3 The Powerful Prince

In a dark foggy room, an old lady sat at the centre burning incense. Her appearance was terrifying but her aura seemed pleasant and warm. Judging from the contents of her cluttered room, she was either a fortune teller or a hoarder. Her eyes squinted as sunlight entered the room when her curtain was drawn by a prestigiously dressed eunuch. From his appearance, it was obvious who he worked for, the third emperor of Hepeng, Wu Qiangda.

The emperor was an attractive man with a strong jawline but his eyes were filled with sorrow, he looked exhausted as though he hadn't had any sleep for weeks. With the support of his eunuch, he sat opposite the old lady.

Seeing his condition, the old lady poured some tea and handed it to him saying, "Drink this, the people need you to be strong," with a shaky voice.

The emperor refused at first but she kept insisting so he drank it all in one go and replied, "My sons are dying and you think I should be strong? Give me a solution then I will be strong," holding back his anger.

"Why do you think you are here then? I have a solution for you and it is the powerful prince. He is the answer," she said in a comforting tone.

One would think having the answer would comfort the emperor but that wasn't the case, he seemed to have even more stress lines on his forehead than before. Wu Yange or as they called him the powerful prince was his eighth son, though he had a twin, he was the only one who had inherited his grandfather's supernatural gift. In fact, he was the only one among the emperor's fourteen princes who had spiritual powers.

His nature was that of an introvert with mild haphephobia, he didn't like being touched distancing himself from everyone. Growing up, he barely got along with his twin so it could only be worse with his other brothers. He left home at the age of fifteen to protect Hepeng at its borders from creatures that occasionally broke through the barrier. They had a reasonable relationship as father and son until the emperor appointed a crown prince.

The first prince was crowned but he died mysteriously in less than a week. Thinking that it was just an unfortunate tragedy, he appointed the second prince but he also died shortly after. Under advisement, he decided to pick Wu Qingsong the ninth prince as crown prince. Wu Yange's twin only lasted two days when he died choking on his own blood with royal physicians failing to save his life. When Wu Yange found out, he was enraged that he stabbed the messenger. Though the messenger survived it was the action in itself that stressed the emperor.

When the eighth prince got angry he normally lost control of his supernatural power, he was gifted with the ability to produce azure flames and when his power was fully engaged his twin dragons Houyan and Huore would appear and circulate around his back waiting for orders.

Everyone including his own father feared him, now his twin had died and he was on his way home. The emperor was almost certain Wu Yange was going to burn down the whole city.

"What makes you think he would help when he blames me for his twin's death?" asked the emperor in distress.

The old lady frowned though you could barely tell because her face always seemed to look that way, "you think so little of your son, though he might not get along with his brothers, he loves them and it pains him watching them die. Besides his not the one you need to convince to go on this mission," she said in a stern voice.

A confused emperor also frowned pondering on her words, since it only took an order from the emperor to get things done. Who would dare defy him?"

"Rong Zian, it is imperative he goes with the prince. He's the only one who can sense the amulet's scattered pieces," said the old lady with anxiety written all over her face.

Puzzled the emperor asked, "Advisor Rong's son, are you seriously talking about the idiot who couldn't even hang himself right?"

"Sadly the fate of Hepeng is depended on him. If handsomeness was a requirement he would have solved the problem by now but unfortunately, we need his brain," she said as she sighed heavily.

The solution to Hepeng's dying crown princes was as simple as giving the throne back to Wu Jiaohua's son Wu Wuqing as the rightful heir but the man was viler than his father and would surely make the people of Hepeng suffer.

Though the throne was rightfully his according to the oath, his reputation gave both young and old, nightmares. He was described as a ruthless, bloodthirsty, genocidal maniac by common folk but those who had the honour to be by his side knew him as a demon king forged from the heart of the devil himself. When he was an infant an evil creature ascended from depths of hell into his crib, in the dead of night and attached itself onto him as a means to avenge all the creatures that had died under Wu Zhu's hands.

He ruled his people with an iron fist constantly feeding them to his vicious pets or the evil creatures that larked beyond the border. Even blood relations couldn't save anyone from Wu Wuqing's horrid temper. Before his accession to the clan leader, some of his brothers formed an alliance to depose him as the ruler of Qinshu province but one by one they were massacred leaving only those loyal to him being appointed as generals.

The only thing that held him back from enslaving the rest of Hepeng, was the barrier around his province that didn't allow any direct descended of Wu Jiaohua to cross over but now the tides had changed. Since the oath was now taking effect, cracks in the barrier were becoming larger by the day permitting his daughter, Wu Yinyou to crossover.