Drums of War

by Tinalynge

  The woman they all adored was not as gracious as she appeared. She was not as composed and all knowing as they all seemed to expect. Instead, she was a strong woman who had strong ideas, but she was very well aware that although she had the ideas, she was too simpleminded to get things done in a safe way. Thinking this, Hui Yue’s emotions towards the woman were becoming increasingly confusing. He was very grateful for all the help she had given him. Her training had proven to be the most efficient training he had ever undergone. However, her dreams and her wishes for the future, not only for her but for Shenyuan were so grand and farfetched. She clearly lacked the military knowledge to see it through, and all this made Hui Yue think twice about the situation.

  Thinking about this, the heavywood door was opened right in front of him, and with a nod towards the two guards, Hui Yue stepped inside.

  Inside Hui Yue was taken aback. This was the largest library he had ever seen. It was even bigger than the one at the academy in Riluo City. Bookshelf after bookshelf was placed around in circles, and in the middle, Wan Qiao was seated, next to her was a tall, lean man, a man whose nose resembled a beak. His eyes were sharp and his eyebrows long. His chin was sprouting a long white beard, and his body was draped with a beautiful white silken robe.

  Looking at Hui Yue the white-robed elder’s eyes rose in surprise as he looked at Wan Qiao. “Is this youngster the one who wrote the astonishing work you showed me previously?” He asked, his voice filled with disbelief and his eyes almost popped out from his head.

  While this man was filled with disbelief, Wan Qiao’s eyes had a gleam of entertainment hidden within, but on the outside her face looked solemn and her voice was steady. She nodded her head and answered the man, “Yes, this man is indeed the one who wrote down this thing called the Art of War.”

  Chapter 29 – Lord Pan

  “Indeed his age is astonishingly quite young,” Wan Qiao started saying as she poured herself a cup of tea with a casual expression on her face. “He might seem young, but he is already capable of dealing with King ranked experts. His beastly transformation is very different from ours, and it increases his strength significantly. No only that, he is also capable of coming up with tactics which is what we beasts are lacking. For us, even if we wish to be as smart as humans, we lacking the ability to scheme and develop complex tactics. We are beasts. We are too simpleminded; however, this young man might even be able to save us if An He appears!”

  Hearing the words Wan Qiao said Hui Yue wished to stop her. There was no way his tactics could stand against a man with absolute strength such as An He.

  Seeing Hui Yue opening his mouth, ready to counter her, Wan Qiao made a beckoning gesture, and then the young man found himself flying through the air before he landed neatly right in front of Lord Pan and Lady Wan Qiao.

  “Come come, sit down.” Wan Qiao said with great interest in her voice. “When I saw this masterpiece you wrote I was completely taken aback!” She started, her voice filled with excitement, the stoic impression people had of this woman was long since gone.

  “So tell us Hui Yue who is this Master Sun? We have never heard about him before, but if he truly made such an astonishing book called The Art of War then how come we have never heard about him before?” Wan Qiao asked, her eyes filled with expectation, and her body language showed just how curious she really was. She was seated at the edge of her chair, her hands were gripped together, and her legs were constantly moving up and down a sign of her impatience.

  Hui Yue was quiet for a long time before he heaved a heavy sigh while contemplating how exactly to explain his knowledge about Master Sun. Thinking for a few moments, the young man finally came up with an idea.

  “When I was young I lived in a very poor village on the outskirts of a magical forest filled with magical beasts. We rarely had visitors as no one was capable of finding our small village, yet one day when I was six or seven years old, a man appeared before me.” Hui Yue started, his tone of voice was mysterious sounding as if he was telling a fairytale, and surprisingly he found that both Lord Pan and Lady Wan Qiao were staring at him with open eyes. Their breathing was slightly perturbed, and they both seemed to swallow every word he said with keen interest.

  “This man claimed that he was not from this continent, and when I asked him whether or not there were other continents the elderly man just laughed at me. He told me that the world was far greater than I would ever know. That anything I could think of would exist within this universe, and that although this world was small, other worlds were as vast as the endless heavens. The man laughed at me when I asked about a small continent when the worlds were never ending.”

  Hui Yue held his breath for a moment to allow for these two Saints in front of him to truly understand what he was hinting at, that this man was someone who knew about the many worlds that existed. That there was not just one world, one continent, and that this place, the world of the Four Divine Beasts, was nothing more than a speck of land amongst the endless planes.

  “This man’s name was Master Sun,” Hui Yue said after a pause. His voice trembled slightly as though he remembered someone great, “And he stayed with me for a few days where he told me about what he learned through his many travels from one world to another. He was indeed an overshadowing figure, and the strongest man I have ever met.”

  Hui Yue’s face was flushed. He seemed as though he remembered one of his greatest memories as his eyes were shining and he was looking into the air as though his eyes were vacant, seemingly remembering exactly what happened back then. The break was long, and he said nothing, eventually the tension was too much for Lord Pan as he whispered with a quivering voice, “What happened then?”

