The next morning when Xing woke up it was still early morning and she had only slept for a couple of hours and she seemed to have some sort of nightmares that she couldn"t remember when she woke up.Yukiko was awake and both of them cleaned up and Yukiko"s maid helped her as she was bleeding a lot. Xing decided to get her some medicines from the mountains and went out.
When she came back, Yukiko was having breakfast and the maid prepared medicines for Yukiko from the herbs Xing picked after consulting with the Physician as Xing requested her too.
Xing did not want to get blamed again..!
They were joined by Ayane and Xing told her the plans to leave that day as they have to catch up to the carriage they were supposed to be in.
"Don"t try to get pregnant anytime soon! First take care of your body. Three times is a lot", Xing advised but was startled by the sudden intrusion of the Water Emperor inside the tent.
"What do you mean by three times? I only knew of two. Isn"t that right? Yukiko...? ",he asked Xing. He really was curious and clueless.
"Your wife was pregnant three times... You didn"t know? This is the third time she had lost her child by someone"s scheming", Xing was surprised but answered him bluntly.
Yukiko just turned her face to the side and pouted, "Even if I told him, what would he have done?"
Xing could see she never told about her second pregnancy to her husband and how could she blame him entirely?
Xing sighed! So much for advising Ayane to have a good talk with Yi Kwan when she herself is not talking with her husband about such an important issue.
These guys have a lot to talk about!
Xing and Ayane left the tent when Ayane screeched seeing a white fox with blood red eyes and nine tails standing in front of them.
"What is it Bai Li? ", Xing was embarra.s.sed by this sudden reveal of his true form.
Her screech brought everyone a.s.semble there and Xing just rolled her eyes, "What is he planning!"
Just then the one in the Crimson robes appeared out of thin air making everyone perplexed.
Xing covered her face with her hands.
Now what?
" Aren"t you going to kneel, you imbeciles?", Bai Li shouted, " It is not enough that your forefathers stole the crown and divided it among themselves and now you insolent b.a.s.t.a.r.ds have to disrespect him too?"
Everyone kneeled except Xing and seeing them confused, the Emperor was the one who spoke, "Meet Tians.h.i.+ Emperor, the father of our nation!"
Everyone"s jaw dropped by this and wondered if they are being trolled. True, this one in front of them has the featured mentioned about the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor... But how could he be still alive?
But there is a big white talking fox with nine tails says it, so it must be true..? May be...?
"He was cursed because he tried to save his son and that"s why he is still young! ", Xing managed to shove another unbelievable hard to swallow truth down their throat.
"Why are you here?", Xing spoke casually sparking the curios gazes of everyone..
"To give you this!", the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor was unfazed and offered her the Divine Sword.
Wait...! Is that the ShenSheng Lei Dian? Everyone was flabbergasted!
"Do you agree to the condition I mentioned?", Xing wasn"t that hasty to accept that sword.
Is she asking for favours to accept the Divine Sword she wished to have before? What a pity! The Emperor was wondering.
" I agree... Only you can kill me. I will not let anyone else kill me including myself! ", the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor agreed and everyone kneeling gasped.
Are we hearing right? They are talking about killing right? For some reason the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor is still alive and Mingxia wants to kill him?
"Fine", Xing tried to contain the joy she was feeling but it spilled in her face quite obvious by the grin she had while getting that sword.
Xing got the sword and removed the ordinary wooden scabbard to reveal... A golden sword!!!
The corners of Xing"s lips twitched as she took a good look at the sword.
Yep! It really is gold! As much as I love gold, it is not good for making weapons, right? What good is a golden sword against a iron sword?
The Tians.h.i.+ Emperor saw her awkwardly displeased frozen expression and patted her head, "Child, it is not the sword but the skills of the one who weilds the sword that brings victory", he smiled.
Alright! Nice words of wisdom but I would have preferred an actual sword, not a decorative one!
Xing stared at the sword for a while and felt creepy like that the sword was staring back at her and she put it back at the scabbard.
