Blue Phoenix

by Tinalynge

  Hui Yue allowed for the beasts to set up small camps in the many imperial castle gardens or even inside the castle, but he required that each group had a watch of at least four beasts at a time to ensure that the Crusaders did not sneak up on them.

  Hui Yue and Lady Sun both ended up with Wan Qiao’s army. Both of them felt as if they just had the longest day of their lives. Both were listless and exhausted, and both were filled with worry that the Crusaders would attack during the night.

  “Don’t worry about it.” Wan Qiao said calmly, “I will take the night watch tonight with a few of my most trusted warriors.” She continued as she placed down mats for them to sleep on. “I have been healed today, so all my energy has returned. Sitting awake for one night will make no difference to me. I am a Saint after all,” She grinned, and both Lady Sun and Hui Yue were grateful as they laid down on the mats and drifted off to dreamland as soon as their heads hit the soft fabric.

  Smiling, Wan Qiao leaned against a tree as she sat down and looked at the many soldiers around her. She had to admit that although she had spent most of her life alone, there was something charming about the constant movement around her. Being a part of something made her feel good, and she dreaded the end of the war. Hopefully, she could journey across the lands to protect the citizens. That would be her dream; to travel with her army and ensure that no one dared to enter her kingdoms for the sake of capturing her subjects.

  Spending the entire night daydreaming about how amazing this land would be when it was filled with beasts was how she spent her night. During the night, no one sounded the alarm, and no one saw even the shadows of an enemy. The night passed calmly while the pyre burned in the background carrying with it the scent of burnt flesh.

  Chapter 290 - Golden Eyes

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  Chapter 290: Golden Eyes

  Hui Yue slept through the night with no dreams and no rough awakenings. He managed to sleep until the sun rose, and as woke he was welcomed by the strong scent of burned flesh. Looking around, he saw that many beasts were waking up at the same time as him. He smiled wryly as he felt how his back ached from lying in the same position for so many hours. He was usually not one to sleep during the night but cultivate though this night sleep was a welcome guest. He smiled as he saw a stiff Lady Sun rise with the same back problems as himself. He felt that today was a new day, a fresh day. He was certain that things would be better than they had been the previous day.

  The emperor had been chained to a tree where he was still awaiting his fate. Hui Yue was not certain what to do with him. He knew that they had to kill him and display his body somewhere, but he felt it was beneath the dignity of any ruler to have their bodies displayed. But, none of his beastly friends had any interest in the dignity of a ruler. They only cared about territory, and the strongest was the one who survived. That was the rule of the forest and also the rule which they would follow here. This was their new land after all.

  Looking at the emperor once more, Hui Yue understood that they had to kill him. Leaving him alive when he was doomed to die was not proper, so Hui Yue headed towards him. His body changed forms to a wolf-man, the body he was the strongest in.

  “Are you here to kill me?” The emperor asked quietly. His voice did not tremble, and his eyes were honest and direct. The day before he had been a mess but he seemed to have come to accept his fate. Hui Yue nodded his head. He had no intention of lying to the man.

  “I see,” Was his only answer. Looking around it seemed as though he wished to see the sun and the garden one last time before he closed his eyes forever. With a sigh he looked at Hui Yue. “You have to be careful,” He said. His voice was devoid of emotions and no hate seemed present. “Listen, Grand Marshall of the beasts, did you not feel that your army won easily?” He asked, his eyes looking at the blue sky. Hui Yue frowned. He had thought that the battle seemed incredibly easy for them. Who would intentionally waste millions of humans to kill a few beasts? Who would easily give up the walls like the Grand Marshall had done? Thinking for some time, Hui Yue did not answer the emperor, but his frown showed the man chained to the tree that his question made sense.

  “He left the city and took with him all the Siban Empire’s Saints. They are waiting for the opportune moment to arrive so they can sweep away the last of you. I am sure he is relying on the Crusaders to kill a lot of you, but if you all fight like the army that was guarding me yesterday did, then I think he is in for a nasty surprise.” The emperor’s voice started to sound a bit smug. “If I am to die, I want him to die with me,” He said in a matter of fact kind of way. Looking at Hui Yue, the emperor nodded once and seconds after, his head had been severed from his body.

  Looking at the now decapitated emperor, Hui Yue felt no joy knowing that they had officially won the war, nor did he feel any relief with the death of the emperor. In fact, he was grateful for the information he had been given just before his death, but, sadly, he knew it was a very significant death. It was something that had to be done no matter how much he didn’t want to kill him, and making the beasts do the killing for him was not Hui Yue’s style. He was the Grand Marshall after all.

  Looking around, Hui Yue took out the memory stones which contained the valuables from the castle, and he searched through them until he found a long rectangular box made from marble and inlaid with gemstones and gold. He withdrew the box and placed the body and the head of the emperor inside before he closed it. “Qiao!” He called out and the lady of the forest arrived by his side curious what he wanted from her now. Everyone within the garden had seen the decapitation of the emperor, as for why he found such a coffin, no one truly knew. They all felt somewhat confused when they saw him place the emperor within the beautiful coffin. For them, the emperor was nothing but an enemy, but Hui Yue still wanted the man to die with his dignity, and he also needed to show gratitude for the information he was given just before the man’s death.

