A Female Thief
The Imperial City of the snowland-
As dawn befell, the snowstorm that had been lasted a whole night eventually stopped.
The morning sun rose from the west of the snowland. It was a solidified red sun that was quite distinct from the pale purple western sky. It seemed sick of such a background, so the moment it jumped out of the horizon, it moved toward the opposite side of the sky in real quick.
The cold red sunlight shone into the Sunrise Palace and illuminated the highest step leading to the hall. The clotted blood there glistered with a blood-red halo of death. The dismembered body lying there looked rather terrifying. A singsong girl was alive yesterday but turned a dismembered body this morning, only because she failed to meet the needs of the master of the palace. Several servants wiped the bloodstains on the ground silently. In their eyes, such an incident often happened in the palace.
Now, the master of the palace had just woken up and approached here from his sleeping chamber with several singsong girls surrounding him.
A young Ice Wizard had long waited in the hall clad in an azure robe embroidered with cloud-like lines. Looked at in a distance, he was like a bit of the sky which remained aloof from the world. There were barely changes on his poker face that was lifeless as if it was just a mask made of human skin. All servants passed by him as quickly as possible with their heads lowered as if he would spot their secrets if they glanced him one more time. His eyes were quite bright just as the meaning his name represented.
“Han Che, you’ve got here so early.” Leng Chen slouchingly glanced at him and sat by the dining table before drinking liquor.
“Your Highness.” Han Che stepped forward and paid respect to him.
“Your father, Elder Han Yuan, had made great contributions to our Imperial City. It’s a shame that he was killed days ago.”
“I’ll find out whoever killed my father even if they are in the Six Realms of Reincarnation.”
“What if I killed your father?” Leng Chen looked at Han’s face with a ghastly smile.
“It's just a joke. It actually is a young knight called Xiao Rang who killed your father.”
“Xiao Rang? A young knight?” Han Che felt a little surprised.
“Yes. Elder Han Yuan had been a hero almost for his whole life, but he unexpectedly was killed by a young knight. It’s quite unbelievable,” said Leng Chen with his voice full of sarcasm. However, Han Che clearly felt that he just took this opportunity to speak ironically of the Han Clan.
“I’ve ordered some people to look for their whereabouts, and you can do that, too. You can bring their hearts back to prove that you’re not inferior to your father. As long as you bring their hearts back, you’ll be the first elder in the Imperial City.”
“I don’t need that name,” said Han Che with great pride. “But, I’ll definitely bring their hearts back.” Han Che’s eyes were full of the intent to kill. “Whoever killed my father will pay a price.”
“You’re right.” Leng Chen clapped the dining table hard with his hands, making the food on the plate tremble. “Use your hands of a knight errant to prove your abilities!” He suddenly jumped up and threw the liquor glass to hit the ground. “My little brother is ominous, so he can’t come back to the Imperial City.”
Han Che looked sideways at Leng Chen who stood high. The people of the Imperial City had earlier heard of this eldest prince’s characteristics. Compared with me who had been labeled as fate-cursed, it seemed more likely that he would be a tyrant. Some people had started doubting whether the augury of me was real, but it was Xi Guang who made that augury. He had been the chief augur when my father, Leng Yan, was just a crown prince. An augury wasn’t always true, but its accuracy was pretty high.
Countless auguries of his had been proven right, so the people deeply believed this one, too. Both my brother and I would bring bad luck to our kingdom, but they connived at my elder brother’s existence and only denied the existence of me, the second prince.
Unlike his father, Han Yuan, Han Che left his father when he grew up and traveled around the country by himself alone, leading a life of a knight errant. Both of them killed people, but he was at liberty to choose those he would kill compared with his father whom my father ordered to kill.
As the first elder, his father was killed by a knight, which was a great disgrace to him, the first knight errant on the snowland. Therefore, anyway, he had to find the one who killed his father and had a head-on fight with him. How could the honor of the Han Clan be tarnished like that?
When Han Che left the Sunrise Palace, Xi Tu quietly stepped out from behind the curtain.
“My Lord,” he knelt down on the cold ground and raised his masked face.
“How about those people I asked you to keep your eyes on?” Leng Chen shook the newly liquor glass.
“None of them can escape,” said Xi Tu with an evil smile.
“I hope so. Keep their mouths shut if it’s not their turn to speak.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
It was the most boisterous moment of the morning in the Imperial City.
