Blue Phoenix

“Why are you here?” Wan Qiao asked as she rose from her chair while glaring at the young man as she slowly started to tidy the papers in front of her.

“I spoke with Li Meilin,” Hui Yue said casually as he looked around him seeing if there were any other places in the room which were messed up, but no matter how much he looked the only untidy place was the desk in front of him.

“I think I managed to convince her that she needs to return to the Siban Empire and warn them about the upcoming war. I told her to warn Taiyang kingdom as well,” Hui Yue continued as he picked up one piece of paper and read it.

This particular piece of paper was about a lord whom Hui Yue had not noticed before. It said that he was a Two-Fanged Spotted Lion. That his attacks were astonishing, and his personality seemed to be perfect for war as well. Reading the paper Hui Yue smiled at the thought of these strong experts being able to assist him in the coming war, but he quickly put down the paper as he saw a pouting expression on Wan Qiao’s face.

“So you spoke wit Li Meilin, and it went the way you hoped? What do we do now?” She asked with a sigh, waited for Hui Yue to continue. She did not have to wait for long. “I told her I would try and convince you to let her go, which is now what I’ll do. We need her to leave Shenyuan and enter Siban Empire. Preferably you could use one of your guards to fly her to the border of Shenyuan and Siban. Then she can make her way from there. It will most likely take her a month to reach the capital, and that would still give them more than enough time to start and prepare for war. I expect us to spend six months training the guards into soldiers and then start the war.” Hui Yue said with a sigh, and the woman in front of him nodded. She had already waited for more than four thousand years, for her to wait another half year was nothing.

“I will speak with her about it. I agree to send her away because there is no reason to keep her here any longer,” Wan Qiao said smiling. “Now scram so that I can call for that woman and get her out of here. When I am done with these documents, then I’ll make sure to have someone send them to you,” She finished as her stomach started rumbling incredibly loud. Looking down, she was flabbergasted for a short while before she laughed loudly. “Perhaps I need some food before I continue,” She said gently causing even Hui Yue to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

How could a Saint ranked expert be hungry? The higher rank one achieved, the more nurtured the body became from the essence of the heavens and the earth. Their body became more and more resilient to bodily needs. Food was no longer necessary and drinks even less so, yet Wan Qiao’s stomach just growled, showing that she was hungry. Hui Yue was taken aback as he heard the sound his eyebrows rising higher and higher. For her stomach to be growing it meant that it was years since she last had a meal, years without eating.

A sad smile was visible on Wan Qiao’s face as she gently patted the boy on the head. “Long ago the last normal beast died within Shenyuan’s borders. At first, the villagers had animals whom they bred; however, all the magical beasts hunted down the domesticated ones, eating them one after another until eventually no beasts were left. The beasts in the towns and villages live from both vegetation they farm and at the same time magical beasts which they hunt down.”

“It is okay for these beasts to attack the other beasts as this is the world of the fittest, but as a Lord of the Forest, and the Queen of Shenyuan, I am not willing to attack and eat any beasts in the forest. As for eating wheat products and fruits that is quite disgracing for a One-Horned Jasmine Eagle,” She continued with frown.

“The only time I eat is when I leave Shenyuan, and last time I left was the day I saw you in Riluo City. Since then I have been holding back,” She complained with a sigh. Hui Yue nodded his head. He could understand why the woman refused to eat her own kind, but although Hui Yue himself had become a half beast half human, he had no qualms about eating other magical beasts.

“Well nothing you can do about it,” She continued and she waved her hand a little, telling Hui Yue to keep walking and not worry about her. Hui Yue did just that. Although Wan Qiao was hungry, Hui Yue knew perfectly well that she was nowhere near death. Although she was starving, she would be fine even though she had not eaten for years. She could easily go another ten years before it became dangerous.

Knowing this, Hui Yue turned around and left. He went back to his room where he sat down and started to cultivate while waiting for someone to bring him news of either Li Meilin’s departure, or perhaps give him the papers saw waiting for him on Wan Qiao’s desk.

….

“Hello, there young one,” Wan Qiao said as she looked at Li Meilin, who had just entered her rooms. The One-Eyed Jasmine Eagle was sitting at her desk, sorting a large stack of documents, her back turned to the woman who just stepped inside the room.