  As though, Hui Yue had been pulled from a trance he looked at the man in front of him, and a sad expression passed over his face as he shook his head with a sigh, “That was it. One day he no longer came to visit and tell me about the things he had learned. One day it all ended, and he no longer appeared. I guess he went to visit one of those many vast places he told me of, but truthfully I do not know. He might even be hiding somewhere on this continent.”

  Hui Yue ended his speech, and his face looked genuinely sorry as though he truly missed someone. He was proud of his act as he knew he could never tell these men that he had been reborn from another world. If they knew, they would likely bring trouble to Hui Yue and Lan Feng.

  ‘Nice story,’ An amused voice said in the back of Hui Yue’s mind, and the white-haired boy almost grimaced when he heard the irony from within the voice. Lan Feng had done much to pretend that he was not present whenever they were close to Wan Qiao; however, this one time even he was astonished by the acting skills and was unable to not comment.

  ‘What do you think will happen?’ Hui Yue tentatively asked the friend of his who was sitting comfortably within his dantian cave.

  ‘Well, Wan Qiao always gets what she wants. I don’t think you should try fighting her idea of a war, but if you can make it safe so that the magical beasts gets more ground, then I would prefer that. Just do everything in your power to fight the countries where we know no one from. I would personally suggest the Siban Empire.’

  ‘We know Li Meilin from Siban,’ Hui Yue pointed out with a wry smile on his face causing the blue phoenix to snort in contempt. ‘They have sent delegations which seemingly are here for the sake of communicating with us, but what they do is enslaving our citizens. They think that because they have power they can do anything they wish, I do not like them.’

  ‘Looking at the locations, we have to either go for the Siban Empire or the Taiyang Kingdom.’ Lan Feng continued. ‘Although we don’t know many in the Taiyang Kingdom you still have your family there alongside the families of your friends. Going to war against Taiyang will become messy, so for them use your ability to go against Siban. Yes, we will be fighting innocent humans, but they started by trying to enslave innocent beasts.’

  Lan Feng was very clear about this and Hui Yue could only agree
. Although he was against seeing innocent humans dying, he had to chose between one country or another. Wan Qiao was already convinced that she wanted a war, now all Hui Yue could do was try to plan this war so that the least amount of casualties appeared from both sides. At the same time convince them all that the Taiyang kingdom was not the place they wished to go to fight.

  Lord Pan listened to the entire tale with widened eyes and an expression of amazement. Neither he nor Wan Qiao doubted the young man once. Usually, neither of these two were this naive; however, none of them had ever heard about Master Sun. From the small bit they had seen of The Art of War was enough to make both of them understand that this man, whom no one on the Divine Beast’s continent had heard about, was someone who arrived from another world. He had to be a deity to travel from one world to another. Even Saints like the lady and the lord in front of Hui Yue were very respectful when the opposing side was a deity.

  “It is our luck that this young man met such an esteemed expert when he was a child,” Lord Pan finally sighed in praise. “I heard that there are thirteen chapters to this Art of War book,” He continued, “It will take a few days before all the lords arrive with their guards by then it would be great if you managed to have the entire book written out. It would be a significant help to convince the less assured lords about participating in a war. Especially if we have a way to battle An He. If we can keep him under control, then we have absolutely nothing to fear.”

  Once more An He was mentioned, and once more Hui Yue tried to speak, but neither Wan Qiao nor Lord Pan listened to the words spoken by the young man.

  “Child, what did you say your name was?” Lord Pan suddenly asked as he looked directly at the young man. At first, he had truly not paid attention to this young man as he doubted such a youth truly had anything to teach the older generation but listening to the story made him instantly change his opinion.

  “My name is Hui Yue,” Hui Yue answered, neither incredibly courteously nor rude in any way. Hui Yue spoke to the lord in the same way he would speak to his friends.

  Lord Pan paid no attention to the way he was being spoken to. Instead, he nodded his head and memorized the name so that he would never again make the mistake of not paying any attention to this particular boy just because of his age.

  “Good good,” The lord nodded his head, “I am Pan Long from the Firewing Mountains,” The man said, “I am a Blood-Maned Hawk. As for whether or not you are truly a human or a beast, I will give you the benefit of doubt, but you are most certainly one of the most fascinating creatures I have ever come across. The aura of a Saint ranked beast mixed with the scent of a wolf alongside spiritual energy swirling around you like a human. Looking at you, I understand why Wan Qiao finally decided to take action.” A smile appeared on the man’s face as he accepted the fact that Hui Yue was not going to tell him what exactly he was.

  “I would like you to finish writing the entire Art of War before the council meeting with all the Lords of the Forest. It is not going to be easy to make them all follow suit and become interested in a war against the humans. Many of these lords enjoy their comfortable life in their castles and mansions. Getting them to accepting a war needs to prove that we will be able to win without wasting a lot of lives. Your Art of War is indeed exactly what we need.” Lord Pan kept praising The Art of War, and Hui Yue felt at the same time both hopeless and hopeful. It would be great if the beasts got more ground, but he was not sure if a war was truly needed.

