Chapter 175: Sailing on the Thousand Rivers
Having seen the situation play itself out through the memory stone caused Hui Yue to have some mixed feelings. Xu Piao and Xie Lan fought against the other King experts, however, neither of them used their strongest attacks nor had they used up all their Wu Wei and spiritual energy.
Hui Yue was uncertain if Xu Piao and Xie Lan participated in the battle fully knowing what was going to happen. But he quickly decided that it did not matter if it was intentional or not.
His plan was to leave the beautiful capital of the Thousand River’s Cave as soon as possible, and he had no qualms about bringing the two King ranked experts with him. Knowing how much Zhou Long valued Hui Yue back in the Demon Dwelling Cave, the white-haired young man was quite certain that the assassins would decrease now that only he was left.
As to why they wanted to get rid of his friends, Hui Yue had no idea; however, his beautiful blue eyes had long since turned deep blue as anger was raging inside. His friends were incredibly important and knowing that they were currently prisoners caused rage to flare like a inferno inside of the young man.
Packing his things quickly, Hui Yue knocked on Xu Piao’s door and soon an “Enter,” could be heard through the door. Following the creaking sounds, the young man stepped inside the room.
“I am going to leave tonight,” He informed them, giving them the choice of following him or staying behind in the capital. Both of the King ranked experts nodded. Xie Lan stayed within the room to heal Xu Piao previously and she had finished just moments before Hui Yue arrived at their door.
Without waiting to see them nod their heads in reply, Hui Yue had already turned around and walked away, not paying any more attention to the two King ranked experts who were supposed to be his friends.
Walking away Hui Yue knew that it was not a good idea to take his anger out on the two of them. Within the room two somber looks were present on the King ranked experts faces.
“I guess he saw through us.” Xu Piao sighed deeply, “But although we planned on letting them get taken we really did change our mind halfway through.” He continued, trying to justify his actions to himself.
“I really did not want to allow for our friends to be taken away. We need to speak with him.” He stopped, his eyes determined as he looked at the door frame which Hui Yue had walked through moments before.
Seeing her boss that frantic about a friendship, Xie Lan could not help but sigh deeply. Although she had taken Wang Ju Long as a disciple, there was only one person who truly mattered to her and that was Xu Piao. To see him so upset about a friendship was something which made her depressed and at a loss for what to do.
“Will he forgive you if you tell him everything?” Xie Lan asked curiously. She had always hated lying so telling the truth was the only thing which she could come up with.
Hearing her words, Xu Piao nodded his head. Telling the truth was not a bad idea. If anything it was a way to clear the air between the two, to forgive and forget. At least this was what Xu Piao hoped.
The Guild Master was not the only one who was worried, Hui Yue was a bit uncomfortable as well. He trusted Xu Piao, and even still he trusted with some stuff. Having seen the recording it was true that their last ditch effort had been quite severe and that he was likely to have continued had he not taken such a serious injury.
After some time, both of the men stopped their train of thought and instead got ready to set out towards the next cave.
Three people gathered at the exit of the courtyard and they looked at each other awkwardly , but after bit Hui Yue heaved a heavy sigh after which a small smile appeared on his face.
“I’m sorry for pushing my problems on you,” He said with a sigh, “I know you have some connection to Zhou Long.” Having said that, the two King ranked experts glanced at each other both of them somewhat relieved that they did not have to start the conversation themselves.
“We were hired by Zhou Long to send information back to him every time we reached a cave. He also told us to look after you and ensure that you come to no harm, but if we managed to get rid of your friends then we would get an even bigger bonus.”
“At first we planned on doing just that, but we have been together for so long.” He sighed as he looked apologetic, “When I saw your friends actually being taken away I finally decided where my allegiance lay.”
As Hui Yue listened he could not help but feel like the man in front of him was honest. However considering their history trusting one another would be hard. Looking at him once more, Hui Yue decided that it did not matter whether or not he was honest. In the end Zhou Long ordered them to protect him so they would follow him either way.
Coming to this conclusion, Hui Yue nodded as he went towards a boat. Unlike last time, the boat he rented was not a boat which was small and sleek, made for travelling within the city, instead, it was a large ship which sailed on the thousand rivers of the Thousand River’s Cave.
The reason he chose to ride a boat rather than walking, was due to the fact that he wanted to cultivate as much as possible while he was within the dense atmosphere of this particular cave.
