Blue Phoenix Chapter 77 - Return to Sender

“Are you sure it’s such a good idea?” Wan Qiao asked hesitantly. Her eyes were filled with doubt, and her usual smile was nowhere to be seen. “I don’t understand how it could help our cause, but in the end, I do trust in you,” she said while sighing. Her eyes glanced at the two mountains of corpses, and a shiver ran through her entire body when she saw the careless expression on Hui Yue’s face as he stated his new plans. Wan Qiao finally started to understand that this young man was far tougher than she expected and far more sinister.

“Well, it’s not something we will do just yet. You will see that during a siege the people that are holed up inside the city might be fortunate to have enough provisions for a certain amount of time, but eventually, they will run out. At that time the price for food will rise by an astronomical amount, and the poor will start dying. What will they do with all their bodies? They cannot bury them in the middle of town, and if they have them laying around for long, they will start to rot. When they rot, there is a large chance for a plague to spread like wildfire, and fighting a sick and diseased army will give us a greater chance to win.”

“I thought you wanted us to win the war as soon as possible,” Wan Qiao retorted. Hui Yue had seemed like he was in a rush during the day because he had the beasts cleaning the battlefield, but the question only caused Hui Yue to smirk. “Yes, I wish that we could win this war as soon as possible,” he agreed with a nod. “But I am also aware that it might not be as easy as it seems. The crusaders are within the capital, and their strong Saints are within the capital, not to mention all their Kings and Emperors. Our battles will be far more challenging in the future, which is why I am going to expedite the process of them getting sick. In a few days, these corpses should be rotting nicely. Maggots will be eating them, and then they will be ready to be delivered to their lords.”

Wan Qiao said nothing as she heard Hui Yue’s plan once more. During the entire conversation, Hui Yue’s facial expression did not change. He seemed as though he felt no remorse using the enemies bodies to the best of his ability, nor did he show any signs of disgust or guilt. All that mattered to this young man was defeating the opponent that stood in front of him, bringing down the Empire of Siban.

“Well, please excuse me,” Hui Yue said as a smile appeared on his face. “I need to go and check up on our troops.” Having said this, Hui Yue vanished into the distance. The white-haired young man was true to his word, and he walked straight towards the infirmary to see how the beasts were doing.

Upon entering the tent, he saw that many experts were rushing around. Every expert who had an affinity with wood was in the tent helping out those who were injured. Some of these experts were trained healers while some were not, but their energy was being channeled by a trained healer. Therefore, they worked much like batteries of wood-enhanced energy.

“As long as a beast does not die then we are capable of saving it,” Hui Yue mumbled with satisfaction as he saw how broken bones were healed instantly, gaping wounds closed up, and lost limbs were reattached. The healers had spent a full day yesterday and continued during the night before everyone had finally been healed. Now the healers all sat down on the many beds and the ground. They were completely focused on restoring the energy they had just used up. Contemplating for a short while, Hui Yue sat down in the middle of all the experts and moments later the blue cloud billowed outwards. It made the essence of the heavens and the earth denser, and they all refined the energy greedily. They could feel that the essence was far thicker than usual, allowing them to absorb more than they normally could. Because the energy in the area had increased severalfold, it let them recover far swifter than they had before.

The night was quiet, and as the sun broke the sky, Hui Yue rose to his feet. All the experts around him followed suit. None of them spoke, but all were deeply astonished as they understood that the blue cloud that allowed them to restore their inner energies was something their Grand Marshall controlled. After thinking about this, many of the experts were reminded of the blue threads and the net which he had used earlier to defeat his opponents in a sparring match back in Shenyuan.

Everyone was silent as they stood up. Their minds were incapable of truly understanding what had happened, yet all of them were grateful that this mysterious young man was on their side. A man with this many secrets could only be a benefit to them all.

Morning came swiftly, and everyone left their tents as Hui Yue summoned the bison who were pulling the many weapons. “It is time,” he said gently to the many beasts. Their faces turned excited and impatient as they rushed back to the machinery of the war and started dragging it towards the city gates. Hui Yue followed behind, and together with the army, which quickly fell into their lines, they marched forward like a proper army causing the ground to shake every time they took a step. The closer they got to the gates, the more the soldiers on top of the walls could feel it.

“What are those?!” someone shouted loudly from the top of the city wall as he saw the many tall towers, the catapults, the ballistae, the springalds and the onagers. There were so many new weapons they had never seen before, and although they expected some new weaponry, the ones that were being dragged their way made them all break out in a cold sweat. The moment the tower came into sight, everyone on top of the city wall started shifting from one foot to another. The height of these towers was so high that they easily reached the top of the city walls. Seeing them advancing everyone started to fear what they were to be used for.

