Drums of War

by Tinalynge

  “Come on, come on!” Hui Yue kept mumbling as he watched the battle. The dragon had been shattered into thousands of rays of golden light, but the blood which had been imbued within the dragon gathered in front of the young man. Looking at the small portion of blood, Li Xiaopeng instantly made a cut on his arm causing more blood to gush out. The blood gathered in front of him, and yet another dragon was made. This dragon was completely different from the previous one. It was no longer golden with red, but red with some gold to it.

  “Come on, you can do it you stupid bird,” Hui Yue continued to say. His hands were clasped together, and he could feel a cold sweat appearing on his forehead. This battle was constantly growing in intensity. The blood dragon was firstly wrapped around Li Xiaopeng, protecting him from the razor-sharp feathers which appeared out of nowhere shot out from Wan Qiao’s wings.

  Seeing that the feathers were no good, Wan Qiao descended to the location of the younger man. Her talons gripped the blood dragon, but as soon as she touched it, the dragon was like water. No matter how much Wan Qiao tried to grab it, her talons went straight through, grabbing nothing; instead, the blood started to attach itself to Wan Qiao. It formed a layer of blood on top of the One-Horned Jasmine Eagle.

  Feeling the blood stuck to her, Wan Qiao did not to panic. Instead, she urged her mist energy out of her beast core and used it to purify the blood. She made it evaporate into thin air.

  Using the blood dragon and having it overpowered like this, Li Xiaopeng felt blood appear in his mouth as the attack which used his own blood to fortify it had been forcefully destroyed by Wan Qiao. This caused the young man to feel the recoil from the attack. Wan Qiao, on the other hand, was not much better off. She had used an astonishing amount of energy to get rid of the blood. Fortunately for her, she was in her original shape making it impossible for both friend and foe to see how pale she had become.

  Refusing to give up, the two Saints once more stopped with a small distance between them. Their eyes were fixed on the opponent, their bodies trembling from the previous attacks. Trembling from the attacks they used which drained their energy, and the attacks they received which had wounded them either internally or externally.

  Looking closely one could see that Li Xiaopeng’s clothes had been shredded by the razor sharp feathers, and he had small cuts all over his body. Though, it was not only the human who had taken quite a beating. Wan Qiao’s body was filled with wounds, and blood gushed out where her feathers had been ripped out, but the woman seemed to pay it no mind as she gathered the last of her mist energy. She shrouded it around herself making a defensive shield as she once more flapped her wings hard, rushing towards Li Xiaopeng.

  The human’s eyes narrowed as golden energy gushing out from his forehead, shrouding him in golden light. The young-looking man stared at the bird coming his way. Slowly he clenched his fist and forced all the golden light down into his hand. Light shone out from within the hand, and it was clearly filed with all the energy that previously gushed out from before. Hui Yue had to admit that this young-looking man was incredibly good at controlling his Wu Wei. None of it was wasted, all of it was forced into a small shape. Looking at it like this, he finally understood just how far away he was from being one of the strongest people on this plane.

  “If even Siban has someone this strong, then I imagine that there are quite a lot of strong hidden experts out there,” Hui Yue mumbled to himself feeling slightly dejected.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Lan Feng said calmly as he too observed the battle in front of them, ‘They have had years to battle, years to train. You are only a kid; it is natural that you are far from being as strong as they are.’

  Hearing it like this, Hui Yue could only nod his head. The short feeling of being dejected was quickly overcome, and determination once more shone in his eyes. The day had almost gone by as the Saints fought each other. Both Hui Yue and the opposing side had stopped fighting, waiting for the final attack between Wan Qiao and Li Xiaopeng, so that they could end the battle for the night and begin again the following day. Both Hui Yue and the Grand Marshall of the Siban Empire unofficially seemed to have agreed on not battling during the night.

  Although Hui Yue knew that the beasts had the better potential than the humans during the night, he still wished to take the time needed for the war. This meant that the fighting for today was coming to an end. One more attack, and if they succeeded in killing the other Saint then the war was almost as good as won. Everyone held their breath. The Saints who had battled previously all withdrew and gathered up their soldiers. Only Wan Qiao and Li Xiaopeng were left on the battlefield; one flew towards the other completely covered in mist energy while the other was standing still, waiting for the incoming attack. All his energy focused within his fist. This one exchange of attacks could very well end the entire war.

  Chapter 82 – Return to the Beginning

  Everyone on the battlefield held their breath. The only sound which was heard was a cracking sound from the condensed Wu Wei in the human Saint’s hand. The second sound was a howling of the wind coming from Wan Qiao, who was flying at her fastest speed. No one dared to even move a muscle. The fight was being observed intently by both Hui Yue and the Grand Marshall of the Siban Empire. Both felt their hearts beat rapidly as they saw the two inching closer and closer.

