As commotion ensued with everyone scattering everywhere and the loud trumpet of the elephant made the entire street tremble."It"s the royal elephant..."
"Don"t stand in its way... Run..."
"Soldiers won"t help us..."
The cries of people and the screeches of little children filled the air.
The Emperor took a deep breath and followed Xing who was walking against the crowd towards the elephant running in their direction closing in the distance between them as if it was the natural thing to do. It was decorated with silk clothes around its forehead and back and ta.s.sels of pure gold threads were hanging from those decorative clothes making it look fit to be a Royal Pet.
How extravagant and how stupid to have a big elephant as the royal pet! Thought the one who had a black panther adorned with golden collar as a pet.
In the absolute chaos there, a little child was crying in the middle of the street for his mother and Xing just pa.s.sed him not caring for him making the Emperor sigh.
Is it because She worries more about the elephant or is it because she knows that the elephant is the one to be handled as a priority now to save the lives of these people? Probably the latter, right?
He bent and picked that child up when the mother caught up and got that child from him and she screamed at him, accusing the Emperor as a child s.n.a.t.c.her trying to make advantage of the situation to kidnap her child. And he was instantly surrounded by a mob trying to get him.
Xing only heard the Painful screams of the elephant and didn"t notice anything else.
He is hurt!
Xing stood in front of the elephant which was thras.h.i.+ng a pottery store by the side and it turned towards her and raised his trunk to sweep her aside.
Whoa! He is completely gone mad to not even recognise ME and trying to hit me...!
"Poor boy! Tell me where you are hurt", she spoke softly in guyu language to the elephant, standing firm in front of the elephant with no fear of the ginormous figure in front of her in attacking posture.
The entire crowd went mum seeing a human trying to reason with an angry animal who is twice their size and who can kill them with just a knock to their head or a kick to their body.
The Emperor surrounded by the people also saw this and he felt his heart skip a beat. She would get killed in a second by that big beast in front of her.
The Elephant made a low rumble and lifted its left front leg in front of her.
"Mingxia!", the Emperor shouted thinking that the elephant"s going to kick her. She"ll die!
Xing just squatted in front of the elephant making the Emperor and the others fear for her.
Is that person right on his mind? Making it easy for the animal to squash him!
"Oh, my! That"s a big splinter up your foot!", she patted its leg, "No wonder you got mad... Did no one understand you?... Poor boy..."
"Let me pull it out... Okay...?"
"It"s going to hurt for a bit but endure.."
"There... There..."
Xing spoke in a coaxing tone to the elephant and it was acting like a spoilt child with her, squeaking and rumbling. The Emperor was a bit surprised even though he should be used to her antics by now. Others in the crowd who didn"t understand the language she was speaking were petrified.
Okay... What is going on here?
Xing even asked for some tools to pluck that splinter out and someone reacted after a full minute and that too after she screamed at them.
"Is he someone who practices back magic?"
"Hey... I saw these two guys together before ..."
"A child trafficker and a back magic pract.i.tioner..? Are they here to do voodoo sacrifices with little children..."
"They do look like foreigners..."
"Should we hand them over to the officers?"
While the crowd around them were arriving to various conclusions with the Emperor trying to deny them, Xing finished removing the splinter in the elephant"s leg and even applied an ointment she carried with her and bandaged it so that dust won"t get to it.
The elephant was happy his pain was gone and a joyous trumpet was heard in the streets.
"You two.. Where are you from...?"
"Answer us..!"
"You... Pull down your cape...Let us see your face...", some tried to get close to Xing and a mob surrounded both Xing and Emperor who now stood beside each other. And the Elephant was not happy...
Elephants are intelligent animals who always remember the debts they owe... How would it forget the one who helped it just now..? Not to mention the one who helped it understood him pretty well and he could understand her very well too. The elephant felt about her as someone with divine characteristics whom he had to Obey and revere.
So how could it let those stupid mortals bash them unnecessarily?
"See Kouki, this is why we should not help unknown strangers... Animals won"t do this... You look rich and they"ll try to exploit you..."
