Riluo City (Blue Phoenix Book 1) (38 page)

Deng Wu lifted an eyebrow as he heard this statement. To sell two skills of such magnitude for the sake of cultivation methods was indeed something only spoiled children would do. A medicinal pill could be created by an alchemist, and although alchemists were rare, they were nowhere as rare as those high ranked skills. Skills could take years to complete, which was a time quite unlikely to take just to compose even one the most advanced medicinal pills.

“You didn’t miss out,” Hui Yue finally said after seeing the shocked expression that had appeared on Deng Wu’s face. Deng Wu was a master of keeping his emotions under control, but being alone with Hui Yue had caused him to slightly relax his usually attentive personality, and as a result his poker-face had instantly been shattered.

“The skills that I sold were useless, remember? They were tailored to the creator so even if you are to obtain it, it won’t be beneficial for you at all.  By the time you can learn it, you will most definitely have much stronger attacks to rely on.”

A feeling of surprise bubbled within Deng Wu’s chest and the surprise quickly changed to a slight admiration. So far Hui Yue had shown potential to become a cunning person who was able to use his abilities and god-given gifts above the norm,; however, to think that he would intentionally stage such a grand auction only to sell useless skills was still shocking beyond words.

“Hey wait a moment,” suddenly the astonishment and admiration changed to a slight rage, “Rong Xiang and Rong Ming are your friends! How could you force their family to spend that much money on not just one, but two useless skills?”

To hear that Deng Wu cared this much caused Hui Yue to raise an eyebrow in surprise, but his reply was incredibly calm as he spoke, “Rong Liang was not the one purchasing it, it was purchased by some men wearing black cloaks. The same men who decided to bully me later on. Is it not okay to make them pay a large sum of money as a compensation for allowing me to go through something traumatic?”

The blue eyed boy in front of Deng Wu seemed so innocent as he claimed that the evening’s events had been traumatic for him; however, it was obvious to Deng Wu that Hui Yue had no qualms about selling those high ranked, useless skills to the families of his friends. Not to mention that this incident that was supposed to have traumatised him had actually ended with him destroying one of Riluo City’s noble families.

Seeing that Deng Wu was not fully satisfied with the reply, Hui Yue sighed deeply and decided that it was time to return some of the help he had been given by his new friends in this world.

“I have something I will share with all of you,” Hui Yue said slowly, “Your family focuses on fabrication of everything from lumber, grain and other farm materials right?”

The words ‘share with you’ had roused great interest in Deng Wu’s eyes. So far, everything that had arrived from Hui Yue had seemed to be coated in gold, so the chances of his family benefitting from this was also rather high.

“Do you guys have anything called a watermill around here in Riluo City?” Hui Yue asked smilingly. He already knew that most of the very standard machinery which had been common back in his old world was not present in this new world, and although the majority of power was given by spiritual energy or magic cores, there were still plenty of things that could be improved.

“What is a watermill?” Deng Wu asked with a furrowed brow. Although it was a new word, it did not seem as if it held as much promise as a high ranked martial art skill.

“Imagine that a stream of water takes care of creating lumber from timber. You no longer need an insane amount of people to do so manually, nor would you need to rely on spiritual energy, nor people who can cultivate Qi.” Hui Yue said as a sales pitch. He was perfectly aware that it would be most troublesome to convince Deng Wu that this was useful.

“The water does the work?” Hearing this did indeed sound too good to be true, if it was possible, then the Deng family could increase their revenue by a lot, also expanding to other major cities within the Taiyang Kingdom.

“Obviously you will need some people for a bit of manual work, but the majority of the work will be empowered by the stream. I’ll try to draw a blueprint for you,” Hui Yue tempted and accepted the pen and paper which Deng Wu had shortly fished out and  handed to him.

A big benefit from riding on a carriage in this world was that although they were travelling at incredible speed, the carriage never moved, it was as still as if Hui Yue was currently sitting within a house, and he spent a few minutes making the blueprints for the main mechanismsmechanics and while doing so, Deng Wu was staring intently, getting more and more astonished as the minutes went by.

After half of the trip back to the academy Hui Yue had drawn a set of blueprints from which Deng Wu had been informed that Hui Yue could provide a few changes, causing these mills to help produce paper-scrolls, grind wheat, create lumber and even textiles. These watermills would definitely start a new era for the Deng family.

The rest of the trip back to the academy went by as the two boys discussed the watermill, and Deng Wu’s respect was constantly growing. He had indeed no idea what was going on inside that young boy’s mind to be able to come up with such ideas.

Hui Yue’s decision was simple. He required a 5% revenue from the watermills, but in return he would be helping with creating even more machinerymechanics that could further increase the Deng family’s revenue.

A smile was evident on Hui Yue’s face, and within the eyes, a triumphant laughter could be seen. Hui Yue cared about his friends and he wished to help them, however, Hui Yue came from a world where the individual was what mattered, not the family you had been born into.

It was true that Lord Rong Liang himself would never have had the money to squander on two skills the way he did. However, but if he had done so, Hui Yue wouldn’t not have pitied him in the least for spending more money than necessaryhe had. To resist temptation was something which everyone needed to learn.

On the other hand, Hui Yue was grateful to Rong Ming, Rong Xing, Gao Yan, Ma Kong and even Deng Wu. S, and since Deng Wu hadwas previously starteding to show distrust, now was the perfect time for Hui Yue to show them all just how serious he was.

