Drums of War

by Tinalynge

  Hui Yue decided to stay within the forest until Wan Qiao returned with the information she had gathered from the enemy’s current location. While they were within the forest, the young man decided to sit down and cultivate. He was about to lead his army against the Royal Army of the Siban Empire. His army was new and, although strong, very inexperienced. Sighing deeply, Hui Yue summoned all the calm he had inherited from the monk. The future was what they made it, and the following day would be the most important. It was the day when they would set out against the humans, and It was the day when they would fight for their freedom. It was the day when they might be obliterated by An He. No matter what, many things could happen the following day, but no matter what happened, no one would be able to say beforehand. The only thing they could do was wait and see.

  Chapter 62 – In Enemy Territory

  Throughout the following day, beasts kept arriving at the small forest where the army was hiding. The trail of beasts slowed from a steady stream at dawn to a beast arriving once an hour as the sun was setting. Hui Yue was aware that this small stream of beasts was quite likely to alert the Siban army, but currently, he was completely unaware of where Wan Qiao was. The bird who was supposed to tell him where the enemy army was, their numbers and layout. Knowing that this army was preparing to meet them, it was obvious that they would find a location where they could control the flow of battle. It would most likely be a massive flat plain. A large flat plain was the best location to overrun the beast army. To have so much space that they could attack with as many humans as possible; that would be their only chance to win.

  Sighing, Hui Yue looked around him. He looked at the forest which was filled to the brim with experts waiting for orders. He sat on a tree stub while resting his head in his hands as he just waited and allowed for the time to pass.

  The entire forest was tranquil, and every expert who arrived below the trees was cultivating. Some were seated in the trees while others were seated on the ground. The only reason that Hui Yue did not cultivate like the others was because he had to constantly observe their surroundings. If they were ambushed, he needed to be able to see what was happening. In the treetops were the commanders acting as scouts, they and the Saints were all awake as well looking at the surroundings.

  Although some Saints left Shenyuan from time to time, they had never undertaken such a feat as this before. They had never left with such a massive army, nor had they left in their original shapes. Being in this empire, knowing what was to happen, all of them felt adrenaline rushing through their veins. Their faces sprouted smiles, and their eyes glistened with excitement. It was not only the Saints but all the experts, even the ones cultivating now, who were filled with excitement. They had never before left Shenyuan, yet here they were in the Siban Empire, ready to battle the humans and fight for their freedom.

  ….

  “Lord, they are now within the Siban Empire; the beasts are going to attack the humans. Are you really not going to do anything? Are you not going to help ?” A servant asked nervously as she stood right behind the throne on which a young looking man was seated. His hair was black, his eyes dark brown. His forehead was twisted in a frown, and his eyes were focused on a small ball of distorted space which seemed to be twisting and turning in his hands. He did not seem as though he truly heard the servant, but the woman dared not open her mouth again. Seeing that her master was focused solely on the distorted space ball in his hands as he grit his teeth and showed a frown. The servant quickly understood that now was not the time to interrupt him.

  Next to her was another servant, but unlike the first, this woman said nothing. She was standing completely still, moving not even the slightest. Her mouth was shut tightly, and her eyes were alert as they observed the distorted space.

  After more and more time, the ball seemed to become even more and more twisted before it cracked in the middle causing a large black hole to appear which sucked in everything around them. A storm suddenly appeared within the room, and everything apart from the young man seemed to be dragged towards the constantly expanding black hole. A howling sound suddenly appeared and the servants clothes started rustling around them. The woman who spoke previously had a fearful expression on her face, the other though looked the same as before.

  The young man kept observing the black hole until finally he lifted his hand and clenched his fist. Which caused the black hole diminished in size before it was completely removed by the young man.

  Seated still for some time, the young man finally lifted his head and looked at the servant behind him. “What did you say?” He asked curiously. His eyes gleamed with intelligence and amusement. He was not used to hearing his servants speak to him. As a matter of fact, it had been years since he last spoke with anyone and hearing this woman speak to him was a welcome change for once.

  “Lord, the beasts have entered the Siban Empire. They are going to take over the kingdom.”

  “Oh,” The young man said, his previously interested expression turned bored again. “I did expect them to move sometime soon, but not this soon.”

  “Lord, it is because of a young man known as Hui Yue. He enticed the beasts to war.” The woman said, her voice sounding quite hesitant as though she was worried if she should speak or not.

  “Oh,” The man said then after pondering for a moment he scratched his cheek. “It’s Hui Yue. I see. Well if it is him, then I have no interest in participating in this war. He is still far too weak to entertain me.”

