by Tinalynge
While the large bird was flying in the sky, one tree after another was chopped down. The tree trunks landing in the middle of what was becoming a bloody battlefield. Magical beasts and humans were constantly fighting one another. Hui Yue was drifting around the battlefield doing everything in his power to not attract anyone’s attention as his eyes finally landed on a strong looking woman who refused to fight anyone.
Rushing towards her, Hui Yue sprouted a smile on his face as he hoped that this was the woman he had been looking for. As he reached her side he noticed that she was quite a bit stronger than himself, another thing which caused him to be ecstatic.
“Li Meilin?” He asked, his eyes roaming across the battlefield in front of him. The guards were numerous but so were the magical beasts. Golden light and silver light flashed everywhere only to be met by counter attacks from the beasts. Mist energy of any color could be seen near the ground and ripples from each and every attack collided in the air. Small explosions could be heard everywhere.
The woman looked at this young man and was slightly taken aback that he knew her name. Guessing that it had something to do with the beasts she had saved, she decided that right now it would be best to allow for this man to lead her away from the battlefield because she refused to fight either side.
She could not fight her own delegation as she still felt loyalty towards the Siban Empire; however, she understood why these magical beasts were taking revenge. She understood that this place, Shenyuan, was a place belonging to magical beasts, not a place where humans fit in.
“Who are you?” She asked the young man who grabbed her hand and was pulling her with him away from the middle of the battle.
Everywhere they went, the ground was soaked in blood. Small streams of blood ran across the ground as both man and beast died in battle. At this point both sides seemed to be very even, however, Hui Yue knew better.
High in the sky, Wan Qiao was flying while the bald man was cursing after sending one ranged golden attack after another at the bird. He was failing in his attempts to hit her, and a mocking smile could be seen on the One-Horned Jasmine Eagle’s face.
“I’m Hui Yue, pleasure to meet you, now follow me and stay low,” Hui Yue whispered back as he found a small bit of vegetation which had yet to be destroyed and he instantly went towards it. He hoped to use the tall grass as a way to camouflage himself and his new friend.
“Why are you saving me?” She asked. Although it was a dangerous situation, this woman was not too worried about her own safety. Although there were many magical beasts around, the majority of them were Kings, people she could easily deal with. However, to be saved by someone from the side of the magical beasts was something she had not expected. So with quiet curiosity, she followed the young man who was walking with steady steps.
Hearing the question Hui Yue did nothing but look at the woman with a long glance before he shook his head. Showing that he would not answer the question right now, instead, he gestured for her to be silent so that the beasts around them would not hear them.
Hiding in the tall grass, Hui Yue did not, even for a moment, allow his eyes to stop roaming his surroundings. His ears were strained to their utmost and his eyes alert. He was constantly looking for humans and beasts headed their way, and finally what he had feared happened.
The battle slowly shifted from a head on battle where the two opposing sides were like two massive waves colliding into one another and battling for a slight advantage, but after having battled for some time the two waves turned into one on one battles. The battleground had changed now. The humans were at a disadvantage and although they kept battling, they slowly retreated backwards. This caused the battleground to creep closer and closer to Hui Yue’s location.
While Hui Yue was focused solely on the battle happening around him, Li Meilin focused on the young man who had led her to this patch of grass, away from the battle itself.
Looking at the young man, he did not seem to even be twenty years of age. His skin was soft and spotless, his hair long and white like newly fallen snow, and his eyes were as blue as the bluest sky in summer. His face was effeminate, and instead of calling him handsome, beautiful fitted his appearance better.
Strength wise, his aura was that of a Duke, however, there was something about him a mysterious air of strength which made her feel as though she was incapable of truly seeing through him.
“What are you?” She finally whispered while looking at the young man, however, all she got was a complicated smile as the young man turned towards her. He shook his head before he turned back to watching the battles transpiring right in front of him.
It was not that Hui Yue did not wish to answer, but he was not capable of answering. He, himself, was unaware of what he was. He had been born a human, however, these phenomena within his body were also part of his sou,l and so far one of them was a magical beast. At least some of him was a beast while some was human. He also had a soul contract with a divine beast which changed his own soul quite a bit. In general, he was no longer human, nor was he a magical beast. Hui Yue belonged to neither world while at the same time lived in both.
Li Meilin was confused to see the reaction from the young man, but she did not say anything else. She wondered if she should mention to the young man that she did not need his protection because she was an Emperor, and only Captain Song and the One-Horned Jasmine Eagle in the sky were capable of truly threatening her. However, after seeing the serious expression on the young man’s face as he observed their surroundings, she decided to say nothing and just wait patiently for the young man to explain what was going on.
Observing the young man, Li Meilin’s eyes slowly widened in surprise as she saw how his eyes were narrowed on a specific beast. A beast which seemed to be a One-Horned Eagle, the race which the majority of the beasts in this battle seemed to be.
