Karma

As the ring slipped onto the finger, a small light appeared. The Azure Dragon figurine appeared from within, and Deng Wu placed it on the table between the two.

“When I turned ten years old I was allowed to pick out a smaller treasure from within the family treasury as a reward for being accepted into the Royal Academy,” Deng Wu said with a sigh.

Since Hui Yue had arrived here, it was obvious that he knew something. The best way forward was for the two of them to share their secrets and then keep them hidden from the rest of the world.

Another reason why Deng Wu decided to explain his history with the figurine was that he knew nothing about this figurine. When he had touched Hui Yue back in Riluo City, Deng Wu had an impression that the Azure Dragon figurine had been terrified by the beast currently imprisoned within Hui Yue’s body. Consulting Hui Yue about this could perhaps bring him some answers.

“My father was thrilled when I took this item since everyone considered it a useless piece, only worth using as a decoration. The first year I took it with me everywhere. Just as my father thought, this figurine was really quite useless.” Hui Yue was quiet, but he had an interesting premonition as to what this dragon figurine was. He could not help but wonder how Lan Feng felt about finding it here while both were as weak as they were.

“One day when I returned home, someone came and stole my storage stone that my figurine was in. I spent three days fighting to get it back. I knew it was not useful, but I still fell in love with its beauty,” Deng Wu shook his head ruefully. Hui Yue could only muster a wry smile. He, if any, understood how it was to fall for an item the second one’s eyes locked on it. Unfortunately, the one Hui Yue had found ended up killing him within the hour.

Deng Wu saw the wry smile on Hui Yue’s face. He got the impression that Hui Yue knew exactly what sort of emotions he felt.

“When I finally got it back, the figurine started speaking with me,” Deng Wu said, at this point rather quickly and slightly embarrassed. Deng Wu understood perfectly well how insane it sounded.

“The figurine offers a lot of effects. It has given me a cultivation technique that is much stronger than anything I had seen before. It is capable of masking my own cultivation base, but also able to look through any disguise of someone weaker than himself. He instantly recognized the aura of a divine beast on you, but I would never have thought that it was someone he knew,” Deng Wu continued past the abilities the Azure Dragon figurine had. This time he hid nothing from Hui Yue.

“A cultivation technique is not enough to get such a high rank in your cultivation base within five years,” Hui Yue pointed out with a smile. Deng Wu, in turn, gave an embarrassed smile.

“This figurine used to be very strong. It was well-versed in pill concocting when it was still alive. It has helped me with various herbal extracts that have improved my cultivation by leaps and bounds.”

Hui Yue grinned upon hearing that this one was capable of being an alchemist, something Lan Feng had wanted to do badly.

“I need to have a small talk with my dear cohabitant. I am not sure how much he wishes to tell you,” Hui Yue said. Internally he asked, ‘Lan Feng, what do we say?’

‘Let me speak through you,’ Lan Feng said with a sigh, and Hui Yue quickly accepted tacitly. He wandered inwards and materialized a mental projection then headed down to the dantian cave. There the feathered blue bird started becoming transparent before he turned into a ball of light which exploded into thousands of strands that went through the meridians and eventually overtook the body.

Unlike last time, this was not a forced takeover, rather a permission which Hui Yue granted Lan Feng. It was a skill which Hui Yue had not known about before the fight with the black-cloaked men.

“Listen up boy,” the celestial voice sounded from Hui Yue’s mouth, causing Deng Wu to become startled and the figurine on the table to rumble loudly.

“Have you been told about the history of our world?” Lan Feng continued. Hui Yue had sat down in the dantian cave, leaned against the wall and allowed the phoenix to take care of everything this day.

“I have not,” Deng Wu said politely. He was, after all, aware that he was currently speaking with the genius behind Hui Yue. The mysterious expert who had destroyed the Shan family compound with a single low-ranked attack.

“I will not tell you the long story, but this world used to belong to the families of the four divine beasts until we were tricked by a human and sealed within various decorative items. After that, we were scattered among different planes in the universe.” Saying this caused Deng Wu’s eyes to widen in amazement as he had never expected anything like this to be true.

“The one you have gotten your hands on is none other than the descendant of the Azure Dragon. I have to tell you it brings me great joy to see him locked up in such a small figurine,” Lan Feng said with a certain amount of schadenfreude and a toothy grin. This was karma.

“The Azure Dragon’s descendant?” Deng Wu repeated while frowning. Unlike Hui Yue, he had never heard about the four divine beasts before. Deng Wu had grown up within the Taiyang Kingdom. Due to this, he had never heard about what had transpired during the Dark Age.

