Chapter 217: Victory and Defeat
Looking into the sky, Li Meilin was astonished to see that Captain Song, the only Saint in the delegation, was being toyed with, and not giving even the slightest chance of retaliating as attacks rained down upon him.
Some of these attacks he could dodge while others left marks on his body. He had lost a heavy amount of blood as he was hovering over the middle of the battle. The people fighting noticed that blood rained from the sky. It poured like rain from an autumn sky.
Wan Qiao seemingly enjoyed toying with the man, and her actions caused great distress amongst the still surviving delegation members.
Looking at Wan Qiao her face was calm, and her eyes focused as she observed the bald man who had just withdrawn some distance away. The man cursed his bad luck.
This was a One-Horned Jasmine Eagle. They were nowhere near as weak as regular One-Horned Eagles; they was much more ferocious and incredibly dangerous. Her feathers were as tough as black iron, and this made her entire body covered in what was pretty much armor. She did not only have a terrifying defense, but she also excelled in close quarters combat. Her talons were frighteningly sharp.
Having understood this, the bald Captain Song cursed his bad luck and previous actions. He finally realized that he had been overconfident. That he looked down on the residents of Shenyuan since they were mere magical beasts. But the magical beast in front of him was anything but ordinary. He knew that if he got close to her, he would certainly die a swift death which caused him to back away.
Unfortunately, Captain Song was unaware that Wan Qiao was also above average for long range combat, and with a simple flap of her wings the already distant Captain Song was caught up in a tornado like wind. This wind sent him flying against a large tree which instantly shattered into multiple sharp pieces of wood. Many of these pieces cutting into Captain Song as he was right in front of it while the others embedded themselves within his back. The blood which previously was just flowing down his chest now flooded down his back leaving behind no part of his robe not covered in blood.
“You are nothing more than a damned bird!” Captain Song finally yelled out. His voice was full of hatred, “Birds like you are only born for the sake of following the orders of humans! Surrender now and I’ll let you be my personal pet, if not don’t blame me for being ruthless.”
Although everyone could see how bad of a position he was in, no one dared to say anything. Everyone’s eyes were focused on the battle in the skies waiting to see what would happen. Everybody apart from Hui Yue who still had his eyes closed deeply absorbed in cultivation. Usually, the young man would have done anything to see two experts fighting against one another, however, right now he was so deeply absorbed that he had entered a trance. A trance where his mind melted together with the world around him. He merged with the essence of the heavens and the earth, became one with the Ancestral Worldpower. This was something which happened very rarely and above him, a small whirlwind started to appear. It sucked in not only essence but also Ancestral Worldpower, something which should have been impossible.
Sitting still, Hui Yue felt nothing of what happened in the outside world. He did not even pay attention to Li Meilin, the woman he had promised to protect.
What he felt was an incredibly gentle warmth which surrounded him. It made him feel as if he was lying submerged in a bathtub. No sounds were heard, nor could he smell anything; he just felt this comfortable warmth enter his body. Soon he started to feel full. His entire body was filled with energies and to his surprise, he suddenly saw golden specks of light.
At first only one or two arrived. They were both small specks of golden light, so small that Li Meilin did not notice, but she did notice a large whirlwind forming which started absorbing all energy from the air which seemed to deliver it straight to Hui Yue.
As the time progressed, Li Meilin was unsure whether or not to watch the battle in the sky which turned into a one-sided massacre, or watch the odd scene unfolding next to her. In the sky, Captain Song refused to yield, and he kept on fighting despite the fact that no matter which attack he used, he could not scratch even the smallest of Wan Qiao’s feathers.
Everyone on the ground had stopped fighting as they were all staring agape at the fight above. Only Li Meilin was confused about which of the two were more interesting.
The first few golden specks turned into many golden specks all around his body. These specks were all sucked into the young man’s forehead, one small orb of light after another vanishing.
Li Meilin was frightened as she saw how this energy was absorbed. The energy was simply too strong for even her to stop even if she wanted to. Li Meilin could only feel fortunate that none of the guards were paying attention to them. If they did, then things would have become troublesome.
The battle in the air was slowly dying down. Captain Song was bleeding all over. His energy could not last much longer, and no matter how much he used the bird had not been damaged even the slightest so far.
