Blue Phoenix

Everyone, apart from Wan Qiao and Li Xiaopeng, stopped as they looked at the dead Grand Marshall. His death had been very anticlimactic, pitiful really as he had plummeted to the ground, but Hui Yue could not help but feel that the man deserved a death such as this. Nothing fancy, just a quick death to end a greedy life.

Hui Yue was still for some time before a smile appeared on his lips. The only thing he needed to do now was to defeat Li Xiaopeng. When he was defeated, then the Siban Empire would belong to the beasts. They would have gained the freedom they had fought so hard for. Knowing that everything now depended on Wan Qiao and the battle with Li Xiaopeng, Lan Feng, in control of their body, used his wings to fly a bit into the sky before he turned towards the woman and man who were currently fighting.

While Hui Yue was deeply focused observing the battle on the ground, he felt that Lan Feng was feeling ecstatic as he flew in the sky. Then he hovered in the air above the battlefield before once more repositioning himself. Lan Feng was in his original form for the first time in four thousand years, and his feelings of longing were so overwhelming that Hui Yue was certain the arrogant bird was crying from joy.

Hui Yue said nothing as he let Lan Feng fly around in the sky. His eyes kept going from the many beasts who eyed him with shock and reverence to the battle between Wan Qiao and Li Xiaopeng. Watching the battle, Hui Yue was surprised to see that Wan Qiao was not attacking the shorter man; instead, she was solely defending herself. Something which did not fit her personality.

“Is she waiting for the opponent to run out of energy?” Hui Yue mumbled to himself as he scratched his chin, his eyes focused solely on the battle in front of him. “She gains nothing from waiting for him to run out of energy… Will she run out first?” He continued to grumble. “She should be stronger than him. She was healed just before. Why is it that she does nothing.”

Just as Hui Yue was filled with questions, Wan Qiao changed shape to the beautiful woman that Hui Yue usually saw her as. “What is she doing!” He exclaimed once more, but no one answered him. Lan Feng was currently too emotional to listen to Hui Yue’s words, and no one else could hear him as he was deep within his lower dantian.

“This battle is pointless!” Wan Qiao called out as she dodged one more attack coming her way. This time, it had been a golden dragon-shaped spear with an incredibly strong and sharp end. Seeing it, Hui Yue was certain that it was so sharp it could cut through stone.

The words spoken by Wan Qiao caused all the beasts to feel surprised. None of them expected that she was not enjoying the battle. “Look at your beloved sister!” She continued, and although Li Xiaopeng wished to continue the battle, he did stop for a moment to look at his little sister.

“She is clad in the black clothes of a Crusader. She has four holes in her forehead, and she was found together with a whole bunch of Crusaders. Now tell me, how could we beasts make her into a Crusader when the Crusaders are on your side?” Wan Qiao tried reasoning with the angered Saint by her side, and although the words would have had no effect earlier, they clearly had an effect now. Li Xiaopeng took his hand and slowly caressed the four holes in her head, a frown appearing on his forehead.

“It was your fault from the start,” He argued back, but he did not send an attack towards Wan Qiao; instead, he lifted up his sister and moved towards her. “She was petrified when she returned. Don’t tell me you had nothing to do with that!”

“I admit that we might have frightened her, but we took good care of her as a guest when we should have killed her. We warned her about the war so you could get ready in time, and we even delivered her back to your borders without allowing anyone to hurt her.” Wan Qiao retorted, and Li Xiaopeng was clearly aware that what she said was correct. The one to blame was the emperor who sent his little sister to Shenyuan with that delegation. She had been treated very well by the beasts who should have killed her, and then the Siban Empire gave her to the Crusaders.

These thoughts were confusing, and although the anger had not vanished, he still felt that what the beast might be correct. After standing for some time indecisively, he finally nodded to Wan Qiao before he took to the sky and vanished in the opposite direction that the majority of the Saints had gone.

Lan Feng landed on the ground next to Wan Qiao and with a sigh he returned control of the body to Hui Yue. As soon as they switched, the feathers and his beastly shape changed to his human form. He quickly withdrew a robe from a storage stone which he then wore.

“That was not like you,” He pointed out as he looked at Wan Qiao. The comment seemed to make the eagle blush a little, but she quickly cleared her throat and seemed to be focused once again, “I know,” She said her voice trembling a little. “I understand his emotions,” She said with a sigh, “I lost someone important during this battle as well, and I know the urge to kill the responsible party,” She commented. Her eyes turned slightly red as unshed tears appeared within. Hui Yue knew she was thinking of Lord Pan, and he placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. “He will be reborn somewhere and become a great hero,” Hui Yue promised her with a sad smile on his face. He too had liked Lord Pan.

