LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

Then it dawned on her that Lord Chu was talking to him and everyone in the Heavenly Flowers Palace knew that Lord Táng never does archery. Could that be the reason? By humiliating Lord Táng, the Huang family can be humiliated also and if she failed in successfully burning the evil dragon , they can blame the empire"s doom was brought upon by the Huang family and all those nasty conclusions that they usually arrive at and ostracise the Huang family in the future!

Geez! Way to put stress on me!

Xing just rolled her eyes and walked to her father who was diplomatically arguing with Lord Ran. Lord Ran even mentioned that the as his family is grieving, it is inappropriate for his family to partic.i.p.ate in this event but as the Huang family had already have a hired bodyguard with them, Lord Táng can do the ceremony this year on behalf of them.

That had provoked AoTian but Rijun interfered, "Lord Táng is not hired but adopted by our family. He does not receive salary but allowance like me, evident from the family token we both have", he pointed at the Eagle Emblem both of them were hanging in their belts. He spoke in a tone as if the one who was listening is actually stupid and Lord Ran had nothing to retort.

"Father, it"s fine", Xing whispered to her father and he accepted the offer.

Xing never did archery publicly or in competing not because she didn"t know archery but because Haru was a better archer than her. That doesn"t mean she sucked, she was pretty decent. Also anyone can shoot a twenty foot tall dragon from a certain distance, right?

So the Emperor gave her the ceremonial arrow and he cannot hide the smirk on his face as if saying she won"t be left alone and Xing had to restrain hard not to punch him in the face.

So Xing was brought to the side of the stage and everyone"s eyes were on her.

"Brat, let"s see if you could solve the puzzle", Lord Zhong patted her back and Xing looked at the setup in the distance.

Two big dragons were facing each other and there was a big golden pearl in between the dragons. Xing saw a lantern was being hoisted just above the ball and the lantern had the character "Divine" written on it. Weird!

"Oldman! Why don"t you tell me what the puzzle is. Then I"ll solve it", Xing grinned at the Oldman but he was too professional and turned his head.

"Finding what the puzzle is part of the puzzle. How can I tell you?", he asked.

"Grumpy Oldman! Why do you have to be such a stickler for rules?", Xing mumbled and Lady Zhong who was sitting with MingXue could not help but laugh. Xing could see MingXue rolling her eyes at her and she didn"t care, as usual.

"Get on with it! ", Lord Zhong pushed her forward and Xing saw Shengli standing in front of her under the stage. He smiled and nodded and Xing felt a.s.sured. He knew her arrival will cause some stir and as expected it happened.

Let"s see if she could solve the puzzle! If not I"ll have to look for escape routes in case of this going bad! Also s.h.i.+hong may come out!

While Shengli"s thoughts were like that, Xing"s thoughts were simple,

Even if she failed it won"t matter! He is here!

So the rules were explained that she"ll be given three arrows and with it she"ll have to make the evil dragon reduced to ashes. Usually in the previous years the archer will light his arrow with fire and burn the dragon.

Seiren was in charge of the fire and he brought it to her to light the arrowhead. Xing literally jumped back, "Whoa! Get that thing away from me!", she shouted.

Everyone in the stage knew about her pyrophobia. She won"t even get near a stove! They had almost forgotten about it in the commotion. But for those who didn"t know her her actions seemed stupid and childis.h.!.+ Did they really give such an important job to a joker?

But all Xing could think was the fire would be closer to her other hand when she draws the bow if it was lighted and she naturally refused her arrow to be lighted.

Seiren was baffled, "Well, how are you going to burn it without fire, Lord Táng?", he asked and tried to light the arrowhead but Xing pulled the arrow back, "Get that thing away!", she waved her hand, "I"ll find a way"

By now everyone had started muttering to themselves as the sky was turning bright and this should be completed before sunrise or else it is said bad luck will descend on the kingdom.

"Lord Táng, you must hurry", the Emperor prompted her.

Xing took a deep breath and drew her arrow and even Rijun by her side was sure she was not pointing at the evil dragon but somewhere else. He felt nervous for his sister.

Stupid sister! At least point at the dragon. It is big enough and the arrow will hit it somewhere although I don"t know how it is going to lit up without fire!

But Xing stood there unmoving in a perfect posture even though she was pointing in a slightly wrong angle, her expression was calm. Rijun had noticed this with her many times, the critical the situation is the calmer she will be. It was a good quality for a leader as if this was a war and even if the odds were not in their favour, just by looking at the calm and confident look of their leader the soldiers will gain mental strength.

Seiren looked at his father who nodded with a Mystical smile as if she had already figured out the answer to the puzzle and stepped back and wondered how the ceremony will be done without fire.

Xing was entirely focused and she released the arrow while everyone was looking with bewilderment. Lord Chu sneered and everyone in the crowd laughed.

"What"s with that? Is that a plain arrow?"

"Even a child will know, to set fire you need fire"

"We have heard a lot about this Lord Táng and how can he be this stupid?"

Xing let down her hand holding the bow and the arrow hit the target intended by her- the rope holding the "Divine Lantern"

The rope got snapped by the arrow and the lantern descended towards the golden pearl in between the two dragons... And disappeared!

What!

The whole crowd hissed and heckled at Xing.