"This is my inheritance to you, my last living descendant.. The only thing worth anything, that I have", he gently patted her head making Xing feel warm.
Xing bowed to the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor who once again disappeared and everyone else stood up to have a look at the Divine Sword.
"It really is the original!", Ayane said as she traced her fingers over the sword.
Oddly, the sword didn"t react like the ancient artifacts the Emperors had, to other"s touch. Only later did Xing know that the Divine sword"s true potential could be unleashed only by the chosen owner of the sword and for others, it was just an ordinary decorative sword that would defend nothing.
Soon Xing and the Emperor said their byes to everyone after briefly explaining everything about the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor and Ayane held Xing in a death grip, "I will not let you go unless you kiss me"
Xing didn"t want to hurt her by getting out of her grip and compromised to a kiss in the cheek which Ayane accepted begrudgingly.
Xing asked Yukiko to be strong and to ask her for help if she needed anything even if she wanted to leave the palace.
"I won"t trust a man with a kingdom if he can"t even protect his wife and child in his own palace!", Xing told as a warning to the Water Emperor.
As a Divine Ruler, she is ent.i.tled to criticise the Emperors if they are wrong.
The Water Emperor had no other way to accept her criticism as he was told of the things she did last night with the a.s.sailants. She really is the Divine Ruler they must accept.
So after discussing the Secret modes of communication directly between the Emperor"s Xing was about to leave when a man made his entry.
For some reason the moment Xing saw him she felt uneasy and didn"t like him. Ryuga introduced him as the nephew of the Dowager Empress and that confirmed Xing"s belief that they are like the Ran family their kingdom had.
Even if they know they are dangerous and working against the kingdom, they cannot do anything because they won"t have proof.
That guy who was called Takanas.h.i.+ got dangerously close to Xing and tried to touch her face, "Lord Táng! How interesting!", he smiled,when Xing caught his hands in a death grip, "I don"t like men", like you!
"I know, I know", he laughed.
"Why are you here?", Ryuga asked. Everyone"s demeanour clearly said that he was not welcomed there but he shamelessly stood there as if he didn"t notice.
"I heard there was an attack here last night!", he smiled.
Xing just wanted to slap him in the face but restrained herself. A fox with the tongue of a serpent! That was her impression of him... Despicable! Working with s.h.i.+hong!
The Water Emperor brought Yukiko to the tent immediately after his arrival and stood guard.
"If I didn"t know you better, I"d have said you led those men here, Takanas.h.i.+!", Xing smirked looking at the man taller than her with brown eyes and hair with a sly smile glued on his face.
His expression froze for a second before he regained it, "Glad that you know me better!", he gave that ugly smile once again making Xing want to retch.
"No, I don"t know you!", Xing said and walked away followed by the Emperor.
"Are you saying I led those men here then, Lord Táng?", he asked chuckling.
Duh! What else!
Xing didn"t turn to answer him and was lead away by Ryuga.
"Who is that with you, Lord Táng?", he shouted and no one answered him.
After getting away from that man, Ryuga told Xing about him and that confirmed her speculation that he is working with s.h.i.+hong.
Ryuga also told Xing that s.h.i.+hong is under the impression that Lord Táng and Huang Mingxia are different persons.
"Good thing the Wind Emperor was wearing a hood. Otherwise that Takanas.h.i.+ would have reported the Emperor"s visit to s.h.i.+hong", Ryuga spoke with his usual gentle voice and smiled at her gently.
Xing took a deep breath, "General kin, I"m glad for your help till now. I wish that you should marry soon and start a family! I will never fall for you", she smiled and bowed slightly.
The last thing she wants is someone in love with her one- sidedly.
The Emperor who had already guessed as much by Ryuga"s looks was pleased that she made her stance clear to him.
Ryuga nodded with tear filled eyes and Xing and Emperor were brought near the carriage they were supposed to be riding for the past three days by Bai Li who used his skills of teleportation.