LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

It was the smell of a brothel but it was special as Xing could feel the swaying. The remnants of the incense laced with aphrodisiacs in that place and the constant swaying combined with the thick stench of blood on her clothes, made Xing nauseating and she smelled the kerchief tied to her wrist to get a grip on herself as she is supposed to be fainted.

Minutes before, it was Chenglie who hit her in the back of her head with what felt like a feather to her and he was the one who covered her immediately by the sack and carried her to this boat they are now travelling. He tied her wrist together with his kerchief (loosely) knowing she would be having motion sickness and since he cannot hug her, he left his kerchief that smelled like him with her and it really helped her.

Xing could only feel the swaying of the boat and could not guess if the boat is crossing the river or taking them to some other place in the same sh.o.r.e. With her amazing directional skills she won"t know it even if she is untied so she gave up on thinking hard which direction they are headed.

All she could guess was these houseboats that are used by n.o.bles to have a leisurely stroll in the Quingze river are the ones s.h.i.+hong is using for this irky "business" and she felt irked to be there and her nasuating sensation only got worse.

"Hey, wolf! Should we cut this b.i.t.c.h"s hair? I bet boss would be pleased", a man"s sneer made Xing open her eyes in astonishment.

Too bad dude! You"ve crossed all the lines with my Prince! You"ve called me names, you"ve asked my husband to cut my hair to shame me and you brought up your boss whom he hates in the same sentence.

Death... Confirmed!

Before Xing even finished her thought process, she could hear some splas.h.i.+ng noise and some happy, smas.h.i.+ng sounds from a couple of crocodiles.

He... He...he..! Xing laughed evily inside her head.

Fed him to the crocodiles! Not bad, hubby! But didn"t know there were crocodiles in the Quingze river! Want to see them!

There were some voices of opposition starting to appear from inside the boat from the other couple of men who were with them and it trailed off. Xing could see in her mind the cold look of Chenglie that froze those two who wanted to oppose his decision.

Xing was lying in a bed inside that boat with the sack covering her like a blanket and she could feel Chenglie sitting beside her and she felt.... SAFE!

I"ll probably the only one who feels much safer being kidnapped to an unknown place than being in a carriage ride protected by a posse of soldiers and a nine tailed fox, Xing thought.

It"s all because he is here!

The manly scent of Chenglie she could smell from his kerchief calmed her and before she knew it she fell deep asleep.

She was jolted awake by Chenglie who was tying her to a chair, "Wake up, silly girl", he whispered in her ears, "You"d be the only one sleeping peacefully while getting kidnapped", his tone that was mixed with a bit of sarcasm, worry, anger and also bit of happiness made Xing wide awake and she was no longer swaying and she was sitting with her hand tied in the back of a chair and there was a chair placed in front of her.

Chenglie left without a word after that and Xing looked around to see the dimlit room... It was more like a shack than a room and the entire place was filled with weapons, earthen pots and old boxes as if it was a storage room. The entire place was filthy and decorated hideously by cobwebs. There was a big canopy bed in the corner of the room which was overrated for this place.

Xing felt her skin crawl by seeing the state of the place which very well could be the place s.h.i.+hong is staying now.

What more could we expect from a snake who steal other rats" places? Xing sneered in her heart.

She always believed the state of the room you live in, can say a lot about the state of your mind! And this room says a lot!

Also she could sense a tunnel underneath and maybe they are keeping the children under there?

"Welcome to my humble abode, Divine Ruler!", the exasperating, haughty voice of s.h.i.+hong made Xing snap out of her thoughts and she knitted her brows in exasperation.

"Humble...? More like... Nasty... Yep! That"s how I"d describe this place... Nasty! ", Xing smirked not able to bear the haughty look of s.h.i.+hong.

"You...", s.h.i.+hong gripped Xing by her jaws, "Don"t get smart with me", he gritted his teeth and Xing just snorted.

"Or else, what? You"ll burn me? You"ll r*pe me? What would you do? What could you do?"

