Drums of War

by Tinalynge

  ‘I never expected that old hag to still be alive,’ He murmured. His face currently devoid of all colors, and his feathers were disheveled as though he had rustled them but not managed to make them lay as they should afterwards.

  ‘Who is she?’ Hui Yue asked after waiting for a moment. He wondered how any woman could bring the usually loud and arrogant phoenix to such a terrified state.

  ‘Who she is? Who is she? You want to know who she is? She is a monster. I know no one stronger than her apart from my father and the other gods. She is undefeated and her methods to get things done are rough, to say the least.’ A high-pitched voice escaped Lan Feng as his eyes were filled with dread.

  ‘I understand, but who is she to you?’ Hui Yue pressed further curious to know exactly what could cause this kind of reaction from the bird within him. To be honest, Hui Yue already looked upon the woman with veneration. It was the first time ever that Lan Feng had seemed terrified.

  ‘She was my nanny!’ Lan Feng almost screamed in desperation. ‘When I was small, father did not have the time to look after me so he found a strong woman who he knew could handle a small chick easily. It turned out she was not suited to look after children at all.’

  Hearing his words, Hui Yue was deeply astonished to see the shocked bird who had been traumatized by this woman.

  Although Lan Feng was traumatized, Hui Yue did not know any of the memories which were currently haunting the bird, instead, he found the whole thing rather amusing.

  Having thought about it for some time, Hui Yue understood that although it might have been traumatizing for the bird, it was definitely certain that both Lan Feng and this Wan Qiao had a relationship which was exactly what he needed right now.

  A smile spread across his face as he came to a conclusion about what to do. Although Lan Feng was still reminiscing about bad memories, he instantly became aware of Hui Yue and the white-haired young man’s plan.

  “No, no, no, no, no!” Lan Feng continued saying but Hui Yue just smiled in reply. He had decided that the two of them were to go to this inner area of the Shenyuan jungle, somewhere where he could meet Wan Qiao. Hopefully, he could manage to escape this jungle with her help.

  ‘Blame yourself,’ Hui Yue said with a shrug, ‘If you were stronger and were able to fly then we could have left long ago, but even if we use my Wu Wei wings and the Wu Wei you have refined we will most likely not be able to exit the mountain range. The distance is simply far too vast.’

  ‘It’s not that I don’t acknowledge that there is a relationship between me and her,’ Lan Feng started frantically, ‘But she would not be very keen on seeing me again, her and I have had quite a bad past. I am quite certain that she would never help us!’ Lan Feng continued, but Hui Yue more or less ignored him.

  ‘She is our only hope. If she won’t help you for old times sake then we’ll have to challenge one of these Lords of the Forest.’

  ‘Let us just challenge a lord first,’ Lan Feng said, completely confident in his own ability to fight other Saint ranked beasts, but Hui Yue just shook his head. ‘Imagine if we won then we would have to return to this place time after time.’ Hui Yue pointed out, ‘If someone challenges us then we will have to fight them; win or die.’

  Frowning slightly Lan Feng in the end had no other option than to accept the decision which Hui Yue made. He sighed deeply as he feared a reunion with his nanny, the only woman within this world whom Lan Feng truly feared.

  Having agreed on visiting the inner regions of the forests, Hui Yue sat down and started cultivating until he heard someone knocking on his door. Standing up and opening it he found that all the children from earlier were standing outside in their finest garments. Their small faces were beaming with smiles towards the human in front of them.

  “Come with us!” One of the bigger children said and Hui Yue chuckled as he followed behind the children towards the village chief’s house; a house filled with the entire village. They were at a long table where they were waiting for Hui Yue to come sit at the seat of honor.

  Hogs were spit roasted and many kinds of fruits and berries were placed on the table alongside cooked stews, vegetables, and roast meat. Although these creatures were magical beasts, they all lived their lives very similarly to that of humans and Hui Yue felt the same atmosphere that his home had.

  Letting go of his worries of the future, Hui Yue decided to spend the night partying with the villagers which had gone to such lengths to make him feel welcome, something which he could not help but feel very flattered about.

  Chapter 3 – Back to Basics

  Having celebrated his arrival with the villagers all night, Hui Yue was ready to set off as soon as the sun broke through the sky With a last respectful bow towards the villagers, Hui Yue turned around and started to walk towards the forest once more. This time, he was no longer looking for a way out of the ravine, but instead moving towards the innermost areas of the forest; the areas controlled by One-Horned Jasmine Eagle.

  Although Lan Feng was still feeling hesitant about the fact that he once more needed to see his old nanny, he also understood that it was their only option to get away from this place. Having accepted that it was the only way he warned Hui Yue that it was very unlikely that the nanny would help them when she saw them. However, it was also very unlikely that she would kill him as she should still have some affection towards Lan Feng’s father.

  Although the sun broke through the dark sky within the valley where the village was located it still had yet to heat up the forest. When Hui Yue entered he felt how cool it was as no heat had entered yet. Dew was still visible on the grass and small plants in front of him.

