Chapter 264: Beast Horde
Hui Yue slowly rose to his feet as he sheepishly laughed fully aware that he had made an entire army of over four hundred thousand beasts wait for him to wake up. “Why didn’t they wake me,” he mumbled to himself as he felt a slight redness appear on his face. After clearing his throat, he once more entered his dantian cave, and he headed straight towards the Wu Wei wings. These wings were golden and clearly made from Wu Wei, but as for why he had them, he had no idea. He was very curious about what kind of life these wings had. He felt an overwhelming strength but also a tranquil calm from these wings, and due to the gentleness he felt from them, he had named them Angel.
Activating these angelic wings, a golden light appeared behind him, and slowly the wings started to form from these rays of light. A few moments after the golden wings spread out behind him, Hui Yue allowed for the wings to suck in his Wu Wei as he took to the skies. From high above, he took a long look at the army he was leading to war.
Beneath him, all the beasts were standing straight in their human shape, and although they looked different from humans with their various shapes and sizes, they were still standing in a straight line. All their eyes were glued to the man who was hovering right above them. The man they knew as a wolf, yet now he was flying high in the sky with majestic, golden wings. His white hair was fluttering in the wind, and his eyes sharp as he looked below him. His light blue robe was rustling around his body, and anyone who looked at him got the impression that he was a celestial being descending upon their world. The entire army held their breath in astonishment and surprise; their eyes were glued to the handsome man unable to look away.
It was not only the soldiers who looked at him this way, but all the Saints and commanders were also just as astonished. None of them knew that he was able to fly, only Wan Qiao was not surprised. She too sprouted wings following straight behind Hui Yue as though she dared not leave him alone.
“What a magnificent sight,” Hui Yue mumbled to himself as he slowly descended in front of the army. Most army commanders would be riding on magical beasts, either ferocious cat beasts, wolves, winged horses, predatory unicorns or other scaled horses.
Although it was possible for Hui Yue to tame and ride a magical beast, he would never do so. His entire army was a horde of beasts, and none of them would be transforming to their beastly form on their way, all of them would slowly walk towards the other army. The only beasts who had changed were a group of five hundred Blood Maned Buffaloes who were tasked with pulling the heavy machinery. The weapons which would help them greatly in the war.
Hui Yue landed gracefully on the ground in front of the entire army with Wan Qiao by his side and within moments the guide and the rest of the forty Saints arrived at his side as well. Lifting one arm, Hui Yue smiled as he looked out at the many beasts who were waiting in front him.
“We go to war!” He yelled, his voice reverberating throughout the whole area. The yell cause every beast behind him to roar out loudly, releasing their excitement. Their shouts traveled hundreds of kilometers, and the ground shook, and the skies seemed to tremble. Hui Yue had a great smile on his face, and slowly he started to move towards the Imperial Capital. Behind him the sound of footsteps and clattering of weapons was heard as the massive horde of beasts began to follow right behind Hui Yue.
At first, they were walking on dry ground where almost no plants could be seen. The sandy ground was cracked in many places showing that it had been a very long time since it had gotten water, The few plants which could be seen were all withered and dried out, long since dead. This area was devoid of humans; however, from time to time they would see a solitary cabin. Though, on closer inspection, one could easily see that these cabins were abandoned long ago, most likely when the drought started.
Marching through the grounds no one spoke. Everyone was busy looking around, observing their surroundings and sucking in every new thing they saw. This landscape was so different, so foreign, from the one they were used to inside Shenyuan, and all of them felt as though they were in an entirely different world. Slowly the dry lands turned sandy, but even though it was sandy, some plants were visible. They sprouted from the harsh grounds, and one could see just how sturdy these plants were.
The beast horde, walking past the ground, did what they could to avoid these plants. Not because they were pacifists but because they respected anything which struggled to live. They respected any living being who fought that hard for survival.
Many of these plants were medicinal plants. Some of them had been in the ground for hundreds of years while others were not even one year old yet. These plants were filled with energy, bursting with the essence of the heavens and the earth. Golden rays shone from some while silvery liquid dropped from others. These plants would benefit anyone who cultivated but even still, no one from the army stepped up to harvest them. Everyone showed due respect to the plants as though they were equals.
The pace with which they were moving through the ground was slow; it was impossible to run when they were to keep in neat, straight lines, but Hui Yue was in no hurry so for him it did not matter if it took a long time for them to reach their destination. The longer they took, the more soldiers on the opposing side would worry about what was going to happen and who their enemies truly were.
