Drums of War

by Tinalynge

  The words Hui Yue spoke caused many of the experts to look at him in dismay. These were cultivators not warriors. For them, battling against weaker enemies was already asking a lot, but to group together against weaker enemies was even more shameful. What Hui Yue asked them to do went against everything they believed in. Even the Saints who were standing further away and listening to what was being said had gone quiet.

  Hui Yue, looked at the dismayed expressions and heaved an internal sigh. The pride amongst these guards was hard to kill. Making them understand that they could not duel their way to victory in war was even harder. To make them understand that they would have to team up to annihilate the soldiers was the only way Hui Yue could guarantee the success of this war; however, to make these proud cultivators change, Hui Yue was not quite sure about how to accomplish this.

  Sighing once again, Hui Yue looked at the experts in front of him. “Do not think that war is a duel. This war is something we cannot afford to lose. We have to win and to win we need to use our strongest warriors to decimate the army of the Siban Empire. Although we are strong, the country we are up against has a very large army. As an empire, their army has been trained properly from the start. Every soldier is ready to throw away their lives for the sake of winning the war. They will launch suicide attack after suicide attack. For them, death is something they take pride in. They will keep attacking until they manage to kill even one of our experts. For twenty common soldiers to trade their lives for one King ranked expert, they would be thrilled. Tell me, although your rank is far above these common soldiers, are you able to throw away your lives for the sake of winning a war? Are you capable of attacking a Saint for the sake of killing him, even if it means trading your own life for his?”

  Every word that Hui Yue spoke caused great shock in the hearts of the experts. For them, their lives were something they highly valued. They were still training on the path of being a truly supreme expert and wished to break through the bottlenecks they were experiencing. Training and reaching the pinnacle of power, becoming Saints much like their highly respected Lords.

  Their hearts trembled as they heard what Hui Yue was saying. The fact that they were willing to trade their lives was something which required respect, and definitely, something which they needed to acknowledge.

  “If you want to survive, if you want to win this war for the sake of your lords then you make sure that every group of five works together. They work together to stay alive, and at the same time to get rid of the army. We all wish to survive and cultivate after the war, but not everyone will survive. But, we can work together to lower the number of casualties.”

  The experts who at first had looked at Hui Yue with disdain were now all nodding their heads. Their hearts which were filled with unwillingness and a feeling of their dignity being trampled were now filled with vigilance and worry. If a war truly was as dangerous as Hui Yue said, then it was obvious that they would need to change their normal way of fighting.

  Even the Saints who were listening were frightened when they heard what kind of tactics the Siban Empire was likely to use. Numerous human waves were something that could be countered, but only to a certain degree. Using Wu Wei to kill many men was possible was a solution, but there was a limit to how many people their attacks could reach at a time. To have five King ranked together to protect each other was indeed something that would lower the casualty count of their army. Having listened to Hui Yue so far, the experts finally started to understand why a mere King was promoted as the Grand Marshall. This young man, who seemed to be a cultivator much like the rest of them, was aware of how an army thought and worked something which the Emperors had to admit that they were unaware of.

  Chapter 49 – Tent Camp

  Having convinced the Emperors that the groups of five Kings fighting together was something needed for this war, Hui Yue did not need to deal with each and every King. They would be dealt with by the Emperors, and most likely in a way similar to how Hui Yue convinced the Emperors.

  “Tomorrow I wish to speak to the entire army,” Hui Yue said. His voice resounding throughout the area and everyone nodded their heads. Without noticing, the young man whom they all looked down upon was now an entity whom they revered. Thinking things through, they were all unable to understand how this young man changed their opinions with only a few words, but the words he said made perfect sense. They felt that they were just scolded; that their way of life had been shaken.

  They understood that their previous way of life was the way of a cultivator, their eyes had now been opened. This was not the only path in life. The values they esteemed were not universal values others might value things differently.

  For them, although they were to become soldiers, they understood that they were not being asked to change their values, but to merely put them aside during the war. That during this war, survival was more important than fair fighting; that if they wanted to win, they had to accept living like common soldiers for a time. For the sake of their lords, this was something they could do.

  Seeing that the eyes of the Emperors had changed, Hui Yue was satisfied. With a nod and a smile he left the emperors alone and walked to his room where he started cultivating. Hui Yue was ready for the following day; however, he was still excited wondering how it would feel to stand in front of four hundred thousand King and Emperors.

  Sitting in his room, the skies had turned dark and the moon had risen. Hui Yue sighed emotionally as he wondered how the Siban Empire was preparing for the war. Having reached the rank of a King, Hui Yue was now allowed to leave Shenyuan, but although he wished to enter the Taiyang capital city, the young man did not do so. Instead, he stayed behind to ensure that the war went as planned. He was eager to return, but even more eager to finish this war successfully.

