Save the Princess Jiuyang
The surrender ceremony was held in the Meridian Gate of the Imperial City of Kingdom Wei.
After all ministers, civil or military, arrived, the King of Kingdom Wei walked over with the Surrender Letter and the Great Seal in his hands.
The kings of the allied forces of eight kingdoms greedily looked at the two items in his hands, but there was still discontent in their eyes, mainly because they didn’t get the Dragon-subduing Bead.
Xiao Rang and I stood among the ministers, but our taller bodies than the mortals still attracted their attention.
The new King of Kingdom Liang, who had known us on the previous battlefield, secretly whispered to the other kings. Then, I saw uneasiness appear on their faces.
“King of Kingdom Wei, you’re so well-intentioned.” As the surrenderee of the allied forces, the King of Kingdom Zhao received the Surrender Letter and Great Seal with one hand. “In this way, your people will be saved, and the soldiers of the two sides won’t fight against each other. What a blessing!” He burst into laughter, so did the others.
Clad in the most gorgeous dress, Jiuyang looked so unwilling yet so amazing among those ministers clothed in the same official uniform that as if she was the only beautiful flower among the green leaves. Unfortunately, her pretty face made her notice by someone as ferocious as wolves and tigers.
“When my father was alive, our two kingdoms have become brotherly ones,” said the new King of Kingdom Liang while stepping forward. “I’ve long heard that your two princes were killed on the battlefield, so now you only have Princess Jiuyang.”
Having known his intention, the King of Kingdom Wei forced a smile and said, “King of Kingdom Liang, Jiuyang is too young.”
“In my eyes, King of Kingdom Liang is young but promising, and Princess Jiuyang has a mien of a queen. Thus, can I be the matchmaker, relating your two kingdoms by marriage, which is way better than brotherly kingdoms?”
How evil they were! They wanted to not only conquer his kingdom but also take his only daughter away. All the ministers kept silent with their heads bowed. The scene was plunged into dead silence.
Jiuyang was indisposed to marry him, but she knew it wasn’t a decision that she could make.
I stood up when they thought the dust was to settle.
When they watched me walk toward them, their domineering faces were full of panic.
Even if millions of enemies were stationed outside the city, and the army of Kingdom Wei was disarmed without an ability to counterattack, I could still be able to absolutely kill them by use of my wizardry a the moment.
Thus, sometimes, countless people versus a few ones wasn’t always a good thing.
“She’s mine,” said I out loud to them. “She is a trophy I won myself for defeating the late King of Kingdom Liang.” I pulled Jiuyang to my side and stared at them condescendingly.
For fear of us offending them, the King of Kingdom Wei repeatedly winked at me.
By contrary, Jiuyang was satisfied with my behavior.
“If so, let it be.” The King of Kingdom Zhao said waving his hand, “King of Kingdom Wei, you choose 3,000 girls and send them to the barrack outside the city to reward our soldiers. Take it seriously.”
When they left, the King of Kingdom Wei almost collapsed onto the ground. Jiuyang knelt down beside him, wiping her tears.
She did have two personalities: one was the mission entrusted with her as the princess of a small kingdom; the other one was her capriciousness that she would only show in private. It had to be painful that she swapped herself between them from time to time. The funny thing was, I had my imperial status taken away earlier. Now, I was just an exile.
“Jiuyang, I can do nothing,” said the King of Kingdom Wei to his daughter. “3,000 girls! How can I speak to my people?” He turned around and said to me, “Divine spirits, you should leave. Here is no longer a kingdom. If you stay here, you’ll only see a laughingstock.”
“Xiao Rang, let’s go.” I immediately walked toward the city gate.
Xiao Rang followed me closely without even giving a look at the two people.
There was a fighting song sounding in the barrack outside the city. Of course, they got a reason to be jubilant. When I looked back, the weather-beaten isolated city looked more sorrowful against the backdrop of the sunset.
When I looked back again after walking a long distance, I saw thick smoke rise from the capital city of Kingdom Wei. In no case did the smoke hail from civilians’ chimneys.
The night breeze came with the smell of flames of war.
Kingdom Wei was completely occupied shortly after we left.
Without us, two divine spirits, present, the allied forces of the eight kingdoms became unscrupulous and instantly invaded the Imperial City of Kingdom Wei, a city without the capacity of self-defense.
