Xing felt like she was enveloped by the warmth emitted from Shengli listening to his revelation even though he wasn"t touching her. He had that proud and honest expression that only he could make such promises to her and keep it up.This man... He is the only one who could make me feel this way!
Xing"s heart was overflowing with happiness and both of them forgot where they were for a moment while they were looking deep into each other and a chirpy voice broke their trance.
"I tied their strings... I will not let You guys break it!", Xing saw a beautiful lady wearing red appear in front of them with a very pleased smile in her face.
Xing remembered this G.o.ddess was the one who tied a red string around her and Shengli"s ankles when Shengli did that weird ceremony by the pond before he left her ten years back. That string disappeared instantly and Shengli made her drink the water from the pond interlocking their arms too.
"Yue Lao! No one is trying to", Fei Lian spoke in a wronged tone.
Is this the G.o.d of Marriage? But... Isn"t he supposed to be an Old man living in the moon? Why is he a beautiful young maiden?
And... Wait! She is the G.o.d of Marriage? What did she say? So was that a wedding ceremony Shengli conducted? Were we officiated by the G.o.d of Marriage himself?
Xing looked at Shengli who was sporting a playful smirk and he winked at Xing looking at him in a perplexed state.
Xing opened her mouth and raised her eyebrows and her eyes became wide,
"The nerves on this guy! Marrying me without me even knowing we are getting married... ! And why is he looking all proud like he had done an epic deed?"
For Shengli, marrying her was his one true wish and he was so glad that even the heaven recognised their marriage.
Before Xing could say anything, Yue Lao hugged both her and Shengli closely,
"It"s clearly a love too hard to come by... The last time was when that one broke every one of the laws to be with her... That...", Yue Lao paused and sighed, "Let"s not talk about him. But... The yearning these two had for each other made them find my pond even you G.o.ds cannot find. And the promise they made in the water of the pond is like a promise etched on stone that cannot be rubbed off like your trashy scripts, Siming... You cannot touch my favourite little chummy lovebirds!", she declared making Siming snort with disgust.
" No one denies that", ZhuRong spoke with contempt, "You and your despicable talks of love", she mumbled within her mouth.
"Don"t you dare to", Yue Lao"s chirpy voice held a dangerous undertone this time and she let go of Xing and Shengli, "They will find each other no matter where they are, a perfect example is what happened in the Netherworld. I heard King Yan"s Gloomy grey Castle crumbled because of him", she smirked.
"It"s a pity", the mountain G.o.d said and when Xing looked at the G.o.ds who were almost at each other throats having a contentious smile they tried to hide on their faces.
Do they all hate King Yan?
But Xing didn"t have time to think about it as she felt a warning bell sound in her brain. Why are these G.o.ds together here explaining past stuff to me? Till now they had said that I had changed fate and a.s.sured me that me and Shengli cannot be separated. But what had they done till now? They made me enter the palace knowing that we cannot be separated and even showed glaring signs in the sky and they could not even protect me in here. I was left alone in the Netherworld even though I am not supposed to die now. What are their future plans? Are they just making me happy before sending me to slaughter?
Shengli was overjoyed by the declaration of the G.o.d of Marriage and the Emperor was immersed in reading the scrolls he had in his hands.
"Can you get to the point? What do you want from me? Why are you so fixated on me? ", Xing pursed her lips and there was a frown line apparent between her eyebrows.
"Your blood", Fei Lian had an unreadable expression, "You have the blood of Lu, Huang, Shu, Zhong and Ran flowing through your veins and so we need you. I saved you at birth for that reason too. We waited for a long time for someone with your blood to appear and we cannot lose this chance. We are at war and we need you by our side to win our enemy. And you should cooperate because your enemy is colluding with our enemy"
Xing felt she was bombarded with too many truths at the same time. Her father had searched for her ancestors and he told her that her mother"s side had a long line of single daughter for all eight generations and that"s as far as the records could be found. She knew she had a little of Ran and Zhong blood in her from her mother"s side and Lu and Huang blood from her father"s side. But Shu blood?
And my enemy? s.h.i.+hong! So Old Rong is their enemy?
Shengli and the Emperor were confused by all this too and Xing who was in deep thoughts was snapped back to reality by the resounding noise of a snap.
SNAP!
Xing looked around to see they were now standing in a big hall made entirely with jade. The floor, pillars and even the roof was made of jade and the sheer brilliance of this place was mind blowing. There were celestial maidens dancing in a stage by the side, clouds were covering the floor like a mist and there were many exotic heavenly beasts running around seen through the windows and Xing noticed even the G.o.ds were turning their haughty demeanour to reverence.
Only one place can be this overbearingly majestic, The Audience Hall of the Heavenly Emperor!
"Kneel for your ancestor, our Emperor", Fei Lian looked at the brothers who were dumbstruck with the sudden change in location.
Xing had a vague memory of being here in this place before but wasn"t sure when.
Xing saw Shengli and The Emperor kneeling on the floor with their forehead touching the ground, the most humble bow one can give. The Heavenly Emperor is the father of the first Lu Emperor and so that makes them his descendants and it is only proper for them to kneel like this.
Xing felt a slight pain in her stomach as she was standing for a while and she tried to kneel for the arrival of the Heavenly Emperor, when Fei Lian slipped some medicine inside her mouth, "You don"t have to kneel"
Xing swallowed that bitter pill and felt her stomach ache getting better and she tried to kneel again and she could not. Xing felt like her limbs were held by an invisible force that stopped her from kneeling.
Okay.., what is this about? I"m not allowed to kneel in front of the Heavenly Emperor? Why?
Oh, right! Women don"t kneel, they curtsey! How dumb of me! Xing decided herself .
The arrival of the Heavenly Emperor was announced and Xing displayed an elegant curtsey while Shengli and the Emperor were kowtowing.
"Bow, little one!", Fei Lian by her right side whispered in a mocking tone holding his laughter and Xing followed the other G.o.ds and did the same bow they did after chiding the tiger G.o.d in her heart for making her appear here without prior notice.
How would I know the etiquettes here? But... What is going on? Why am I treated the same as these powerful G.o.ds?