer than what they had expected, and a slight fear crept into the hearts of these cultivators. These were no ordinary flames. They were still struggling to grow as if the fire was created by spiritual energy.
Hui Yue had stayed on the stage next to him the now dead Li Shing, and behind him, observing quietly, was the Academy Chairman. It would be impossible for him to escape so Hui Yue did not even attempt to do so.
Inside of the small boy a roaring fight was ongoing. Two mental projections of Hui Yue were standing within the Qi cave; one was covered in red mist while the other was covered in a white cloud.
A third Hui Yue, one with neither cloud nor mist around him was seated by the cave wall next to Lan Feng; he was observing the two copies of himself which were discussing whether or not killing Li Shing was the right choice.
‘What do you think?’ Hui Yue sighed while looking at Lan Feng, but the phoenix was staring blankly at the two discussing the issue within the Qi cave.
‘This is simply too weird,’ he said, his eyes opened wide the disbelief evident in his voice, ‘even if you remembered something from your previous life it should not be possible for you to have three souls.’
‘I have three souls?’ Hui Yue asked curiously. To him, although killing Li Shing was something which he had not wished to do, but the end result was inevitable. One day he would need to kill, and he had no faith in his ability to have won this battle had he not allowed for the killing intent to burst out and take over.
Still, a shiver ran through his body as he remembered the feeling of cutting through human flesh, much like cutting through butter, followed by the feeling of warm blood which had drenched his hand.
Ignoring these feelings, Hui Yue once again looked at the two versions of himself, before he slowly clapped his hands causing them both to be quiet.
‘Killing him was the only option we had this time,’ Hui Yue said firmly, then a smile appeared on the red misted Hui Yue while a frown appeared on the white version. ‘That being said,’ He continued, ‘I do not wish to kill people unless there is no other option.’
This in turn caused the expressions on the two copies to switch, before they turned into mist and slowly returned to their previous positions within Hui Yue.
Hui Yue’s consciousness walked back to Lan Feng where he once more sat down.
‘So you were saying?’ He asked curiously as he slid down the Qi wall. Currently his outside self was seated in a meditational pose seemingly adjusting his body to the breakthrough he had achieved; no one would interrupt a cultivator at such a crucial time.
‘Your soul has certain aspects that seem to have changed,’ Lan Feng said seriously while his eyebrows were furrowed. ‘These two are variations of your soul. But, somehow, I cannot sense them. They are not connected to me.’
‘How could this have happened?’ Hui Yue asked curiously, as he saw how the previously domineering mist had turned docile as if it was resting. It seemed that it would only activate when it was in battle.
‘You are the only person I know who can make your soul undergo such a odd mutation,’ Lan Feng said as if he did not believe it himself, ‘we will not get an answer soon. One day you will know why you changed in such a way. We do need to practice how to control them though.’
Having said this, Hui Yue nodded his head and returned to his body. All the elders had surrounded him as though they wanted to stop him from going anywhere.
“Student Hui Yue,” an ancient voice said and Hui Yue turned around looking at the Academy Chairman. A small bow was given to him.
“You killed your fellow student Li Shing, what do you have to say in your defence?” The Academy Chairman seemed displeased with the outcome, yet he was perfectly aware that Hui Yue had no other choice than to end the battle when he had. He only had the Qi for one attack, and if he had run out Li Shing would have killed him instead.
“I really had no choice,” Hui Yue said shamelessly as he looked at the old man. “I had just broken through to the Disciple rank, and my strength was unsteady. How was I to know that senior Li Shing was unable to defend against my attack? He rushed towards me, and I got scared. I had no other option.”
The blue eyes which had been ice cold and filled with killing intent were now big and adorable much like a deer caught in headlights. The boy in front of the chairman looked as though he was being bullied, as if he had never done anything wrong.
Many of the students felt like vomiting blood as they saw the innocence and naivety on his face, yet everything he said made perfect sense.
Hui Yue had fought the entire fight while being a whole realm below his opponent, and only at the end did he break into the Disciple rank. It was obvious that the one who should have died was Hui Yue. What this young boy had accomplished was nothing short of a miracle. If he had not gone all out it would have been completely impossible for him to win.
That Li Shing died was regrettable, yet it was obvious that he was a commoner born student who had been lucky to find a good martial skill within the Martial Art Skill Hall at the academy. Losing him was a great loss, yet having a whole tournament with no fatalities was almost impossible.
Sparring with each other was the same as showing off their abilities and these abilities were all created for the sake of killing. The majority of the geniuses in the younger generation would not live long enough to reach adulthood.
A sigh escaped the chairman as he waved his hand instantly motioning the murmuring people to quiet down.
“It is unfortunate that student Li Shing passed away just as the tournament was ending. The winner this year is student Hui Yue.” As soon as the message had been relayed the old man turned around and started walking away. He had to rush back to the office to send a message to the royal family right away.
Not only the chairman, but every major clan and family within Riluo City was thinking the same thing. Each and every one of them wished to get in good graces with this unknown little child. Although geniuses were unlikely to survive for long, he seemed to be one who could turn the world upside down, and it was a gamble that every family would take.
Another reason was that these families actually did not care if the child was to survive in the long run, what they wanted was to get their hands on the high rank martial art skills that were currently in his possession. It seemed that he had perfected at least some of them, and anything he had perfected was something which he could then pass on to others.
Hui Yue was, after all, only a ten-year-old boy and although he might be capable of killing in cold blood, these families all assumed that he was not trained in scheming. This was the way in which they wanted to get their hands on these high rank martial art skills.
Suddenly, the thought and the clamour around the arena focused on the martial art skills that had been sold half a year earlier and a sudden silence appeared. For a student this age it was obvious that he needed to have a teacher of some kind.
This teacher, in turn, could not be a normal cultivator for him to have passed along such incredible martial art skills and ensure that the young child had perfected them at such an age.
Was the Saint ranked expert who had moved through the town half a year earlier perhaps Hui Yue’s master?