Dungeons of the Divine (Blue Phoenix Book 2) (15 page)

Walking out of the office, Xu Piao did exactly what he planned and brought Hui Yue and his friends towards the courtyards to choose house which would be their home while they resided within the city.

The courtyard they chose was one of the smaller ones as Hui Yue’s party of four was considered a small group within the mercenary community.

Although Hui Yue was considered the leader of only a small group, this small group was the talk of the town and lots of excitement was shown when the other mercenaries saw how the Guild Leader was leading the cloaked men around, even showing them the different places within the Mercenary Guild’s headquarters.

The compound occupied by the Mercenary Guild was not the greatest, however many courtyards and palaces were squeezed into the small space. Stalls were placed on every nook and cranny, everyone was abusing the space and using it to its maximum potential.

Xu Piao quickly went past the residential area and guided the four guests towards the stables. “Having a demon beast as a mount is one of the most luxurious things that a mercenary can have because it is very hard to subdue the beasts living within the tunnels.”

“We provide shelter for demon beasts who have been captured, but only if the owner pays ten demon cores or demon coins a month.”

Walking past the stables, Hui Yue noticed that very few magical beasts were kept inside. Only a handful could be seen and none of them were as ferocious as the ones Hui Yue had encountered within the tunnels.

Obtaining a magical beast as a mount was not easy if one wished to tame the wild beast. The beast was only interested in following the one whom they had been bound to. If someone wished to buy a magical beast they had to be bred by kennels which specialized in the breeding of magical beasts.

Seeing just a few beasts within the stable Hui Yue understood that although there were not many, it was evident that within this city there were some mercenaries who were capable of subduing such beasts. It was obvious that the strength within this cave far exceeded the previous one.

Moving on with the introduction to the Mercenary Guild, Xu Piao brought Hui Yue to various stalls for him to see what they were selling.

Some sold weapons while other sold armours. Some sold inscriptions and others provisions. There were stalls which sold everything that a mercenary could need, even medicinal stalls focusing on selling various potions.

The potions here were no where near as effective as the medicinal pills from the surface, instead it

was paste made from the herbs which other mercenaries sold to the stall. Although these potions were far inferior to medicinal pills they were still greatly helped the mercenaries who went without a Wood affinity healer in their group.

Looking at the armours and weapons, Hui Yue could not help but whistle in admiration as every weapon was made from black iron. Thinking it through, Hui Yue understood that the rich and heavy iron was abundant for those who lived within these caves.

Looking at the weapons, the prices were quite fair. They were definitely far cheaper than on the surface, and Hui Yue decided to visit the shops more often in the future. Even if he had to spend his beast cores it would definitely be worth it.

Seeing the keen interest in Hui Yue’s eyes, Xu Piao could not help but be secretly pleased. To be able to impress the white-haired boy gave the Guild Leader a childish satisfaction. He had been so stunned earlier with the information of the outside world that to be able to stun this young man with their world he could not help but feel slightly proud.

The tour continued and they slowly made it to the main hall. The main hall was one big room with various stalls inside. Each stall had their own sign and a few of them had long queues.

Looking at the signs, Hui Yue felt excitement as he saw how many choices there were. One of the stalls was named ‘Demon Beast Hunting’ and contained all the requests for demon beasts. ‘Herb Gathering’ was another stall, and behind the counter was a massive blackboard with various pictures, each picture representing someone looking for a specific herb.

‘Assassinations’ was yet another counter, however no one was queued up in front it. Another counter had a sign saying ‘Wanted Criminals’. The next said ‘Dragon Corps Missions’, and the queue in front of that stall was completely filled with mercenaries. The final one said ‘Miscellaneous Missions’.

Although the place was bustling, many of the mercenaries quieted down as they saw the Guild Leader entering the main hall with the four black cloaked men in tow.

The quietness caused Xu Piao to smile a little in embarrassment, but in spite of that, he still walked

forward with steady steps and explained everything around them to Hui Yue.

As soon as they arrived within the main hall, Hui Yue stopped talking, however he was still paying attention to every movement which took place around him.

“Well then,” Xu Piao said with a sigh, “I will be going back now, enjoy yourselves in my guild; I am sure you will fit right in soon enough.”

Having said that, Xu Piao turned around and walked out from the main hall, leaving Hui Yue and his friends behind.

Looking around, Hui Yue was very interested in what he saw and he was unable to truly decide which of the missions to take first. Almost instantly the herb gathering and the magical beast hunt, or demon beast hunt as they called it here, was ruled out as Hui Yue felt he had done plenty of that.