Hui Yue knew that being slow also gave the army more time to prepare. They now knew that the beast army was arriving with massive machinery, but even so, Hui Yue decided not to rush. For the enemies war machines, he planned on having the Saints destroy them. If he could have some Saints tangling up the opponent’s Saints and then have the rest destroy the massive weaponry, then everything would be exactly what he wished for.
When the battle started the beasts were not going to stay in their current form, all of them would return to their original shapes which meant that many of the beasts would take to the sky. They would constantly hover above to find their targets and then with a swift descent attack them. Some would burrow under the ground and make traps for the humans to fall into, and yet others would become ferocious killing machines with sharp teeth, claws, tusks, or fangs. In many ways, these Emperors and Kings would be vastly superior to the humans, yet they were only beasts. They could be overrun, and they all had weak points. If a spear fortified by some Qi or spiritual energy arrived at their weak point, it was possible the enemy would be lucky and defeat the beast they were facing.
At first, when thinking about this problem, Hui Yue was going to create armour to give to the beasts, much like human armor, but he quickly stopped that line of thought. Although humans were capable of fighting with armor on, it was quite different for beasts. They needed to rely on their nimbleness, their ability to swiftly change direction or other sudden movements; however, if they were wearing armor it would instead hinder them.
Sighing, Hui Yue kept walking at a steady pace as he lifted his head and looked at the blue skies above. The sun was scorching hot allowing its rays to fall on the beasts who were moving under it. Although these beasts and Hui Yue were all Kings and above, they soon started to find the sun quite hot. Sweat appeared on their foreheads and thirst started to make their throats uncomfortable.
“We better take a break,” Hui Yue mumbled to himself as he looked around where they currently were. The sandy lands with few plants seemed to go on forever, yet in the distance, he saw a small area where there seemed to be bigger plants. He had a feeling that they could hide in that shade and enjoy some of their provisions while waiting for night to fall before they continued their march. As said before, Hui Yue was not feeling any pressure about rushing towards their enemy.
Changing the army’s direction was in no way hard. Everyone followed right behind Hui Yue and the Saints, and as they saw the taller trees in the distance everyone’s faces filled with smiles. They could easily tell what their Grand Marshall was thinking.
The distance was farther than what Hui Yue expected, and as they came closer, he saw that what he estimated to be three to four-meter tall trees were actually twenty to thirty meters tall.
Underneath the trees were tents sewn from beast hide. A bustling, frantic atmosphere was seen as the humans ran back and forth. It was clear that all of these humans were filled with fear, and doing what they could to pack up their camp before the beast horde arrived. The sight caused Hui Yue to sigh once more. This was the natural reaction humans should have when they met such a large beast horde, however Hui Yue had already made a deal with the Saints. Even if these beasts were bloodthirsty, they would not attack the humans unless the humans attacked them first.
Just as Hui Yue was about to sent a few experts with a message stating that they would not touch these nomads as long as they did not start a fight, he saw that a large line of men came riding out on scaled horses and blood thirsty unicorns. Their faces were pale but determined; their weapons were raised high as they yelled out loud, trying to rouse their bloodlust to even greater heights, hopefully taking many enemies with them to the grave. Their loss was determined long ago, but their hope was to buy time for their families to flee. For the sake of their families, they would do something this suicidal, and their decision caused great respect but also acknowledgment from both Hui Yue and the other beasts.
“Stop! As long as you do not harm us; we will not harm you,” Hui Yue finally yelled out. His voice reverberated through the air making it easy to hear for every one of the nomads, even the ones within the oasis. No one moved in the slightest as everyone was frozen in place. The language was indeed the one spoken in the three kingdoms, yet it was hard to believe what this young man said. Was it not just a trick to make them wait and then be used as fodder for his beast army?
No one could say, which caused Hui Yue to sigh just now, but he gestured for the army to stop and golden rays of light appeared on his back as once more as he flew into the sky. He headed towards the oasis all alone, no one following him, not even the two black shadows. As he inched closer and closer everyone looked at him with astonishment, even here in the middle of these sandy lands it seemed as though he was a celestial being.
When he arrived in the middle of the tent camp, he recalled his wings as he looked around. “Let me speak with the village elder,” He requested, his voice melodious and calm with no hints of hostility. Everyone shied away from him, everyone apart from a young man with black hair and dark eyes.