Chapter 709: Western Tiger
Having accepted the sword, Hui Yue flipped his hand and stored it within his Universe Box. This sword was not one to be carried around unless it was absolutely necessary as anyone who saw it would know that it was special and many experts would covet it. Because of this, it would draw in many problems if he just waved it about.
Seeing that Hui Yue hid the sword, the patriarch and the two ancestors nodded their heads in approval. They knew that the sword had approved of Hui Yue, if it had not, it would never allow the person to store it in a storage treasure, no matter how high quality the storage treasure was.
The patriarch looked emotional as he saw the sword vanish into thin air, but he quickly hardened his resolve and nodded his head. “That was it,” he said. His voice was quivering slightly betraying his stern expression.
Hui Yue nodded his head, “Thank you for lending me this treasure,” he said seriously. “I will not let anything happen to it, and if someone comes to take it from me, they will have to take it from my cold dead hands.”
There was a conviction in his voice as he spoke and his resolve made the faces of all three elder men nod with approval. Even the uncle whom Hui Yue had a bad feeling about seemed to agree with his disposition.
“Well, in that case, you better get ready to fight the demons,” Pei Tian sighed after a bit of time. It had been completely silent for a bit as everyone was thinking silently, but when Pei Tian spoke, he roused everyone from their thoughts.
Hui Yue nodded his head solemnly. He had told his family about his plans, and now he just had one more person he needed to visit before they all could set out.
“If you’ll excuse me,” Hui Yue said with a slight bow after which he turned around and walked away from the older generation experts.
He exited the box and went up the long staircase that was wrapped in darkness deep in thought.
“I have a lot of companions,” he said to himself. “But I need to get two more friends to follow me. Lan Feng and Little Dragon have two more brothers. We need to rescue them from their prisons whether that is the bodies they share with other cultivators or the items that have confined them for millennia.”
Hui Yue did not return to the valley where his family was cultivating, instead, he headed towards another valley. A valley where his friend Zhong Fai was located.
Zhong Fai had stayed in the Celestial Sword Sect after the wedding. He was considered an honorary guest since he was a friend of Hui Yue, and he was allowed to use some of the cultivation resources from the sect because of this.
As Hui Yue reached the valley, he saw Zhong Fai sitting still outside the hut he had built absorbing the Ancestral Worldpower from the surrounding air.
He quickly opened his eyes as he sensed the changes in the Ancestral Worldpower from Hui Yue who was flying through the air towards him and a small smile appeared on his lips.
“What brings you here?” he asked puzzled. Although he and Hui Yue could be considered acquaintances, they were not close so for Hui Yue to visit meant that he had some kind of purpose.
“I need to know about the tiger that you met on your travels,” he said seriously. “Please tell me where you met him, what he was doing, and if you think he is likely to still be there. I would like to find him.”
Zhong Fai frowned for a moment but quickly nodded his head, “sure.” He said after a bit of thought and gestured for Hui Yue to sit down next to him.
Hui Yue did not say anything. Instead, he just sat down on the grass and looked up into the blue expanse above him. He said nothing and waited for Zhong Fei to speak.
Zhong Fai was quiet for a long time; it was clear that he was scouring his memories to get every single detail about the meeting with the tiger so he could tell Hui Yue.
“The tiger is obviously a male, but he shares a body with a woman. She calls herself the Western Tiger, and she is a famous mercenary in the small clusters of worlds where I met her.”
“She works alone and is not part of any group. She spends most of her time hunting down experts with bounties on their heads, or magical beasts of lesser intelligence who cannot take human form. She hunts those beasts who never gained the knowledge of a civilized person.”
“She should still be in the same worlds when I saw her. As far as I know, she had never left that area before.” Zhong Fai said with a frown on his face. “She should not be too hard to find considering she is quite well known.”
“Have you ever been to the western part of the galaxy? She took her alias from this western part, calling herself the Western Tiger. I suggest if you want to find her you should go to the Gate of Retribution. It is a sect that takes assassination requests. You just give the name of the person you wish to kill and the fee you will pay for their death. You also need to provide proof of their misdeeds.”
“I know that the Western Tiger is often seen at the Gate of Retribution headquarters Illusional Haven in the western sector of the galaxy.”
Pausing for a bit, Zhong Fai seemed to consider something, and then he nodded his head to himself as if he had made a decision.
“You have done a great deal for me,” he said seriously. “You have given me a safe place to cultivate, resources that many Gods can only dream of, and a good home for the last many months… It is time I repay you.”
