Drums of War

by Tinalynge

  “Heavens signify night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.” These were indeed things he needed to take into consideration. Things which he could not determine until he talked with the other lords.

  “Earth is the distances, great and small; danger and security: open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.”

  “The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage, and strictness.”

  “Methods and discipline are to be understood as the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.”

  Remembering all five main parts, Hui Yue recalled the majority of the first chapter out of thirteen, and he heaved a heavy sigh of relief as the final letter was written onto the paper in front of him. If the many Lords of the Forest truly wished to wage war against the humans, then Hui Yue would stress the importance of ensuring that they followed the right preparations.

  He knew that the lords had no way of knowing about the Art of War, just as he knew Wan Qiao was unaware of how to wage war.

  What all this meant was that he needed to see which one of the monarchs were the most renowned? Which countries had benefits from the heavens and earth? Which side had the most rigorous discipline. Which army was the strongest? Which side had the best-trained officers?

  While looking over these points, it should be possible for him to determine which side would be victorious; however, there was one last thing that he could not factor into his considerations, and that was An He. He was an unpredictable factor that would make all his planning useless when determining who would be the victor.

  Sighing deeply, Hui Yue felt uncomfortable. It was as though this massive figure, An He was constantly looming above. To be honest, Hui Yue did not feel as though he truly needed to be using the Art of War as his side had many Saints and a whole army of beasts. Beasts were known to be stronger than humans of the same rank, and all the guards were King ranked or above. This army was an army any country on the continent would fear, and would dread having to face.

  Suddenly a loud cheer could be heard outside, and Hui Yue stood up, curious about what it was. He left the room and walked until he reached the castle entrance were a group of guards were standing. All of whom bowed towards a small man who was small and fat. This man was at most a meter and a half; his waist was almost as much as his height. His face had a small white beard, and he was bald. This man at first made Hui Yue stare with an open mouth because of his odd appearance; however, he soon understood that this man was not to be underestimated.

  Around this man were multiple guards. Some of these guards were the ones Hui Yue was used to seeing. These were guards belonging to Wan Qiao and the capital while other guards were dressed in blue suits. All of them were quiet and stood respectfully behind the small bald man.

  Energy ripples left the elderly man with each move he made, and his body was filled with strength. Looking at this man, Hui Yue finally understood that he had seen the very first Lord of the Forest apart from Lan Feng. This man seemed to really enjoy food, but his eyes were filled with intelligence. The man lifted his head and gazed straight at Hui Yue as he ignored the guards around him, both the ones which belonged to the capital and the ones belonging to himself.

  “You there,” He said, his clear and commanding voice rang throughout the castle courtyard, and his eyes were locked on Hui Yue.

  “I have never seen you around here. Is it you who made Wan Qiao summon us all? What is going on. Don’t tell me you have been giving her ideas about this so called war.” He continued, his face was slightly sour, and his voice filled with strength. Being on the opposing side of this man, Hui Yue felt strong pulsating energies crashing towards him which were clearly not friendly.

  Had Hui Yue been alone, then he would have been crushed under the pressure from this man; however, he was not alone and as soon as the strong man appeared he and Lan Feng switched. The two men were now two Saint ranked experts facing off against one another, small explosions could be heard as their auras collided in mid-air.

  “You are not bad, kid,” The bald man finally said as he retracted his aura. As soon as he did Lan Feng handed control of the body back to Hui Yue. The moment the two switched an eyebrow rose on the face of the bald man, a knowing smirk appeared on his lips.

  “So young’un, why don’t you take me to see that beauty, Wan Qiao?” He asked, suddenly friendly towards the young man. His face sprouting a large smile and his attitude completely changed. Seeing the difference, Hui Yue was somewhat unnerved, but he still nodded politely and bowed deeply towards the man. “This way please,” He said politely and led the small man towards the private chambers of Wan Qiao.

  Hui Yue knew that the woman liked to spend her time in her private chambers rather than at the office, due to this Hui Yue led the man straight to her chambers, wondering whether or not this was a good thing. However, he was not in the mood to fight against a Saint he did not know. All the drama could be dealt with by Wan Qiao. It was her idea which caused all of these Saints to make their way to her city.

  Arriving at the door, Hui Yue knocked gently and soon after a voice called out, “Enter,” it said, clearly preoccupied, something which made Hui Yue curious.

  As he opened the door, he waited for the expert to enter in first. He then followed behind, only to see that Wan Qiao was reading some papers which seemed incredibly familiar. Staring agape, he soon found that the papers she was reading were the documents he had finished moments before he heard the sound of the guards in the courtyard.

  As for how they had managed to enter Wan Qiao’s private room, Hui Yue had no idea. He could not help but feel astonished by seeing his documents there, and at the same time, a shiver ran through his body. Was Wan Qiao keeping him under surveillance?