Renting this boat put Hui Yue quite low on demon cores. But his plan was to travel through the unlit part of the tunnels to hone his skills after having cultivated on the boat; this would make the expense worth it. Although his body was bustling with energy, it was important to balance both the spiritual and the physical aspect of training otherwise the body would not be able to handle the energy which was contained within.
Xu Piao and Xie Lan boarded the boat with him.l According to plan, Hui Yue locked himself in one of the rooms and the entire trip was travelled in meditation. His insides would churn every time he thought about his friends who were currently considered criminals and his heart ached as he worried about how his three friends were getting treated.
Without allowing for himself to think too much about the dangers that his friends faced, he forced himself to focus on his training. Slowly he entered a deep and trancelike meditation.
During meditation Hui Yue could feel the elements surrounding him. Flames were blooming within his mind, the ground was shaking under his feet, the metal was firmly encasing his innermost being.
Feeling all three elemental energies around him, Hui Yue focused his entire being on merging with the elements and fusing them together.
During his month of meditation, Hui Yue managed to completely fuse Earth with Metal, however his attempts at fusing the three elements seemed to be too much of a task right now.
Having fused Earth and Metal allowed Hui Yue to use the Metal to fortify any attack when Earth was used. It also allowed for him to fortify any Metal attack, but what excited him the most was when he summoned the elemental flame.
The elemental flame which Hui Yue summoned was yellow with a silver core. This yellow flame was inferior to the blue flame which Hui Yue could use by relying on Lan Feng, but unlike the blue flame this yellow flame was not only able to burn enemies.
The yellow flames increased Hui Yue’s control over Earth by a hundred percent, allowing him to control much more earth than before, along with allowing him to make attacks on a scale he was not previously able to sustain.
This was not only Earth, it also included the Metal. Allowing him to control a hundred percent more previously. Although currently he did not have any attacks which relied on the metal element, he still needed the element to refine materials.
The more in sync one was with aelement the harder it became to gain more understanding of that element. So although Hui Yue had the ability to use a hundred percent more Earth than previously, he was not able to sync completely with it, thus limiting his control.
Currently Hui Yue managed to sync almost seventy-five percent with the elements.. He was reaching the point where syncing more was becoming increasingly difficult and at the same time, increasingly dangerous.
All this was from only syncing two of his three elements, and the results made Hui Yue twice as strong as he had been before.
After having sat still, meditating for most of the month, Hui Yue finally opened his eyes. though he managed to increase his strength with Metal, the majority of its attacks required inscriptions. This was something which he did not have the time to create. Therefore he focused on improving his earthen element. A smile appeared on his face as he felt how the world was throbbing around him. Anywhere he focused his attention he could feel the ground, feel the Earth and the Earth’s influence on the world. He could feel how strength was welling up within his body.
After leaving his room, he moved up, onto the deck, to the boat’s railing and looked at the river which was floating by. Looking at the direction which they were headed, Hui Yue could see the cave wall and the massive open gates which led to the tunnels. The tunnels which would take him to the next cave where his friends were waiting for him.
As soon as Hui Yue thought about his friends his blue eyes turned dark and killing intent roiled around his body as he felt impatient. At first his plan had been to travel through the unlit tunnels. To fighting against various beasts and stabilize and balance his cultivation base, but the more he thought, the more eager he became to just rush through the tunnels.
Every time he closed his eyes he saw the faces of his friends. The faces of them being either tortured or mistreated. Inside of him his flame of anger never died out, constantly flaring up and filling the young man with dread and worry.
Although he knew that right now the only thing he could do was endure. DespiteDispite knowing this enduring was something which ate away at him. The only thing which calmed him, somewhat, was the fact that Deng Wu was there. Deng Wu would protect both Wang Ju Long and Sha Yun.
Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, while once more forcefully suppressing his anger, Hui Yue turned around and saw that both Xie Lan and Xu Piao were watching him with worried expressions on their faces.
Seeing their worry he was unaware whether he should laugh or cry. These two King ranked experts were as impossible to understand as the heavens above. Sometimes they seemed calm and trustworthy then they would suddenly turn untrustworthy, their betrayal caused the white-haired man’s world to be thrown into chaos. Because of this Hui Yue was still deciding whether he should trust these two King ranked experts, despite being fully aware of his need to bring them with him to have some sort of backing when it was needed.
Although Hui Yue’s strength increased dramatically during this trip down the thousand rivers of the Thousand River Cave, he was still a long cry away from being capable of taking care of a King ranked expert on his own. The further he went into the caves, the more Kings he would encounter.