Drums of War

by Tinalynge

  There were images from when he was a pup, born in a litter inside a rocky surrounding. His mother was looking after them and teaching him and his brothers how to hunt.

  Years went by, and the pups grew up, their bodies absorbed more and more essence of the heavens and the earth. They became stronger and more dangerous. The littler became fewer and fewer as other beasts hunted them down. Even the wolf, Hui Yue, had previously experienced human attacks. Some he survived based on luck, but as time went by he became stronger and stronger, and he became capable of protecting himself.

  Time flashed by in front of Hui Yue’s eyes, and he saw how the red wolf found a mate and got babies of its own. He fought to protect his bloodline as the wolf was steadily becoming stronger and stronger. Eventually, he had reached the pinnacle of strength become a God!

  This beast who had fought every day of his life suddenly was at a standstill. He was no longer able to find anyone who could match him. As time went by it took its toll on his children and mate. All of whom died of old age while he just sat there missing the days where he experienced life-threatening battles. The days when he would return home to the cave where his mate and children waited for him to bring back food.

  Experiencing these memories, Hui Yue was unaware of how many years flew by. It felt like eons, but although it felt uncountable, it passed by in moments. Finally, another God appeared. A God who challenged the red wolf, and the two battled. They fought day in and day out, allowing for the wolf to once more feeling alive.

  As the memories flooded into Hui Yue, the red wolf in the dantian cave became more and more transparent. A smile appeared on the wolfy face, and mixed emotions could be seen in its eyes. Emotions brought forth by the memories flashing through Hui Yue’s two eyes.

  Suddenly the red wolf vanished. The only thing left was the red mist and the beast core within the dantian cave, yet unlike before it no longer felt filled with life. It no longer had its own opinions and life. No, now it felt as though Hui Yue had an extra dantian; a dantian which belonged entirely to him. He had full control over this energy now. He had become the red wolf. He had always been the red wolf; however, he had never noticed the memories which were what made it possible for the two to merge.

  His eyes had been closed for many hours as went through the memories and later experiencing the changes to his body, but finally, he opened his eyes only to see that Wan Qiao was looking at him with curious eyes.

  “You smell like a beast now,” She pointed out. ”You don’t have Lan Feng’s aura any longer; you have your own. Something happened right?”

  Hearing the question, Hui Yue smiled slyly as he activated his beast transformation. Things had changed. He was now the red wolf as well as the white-haired boy. It also meant that he was strong enough to stay in his beast form for as long as he wished to. It no longer required him to use mist energy to keep shape, but he was still limited when it came to attacks.

  Hui Yue did not form a dual personality, but he had still changed after having merged with the wolf’s memories. His personality was now far more sure of himself and his ability to become a God. He had already traveled down this path, and for him to do so again would not be as hard as it had been before; however, it did require him to work increasingly harder.

  He and the wolf had always been the same person, however, Hui Yue had never been able to guess this, as he had not understood that the memories were what made up the wolf inside him.

  Understanding that these phenomena were truly memories of old lives, Hui Yue no longer feared using the other phenomena. He felt that having all the memories was something which would make him feel complete, and he looked at Wan Qiao with begging eyes.

  “I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. I need to go home and cultivate right now,” He said, and before waiting for an answer he stood up and rushed back home to his room. He proceeded to sit down on the bed and released the blue cloud from within his dantian cave. The white mist once more enveloped the entire room before it turned into a night sky with thousands of stars that once more went into his forehead where they vanished, one star after another.

  Hui Yue could feel that something unusual was happening. His head hurt, and it felt as though someone was splitting it with an axe. Despite the pain he held strong as he knew this was a strength, he would need later. Although he was in pain, he continued to focus on refining Qi, which he could then further refine into spiritual energy. He could not wait to open his upper dantian. Only then would he become a King and finally rank as part of the high ranked cultivators.

  The reason that cultivating finally started to hurt was due to the dense amount of energy which had entered his body throughout the last few weeks. Every time he cultivated the blue cloud acted on its own and forced the sky to appear. From the cloud came the stars and these stars were constantly pouring into Hui Yue’s head. They filled up Hui Yue with an energy was he was incapable of locating.

  Gritting his teeth, Hui Yue focus solely on his lower dantian as he continued to force his body to ignore the pain and cultivate. He wanted the blue cloud to solidify into memories as soon as possible, however, the only thing he gained was an immense headache. Forcing the cloud into solidification seemed to be far harder than what he expected.

  Although this took all his attention and the pain of someone knocking his head with a hammer did not go away, he soon found that he had spent the whole night cultivating. With a groan of pain, he slowly stopped only to feel something enveloping him. A warm blanket as black as the moonless midnight sky wrapped around him, and his tiredness and pain slowly vanished as this blanket seemed to seep into his skin.