  Although everything happened within a few seconds, time seemed to flow differently. Everything appeared to move so slow as the two experts closed in on one another. Li Xiaopeng lifted his hand, and just as it reached the trajectory that the bird was coming from all sound seemed to vanish. Nothing was heard, no crackling, no howling. Everything had turned as silent as a grave. This lasted less than a second before an overwhelming boom sounded out. A boom which caused a gigantic shockwave, far bigger than anything before. Golden light was carried with the shockwave and everyone who observed the battle, even at a distance of one kilometer, was forced backwards. Some of the beasts tumbled to the ground as they were caught up in the shockwave. They rolled backwards until they were stopped by other beasts. Some managed to stay on their feet, but they were forced to take many steps backwards. The one who took the least amount of damage was Hui Yue as he had clad himself in Wu Wei before the impact, and he only took a few steps backwards.

  Although he was forced backwards and blinded by the light from the collision, Hui Yue forced his eyes open to see the results of the fight. His eyes narrowed as soon as he saw Wan Qiao laying on the ground, her body in tatters as blood gushed from a hole in her chest. Her eyes were closed, and one of her wings was twisted in a strange direction.

  “Fourth army, retrieve Wan Qiao instantly!” Hui Yue roared out loud as he ran forward before he stood in front of the fallen eagle. His eyes turned red, the world around him turned gray. A group of three hundred beasts rushed forward to bring Wan Qiao into the safety of their camp.

  While this happened, the thirty-nine Saints all moved to stand three meters behind Hui Yue. At first, they were incapable of seeing anything as the fight knocked up a lot of sand, but as it vanished, Hui Yue saw a long line of Saints standing a kilometer away from them. Looking closely, he saw that Li Xiaopeng was not one of them which let him heave a heavy sigh of relief. Although he was unaware of how wounded the young-looking Saint was, he should not be fit to fight right now which gave them the possibility of healing Wan Qiao.

  Standing in front, Hui Yue felt his killing intent rose from the deepest depth of himself. The more he thought of Wan Qiao’s wounds, the more the killing intent grew. The temperature around him dropped drastically. The Saints who were behind him started to shift their weight from one leg to another, and their faces were showing doubtful, uncomfortable expressions. Cold sweat appeared on their foreheads, and most of the Saints wished that the opposing Saints would attack so that the killing intent which hung densely around Hui Yue could be used on the ones who had angered; instead of letting it stifle his own Saints. This degree of killing intent was one even they would not be able to
show, and due to this, all of them secretly were confused about how such a young, low ranked expert could have such a sharp killing intent.

  The Saints on the opposing side did not move an inch, but as night slowly broke they backed away, no longer standing guard in front of the city wall.

  Seeing this, Hui Yue waved his hand, and the Saints rushed back to their camp. As soon as they arrived, Hui Yue rushed towards the infirmary where he found Wan Qiao laying on a bed. Her upper body was bare, and she was covered in bandages. Her face was blank, showing no emotions, and her eyes were closed. Her features smooth as though she did not feel any pain. A blanket was draped loosely around her lower body. One arm was in a sling with bandages over it, and the other arm seemed better off, but a large bruise was visible just below the elbow. Looking at the woman who had been the strongest person Hui Yue had ever met. He always imagined that she was in the same league as the Frozen General, yet she had been forced into such dire straits due to an expert from the Siban Empire.

  ‘Do you think we can defeat him if we go all out?’ Hui Yue asked the phoenix within his dantian curiously. He knew that their chances were slim, but maybe the Saint-ranked beast within him had an idea. Unfortunately, the phoenix seemed to ponder fairly long over the question and eventually he shook his head. ‘We have a chance.’ He said hesitantly, ‘But the chance is around ten percent. Ten percent is a very low chance so don’t go against that young man unless we have absolutely no other option. Leave him to Wan Qiao. The two of them are evenly matched. He should be just as wounded as she is right now, so don’t do anything for now.’ Hearing the birds reasoning, Hui Yue could tell that it was not a good idea to fight that boy.

  ‘I guess it is time to wait now,’ Hui Yue sighed. ‘I agree with you though; right now we should not focus on the war but ensuring that the wounded come back to their best condition before we continue the war.’

  ‘Are you sure this is a good idea?’ Lan Feng commented. ‘I am no specialist when it comes to war, but if you take the time to focus on healing your experts, then the Siban Empire will have a chance to rebuild the city walls not to mention their wounded will also be tended to. But you go all out tomorrow it might be possible for the beasts to clench victory. You saw how the two Saints almost shattered the entire city wall. The beasts can easily jump this wall and enter the city. You know you could have entered the city long ago if you truly wanted to. These are beasts for goodness sake. Bring the many experts who are ready to battle along with the Saints and you will do fine. Overrun their city and be done with this war. Although this war is helping you become much better at thinking our training is falling behind. Yes, you have reached the King rank at an astonishingly young age, but you are not able to really train to the limits of your potential because you need to put far too much energy into this war.’

  Hui Yue was quiet for some time as he thought over the words Lan Feng said. It was true that he had not been able to fully focus on his training, and he had taken it much easier after reaching the King rank. But right now his entire mind was focused on the war. Going outside, he sighed deeply as he saw the destruction that had been done to the city wall from Li Xiaopeng and Wan Qiao during their battle. Making their way through the broken wall should not be difficult.

