Blue Phoenix

The following day, Hui Yue gave the experts a day off as he moved around the castle delegating some of the tasks that he had to deal with. Especially the ones who were staying behind in Shenyuan, they were pushed to their limits. While all the Saints were rushing from one end of Shenyuan to the other, all of them were doing their best to gather gold, provisions, and maps. Watching them, Hui Yue was greatly appreciative that all the guards already had armor and weapons. Had he needed the Saints to find armor and weapons for the entire army then he could only imagine how messy it would have been.

While the Saints were rushing from their home cities back to the capital, Hui Yue allowed the army to relax a little. This meant that all of them had to train on their own, and to Hui Yue’s surprise, he found that no one fought one on one battles anymore it was all group battles now

The groups seemed to enjoy this new way of battling, and their eyes were shining with excitement. Their faces had uncontrolled grins spreading across them. The groups were now used to fighting together. They were familiar with the different attacks of their teammates not to mention the trust they had built up. They knew that someone had their backs which allowed for them to move forward and attack. Seeing how well all the groups worked together, Hui Yue felt pride in his heart.

Walking through the military camp, everywhere Hui Yue came across people training either on their own or together in the groups. They were experimenting with new attacks or cultivating their inner energies.

Hui Yue too was busy refining Yin energy so that he could create more Wu Wei, however the speed, although boosted by the blue cloud, was still so slow that Hui Yue acknowledged that he would need at least a year before reaching the ninth star of the King rank. This was something which made him sigh deeply but thinking about it, he had already been assisted greatly by the monk that he could not ask for more.

Although Hui Yue was feeling stressed, he also knew that he needed to focus on the quality of the essence of the heavens and the earth he refined. It was important for him to, keep the quality of his internal energies high, so high that it would not make his cultivation base unbalanced.

Sighing, Hui Yue turned around and headed back towards the city gate. In the air, he had just seen a blur flying past, something so swift that one would only recognize it if they knew what to look for. Hui Yue, though, was perfectly well aware what the blur meant. He knew that he would soon be summoned as another Saint had returned to the capital.

The Lords of the Forests returned to their homes for both gold and provisions. Everyone was expected to make a trip home, but strangely enough, acquiring provisions seemed to be the biggest problem. In a world where no ordinary beasts remained, one needed to catch less intelligent magical beasts in the forests and turn them into a food supply. Some beasts were living on farms where they had cleared the forest to have agriculture; they farmed rice alongside corn and other crops.

Seeing that a lord had returned, Hui Yue needed to meet up with this Saint to receive the items he had brought with him. Hurrying back to the castle as quickly as he could, Hui Yue found himself in the castle within half an hour. As he arrived, he saw one of the Lords of the Forests waiting for him. This was one of the experts who was not going to fight in the war directly, but his eyes were still serious as he nodded respectfully to Hui Yue. He handed the young man two high-grade storage stones.

Within the first storage stone were heaps of gold. So much in fact that Hui Yue knew it was more than the million gold each of the experts were supposed to provide. Looking at the other stone, he saw food piled up. Bags of rice and corn were present alongside barrels filled with dried and smoked meats. There was food enough to feed a whole ten thousand men for more than a month. Hui Yue felt great gratitude towards this Saint, and he bowed deeply after having examined the two stones.

“Thank you very much for your contribution,” He said while still bowing and the face of the Saint lit up. He was clearly satisfied with the reaction given from Hui Yue, a reaction which showed that he genuinely appreciated the money and the food he had been granted. The Saint nodded once more, not for any specific reason, just because he was indeed satisfied.

“I will go looking for Wan Qiao, I have a few maps for her as well,” The expert said, and as soon as the words had left his mouth, the Saint turned into a blur once more as he vanished from the courtyard. Looking at the storage stones, Hui Yue smiled as he knew he was getting closer and closer to the day of departure.

“Wait, wait,” A voice called out to Hui Yue.When he heard the voice, he instantly halted. He turned around as Pan Long appeared. The older man looked as happy as Hui Yue felt, and in his hand was a small leather bag.

“Look at this,” He said with a great smile on his face as he stopped next to Hui Yue and handed the bag to the younger male. “These are the stones I’ve collected so far. I also saw that old lord Han gave you two storage stones before this. It seems as though we have almost collected all the provisions and gold we need. Are you ready to start planning which path to take to Siban?” Lord Pan was filled with excitement and looking at him; Hui Yue was reminded of a child waiting for Christmas. His eyes were glistening with excitement, and his face sprouting a smile as his hands were busy passing on the bag to Hui Yue, who quickly accepted them.