  Following the blanket, Hui Yue was shocked to see how it slowly changed from being a massive black blanket into a blue cloud which then found its place within its cave in his lover dantian.

  Hui Yue had intentionally used the blue cloud to assist himself as he wished for it to change into memories, but nothing like that had happened. Instead, the young man understood that it was doing something to his body. Something which he had no idea about.

  Sighing deeply, Hui Yue decided not to think more about it right now. Instead, he stood up and went to Wan Qiao’s chambers. Although he should have followed his training schedule he wished to inform Wan Qiao first about what had happened. He had a feeling that his training schedule would be changed either way as he now had full control over his wolf form. Hui Yue was no longer just a human relying on Lan Feng for strength. He was now as strong as King ranked experts whenever he took the shape of the wolf. Although he could still not match Emperors, he was capable of fighting any King ranked experts and expect victory.

  With a smile on his face, the young man moved towards Wan Qiao’s chambers. As he entered the woman was taken aback by the large smile on his face.

  “Tell me what happened,” She said curiously as she remembered how the young man had left the night before after suddenly having the scent of a magical beast. Having the scent of a magical beast with a mysterious level of strength.

  “He was me,” Hui Yue said with a smile. His words did not make much sense to the woman, who was he?

  “The wolf was me,” He explained. “The wolf was my memories of a past life. Now we are one, he and I, are the same person. I am the red wolf!”

  This was something which both Hui Yue and Wan Qiao had both known for a long time, however although they knew it, what Hui Yue said now came as a shock to Wan Qiao. She suddenly felt that she had been dumb. Of course, they were the same. How could there be two souls?

  A smile appeared on Wan Qiao’s lips as she understood what it was Hui Yue was saying. “You need a new schedule for training!” She said with her excited smile on her face.

  Chapter 23 – Li Meilin

  Hui Yue could not help but let go of a wry smile as he saw the happiness within Wan Qiao’s eyes. She hurried towards a desk where she found some paper and a pen and rapidly started to write a new training plan for Hui Yue. Seeing the sinister grin on Wan Qiao’s face
, he could not help but sigh deeply and almost kick himself for having told her the truth; however, he knew that her training, albeit slightly similar to torture, was very successful. This was also the reason why the young man following the training to the letter.

  Hui Yue waited patiently for the training schedule to be completed, and when he accepted the document, his eyes went wide when he saw the amount of training she assigned. Not to mention throughout the entire time he was to carry heavy weights on his body.

  There was one positive thing about the training, and that was she expected him to train while being in his wolf form. He would not be a full human, but neither was he a full beast. He looked like many of the other beast-men within the city, and he was filled with excitement as he rushed to the training grounds where he donned the weights. With a howl, he transformed into a half-beast, half-man. Unlike before he felt so familiar. It was as natural as brushing his hair or changing his clothes. Being in the half-man half-wolf form, Hui Yue felt an immense increase in his strength. He felt his muscles swell, and his legs fill with explosive power.

  His training started with running, and Hui Yue was deeply astonished by the power within his body. Although he did not start at a mad rush, his speed had already far exceeded the speed he had been able to run at before. His body was now much stronger, and he finally understood why Wan Qiao had increased his training as much as she did.

  While following this training schedule, Hui Yue paid no attention to anything which happened around him; instead, he focused solely on following the orders written down by Wan Qiao.

  While he was running, a woman appeared at the edge of the training grounds. Had Hui Yue looked at her, then he would instantly recognize her as Li Meilin. The woman whom he had been tasked with keeping safe. The woman who had been flown back to the capital by Wan Qiao personally.

  Li Meilin lived a carefree life the previous week while waiting for Hui Yue to return to the capital. She had been given a room, and she would be brought food multiple times a day. She was not locked up anywhere, instead she was permitted to roam around as she wished. By doing so, she had managed to gain various amount of information which she felt she needed to bring back with her to the Siban Empire. Unfortunately, she was unaware of how or when she could escape.

  She saw Hui Yue exit the rooms of Wan Qiao and followed him to the training ground where she saw him transform into a beast and run around the ground for an excessive amount of time. He then followed the running with training his body and his muscles individually. Seeing him work this hard, Li Meilin was astonished, but what got her even more shocked was the amount of time he stayed in his beast form. She had previously understood it as though he could not keep this form for more than a specific amount of time, but now hours had passed. Hours where he trained himself hard, but he was still the same red wolf-man he had been before.

  Contemplating, Li Meilin started to wonder whether or not she was truly mistaken about him being a human and not a magical beast. As she looked at the young man she was more and more certain that he was indeed a beast, but she had no other option than to try and approach him. Try and gain some information about this place and about how it was possible to leave.

  It took a couple of hours more before Hui Yue, tired to the core, transformed back to his human form, and with a weariness on his face, he left the training grounds only to be intercepted by Li Meilin.

  “Hui Yue!” She called out loudly. Her voice cut through the crisp evening air, and her hair was disheveled as she rushed towards the young man.

