Chapter 263: A Shining Star
“Do you think that this is a good idea?” Wan Qiao asked with a quiet voice as she saw the scout turning around and rushing away from their location while looking back constantly, his fear still something that she could smell in the air.
“Why would it not be fine?” Hui Yue asked with a chuckle as he put the drum within his storage stone. He then sat down to create even more inscriptions of various ranks, inscriptions he thought he might need at some point.
“He saw you ordering those beasts,” She continued to argue, “If he tells Li Meilin about your appearance, you will instantly be recognized. Not to mention that this scout was so close. Killing him would have been easy. You must have had something planned for letting him go, or did you seriously not wish for us to kill humans that much?”
Looking at the One-Horned Jasmine Eagle, Hui Yue could not help but laugh slightly. “I have a plan, just leave it to me,” He said afterwards and gently patted her shoulder. Hearing that he had a plan, Wan Qiao asked no further questions. She knew that if he wished to tell her about his plans, then he would do so, but conversely if he did not wish to do so, then she would not learn about them no matter how much she attempted to do so.
Hui Yue knew that Wan Qiao was curious, and he could not help but chuckle slightly. “It does not matter if she knows I am the one controlling the army. If anything it will make both her and the army worried as they know that I warned them intentionally. That I have the guts to warn them must mean that I have a plan of some sort, and everything they have done so far has been according to my plan. Although they have no other option, it is still something that will make them uncomfortable,” Hui Yue explained.
“About allowing them to see the machines, well the scout definitely fears them. Many of these machines are not from this world, and they will not know what they are used for, nor how they were made. If anything a rumor will go through their entire army. A rumor that we having killing machines no one can stand against. That will benefit us because some of the soldiers will be defeated before we even start the battle,” Hui Yue said with a laughing voice. To him, allowing the scout to leave was definitely worth far more than his death.
“If the scout spreads the word of our army consisting solely of Kings and above, that we have machinery he had never seen before, and that we are led by a half human half beast then it’s likely that their fear of us would reach an all time high, maybe even make some desert. It might make some think that they have already lost. Even if they stayed, experts who were filled with fear were far easier to kill than those who were filled with strength and confidence.”
“She knows your name. You will never be able to go by your own name in the future,” Wan Qiao said worriedly, “By the time our war is finished, everyone will know that Hui Yue was the young man who sided with the beasts. Your features are quite easy to distinguish too. In a world filled with black haired people, someone with white hair will stick out like a sore thumb. How will you deal with this?” Although Wan Qiao was grateful for Hui Yue and all the plans he had made, she was worried about her human friend. She knew that he planned on returning to his human friends within Taiyang as soon as the war ended.
“Dying my hair black won’t be hard,” Hui Yue said with a shrug. “And if I use another name, no one will notice anything.” He was completely certain about this. Although he was a very recognizable young man, he believed in his knowledge of herbs to change his appearance. Much like back in his old world, there were many different herbs here that allowed for the coloring of one’s hair. Although this was not their main purpose, they would work just fine, especially because it was impossible to see through it. It was not an illusion created by Qi; it was real hair dyed black.
Hearing this, Wan Qiao felt calmer, but she was still worried and wondered whether or not she should order his two shadows to follow him, even when he leaves Shenyuan. She would be much more comfortable if she knew that he had two Saints by his side, ready to protect him or assist him in an escape should he be noticed.
“No need to come to a decision now,” Wan Qiao sighed to herself. Her voice so low that Hui Yue heard nothing, “Let us focus on the war for now,” She continued. “We’ll see what happens afterwards. For all we know, An He can appear out of nowhere and kill us all.” Having said this, Wan Qiao lifted her hand and drew a circle in front of her chest as she prayed to the four divine beast gods that this would not be the case.
Hui Yue finished the final inscription and sat down while leaning against a tree trunk. His forehead was filled with beads of sweat, and his breathing was a little labored. His strength had been sucked dry as this was the most difficult inscription he had ever made. Within the scroll was the massive wolf-head attack he had learned from the wolf Hui Yue. The attack which, when released to it’s fullest power, would be able to cause the entire continent to be devoured, yet Hui Yue’s strength was far from being able to do anything that intense.
Instead, the inscription in his hand was now a lifesaving remedy which could be used to instantly kill one, perhaps two, King ranked experts. This was astonishing for an inscription made by a King, and Hui Yue was greatly satisfied with how it turned out.
Looking at the army in front of him, Hui Yue let out a whistle sound and a few moments later all the Saints had gathered around him. Some looked annoyed while others looked excited, but no matter how they looked all of them politely showed up to see what was happening.
