Drums of War

by Tinalynge

  The days Hui Yue stayed within the fire ring he made it smaller in diameter, but taller ensuring that no beasts would be interested in jumping inside to see what was hiding within.

  Hui Yue lived off the meat the Lynx provided and he had long since taken the magical core from within the beast’s skull.

  Another ten days passed where Hui Yue took another ten medicinal pills. He spent the days cultivating and practicing physical exercises for the sake of healing his arm enough to once more be able to fight.

  Standing up straight, Hui Yue cracked his neck and rolled his shoulder. A satisfied smile was on his face as he waved his hand and the flames died out. Hui Yue expected that many beasts would be waiting for the flames to disappear, however, as the flames vanished only a few beasts were visible. As soon as they saw Hui Yue all of them turned tail and ran away as quick as they could.

  Hui Yue just managed to survive a serious battle, but he proceeded to close his eyes and scan the area. He was looking for other beasts of similar strength that he could battle against.

  Chapter 6 – Through the Wilderness

  Hui Yue fought one battle after another and as the time went by his ability to kill the beasts improved drastically. At first, he got wounded in every battle, and the green pearl helped him a few times while the rest of the times relied fully on his lesser efficient medicinal pills, something he quickly ran out of.

  His previously perfect skin was now filled with scars and wounds, one looking fiercer than the other. Every day was filled with battles against the various beasts, and he soon he managed to equally fight against half of the King ranked beasts he came across.

  The other half were dealt with by Lan Feng and Hui Yue’s combined effort. Traveling through the wilderness, the beasts were gradually turning stronger and stronger, however, Hui Yue’s personal strength was far from strong enough to battle against the high ranked experts that now appeared. Eventually, Hui Yue passed over control of the body to Lan Feng

  Having changed who was in control of the body fewer fights broke out. This was something Hui Yue preferred as neither he nor the phoenix wished to use their Wu Wei which was painstakingly refined.

  While Hui Yue was in the dantian cave he spent his time cultivating. Having entered Shenyuan he finally understood just how weak he truly was. Previously he had been certain that he would not die because Lan Feng was on his side, however, after having met Zhong Fai, Lan Feng and Hui Yue were awakened. They understand that it had been four thousand years since Lan Feng resided within this world. Four thousand years was a very long time, so long so that everything had changed and nothing seemed the same.

  They both understood that their strength was inferior to true experts. Neither Hui Yue nor Lan Feng allowed for any time to be wasted any longer, both of them using every waking hour of the day to focus on either training their strength while battling beasts or sitting down and cultivating their inner energies.

  Having Lan Feng controlling his body was of great benefit to Hui Yue. He managed to reach the ninth star of the Grandmaster Rank in the time it took for Lan Feng to travel through the wilderness towards the city which was known as the capital of Wan Qiao’s territory.

  The closer to the city Hui Yue came, the more the landscape changed. He traveled through many villages much like the first one he entered. Roads had been created in the wilderness, roads which took them towards the major cities.

  The further into the core of Shenyuan one went the more beasts that were seen with a semi-human shape; being human but still having beastly features. Seeing these beasts, Hui Yue was reminded of the figure Lan Feng’s soul had taken. The human shape with the celestial blue feathers which covered his entire body.

  Another thing which changed the closer one went towards the core areas of the wilderness was the strength of the beasts around them.

  The beasts who took human form were clearly not using the mist-like energy which the beasts were using, instead, they were using Qi, spiritual energy, and Wu Wei. This was a great shock to Hui Yue the first time he fought against a human formed King ranked expert.

  Lan Feng refused to comment on when or how a magical beast would manage to take human shape. He even refused to tell how the energy could change from mist-like energy into the same energies that humans used. The only thing he said was that Hui Yue could ask his nanny when they met. It was obvious that the phoenix was still sulking about their only option of asking her for help.

  Although Lan Feng was sulking he was still in control of the body and he still moved towards the inner regions, the city which they had been told about. He too was aware that this was their only way out, and although it seemed risky and dangerous they had no other choice.

  ‘You are already a Saint,’ Hui Yue said curiously, ‘How come you are so afraid of her? Is she a God perhaps?’ The question caused Lan Feng to snort but he did not answer right away, instead, he took some time to think it through.

  ‘Although I’m a Saint, I am not a Saint of the ninth star. She is, though. I also assume that this Zhong Fai was of the nine star level. Both of them are superior to me when it comes to power, and even though it pains me to admit it, I am unable to do even the smallest thing to resist them.’

  Lan Feng’s voice sounded both depressed and indignant as he continued to focus solely on a group of travelers who stopped on the road in front of him.

  Frowning slightly, Lan Feng felt as though something was amiss. He stopped before reaching them. Both Hui Yue and himself kept their vigilance at the highest level because something around the group in front made both man and bird feel their hair stand on end. Stopping they started to observe the group, only to see that they too were observing a lonely man who had no travel companions.