He passed through the bustling streets and reached a restaurant where several dwarfs gathered up and ate the cheapest breakfast.
He directly went straight over and sat on the only vacant seat.
They were all the descendants of the Dwarf Clan who had scattered all over the snowland. They lost their habitat since the war between the mortals and the divine spirits and had to live scattered. Except that they were one third shorter than the other clans, there was not any other special about them. Because of this characteristic, they preferred living in groups and made a living by performing.
As Han Che sat for a while, they also looked at him in silence for the same time. They could judge his background from his dress-up, so no one dared to speak first.
“Hey, uncle, you take up my seat.” A female dwarf stood beside him with a bowl of food in her hand.
Han Che turned around and saw her who got a curvy but well-developed body as if she was born a performer.
“Uncle, you take up my seat. I have to eat and make money, please...” She pursed her lips and shook her head like a roly-poly.
“I’ve heard you make a living not only by performing but by selling information,” said Han Che while glancing at them.
“What information do you need, uncle?” asked the female dwarf in a gentle voice with her eyes brightened immediately. Many of those coming to them for information were rich, and the money of selling such a piece of information was often equal to what they earned for half a year by performing.
“I want to know two people’s whereabouts.”
“If I’m given enough time, I’ll tell you 2,000 people’s whereabouts, let alone only two.”
“Leng Xi, the second prince who was exiled the other year, and his guard, Xiao Rang, the son of Xiao Yan.”
“Well...” The female dwarf seemed hesitant.
Han Che took a moneybag out and threw it on the table with a clear sound of golden coins that was able to awake the deepest desire of the people.
“They aren’t on the snowland.” She opened the moneybag, grabbed a handful of golden coins and put them in front of her.
“I know that.” Han Che put those golden coins back into the moneybag.
“They went to the mortal world.” She took out another handful of coins.
“Which place of the mortal world?” Han Chen took the coins back again.
“I have no idea,” said she while spreading her hands.
“I want to know where they are now.”
“Uncle, you should know the information we provide is limited to the snowland. Our hands are tied if you want to know where they are in the mortal world.”
Han Che stood up and put the moneybag back on himself. “Then you come to me when you know it.” He turned around and continued, “By the way, I’m not uncle.”
“He apparently has an uncle’s face, but he doesn’t want the others to call him like that,” said the female dwarf while pouting her lips after Han Che left.
“Zuo Ya, you like uncles the best, don’t you?” said a chubby-faced male dwarf with a laugh.
“Finish your breakfast as soon as possible, and we have to occupy a place for performing later,” said the female dwarf named Zuo Ya unhappily. She showed the three golden coins she had secretly hidden.
Han Che walked on the street against the stream of pedestrians. The Imperial City had been unpeaceful these days. Xi Guang, the first augur, was assassinated by a group of mysterious people, which almost led to a tragedy. Thus, the imperial guards reinforced the security within the city and questioned the people who acted suspiciously on the street. When he walked and thought, a person ran up to him and abruptly hit him without looking at the road ahead.
Han Che was tall and strong, so it was the other side who was bounced to the ground.
It was a girl with long greyish white hair. She stood up with her face full of panic and was about to keep running.
“Lady Xi Xia, please stay where you are.” Han Che recognized her and thereby stopped her.
“Excuse me, I have other things to attend to and don’t have time to chat with you.” Xi Xia dodged aside.
Han Che saw some suspicious-looking people wander nearby. He guessed that Xi Xia might have been targeted by them, so he pulled her into his side and said, “I’ll help you smooth them out.”
“No gains without pains.” She immediately turned him down.
“I want to meet your father who is the chief augur.”
“No way. My father has been in bad shape these days and won’t meet anyone. I’ll go back to look after him,” said she while shaking her head.
“Rumors has it that you can augur, too.”
“I said I didn’t have time. Stand out of my way, or I call the imperial guards here,” said she furiously who glared at him with her hands in the waist.
Having known that he couldn’t persuade her, he let her go.
Xi Xia suddenly turned around and asked after walking out a few steps, “You want to find someone, don’t you?”
“Yes,” said Han Che while nodding his head.
“You’re a knight errant, so you can use the way of the knight errant to locate them.” She ran away after finished speaking.
“The way of the knight errant?” Han Che pondered over the words said by Xi Xia. Suddenly, a realization hit him that what she said was a piece of crap. The so-called “way of the knight errant” was to act alone.
He found it ridiculous and approached the bunch of people who were about to chase after Xi Xia.