The above-mentioned information was heard from some civilians who successfully escaped from the city.
We kept a relatively close distance with the city. As night befell, we found a big tree and sat down. We lighted a cold fire and planned to continue our journey at daybreak
The isolated city on the horizon was like a star falling onto the ground flickered.
Several civilians fled the city and ran to the place where we took a rest. Not until then did I learn that the Imperial City of Kingdom Wei suffered a massacre.
The King of Kingdom Wei had surrendered, so why did they still massacre all residents?
I once asked Xiao Yan the similar question when we just killed an Ice Wizard assassin who had followed us the way along.
“Why did they want to kill us?” asked I while staring at the snowland dyed red by blood.
“Because you, Your Highness,” replied Xiao Yan while licking the injuries on his arms.
“But I’ve been exiled from the Imperial City. Why could they not let me go?”
“As long as you’re alive, they will feel fidgety. They won’t let you go until you die.”
I didn’t understand why I, who had nothing, made those influential people feel threatened?
I still didn’t get it why such an isolated city made the allied forces act like that?
It was tranquil late at night.
The night breeze came with some noise.
The vigilant Xiao Rang discovered some noise from nearby and stood up with his spear.
I woke up and saw some figures moving under the moonlight.
“Who is there?” roared Xiao Rang, freezing those figures right away.
When my finger shook, cold fires appeared and rushed toward them, illuminating the surroundings.
It was a group of bruised imperial guards who seemed to come here after a life-and-death fight.
“Divine spirits are here, so we can be saved,” exclaimed a guard who came in the first line. Then, a dozen imperial guards showed up with Jiuyang surrounded by them. Jiuyang moved her mouth and wanted to say something but ended up falling onto the ground.
The soldiers who chased after them arrived here in real quick by following the lead.
“Protect the Princess,” shouted the field officer of the imperial guards while taking the lead in rushing out.
I thought that there would be another bloody fight. Unexpectedly, he was bluffing. They escaped in every direction and disappeared before they approached the pursuers.
It was so ridiculous and laughable.
“Xiao Rang, kill them all,” said I to Xiao Rang.
“Yes!” Xiao Rang thrust his spear out and pierced through three soldiers in a row with it.
He jumped forward and landed before them. The other pursuers turned around and tried to escape before he pulled his spear out.
When he twisted his spear, the three bodies were split into half. As he jumped forward again, he swept his spear and broke the legs of the last line of pursuers. However, before they fell onto the ground, the spear hit their heads that were then stuck into the sandy ground.
The nighttime on the snowland was long, so our night vision was better than that of the mortals. When I held Jiuyang in my arms, I saw 13 pursuers were left alive. Apparently, Xiao Rang enjoyed this life-killing game and didn’t end it as quickly as before. Some pursuers had fled far away, but he still killed them one by one.
Jiuyang in my arms attempted to say something in her hoarse voice.
“Are you thirsty?” I used my wizardry to turn the moisture in the air into the liquid which got together into her mouth. She greedily drank it like a hungry baby.
Xiao Rang came back clean without any blood on his clothes, which proved that the killing was easy.
“Your Highness, sorry to startle you.” Xiao Rang fell into silence with his eyebrow furrowed upon seeing Jiuyang.
“Find some dry firewood.” I sat down under the tree with Jiuyang in my arms. We had different physical bodies from the mortals. Born in and grown up on the snowland, we could lay in the snow all day along but were still healthy. But, the mortals couldn’t do that. They might catch a cold if they sat down at the wild all night, not to mention an exhausted girl who had earlier spent a whole day escaping.
The firewood was lit up and warmed her body. It was still dark when she woke up.
“You’re still here?” Jiuyang looked at us with surprise.
“We stop here when we saw the smoke rise from the capital.”
“Then why didn’t you come and save us?”
Her question made us puzzled.
“Humph, right, as divine spirits, you don’t need to do that,” said Jiuyang coldly while hugging herself tightly. The firelight made her tear-stained face reddened.
“Where is your father?” I asked her.
“Died. They all died,” yelled Jiuyang insanely. “If the Dragon-subduing Bead hadn’t been stolen, they wouldn’t have treated us like this.”
“Even if they get it, they will still kill all of you. You agreed with me on that yesterday, did you?”
