LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

Xing could now understand why the G.o.ds were so focused on her. It was her ancestor"s sin to collude with a traitor for his own gains and it should be paid by his descendant. They are in the right in this issue. They had every right to force her to do this task.

Wow! Tians.h.i.+ Emperor, my ancestor... You really screwed up my life! I really should be mad at you...

But in another perspective, he colluded with Old Rong to save his wife and child and so if he didn"t do that then, maybe I wouldn"t even exist now! So I should be thankful to you...?

Xing didn"t know how to feel about all this but she knew past cannot be changed and only future has hopes.

"So why didn"t the G.o.ds kill old Rong themselves after the war?", Xing asked the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor and she remembered the answer the Heavenly Emperor told her only after hse asked, "I know", she turned at him and shouted, " G.o.ds cannot kill other G.o.ds except in battlefields! And Old Rong surrendered after the war... So that"s why they sealed him in the human realm bound with spells and you... Liberated him!", she paused sensing his guilty expression. He was sitting beside her watching the sunset with a stern look and Xing could feel how lonely he is feeling.

The peak they were in was still bright and they could see the lower regions getting shrouded in darkness bit by bit as the sun sunk deeper. Night was approaching fast.

Xing in her own thoughts almost forgot that this guy just told her in a sentence that his wife died as a punishment from G.o.ds. He seemed to be not wanting to elaborate it to her and she didn"t want to hear it from him either. That would be the thorn p.r.i.c.king in his heart for the past two hundred plus years he had lived watching his descendants die one by one while he still lived.

Xing remembered that day when her mother died she saw that owl and even a tear drop fell on her hands. So he was there... To pay respect to his dead ninth generation descendant.

That would have sucked to live through so many deaths!

"So how did you trap Old Rong in that weapon?", she asked to change the mood. Also she needs to know the details.

"Old Rong is not trapped in the weapon. He is the weapon!", the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor answered to her in a calm tone, his eyes still fixed in the setting sun.

"What? How? Everyone, even G.o.ds think...", Xing could not put her mind through it. If that G.o.d is just reduced to an inanimate weapon, isn"t it easy to destroy him? Just melt that weapon or sink it in the deepest ocean... Simple, right? So what is this fuzz about her being the "chosen one" and what not?

"I lied!", he spoke in a calm voice, "I pretended to be drunk one night and asked him to transform to various forms and when he transformed to the form of a halberd, I put a spell on him that would make him unable to transfer back to his original form. That spell required the blood of myself and the blood of the four family heads and I made sure that the counter spell must have all those blood in a single person ", he had small smirk on his face.

Xing felt like her eyes would pop out of surprise, " If that is the counter spell to liberate him, why is everyone believing that my blood which contain every family"s blood is what would kill him? Even Old Rong believes so". Xing remembered how he tried to burn her and told s.h.i.+hong to keep away from her blood.

Oh my goodness! If only he knew my blood would have let him transform to his original form!

" I lied! ", he smirked looking at her and the reddish rays of the setting sun reflected in his golden eyes making it look like glittering rubies.

Xing"s jaw dropped in surprise as she realised the master plan of the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor. He really is my hero!

He made everyone including the G.o.ds believe he had trapped Old Rong in the weapon because in that case, destroying the weapon won"t kill the G.o.d but would make him transfer to another viable vessel to carry on living. So if the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor proposed that only the blood of someone containing his blood and the four n.o.ble families can kill the G.o.d trapped in a weapon, they"d believe him and would wait for such person to appear.

But why did he conjure a spell with five different blood...? Of course... To protect his future generations. The possibility of someone with the five family"s blood to appear is slim, so until then his bloodline would continue...

The Tians.h.i.+ Emperor realised that she"d figured it out, "But the G.o.ds decided to chime in and aide in this situation. My son married a Ran daughter and had a daughter who married a Zhong son who had a daughter. With only the Huang blood missing, the G.o.ds tried to interfere but the G.o.d of fate didn"t like their Interruption which helped me. Then there was your mother... No matter how hard I tried to get her away from the Huang son, she was stubborn and even got too close to him. I knew the G.o.ds would gladly interfere and so I hid her and still she didn"t listen and got pregnant. But I didn"t know of the G.o.ds" plans of her having twins got ruined by me and so only you were born. You didn"t cry and was barely alive and I thought they"d let you go and wait for another chance but the G.o.d of Wind brought you to life and sealed his mark on you so that they"d have their chosen one", he rubbed his temples.