A Female Thief
The Imperial City of the snowland-
As dawn befell, the snowstorm that had been lasted a whole night eventually stopped.
The morning sun rose from the west of the snowland. It was a solidified red sun that was quite distinct from the pale purple western sky. It seemed sick of such a background, so the moment it jumped out of the horizon, it moved toward the opposite side of the sky in real quick.
The cold red sunlight shone into the Sunrise Palace and illuminated the highest step leading to the hall. The clotted blood there glistered with a blood-red halo of death. The dismembered body lying there looked rather terrifying. A singsong girl was alive yesterday but turned a dismembered body this morning, only because she failed to meet the needs of the master of the palace. Several servants wiped the bloodstains on the ground silently. In their eyes, such an incident often happened in the palace.
Now, the master of the palace had just woken up and approached here from his sleeping chamber with several singsong girls surrounding him.
A young Ice Wizard had long waited in the hall clad in an azure robe embroidered with cloud-like lines. Looked at in a distance, he was like a bit of the sky which remained aloof from the world. There were barely changes on his poker face that was lifeless as if it was just a mask made of human skin. All servants passed by him as quickly as possible with their heads lowered as if he would spot their secrets if they glanced him one more time. His eyes were quite bright just as the meaning his name represented.
“Han Che, you’ve got here so early.” Leng Chen slouchingly glanced at him and sat by the dining table before drinking liquor.
“Your Highness.” Han Che stepped forward and paid respect to him.
“Your father, Elder Han Yuan, had made great contributions to our Imperial City. It’s a shame that he was killed days ago.”
“I’ll find out whoever killed my father even if they are in the Six Realms of Reincarnation.”
“What if I killed your father?” Leng Chen looked at Han’s face with a ghastly smile.
“It's just a joke. It actually is a young knight called Xiao Rang who killed your father.”
“Xiao Rang? A young knight?” Han Che felt a little surprised.
“Yes. Elder Han Yuan had been a hero almost for his whole life, but he unexpectedly was killed by a young knight. It’s quite unbelievable,” said Leng Chen with his voice full of sarcasm. However, Han Che clearly felt that he just took this opportunity to speak ironically of the Han Clan.
“I’ve ordered some people to look for their whereabouts, and you can do that, too. You can bring their hearts back to prove that you’re not inferior to your father. As long as you bring their hearts back, you’ll be the first elder in the Imperial City.”
“I don’t need that name,” said Han Che with great pride. “But, I’ll definitely bring their hearts back.” Han Che’s eyes were full of the intent to kill. “Whoever killed my father will pay a price.”
“You’re right.” Leng Chen clapped the dining table hard with his hands, making the food on the plate tremble. “Use your hands of a knight errant to prove your abilities!” He suddenly jumped up and threw the liquor glass to hit the ground. “My little brother is ominous, so he can’t come back to the Imperial City.”
Han Che looked sideways at Leng Chen who stood high. The people of the Imperial City had earlier heard of this eldest prince’s characteristics. Compared with me who had been labeled as fate-cursed, it seemed more likely that he would be a tyrant. Some people had started doubting whether the augury of me was real, but it was Xi Guang who made that augury. He had been the chief augur when my father, Leng Yan, was just a crown prince. An augury wasn’t always true, but its accuracy was pretty high.
Countless auguries of his had been proven right, so the people deeply believed this one, too. Both my brother and I would bring bad luck to our kingdom, but they connived at my elder brother’s existence and only denied the existence of me, the second prince.
Unlike his father, Han Yuan, Han Che left his father when he grew up and traveled around the country by himself alone, leading a life of a knight errant. Both of them killed people, but he was at liberty to choose those he would kill compared with his father whom my father ordered to kill.
As the first elder, his father was killed by a knight, which was a great disgrace to him, the first knight errant on the snowland. Therefore, anyway, he had to find the one who killed his father and had a head-on fight with him. How could the honor of the Han Clan be tarnished like that?
When Han Che left the Sunrise Palace, Xi Tu quietly stepped out from behind the curtain.
“My Lord,” he knelt down on the cold ground and raised his masked face.
“How about those people I asked you to keep your eyes on?” Leng Chen shook the newly liquor glass.
“None of them can escape,” said Xi Tu with an evil smile.
“I hope so. Keep their mouths shut if it’s not their turn to speak.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
It was the most boisterous moment of the morning in the Imperial City.