Hui Yue, on the other hand, remembered how shocked he had been when he found out that this Azure Dragon figurine was the descendant that had been tricked into betraying the others. Whether it was intentional or not, he was also the cause of the four descendants being sealed within the various decorative objects.

“This world was created by our fathers and given to us after a rite of passage. Unfortunately, SOMEONE was tricked by a mere human, and we ended up like this,” Lan Feng reached an octave higher for a split second and snorted. “That useless son is in your figurine and he ought to stay there to think about his misgivings.”

“Shut up, you damn bird!” a voice roared from the azure figurine. “You would have been tricked as well. Unlike you, I am still sealed!”

“So what?” Lan Feng retorted. “You caused us to be sealed. Is it not fair that you should be the last to be unsealed?”

“You aren’t too lucky either,” the figurine mocked back. “I see you got free from the hairpin, but now you are locked up as some stupid servant to a brainless kid.”

“Oh yeah? At least I managed to form a soul contract…” Lan Feng said before his expression went from proud to annoyed. “I should not have said that. I should definitely not have said that.”

While Lan Feng continued to be annoyed for saying something unintended, the figurine went completely quiet. This was most likely due to the shock of hearing that anyone was willing to establish a soul contract with a divine beast.

Deng Wu was staring blindly at the figurine, and the possessed Hui Yue. The conversation was really impossible for him to follow.

“So I take it that the two of you are old friends,” he said calmly while looking at the two, causing both to be slightly embarrassed.

“Ahem,” Lan Feng cleared his throat. “As you most likely have understood, this figurine used to be a divine beast much like myself, same Saint rank as me, too. He was even slightly stronger back then. Right now he surely is quite fragile.”

The satisfaction within Lan Feng’s voice was impossible to mask. The grin that had appeared on his face had Deng Wu wondering what kind of creature this beast was, and how Hui Yue could stand spending every waking hour of the day together with him.

“In the end, both of us have a secret that no one else is supposed to know about,” Lan Feng continued with a long sigh. “You keep quiet about Hui Yue and our secrets. In turn, we will keep quiet about Little Dragon and you.”

“Little Dragon?” Deng Wu looked confused. “This figurine is named Little Dragon?”

The figurine gave a harrumph in reply. Lan Feng let go of Hui Yue’s body, allowing him to take back control.

“He is named after his father, Qing Long. It was too confusing to use the same name for both, so we never called him anything else but Little Dragon.”

Hui Yue decided that it was time for him to go back to his own courtyard. Deng Wu now knew the truth about his item, but he also knew that both he and Hui Yue shared the same secret. If one were to be exposed, the other would likely follow.

After visiting Deng Wu, Hui Yue returned to his own courtyard. He prepared for another visit to the Medicinal Pill Outlet, intent on purchasing an amount of medicinal pills worth three spirit coins this time.

Hui Yue knew the more pills he took of one kind, the less effective they became. This had caused Hui Yue to mix a few different pills into his purchases to see how they worked compared to the others.

The life within the academy was exactly like it had been since admission. The students were moving around from lectures to mountain tops. The arenas were filled with students who held grudges against each other or those who simply felt like they needed to spar to improve their skills.

However, unlike the Royal Academy, Riluo City was bustling with energy and new developments. The Ma family had decided to expand their business, no longer only focusing on their Black Market Auction House.

An immense amount of wealth had been used to advertise the new business idea of ‘insurance’. Both the Ma family and Hui Yue anticipated a long time for the insurance to be accepted among the common people and noble families within the city. But contrary to their beliefs, the interest was proving overwhelming.

The family home insurance covering the houses was mainly bought by the noble families that had seen first-hand how the Shan family lost everything.

The life insurance, on the other hand, was incredibly popular among the various guards, soldiers, and especially the mercenaries.

Within the span of a few months, almost every family within the city had either a life insurance or a family home insurance policy, causing the Ma family’s reputation and business importance to soar sky-high.

According to the contract, Hui Yue got paid three percent of the profits each month. Although it was a very slim amount of money, in the beginning, it was still enough money to change the fate of his home village.

Hui Yue had not been back home since he had left to attend the admission ceremony. He asked Gao Yan to help him find an errand boy whom he could trust. Just a few days later, a young man was ready to take on the task that Hui Yue had in mind.

This task was to once a month travel to Hui Yue’s village and deliver the money from the Ma family. In return, he would be heavily rewarded. The reason a substantial reward was plausible was based on the fact that this man was a cultivator at the Practitioner rank. Second Gao Yan had insisted on making a blood contract.

A blood contract was, as the name suggests, a contract signed in the partner's blood. Signing a contract in blood meant that it was implausible for the people who had signed it to break their promise. Should they do so, then they would die in the process.