Chapter 127: Previous Lives
Standing still, Hui Yue waited until the leader was almost upon them before he activated Velocity Flow. Velocity Flow was a high ranked martial art attack skill, but anyone who had the cultivation base of the lower dantian was able to use it.
The moment Hui Yue activated Velocity Flow, a small aura appeared from his body, no longer hidden by the cloak, but the aura which he exposed would at most belong to a Practitioner ranked expert.
Activating Velocity Flow, Hui Yue had enough experience to move around with movements which only the best trained eyes in the arena could see, as Hui Yue ended up behind the opposing team leader’s back. Black Blood was pressed slightly against his throat and a drop of blood was drawn, making the middle-aged man stop in his tracks not daring to move in the slightest.
“Forfeit,” Hui Yue said with an ice-cold voice. Hui Yue was struggling. His body was screaming for Hui Yue to cut through the soft flesh the knife was rested upon, while his mind was urging him to stop. Killing intent rolled out from Hui Yue.
Although the white-haired young man managed to keep his killing desire in check, he could not help but allow the red mist to be emitted from him, surround the entire stage after which it crept up on the audience.
Every mercenary present knew that this killing intent was unlike anything they had ever sensed before. Even the host was greatly taken aback. The killing intent was so strong that it could only be gained after a whole life’s worth of killing, however no matter how he thought about it, the voice which called out a target earlier was fairly young. There should be no way such a young man could produce such killing intent.
The audience were shaking with fear and excitement, none of them noticing how they held their breath. The mercenaries were all smiling. Some of the smiles were maddened, driven to the brink of sanity, while others were excited clearly eager to face such killing intent themselves.
The group whom Hui Yue was facing all paused their attacks. None of them wished to see their leader dead and one after another they stepped down from the stage, not wishing to continue the fight.
Having taken the leader hostage, Hui Yue felt how his body was slowly being taken over by the killing intent, but with the last shreds of his sanity, he released the tranquil cloud, circulating it through his body and slowly recapturing the red mist, forcing it back into the Qi cave.
Seeing that the killing intent was being reeled into his body once again, everyone in the audience suddenly felt as though the air got much lighter, their breathing no longer labored.
A few felt that they were slightly dizzy while others had various degrees of nausea. The mercenaries within the arena instantly began to discuss with one another quietly, arguing about whether or not they would be capable of dealing with such a strong opponent.
On the stage, Hui Yue stood alone with his knife on the throat of the opposing team’s leader as images flashed across his eyes. It was a scene of a world dyed red, with dead beasts and humans slain by a beast standing on top of a huge mountain of corpses.
The beast was nothing more than a shadow, its entire body reeked of blood and its eyes were red as the mist itself.
These images only appeared in Hui Yue’s eyes for a few moments, yet it held such temptation that Hui Yue unconsciously cut slightly deeper into his hostage’s throat.
Coming to himself, Hui Yue was thoroughly shaken, but he refused to let it show. With a swiping motion he stored Black Blood back into the storage stone and threw the hostage off the stage, resulting in the entire team leaving the stage leaving behind only Hui Yue and his friends, no one said a word.
Although lots of information had been gained from this fight, only three of the members had actually participated and from these three only one had been possible to understand somewhat.
Wang Ju Long’s flower did all the work for her, and although the vine attack through the stage was an attack she could not use more than once, it still ensured that no one knew anything concerning her real strength. One could guess that she had an affinity with Wood because she had such a tenacious flower, but did she have other affinities as well?
Deng Wu was just preparing his inscriptions and none of them had been activated, causing everyone to learn nothing more about the cloaked man.
Xie Lan had done absolutely nothing at all but stand at the back, as she was wondering how to deal with her opponent.
Sha Yun, on the other hand, had shown off her prowess. Everyone already understood that she was either a mixture between a demon beast and a human, or just an actual demon beast.
Although Sha Yun did not use any form of spiritual energy, her movements alone were enough to overwhelm any Master ranked cultivator showing that she was, at least, a Master. Very likely she was even stronger.
Then came Hui Yue. The young man who was the leader of this mysterious group. His killing intent stunned everyone present, making them wonder just who could be underneath that cloak.
This young man had, as a matter of fact, only used his internal energy and this energy was used for a martial art attack. Not even a spiritual art making it impossible to tell which rank he truly was. Although some had been revealed from this mysterious group of people, even more, was still unknown; this just caused many more questions to spring into existence.
Hui Yue, completely ignoring everyone else, lifted his cloaked head and glanced at the referee who quickly pulled himself together, a cheeky smile on his aged face. “The winner is the mysterious group number one hundred and seventeen!” He said with a normal voice as he walked up onto the stage.
