Black Blood

As soon as Hui Yue grasped the black knife with his hand, the red mist within his dantian cave instantly started roiling, impossible to suppress any further. Once Hui Yue gave up on suppressing the killing intent, he had expected that it would erupt into the room sweeping across all the elders present, yet it did not.

All the mist which was rushing out from the cave-in within the lower dantian entered his meridians. Then it flowed out of his palm and entered the knife causing it to feel as though it was an extension of Hui Yue’s arm. A red glow appeared on the knife. Everyone within the room could feel just how dangerous Hui Yue had become while wielding the knife.

“Ahem,” the manager cleared his throat as a shiver ran down his spine. “This is our gift to you. Can you think of a name you wish to give this weapon?” he asked.

Hui Yue furrowed his brows while thinking for a moment. Looking at the black knife with the red hue a smile appeared on his face. In Hui Yue’s mind, only one name would fit such a grand weapon.

“Black Blood,” he said with a sinister smile on his face; the previous naïve child now nowhere to be seen. “This is Black Blood. The dagger which is dyed black from seas of blood.”

Hearing this name gave everyone a foreboding of disaster. This child was in no way normal, yet they did not regret their gift. It was obvious that this dagger was perfect for Hui Yue. A perfect gift would cause happiness which in turn would allow the young boy to speak highly of them in front of his teacher.

The visit had exceeded his expectations. Hui Yue had managed to give both the manager and Ma Kong quite a lot of face within the family. Even if the insurance was still a growing business, it had a much bigger chance of becoming their main business focus when they were ready to expand into the other big cities of Taiyang Kingdom.

Hui Yue said his goodbyes to the Ma family. Then he rushed back to the inn where he was lodging until it was time for them to set out on their way to the Magical Forest.

‘Lan Feng,’ Hui Yue started, curiosity finally overwhelming him as he entered his rented room. ‘I have heard quite a bit about inscriptions lately. Why don’t you tell me about them?’

Lan Feng snorted as he heard the curiosity within Hui Yue’s voice. ‘Every elemental affinity has a strength which can be used to craft or create. You already noticed that wood is used for alchemy and healing. You’ve also seen how the wood affinity is capable of restoring things to their previous appearance.’

Hui Yue nodded. He did remember how his target dummies would heal themselves due to the wood affinity energy which had been placed within their core. He also remembered how both Gao Yan and Ma Kong had been healed to perfect health with the help of a wood elemental affinity master, but he hadn’t spent a lot of time truly considering it before.

‘Metal affinity has the distinct ability to form metals. It also has the capacity to extract the energy within magic cores or beast cores and use this energy to create inscriptions,’ Lan Feng paused slightly as if to go through all his memories about inscriptions.

‘Inscriptions can be used in multiple ways,’ Lan Feng said hesitantly as he recalled the methods. ‘First, it can be used like the one on your armor and the one on the knife, enhancing the items themselves. Second, inscriptions can be used to inscribe some specific spiritual skills that the creator had known, allowing for other cultivators to have an extra attack. Utilizing a spiritual skill through an inscription is slightly weaker than the original attack practiced by the cultivator, but it is beneficial for the user.’

After hearing this Hui Yue nodded. Inscription seemed to be at least as useful as alchemy, and yet it was not as rare because a dual affinity was not needed.

‘There is also the possibility of inscribing actions or consciousness into items much like your target dummies which are capable of reacting to your training. This inscribing is quite hard to learn as it requires the creator to absorb the soul and instincts of a living magic beast, and then inscribe them within the metal creation. It is considered the pinnacle of the profession and life goal of a metal affinity cultivator.

‘Your second affinity was earth, right?’ Hui Yue asked curiously, as he leaned back against the wall in the scruffy-looking room he had rented.

‘Yeah,’ Lan Feng nodded. ‘Earth is simple but strong. Everything within this world relies on the earth for life: birth, stability, death. All three made possible through earth’s elemental essence. We rely on soil for eating. We could not live without the earth below our feet. It is what gives everything life. Without earth, we would have nothing. Since I could not get wood affinity, I have to admit that earth is the one I wanted next. If you control earth, you control life itself. Upon controlling life, death, too, is within your grasp.’

Hui Yue felt excited upon hearing this. After the soul fusion, Hui Yue now had a part of Lan Feng’s soul, which meant that he, too, had an affinity for earth and fire. His affinity was much weaker than that of Lan Feng’s, but it was still present. It was something which could increase his strength tremendously later on.

‘When you have a wood elemental affinity you can control the timing of plants; helping them to sprout and grow or wither and die. As a wood elemental cultivator, one has to work with plants which are at a minimum seeds before they are capable of injecting their spiritual power into seed or plant,’ Lan Feng paused for a moment before continuing. ‘Earth is different. Every plant is born from the earth. Every stone and mountain grew from the soil. With an earth elemental affinity, you can create something from nothing. Your spiritual energy allows for you to create seeds from the soil, sprout mountains from the ground, or control the ground on which humankind stands.’

Hearing these words that Lan Feng said, caused Hui Yue’s heart to race within his body; before he had not thought too highly of the earth. But after hearing this, he could not help but feel a shiver run through his entire body. He had severely underestimated the earth elemental affinity.