“Tomorrow morning we will break up the camp and start moving,” Hui Yue said with determination that left no room for questions, nor any room for complaints. Hearing how determined the young man was every Saint nodded their head. The ones who had seemed annoyed finally sprouted smiles, the ones who had been excited seemed to have their emotions increased tenfold.
Hui Yue smiled at their eagerness but he was still exhausted and as soon as the Saints left, he once more leaned against the tree trunk and slowly fell into a deep slumber. During the sleep, Hui Yue found himself locked in a dark room. The room was filled with darkness, and no light shone inside. No windows nor doors could be seen, and not even the slightest crack in the wall was visible next to him to show even the tiniest fragment of light.
Hui Yue touched the walls and found that they were rugged. They felt very much like a mountain wall, and as he followed the wall, he found that it was as though he was within a very small but completely sealed cave. How he arrived in this cave, Hui Yue had no idea, and as to whether or not this was truly a dream he was as clueless. Coming to the conclusion that he could do nothing about it, Hui Yue sat down and leaned against the rugged wall.
The stones were chilled, but it felt as though energy ran through the entire wall. Unfortunately, this energy was impossible to interact with. No matter what kind of energy Hui Yue placed on the wall it vanished into thin air before it had a chance to interact with the energy which seemed to run within.
Right when Hui Yue was about to give up and just wait for whatever was going to happen to him, he suddenly got blinded by a white light which filled the entire cave. The light was so white and bright that Hui Yue could see absolutely nothing.
Adjusting to the light, Hui Yue closed his eyes. Only after the white spots in his vision had vanished did he dare to open his eyes once again. The light had now dimmed in the room, and although it was still there, it was far from as strong as it had been moments earlier. Something Hui Yue was grateful for.
Looking around he found that he was within something that seemed like a mountain cave, but right in front of him was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen before. Right in front of him was a star hanging in the air. Although the light that it emitted greatly diminished, it was still very sharp. The sharp light hurt Hui Yue’s eyes whenever he looked at it, it would cause white spots to appear in his vision.
“What are you?” He asked before he could stop himself. He felt as though the star in front of him was not a normal star because something about it seemed human. He felt as though it was a beautiful woman, and as the question was asked the star trembled slightly. The light seemed to vanish completely for a few moments before it returned as strong as before.
“You cannot speak?” He continued asking, and it once more trembled, but no matter how many times Hui Yue looked at the star, it felt alive; it felt real. Time quickly passed by. Hui Yue asked no more questions; he just sat with his back against the cave and his eyes observed the beautiful star in front of him.
Time seemed to turn into nothingness. He felt as if he had sat in front of the star for an eternity, yet it also felt like only moments had gone past. It was simply impossible for him to determine how long had passed by the time he saw one wall of the cave crumble. Slowly, light could be seen through the wall. Light shone into the cave and mixed with the light from the star, and one stone after another crashed to the floor where they strangely enough vanished into thin air. As the final stone fell, Hui Yue was completely gobsmacked as he walked out of the cave and into his dantian cave. The cave in which his Qi Spiral was constantly swirling. The place where one strange phenomena after another appeared. He turned around and saw the star shining brightly as its gentle light exited the cave itself, shining into his dantian cave.
Looking around, Hui Yue was stunned to see that the cave he had been in was actually a new phenomenon. As for what it did, he had no idea, but he suddenly understood why he felt as though the star had a consciousness and was capable of reacting to speech. Every phenomena was a previous life, and looking at them, he felt a strong connection to them all. Even the greedy and difficult green pearl.
Seated down within the dantian cave, Hui Yue looked at all the open caves. There were the two with whom he had already merged; the blue cloud and the red mist. There was the green pearl which only helped when it wanted to. There was the wings which required Wu Wei to work, and then there was the gemstone which constantly pulsated energies. And now, Hui Yue had finally seen a mysterious star. In total, six of the nine caves had now been opened. Though although they were open, there was still a long way to go before he could merge with them. Merging with the phenomena of his past lives required him to interact with them, something he had not done in quite a while.
Opening his eyes, Hui Yue saw that Wan Qiao was by his side seated patiently and waiting for him to wake up. The camp was gone, and all beasts were standing in line, looking at Hui Yue patiently waiting for him to awaken.
A sheepish smile appeared on his face before he slowly rose to his feet and stretched his body. “Sorry about that,” He laughed feeling a little embarrassed, “I had a meeting with a star.”