Jiuyang furrowed her lips, was stunned for a while, and threw a piece of stone into the firewood. After a strong shake, sparks shoot up from the firewood and fell on her blood-stained clothes. The dress that was supposed to make her prettier looked miserable because of the blood.
I leaned against the tree and had a cold fire spin back and forth between my hands.
“I want to learn how to use wizardry, too,” said Jiuyang suddenly.
“You’re a mortal, so you can’t be able to learn it,” said I.
“You don’t want to teach me, huh?”
“You don’t have a spiritual soul, so you cannot use it.”
“What is a spiritual soul?”
“It’s the most fundamental element making up of the wizardry. Without it, you can only practice your physical body, at most.”
Xiao Rang turned around and nodded at her.
“Then you teach me how to practice my physical body,” said she to him.
“I have to protect my prince, so I don’t get time to teach you. Besides, you can achieve nothing with your mortal physical body.”
“Don’t underestimate us,” said Jiuyang with her head raised high. “The late King of Kingdom Liang was also a mortal, but how could he hurt you?”
“He had the blood lineage of the divine spirit.” I was not very sure of my guess. “He might be half-mortal and half-divine spirit.”
“The King of Kingdom Liang was a half-divine spirit?” Jiuyang couldn’t believe it, neither did Xiao Rang.
“It’s just my speculation. When I fought with him, I could feel the non-pure spiritual soul of him jitters.” I closed my eyes and recalled the fighting between me and he the other day. It was impossible that an ordinary mortal could possess such mighty lethality. He couldn’t practice wizardry, so he had to depend on his innate strength. An idea suddenly came across my mind. “Asura,” I blurted out.
“Princess, your history records should document the war between the mortals and the divine spirits.”
“So what? It happened one hundred years ago,” said Jiuyang disapprovingly.
“It’s said that a small part of mortals and divine spirits were weary of war during that war, so they didn’t participate it and disappeared since then.”
“It’s documented unofficially, but I don’t remember that.” Jiuyang seemed reluctant to talk about that period of history.
“At that year...” I immediately stopped talking.
“What?”
“You should sleep first. We have a journey to go on tomorrow.” I turned around and looked at the direction we would forge ahead tomorrow.
The top priority now was to find the stolen Dragon-subduing Bead.
Save the Princess Jiuyang
The surrender ceremony was held in the Meridian Gate of the Imperial City of Kingdom Wei.
After all ministers, civil or military, arrived, the King of Kingdom Wei walked over with the Surrender Letter and the Great Seal in his hands.
The kings of the allied forces of eight kingdoms greedily looked at the two items in his hands, but there was still discontent in their eyes, mainly because they didn’t get the Dragon-subduing Bead.
Xiao Rang and I stood among the ministers, but our taller bodies than the mortals still attracted their attention.
The new King of Kingdom Liang, who had known us on the previous battlefield, secretly whispered to the other kings. Then, I saw uneasiness appear on their faces.
“King of Kingdom Wei, you’re so well-intentioned.” As the surrenderee of the allied forces, the King of Kingdom Zhao received the Surrender Letter and Great Seal with one hand. “In this way, your people will be saved, and the soldiers of the two sides won’t fight against each other. What a blessing!” He burst into laughter, so did the others.
Clad in the most gorgeous dress, Jiuyang looked so unwilling yet so amazing among those ministers clothed in the same official uniform that as if she was the only beautiful flower among the green leaves. Unfortunately, her pretty face made her notice by someone as ferocious as wolves and tigers.
“When my father was alive, our two kingdoms have become brotherly ones,” said the new King of Kingdom Liang while stepping forward. “I’ve long heard that your two princes were killed on the battlefield, so now you only have Princess Jiuyang.”
Having known his intention, the King of Kingdom Wei forced a smile and said, “King of Kingdom Liang, Jiuyang is too young.”
“In my eyes, King of Kingdom Liang is young but promising, and Princess Jiuyang has a mien of a queen. Thus, can I be the matchmaker, relating your two kingdoms by marriage, which is way better than brotherly kingdoms?”
How evil they were! They wanted to not only conquer his kingdom but also take his only daughter away. All the ministers kept silent with their heads bowed. The scene was plunged into dead silence.
Jiuyang was indisposed to marry him, but she knew it wasn’t a decision that she could make.
I stood up when they thought the dust was to settle.
When they watched me walk toward them, their domineering faces were full of panic.