  Hui Yue sighed deeply as he considered what was the best thing to do. Lan Feng made sense, although his decision was made mainly because he was impatient, but using the hole in the wall would indeed make it possible for them to overrun the city. Something that would take them far longer to do if they waited for Wan Qiao to heal.

  “Since we’ve made a decision we better go and inform the ranks about it,” He mumbled to himself as he left the infirmary and went towards the tents where the commanders and the Saints were currently residing.

  ….

  The night was chilled, but a feeling of expectation hung above the beast camp. During their night they could hear hammering and sounds of the wall being fixed Hui Yue spent the entire night at the front of the battlefield, his eyes red as he used the beasts eyesight to keep an eye on the human’s progress in rebuilding the destroyed wall.

  Looking at the city wall, Hui Yue found that the ones who were doing the reconstruction were the high ranked experts of the city. All of them were capable of carrying a considerable amount of heavy stones something which made the task easily accomplished.

  ‘Looks like our original plan is up for revision,’ Hui Yue commented sourly to Lan Feng. He felt that the Saint within him was as unhappy as he was. He had finally made himself keen on the strategy Lan Feng suggested, yet now it seemed as though he needed to change it.

  As morning arrived, one could not see even the slightest stone out of place. The wall looked exactly the same as it had before the battle. The top of the walls was filled with experts, all of them looking at the battlefield in front of them. Looking around, Hui Yue could not help but feel that they had returned to the state before the war had started. That they had just arrived for the first time and needed to start fighting the Siban Empire’s army.

  Behind him the beasts were roaring, their eyes red with anger. Their killing intent billowed forth as they wished to avenge their fallen comrades. Looking at the many experts behind him, Hui Yue was relieved to know that they still had their anger and their will to fight. Although Wan Qiao was wounded, no one seemed to cover in fear or think that they would lose. Everyone was completely filled with anger for what happened to Wan Qiao, and they were ready to fight. Ready to prove that they could manage without her. Even the thirty-nine Saints had harsh faces filled with frosty expressions. Looking at the many beasts which were ready to battle, Hui Yue also felt his urges to fight increase. He too wished to avenge their Queen. Although she was not in any danger of losing her life, the wounds were so severe that no one, no matter how skilled they were at healing, had been capable of fully closing her wounds. What she needed now was time to let her body build up strength once again. Unfortunately, time was one of the few things that Hui Yue did not have a lot of.

  Gritting his teeth, Hui Yue summoned his Wu Wei wings and rose to the sky. Many flying type beasts followed his example, and together the entire horde moved towards the city gates. Towers, ballistas, galleries, battering rams and the like were dragged forward as a rain of arrows descended upon them.

  Hui Yue looked at the arrows and reached out his hand. Golden light flew from his fingertips and made a massive shell-like shield formed around him causing some of the other beasts to fly right behind him. Hui Yue was not the only one who used Wu Wei to guard himself or part of the army. They allowed for their energy to gush forth, blocking every single arrow which came their way not allowing for even one to slip through. Unlike before no beast howled, sneered, growled, screeched, or roared. The beast army moved completely silent, their eyes filled with anger, indignation, and a thirst for revenge.

  Chapter 83 – Vengeance

  Every soldier on top of the city walls were waiting quietly for the beasts to come their way. “Hold your fire!” A commander yelled out. “Do not waste arrows by hitting the shields!” He shouted as he moved throughout the wall, roaring time after time again for the soldiers to hold their arrows. For a city which was currently besieged, getting provisions was an impossibility. With no materials coming in they obviously couldn’t smith more arrowheads.

  Looking at the many high ranked beasts that were coming their way even the commander could not help but swallow saliva nervously. Although they had Saints waiting to attack should the Saints on the beasts’ side not participate in the war then they were not to join under any circumstances. This meant that if these beasts did battle without saints, the majority of the experts on the city wall were certain to die or become severely injured by these beasts. Thinking about this, the commander shook his head and looked determined on the many beasts who were constantly closing in on them.

  “Even if I die, I will d*mn well make sure that I take some of these bas***** with me,” He thought with gritted teeth while
unsheathing his sword. His entire body was taut as it awaited the beast horde. Only a few seconds later did the flying beasts make their appearance by grabbing human experts then dropping them to the ground below. The commander could do nothing as he saw their towers once more hook onto the city wall. Beasts of all types and shapes appeared and jumped onto the wall instantly throwing themselves into the battle. They fought fiercely shredding, biting, and using their bodies as much as their mist energy to attack.

  The commander’s eyes were not on any of these beasts who entered through the tower, nor were they observing the birds who kept grabbing one human after another; no, his eyes were glued onto Hui Yue. The young man who flew around the skies with chillingly cold eyes. His entire body radiated a freezing cold killing intent.

  The commander could tell instantly that this person was anything but ordinary, yet he did not seem to be much stronger than your average King ranked expert. For him to have such killing intent, the commander wondered just what he had been through. But, before he had time to think any more, the handsome human descended from the heavens, heading straight for him.