  This group consisted of seven men. Some of them were wearing fine clothes from expensive materials while others wore simple clothes made from durable but inexpensive materials. Their weapons were similarly of various quality and material. Their eyes were narrowed and their faces unshaven.

  Looking at these men, Lan Feng and Hui Yue instantly understood that they were not travellers who were lost, or taking a break, instead, they were bandits; bandits who attacked any group of travelers they came by.

  Realizing this both Lan Feng and Hui Yue sighed deeply. They had already come across multiple bandit groups on their way, and all these groups either retreated as soon as they felt the Saint ranked aura, or they lost their lives in a swift and painless exchange of blows.

  The group in front of them seemed formidable. There were three King ranked experts and one Emperor while the rest were Dukes. As to why such experts stooped so low as to become thieves and bandits, Hui Yue had no idea. He thought about it and realized he had absolutely no interest in why it happened.

  Lan Feng did what he had done many other times where they met enemies and released his aura, however, since this group had one Emperor and three Kings, the Duke ranked experts were unaware that Lan Feng had the aura of a Saint. All they felt was an overwhelming pressure which clashed against them, but they had in their group three King ranked experts and one Emperor. They had never seen anyone as strong as their own experts and they instantly started throwing insults towards Lan Feng.

  The faces of the King ranked experts and the Emperor turned increasingly sour as the four of them looked at Lan Feng with coldness in their eyes. They decided that it was time for them to go all out. They had the advantage in numbers and they had never before met an actual Saint ranked expert.

  Their logic was flawed in at least one place. They had never met or truly understood the power of a Saint, and by the time the four of them drew their weapons and charged at Lan Feng, a beautiful golden light shone forth. A light followed by the metallic scent of blood. A gurgling sound was heard as the four experts all had their heads severed and blood flooded from their necks.

  Lan Feng was against using his Wu Wei, however, he was also against losing. So using the minimum amount of force he managed to defeat the entire group
of bandits.

  As the many Duke ranked experts saw how their friends of a much higher rank than them died so easily, none of them stayed behind. All of them ran away as swiftly as their legs could carry them.

  Lan Feng did not chase them. None of them had connections and they were now so frightened by him that they would not try to return for vengeance. There was no honor amongst thieves, there were only survivors.

  Shaking his head, he once more suppressed his aura and continued his journey towards the inner core of the forest. Hui Yue spending every second of the day cultivating, and he accumulating a shockingly high amount of Qi and spiritual energy. His body was feeling stronger and stronger. His Qi swirl and spiritual energy sea was constantly increasing in size and soon the spiritual energy Sea was filled to the brim. His body was almost ready for yet another breakthrough; a breakthrough which Hui Yue had waited for a long time to achieve.

  It was the middle of the night and although they had traveled day and night to arrive at the capital of Shenyuan even a little bit faster, neither beast nor human said anything, but that night they did not travel. They found a tree to sit below in its shade. Hui Yue crossed his legs and sat down. Deep inside the dantian cave, he was focused solely on cultivating and left keeping watch to Lan Feng.

  Lan Feng, who usually hated being given tasks did not complain at all. His eyes were open and filled with vigilance as he used his Wu Wei from time to time to scan the surrounding area looking for beasts who had hidden themselves. Although Hui Yue was against using Wu Wei if they had a choice not to do so, he understood that right now he could not afford any interruptions. H furrowed his eyebrows and he took a deep breath.

  Breathing deeply, Hui Yue focused fully on his essence of the heavens and the earth as he slowly released the blue cloud allowing it to surround him. At the same time, he used the stone he purchased back in Azure Dragon’s tunnels.

  The two items both caused his body to increase the amount of energy he could absorb. When he was absorbing that much energy, Hui Yue had to constantly rotate it around within his body. He had to keep rotating it without allowing for the Qi to merge with the Qi swirl until it reached the pure, lustrous pearl white colour. Controlling this much energy and only bringing the fully refined energy into the Qi swirl was something which required an incredible amount of attention and control.

  Pushing his cultivation technique to its limits Hui Yue focused as much as possible. He soon managed to refine thread after thread of Qi. As soon as the Qi swirl was full and could not continue absorbing more Qi strands, Hui Yue retracted the blue cloud and placed the stone on the floor. The remaining unpurified Qi stayed within his meridians. Then he once more entered a deep trance, and strand after strand of Qi was being refined further; they were refined into silvery drops of spiritual energy.

  Drop after drop entered the spiritual energy sea, however, Hui Yue felt as though something was amiss. Something had not gone the way he expected it to.

  Gritting his teeth, the young man refused to believe that he could not break through into the Duke rank as he stubbornly continued refining one Qi strand after another. After a while, nothing happened, and eventually it went so far that Hui Yue had refined every single strand of Qi. He once more shrouded himself in the blue cloud and placed the stone in his hand. Although he had not broken through yet, he was determined to break through before he continued his journey, and with stubbornness displayed in the eyes of the young man he entered a trance once more.