A small chuckle escaped Wan Qiao’s lips as soon as she heard the words said by Hui Yue, and she nodded her head. “We just won a war. We cannot be too depressed now!” She exclaimed and Hui Yue smiled to her as he nodded his head. “We really did win the war,” Hui Yue said with a sigh, as he felt a massive stone lifted from his shoulders. “Thank you for your hard work Grand Marshall!” One Saint after another rushed to Hui Yue to express their gratitude for his help. The Saints who had always treated him as an equal now treated him as a lord far above them. ‘I didn’t think it would matter this much that you are a divine beast,’ Hui Yue pointed out, but his statement only caused Lan Feng to snort. ‘Of course, they respect me. Only the direct bloodline of the four divine beasts are known as divine beasts. When I and the others were banished and tricked, I am certain that all our descendants were either killed or taken as slaves. It must have been four thousand years since the last divine beast appeared. For me to be here now should not be possible, but here I am. They will love for me to be here.’

Hui Yue considered it for some time, but he quickly agreed to what he said. Divine beasts were the sovereigns of beasts after all. They were the most awe-inspiring beasts and the strongest. They had the bloodline of the gods, and they had abilities that no one else had.

Even the golden young man was looking at Hui Yue with a complex expression. Unfortunately, it was impossible for Hui Yue to read what exactly he was hiding within his mind.

Now that Hui Yue had finished the war, he stood there in the middle of the city completely taken aback with how the war ended. The war itself had gone incredibly easy, easy compared to what he had expected. This was something he could thank the enemy Grand Marshall for. His certainty of victory came back to bite him due to the Crusaders but eventually both the emperor and the Grand Marshall fell to the beast horde. With their fall so too fell the Siban Empire. It was now land that belonged to the beasts.

….

“Lord, the victor has been determined.” The maid took a step forward as she looked into the air right in front of her. She dared not look at her master as she knew he disliked to be looked at by mere maids like her.

“I am sorry to tell you that the Siban Empire could not prevail under the attack of the beast army. Even the Crusaders sent by you seem to have passed away during the battle.”

As the words were spoken, a snort could be heard from the seat by her side. “I don’t care who wins the war,” An He said with a smile on his lips as he swirled a small globe in his hand. A globe which looked like a little planet of its own. “I am not a part of this world any longer. I am not a part of your idea of time. You weaklings are like animals living within a field, and this field is your world. None of you can see beyond the field, nor do you know what exists outside it. I encompass this field; I exist everywhere at once. I am your yesterday and your tomorrow. I am the only one who has left the field, and the world outside is my stage, never to be held down by this pathetic small plane.”

The Maid said no more as she took a step backwards and stood there, awaiting the next order from her master.

….

Hui Yue and the beasts quickly found mansions within the Siban Imperial Capital where they waited while some of the army returned to Shenyuan with the good news and allowed for the beasts to start migrating towards their new lands. The beast armies which remained within the Siban empire all went to the borders to ensure that no other army suddenly attacked them. They ensured that the humans who could not coexist started to migrate from their kingdom, turning it into a haven for beasts to live.

While Hui Yue expected that he would be done with the army as soon as they had won, he soon found out that they had no idea about many basic things. Such as how to manage an empire. He told them about taxes; he taught them about matters of the military to help build up their army so that they could keep their hard earned country, and he also talked about the job of an official. Lady Sun especially ended up finding all of this information incredibly interesting, and she was soon chosen as the governor of Siban.

During the time when Hui Yue was within the capital, he noticed that Cai Jie didn’t leave. He found a house he took a liking to, one that was just next to Hui Yue’s. He participated in every meeting and for some reason, none of the beasts question his presence. It seemed as though they all assumed that he was a friend of Hui Yue’s.

It took Hui Yue a whole two months to teach Lady Sun all she would need to know, and after he had finally given all the information she needed to know, he heaved a heavy sigh of relief.

“That is it, isn’t it?” Cai Jie asked with a smile on his face. Hui Yue looked at the golden man questionably at first, but his expression soon turned to a smile. “I need to say goodbye to Wan Qiao,” He said with a shrug. “But I agree, it is time for us to leave the world of beasts and return to the world of humans.”

Smiling at each other, the white and the golden young man went towards the house which the One-Horned Jasmine Eagle claimed as her own.