Even if millions of enemies were stationed outside the city, and the army of Kingdom Wei was disarmed without an ability to counterattack, I could still be able to absolutely kill them by use of my wizardry a the moment.
Thus, sometimes, countless people versus a few ones wasn’t always a good thing.
“She’s mine,” said I out loud to them. “She is a trophy I won myself for defeating the late King of Kingdom Liang.” I pulled Jiuyang to my side and stared at them condescendingly.
For fear of us offending them, the King of Kingdom Wei repeatedly winked at me.
By contrary, Jiuyang was satisfied with my behavior.
“If so, let it be.” The King of Kingdom Zhao said waving his hand, “King of Kingdom Wei, you choose 3,000 girls and send them to the barrack outside the city to reward our soldiers. Take it seriously.”
When they left, the King of Kingdom Wei almost collapsed onto the ground. Jiuyang knelt down beside him, wiping her tears.
She did have two personalities: one was the mission entrusted with her as the princess of a small kingdom; the other one was her capriciousness that she would only show in private. It had to be painful that she swapped herself between them from time to time. The funny thing was, I had my imperial status taken away earlier. Now, I was just an exile.
“Jiuyang, I can do nothing,” said the King of Kingdom Wei to his daughter. “3,000 girls! How can I speak to my people?” He turned around and said to me, “Divine spirits, you should leave. Here is no longer a kingdom. If you stay here, you’ll only see a laughingstock.”
“Xiao Rang, let’s go.” I immediately walked toward the city gate.
Xiao Rang followed me closely without even giving a look at the two people.
There was a fighting song sounding in the barrack outside the city. Of course, they got a reason to be jubilant. When I looked back, the weather-beaten isolated city looked more sorrowful against the backdrop of the sunset.
When I looked back again after walking a long distance, I saw thick smoke rise from the capital city of Kingdom Wei. In no case did the smoke hail from civilians’ chimneys.
The night breeze came with the smell of flames of war.
Kingdom Wei was completely occupied shortly after we left.
Without us, two divine spirits, present, the allied forces of the eight kingdoms became unscrupulous and instantly invaded the Imperial City of Kingdom Wei, a city without the capacity of self-defense.
The above-mentioned information was heard from some civilians who successfully escaped from the city.
We kept a relatively close distance with the city. As night befell, we found a big tree and sat down. We lighted a cold fire and planned to continue our journey at daybreak
The isolated city on the horizon was like a star falling onto the ground flickered.
Several civilians fled the city and ran to the place where we took a rest. Not until then did I learn that the Imperial City of Kingdom Wei suffered a massacre.
The King of Kingdom Wei had surrendered, so why did they still massacre all residents?
I once asked Xiao Yan the similar question when we just killed an Ice Wizard assassin who had followed us the way along.
“Why did they want to kill us?” asked I while staring at the snowland dyed red by blood.
“Because you, Your Highness,” replied Xiao Yan while licking the injuries on his arms.
“But I’ve been exiled from the Imperial City. Why could they not let me go?”
“As long as you’re alive, they will feel fidgety. They won’t let you go until you die.”
I didn’t understand why I, who had nothing, made those influential people feel threatened?
I still didn’t get it why such an isolated city made the allied forces act like that?
It was tranquil late at night.
The night breeze came with some noise.
The vigilant Xiao Rang discovered some noise from nearby and stood up with his spear.
I woke up and saw some figures moving under the moonlight.
“Who is there?” roared Xiao Rang, freezing those figures right away.
When my finger shook, cold fires appeared and rushed toward them, illuminating the surroundings.
It was a group of bruised imperial guards who seemed to come here after a life-and-death fight.
“Divine spirits are here, so we can be saved,” exclaimed a guard who came in the first line. Then, a dozen imperial guards showed up with Jiuyang surrounded by them. Jiuyang moved her mouth and wanted to say something but ended up falling onto the ground.
The soldiers who chased after them arrived here in real quick by following the lead.
“Protect the Princess,” shouted the field officer of the imperial guards while taking the lead in rushing out.
I thought that there would be another bloody fight. Unexpectedly, he was bluffing. They escaped in every direction and disappeared before they approached the pursuers.
It was so ridiculous and laughable.
“Xiao Rang, kill them all,” said I to Xiao Rang.
“Yes!” Xiao Rang thrust his spear out and pierced through three soldiers in a row with it.