This One-Horned Eagle was not looking for humans to battle, instead, he was looking straight at Hui Yue and Li Meilin. A sinister smile appeared on his lips as he saw them, and with steady steps he made his way towards the two people hiding.
“How annoying,” Hui Yue said with a click of his tongue, and suddenly the white hair and the pale skin sprouted red fur. His blue eyes turned blood red, his hands turned into paws with razor sharp claws, and long fangs protruded from his mouth.
The woman who was previously certain that this young man was a human due to his low rank and human shape, however, after seeing the red wolf which appeared in front of her she suddenly felt that she had misunderstood both his strength and his race.
“You disgusting creature!” The guard yelled out loud the moment he saw Hui Yue. His arms changed to wings and he flew into the air. Having flown high into the sky, he turned downwards and sped towards Hui Yue with a screech. He flew like an arrow speeding towards its target. Seeing this, his red wolf eyes narrowed, but he did not panic nor did he seem to fear the one coming towards him.
Seeing this, Li Meilin curiously stayed within the grass as she observed everything which happened in front of her. She was very curious about this young man who appeared with this beast horde and seemed to try everything he could think of to keep her safe.
18 – Bullying
Watching the bird who was coming for him like an arrow, Hui Yue felt no dread nor fear. He did not wield Black Blood, nor did he call forth a blue or red flame. What he did do was narrow his eyes and keep watch on the bird. He was calculating when it would be just in front of him. As it arrived a few centimeters above his head, the red wolf Hui Yue threw himself to the side forcing the bird to break off his attack, however, as his enemy tried to change directions a huge paw swept outwards. The strength behind the swipe so strong that a swoosh could be heard, and ripples of energy landed on the body of the bird thrashing him causing the bird to tumble far, far away.
Defeating the first beast was no problem for Hui Yue, but his action caused the other guards to notice him. The opponent he had just been up against was one who severely un
derestimated Hui Yue. He expected that his strength as a King could have helped him deal with a simple Duke, however, this Duke was not as simple as he looked. That one swipe was enough to deal with a King ranked expert.
Having defeated this man, the other guards took notice of the large red wolf. Although there were thousands upon thousand of different species of demon beasts, the red wolf whom Hui Yue transformed into was a beast which did not exist on this continent. He was one of a kind and this caused him to stand out like a sore thumb in the middle of the battlefield, multiple humans and beasts all looked towards him with hostility.
Cursing at his situation, Hui Yue steeled himself; however, only one beast ended up rushing towards him. The other beasts, although they hated him, were smart enough to realize that he held an important position in Wan Qiao’s life. He was not someone they as guards had the right to assault.
Although the majority of the guards thought this, there were still some who did not agree, and they, after looking into the sky, looked at Hui Yue with sinister smiles on their faces, hate and jealousy visible in their eyes.
“You dare defile our Queen with your disgusting hands,” The man who rushed towards him yelled out, his eyes were as red as Hui Yue’s, his arms turned to wings, and his legs into talons. These talons were as sharp as the claws on Hui Yue’s paw and his speed was far superior, however, Hui Yue found the perfect place to battle these guards.
The place he took Li Meilin to was filled with vegetation, not only tall grass. Backing up lead them inside the dense forest behind them, a place Wan Qiao had not cleared yet. Having trees in the way caused the bird to be at a disadvantage. His wingspan was so large that he could not spread his wings freely, nor could he use the speed for which the One-Horned Eagles were renowned for.
Li Meilin, who was staying in the grassy areas, had eyes as round as could be as she watched the young man who was fighting the beasts head on. Although he had transformed and had a domineering aura, Li Meilin had never heard of a Duke capable of defeating Kings, yet here, right in front of her very eyes, was such a person.
The first victory had been so crushing that there was no question about this red wolf’s ability. The current battle had yet to reach the first exchange, but even so, the red wolf dragged the eagle into the trees cutting off all advantages he could have had, something which showed that he used his intellect while fighting.
“If you like her that much why don’t you just go confess instead of attacking me?” Hui Yue called back with an irritated voice as he moved from one side to another, constantly avoiding the feathers which were sent his way. They were like arrows, and he shot out multiple feathers at once all of them fortified with mist energy making them as hard as black iron.
Hiding behind trees did no good as they shattered upon impact with the feathered arrows causing Hui Yue to curse at the bird. Knowing that they could shattered trees, who knew how Li Meilin would react if she was touched by one of these arrows. Although she was strong, Hui Yue had not noticed how strong and he focused on the job of protecting her.
Luring away this eagle, Hui Yue understood that he was very different from the other guards he had fought before. Although they had been severe and had beaten him, none of them caused any serious injuries. This man clearly had some other plans than to just beat him slightly and then let him off. This man clearly intended to kill him, something which caused Hui Yue to frown as cold killing intent rose from within.