Having studied ancient culture throughout the world, Hui Yue had already found plenty of ways to improve this society. However, back when Hui Yue had attended university daily, he would never have suspectedexpected that his knowledge would be used to change an entirely different world.

Chapter 23 – Soul Fusion

“There he is.” A cold voice slashed through the morning air, making it seem as if the summer had ended.

It had been some time since Hui Yue and Deng Wu had stepped out of the carriage, but the two of them had momentarily tarried at the foot of the mountain, discussing about the watermill and its uses.

The watermill was a concept which had been used in Hui Yue’s previous world dating back thousands of years. However, no one had ever needed to create items such as those in this world, as the leaders and serfs all relied on their strength and cultivation to get things done.

The two of them had taken twice the amount of time to climb the stairs, and even as they reached the top, they had been deeply engrossed in their conversation and reviewing blueprints.

The shrill voice had cut through their tranquil state of mind like a knife to butter and roused them from their own world, dragging them back to reality.

Rong Xing was standing in front of Gao Yan, Rong Ming and Ma Kong. Her usually adorable and smiling face had turned as dark as a cloud ready to release an unequalled blizzard second to none. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her fingers kept tapping on the opposite arm, clearly urging the two newcomers to explain themselves.

Ma Kong still had his usual smile on his face, and he tried to act as if the current situation had nothing to do with him. His smile was slightly larger than usual, and laughter could be seen within his eyes. It was obvious that this calm and collected young master thoroughly enjoyed watching Rong Xing getting ready to scold the two.

Rong Ming seemed slightly worried, he did not have his usually dumb smile on his face, instead he had furrowed brows and made random gestures with his arms, which neither Hui Yue nor Deng Wu were capable of understanding.

Gao Yan was the only one who acted as if nothing different had happened. He was tired and yawning, clearly unhappy with how the Rong twins had forced him up early this morning.

As to why Rong Xing was so mad, none of the people present knew.

“Deng Wu!” Rong Xing said with her ice-cold voice and the promise of suffering obvious on her face, “I can accept that you go around playing with random women, and I honestly don’t care if these women are extreme experts. In all honestly, I find it great if you find other women to share your love with, but by no means are you allowed to bring Hui Yue with you!”

The previous day Rong Xing had visited, but no matter how much she called and how hard she knocked on the courtyard gate, no one answered her. Rong Xing had felt how worry was creeping in on her heart as Hui Yue had not mentioned anything about leaving that day, and the only other option that she was capable of thinking up included the Wang family.

Suddenly her young mind was flooded with scenes of the naïve and young Hui Yue being tortured for the sake of his high ranked martial art skills. Images of him being killed as a repercussion for embarrassing their genius son. Generally, all sorts of bad images were surfacing within Rong Xing’s mind and she had with great haste gathered all her friends, only to find that Deng Wu was not present either.

Having seen the panicked expression on Rong Xing’s face, Gao Yan had gone to speak with his friends only to be told that Hui Yue had been seen in Riluo City.

Rong Xing had felt how she went from worrying to feeling indignant. Hui Yue was, after all, only a ten-year-old child. He was not supposed to travel to Riluo City by himself, instead he should have asked the Rong twins for help.

Early in the morning, Rong Xing had decided to wait for Hui Yue to return and scold him, but instead they had heard a rumour about Deng Wu and the unknown expert, and now Deng Wu had arrived with Hui Yue, both of them deeply engaged in a conversation and not noticing their friends who were waiting.

All the hostility which Rong Xing had felt towards Hui Yue instantly shifted to Deng Wu. It was obvious that Deng Wu had tricked the naïve little Hui Yue into joining him for a trip to Riluo City.

“Rong Xing. My heart! My lifeblood! Do I look like a cheating husband?” Deng Wu said with a depressed look on his face as he fell on his knees in front of the stern girl, “I merely accompanied Hui Yue as I assumed he would enjoy a few days in a much better place than this academy.” Deng Wu argued with a presumptuous voice, “We just discussed some business matters as it seems he is capable of assisting me with a matter that I did not fully understand.”

Rong Xing shook her already trembling fists with an excruciating look on her face. Deng Wu was all smiles and Rong Xing quickly felt her anger dissipating into thin air. “Well, little brother Hui Yue came back safely,” Rong Xing mumbled as she turned around and walked towards the closest canteen so that she and the others could get breakfast. They had waited since before sunrise after all.

“I heard that the Shan family ended up leaving Riluo City,” Gao Yan said while they were eating breakfast, “I had this friend who worked as a maid in their family, and she said that after the blaze, all the servants were fired, but she managed to hear the master and young master speak together. They are going to find a bigger city and take it over.”

“It is not like much will change for them,” Deng Wu commented with a knowing smirk, “And it seems like many families are fighting to buy the grounds so that they can expand. We are one of them as well.”

“They should have had an insurance,” Hui Yue said with a small sigh, causing the others to look at him strangely. Hui Yue was happy to eat breakfast twice, so he had not the foggiest idea about the weird looks pointed his way as he focused on the grilled fish and vegetable soup in front of him. However, the sudden quiet was rather disconcerting , so he looked up and saw their weird glances.

“What?” he asked while slurping the soup up with great delight. Every meal meant more energy, and more energy made it easier for Lan Feng to regain his strength.