Xing was perplexed by their reaction and she looked at her brother, "Mingxia! How could you touch the divine lantern! It is considered a bad omen!", he said pus.h.i.+ng her behing him and Seiren stood before her and Shengli was running towards the stage but turned to speak to the guards to form a perimeter. Xing could actually see the people picking up stones to throw at her.

" Well! Didn"t you find it odd that a lantern is hoisted at dawn for no reason? And you even call that setup a puzzle! I thought that was the key to solve the puzzle. Also lanterns have fire in them, so I thought I could use it", Xing murmured and Rijun mouthed her to shut up. Everyone in the stage was alert and Shengli arranged the guards to form a perimeter around the stage so that no one could enter.

The chaos from the onlookers was intensified and a mob was about to form when Lord Zhong"s bell like voice echoed, "Silence!", he commanded and the people became silent as if they were hypnotised.

Lord Zhong wrapped his strong arms around Xing"s shoulders and pulled her to the front edge of the stage, " The puzzle is solved", he said in a loud voice and everyone started mumbling again in confusion. Xing looked at the Oldman whose eyes were slightly clouded as if he was really happy and he pulled her close and hugged her, "Brat, you really did it! I knew it was you! "

Bang!!!

A loud noise was heard and Xing pulled herself out from the bear grip of Lord Zhong and looked at the setup, the pearl had opened and a tiger had been revealed and soon the evil dragon caught fire by itself from the inside and it burned itself out within a minute.

Everyone was shocked to see that happening and soon their surprise turned into disbelief. Usually that dragon burns for at least an hour, right? So how come it burned out this quickly today?

"Everyone knows Lord Zhong likes Lord Táng. It"s a setup!", someone screamed.

"Yes, it should be!", another agreed.

"Huangs and Zhongs collude to cheat us! They are traitors! Hang them!", someone used this situation to alleviate the hatred on both of the families.

"You Majesty! Wisely decide!", some kneeled in front of the Emperor.

The discussion went on and Xing was still stupefied by what was happening around her. People seem to accuse others rather easily! Xing searched for Shengli and he was standing right in front of her below the stage with a beautiful and proud smile. He had tried to figure out the puzzle and even he wasn"t brazen enough to think that the Divine Lantern is the key. He wanted to stand next to her but not now. s.h.i.+hong might be watching and he must refrain himself in showing his feelings towards her lest, s.h.i.+hong might figure out their relations.h.i.+p.

If there is someone who could challenge the popular beliefs and stand against normal customs, it should be her!

"I can swear on my trade and on my ancestors grave that this was the setup planned and given to mine and the Zhong family"s ancestors by the Great Tians.h.i.+ Emperor", the old voice of Lord Xuan, the renowned architect of their kingdom whose family had built this complicated setup spoke.

"We have the proof", Lord Zhong said and both of them pulled out an old paper and gave it to the Emperor.

The Emperor called out Lord Ran and gave out the blueprint to Lord Ran and Lord Ran saw the complex mechanisms that get released once the lantern entered inside the pearl and that seemed to be the key in this puzzle. But how did someone like Lord Táng able to solve something, he was baffled.

Xing knew she was in a sticky position and she"ll be asked for explanation on how she figured out the answer. She cannot say, "I"m scared of fire, so I gave it a try with the lantern" , right?

Why am I getting involved in every trouble there is? And what"s with these people, they wanted someone to solve the puzzle and once it is solved, they are saying it is a setup. What will satisfy you?

As expected everyone demanded explanations from her. Xing took a deep breath, had her usual enlightened smile on. Shengli looked at her to see if she was in discomfort, but she really looked calm and collected.

Xing decided that since these people loved poetry, she"ll give a poetic answer,

"Only when the divine grace descends upon us and on our land, we"ll be able to find the courage within ourselves to oppose the great evil. That"s what prompted me to make the Lantern symbolic to the divine grace to descend", Xing explained and she didn"t even believe a single word of it even though it was her words.

G.o.ds don"t care about humans! This was her firm belief.

But everyone believed her and a loud clapping ensued and it only stopped when the Emperor raised his hands.

Xing saw him standing beside her opening a sealed letter, "Was it the Imperial seal?"

He read the letter in his mind and looked at the gathering and a pindrop silence ensued.

" The divine favour will descend on the land making the golden Tiger to rise! Evil will cower in front of him and be destroyed by him and the land will be liberated", the Emperor folded the paper,

" These are the words of the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor that were sealed until now. So this proves Lord Táng indeed solved the puzzle himself! "

Everyone was shocked beyond belief about it all and many praised the heavens for no reason.

Xing was grinning as everyone who had been dissing her till now had started to praise her now.

What a hypocritic world! Xing thought. And that Scarlet Tiger is no good for me! Not only he was a stupid drunk but also that guy was so free he had to set up a trap for me to fall two centuries later! How did an Emperor had such free time? And why do I feel like I"m connected to that dead emperor ever since I entered the capital city?

The Emperor"s thoughts were different. He only read the first part of the letter aloud and the second part, he decided to keep it in his heart.

"The one who will find the clue of the lonely lantern at dawn would be the one to follow me and the one who must be protected for the survival of the kingdom!"

Shengli was proud and he felt that a pair of eyes were watching over him and he felt creepy. But seeing his woman standing tall on the stage, he felt like he was the one exalted.

As everyone were in their own thoughts another thing happened that blowed everyone"s mind away!