  “What do you need?” She asked curiously as she looked at the marble box. “I need someone to drop this box at the border of the Taiyang Kingdom. Preferably at a military camp.” Hui Yue said while turning away, looking around. “If they see him dead, they’ll understand that this land belongs to us now,” He said as he walked around. “Everyone gather up. The day will be wasted if we don’t manage to get rid of all the Crusaders, and we will be in a tough spot tonight,” He continued as noise rose around him from the beasts who started packing up their things to get ready for the hunt. All of them had eyes filled with anger and indignation. They had all known people from Lady Sun’s army who were slaughtered just hours ago, and they all wished to get revenge. Although they had already died, and although beasts naturally did not have much love for each other, after going to war together they had started to feel like a big family. Hui Yue understood this more than anyone as he too felt responsible for his soldiers’ deaths.

  A One-Horned Eagle was quickly found to take the marble coffin to the borders of Taiyang Kingdom, and the rest of the army got ready to start their hunt for the Crusaders. The Crusaders did not have many members left, but they still should have at least another Saint ranked expert in their midst. At least Hui Yue had thirty-two Saints remaining, far more than the two he expected the Crusaders to have.

  “I hope they have not gotten reinforcements,” Hui Yue mumbled to himself as he took the lead with Lady Sun and Wan Qiao on either side of him. His body was once more handed over to Lan Feng. Wan Qiao was aware that Hui Yue and Lan Feng had changed positions, but she said nothing. Lady Sun too sensed a change in the young man, but she was unable to understand exactly what had changed. The only thing she could sense was that the young man no longer seemed to be a King but rather a Saint. She had heard about this before, and she had seen him reaching the Saint rank when he battled the tall Saint from the Siban Empire, but now it felt oddly different. Earlier it felt as if Hui Yue had reached a higher rank but right now, although she knew it was him, she did not think it truly felt like him. He seemed more arro
gant now, stronger, and in some ways superior even to the other Saints. This was a strength that no one could gain just like that. It was something that had taken hold in a noble beast who had lived day after day as a superior being.

  Lan Feng did nothing to tell Lady Sun about the change in personality. He was not keen on many people knowing his and Hui Yue’s secret, not even someone who had fought with their life on the line together with himself. Lan Feng was no longer capable of trusting people after he lost his body, and he often said he wished that they would have kept all their secrets to themselves, something Hui Yue was incapable of doing. He wanted the ones whom he trusted unconditionally to know his secrets, but at the same time he understood Lan Feng, and he decided not to pressure him to tell their secrets to anyone else.

  Moving through the desolate city, Hui Yue was deep in thought. He was thinking about how his army had spread out when invading the city, and he had to admit that the emperor had been right. Everything had been far too simple, something he should have noticed far earlier; however, it had not been possible since he, after all, had no real experience in battles much less war.

  Hui Yue made sure that all soldiers were vigilant since he now understood that they were not just going to fight the Crusaders, but also the Siban Empire’s Saints and Grand Marshall. This was something which could cause him trouble if they were to battle both at the same time.

  Moving through the city, Hui Yue finally realized that they would find nothing if they kept moving as they were; therefore, he split the horde into four equal battalions. Although they were split up, they should be capable of dealing with the Crusaders, or at least hold them at bay until the others came to reinforce them.

  Moving through city everyone was quiet and observed their surroundings, but no one seemed to see the Crusaders as they had expected. Hui Yue hoped that his army would be the one to find the Crusaders, yet he knew the likelihood of that happening was quite low. Despite this, he kept his hopes up as he made his way through the massive city.

  Suddenly he noticed a scent, the smell of decomposing flesh. Moving towards it, Hui Yue instantly knew what it was. It was a scent he had smelled before.

  Many thoughts went through Hui Yue’s mind as he stopped the army behind him. “Are they killing themselves to keep us unfocused? Making us rush forward to see what happens to catch us in a trap?” Hui Yue mumbled to himself, completely taken aback by the scent. He knew it meant dead Crusaders, but he also knew that his own soldiers had not fought the Crusaders yet. He would have easily heard them fighting if they were.

  Moving towards the alleyway from where the scent appeared, Hui Yue and his soldiers all became far more vigilant because they did not know what was going on in front of them. When Hui Yue reached the alleyway, he stopped, completely shocked by what he saw. Within the alleyway was the corpses of all the remaining Crusaders. They were all in different stages of decomposition; bones, ashes, flesh. Hui Yue felt his heart raise when he noticed the face of Li Meilin lying on the ground.

  Sucking in a large breath of air, he found that she had four small holes on her forehead, and she also had the most complete corpse of them all.

  Hui Yue felt as though he was being observed, and his eyes shifted into the air where they locked onto a pair of golden eyes. An arrogant smirk was on this person’s face who was seated in the sky as though it was the most natural thing. Looking around, Hui Yue quickly noticed that no one other than himself could see this expert seated high up in the sky.