Li Meilin felt her hand tremble as she worried what would happen. Hui Yue said that he would do what he could to allow her to leave Shenyuan; however there was the option that this Queen of Shenyuan would refuse to help her leave, that the Emperor had to leave on her own. That she would be forced to travel through both Shenyuan and Siban before she returned to her hometown, the capital.

“I remember I told you that you could leave Shenyuan when Hui Yue managed to reach the King rank,” Wan Qiao started as she straightened her back and walked towards the young looking woman in front of her. Gesturing to a set of chairs, Li Meilin and her, sat down. Both of them were looking at one another not speaking, but waiting for the other to speak first.

Seeing that Li Meilin had no intention to speak, Wan Qiao sighed deeply before she leaned back in her chair and looked at the woman in front of her.

“During the last few days you have been quite busy, have you not?” Wan Qiao asked with a feigned curiosity. The words she spoke caused a shiver to run down Li Meilin’s spine. Could it be that this Wan Qiao was aware of all the actions she had made these last few days of her constant search for information and her hard work. If she was noticed then who knew what would happen to her. Perhaps she was not going to be leaving Shenyuan after all. Maybe she was going to be buried here for eternity.

“I could kill you and then you would no longer pose any threat to me,” Wan Qiao said casually, lifting her hand looking at her nails. Every word she said caused Li Meilin’s back to break out in a cold sweat, and fear was visible in her eyes. She knew that her life depended on Wan Qiao; however, the woman seemed like she did not care about the Emperor at all.

“I could kill you, but doing so would just bring me more trouble,” She finally sighed and stopped looking at her nails; instead, she leaned forward in her chair and looked at Li Meilin, her face slightly sour. “Hui Yue personally requested that I allow you to leave,” She continued as hope started to appear within Li Meilin’s heart.

“Although he did not tell me why he wanted me to let you go, he was quite compelling,” She continued observing every reaction on Li Meilin’s face. The woman showed great uncertainty, but after hearing what Wan Qiao said hope was visible deep within her eyes.

Li Meilin was seated still for some time while she was considering how she felt about this. She knew that Hui Yue was not able to tell Wan Qiao to let Li Meilin go without a convincing argument, but it seemed as though these reasons were not going to be told to her. This made her instantly think about the war which Hui Yue mentioned before.

Li Meilin was incredibly worried. She knew that there were multiple ways for her to vanish during her trip hope. If she was to go back on her own, who knew what she would encounter on the way. If she were to be escorted by another Emperor guard, she was likely to be ambushed and killed during the trip. Even now she could vanish from this city, and Wan Qiao could just tell Hui Yue that she had already left.

Thinking about all these dangerous situations, Li Meilin could not help but be very worried and scared. She knew that she was likely to never see her home again, but at the same time, she steeled her determination and looked with serious eyes at Wan Qiao.

Although it was highly likely that she would die, if she followed these beasts when they claimed to take her home, she was still willing to take that gamble. She could not afford not to take the risk. The slim chance that she did return home and was able to warn the kingdom was enough for her to be willing to risk her life.

Seeing determination and calmness appear in Li Meilin, Wan Qiao was greatly satisfied. Her face filled with a smile and her voice was light.

“Go and pack your things, I have a guard who will take you to the borders of Shenyuan.” Wan Qiao said with a calm voice. Hearing this Li Meiling scrambled to her feet and almost ran from the room, rushing towards her room to pack all her things. Seeing the urgency in the other woman, Wan Qiao smiled with satisfaction as she left the room.

“Tend to me!” Wan Qiao said with a loud voice, and four experts appeared by her side. All of them seemingly out of nowhere. These four experts were clearly Wan Qiao’s bodyguards and all of them were Saint ranked experts. Had Hui Yue been in the room, shock would have been present on his face. He would not have felt any energy ripples coming from these four experts, were he not looking straight at them. He would not even know that they were there.

“Zhu Wei, You protect Hui Yue. It is likely that someone wants his life,” Wan Qiao said with a stern voice. “Although the lords agreed on waging war, there is a chance that they will change their minds. We cannot allow him to die.”

One of the shadows nodded their heads and vanished as though he had never been there in the first place. Wan Qiao turned towards another expert and said with a calm voice, “Song Jie, find an Emperor ranked Guard for me.” She said and yet another expert disappeared into the shadows.