‘The Earth is sacred,’ Lan Feng continued as he felt Hui Yue’s reaction. ‘All energy is split between the heavens and the earth. To have earth as an affinity is a gift sent from the heavens which allows for easier comprehension of the secrets of the deities.’

‘The secrets of the deities?’ Hui Yue asked while frowning; this was one thing about which he had never heard.

‘To ascend into immortality, you need to understand the truths of the heavens and the secrets of the earth. But don’t rack your little brain too much with things such as this. If you manage to break into the middle dantian within the next couple of years, then we will be satisfied.’

Hui Yue nodded his head, agreeing to what Lan Feng had said. Within his soul was an unyielding fire burning as he heard about the truths of the heavens and the secrets of the earth.

Truth be told, Hui Yue was grateful to Lan Feng. Had Hui Yue stayed within his old world, then his life would have turned into a sad love story. Here he no longer thought about his own misfortune.

Yes, Hui Yue had died. But together with death was his rebirth. Hui Yue was walking down his own path. He was paving a cultivation road in front of him which would lead to ascension into immortality. This path was a path much more suited for him than the empty life which had been there before. Deep inside Hui Yue was grateful to Lan Feng for bringing him here.

This cultivation road was what Hui Yue was born to do; this was the road he wished to walk. The strong determination was evident in his eyes as he slowly closed them and sat down forming the bird seal with his hands. Then he submerged himself into his dantian cave where he kept refining essence into qi.

The following day, as Hui Yue was about to leave the inn, he suddenly ran into Deng Wu. This time his friend invited him to dine with the Deng family. Their invitation much the same as the Ma Family, but they also had another agenda with this visit.

“Welcome to the Deng family,” Deng Tsang Ying said as he sat in the family leader’s chair within their main hall, greeting Hui Yue.

The Deng family had summoned Hui Yue as he was the closest anyone could get to the esteemed expert that had appeared almost a year ago. The Deng family owed this expert an incredible amount of gratitude.

Not only had this expert given them plenty of face which had improved their standing within the city, but she had also given them the blueprints of watermills which had allowed their business’s profits to increase substantially.

Half a year ago, this expert gave another gift to the Deng family. She gifted Deng Wu with two high-ranked martial arts skills. This fact was known by all the elders of the family.

Truthfully these skills had been gifted to Deng Wu by Hui Yue, but it was not something which Deng Wu could tell his family.

The Rong twins, Ma Kong, and Gao Yan had all hidden the secret that they had gained high-ranked skills from Hui Yue. However, the situation with the Deng family was slightly different. After talking it over, Hui Yue and Deng Wu decided that because the Deng family knew about the relationship between ‘Li Fen’ and Deng Wu, along with their knowledge of his actual cultivation base, they chose to tell them about the skills.

Knowing about the skills didn’t change anything. Deng Wu still had not perfected either. He was therefore unable to store it within memory stones, to save as family heirlooms

Still, having a son within the Deng family practicing two high-ranked martial arts skills, albeit secretly, would help pave the road for their future, and also count as another valuable pawn within the hands of Deng Tsang Ying.

Standing in front of Deng Tsang Ying and the eight elders of the Deng family, Hui Yue felt a certain amount of pressure, yet nothing could be seen on his small and naïve face as he bowed deeply to all of them, greatly pleasing the elder generation.

“It is my honor to be invited. My master ordered me to bring her best wishes,” Hui Yue said politely, ignoring the grumbling bird within his dantian that mumbled something along the lines of ‘I never said anything of wishing anything for such a minor family.’

Hearing these words caused all the people present, elders and juniors alike, to be astonished. This reference was the first time wherein Hui Yue had acknowledged Li Fen to be his teacher. As to why he had decided to reveal this was something about which only Hui Yue and Deng Wu knew.

Getting such sudden information caused the Deng family to feel once again as if they had the upper hand when it came to gaining favor with the elusive expert, and they instantly decided to keep this knowledge a secret.

A smile protruded on Deng Tsang Ying’s face as he waved his hand and called forth a servant much the same way the Ma family had done the previous day.

Unlike the Ma Family, the Deng family did not produce some weapon or armor. Instead, they brought forth a white jade case which was sealed with a small red ribbon.

This ribbon had a pattern on it. As Hui Yue focused his eyes, he was shocked to notice that the entire ribbon was filled with inscriptions.

‘This can’t be….’ Lan Feng said as he stirred within the dantian cave.

“This is a gift we wish to give your master as a thank you for assisting us as much as she has,” Deng Tsang Ying said as he stood up and headed down the stairs to stand on the same level as Hui Yue.

His hands picked up the jade case with great care and moved towards Hui Yue. The spiritual energy started to fluctuate around Deng Tsang Ying’s hands, and it was obvious that he was circulating his energy.

After a few minutes a click could be heard, and from within the case, a strong spiritual aroma wafted out, filling the entire room.

Within the case a small white flower was visible. This flower was as white as Hui Yue’s qi with a small blazing sun in the middle and drops of shining liquid falling from the petals.

The flower was only a flower, no stalk or any other way to gain nutrients, yet even still, it showed no signs of withering anytime soon.

‘To think that they had something like this….’ Lan Feng said shocked, and Hui Yue felt the greed, astonishment, and shock reverberating within his soul; this hit Lan Feng hard.