  Seeing that it was chilled within the forest, Hui Yue started moving forward at his highest speed and ensured that he made no sounds while moving. His aura was retracted so that only a few magical beasts were capable of detecting him, and those who did were all so far away that given his speed, Hui Yue was easily capable of outrunning them.

  Traveling through the forest, Hui Yue was glad that he had Lan Feng together with him one reason was that two pairs of eyes and two souls were better at recognition than only one person. Also without Lan Feng’s strength and guidance, Hui Yue likely would have succumbed long ago to their enemies.

  After having fought a Lava Collared Chimera who ambushed him and caused a long wound to appear on the young man’s chest, Hui Yue sighed deeply and turned around to leave the way he had come.

  ‘You’re finally giving up?’ Lan Feng asked, his voice slightly mocking because he had long since told Hui Yue that he needed to increase his strength. He needed to increase it through real combat rather than just running forward, pushing through, and losing almost any battle he encountered. As he had been doing for a while now having to rely on Lan Feng’s aura to finally shoo them away, something which caused Hui Yue’s ego to suffer greatly.

  Thinking about it, Hui Yue grit his teeth as he realised that the bird was right. Although Hui Yue spent a long time cultivating and he had a deep cultivation base, his combat abilities were indeed lacking.

  When it came to a hard battle or a battle where Hui Yue knew he had even the slightest disadvantage, he would use his red mist or Lan Feng’s strength, and none of these were truly his own strength. As he realised this, the young man’s eyes grew determined. He flicked his hand and a black dagger appeared. He was twirling it around playing with it unconsciously while his eyes sharpened and all his focus was paid his surroundings. Finally he noticed movement from the corner of his eye and he slowly turned around to see that in front of him was a small hog-like creature.

  Although this creature was small, it was no less ferocious than the largest beasts Hui Yue had seen before. This hog moved much faster than any other beasts he had ever seen, and its agility was astonishing.

  Its mouth was filled with sharp fangs and two tusks which seemed much sharper than those of bigger magical beasts.

  The hog had long since seen Hui Yue and the white-haired b
oy, in contrast, activated Velocity Flow, knowing that he would need all his speed to compete against this hog.

  Fortunately, he went back to an area where all the beasts were roughly the same strength as himself. The two, man and beast, were looking at one another; neither had an advantage neither had a disadvantage before the first strike was made.

  Knowing this, Hui Yue was not one to wait on the offense, and pushing Velocity Flow to its limits he shot forward so swiftly that he turned blurry to the naked eye. In his hand, the dagger was no longer swirling around but held with a firm grip.

  At first, the hog was clearly taken aback by the speed the human displayed, however, it quickly collected itself and used its own speed to escape to the side. Escaping at the last moment as less than a second after the air where the hog had been was now sliced apart by the sharp edge of the dagger.

  Seeing this, both man and beast were now completely focused on the other, and within moments the only thing visible was two black blurs, one constantly chasing one constantly fleeing.

  Even now after the first exchange of blows he still did not have an advantage. While Hui Yue was busy focusing on the battle, Lan Feng was busy analyzing the situation. Although he usually made fun of the white-haired boy he did not wish for him to be hurt. By looking at the hog, Lan Feng was soon certain that this beast was Duke ranked. He was most likely at the peak level as well.

  Hui Yue had no time to pay attention to his opponent’s actual rank, he was only interested in defeating the beast in front of him. His eyes turned darker and darker by the minute, but there were no signs of the red mist present. Hui Yue decided only to use it should he have absolutely no other option.

  As he narrowly avoided the tusks which were heading his way, Hui Yue struck out with his dagger, but his attack was easily deflected by the miniature hog’s tusks. The two of them continuing to exchange blows, but none could gain an advantage. Although both managed to scratch and superficially injure the other, nothing was serious enough to truly make a difference during the battle. This was no longer a battle of strength, but a battle of stamina and internal energy.

  Hui Yue spent his entire childhood refining Qi of the purest quality and using Qi of such pure quality meant that less was needed to activate his abilities. This allowed for him to use his abilities for a longer time and for him to have more stamina.

  The hog squealed in anger as it noticed that this battle of stamina was being won by the human. The hog gathered all his remaining mist energy, a black mist which appeared around him, and this mist ended up gathering itself on his tusks. These now black tusks shot forward at a speed much swifter than ever before, and the hog used his entire strength on this one attack.

  The sudden acceleration took Hui Yue by surprise, but his body reacted on instinct and he managed to almost avoid it. His side was hit and instantly cut open. A lot of blood was gushing out.

  The hog knew that he was doomed as his final attack had failed. Having used all his energy he could no longer fight back anymore. Hui Yue took the dagger and with a heavy arm slammed the tip into the forehead of the now fully exhausted animal. He then quickly withdrew a few medicinal pills from his stone which he popped into his mouth. After a moment a chilling, tingling sensation spread throughout his body which stopped the blood flow and slowly starting to heal the wound.