He jumped forward and landed before them. The other pursuers turned around and tried to escape before he pulled his spear out.
When he twisted his spear, the three bodies were split into half. As he jumped forward again, he swept his spear and broke the legs of the last line of pursuers. However, before they fell onto the ground, the spear hit their heads that were then stuck into the sandy ground.
The nighttime on the snowland was long, so our night vision was better than that of the mortals. When I held Jiuyang in my arms, I saw 13 pursuers were left alive. Apparently, Xiao Rang enjoyed this life-killing game and didn’t end it as quickly as before. Some pursuers had fled far away, but he still killed them one by one.
Jiuyang in my arms attempted to say something in her hoarse voice.
“Are you thirsty?” I used my wizardry to turn the moisture in the air into the liquid which got together into her mouth. She greedily drank it like a hungry baby.
Xiao Rang came back clean without any blood on his clothes, which proved that the killing was easy.
“Your Highness, sorry to startle you.” Xiao Rang fell into silence with his eyebrow furrowed upon seeing Jiuyang.
“Find some dry firewood.” I sat down under the tree with Jiuyang in my arms. We had different physical bodies from the mortals. Born in and grown up on the snowland, we could lay in the snow all day along but were still healthy. But, the mortals couldn’t do that. They might catch a cold if they sat down at the wild all night, not to mention an exhausted girl who had earlier spent a whole day escaping.
The firewood was lit up and warmed her body. It was still dark when she woke up.
“You’re still here?” Jiuyang looked at us with surprise.
“We stop here when we saw the smoke rise from the capital.”
“Then why didn’t you come and save us?”
Her question made us puzzled.
“Humph, right, as divine spirits, you don’t need to do that,” said Jiuyang coldly while hugging herself tightly. The firelight made her tear-stained face reddened.
“Where is your father?” I asked her.
“Died. They all died,” yelled Jiuyang insanely. “If the Dragon-subduing Bead hadn’t been stolen, they wouldn’t have treated us like this.”
“Even if they get it, they will still kill all of you. You agreed with me on that yesterday, did you?”
Jiuyang furrowed her lips, was stunned for a while, and threw a piece of stone into the firewood. After a strong shake, sparks shoot up from the firewood and fell on her blood-stained clothes. The dress that was supposed to make her prettier looked miserable because of the blood.
I leaned against the tree and had a cold fire spin back and forth between my hands.
“I want to learn how to use wizardry, too,” said Jiuyang suddenly.
“You’re a mortal, so you can’t be able to learn it,” said I.
“You don’t want to teach me, huh?”
“You don’t have a spiritual soul, so you cannot use it.”
“What is a spiritual soul?”
“It’s the most fundamental element making up of the wizardry. Without it, you can only practice your physical body, at most.”
Xiao Rang turned around and nodded at her.
“Then you teach me how to practice my physical body,” said she to him.
“I have to protect my prince, so I don’t get time to teach you. Besides, you can achieve nothing with your mortal physical body.”
“Don’t underestimate us,” said Jiuyang with her head raised high. “The late King of Kingdom Liang was also a mortal, but how could he hurt you?”
“He had the blood lineage of the divine spirit.” I was not very sure of my guess. “He might be half-mortal and half-divine spirit.”
“The King of Kingdom Liang was a half-divine spirit?” Jiuyang couldn’t believe it, neither did Xiao Rang.
“It’s just my speculation. When I fought with him, I could feel the non-pure spiritual soul of him jitters.” I closed my eyes and recalled the fighting between me and he the other day. It was impossible that an ordinary mortal could possess such mighty lethality. He couldn’t practice wizardry, so he had to depend on his innate strength. An idea suddenly came across my mind. “Asura,” I blurted out.
“Princess, your history records should document the war between the mortals and the divine spirits.”
“So what? It happened one hundred years ago,” said Jiuyang disapprovingly.
“It’s said that a small part of mortals and divine spirits were weary of war during that war, so they didn’t participate it and disappeared since then.”
“It’s documented unofficially, but I don’t remember that.” Jiuyang seemed reluctant to talk about that period of history.
“At that year...” I immediately stopped talking.
“What?”
“You should sleep first. We have a journey to go on tomorrow.” I turned around and looked at the direction we would forge ahead tomorrow.
The top priority now was to find the stolen Dragon-subduing Bead.
