Xing was willing to trust the words of the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor in matters of war because no one in their kingdom would be more experienced in that field than him. She would even listen to him if he asked them to lose the battle to win the war but he just smiled at her,"Break the pillars the same way you punched those guys the other day and how you stopped those flame arrows"
"By the ability of wind manipulation?",Xing asked surprised and the Emperor behind her was surprised and at the same time starstruck in the presence of the history"s greatest Emperor.
"OK, I"ll get there", Xing took a look at the area where the battle was going on intensely. If she get near there, she could break those wooden pillars supporting the tunnel and the bridge will fall without having to get inside the tunnel.
"No", the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor looked at her deeply, "Do it from here!"
The Tians.h.i.+ Emperor was watching her the other day when she did that and was surprised that she did what she did without even breaking a sweat and with no training. He had gone through training with the G.o.d of Wind to have an basic knowledge about wind manipulation and control, but she is extremely different. So he wanted to know how much more she can do.
Xing looked at the distance from here to there that could be more than two or three miles and was not so confident about it. She didn"t even know how she did that other day too. She just wanted a s.h.i.+eld and a s.h.i.+eld appeared and when she wanted to punch those guys in the gut, the wind around them did that for her. But isn"t that tunnel too far from me? Would I be able to control the wind from here?
Well, Master Yuan thinks I can. So it is not wrong for me to try once, right?
Xing took a deep breath and focused on the pillars of the tunnel. There were some of the tribal soldiers under the tunnel and she wondered why only this part haven"t collapsed yet and found that the beam was still strong and supporting the roof and preventing from collapse. So if the beam is broken, the entire structure will fall.
"You can see it?",Even though it was asked as a question, Xing could sense the surprise laced in the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor"s voice.
"Yes, you can"t? ", Xing looked at him and the Amber eyes looking back at her was glowing with pride.
"I see it",he looked at the tunnel with his eyes glimmering with expectation, "So which one are you going to destroy?"
"The beam", she replied and she could see the slight disappointment in his eyes.
"Okay, then try", he patted her head, " I"d have gone for the pillar in the middle supporting the beam", his tone was soft.
"Oh", Xing said. What he said makes sense. It is the basic principle to go for the simplest and weakest link that would give maximum destruction. In any scenario it is the wisest thing to do. But all her life she tends to go for the strongest and the sure-fire thing that enables victory. May be because she is young and inexperienced or of her impatience and maybe she has the confidence and strength to take on the strongest link, she had always gone for the strongest one.
Xing concentrated and tried to make the pillar break by increasing the pressure around that pillar. She thought she was doing well until she saw the pillars along with the beam getting crushed to pieces and those under the tunnel felt the pressure too but before they could react, the tunnel collapsed on them as it happened within seconds.
The Tians.h.i.+ Emperor chuckled seeing the part of the tunnel collapsing crus.h.i.+ng everything under it and the ones above it fell in the pit too and the Wind soldiers rejoiced as they thought that the tunnel collapsed by itself.
As expected, she is too strong to bother for the weakest link! Everything is eggsh.e.l.ls for her!, the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor was proud of her.
"I tried to get the pillar", she pouted as she thought the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor was mocking her.
But the unexpected happened and the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor smirked seeing water seeping through the walls of the tunnel. Soon water started gus.h.i.+ng through a hole in the wall and the tunnel started to fill with water.
"Can you see what is happening, Kiddo?", the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor asked Xing who along with the others found astonis.h.i.+ng.
It"s been only raining for a month in these areas. Surely that cannot make the ground water to rise this high, right?
"What is happening?",she asked the one beside her who seemed to have the answer.
"A good thing", he smiled mysteriously making Xing wonder if he can talk normally.
"There is an agreement between the G.o.d of Water and G.o.d of Quingze river that the river must not stop flowing into the western sea for more than a minute", he proclaimed and the corners of his lips curled to a beautiful smile.
"But the river dried up!", she said and seeing his smile realised what he meant.
"It is the Quingze river flowing underground", Xing smiled, "I"ll find a way to stop it from reaching the western sea.... "
Finally! We found a way to get that G.o.d!
But before she could do anything, the narrow tunnel, the river was flowing collapsed, making the water fall into the tunnel made by them and the river water filled the tunnel slowly.
"Good for us!", Xing shrieked since luck is on their side.
The Emperor who could not understand a thing those two distant relatives are talking about and he he inquired Xing who was too excited.
" There is an agreement between the two G.o.ds that the water from the river must pa.s.s through our lands and reach the sea at all times. So the G.o.d of the Quingze river made the river above the ground dry up to hurt us and made sure the water pa.s.s through the lands underground to reach the Western Sea to not break the agreement with the G.o.d. The river didn"t dry up... It just flowed in differently... Ha...! Ha...! Ha... Now if we stop the river water from reaching the sea, it would be made a bigger issue among the G.o.ds and we will be having a hold over the G.o.d of the Quingze River", Xing rubbed her palms together and placed it on her cheeks to stop herself from getting overexcited.
The emperor was not so clear about what she said but he trusted her if she said it is a good thing.
As they were watching they saw the tribal soldiers placing their weapons on the ground and surrendering. Half of their people are trapped in the tunnel which is now being filled with water and the other half were entirely surrounded by the Zhong army and they are never meant for being soft.
They were cornered between a rock and hard place and they had no choice but to surrender.
The Wind Army as commanded by the Emperor didn"t attack them afterwards and even tried to get those in the tunnel to get out.
They were politely asking for an audience with the Emperor to have a final talk.
"Accompany me there", the Emperor pulled Xing when the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor stopped her.
"Kiddo, where is the sword I gave?"
Xing stood still trying to figure out how to answer him. She didn"t want to tell him that she doesn"t have much hopes for a decorative sword made of gold. She had kept it safe with her belongings in her tent.
Maybe the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor knew what she was thinking, he gripped her hand and made a small cut on her finger.
Xing winced and tried to pull her hands out of the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor"s grip out of instinct but before she did, there was a bright light and the sword just appeared on her hand making Xing perplexed.
Did this sword just appear out of nowhere?
"You are the master of this sword and it has a duty to protect you and avenge for you and so it would appear whenever your blood is spilled", the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor explained it to her.
Xing saw the sword in her hands and was overwhelmed.
What a cool sword! I don"t even have to carry it all the time and it would appear whenever I need it!
The ones who were guarding the Emperor saw the sword in the Empress" hands and were not pleased. Women cannot hold weapons!
Everyone started to speak their mind and Xing didn"t listen to it as she was in awe of the sword in her hands but the Emperor listened to everything and he felt bad for them because they don"t know how amazing she is with a sword. In this world of there is someone who is worthy of carrying a sword, it should be her!
The Emperor and Xing each took a horse to go to the surrendered tribal troops. Of course there were some murmurs against the Empress riding the horse too but they were ignored as usual and the Emperor kept everything to himself.
IS THE WAR OVER?
Everyone was in disbelief and as the Emperor and Xing reached there, Chief Batukhan was the one who knelt in front of the Emperor to explain his position in the war that he never partic.i.p.ated and pleaded for the leniency of his tribes people.
Another two Chief of other tribes who are women, kneeled to have plead for their people too.
Xing looked at the Emperor by her side with determination in his eyes like she had ever seen before and she wondered what he had planned.
What has he planned?