“Do not approach the walls yet!” Hui Yue called out, and the bison stopped in their tracks. All their weaponry was around one hundred meters away from the city walls. All the beasts were staring at the humans, and all humans were staring back at the beasts. While the beasts’ eyes were filled with an urge to battle, with an impatience that had not been visible before, the humans’ eyes were pale and uncomfortable.

“We shall start by delivering back their soldiers!” Hui Yue called out loudly and made the sign to ready all their catapults and onagers. These two weapons were quickly armed, not with stones as one would usually expect, but instead with corpses from the two corpse mountains.

“Fire!” Hui Yue said, and moments later corpses flew through the air landing on top of the city walls. Some broke apart after being fired while others smashed into the top of the wall causing blood and gore to cover the guards. All of the guards grew increasingly uncomfortable.

One load of corpses after another was shot into the city. The entire day passed by while the only change was that just as the sun was about to set the final load of corpses was delivered into the city. Nodding, a satisfied Hui Yue turned towards the armies and called out, “Tonight we camp here! Get ready for the real battle tomorrow!” Upon hearing his voice, all the beasts allowed their roars to soar into the sky, their voices filled with a longing for battle. They were so close to feeling success. They were so close to finally gaining freedom!

“How can any human be this vile?!” the Grand Marshall fumed out loud as he looked out over the city. He saw how the catapults and the onagers were loaded with corpses which then were launched high into the air and plummeted onto the ground behind the city walls. The citizens were alerted by the sound of something crashing against their houses, yet no roofs were broken, and no houses were destroyed which meant that whatever was raining down upon them was not stones or anything else that could destroy their homes. At first, they had been elated to know that it was not stones, yet their relief quickly changed to horror. Everyone fled and hid in their homes as blood and gore rained onto the streets; severed limbs, rotting corpses, blood, and intestines rained down from the outside. This was such an outrage, such a disgrace that the faces of all the soldiers on the city wall and within the city had turned green with nausea and discomfort long ago.

The Grand Marshall’s face was not green like the others. Instead, it was red like a beetroot. Anger was bursting forth from within him, anger which caused the entire room to shudder. The Grand Marshall was located in a small house on top of the city wall just above the city gates. With him inside the house was a group of five servants. All of whom were quivering in a corner not daring to make a sound for fear of causing the Grand Marshall to release his anger on them.

Apart from the five servants, four experts were waiting within the room. All of whom were seemingly carefree not showing any signs of disgust or anger about the multiple corpses being thrown over the city gates.

One was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes had a hint of laughter deep within, and his lips were drawn in a light smile as he observed the Grand Marshall, who was filled with anger.

Two experts were seated at a small table. Each of them had a small cup in their hands, and a teapot was sitting on the table. Steam floated up from the cups. Neither expert said anything, but now and then they would take a sip before once more locking their eyes onto the Grand Marshall. Neither expert had a smile on his face. Instead, there was polite interest which seemed to be more of a facade than a genuine interest. If anything, their interest seemed to focus solely on the teacups in their hands.

The final expert who was standing next to the Grand Marshall was looking out of the windows watching the many corpses being tossed into their city. Where the Grand Marshall was filled with rage and anger, so much so that he was on the verge of exploding, this expert by his side had a sinister smile on his face. His eyes were burning with a killing intent, and they constantly glanced towards Hui Yue and the Saints behind him. Looking at the many experts, this fourth person could not help but lick his lips in impatience as he waited for the order to go out and battle against them.

Seeing the sinister expression on the man’s face, the Grand Marshall finally calmed himself down. “You will not enter the war just yet. We need to gather all the Saints before we dare start a fight of that magnitude. They seem to have around forty Saints with them, but who knows how many they are hiding in their ranks,” the Grand Marshall grumbled as he gestured for a servant to come to him.

As soon as the gesture was given, a servant instantly appeared in front of him. He knelt on the floor with his forehead touching his hands, his entire body bowing deeply. “Go and find the fifteenth battalion. They will be tasked with cleaning up the grounds after all this mess,” he waved his hand dismissively, and the young servant scuttled away. He instantly rushed to find the experts who were assigned to this dirty task.

The Grand Marshall grumbled some more as his mood was terrible, yet he got his feelings under control. “I swear that we will crush those disgusting beasts!” he swore with anger in his voice. “We still have the crusaders on our side after all. There is no way that we can lose!”