“Well I better get going,” Pan Long said with an apologetic expression on his face as he nodded to Hui Yue and rushed away from the courtyard. Hui Yue was still just standing there, his mind blank, with a confused expression on his face. Not long after a chuckle escaped his lips as Hui Yue could not help but laugh at the rushing Pan Long. The expert was a Lord of the Forest, but he seemed so random from time to time. This was something which caused Hui Yue to feel as though the Lords of the Forests really weren’t as different from him as he had first thought.

Returning to his room, Hui Yue opened the bag and raised an eyebrow. Hui Yue was looking at the many storage stones within. Some of them contained the exact minimum amount of gold and food while others were packed full. They were filled to the brim with both gold and food. They had far more than what was expected from the experts. Looking at all this gold and food, Hui Yue knew that he already had enough food and enough gold to start the war.

Because he now possessed enough money and gold, he left his room and went to see Wan Qiao. The closer he got the more people he saw waiting in the corridor, and the young man frowned as he wondered what was happening. Pushing his way through the servants, he finally arrived at the door which led to her private chambers, but just as he was about to open it he noticed that the door was actually coming closer and closer to him.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, but even so, Hui Yue had no time to move away as the door exploded outwards. It hit him with a destructive force that sent him flying backwards into the wall behind him. The door shattered as it was forced into the young man.

Behind the door, an expert came flying. He was not flying due to a martial skill, nor an inborn ability, he had obviously been kicked and was sent flying that way. Seeing this, not only the now wounded Hui Yue, but everyone present was completely silent as the expert sent flying slowly rose to his feet and wiped a strand of blood away from the corner of his lip.

“Stop being so grumpy old woman!” The man said with anger shining in his eyes. “We cannot afford for you to join the army. We need you here at home to protect Shenyuan. Give me your position and I’ll make sure that we are fine.”

“No way!” An angry voice roared from inside the room and moments after the woman stepped through the broken doorway. A flash of surprise appeared in her eyes as she saw the wounded Hui Yue with blood flowing from one wound after another, and the many servants standing clustered within the hallway looking at her with shock in her eyes.

Seeing this, Wan Qiao stopped for a moment, and a frown appeared on her face as she turned to the many servants, “What are you doing here?!” She scolded harshly, and the many servants suddenly rushed off suddenly realizing that they needed to be somewhere.

“You brute,” Hui Yue said with a laugh which seemed to wash away the heavy atmosphere, and after a few moments, the white-haired young man got to his feet and looked at himself. Looking down, he frowned slightly as he saw how his robe was destroyed in multiple places. The door had managed to penetrate not only the robe but also through his skin, impaling him on a shattered door.

Seeing this, Hui Yue patiently stood still as he removed one part of the wooden door after another, and everyone present was shocked as they saw each and every one of the wounds closing up on their own. It was as if Hui Yue was being healed, however no green hue was apparent on his skin, and no signs of actively using healing was seen. Also, every lord had previously understood exactly which affinities Hui Yue possessed. Knowing about the strength of their Grand Marshall was something which they felt was important, but both the expert who had been tossed through the door and Wan Qiao were surprised to see his body heal itself.

Wan Qiao was surprised for another reason than the expert. She had already heard about the green pearl from Hui Yue, but she had never expected that this greedy green pearl was willing to help Hui Yue with something as simple some minor flesh wounds. Hui Yue himself was also quite surprised by the healing, but since the monk had changed his demeanor to become more calm, although he was surprised, he showed nothing of it on his expression. More than surprise, he was grateful as he now understood that all these phenomena within his dantian had their own personalities.

Standing up, Hui Yue looked at the two lords with a sigh he seemed like a parent looking at two unruly children. “I’ll be back when I’ve changed clothes,” He said with a sigh, “Please stop quarreling before then. I’ll need to speak with both of you.”

Having said that, Hui Yue turned around and went towards his own room, leaving behind two stunned experts who felt slightly embarrassed by their actions. Walking forward, Wan Qiao reached down her hand to help the Saint stand up.

“We better move to the library then,” She said a little lost. She was both curious to hear what Hui Yue had to say, but also a little embarrassed by once more showing her violent side to the young man.