Assassinations did not seem very interesting either as Hui Yue preferred only killing those who were in his way. In the end, only miscellaneous and Dragon Corps missions were left. Thinking about his dislike for the Dragon Corps, Hui Yue decided to go to the miscellaneous isle, each step was made under the extreme scrutiny of the rest of the room.

Seeing that Hui Yue made a decision Wang Ju Long, Sha Yun, and Deng Wu followed suit, all of them completely quiet as they felt how suffocating the atmosphere was.

Looking at the blackboard, Hui Yue saw all types of missions from finding the origins of old treasures to stalking wives who were assumed to be cheating on their husbands, or even entering the tunnels with young masters to help them temper their skills.

What drew Hui Yue’s attention was not those previous ones but instead a large poster which was centered on top of the blackboard.

Yearly Demon Dwelling Cave tournament to determine the rankings of mercenaries.

Looking at the poster, Hui Yue saw that first place won a thousand demon coins, second place won five hundred demon coins, and third place got two hundred and fifty demon coins.

Everyone was allowed to participate in the tournament, even half demon beasts. Hui Yue started counting to himself,  thinking how great it would be if they were to win those coins.

Turning around and looking at Deng Wu, Wang Ju Long, and Sha Yun, neither of them were able to see his face, however all of them felt a chill run down their spine as they guessed what would come next.

“Training!” Was the only word which Hui Yue uttered before he turned around on his heels and moved straight for the courtyard they had been given.

The tournament would commence a few days from now and this tournament was nothing like what Hui Yue had seen before. It was not a one on one duel, instead it was mercenary teams against each other. Each team had to have at least five members and they would fight in either group battles or in five duels where the first to reach three wins could then proceed further into the competition.

One loss and the entire group would be out. This was not something which confused Hui Yue, what did trouble him was the fact that they were one person short and Hui Yue knew no one within this world who they could rely on.

Pondering the question for some time, Hui Yue left the courtyard once more and headed towards the office building where Xu Piao was waiting.

As soon as he arrived at the building everyone politely made way for him as he once more found himself outside the heavywood door, waiting to hear the voice from within calling out to him.

Just as Hui Yue expected, the voice quickly sounded out and Hui Yue entered the room, once more face to face with the young man.

Hui Yue could not help but chuckle as he saw the woman from before standing behind the attractive man, her face crimson red as she remembered how she, earlier that day, had run into a black cloaked man while wearing almost no clothes in her attempt to escape from Xie Lan.

Now she was once more standing behind the Guild Leader, but this time her clothes were all properly on her body.

“You returned faster than I had expected,” Xu Piao said laughing as he gestured for the girl to leave his side. The girl frowned slightly and an adorable pout was visible on her lips as she moved out of the room, glaring at the black cloaked figure.

“Please excuse her behavior,” The Guild Leader said with a sigh as his eyes stayed on the woman until the door had closed behind her with a loud thump.

“What can I help you with?” Xu Piao continued, as he moved his gaze back to Hui Yue. As soon as the young man had seen the woman exit the room he removed his cloak, revealing his features once again.

“We are planning to join the Mercenary Tournament,” Hui Yue said neither hurriedly nor slowly. His voice as firm as a mountain and his eyes shone with determination. “We are lacking one member for our group, I am sure you would be able to provide us with the final member.”

Hearing that, Xu Piao ruminated for some time, trying his best to come up with who would be the best suitable candidate.

If he had not been the Guild Master, he would personally have joined them, however that was not possible for him. Despite this there was one other person whom he could recommend and with a calm expression he pressed a memory stone, after which Xie Lan entered the room bowing slightly

to the two people within.

Xie Lan was slightly taken aback to see the young man in front of her and the black cloak hanging over the chair.

“Xie Lan, you will be participating in the Mercenary Tournament. You will become one of the black cloaked mercenaries.”

Xu Piao had ulterior motives by making his most trusted cultivator join their group, as he would obviously gain quite a bit of information about the four cultivators who had arrived from another world. Leaving this task to Xie Lan was his best option.

Looking at Xie Lan, Hui Yue nodded slightly. How could he not know that Xu Piao was looking for information, but even so, the white-haired boy would gladly accept a King ranked expert to strengthen his group. Even if this meant that they would report to the Guild Leader each day.

Touching his storage stone, Hui Yue withdrew another black cloak which he handed over to Xie Lan who quickly pulled it over her clothes, making her seem exactly like Hui Yue moments before.

Xie Lan felt how her cultivation base automatically activated the inscriptions on the cloak, and for a few moments shiny silvery light flashed inside the office before they slowly died out, leaving the cloak looking completely black and ordinary. Her cultivation base had been nullified by the inscriptions and Xie Lan was now as mysterious as Hui Yue.