  Seeing the woman, Hui Yue frowned slightly. The reason he kept her safe, or at least tried, was because of Wan Qiao giving him the order to do so. Personally, he felt nothing towards the woman. She was but another person around him, someone whom he did not need to worry himself with. His way of thinking was simple.

  Within Shenyuan, Hui Yue understood that the Frozen General had no power, but he also knew that the Frozen General could easily kill his friends back in the capital of Shenyuan.

  The last warning he was given still rang throughout Hui Yue’s mind. If he made friends with someone, then they would die. If it was impossible to get hold of the ones he wanted to kill, who was to say whether or not he would take it out on some of his other friends. Due to this, Hui Yue dared not befriend anyone. He treated everyone with the same kind of respect he was shown, but it was impossible for strangers to become close to him. The only one who could be considered a friend was Wan Qiao and their relationship was definitely not as friends.

  Seeing Li Meilin moving towards him, Hui Yue was at a loss for what to do. On his face a welcoming smile was shown, “Miss Li,” He said with a slight bow. “I apologize for my appearance, but I just finished my daily training routine,” He continued. He knew she was perfectly well aware of this; however, he lost nothing from being polite.

  Nodding the woman showed that she knew, and after a short while neither of them said anything as they walked together down the road towards the main palace. Hui Yue was not thinking about anything else other than a warm bath to soothe his sore muscles, and then a night filled with cultivation. His brows furrowed as he thought about cultivation as he knew he was going to be using the blue cloud. He also remembered the pain it brought with him.

  Li Meilin misunderstood the furrowed brow as a sign of impatience, and she rushed to build her courage before she heavily exhaled.

  “Young man, are you a human or are you a beast?” She asked him, completely uncertain whether or not he would even answer her. Unlike last time she met him he now seemed very distant and not approachable at all.

  “I’m neither,” Was the only answer Hui Yue gave her before he nodded a goodbye and turned right, leaving the stunned woman behind. Li Meilin’s eyes were slightly narrowed, and an unsightly expression adorned her face. She was feeling very sour as she bit her lip while in deep thought. It was apparent that Hui Yue had no intention of conversing with her, but she was used to being rejected. In her job as Senior Observer, she was used to dealing with tasks where the involved parties refused to speak with each other and often let their anger hit the messenger. If one rejection from Hui Yue was enough to keep her from attempting again, then her name was not Li Meilin.

  Looking at the departing Hui Yue, a grim smile appeared on her face, and she turned the other way. Her eyes were sharp as she returned to her room ready to try again the next day.

  After having parted from Li Meilin, Hui Yue spend no more time thinking about her, instead he focused solely on his body. The entire day he had been awestruck by the strength he had in his body. Becoming a wolf-man was simply astonishing. Even overcoming his limits was less difficult than it had been before. He was thrilled with the increased speed in his training.

  Out of curiosity, Hui Yue had also used his full wolf body; however it was such a significant change for him that he was incapable of truly controlling it yet. The wolf-man form had far more strength and was easier to control.

  Returning to his room after a very good bath, Hui Yue went straight to his bed where he sat down and with a groan released the blue cloud within his lower dantian. As soon as he did, he fell into the trancelike meditation. As his mind was fully focused on cultivating, refining the essence of the heavens and the earth, the white mist once more rolled from his body. It created a night sky with stars that were absorbed through the forehead of the young man.

  The pain was immense, but Hui Yue prevailed. He was not dumb, and although he was incapable of controlling this golden energy right now, even incapable of even finding the energy which caused him such pain, he was aware that the golden energy was Wu Wei. The reason he could not find it was because it was most likely stored within his upper dantian; the dantian he had yet to open.

  This was all just theory, but Lan Feng had seemed to have the same thoughts Hui Yue had. Seeing the young man turn into an actual magical beast, the phoenix inside his body was quite excited.

  Lan Feng usually held a low profile inside Shenyuan
. Although this was his homeland he had been shocked upon hearing that Wan Qiao was known as the highest existence here. He had not been too shocked about her strength, but the fact that she was still alive was something that shocked him greatly. The relationship between the both of them was rather tense and due to this, Lan Feng had not tried to teach Hui Yue anything for as long as he was following Wan Qiao’s training methods.

  Even though Lan Feng disliked Wan Qiao, he approved of her training schedule. He had used it before when she was his nanny, but now Hui Yue needed the best training so that they had a chance against him. Lan Feng ignored the dislike he felt for Wan Qiao, and he too was excited as he felt the young man gain strength day by day.

  As morning broke, Hui Yue had once more gone through a night of excruciating pain, however his eyes were determined. Although it was painful, if it managed to make him stronger then he would walk through hell. For him to gain strength, for him to become an expert who could stand at the pinnacle, Hui Yue felt that he would do anything necessary.