  Remembering the words Lan Feng told him, Hui Yue nodded his head in understanding. He too understood that he had to write the entire Art of War either way.

  “Lord, Lady,” He said rising from his chair, and bowing to the two experts in front of him, “If I am to finish the Art of War in time I will have to excuse myself. I will need to return to my chamber to finish my writings.”

  Hearing the words both Wan Qiao and Pan Long nodded their heads in acceptance, and Hui Yue turned around leaving the library only to be greeted by the same two guards outside the door. It was obvious that these two guards were to escort him back to his chamber, and with none of the three men speaking they all made their way back to the room from which they had picked him up in the first place.

  Chapter 30 – A Bridge Between Two Worlds

  As the guards led Hui Yue back to his chamber, none of the three spoke. It was obvious that the two guards were curious as to why Hui Yue was summoned, but neither of them asked, and Hui Yue did not say anything.

  As he returned to his chamber, a nod was given to the two guards and without a word, he stepped inside his room. Usually, he would have gone to his bed and started to cultivate, but instead, he moved towards the desk and sat down.

  ‘Don’t worry too much about this war,’ Lan Feng said with a concerned voice. He could feel the enormous pressure onto Hui Yue’s shoulders, and he wished to help the young man feel better.

  ‘Wan Qiao is strong, and she has so many experts within Shenyuan it was only a question of time before she jumped into this war headlessly. Now we can use it to strengthen our bodies, improve our cultivation, and also become slightly better at planning battles and surviving in the most dangerous environments.’

  Hearing this, Hui Yue could not help but nod. The phoenix was telling the truth. It was indeed obvious that Wan Qiao was very decisive in wanting war. That the war happened sooner than she originally planned because Hui Yue appeared was something which neither of them could do anything about.

  Being quiet for some time, Hui Yue took up the pen and with beautiful calligraphy he wrote down thirteen terms.

  The Calculations or Laying Plans

  The Challenge

  The Plan of Attack

  Position

  Directing

  Illusion and Reality

  Engaging the Force

  The Nine Variations

  Moving the Force

  Situational Positioning

  The Nine Situations

  The Fiery Attacks

  The Use of Intelligence.

  Looking at these thirteen chapters, Hui Yue contemplated for a moment before he wrote very quick explanations for all the thirteen chapters. If he did not manage to finish writing the entire book, then he would at least have a swift explanation, and he would be capable of explaining it better when the time for the conclave arrived.

  The Calculations had already been completed, and Hui Yue had rewritten it as ‘Laying Plans’. These were things one needed to know before one decided whether or not they were capable of partaking in a war against their opponents.

  The Challenge was a very brief explanation about all the dangers of war. It warned about some of the most basic parts of engaging in war, and Hui Yue, upon writing down this chapter knew that it would be one of the best chapters; one of the most useful ones considering that the beasts had no experience in warfare.

  The Plan of Attack, the third chapter, was focused on how to attack where to attack and where not to attack. The attacking army needed to be focused upon not destroying the land or grounds they were coming to. The dream of Shenyuan was to take over the world; however, if they destroyed the lands, the cities, and the people then all they would gain was a deserted, desolate landscape. Was this what they wished for? Hui Yue did not know if the beasts wished to exterminate the humans within their newly acquired lands or coexist peacefully with them.

  Hui Yue stayed awake all night. His eyes were focused, and his mind was busy remembering everything from the Art of War from long ago. He spent the time thinking and bringing it up in his memory, rewriting it here in a world so far away from the one Master Sun had lived in.

  Hui Yue was secluded in his room for days, and he never once left the chair in which he sat while he wrote paper after paper on The Art of War. He was in a trance, his eyes fixed only on the paper in front of him, and his memories from his old life, memories about this book, flooded his mind.

  Being in this trance, Hui Yue noticed nothing about how the day started and
how it ended. He did not notice that he never moved from the chair. He had become a bridge between these two lives of his.

  Having been focused completely on the writing, Hui Yue was not aware of how his body was absorbing the essence of the heavens and the earth, and only after laying down the pen, did he feel an increase in his strength. An increase so tremendous that even Hui Yue was greatly astonished and taken aback.

  He had previously reached the ninth star or the Duke rank; however, this time, his cultivation base soared to the sky once more. It rose all the way to the peak of the ninth star, leaving him incredibly close to breaking through into the ranks of a King. His eyes gleamed in excitement, and his body was flooded with strong energies. His mood greatly improved compared to how it had been before.

  Just as Hui Yue noticed the increase in his strength, he finished the final chapter of The Art of War, and although he tried to reenter the trance-like experience he had before, it turned out to be impossible. No matter how hard he tried, it seemed he could not will himself to enter the trance-like state he was just in, and after spending a whole hour trying, the young man finally gave up with a sigh.