  Although medicinal pills were capable of healing wounds they were nowhere as effective as using a healer and the price was much more extravagant. Sadly, though, Hui Yue had no other option than to quickly use them to stop the bleeding before he hoisted up the miniature hog, swung it over his shoulder, and quickly continued to move within the forest escaping the battlefield as soon as possible.

  Moving forward for a few hours, Hui Yue finally stopped. He had carried the hog the whole time. Looking around, Hui Yue noticed that no beasts were nearby so he made a small fire where he roasted the miniature hog. He allowed for himself to enjoy the feast for a whole half hour before he once more stood up. He killed the fire and rushed forwards looking to see if he was able to find other beasts to battle, other beasts to help him improve his strength.

  Moving through the forest, he met one beast after another. Some of them were rather weak while a few were as strong as the hog he had met. Not all of the strong beasts were dealt with easily and the amount of scars on his body grew more and more numerous. The green pearl completely ignoring all his wounds making the young man rely on his medicinal pills.

  Although battle after battle consumed a lot of energy, Hui Yue soon felt the changes within his body and to his way of fighting. His reflexes became much quicker, his body started dodging on its own, and the attacks he dealt no longer had any mercy.

  Hui Yue finally understood what the old proverb meant. When one was merciful to others they were merciless to themselves. He had at one point fought against a young wolf, a wolf not much older than a pup. Hui Yue pitied that it would lose its life this early, especially since he was not hungry and the wolf itself had not attempted to attack him.

  Unfortunately, the wolf later returned with its family and the battle was so intense that although he used up all his power he was only able to kill three of them before he was forced to flee while sustaining multiple wounds. So far this was the most dangerous moment of all within this massive forest.

  Traveling further and further into the forest, the beasts became stronger and stronger. With their strength, many of them also became more intelligent. The more intelligent the beasts became the more it required Hui Yue to improve. Eventually, he was unable to move further because he kept battling early stage King beasts.

  Although beasts did not possess Wu Wei, they had their own kind of mist energy. An energy which evolved and was strengthened the older the beasts became. This mist energy was at least as strong as Wu Wei possessed by humans. No matter what Hui Yue did, he was unable to gain an advantage against the beasts. He decided to flee when he knew he could not win.

  Sitting down with a heavy sigh, Hui Yue’s whole body was covered in sweat as he had just run away from a Black Shadow Hellhound; however, this time he had successfully managed to injure the beast though it was just a slight scratch.

  ‘Maybe I’m just not strong enough,’ Hui Yue contemplated. He looked around and as he saw no animals within range he jumped up into a tree where he sat cross-legged on a thick branch and closed his eyes.

  As his eyes closed he saw before him Wang Ju Long and behind her was Deng Wu. He saw the Rong twins, Sha Yun, Ma kong, Gao Yan, and even Xu Piao. All of them where there, branded into his mind. He was as determined as ever as he started to cultivate. Only the strong had the privilege of determining their own future. Hui Yue wished to return to his friends, but currently, he was far too weak to even protect himself. Returning to his friends? That was something he could only do once he became strong.

  Chapter 4 – To Become Strong

  Seated within the tree, Hui Yue’s breathing slowed down and became so shallow that no one, should they pass right below the tree, would be capable of detecting him. During the time Hui Yue was within Shenyuan’s borders he had come to understand that it was incredibly rare for beasts who were capable of scanning the area with their beast energy to scan up into the trees. They would usually scan the ground and search in those directions while only a few would think to scan the trees above.

  There were multiple reasons for this.. Firstly, the price they paid was a severe amount of their mist energy, and at the same time the forest was split into two main regions; the sea of leaves and the forest floor. Although the two locations never existed without the other, the magical beasts which lived up in the sea of leaves never descended down to the forest floor while those on the ground were incapable of climbing into the sea of leaves.

  The reason that Hui Yue chose the tree tops rather than the floor was due to the beasts who lived here. Although the tree tops had an amazing array of bugs, birds, monkey species, and reptiles the majority of them were not territorial. Those who wer
e would only look after their territory not caring about anything else.

  The majority of these bug beasts were quite weak. Not one of them was stronger than a Practitioner rank which allowed for Hui Yue to easily protect himself. Even if a full swarm arrived they would be nothing to the white-haired boy. It was in many ways as simple as swatting normal flies.

  The snakes proved a bit more troublesome, however, they too were of a relative low rank. The majority of them having the strength of a Master ranked cultivator. Their venom could be dealt with when Hui Yue allowed for his Qi and spiritual energy to enter his body. To go through the Dai Mai meridian and enter into his muscle, blood vessels, and bones eradicating the poison which struck him.

  The most challenging was avoiding the family groups of monkeys. There were so many different types of monkeys and apes. For instance, there was the Mellowed Dawn Ape, an ape which generally would not attack you unless you, in some way, provoked it. Although it’s normal nature was mellow, that was not the case when it started to attack.

  As long as Hui Yue kept his guard up and did not enter the territories belonging to either a strong opponent or a family of monkeys or apes, he knew that he would be fine.