  Wan Qiao looked at him with a beaming smile, seemingly not finding it odd that she had his work within her hands, instead, she waved them. The smile on her face was growing larger.

  “Hui Yue this is amazing!” She said, her face filled with a smile and her eyes looking at him as though he was a genius. “Who would have know that you were such a specialist when it came to warfare. And you even say that there are thirteen chapters. This Master Sun is very skilled! How come I never heard about it before?” Wan Qiao was filled with excitement, and her demeanor towards Hui Yue changed tremendously as though she no longer looked at him as a subject but instead an equal.

  Hui Yue was not certain that he enjoyed this newfound position because he soon realized that Wan Qiao was nothing like what he expected. She was actually not a steady and elegant woman who had matured over the years she lived, but her mind was really that of a youngster who enjoyed life. Although she had gained much intelligence throughout the years and was a master of cultivation, her way of thinking was very simple and often based on her sudden ideas.

  It was not before now that Hui Yue truly understood this whole idea of a war was likely just something she had dreamt about for a long time, but knowing her ability to plan and prepare, it had stayed a dream. Speaking with Hui Yue, she found out that this young man had exactly what she was missing. Hearing what she said, Hui Yue started to wonder just exactly how the rest of the Shenyuan lords looked upon this woman.

  From the few sentences they shared, Hui Yue understood that Wan Qiao, since long ago, had ideas which did not fit with the other lords, but now Hui Yue unknowingly made it easier for her to act out the ideas she had thought of for who knew how long.

  Realizing this, Hui Yue bowed towards the two lords in front of him and excused himself while he rushed away from the room. He headed back to his room where he needed to consider what to do.

  Just as he left the room, a thunderous crash could be heard followed by a thudding sound which made Hui Yue wince in pain, remembered the slap he had gotten the first time he visited Wan Qiao. It seemed as though he was not t
he only one who was greeted by a slap from the Queen of Shenyuan. Just like Hui Yue, it seemed that the bald expert was too slow to avoid it and was sent flying by a slap he only too clearly remembered. As for what this bald expert said to reward him the welcoming slap, Hui Yue was unsure, and he did not stay to find out. He instantly started to walk away with larger strides, heading towards his room where he wished to stay until the entire group of experts had arrived. His job was to enter the council and explain the Art of War that he had given Wan Qiao. Hopefully, things would become much more manageable after the lords were present.

  Chapter 28 – The Lord’s Arrives

  As Hui Yue planned, he stayed in his room and focused solely on refining the essence of the heavens and the earth when he heard one group of guards after another returning to the castle. Loud cheers resounded from the courtyard, and he soon heard rapid movements outside the door as guards were being given rooms where they could stay. So many guards arrived that there was constant chatter, and sounds from outside could be heard even though Hui Yue never opened his door.

  While he was hiding in his room, he managed to refine a decent amount of spiritual energy, and his mood improved. Although he understood that he was now a part of something larger, his goal was still to reach the rank of a King so that he could leave Shenyuan and return to his friends. But another reason why Hui Yue focused on refining the way he did was mainly because of An He.

  Knowing that his goal had been standing at the pinnacle of power four thousand years ago, it was evident that he had not grown weaker during these past millennia, and even worse, the man had seemingly vanished from the surface of the world. He no longer seemed to care about how the world changed, something which proved that he was likely to have either left the plane or that he enjoyed watching the small humans struggle in their everyday lives.

  Hui Yue paused his physical training while the majority of foreign guards had arrived. Looking out the window in his room, he could see the training grounds and every day it was full of guards sporting all kinds of uniforms. They were constantly battling amongst each other, competing to see which guards were the strongest.

  All of these guards were King ranked or above, and for Hui Yue to battle them would be risky as although he could defeat King ranked experts, he had no connection with these new guards and it was hard to say if they would be lenient, should they be stronger than Hui Yue. Although he wished to improve his battle prowess, he was not interested if he would end up wounded for an unknown amount of time. The battles down at the training ground were looking quite ruthless as though they were battling for which prefectures were the strongest.

  Sighing deeply, Hui Yue realized that this was the first time he had not followed the training schedule made for him by Wan Qiao. He decided to use this opportunity to examine exactly what effect it had on his body.

  Hui Yue had long since managed to defeat Kings. His strength, whenever he was in his human-beast form, far exceeded the power he had in his human form. His strength and mist-energy were comparable to a King ranked magical beast, an increase in his strength by a full rank!

  Whenever Hui Yue was in his human form, he was able to defeat early King ranked experts as long as they were not incredibly strong individuals. His spiritual energy was extremely pure. It was pure because it was refined from the pearl white Qi that Hui Yue refined back when he was younger. Although spiritual energy was weaker than Wu Wei, the strength of an early King and him was not too wide a gap; this gap was something he could overcome with just his physical strength.