“We will now commence the second fight. Group one hundred and seventeen will not be fighting any more today, if you wish to see them fight more be sure to buy tickets for tomorrow!”
Hearing that they had no more fighting to do, they instantly left the stage and went out of the arena, not staying behind to check out the rest of the competition. He already had an average estimation of which groups they would have trouble dealing with. Right now, the only thing which mattered to Hui Yue was to have a talk with Lan Feng about a way to keep the killing intent in check and to understand what that image in front of his eyes had been.
“Well done!” As soon as Hui Yue had led everyone back to their courtyard, he heard a voice he instantly recognized as Xu Piao. The Guild Master of the Mercenary Guild was standing within the courtyard waiting patiently for Hui Yue and his entourage to arrive.
Although he did not personally witness the fights, he was always kept up to date about every win and loss and as soon as news of Hui Yue’s win was announced, the young man instantly rushed to their courtyard to congratulate them.
Hui Yue nodded politely towards Xu Piao, however he did not stop instead he mumbled, “My apologies Guild Master, I gained enlightenment so I will need to undergo closed door training until our next battle.”
Having said that, Hui Yue paid no heed to any of the people around him as he strode inside their house with steady feet and sat down in the room which he had taken as his own.
Seated on the ground, Hui Yue closed his eyes and allowed for his consciousness to enter the dantian cave where Lan Feng resided.
It had been a long time since Hui Yue last paid the phoenix a visit like this, and the young man was instantly stunned when he saw that Lan Feng no longer had the body of a ten year old child, but instead a mature young man. His eyes were closed and his soul seated in a meditation position, golden energy surrounding him, making the celestial blue feathers shine with a golden hue.
Sitting down next to Lan Feng, Hui Yue too started to cultivate allowing for the tranquil cloud which was inside the dantian cave to expand and envelop Hui Yue’s entire being, causing his thoughts to clear up and a comfortable feeling to spread throughout his body. The remnants of the killing intent quickly vanished, completely destroyed by the calmness which flooded Hui Yue’s senses.
Sitting within the dantian cave and allowing for the tranquil cloud to wash over his body, Hui Yue sunk deeper into meditation. His body slowly merged with Earth and Metal at the same time.. It was a natural occurrence which happened because Hui Yue’s body wished to become one with the energies surrounding it, but, sadly, he did not have the qualifications to do so yet.
Small specs of golden light appeared in the air around Hui Yue, and every time he took a deep breath these specks of golden light entered his system and flowed towards the Qi cave as Lan Feng absorbed every single spec of light.
Hui Yue was seated in meditation and he had no way of realizing what was happening to those small golden lights. This was different from the phoenix and as soon as he absorbed the specks of light, he opened his eyes and observed Hui Yue with great shock and slight admiration. A smile appeared on his face as he moved towards Hui Yue and hit the meditating boy atop his head.
‘What do you need my help with?’ Lan Feng asked with a c*cky voice, seemingly enjoying the fact that Hui Yue needed his help, and the white-haired boy could do nothing but sigh as he gave a wry smile.
‘The killing intent,’ Hui Yue said quickly, not wishing for the phoenix to suddenly change his opinion. ‘When I was fighting at the arena today there was a flash of another world. There was a flash of a beast. Did you see it?’
The question alone could be considered dumb since the two of them shared everything, things they felt, food they tasted, and the world they saw. But even so, Hui Yue had a feeling that this particular sight was one which Lan Feng had not seen, and the serious face of the phoenix told Hui Yue that he was right. He was the only one who had noticed that shocking scene.
‘I believe it was something from one of your previous lives,’ Lan Feng said hesitantly, ‘The stronger the mist grows the more you will remember and the more it will affect your current life.’
Hui Yue nodded slowly, Lan Feng previously stated his theory that the caves all had something to do with his previous lives, and while pondering this Hui Yue agreed that it was the most likely option.
‘Will I become as bloodthirsty and frenzied as the red beast I saw before?’ Hui Yue felt how he shuddered as he said the words. Although he enjoyed the perks of his killing intent, it also included some side effects which he was much less keen on. One of these was how he wanted to cut his friends to shreds, how he could not control the unstoppable thirst for blood which appeared within his body.
‘Well, you have more than one previous life stored within this cave,” Lan Feng said with a smile as he gestured with his hands, making Hui Yue look toward the many caves, some open while others were closed. ‘If I were you I would focus on the tranquil cloud. Perhaps it can help you to keep the killing intent in check.’