“I will take you to the Gate of Retribution. Traveling with you will be fun I am sure,” Zhong Fai said with a sad smile on his lips and a troubled expression on his face.
Hui Yue remembered how Zhong Fai valued freedom as one of the most important things earlier in the Divine Beast World. Zhong Fai had been a Saint for so many years. He had known An He but refused to submit to him, but now he felt that he owed Hui Yue and wished to repay the kindness he had been shown.
Nodding his head, Hui Yue accepted the offer knowing that it would make Zhong Fai feel better, and also because it would make things much easier for him if he had someone who knew the expert that he was searching for.
“We will be departing in a month,” Hui Yue said as he calculated. It will take everyone approximately a month for them to be ready. “I will take care of our pills and provisions, all you need is to focus on cultivating to increase your strength as much as possible within the next month.”
He flipped his hand, and a bag of pills appeared in it. There were a few pills of clarity which were handed over to Zhong Fai.
A complicated expression was plastered on Zhong Fai’s face. He already owed Hui Yue a lot, but Hui Yue just kept giving him more and more making it almost impossible to repay the debt he owed.
“Don’t worry about it,” Hui Yue chuckled as he stood up and dusted his clothes. “I have too many pills. Really, just take them; I have no use for them anymore.”
What he said was the truth. Almost all the beast Gods, friends, and families had comprehended a major dao, and the pills of clarity were almost useless for a cultivator who had a deep understanding of the dao.
But the Alchemist God had created a whole lot of pills. And these pills had all been given to Hui Yue. Hui Yue considered Zhong Fai a friend from the same world, and thus he did not mind spending his pills to increase his friend’s strength, especially not now where he was considered his companion in the trip they were about to embark on.
“I will leave you to it,” Hui Yue turned around and was getting ready to leave. Zhong Fai was clutching the pills in his hands, and his face was alternating between pale and red. He was unsure of what to say, and eventually, he just sighed. He leaned back and waved his hand. “I will be ready in a month,” he promised as he opened the bag in his hands. Looking at the perfectly round pills that were rolling around inside of the bag it would make any expert salivate with glee and Zhong Fai was the same.
Smiling, Hui Yue left the valley, but just as he was about to return to his home, he stopped in his tracks and pondered for a moment. He then turned around and returned to the mountains that were at the back of the sect.
These mountains were forbidden to enter for almost everyone in the sect, but Hui Yue was an exception. Many things were allowed for him.
As he entered the back mountains, it was as if he had entered another world. Everything was silent, but it also felt as if the mountains were breathing. Many immortal caves were carved into the mountainsides all around, and these caves belonged to the dao protectors of the sect.
Although the dao protectors were not as strong as the ancestors and the patriarch they were known as the hidden aces of the sect. No one apart from the patriarch could order them around, and their actual strength was also only known by the patriarch.
Hui Yue had been to the back mountains a few times before. He had never been with the patriarchs or the ancestors here before, but he had been here with Pei Ziqi. She had invited him over a few times to show him around, and now he was looking for her again.
Pei Ziqi had shown him where her cave was located, and Hui Yue went straight for it. Pei Ziqi was one of the newest dao protectors, and therefore her cave was located at the very back of the mountains.
He had to travel through the entire grounds, and although he saw no one when he was flying, he knew that everyone in the caves had already sensed him. But no one said a thing, they had all approved of him before, and they knew that he was most likely here for Pei Ziqi.
As he reached the cave he knocked on the cave wall, and from the inside, Pei Ziqi’s voice sounded out, “Come in.”
“Sorry to interrupt you when you are busy,” Hui Yue said with a smile as he entered the cave. Entering, Hui Yue looked left and right. Although he had been here before he was always amazed by the amounts of ancient relics that were placed everywhere inside the cave.
“So what brings you here?” Pei Ziqi asked as she placed her hands on her hips and looked curiously at Hui Yue.
“We are setting out in a month. Do you feel like coming with us?” Hui Yue asked, feeling a little uncertain.
Pei Ziqi frowned. “This is a hard decision,” she said tentatively. “I like traveling with you youngsters, and I like the excitement that our adventures bring, but I am old now. I have been away from the sect for a long time. This time I think I should leave it to you young ones to experience the dangers. You are all strong; you don’t need my protection anymore.”
Hui Yue smiled wryly and shook his head. He had somewhat guessed that Pei Ziqi would be hesitant, but he really wanted her in the group.
“We are leaving to join the war that is about to start,” he tempted. “We will be fighting constantly, day in and day out. We will slaughter the Blood Demons time and time again and won’t rest before our mission is complete.”