Chapter 244: The Select Few
The number of Saints within Shenyuan was not known exactly. Although there were sixty-four Lords of the Forests, this was by no means stating that there were only sixty-four Saints. Around once a century a challenge would be issued. A challenge to take over the seat of a Lord of the Forest. Within the vast jungles of Shenyuan, many hidden experts lived. Experts who preferred to be secluded.
The only Saints Wan Qiao invited were the sixty-four lords, but unknown to both Hui Yue and Wan Qiao was that many of these hidden experts had sensed a change appear in Shenyuan and because of this, they made an appearance within the capital. They were picking up all the information they could get. As for what their opinions about this upcoming war with the humans were, that was something no one apart from them knew.
Currently, forty out of the sixty-four lords were standing in the training grounds. All apart from Lord Pan stood in the long line, waiting to see what Hui Yue had planned.
“Greetings Lord Pan,” Hui Yue said with a deep bow towards the expert in question. “I see you brought four experts with you. Please introduce them to me.”
Without waiting even the slightest bit, Lord Pan instantly started to answer the young man, “This is Hu Min,” He said gesturing for one of the experts to step forward. The expert in question instantly took a step forward and bowed deeply towards Hui Yue. Although he was uncertain who this youngster was, he saw that the Lords of the Forest were showing him great respect. A small Emperor like him dared not go against someone like this.
“Hu Min is the leader of my guard. He is a peak stage Emperor, and he is close to becoming a Saint. He is by far the strongest man in my army.” Lord Pan continued. Hearing this, Hui Yue nodded his head. He decided who was going to be the ten thousand man commander of Lord Pan’s men.
Lord Pan went through the four men he had in his group and introduced them all. There were four in total, and after they had all been introduced Hui Yue frowned.
“That is four experts, however each army needs to have five experts in command. We will split some of the armies into thousand man groups. These groups will have a thousand-man commander for each. Other armies will be split into two thousand man groups, and five thousand man groups. A few of them will stay ten thousand man groups. Each of these groups will be controlled by a commander. The stronger the commander the more troops he will lead. The reason we need armies of various sizes is because they are needed to take care of different tasks during the war. I’ll let you pick out the experts who will be the commanders on your own. Tomorrow make sure to each have five commanders show up here in the morning.”
“Next is Lord Jiang.” Hui Yue called out, and once more a lord stepped forward. This lord was followed by five experts. Looking at this small group of people, Hui Yue could not help but nod his head, all of them were clearly killing machines. They were all the same type of beast, large cat-like creatures with two large fangs, razor sharp claws, and a bloodthirsty expression in his eyes.
“Introduce yourself and your followers,” Hui Yue said and afterwards the cat-like lord did just that. After him was yet another expert who was called forth and after a couple of hours, all the lords had been introduced to Hui Yue.
The young man had given the same order to all of them; Make sure that the commanders appeared the following day at the training grounds. Doing some calculations, he asked for forty Lord of the Forest to participate in this war. Each of the lords had ten thousand guards which equalled four hundred thousand men. Each of the lords’ armies needed eighteen commanders which totalled seven hundred and twenty commanders. All of whom Hui Yue needed to train and get ready for war. A sigh escaped his lips as he saw how the experts left the training grounds, only one expert stayed behind.
Sighing deeply, Hui Yue suddenly knew that the task he had taken on was almost too big for him; however, after standing still and watching all the lords leave he once more sighed deeply before turning around. He was now face to face with Wan Qiao, who had been waiting behind.
“You’re doing a good job,” She said with a smile on her face. “I take it that you are just as excited as I am about this war, huh?” She asked curiously; a slim smile was visible on Hui Yue’s lips. Was he excited? Of course he was. This was a chance for him to show what he was capable of doing, but the sheer power that he was controlling and trying to train was enough to make him feel nauseous. He honestly doubted whether or not he truly had enough knowledge to be able to bring them all to victory.
“Wan Qiao, do we have magical beasts who are very small at our disposal? Maybe some from the rodent family, or something like bats?” Hui Yue suddenly asked the woman who was slightly taken aback, but as soon as she heard the question, the woman started pondering hard. She considered who fit the description and after some thought, she nodded.
“We have a few cultivators of the rat family,” She answered. “The strongest is an Emperor, and the other three are Kings. What do you need them for?”
“Although I expect the Siban Empire to act according to my plan, I have no idea if they will or not,” Hui Yue said with a sigh, “Having a few small beasts infiltrate the imperial castle will let us know what they plan on doing,” Hui Yue continued. His idea caused Wan Qiao to nod. It was true that they might act differently than expected.