  “Lord! This is the future of an entire empire! How can you leave it be just because of a single human?!” The servant finally forgot her calm and hesitation and exclaimed in shock. Moments after the young man opened his clenched hand and the black hole which vanished just seconds ago suddenly reappeared in front of them, the suction force now was even stronger than it had been before. As he saw it stabilize, he pointed it towards the maid and the force which previously had protected her vanished in an instant. As soon as the force protecting her vanished the suction force from the black hole instantly sucked in the maid. Without allowing her time to speak, the woman was dragged into the black hole. Her eyes were filled with fear as she vanished into the black hole.

  Sighing deeply, the young man rolled his head causing his neck to crack a few times. “Silly girl,” He laughed, “I have so few things which entertain me. How can I not value Lan Feng and his weak attempts at revenge?”

  Pondering for a few moments, he lifted his hand and waved forward the other servant. The woman who did not even blink when the other woman was swallowed up by the black hole.

  “Although I cannot go, there is no reason not to make it a little challenging for this young boy Hui Yue.” He said laughingly, “Send a company of Crusaders. Have them assist the Siban Empire, and make sure to tell them that it does not matter even if all the Crusaders die. They are just one company after all.”

  The servant bowed deeply and a with a mechanical voice she said, “As Master He commands.”

  “Don’t let anyone interrupt me,” He continued as he once more lifted his hands and within his palms a miniature orb once again appeared. The world around the orb started to twist and distort, constantly changing colors, its shapes never staying the same for more than a few seconds at a time. The servant was completely quiet, and stood still, she had not gone to give the order to anyone, but somehow the Crusaders were now moving within the castle. A whole company of Crusaders had gathered and slowly made their way out of the castle. As they left, they all rushed towards the Siban Empire’s capital. The group numbered a total of one thousand crusaders, and everywhere they went people shied away from the road. Because no one dared block their way, their trip was incredibly swift, and nothing stopped their advance.

  ….

  While the Crusaders were rushing towards the capital of the Siban Empire, Wan Qiao was flying in the skies. Her massive wingspan allowed for her to sweep across the lands. She saw every small part of the kingdom and everywhere she looked humans w
ere migrating. Some were walking towards the capital while others were on the way towards the Taiyang Kingdom and the Yueliang Province. Everyone seemed to know about the coming war, and it appeared that many believed in their kingdom’s defenses. Though a few were certain that this would be the end of their empire, and they all headed towards other kingdoms.

  As Wan Qiao came closer to the capital, she found where their army was located. Her heart quivered with surprise and shock as she saw how the land littered with humans. It looked like a sea of humans rather than water. Everywhere she looked humans were moving around, and as she sized up the army, she quickly estimated that this army was more than four times bigger than the one the beasts brought with them. She finally understood why Hui Yue focused on training the experts in ways other than just allowing them to turn beastly and fight one on one, dueling with their opponents. Seeing that it was possible that four experts, although a lower rank, would be attacking each Kings or Emperors, it was entirely possible that they would be severely wounded or even killed. However, now that Hui Yue had trained the beasts, they were no longer such easy targets. Not to mention their whole mentality had changed. They were now ready to fight this massive army of humans; this army which seemed prepared for the beasts’ arrival.

  “Look! High in the sky! What is that?!” Suddenly Wan Qiao’s astonishing hearing started to catch up the cries of the humans within the army. Her sharp eyes saw how one human after another alerted the entire army. Soon the previously calm grounds were filled with armored humans, and their movements were astonishingly swift. Their training clearly far better than even the beast army’s training, and within what seemed like moments, the entire army was facing her. They were on guard and fully armed. Seeing this, Wan Qiao was quite astonished. She never expected that the army would be this swift, and she finally understood exactly what Hui Yue meant every time he spoke about the mentality of the army; that it was nothing like that of a cultivator.

  “Are they attacking?” She heard many humans ask the same question, but even though they were standing on guard, ready to welcome her with their weapons should she land on the ground, she paid them no mind and kept flying above. She watched them and lazily flapped her wings a few times.

  Suddenly she felt danger approaching, and moments after a three-meter long arrow was shot her way. She looked down and saw an oversized crossbow and the humans loading another arrow on it getting ready to shoot again. Seeing how swift these arrows were, Wan Qiao could instantly tell that if it had been a lower ranked expert, then it was likely to have at least injured them. Knowing that they were up against this kind of technology, Wan Qiao felt a bit nervous. She swore that she would tell Hui Yue everything later so that he could prepare the beasts properly.

  With a final glance at the army below her, Wan Qiao turned around and slowly made her way back towards the location where she left Hui Yue. It was now time to return to Hui Yue’s side. Knowing how numerous the enemy’s army was, and seeing the various weapons they had, Wan Qiao knew that Hui Yue had been correct in his assessment. When he said that although they were stronger, the humans had to be taken seriously. Although they were weaker, they had the benefits of numbers, and they seemed to be well prepared. They had a large amount of advanced weaponry, both for individual soldiers and also large machines that would definitely cause more problems for their army later on. This was truly a fight to the death, and the war was not going to be as one-sided as Wan Qiao had thought.