She was lecturing the Emperor who was contemplating how to escape this attacking mob, "We should have brought Mo Chen along... Where is that Bai Li when you need him? Huang AoTian is going to kill me if something is going to happen to her... If my brother leaves me alive first..."
When he was thinking, something strong enveloped around his waist and he gasped in surprise as that muscular tubular structure in dark grey colour sweeping him off his feet lifting him up and placed him beside.
The Emperor breathed heavily as he bent and stood supporting his knees with his hands...
Did I just got picked up like a toddler by that elephant?
The elephant picked Xing up the same way, but didn"t let her go but was carrying her in its trunk in a more comfortable position and turned to leave.
"Call the imperial guards.... They tried to steal my child...", that woman was still screaming on the top of her lungs ...
Just as the elephant was turning, the hoof sounds of horses were heard making everyone look in wonder and as they realised who was there in the horse everyone prostrated on the ground,
" Long live your Majesty! May you live for a thousand years!"
Xing saw the one in the horse in his red dragon robes and his green eyes were filled with worry,
"Littly! I heard you were in trouble and I immediately came for you", he gently came and patted the elephant. His red hair had that fiery glow in that evening sun and Xing didn"t even try to bow to him while the Emperor gave the bow of the equals and the Earth Emperor reciprocated his bow.
This is a good start.
As the elephant was "explaining" everything to its master, Xing took another glance at the Emperor who looked more to the pretty side with his small face, long eyelashes and small lips. Seiren kind of looks feminine too but Xing felt something odd from this Emperor. She could not pinpoint what it was as she racked her brain to find the answer.
Surprise to Xing, the Earth Emperor seemed to understand the elephant "Littly" as he said that the one he is holding is his saviour and he wanted his master to reward him heavily.
"May I know your name and where you are from. I haven"t seen such pretty men around here", the Emperor had that regal tone mixed with a little lechery making the big guy near him nearly drop the big halberd he had. And his last sentence made the Emperor cringe.
Pretty men...?
"I"m Ming Yushen and this is my business partner Lin Junjie from the Wind Kingdom. It"s an honour to be in your presence, your majesty!", Xing didnt think twice before lying through her teeth and she spoke in their language fluently.
"The silk merchant from Wind Kingdom?", the Emperor was pleasantly surprised and he believed her seeing the soft silk robes she was wearing that had subtle designs of high quality embroidery.
" I wanted to meet you... What a pleasure! Join us ", he said and turned his horse to leave.
As expected of those smug sons of heavens! Just order everyone around!
Xing swallowed her disapproval as she had found a chance to meet the Emperor of the Earth Kingdom just as she wanted.
The elephant was holding her closely and had no intention of letting her down and Xing tried to ask it to let her go but decided against it.
Walking is no fun! And he is holding me comfortably too!
Xing felt sorry for the Emperor who is still on his feet and felt bad for him and decided to get him a ride too.
"Your Majesty! My friend here can ride a horse", she said and the Emperor had a surprised look in his face by this brazen request of this merchant who seemed to be more than what he showed himself. He wanted to know more about him as he intrigued him.
The Emperor waved his hand when a soldier got down and offered a horse for the Emperor and so the parade of two Emperors (although one was undercover) and Xing on an elephant moved towards the Imperial Palace of the Earth Kingdom.
"I told you that everything will work out, didn"t I?", Xing looked smugly at the Emperor who just shook his head smiling.
Why would I ever doubt you!
On the roof top of one of the buildings there, Bai Li spoke to the one standing beside him in crimson robes, "Isn"t it customary in the Earth Kingdom to carry their Guest of Honour in their Royal Elephant in State Receptions? That la.s.s does not know it, does she? Seeing her like that reminds me of seeing you from before... ", he had a sweet smile in his face.
"She is worthy of this honour and every other honour there is", Master Yuan smiled proudly, " Take care of her,although she is much safer here!", he bowed slightly as he fixed his mask and disappeared into thin air.