1558 The Queen’s Thoughts
Xia Di had displayed the Inner Demon unique to the Skywing Clan. The first thing he did after being brought into the city was fight to the death with those armored soldiers. Like a wolf cub, he had lunged at his enemies and tore at them with his teeth. This had always been the mentality of the Skywings. Regardless of whether they could kill the enemy, they would still try and kill them, even if they had to use their teeth!
A guy screamed after his ear was bitten off by Xia Di. He was pulled to the side by a comrade and kept far away from the terrifying wolf cub. Alas, Xia Di was still enclosed in that unbreakable net of light, preventing him from launching an even fiercer attack. Otherwise, he definitely would have bitten off more than an ear!
“This little madman!”
“Kill him!”
!!
The warriors were furious and charged up to give Xia Di a beatdown. The warriors possessed a strange power, different from special abilities and different from the higher Law power. Instead, this power relied on the mysterious symbols carved into their bodies.
If an arm had a flame symbol, the warrior could release flames, but if it was an ice arrow symbol, he could control ice. If it was a wolf symbol, he could transform into a beast!
In short, these were strange warriors who were much more powerful than Xia Di could have imagined. Their punches and kicks broke Xia Di’s teeth and shattered his shoulder bones. Intense pain made Xia Di want to howl, but he said nothing, his eyes red.
The enormous ruckus drew many spectators. Just when it seemed like Xia Di couldn’t hold on anymore, a woman cried out in alarm. This woman wore a luxurious white gown, a crown made of crystal on her head and a ring with a large red jewel on her hand.
Xia Di was lying on the ground and throwing up blood, so he hadn’t been able to see her face. But given how clean and delicate her feet were, he guessed that she was someone who enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle and was very pretty.
As his mind grew fuzzy, Xia Di was lifted up by two powerful warriors. The frenzied beating had left both of these warriors sweating from their armpits, and the odor from Xia Di’s body was even worse, a mixture of sweat, blood, and tobacco-scented soil.
Thick wooden doors were pushed open, and Xia Di was placed on a soft bed. The bedding had a beautiful aroma, but it was quickly covered up by the b.l.o.o.d.y smell from Xia Di’s body.
The two warriors undid the net of light binding Xia Di and left the room silently. Although Xia Di was lying on a soft bed, he felt like he was about to die. All those unfathomable and mystical sights from the depths of his memory had appeared once more: the great river dividing the world into Yin and Yang, as well as that snowy mountain with a halo. When they were flying through the air, Xia Di had seen the snowy mountain, but he did not understand why scenes of the Lower Realm would appear in his memories.
Not long afterward, the door was opened again. This time, it wasn’t two burly soldiers, but two young maids who entered. One was rather plump; when she helped Xia Di take off his bloodstained uniform, he could feel that her chubby hands were very bouncy. The other maid appeared small and weak.
The two of them brought over a bowl of juice which smelled like grapes and helped Xia Di drink it down. As this refres.h.i.+ng fruit juice entered his stomach, it began to burn as if he had drunk some extremely strong alcohol. His skin reddened, and then his injured bones healed up in a few minutes while the bruises on his face disappeared.
“What is this juice? My skin feels itchy.” Xia Di scratched his head as he spoke, and red marks appeared where his fingers scratched. His skin was very dry, and when he rubbed it, little b.a.l.l.s of dirt would form.
“This is from the Snake Fruit found on Snow Mountain. It can accelerate the process of replacement. Look. The skin around the wound is rapidly drying and shedding, the newborn skin as tender as a baby’s,” the chubby maid told him, while rubbing the wound on Xia Di’s shoulder. Xia Di blushed in embarra.s.sment.
Several minutes later, Xia Di was pushed into a marble bathhouse. Waters from a hot spring were pumped into the bath through an exquisitely designed pipe, and clean clothes and fragrant soap had been placed on the racks. The two maids helped Xia Di bathe. After all, he was only seven years old, so the maids didn’t feel embarra.s.sed. But Xia Di was embarra.s.sed and rejected their help.
“What a strange place!”
Xia Di found it impossible to explain his treatment, but at this time, he couldn’t resist the temptation of a hot spring bath. The Snake Fruit hastened the process of replacing the old with the new, and Xia Di felt many dry patches of skin on his body. He truly did need a little nourishment from the spring waters.
He took off his clothes and stood naked at the edge of the bath. He took in a deep breath and then dove into the pool, where he began to play around to his heart’s content.
The two maids at the entrance reminded him to wash his body with the soap, and only then did Xia Di purse his lips and grab the fragrant soap and casually swipe it across his body once or twice. He then reached into his spatial ring and pulled out his violet bamboo flute, playing a tune.
—
The sound of the flute traveled into the adjoining room. In the room adjacent to the bathhouse was a woman in a long white gown. She was standing on a stool and peeping through a small hole at Xia Di. There was a small b.u.t.terfly-shaped birthmark on Xia Di’s left b.u.t.tocks, made even more obvious by the heat of the water.
The woman finally began to tear up. Clutching the wall, she started to tremble. A crazy thought was tormenting her heart, a frenzied desire to throw aside everything and call out Xia Di’s name.
But in the end, the woman managed to restrain herself. Almost paralyzed, she staggered out of the hidden room. Her mind was full of memories that she could not bear to look back on, constantly tormenting her sensitive nerves.