The white-haired boy sent a smile towards Xie Lan before he too wore his black cloak. With a bow to Xu Piao, Hui Yue turned around with Xie Lan following behind him. The two black cloaked cultivators left the office and returned to the courtyard where they would be living for some time to come.

“Hello,” Xie Lan said as she entered the courtyard where she was met by the three other black cloaked figures. She worked for Xu Piao for a very long time and she was perfectly aware of why she had been sent to the courtyard with the unknown cloaked men and because of this she insisted on doing her very best to gather useful information for her master.

While she was gathering information she also had every intention of fighting within the tournament, hopefully being the one to have the most astonishing performance within the group so that the odd black cloaked cultivators would feel even further indebted to Xu Piao.

As soon as Hui Yue arrived, he gestured to everyone that they should enter the small house and they rushed inside, eager to see who this new person was.

Once inside, all four people instantly took off their cloaks and heaved heavy sighs of relief. Although they had all agreed on hiding their appearance for as long as possible, none of them enjoyed the stuffy world inside the cloaks.

Hui Yue was perfectly aware of the fact that their faces were hidden, and it was something which attracted a lot of attention, however he, personally, would rather be known as a hooded figure than a white haired youth because of the attention it always drew.

Coming to that conclusion, Hui Yue decided that although he did not wish to stand out, he had no other option than to make a name for himself within this cave and use that reputation to enter the next tunnel system.

“Everyone,” Hui Yue called to order as all of them were seated inside the room, “Please welcome our newest member in the group, her name is Xie Lan. You saw her yesterday and she is a King ranked expert so we have some very good odds of winning first place in this tournament.”

Hearing that she was a King rank expert, Deng Wu seemed to back away slightly, his eyes quickly masking his previously unconcealed interest as this handsome young man felt no reason to risk insulting a King ranked expert.

“We will do our best to win it with just the four of us, however if we are in too much trouble then Xie Lan will jump in and assist us.” Hui Yue said with stern expression on his face, “We are here to train and improve ourselves, if we can’t even win a silly competition on our own we don’t deserve to be considered successful cultivators.”

Hearing Hui Yue’s words his friends solemnly nodded their heads and Xie Lan was slightly stunned by what he said.

The King ranked expert had expected that the group of cloaked people would have abused having a King ranked expert in their midst, but instead they treated her as a backup rather than a means to win easily.

Another thing which shocked Xie Lan deeply was how young all the cloaked people seemed to be. The one who seemed the oldest was a young man with black hair, but even he seemed to be only a little more than twenty years of age while the other two  had clearly just reached adulthood.

The final member of their group was a half demon beast, half her body was a snake-tail and although it was something Xie Lan had noticed once before already she was greatly shocked to see the beauty of her upper body and the intelligent silvery eyes.

Having been in the same room with these people for only a short time, Xie Lan understood just why her master paid so much interest to these four people. She understood that it would be great if they carried favour towards the Mercenary Guild.

“You all remember that to enter the tunnels one needs to either have a specific cultivation base or do something amazing to make the Dragon Corps acknowledge us.” Hui Yue said with a sigh as he sat down on a chair. Hearing Hui Yue’s words, everyone within the room nodded simultaneously.

“If we wait to reach a higher rank it might take us years to be allowed entrance. It seems that our only way is to make the Dragon Corps acknowledge us, so let’s start with proving ourselves in the tournament. Afterwards we’ll start doing some missions for the Dragon Corps. Eventually they will notice us and we will be allowed passage.”

A few glances were thrown through the room and Hui Yue understood the doubt that he saw in their eyes. Interacting with the forces they wished to escape from seemed daring, but at the same time they all wished to move further into the tunnels, far enough that they would eventually have the ability to leave this underground world.

Determination was seen in everyone's eyes as they agreed with Hui Yue. The sudden tension within the house did not pass by Xie Lan unnoticed and she understood that there was something between the Dragon Corps and the cloaked group.

“Today we need to train, the tournament begins tomorrow so we better be ready for it.” Hui Yue said with a sigh. He noticed the keen gleam within Xie Lan’s eyes and he knew that the latter had not allowed the atmosphere to go unnoticed. At least it would not be possible for the Guild Leader to find any information of Hui Yue’s connection with the Dragon Corps.

Hearing the words from Hui Yue everyone quickly entered meditation, not wasting even one moment.Xie Lan was yet once again astonished by the efficiency of this group.

….

The sun rose in the cave the following day, replacing the gentle rays of moonlight which had been cascading down hours ago with the morning sunshine and with it came the promise of a new day.