  Chapter 291 - Cai Jie

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  Chapter 291: Cai Jie

  Looking at the man floating in the air, Hui Yue remembered he had seen him before. Although he was now floating above all the dead Crusaders, Hui Yue felt no danger from the man. It was as though he could not be bothered with something as ordinary as a war.

  “Lady Sun, Qiao, get all the men out of this alleyway, I need to do something,” Hui Yue said in a low voice as he once more was in control of their body, and something deep within made it impossible for the two women to argue. Both instantly started getting the beasts to leave. Hui Yue sprouted golden Wu Wei wings and took to the sky until he was standing right in front of the golden eyed man.

  “I thank you for your assistance with these Crusaders, but do you mind me asking why you killed them?” He asked politely, and the golden young man looked at him, the arrogant smile on his face not changing a bit as he shrugged. “I have a grudge against their master,” He said, his words causing Hui Yue’s eyes to narrow. “I did not do this for you. I just want to get rid of as many Crusaders as I can until I am ready to kill their master.”

  “Heh,” Hui Yue had a smile on his face as he heard the words. “I’m sorry but get in line. An He is my problem.” He said as some of Lan Feng’s arrogance shone through. The bird was raging inside his lower dantian yelling things like ‘Where does this fool come from?’, ‘Just because he is a bit stronger doesn’t mean that he is stronger than us,’ and ‘That bastard is mine. I am the one who can kill him since he stole my body.’

  Hearing the answer Hui Yue gave, the man was astonished at first. “You’re going to kill An He?” He repeated, his eyes completely confused. “How do you even know about An He?” He asked.

  Sighing deeply, Hui Yue answered vaguely, “I have a grudge against him that’s four thousand years old. Even if you have a grudge against him, it cannot be older than mine.”

  “Just because yours is the oldest does not mean that you have priority on revenge!” The golden boy answered, his arrogance changing into a childish fit. Both Hui Yue and the floating man looked at each other with annoyance. Finally, Hui Yue sighed as he shook his head. “What’s the point. Neither of us are strong enough to defeat him yet all we can do is annoy him by killing his undead Crusaders.” Hui Yue sighed, and his words caused the man in front of him to nod with a grave expression.

  “Come with me,” Hui Yue offered as he was about to fly down to the ground again. “If we are together we can always decide on who gets the chance to kill An He when we reach him. Together we are more of a threat than we are alone,” He laughed. The tall man hesitated for a short while before he nodded his head.

  “Well, a pleasure to meet you,” He started as he exchanged a handshake, “I am Cai Jie, a foreigner to this world.”

  “You’re from another world?” Hui Yue furrowed his brows. He knew that there were multiple worlds out there as he had come from one of them, but he was of the impression that one needed to be a God to travel through them unharmed. Even Lan Feng needed the strength of death to pull Hui Yue from his own world and make his reincarnation happen. Although the man in front of him was strong, he was without a doubt not stronger than a Saint. Still he had managed to defeat two Saint ranked Crusaders, and he did not seem injured. The man in front of him was in no way simple.

  It seemed that the thought was mirrored within Cai Jie’s mind as he looked at Hui Yue, and the white-haired young man smiled politely, “I am Hui Yue.” He introduced himself, “My grudge with An He can only be solved by his death.” Hearing the harsh words, Cai Jie smiled. “It seems we agree,” He said smilingly. A golden light shone from his body and blinded Hui Yue, but after a moment, the golden young man in front of him just continued to smile. The two young men took to the ground where Hui Yue, with one last glance at Li Meilin, lit a blue flame which he tossed at the corpses in front of him. Seeing the blue flame, Cai Jie raised an eyebrow in astonishment but said nothing. Standing side by side, the two watched the corpses burn as the blue flame set them aflame.

  “Older sister Meilin!” Someone yelled from the sky causing Hui Yue to look up into the air where he saw the Saint whom Wan Qiao had fought once before darting to their location. His eyes were filled with hate, and his body trembled as he flew right over the heads of Hui Yue and Cai Jie, and took the corpse of the woman into his arms while putting out the flames.

  “Who killed her?!” He yelled as he turned around. His entire body was releasing massive am
ounts of energy, his anger and grief caused his inner energies to boil.

  “She was a Crusader,” Hui Yue stated calmly. He felt Wan Qiao, who was standing behind him. The woman already changed to her bird form ready to fight if needed. She was waiting for Hui Yue to give her a sign. “We don’t know what happened to her after we returned her to you,” He continued, “You must know who is in control of the Crusaders to have given her life to them.”

  Everything he said caused the face of Li Xiaopeng to turn darker and darker, and although he could understand what Hui Yue said, all he could remember was that his beloved sister had changed since she had returned from the beastly forest. It was obviously the beasts’ fault that she ended up the way she had. Thinking this, the short man filled with anger he launched towards Hui Yue.

  Both Hui Yue and the golden Cai Jie sprung backwards to avoid the attack as a shadow surged over them. The One-Horned Jasmine Eagle threw herself in front of them, her talon grabbing Li Xiaopeng’s hand. She did not allow for it to hit his target. Li Xiaopeng was at a clear disadvantage. Although he had been on equal footing with Wan Qiao before, this was a completely different situation.