He passed through the bustling streets and reached a restaurant where several dwarfs gathered up and ate the cheapest breakfast.
He directly went straight over and sat on the only vacant seat.
They were all the descendants of the Dwarf Clan who had scattered all over the snowland. They lost their habitat since the war between the mortals and the divine spirits and had to live scattered. Except that they were one third shorter than the other clans, there was not any other special about them. Because of this characteristic, they preferred living in groups and made a living by performing.
As Han Che sat for a while, they also looked at him in silence for the same time. They could judge his background from his dress-up, so no one dared to speak first.
“Hey, uncle, you take up my seat.” A female dwarf stood beside him with a bowl of food in her hand.
Han Che turned around and saw her who got a curvy but well-developed body as if she was born a performer.
“Uncle, you take up my seat. I have to eat and make money, please...” She pursed her lips and shook her head like a roly-poly.
“I’ve heard you make a living not only by performing but by selling information,” said Han Che while glancing at them.
“What information do you need, uncle?” asked the female dwarf in a gentle voice with her eyes brightened immediately. Many of those coming to them for information were rich, and the money of selling such a piece of information was often equal to what they earned for half a year by performing.
“I want to know two people’s whereabouts.”
“If I’m given enough time, I’ll tell you 2,000 people’s whereabouts, let alone only two.”
“Leng Xi, the second prince who was exiled the other year, and his guard, Xiao Rang, the son of Xiao Yan.”
“Well...” The female dwarf seemed hesitant.
Han Che took a moneybag out and threw it on the table with a clear sound of golden coins that was able to awake the deepest desire of the people.
“They aren’t on the snowland.” She opened the moneybag, grabbed a handful of golden coins and put them in front of her.
“I know that.” Han Che put those golden coins back into the moneybag.
“They went to the mortal world.” She took out another handful of coins.
“Which place of the mortal world?” Han Chen took the coins back again.
“I have no idea,” said she while spreading her hands.
“I want to know where they are now.”
“Uncle, you should know the information we provide is limited to the snowland. Our hands are tied if you want to know where they are in the mortal world.”
Han Che stood up and put the moneybag back on himself. “Then you come to me when you know it.” He turned around and continued, “By the way, I’m not uncle.”
“He apparently has an uncle’s face, but he doesn’t want the others to call him like that,” said the female dwarf while pouting her lips after Han Che left.
“Zuo Ya, you like uncles the best, don’t you?” said a chubby-faced male dwarf with a laugh.
“Finish your breakfast as soon as possible, and we have to occupy a place for performing later,” said the female dwarf named Zuo Ya unhappily. She showed the three golden coins she had secretly hidden.
Han Che walked on the street against the stream of pedestrians. The Imperial City had been unpeaceful these days. Xi Guang, the first augur, was assassinated by a group of mysterious people, which almost led to a tragedy. Thus, the imperial guards reinforced the security within the city and questioned the people who acted suspiciously on the street. When he walked and thought, a person ran up to him and abruptly hit him without looking at the road ahead.
Han Che was tall and strong, so it was the other side who was bounced to the ground.
It was a girl with long greyish white hair. She stood up with her face full of panic and was about to keep running.
“Lady Xi Xia, please stay where you are.” Han Che recognized her and thereby stopped her.
“Excuse me, I have other things to attend to and don’t have time to chat with you.” Xi Xia dodged aside.
Han Che saw some suspicious-looking people wander nearby. He guessed that Xi Xia might have been targeted by them, so he pulled her into his side and said, “I’ll help you smooth them out.”
“No gains without pains.” She immediately turned him down.
“I want to meet your father who is the chief augur.”
“No way. My father has been in bad shape these days and won’t meet anyone. I’ll go back to look after him,” said she while shaking her head.
“Rumors has it that you can augur, too.”
“I said I didn’t have time. Stand out of my way, or I call the imperial guards here,” said she furiously who glared at him with her hands in the waist.
Having known that he couldn’t persuade her, he let her go.
Xi Xia suddenly turned around and asked after walking out a few steps, “You want to find someone, don’t you?”
“Yes,” said Han Che while nodding his head.
“You’re a knight errant, so you can use the way of the knight errant to locate them.” She ran away after finished speaking.
“The way of the knight errant?” Han Che pondered over the words said by Xi Xia. Suddenly, a realization hit him that what she said was a piece of crap. The so-called “way of the knight errant” was to act alone.
He found it ridiculous and approached the bunch of people who were about to chase after Xi Xia.