Seeing how much stronger than him this astonishing eagle was, Captain Song started regretting his previous actions. Unfortunately for him, it was far too late to regret. With a flap of Wan Qiao’s wing, the man was smashed into a nearby hillside. The hill trembled violently from the impact. Boulders fell, and Captain Song plummeted from a crater in the hillside to the ground below. His consciousness vanished the moment of the impact, and as he hit the ground, his soul left his body dissipating into thin air.
Seeing this Li Meilin was astonished. She did not pity the captain, but she was astonished to see him losing so badly. At the same time, she felt relieved that this young man paid attention to her and saved her. Otherwise, she would have met her end like the delegation outside.
After the fight ended the pressure on the two increased substantially. At first, no one noticed them as they were focused on the battle above, but now multiple guards were looking around. By the time they saw the patch of grass, they also noticed how much energy was coalescing in that area. Not to mention the whirlwind which had grown so much that it was clearly visible to anyone who glanced at the patch of grass.
Li Meilin bit her lip while considering what to do. One option was to escape now and head back to the Siban Empire, however, doing so was highly unlikely to succeed. Staying together with this cultivating young man seemed to be very dangerous as well as his allies were attacking him and calling him various names.
Seeing someone eying the patch of grass, Li Meilin was completely uncertain about what she should do, but before she decided many flying beasts surrounded the area. Some of them looked down with curiosity, others looked down with jealousy, and looked on with hate or apathy.
It was evident that none of the guards liked this young man; however, only a few of them seemed as though they wanted to kill him. Acting against him was something which they would not do unless they were insane. All of them were well aware that Hui Yue was under the protection of Wan Qiao, and even if they disliked it, that was a fact. Going against Hui Yue would forfeit their lives.
The only problem was that within the guards were some beasts who did not care about their lives. What they wished for was to purge all evil which could have any effect on their Queen and master. To protect all she held dear, and to save her even when she was unaware of the wrong decisions she was making.
Two such guards were amongst those who had surrounded Hui Yue. Their eyes were gleaming with excitement as they were confident that this time they had the best possibility of getting rid of this young man.
However, as soon as they charged forward the flap of wings could be heard, and very accurately energy from the wings was aimed solely at these two guards. The force threw them backwards, far away from the cultivating Hui Yue, who still had no idea what was going on around him.
“The one who wakes up Hui Yue will be killed instantly,” Wan Qiao said as her ice-cold eyes swept across the entire group of guards causing them all to take at least one step backwards. All of them willing to show that although they had surrounded him, they had no intention of attacking.
Having said what she needed to say, Wan Qiao once more took human form and landed on the ground right next to Hui Yue where she sat down. She crossed both arms and legs and glared at all the ones who were staring at her in amazement.
“I order all of you to rush back home and assist the refugees; make them feel at home.” Having heard the order everyone instantly followed suit. Even though they would much rather have stayed with their master, they knew that there was no danger on the way which could harm her. As long as He and the Frozen General did not show up, then she had no problems traveling on her own.
After the guards had left, Wan Qiao turned to look at Hui Yue and Li Meilin. Hui Yue was still absorbing specks of light through his forehead while his body was swallowing the essence of the heavens and the earth as if he was a swamp. He seemed to never get full as he kept absorbing more and more.
“Is this something that often happens to beasts?” Li Meilin finally asked. She was incredibly curious about magical beasts, but her interest had truly been piqued when she saw a village where the beasts lived like humans. To see this truly proved how intelligent the creatures were, and she was constantly on the search for new information.
“Your Highness,” Li Meilin suddenly said as she looked at the woman who was seated still observing the cultivating young man, “Why was it that this young man had to save me?” She finally asked the question that she had been wondering about for some time, but the only answer she got was a smile from Wan Qiao. “You don’t need to know,” She said with a sigh. “You will not thank us. You will have to follow us to the capital and live there with us until we think you are capable of leaving.”
Hearing this, Li Meilin was slightly taken aback, but she still nodded her head. This was the best opportunity she would get to study the magical beasts whom she had been so fascinated with for years. Even if it meant that she had to spend the majority of her life within the darkest forests of Shenyuan, it was still worth it.
With a final thought of her parents and whispering an apology for vanishing, she looked at Wan Qiao. Their eyes locked, and she said with an earnest voice, “I would like to follow you to the capital and see how you beasts truly live.”