  It had been a long time since he had last seen his friends. That year within the Dungeons of Divine and the many months spent in Shenyuan day in and day out he spent on training. But when he finally reached the King rank, he was not on his way to the capital as he had imagined. Instead, he was now busy planning a war; this was he never thought he would do.

  The night passed the same as any other. The blue cloud was shrouded the young man and increased the speed of Hui Yue’s cultivation. The young man was seated in the rays of moonlight refining as much Yin energy as he could. His eyes were closed. He looked like a handsome man one would see in a painting by a master artisan. Only upon closer inspection would one see that this handsome man was breathing, proving that he was indeed no painting but a real person.

  Hui Yue spent the rest of the night cultivating. When he woke up he prepared for one of the most important days of his life, the day he needed to speak to the entire army for the first time. Ready the young man left the room, only to find two Saint standing outside his door. Although these two were Saints, he knew none of them were lords and both seemed to have strength equal to Lan Feng in his weakened state.

  Hui Yue was astonished to see these two Saint ranked experts at his door. He was even more puzzled when both Saints bowed deeply to him, before the first one said, “Lord Hui, we are from the Shadows of the Forest. Our job is to ensure that you do not suffer any misfortune during the preparation of the war. Fear not, you will not notice that we are protecting you. We will in no way interfere with your daily life.”

  Hearing this, Hui Yue was astonished, but he felt grateful to Wan Qiao because he was certain that it was her who assigned two Saints to look after him. As for the Shadows of the Forest, Hui Yue had no idea what that was. He guessed that it was a group of special experts who worked to protect important people.

  When the two Saints vanished into the air, a third shadow whom neither of the three noticed vanished without a trade, leaving the young man to be protected by the two new experts.

  Walking out the castle, Hui Yue felt a strange calm descend upon him and with a straight back and calm eyes he moved through the city, towards the grounds outside.

  Walking throu
gh the city, Hui Yue found that a buzzing sound was filling town, the townsmen energetic. The citizens were all smiling and excited. The children and their parents seemed to be certain that the beasts were going to war; that they would all be able to increase the living space they had. That they would be able to once more travel.

  Although the majority of these beasts had lived within Shenyuan all their life, many of them heard stories from their grandparents who heard stories from their grandparents about a time when the beasts lived across the continent. To live in freedom and not be forced to stay within one kingdom, with this forest. This caused all the beasts to dream about a possibility of living once again with humans, or at least be allowed to leave Shenyuan. The guards were brought hope to these citizens.

  Walking through the capital, Hui Yue heard a lot of the conversations around him and he truly understood what Wan Qiao meant. He had seen the hunger for freedom and more territory in Wan Qiao and many of the experts, but as the Grand Marshall, he understood that winning this war would not be a walk in the park. Sighing, Hui Yue was filled with mixed emotions. He wished to allow these beasts to live their dreams, to once more leave Shenyuan; however to do so, he needed to be successful with his campaign. Although he had managed to convince the commanders of his army, it was another story if he could convince the four hundred thousand experts waiting on him. Convince them that they had to put their morals aside, they had to become soldiers. If only for a short while.

  Snickering, Hui Yue decided that although it would prove to be a problem, it was not entirely his problem. What he needed to accomplish today was to split the army, assigning which guards would be under the command of which experts. As for convincing the Kings and Emperors that they needed to gang up on the humans they were destined to meet in this war, Hui Yue decided that this job belonged to their commanders.

  As he was thinking and walking at the same time, Hui Yue suddenly found himself at the city gates, and he stopped for a moment. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When his eyes opened again, an unbeatable and firm expression appeared within. His back was straight and his head was held high. While it was true that he was nothing but a mere King ranked

  expert, however he was the only one who had the Art of War firmly etched within his mind. He was the only one who had previously studied wars and war tactics. He was the one that had been chosen by all the Lords of the Forest. Even if his personal strength was weak, his mind was highly valued and behind him were two shadows. Two Saint ranked experts who would protect him no matter what happened in the future.

  Stepping through the city gate, Hui Yue could not help but suck in a breath of air. Everywhere he looked tents were erected and guards were moving about. It was as though he was watching a beehive. There was constant activity. The many guards were moving from one place to another, and the buzzing sound of thousands of people speaking with one another could be heard throughout the entire area.

  None of these experts paid any attention to this young man who walked through the many tents, none of them could fathom that this young man who was in front of them might be the Grand Marshall. That he was the one leading everyone, and planning where to assign people, as well as which tactics they would use. In fact, if anyone said this to the many people gathered here, it was quite possible that all of them would laugh loudly and refuse to believe what they were being told.

