The entire Gentle Breeze courtyard was burning and Xing who is incapacitated as of now was in deep contemplation amidst the burning building with the embers rising and the heat was unbearable.What led to this? Xing wondered, if she was on the other side, she"d have made plans to kill the one person who"d make others withdraw from the fight to.
The Ran family"s escape was a distraction by s.h.i.+hong and I fell for it! Distracting me with the Ran family and letting me know that he is planning to burn the city and when I ran around trying to protect my family, I was the target all along. And here I am... About to die...
And where did I go wrong? Till four months ago, I"ve saved more people than I hurt. But now after I got a family, I"ve killed more people than I saved. Why is it all going bad? Why am I getting morally worse? Does loving people make you weak? Xing bit her lips to get the pain to let her be awake as she was suffocating.
That"s not it...I"ve never changed. My strategies have changed from using the sword to using other plots but not my goal.
Protecting those around me!
Till now, I"ve always cared only about others and never about me. But I was safe because I was always protected... There was Haru who watched my back, Shengli who watched over me and also... The G.o.ds... Now I have no one beside me and that"s why I"m weakened...
A tear escaped Xing"s eyes.
Xing had an unreasonable fear of fire and that combined with the effects of the poison was making her gradually lose her consciousness but she was not ready to give up. She has to survive!
That"s right! Haru is not here, Shengli"s whereabouts are unknown, the G.o.ds cannot get here ... But...
If I am the frigging "Divine Ruler", I"m not going to end in a frigging fire in a courtyard inside the inner palace like some weak woman! That"s just plain insulting! Death by a sword, I can agree but I refuse to die in a fire! And too many people want me alive.
With the resolve to survive somehow, Xing noticed with all the fire there wasn"t much smoke considering the fact that there was still snow everywhere. This fire is definitely weird, she noted. She still could not move but thankfully her senses were still intact.
If n.o.body is noticing the fire till now, that only means that no one can see it. My courtyard appears fine from outside and there is a weird fire in my courtyard. Only means the fire is caused by a spell since it cannot be caused by a G.o.d. And only select people can cast these kind of spells... s.h.i.+HONG!
Xing who had read so many books knew when the evil guy tries to kill the good guy, he always gives an hour long speech to explain his point of view and that would enable the good guy to escape. If s.h.i.+hong set the fire, he"ll be here to give that speech too, right? Her heart filled with hope that she"ll escape somehow.
Just as Xing came to this conclusion, she saw the fire that was inching towards her, part and a figure appeared with a halberd in his hands.
If he is here, where is Shengli? And is that halberd that rumoured G.o.d? If so, how is he entering inside the palace while others cannot?
Xing looked at her supposed "arch nemesis" who has the upper hand for now approaching her and was extremely surprised.
From what she had heard about s.h.i.+hong, she figured he"ll be having that dark aura possibly darker than Shengli. But that man in front of her, who was close to the age of her first cousin, had a mocking smile in his face with good features and had the brightest and purest aura similar to that of the Emperor. His light brown hair s.h.i.+ned in a golden hue in that fire and his brown eyes were sizing her up as if she was a fish being appraised for freshness in the market, to be later cooked for dinner.
Xing could feel her chest getting heavy because of the presence of the G.o.d in the halberd. G.o.ds usually have a strong presence and this one was weaker than most G.o.ds Xing knew but since her body was weak and already in panic due to the fire, she could not handle this G.o.d"s presence.
"Kill her! Kill her now!", the eerie shout of the G.o.d was heard. "I"ll burn her now... Burn... Burn...", the voice laughed.
Whoa! Wait Old Rong! I"m waiting for a long Story from this s.h.i.+hong.... I"m sure someone will find me and help me....
"Aren"t you one pretty little b.i.t.c.h!", the gentle and soft voice of s.h.i.+hong was heard and he approached Xing .
d.a.m.n! How could such a terrible person have such a beautiful voice?
"Don"t go near her....! Just kill her...!",Old Rong shouted.
Looks like Old Rong cannot act alone and he needs s.h.i.+hong to use his powers, Xing realised.
And please keep your distance!
"Shut up!", s.h.i.+hong shouted at the halberd, "Or else, I"ll throw you out!"
Wow! This is some messy relations.h.i.+p, Xing thought. She tried to gather her strength and tried to stand up. As long as she left her courtyard she could escape.
s.h.i.+hong got near her and a strong scent of civet that even suppressed the burning smell around her, entered her nose.
Right! Expensive perfume from cat"s a.s.s! So fitting!
Xing could not forget the fate women suffer under him and her whole body s.h.i.+vered by his close proximity.
Be brave, Xing! Do not let him touch you! She told herself.
"Not so powerful today, are we?", he smirked and bent to her eye level and Xing turned her face to the side as she didn"t like to see his face.
"No manipulating the Wind to slash me, no flying above the ground and no arrows to ruin my shoulder?", he snorted. "Comfortable here?", he sneered.
"Why won"t I be? I"m the powerful woman in the harem now, didn"t you hear?", Xing talked back. Maybe it was the adrenalin but she felt like some of her strength returning back to her.
"Kill her... Now...!", Old Rong shouted again and s.h.i.+hong threw him away on the ground.
"Such a pretty face and a sharp tongue! Too bad... You are going to die... Today! But let me play with you for a while... " he ran his fingers on her cheek and Xing flinched. She wanted to rub off her cheek with the strongest soap there is and chop his hand off, pickle it and make him eat it.
"You are happy here but my dear wolf thought you would be suffering without him... Ha! What a joke", he grabbed her chin.
"Hmpf", Xing sneered and she felt her blood boil when he said "my dear wolf".
"He"s a fool to believe whatever I say. You see me, don"t you think that I deserve the phoenix throne? That fool thinks he is not worthy to become the Emperor. Who cares? I deserve the throne! If he does not want it, I"ll be with the one who wants it. Love? Nonsense! Power is everything! ", Xing added every word knowing s.h.i.+hong is getting mad. The more mad he gets at her the more he"ll feel sorry for Shengli and let him off his hook.
" What? ", he grabbed her throat and squeezed ," How dare you? How dare you say this about him?... "
" Kill her...she is lying... Kill her", Old Rong kept on repeating.
"Shut up!", s.h.i.+hong shouted and her grip on her throat tightened, "I"ll make sure to make him Emperor but before that....", he let her go and paced here and there in front of her. Xing coughed and still her throat was burning.
"Even I thought you truly loved him... I even arranged a show for you to watch.... How could you..", he seemed extremely p.i.s.sed making Xing wonder why does he care about Shengli this much?
"Why does he love you so much? I"m truly on his side, but why you.... A vixen? A s.l.u.t... ", he walked closer to her and that"s when she could hear an owl hooting!
Xing remembered an Owl helping her each time when she absolutely needed help and was overjoyed to know that owl is here again.
At last! Help arrived!
s.h.i.+hong saw the smirk in her face and he gripped her throat hard. Xing could not breath a bit and her consciousness was about to slip with the lack of air, "Is it because you are a...", before he finished, Xing used all the strength she gathered and kicked him in his crotch..... She won"t usually use such below the belt tactics but desperate times, right?
But then again.....