The condescending look in her eyes wanted to make s.h.i.+hong gouge it out but he took a deep breath and composed himself and took his seat in the chair.

He needs to find out what she is about!

He noticed that she was perfectly tied and knew Chenglie has really done what is asked of him. He even left the premises as he asked of him.

In fact he was still a bit skeptical of him and even hid Old Rong from him in case he is helping the enemy without his knowledge.

He was greatly saddened when the others told him that Chenglie killed the other guy because he suggested to cut her hair. But now seeing the pitiful and disheartened enemy of his and he believed Chenglie"s words that he killed him because he pointed his dagger at him and not because of what he said as he doesn"t care about her or her hair.

So s.h.i.+hong was elated that he got his wolf back!

But only Xing knew that she had already untied the tie Chenglie made as it was not tight so that it won"t hurt her wrist and tied it herself to look plausible as if it is properly tied. She even dishevelled her hair and dirtied her clothes to look more pitiful as if she was here against her own will. Which kidnapped person will have perfectly combed hair and not smudged makeup, right?

Seriously! This guy will out himself like this! He already killed a subordinate without a word for me! I have to look after him...

s.h.i.+hong sat in front of her with his cheeks supported by both his hands and stared at her for sometime and that made Xing uncomfortable and so she stared him back. He still has that pure and bright aura as if he is the best person in the world and his droopy eyes held no emotions as if he doesn"t care about anything and the corners of his lips had that slight upward curve as if he was happy.

Xing remembered how this hearless guy killed her chance of having a child and the girl that died some time before in her hands and she felt a surge of hate towards s.h.i.+hong and she couldn"t even look at his face anymore as her throat closed with bitterness.

"Do I look that terrible?", he asked.

Xing just sighed. She didn"t want to have a conversation with this person and she just wanted to know if Old Rong was there and finish what she has to do and leave this place.

Xing could not feel the presence of Old Rong here like she felt it back in her courtyard.

So is he not here?

But s.h.i.+hong brought Xing here to talk with her against the wishes of Old Rong. For some reason Old Rong seemed scared of her now when he was ecstatic to get to her, back when she was in the Imperial Palace before New year. He felt like Old Rong is hiding a lot from him and is not being entirely honest with him. He hated his wolf for some time but he is insisting on keeping him with him now and also he refuses to engage with this s.l.u.t or anything involving her and now only focuses on destroying the kingdom.

It was his wolf who supported his decision and had helped him arrange this meeting with her.

I want this s.l.u.t who dared to seduce my wolf to be destroyed and the kingdom does not matter to me! My wolf has the same plans as me too! He is the one on my side, not Old Rong!

s.h.i.+hong wanted to know how this s.l.u.t is seducing everyone and is too successful. In a way both of them are not that different from each other but how come she is getting all the good things?

"Where is that talking stick? ", she asked back. If that Old Rong is not here, she"d just leave this place and get the military to search for the children he is holding hostage here.

"Talking stick...?", s.h.i.+hong chuckled, "Are you that arrogant to talk that way about a G.o.d who is one of the great four?"

"One of the great four?", Xing scoffed. "Don"t tell me you don"t know that he USED to be one of the great four and he was replaced by a G.o.ddess five centuries back?"

Oh, how pleased Xing was to see the small twitch in his face that expressed how shameful he felt by the possible deception by the one he thought is helping him!

"Don"t lie, a G.o.ddess as a Great four?", he asked back. Did Old Rong really lie?

"Do you want me to summon the current G.o.d of Fire here? I can if you want", Xing bluffed without fear. She cannot summon that G.o.ddess as she knew she hated her but she can summon the Heavenly Emperor of she wants.

Xing saw s.h.i.+hong"s entire face twitching with anger as he realised something. True, if the G.o.ds really banished Old Rong wrongfully from the heavens as he explained, won"t they have found someone else to replace him? How was he this stupid till now and believed he still had great powers?