2 King Wang Qing Long

I couldn't believe I met someone.

That was the right one.

But something drastic happened after.

That I don't know if I can howl in laughter.

***

Once upon a time, there was a king of the Zhaochong Empire that was named Wang Qing Long. He had been ruling the Empire of Mainland China for quinquagenarian years. He had been a good and strong King for the Empire, in which the citizens had been admiring him from a distance, giving gifts through the doors of the palace, saying that he should live a long life unlike any other rulers of the Empire. He always threw a feast towards the people who had been working day and night for the farm and he was so delighted to see their delicate smiles towards him.

Wang Qing Long is a man with the wisest words, he always said everything with a deep meaning underneath, that even the scholars at the royal conference couldn't understand his wisdom. He was different from any other king of other Empires in Mainland China, he was the king who had been named with the Chinese Name of the Azure Dragon, associated with the east and spring season.

Wang Qing Long continued to reign over the years, hiding his true self underneath the mask that he bravely built, until one day, an elderly woman stepped right foot in front of his palace. He was alarmed by it, and he was informed that the woman was begging for food. The mask that he had been keeping all along the years he had been on the throne wore off through his face as he made his way out of the palace.

The doors opened in an instant as the rain poured down heavily from the skies. The woman had greasy, messy, and white hair all over the tops of her head, her cloth had been torn all in place, and she had been holding on to the withered cane on her right hand. Her skin was wrinkled, and the King quickly grimaced at his place. He smelled a stench of sweat through the woman as it made its way through the carpeted floors of the Palace.

The King roared, "Get out, you dirty woman! You are not in the right place to step foot on my Palace!"

The woman's hand froze in midair as the thunder cracked outside of the doors. She looked at him with those pitiful eyes as the King furrowed his eyebrows. The woman opened her mouth and mumbled hoarsely, "You are a rightful King, but your mask had worn off when someone begged you for a piece of bread."

The King furiously yelled, "Get out, you dirty woman! Why are you begging for food right here in my Palace?! You have to wait until the feast comes!"

A head eunuch came out from the door towards the royal conference hall and he was surprised when he saw King Wang Qing Long shouting in front of his throne, knuckling his fists on the side. He gasped right in his place as he peeked over the one the King was talking and he widened his eyes when he saw a beggar woman.

The beggar woman's eyes changed into a glare as the lightning cracked simultaneously with the thunder. The rain torrented through the roofs of the palace while the left hand of the woman trembled right in her cane. The King was taken aback by the look that the woman was giving him and he was so surprised when the cane lit up. He gasped in his place as he turned his heel around and ran through the exit of the Palace doors.

The woman continued to shake in her place as the King ran up the premises of the hallways while the rain was soaking him and rode a horse on his cabin. He quickly fastened his seat as the eunuch watched how the cane glowed up through the ground. He widened his eyes as he opened the door and went out of the hall immediately. He saw the King riding the horse hurriedly as the eunuch panicked around the place while the water dripped down his exquisite clothes.

The woman's face bloated up as she screamed and her teeth grew at a faster pace. She pointed the cane towards the marbled pillars beside the throne and it was immediately destroyed by a single wisp. Her back quickly enlarged as her messy hair vanished from sight and it was changed through red tinges of loose strands on the top.

The woman twitched in her place as she landed her hands by the carpeted floors of the Zhaochong Empire Palace. Her back curved down her body as her fingernails grew into sharp claws. A spiky horn slowly appeared at the tops of the red hair as she groaned at her place, with a lot of saliva spewing out of the creature's wide mouth. Several spiky horns appeared down its back as it roared deafeningly.

The creature was still holding the cane while several eunuchs came in through the hall to greet the King. The eunuchs stopped by the sound that they heard and all of them screamed in their places as the Nian beast turned its head slowly to the people. It quickly sneered right through as its tail wagged hungrily and he suddenly launched itself through the door. He opened his mouth widely as the eunuchs struggled to get out from the door by the Nian beast that they saw.

The Nian beast munched in the human meat that he saw and one of them escaped through the door. The eunuch, who had been the tallest among them, ran over the hallways as he stepped out of the hall while still hearing the sneer of the creature. He swallowed as he saw the King struggling to wake the horse upon their cabin, and the head eunuch was also doing the same thing. The whole palace was alarmed by the noise of the creature that the knights on the far corner woke up rapidly. They stood up with their armors on as they wielded their sheaths of swords towards their sides.

The King kicked the horse under the rain as the eunuch quickly shouted, "Protect the King!"

Several knights went out of the palace as they readied their weapons that varied from arrows to swords. They ran up the steps through the puddles of water as the monster roared and spits of saliva were drooling down its largemouth. Its eyes were full of the blaze as two of his front teeth sharpened as the drops of blood of the eunuchs were stained through it. The King widened his eyes through as the rain-soaked everything, even the knights, who were aiming their swords while swallowing constantly.

The eunuchs followed suit as they both shouted, "The King! Protect King Wang Qing Long!"

The King shouted and the horse quickly galloped through the exit of the Palace. He was alarmed by what he saw and he knew that it was the Nian, a fabled creature who has an appearance of half-dragon and half-unicorn. The Nian appeared every Lunar New Year, and he was so surprised to realize that it was the dawn of the new year. The King let the horse galloped through the other side as the Nian ran on the side of the palace while the knights tumbled out from their feet. The King wore off his headpiece as the beads of sweat on his forehead was evident.

The creature ran as the knights also did the same thing. They prepped up themselves on their own horses as the eunuchs yelled, "Protect the king!"

The knights swiftly moved through as they followed the Nian on its way. A villager who was passing by the Yangtze River was so surprised by a large creature that appeared right in front of her eyes, and she screamed right through. The knights followed as they readied their fire arrows and they shot them up through the back of the beast. The King didn't know where to go as he heard a loud scampering through his back while he gasped as he stopped at the cliff in front of them.

The eunuchs who were following him also stopped their horses and they heard them neighed through the rocky steep steps of the cliff. The King looked worriedly behind them as he rode off of his horse as the eunuchs watched him very closely. The King peeked at the cliff and he knew that there was no way to get out of this.

"Your Majesty, you should get back to your horse! We need to make a retreat!" The eunuch on the right side shouted as the faint distant howls of the Nian and the yells of the knights were evident. The King didn't know what to do and he was torn between the cliff and the sound of the creature who was known as the Nian.

The knights had been thrown upon on the thorny trees and a lot of them died already as the Nian punched its chest with his broad claws. The King widened his eyes as the Nian stopped a few distances away from them while he steered through the ground.