  Chapter 63 – Machines of War

  While the Crusaders rushed towards the capital of the Siban Empire to assist them in the coming war, Wan Qiao was rushing back to meet up with Hui Yue. The leader who was not just wasting time doing nothing.

  Although his greatest strength was the fact that his army was composed of highly skilled cultivators, Hui Yue knew very well that strength alone could be overcome by tactics and machinery. Looking at the forest where they were currently located, Hui Yue contemplated for some time before he stood up and started examining the wood in front of him.

  Although this forest was fairly small, only big enough to conceal his army, the trees were clearly ancient. Their trunks were thick, and the wood was strong. Creating war machines from these trees would make them very sturdy, and Hui Yue went through the entire forest examining the trees. If Wan Qiao returned with no information about the army using massive machinery then Hui Yue, in turn, would not bother creating machines of his own. But if she returned with news of devastating weaponry or machinery then he too would use his knowledge to create some machines of his own within this small forest; he would take advantage of these centuries old trees that were given to him.

  “It is not like we are in a rush to meet the other army,” Hui Yue mumbled to himself as a smile appeared on his lips. He knew that Wan Qiao was incapable of truly acting stealthily so he also assumed that her investigation would be carried out from the sky, and knowing that she did not try to conceal herself, the enemy army would definitely notice her. This would put them on high alert, and make them ready to receive an attack at any moment. At the same time, it ensured that Hui Yue would not be traveling from their location anytime soon. This in itself should give Hui Yue the time he needed to create the machinery he was thinking about.

  After a few days, it was a certainty that the army would send out scouts of their own. These scouts would be flying on magical beasts, and although they would be far from flying at Wan Qiao’s speed, they should still be able to find Hui Yue and his army within a few days. This set the limit that they could stay within the small forest for about week or so. Contemplating, he wondered if he should start making the machinery already or if he should wait for Wan Qiao’s return. If the opponents truly were without war machinery then it would be serious overkill, but, although the beasts were clueless when it came to war, it was obvious that an empire would never be as weak as a kingdom filled with beasts.

  “You seem to be in deep thought,” A chuckling voice sounded from above as a shadow jumped down from the treetops. Hui Yue had not sensed anyone above and instantly knew that whoever it was, the person was definitely far stronger than him. He did not panic, nor did he fear that this person was someone sent after him because he instantly recognized the voice as Wan Qiao’s. Knowing that she returned, the young man felt his heart beating more rapidly than before. He felt elated and relaxed; it was as though this woman was someone who would always support him, and having her back made him feel like their army was whole again. Hui Yue relied on Wan Qiao’s abilities to tie up at least two, if not three, Saint ranked experts. This would allow him to use experts at other places.

  “So what did you see?” He finally asked with a smile on his face. But as the question left his lips, Wan Qiao’s expression turned sullen, and she started grinding her teeth slightly.

  “You were right to train our soldiers,” She said with a sigh after having thought r for some time, “Not only are they more than four times larger than us, they also happen to be in possession of some rather dreadful weapons which could prove dangerous to any expert below the Saint level. They have massive crossbows which can shoot at an astonishing speed and with such force that it could easily kill an Emperor.” Hearing this, Hui Yue could not help but frown. He had vastly underestimated the weaponry the other army had at their disposal, and he sighed once more as he started calling forth all the information he had about warfare and machinery of war from his mind.

  Weaponry such as guns and other items requiring explosives were not an option, so he turned to Roman warfare. Standing still for some time while he called forth all his knowledge, he then quickly removed a pen and some paper from a storage stone on which he started making the blueprints for various machinery.

  “Where are they located?” He asked absentminded as he drew one line after another on the paper. Wan Qiao, who was staring at the drawing which quickly took shape in front of her, had to hear the question twice before she started to answer, “They are stationed right outside the capital.
There is a large flat plain, and the army is spread as far as I could see. I imagine they are using the tactics you already guessed, trying to overrun us with numbers.”

  Hui Yue nodded once more as he returned to the drawings. One had been finished, and another was being created. Time flowed by as Hui Yue created six different blueprints; blueprints he wanted to be created. If the army was outside the city wall, then he was certain that a portion of the army, most likely the strongest troops, were inside the walls. They should be ready to seal it shut and turn the battle into a siege of the city.

  “I need all the Saints here A.S.A.P.!” Hui Yue said with a low voice, but somehow all the Saints heard the words, and within moments all of them were standing next to the young man.

  “We need to create our own machinery of war,” He said seriously. “This forest which we are hiding within has the perfect trees to create such things, and although the humans will notice us, it is unavoidable. We need to build these machines well, but we are in a bit of a hurry. I need your help.” He continued, and then he brought forth the eight different blueprints he had and laid them down on a tree stump in front of them.