  Hui Yue paid no attention to them. He knew that the guards would be fully gathered when the sun stood high in the sky, and at that point, all of them would see just who the Grand Marshall was. Hui Yue knew many would be insulted having to take orders from a young man, probably the youngest present, and someone whose strength was far from strong enough to defeat an Emperor.

  Sighing, Hui Yue could somewhat understand why the many men were likely to complain. This was a world where strength was what decided one’s future accomplishments, but some experts who did not have strength had cunning and wisdom. Although they were not seen as experts with the same level of strength as their peers, their knowledge was still highly valued. Hui Yue hoped that he could come across as one such person. He had won over all the Emperors and the Saints. Now it was time for the common soldiers to acknowledge his leadership.

  Reaching the middle of the camp, Hui Yue saw that a massive arena had been erected. On top of this arena groups of guards were battling one another, training while sparing against each other. On the ground nearby, many guards were cheering for various experts.

  The experts who were sparing not only fought for training, they also fought to gain face for their lords. Even now when they were to become united, to become one army, Hui Yue could see the many factions. A smile appeared on his lips as he realized that he could use this competition between the factors to improve morale and the fighting ability of the army. Narrowing his eyes and looking at the many experts fighting in front of him, seeing them exchange blow after blow, and hearing the cheering sound from the various audience members he smiled as he saw that all of them were skilled in battle.

  Training these guards into soldiers might not be as hard as he expected. He might even be capable of convincing these many experts to become soldiers much easier than he previously had convinced their commanders. A small smile was forming on Hui Yue’s face. He did not need to making one army from four hundred thousand men, but he could make forty armies of ten thousand men.

  Feeling that was a very good idea, Hui Yue could not help but chuckle slightly, and he once more started moving. He was headed closer and closer to the arena and observed everything that he could see. No matter where he looked, more and more experts moved towards the arena. Some came to duel, others came to watch, while finally most came because they were curious about who the Grand Marshall was and what his strength was like. Was it a Lord of the Forest? If he was, they all believed it to be their master. Was it perhaps a secret expert who had appeared out of nowhere? Or perhaps Wan Qiao? Every expert expected someone different, but none of them could have guessed that it was the young man who was standing in the front row of the arena watching the battles with a small smile on his face.

  Chapter 50 – Meeting the Army

  The sun slowly rose in the sky, and it got closer and closer to the appointed time where the Grand Marshall was set to appear. Hui Yue was standing in the front row watching the battles which slowly stopped at the arena. As soon as a fight ended, Emperor experts appeared and led the fighting men out of the arena to ensure that no one else entered and started a new sparring match.

  At first, when Hui Yue arrived, it was possible to end up close to the arena and have a great view of what was happening, but that was no longer possible now. Plenty of guards had arrived, so many that the grounds were like an ocean of cultivators. Looking around the arena, all the battles had finished, but despite this, it was still getting more and more crowded as all the commanders moved towards the arena. Although the arena was massive, these seven to eight hundred experts standing around made it feel incredibly crowded. Even so, in front of them, a small podium had been placed. This podium was meant for Grand Marshall Hui Yue.

  Soon the sun reached its peak, and Hui Yue started making his way towards one of the stairs leading to the arena, but every time he inched closer he heard comments such as, “You idiot, you can’t enter the arena now. Can’t you see all the experts?” “Don’t push, just stand back and enjoy the show,” “Idiot, you think you are worth even a glance from these experts?”

  Although all the comments were incredibly hostile, Hui Yue paid them no heed. He continued his trek towards the stairs, and his movement in the audience quickly caught the eyes of the Emperors. Their faces were filled with smiles as they looked at the young man making his way towards the arena. Although some of the commanders were still uncertain about their feelings for this young man, they all respected him. Although they respected him and they all would follow his orders, they still felt as though he was both too young and too weak to truly put strength behind his words.

&n
bsp; Hui Yue reached the rank he had now due to his knowledge about the Art of War. Although he did tell Wan Qiao about being reincarnated, he never mentioned the Art of War before. When the subject of his reincarnation came up, they had not been thinking about war, so naturally he didn’t think about it. Later on, when she mentioned the war, Hui Yue did talk about the Art of War; however, he did not say how he knew about this book and she never asked. By the time he needed to come up with an excuse for Lord Pan, it seemed that Wan Qiao believed him as well. That or she was an excellent actress. Hui Yue decided that it did not matter either way. What mattered now was if he could convince everyone that the Art of War was the key to victory.

  He had paused in the middle of moving towards the stairs. His eyes had become vacant as he was submerged in thought, but moments after his eyes steeled and his fists clenched as he moved to the stairs. His movement was still causing hostile comments to rain down upon him, but the young man ignored them as he stepped onto the first step of the stairs.