She returned to her room, dismissed all her guards and maids, and then raised the mattress. After opening three pa.s.sword-protected locks, she took out a small box, within which was a down blanket made for a baby. She placed the white blanket in front of her face and took a deep whiff of the scent that still lingered upon it.
And then she began to weep, driving all the maids and guards outside to worry. The weeping was as fierce as a waterfall, and never in the seven years since Queen Meryl had taken the throne had she ever cried like this. The guards even thought that she wanted to commit suicide, so they risked execution to bust through the door and enter the queen’s bedroom.
Queen Meryl did not blame the guards, simply ordering them in a weak voice to leave.
She then summoned the strongest warrior of the kingdom, Armstrong. He was a muscular and thickly-bearded middle-aged man. His clan had served the kingdom for sixteen generations. His father, grandfather, and great grandfather had all died on the battlefield for the sake of the kingdom. Even if the entire world betrayed the kingdom, the Armstrong Clan would always stand together with the kingdom. He was the person Queen Meryl trusted the most in the world.
“He truly came at the worst time.” Queen Meryl’s eyes were still a little swollen, but she quickly straightened up and spoke in a tone that brooked no objection. “Send him back. No matter what, you must send him back quickly to wherever he came from!”
Armstrong was confused, stroking his chin with his right hand. “Right now?”
“No, tomorrow. I want to look at him one more time,” the queen replied.
…
After the bath, Xia Di, his body now fragrant, was led by the two maids into an elegant and s.p.a.cious dining room. Various gourmet foods were served, and Xia Di, inheriting the fearless personality of the Skywings, decided to feast.
Xia Di had also inherited the Skywings’ ability to easily get along with others. He asked the two maids to eat with him, and while they weren’t so brazen as to sit down at the table that only the queen was normally allowed to sit at, they were still extremely grateful to Xia Di for the offer and attended him diligently.
——
Xia Di had no idea that Xia Fan was outside the castle and scratching his head in confusion. Lurking in the shadows, Xia Fan was currently being hara.s.sed by louses, but his little brother Xia Di was enjoying various delicacies and being attended upon by beauties!
Xia Fan was deeply confused, and he decided to watch and see first. Thus, he stood guard outside the castle the entire night, pa.s.sing the night in the sewer like a beggar. His only companions were a bunch of rats, which Xia Fan had Summoned using the Beast Taming Art taught to him by Grandpa Fisherman. Their objective was to understand what was happening to Xia Di.
The rats told him that Xia Di was living very well. He was pa.s.sing the night in the cleanest and most sunlit guest room in the castle. This guest room was usually used for hosting the kingdom’s most revered guests. It had scarlet curtains handmade from velvet, was decorated with the most precious Mist Lotuses of the snowy mountain, and the mirror embedded in the wall was a piece of crystal!
—
The night pa.s.sed quickly. In the early morning, Xia Fan was once more treated like a prince, while Xia Fan could only eat the nutritional rations from his spatial ring and some cheese and tomatoes the rats had stolen for him.
“Comparison really can anger someone to death.” Xia Fan mumbled as he chewed on a piece of molding cheese. Taming beasts involved putting oneself in the shoes of others. The food stolen by rats clearly couldn’t be that clean, but Xia Fan still put on an excited appearance, at the same time showering the little creatures with benefits. That was how to make these creatures serve him to the death. After all, Xia Fan’s Beast Taming Art was a skill, not some sort of special ability that could control their minds.
But Xia Fan could smell the b.u.t.ter-fried sausages Xia Di was eating, and he also knew that Xia Di’s breakfast menu had the mushroom stew and veal soup that he so enjoyed, and also honeydew melons and strawberries!
The situation was getting more and more interesting. The rats told him that when Xia Di was eating, Queen Meryl was hiding in an adjoining room and watching him, her emotions rather agitated.
“What is the queen’s name?” Xia Fan asked the rats.
Squeak, squeak…
The rats dipped their flexible tails into the filthy water and wrote out some strange characters. But Xia Fan’s translation chip managed to provide Xia Fan the correct answer.
“Queen…Meryl?” Xia Fan slightly frowned as he recalled a rumor he had heard back at the base.
The rats then informed Xia Fan of something even more shocking. The kingdom’s strongest warrior, Armstrong, had entered the castle. Queen Meryl had disguised herself as a man, and her personal guards had prepared the only six Lightning Cathead Eagles of the kingdom. Meanwhile, Xia Di had been brought to the gardens in the rear of the castle.
With a whoosh, Queen Meryl, Xia Di, Armstrong, and the kingdom’s four most elite warriors sat upon the Lightning Cathead eagles and swiftly set out in the opposite direction of the sun.
The Lightning Cathead Eagles were one of the fastest species in the Lower Realm, with adult ones able to travel at 30,000 meters per second. The entire kingdom had only six of the mystical beasts. They were gifts that the previous king had received long ago.
But Queen Meryl had also joined this squad. Her body was not as strong as a warrior’s, so Armstrong had to slow everyone, giving Xia Fan a chance to give chase.
With them in the air and Xia Fan on the ground, they flew for two whole hours, arriving at the swamp that was a great distance from the snowy mountain and the white city. It appeared that they were heading to the Underworld River.
“Are they planning on sending Xia Di back?”
Suddenly, just as Xia Fan was wondering what was going on, the bright and sunny sky swiftly darkened, and a blue bolt of lightning flashed across the sky!