Although he was currently residing within Wan Qiao’s palace and living under the same rules as these guards, Hui Yue shared no emotional ties with them. The only thing he did share was their dislike of one another.
Although he did not wish to kill the guards, he would definitely not allow them to live when they were being this ruthless towards him. If he allowed him to live it was obvious that the guard would cause trouble for him later on, and this was something which Hui Yue could not allow. He already had enough people who hated him, and he did not wish to use his time on anything other than training. The more he trained the sooner he could compete against the likes of Wan Qiao and Zhong Fai.
Thinking about the handsome man he had met underground, Hui Yue’s eyes turned as frosty as the winter morning, a mix of complicated feelings overwhelmed him. He knew that he could not trust this expert, but he also knew that he was incredibly strong.
He allowed for Hui Yue to flee the Dragon Core, but he clearly did not want him to find a group of people whom he could become attached to. Threatening to kill them was a terrifying warning, something which had made Hui Yue do everything he could to stay away from others.
During the long trip, and even now, what Hui Yue wished for the most was to be reunited with his friends. He was worried whether or not they had arrived safely in the capital and met up with the Rong twins, assisting them within settling down within the Taiyang Kingdom’s capital.
Hui Yue missed all of them for a few seconds but as he thought back the beautiful face of Wang Ju Long appeared in front of him. His heart squeezed slightly as he knew that it would take years before he would be capable of returning to them. He would have grown and so would they, but he hoped that these friends would wait for him, no matter how long he needed.
Thinking about his friends, Hui Yue was caught up in nostalgia, which caused him to lose focus of the fight, The result was a sudden sharp pain in his leg, and as he looked down, a feather as hard as black iron was embedded deep within his leg causing blood to cascade down. This sudden pain instantly made Hui Yue forget all about his nostalgia and instead put his entire focus on the battle he was fighting.
Fighting a flying beast was a pain as Hui Yue was incapable of flying himself. All he could do was stand on the ground and avoid the attacks which rained down upon him. A flame suddenly burst to life within his hand. A flame which was red, but soon changed color to blue.
Seeing the blue flame, both Li Meilin and the eagle up in the sky were taken aback. Blue flames were not a common thing. As a matter of fact the only beasts able to produce blue flames were divine beasts, however, looking at this red wolf he was in no way a divine beast, yet he still produced a flame as blue as the azure scales of the Azure Dragon.
Juggling the flame between the two paws, Hui Yue constantly moved the flame around allowing for smaller and smaller fire orbs to appear in the air around him. These orbs of fire moved differently. Some of them flew about and destroyed one feather arrow after another while others shot towards the flying bird trying to hit him and burn him to ashes. In spite of the amazing speed of the fire orbs, the eagle constantly managed to dodge them just slightly ensuring that he would not be hit by the flame.
The battle had gotten to a desperate point. Hui Yue was wasting time in his transformed shape, but he could not return to his human body as long as the eagle above was aiming feathers at him. The eagle in the sky dared not enter close combat as he could see just how strong and terrifying the wolf on the ground truly was.
Cursing at the bird, Hui Yue could feel that his transformation was running out, but he refused to give up. Instead, he summoned forth all the red mist energy that was roaming within his body. It instantly billowed out from the cave within his lower dantian and rushed through his body.
Pouring the energy into his legs, Hui Yue felt how the strength surged outwards. When he could no longer pour more energy into the legs, he bent his knees as the muscles tensed. Finally, he released it, causing him to shoot into the air like a massive arrow heading for its target.
Although the eagle saw him coming, he was incapable of dodging, instead, he decided to attack the wolf which was delivering himself to his doorstep. A smirk appeared on the face of the eagle, however, this quickly froze as he saw a long arm with a dangerous claw reach out towards him. The strong hand reached the eagle and with a squeeze of his paw, his neck snapped. A disbelieving look was in the eyes as they grew dim. The fight ended so suddenly. The fight which had been so desperate had a simple ending, but for Hui Yue, this was truly troub
lesome.
Dealing with this eagle, Hui Yue used up all the energy he had saved up. He would need at least a couple of hours to restore his energy. Falling to the ground, Hui Yue made his way directly to the tall grass where Li Meilin was awaiting him. As he entered he sat down with crossed legs before he started to cultivate, sparing only one glance to Li Meilin.
Li Meilin knew that Hui Yue could see that she was far stronger than him, which was why he let himself cultivate.
Sitting down, his entire focus turned to refining the essence of the heavens and the earth; however, the woman by his side was staring agape at the battle which was occurring in the skies above.
Li Meilin had always learned that the Saints of the Siban Empire were at the pinnacle of cultivation, and one of these geniuses was Captain Song; however, looking at the battle in the sky, Wan Qiao was fighting the captain, but there was not much fight going on. If anything, Wan Qiao was bullying the other Saint in front of her, something which said a lot about what true strength was.