Xing who had a lot to process realised his last sentence a bit weird... "Let me go..?"

"You thought they won"t save me because I was a girl, didn"t you?", Xing came straight to the point. There is a popular notion that G.o.ds only use men for their purpose for glory. They won"t let a G.o.d being killed by a human female as they think of human females a level lower than human males.

But aren"t half of those who pa.s.sed those other family blood to me are all female? Shu blood from the Empress, Ran blood was from a daughter and the Zhong blood from a male and Huang blood was from her father.

"Yes", he said and Xing wanted to punch his face again but he is right. Even though the G.o.ds are progressive letting G.o.ddesses taking high roles these days, human females aren"t that worthy for them. It is how it is...!

If so why did Fei Lian save me? He always treats me well too! Why didn"t I think of it till now?

" Do you know", the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor asked gently patting her back, " Why there are only sons of heaven and not a single daughter of heaven?"

"No", Xing shook her head, she didn"t have time to think all these things before.

"Do you see the difference between ordinary people and the people with G.o.d blood in them? I know you can see blood relations.h.i.+ps like Meili", he asked Xing.

Gee! Can"t he just tell me the answer? Wait... Something different...?

" I know!", Xing clapped her hands out of excitement, "Recently I could see a faint white glow in the people with the Lu blood.... When I look at the Emperor and also at brother Lee... But Ayane... Ayane didn"t have that glow and the crown prince had it... The water Emperor had the same faint glow but not Yukiko...and... Her child in her belly has that glow! "

"You amuse me", he proudly patted her head. She really is as good as his wife in seeing these things.

"Wow! So only the males have that glow... Females don"t... Why?", she asked him. She would have never realised it if he didn"t mention it.

"I don"t see your blood glowing though", she was confused.

"I put a spell... Wait...", he took a deep breath, "Now look at me", he said.

"Wow! I can see it. But you have a strong golden glow...", but doesn"t Lu family has white glow?

"I don"t know, Meili said the same too... Now look at yourself", he said.

Xing looked at herself and saw her having golden glow too.

"Why am I glowing? Aren"t I a girl?", she said what came to her mind making the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor smile. Simple girl!

But his expression turned serious as he said, "That"s what I don"t understand. That glow you see is called the "Essence of G.o.d ". It is pa.s.sed through blood of the G.o.d to the human. That is what makes the Lu family special and it is only faint now because many generations has pa.s.sed since the first Emperor who was the direct son of the Heavenly Emperor and it was mixed up with humans a lot. All children have it but in case of females, the G.o.d Essence disappears the moment they start bleeding. And you... Not only you have the G.o.d Essence still, yours is getting stronger too. You could counter my spells effortlessly and that is pretty surprising"

"Wait.... Is that why I can manipulate wind?", she asked. She always found it weird that she is able to control wind.

"Yes, it is because your G.o.d Essence is strong. And your power awakened pretty early too... In that pond when that boy kissed you... And when he was in danger in the library you used it too and in the tournament when you were provoked. For me, I could sense it awakening only after I was eighteen ", he bit his lips in deep thoughts.

He knew she was not supposed to bleed as he heard from the Crown Prince of the Fox Clan as per the plans of the G.o.ds for her to not lose the G.o.d Essence which is necessary to kill a G.o.d but that boy"s presence broke that spell on her and still she didn"t lose her G.o.d Essence. Only G.o.ddesses could retain their essence throughout their life but how could she? Also the combination of this girl and that boy creates many Mysteries. Just how could a pair of humans be that powerful? Her power manifests when that boy is around and he unknowingly brings her inner strength out. No wonder the G.o.ds fear their union.

Also the Crown Prince speculated that the G.o.ds are holding her womb hostage because that Essense will disappear if she bears children. So there is a possibility that her sickness may be cured after she kills Old Rong or may be not... Better not tell her now and raise her hopes! She"ll know when the time comes.

"May be Fei Lian is your....", "father ", Xing swallowed her last word seeing the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor"s angry glare. Only then she realised doubting the paternity of the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor is doubting his mother"s morals. No wonder he gets mad. Also if Fei Lian is his father, Empress Shu would have known about it and would have told him. So that must not be the case. So why am I a female have this thing called "G.o.d essence" anyway?

Xing was in deep thoughts about herself but became too tired to think, "OK, I am weird...! Let"s leave it at that. Tell me how to kill Old Rong"

Isn"t that more important? Who cares about the other things? I know, I don"t!

"With this! "

Xing"s eyes widened in surprise and excitement by the thing in the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor"s hand.