This was a day which was very much looked forward to and the entire city was bustling with life as mercenaries were walking around in groups, ready to sign up for the tournament which only came once a year.

This tournament was linked to pride and every group within the area had arrived, leaving the roads filled with people. With so many people it was almost impossible to move around without using one’s elbows to push their way through.

It was in this kind of environment that Hui Yue was using force to get himself and his team through the busy streets, aiming for only one thing, the tournament signup.

Hui Yue had to use force most of the time to make his way through and there was always a loud commotion every time people saw that the black cloaked group had appeared. The shock seemed to increase as the previous four man group had turned into a five man group, one capable of signing up for the tournament.

While some dreaded meeting these mysterious strangers, others were secretly pleased with the outcome as they wished to fight them Their aim was not to win, but to try and grasp the storage stones owned by these cloaked men.

One thing everyone had in common was the assumption that the cloaked group would not be wearing their cloaks for the final battle. They all firmly believed that these cloaks absorbed all energy emitted making it impossible to act while wearing them.

Ignoring the people who once more stared at Hui Yue, the young man made his way towards the counter where an employee from the Mercenary Guild was present.

“Hello,” Hui Yue’s voice sounded the same as it had when he was pretending to be the King of the Forest back at Cave’s End. Hearing the slightly low but powerful voice, the employee quickly paid his full attention to the registration.

“Excuse me sir, you need to have at least five members in your group. Can you please call the other four members here?” The employee, although shocked at first, handled everything perfectly.

Hui Yue moved slightly to the side and behind him four cloaked people appeared, all of them silent as a grave giving off a daunting and mysterious air, making the previously upbeat atmosphere tense and uncomfortable.

Although the cloaks were effectively hiding their entire cultivation base, it was also obvious that the cloak was working overtime as it had a hard time masking Xie Lan’s rank, causing Hui Yue to want them to hurry away from the square filled with people.

Looking at the four cloaked figures, the employee nodded his head. “Hand over your mercenary badges,” He ordered, as he named the group number one hundred and seventeen.

Just as the employee asked for the mercenary badges another turmoil appeared as five golden coloured emblems appeared at the same time.

The correct way to get a golden emblem was by finishing an immense amount of missions or having done some very dangerous missions previously. For these people to arrive with golden emblems within a low ranked cave such as the Demon Dwelling Cave was truly astonishing.

“Did they arrive for the sake of the tournament?” One voice sounded out from the crowd and while some nodded others shook their heads.

“I bet they are here for the sake of an ultra rare mission and they decided to join in on the fun.”

Once again some people nodded while others shook their heads.

Multiple theories started to spread through the area, however Hui Yue showed no interest in it, instead he waited patiently for the employee to mark down their rankings. Even the previously calm and collected employee was quite ruffled as he saw five golden emblems in front of him.

Finally he finished all the paperwork needed and handed a small wooden plate to Hui Yue, a plate saying group one hundred and seventeen.

“Over there, you will see a schedule. Your group fights later today at the time when the sun reached its highest position. Your group is seeded so your fight will be within the main arena.”

Having said that, the man quickly leaned towards the next group of mercenaries who were getting

ready to sign up for the competition, and Hui Yue turned around going towards the place which the man had pointed out.

A big wooden board filled the entire wall of a street opposite from the employee who dealt with registrations. Looking at the board Hui Yue found that it was split into three sections. One was when the sun was rising into the sky, the morning. The other was when the sun was high in the sky, and the final part was when the sun was slowly setting in the horizon, only to vanish before the following day commenced.

The morning had the lowest ranked mercenary teams fighting each other, while the highest ranked and the seeded teams would battle during the middle of the day. The final part of the tournament consisted of those who were neither high ranked nor low ranked. The average mercenary parties which resided within the city or its surroundings.

Each group would have one fight per day and these fights would alternate between personal duels and team fights. The reason they alternated was not only for the sake of seeing whether or not all members knew how to fight, but was greatly for the sake of keeping the audience interested.

Looking at the schedule, Hui Yue located a wooden tablet saying group one hundred and seventeen and next to it was group twenty three. Right between the two wooden tablets was a small mark which resembled the arena.

Throwing one last glance at the map, Hui Yue once more prepared himself to fight his way through the masses of mercenaries, but what he found made him chuckle slightly as all the mercenaries in the surroundings were moving aside, pressing against each other ensuring that a path was available for him and his followers.

Not showing any attention to the many mercenaries around him, Hui Yue moved down the path which had been carved through the horde of people, making his way towards the arena in the city. The place where his first real exchange of pointers in a long time would take place.