  Chapter 7 – Golden Streaks of Light

  Constantly switching between absorbing the essence of the heavens and the earth which was refined into Qi and then further refining that Qi into spiritual energy kept Hui Yue fully occupied for more than a whole day. During this whole time, Lan Feng ensured that nothing happened around him. His entire being was on high alert, every muscle was tensed, and his Wu Wei circulated through their shared body, ready to be used at any time should any trouble occur.

  While Lan Feng was fully focused on the outside world, Hui Yue’s entire focus was on the inside world. His eyes were closed while he felt the essence of the heavens and the earth entering through his veins and meridians. He felt how it kept circulating within his meridians until it was fully refined, and then how it ended up joining the Qi Swirl. Then it was sucked into the middle dantian where the Qi threads one after another were refined further into small drops of spiritual energy.

  Usually, the spiritual energy sea would start climbing towards the shoreline and at some point become so filled that it would spill out over the shoreline. The spiritual energy sea would become chaotic and eventually it would carve out an area within the middle dantian to hold an even larger amount of spiritual energy. This would increase the depth and width of the sea.

  This was the usual way of breaking through, however, no matter how much Hui Yue refined the sea did not rise like it used to, nor did it burst over his shoreline in an attempt to break through into the next rank. The only thing which happened was that ripples could be seen on the surface. Ripples which appeared every time one drop after another fell into the spiritual energy sea below.

  Grumbling Hui Yue stopped refining more energy as he understood that the current situation could not be dealt with by forcefully refining more and more spiritual energy. He was stuck at a bottleneck, a bottleneck which required something other than just raw energy. It was obvious that Hui Yue was closing in on the upper dantian level. It seemed the Duke rank required some sort of insight or enlightenment, something which Hui Yue still had not encountered.

  ‘Hey, Lan Feng, which kind of enlightenment am I meant to have? What is it I am supposed to understand?’ Hui Yue asked sourly, feeling agitated that he had sufficient energy to break through, however, not the insight to.

  ‘I can’t tell you,’ Lan Feng said seriously. ‘If I tell you, then you might be able to gain enlightenment, but it would not be your own enlightenment but mine. It will not be true to your path of cultivation.’

  As soon as Lan Feng opened his mouth, Hui Yue already knew what the answer would be. He felt incredibly frustrated by the fact that he could not break through now when he had planned to do so.

  Sighing deeply and calming himself, Hui Yue closed his eyes for a moment. When they opened, again they shone with determination.

  ‘Although I did not break through now, I still refined a large amount of energy and it has increased my strength quite a bit. Although I am not a Duke yet I’m still not weak.’

  Thinking like this he was content as he once more sat down and started cultivating. Lan Feng stayed in control while he traveled on the paved road in front of him. He passed through one forest after another where they encountered multiple bandits, some of which ran away when they felt Lan Feng’s aura, others determined that their advantage in numbers was enough to deal with him and thus went straight to their deaths.

  During this long trip of a few weeks, Hui Yue spent half the time refining more energy and the other half contemplating what it was he was missing; what was keeping him from transcending another rank.

  When he became a Duke, the strength of his Qi would multiply by at least double, and becoming that strong meant that he would be capable of dealing with any ordinary King beast or expert. The more experienced experts would be a different matter though.

  Ruminating about the path of cultivation he had taken, Hui Yue remembered how he started his journey back in his hometown. How he trained his internal energies from infancy. He thought about his urge to perfect his Qi, making it of the finest quality possible. Back then he knew that it was a roundabout way to cultivate, that although the results were great it took an incredible amount of time. But back then Hui Yue decided to spend time to perfect his quality and even now he was the same. Although it took time for him to come to the stage he was at now, it had all been his decisions which paved the road for him.

  Thinking back on all the hardships and the patience he needed in the past he realised that he had become too greedy, too
content with getting everything easily. He understood that his road to cultivation was paved with hard work, and that what he needed was not easy results such as getting answers from Lan Feng. No he needed to submerge himself in his cultivation and feel what it told him.

  As this dawned upon him he felt how golden streaks of light appeared from his forehead and saw as these streaks flowed through his entire body before they entered the middle dantian. They proceeded to carved the shoreline larger, carving the depths of the sea unfathomably deep, and rearranging the entire spiritual energy sea.

  As streaks of light appeared, Hui Yue noticed how his soul felt light and was filled with warmth like a hot summer day. As the golden streaks were about to disappear they entered the five elemental flames which were hovering above the energy sea, the elemental flames all starting to soar into the sky. Their strength was now far superior to before as they absorbed the golden energy their size doubled. Hui Yue started to feel how his affinity with the elements increased drastically. His eyes widened as he understood that having to reflect on his path of cultivation was what he had been missing. That he was rushing recently. Rushing to improve his strength, and during this period he had forgotten what path he embarked on all those years back.