“Don’t worry about this part,” Wan Qiao said after thinking about it for some time, “I’ll deal with this, all you have to do is focus on creating an army out of these guards. As long as we have an army, we will win the war. Intel is something I’ll work on. Any information I learn will be given straight to you,” She said seriously, and Hui Yue nodded gratefully as he knew that if he had to deal with gathering intel when he needed to prepare an army, then he would be doomed to fail.
“Thank you for the help,” Hui Yue said as he was about to leave. But before he could go anywhere, his hand was grasped by Wan Qiao and with a secretive smile, she started to drag the young man with her towards the castle. Being dragged like this, Hui Yue was quite confused about what was happening. He knew that Wan Qiao was many times stronger than him, so even if he did wish to break free of her grip, it was impossible.
Wan Qiao was not moving towards Hui Yue’s usual quarters, instead he was being dragged towards the wing where Wan Qiao’s chambers were located. The same place where all the lords were given residence.
Rushing into a wing with very elaborate rooms the direction they took was away from Wan Qiao’s chambers. After rushing for a few more minutes, they reached a door made of heavywood carved with elaborate works art, showing a various array of magical beasts.
“Who lives here?” Hui Yue wondered as he looked at the massive door in front of him. Against his expectations, Wan Qiao instantly opened the door not bothering to knock or in any way warn whoever was inside that they were entering. Although Hui Yue preferred announcing his arrival first, he had no other choice than to follow Wan Qiao inside as his eyes looked around the beautiful room.
What they entered seemed to be a living room. Elaborate furniture occupied the middle of the room: couches, chairs, and tables of the finest quality were placed within. In the corner, a desk and a comfortable chair were situated functioning as a small office.
Moving through the room, Hui Yue found that there was an adjoined bedroom and bathroom. Both of these rooms were large and filled with furniture. The bedroom had a bed which was three times as large as the bed he used. The bathroom had a large pool which could fit tens of people within. The water seemed to be heated up from a hot spring underneath the room somewhere.
Once more, Hui Yue wondered who lived here, but he said nothing. Instead he looked at Wan Qiao, silently awaiting an explanation. It did not take long before she opened her mouth and said, “You are the Grand Marshall of our war. You cannot live in such a small room like before,” She smiled as she picked up a memory stone which served as the key for the room which she was giving to the young man. “Welcome to the upper-class accommodations for Shenyuan’s experts.” She said with a smile on her face. Hui Yue could not help but show a wry smile as he heard what she said. Although he was not a Lord of the Forest, he was indeed a high profile figure of Shenyuan. With a grateful nod, he headed to the desk where he instantly started working. He had a lot to do before tomorrow where he was going to meet all the commanders for the first time. He could not help but wonder whether or not they would be able to live up to his expectations.
….
The trip through the Siban Empire was a trip which Li Meilin had trekked before. She had taken this path months before when she was a part of the delegation visiting Shenyuan, but now she was the only survivor. She was rushing back to the capital with information that she knew the Emperor needed to know. Her eyes were filled with determination. She had long since gotten past her fear of acting according to the beasts’ wishes as she had no other way of going about this.
As an Emperor her speed was astonishingly fast; however, although she could run incredibly fast on the ground, her speed could not hold a candle to the One-Horned Eagle, who brought her to the border. Had he been with her, then she would have reached the capital within a day or two. Li Meilin was aware how absurd her thoughts were, and she kept running at her maximum speed rushing towards the capital not taking even the slightest break.
As Li Meilin rushed through the rural Siban, she felt a pain in her heart as she knew that if a war were to happen, then these small villages on the outskirts of Siban were highly likely to suffer terribly.
Seeing this, the chill in her otherwise beautiful eyes turned ice-cold. She was willing to help anyone around her, and she sped up rushing directly to the capital.
Arriving at the capital took her the better of a week running non-stop. The only thing which kept her nourished was the essence of the heavens and the earth. Her speed was as high as it could be while taking no breaks. As she arrived at the capital, many guards instantly recognized her, and they sent a message to the imperial palace that the Senior Observer Li had returned.
As Li Meilin made her way to the imperial palace, she was astonished to see that a group of guards came out to greet her and take her directly to see the Emperor, who was waiting to hear what she had to say.
Seated on his imperial throne, wearing the royal attire, and holding the royal seal in his hand the emperor waited patiently for Li Meilin to enter. The side of the large hall was filled with officials, nobles, and anyone who had a high ranking in the Siban Empire. All of them were excited to hear what Li Meilin had to say. She was the only human who had ever managed to leave Shenyuan.