  Training his body was what caused the biggest difference for Hui Yue. Although he had not become bulky, he did manage to increase his strength tenfold what it was before. His muscles were lean and vigorous. Pride was evident in Hui Yue’s eyes as he examined his body, and he noticed the difference in his body, strength flowed underneath his skin. His face sprouted a smile after a little while.

  Just as Hui Yue was about to examine his internal strength knocking could be heard on his door. The young man opened his eyes as he went towards the door. He expected that it would not take long before he was called for; however, only three days had passed, for all the lords to travel across Shenyuan at such a fast speed, Hui Yue was astonished. As he walked through the castle, he saw guards everywhere. It was as though the castle had turned into a place for the army to gather.

  Seeing that so many experts managed to arrive at the capital as quickly as they had, Hui Yue was taken aback. It had only been three days since the delegations had left to request a meeting of the Lords of the Forest and here they were. The entire upper class of Shenyuan was gathered within a small castle which was full of cultivators.

  The ones who had come to pick up Hui Yue were two of Wan Qiao’s guards, two One-Horned Eagles, and neither of them looked thrilled with the task they were given.

  When Hui Yue first arrived at the castle everyone mistook him for a Saint ranked experts, but as he started fighting one guard after another, this misconception had been cleared up. The young man seemed to be disliked by many of Wan Qiao’s guards. It was clear that he was inferior to a lot of them; however, he was still given an increasing amount of attention from Wan Qiao, someone they all worshiped.

  Hui Yue, having noticed did not bother with the guards, and instead focused solely on training and increasing his cultivation levels.

  Seeing that Hui Yue was not lead towards Wan Qiao’s private chambers, he was slightly taken aback. He expected the women would want to speak with him before he was to participate in a conference containing all the high ranked experts of Shenyuan, and with his brows furrowed he ask the guards, “Where are you taking me?”

  Glancing back at Hui Yue, neither of the guards answered; instead, they kept walking. Eventually, Hui Yue stopped and crossed his arm over his chest. He looked at the two guards with a sour expression on his face, “I am not going to walk one more step until you tell me where you are taking me. For all I know you’re going to leave me in some washed up dungeon where I will never be able to get out.”

  Although his words were impolite, the white-haired young man did not care at all after having seen the glares the two guards sent his way earlier.

  Whispering together, a collective sigh could be heard from the two guards before one of them opened his mouth, “The Lady has told us to come and fetch you. She ordered us to do it herself so just follow us and don’t ask questions.”

  “That’s not going to work,” Hui Yue said straight away. “Every time I have been summoned by Wan Qiao I was sent to her private chambers. This is clearly not the way to her private chambers so I would like to know where exactly you are taking me.”

  The more Hui Yue spoke, the sourer the two guards faces became; however, neither of them dared to be too discourteous towards him. If he were to complain to Wan Qiao, it was apparent that they would be in for a disaster.

  “The Lady is not in her private rooms; instead, she is at the library. I imagine Lord Pan is with her,” One of the guards finally sighed, “Now you know where we are going. Please follow and don’t ask any more questions. This is not a meeting for just anyone.

  Hearing that he was to enter the library and that there was one of the lords present, Hui Yue grew curious. At first, he wished to ask where this library was, but after considering it for a few moments, he turned silent. It was better not to push his luck too far. Also, he did not doubt that these guards were taking him to Wan Qiao. They all worshiped her, and an order from her was impossible not to be followed to the letter by these guards.

  What Hui Yue did find curious was whom this Lord Pan was. He was most likely a Lord of the Forest, but so far, Hui Yue had only seen the small, round man who had been slapped silly, much like he had been months prior. In a way he hoped that it was this man, he already felt some sort of kinship with the person, kinship from having suffered the same fate.

  It did not take long before they all reached a massive wooden door made from heavywood. Much like the doors leading t
o Wan Qiao’s private rooms, this one had the Vermilion bird carved in the center with the sun and moon portrayed on the sides. The same artisan craftsman most likely made the carving as the other door.

  Standing outside this door, Hui Yue was greatly taken aback, and his mouth was agape while he stared at the bird which almost seemed to move in the light that was shining on the door.

  While Hui Yue was busy admiring the carving one of the men cleared his throat a few times before he knocked on the heavy door and with a loud voice said, “Lady Wan Qiao, this humble servant has brought Lord Hui Yue. Please allow entry for this lowly one.”

  The voice drew Hui Yue’s attention from the door to the guard in front of him. This man was a late King ranked expert. He was unmistakably someone who could not be looked down upon.

  His strength was definitely stronger than Hui Yue unless the white-haired young man was to transfer into a wolf-man.

  “Enter.” The voice was as melodious as ever, as graceful as if it had been accompanied by thousands of flowers and butterflies. The voice made one feel warm inside as the gentle voice fluttered by one’s ear. To Hui Yue, this was obviously a scam.