1 - Girl washed by the river
Thunder rumbled ...
Wind howled through mountain cracks…
On a night without the moon, a lone carriage sped up on the mountain road.
Rocks crunched under wooden wheels of the carriage.
Plunk… a wayward rock hit the keel of the wheel very hard ...
The carriage careened dangerously by the ledge of the mountain path.
A lady dressed in expensive silks immediately jumped to other side of the carriage, with a girl in tow, shifting the weight to balance the carriage.
The carriage is saved from tumbling down the road by hair's breadth.
The lady heaved a sigh of relief.
Tonight is full of bad omens.
Her hometown is located on vast lands north west of the kingdom's capital, outside the natural mountain barrier, which formed a ring covering the county that housed the capital.
One must cross at least one mountain road no matter where they are coming from, as long as their destination is the capital.
There are only two places to cross through the ring mountains that surround imperial county. First is a waterway that connected from the southeast, which cut through a vast and fearsome jungle. The animals in the waterway itself are not harmless either. It is said heavenly beast kings lived in the deepest part of the forest in this jungle.
Second is this mountain path, while there is no fear from fierce beasts, it's very dangerous to cross on the days of bad weather. Even on normal days, one must brace the risk of rock rain, mudslide, at times, even mountain bandits.
However, she could not delay, if she is to reach the capital for the birthday of her youngest son.
After all, she is an imperial concubine of second rank, and her son is a prince. it will not do, to miss his own birthday banquet due to a trip to her hometown.
Despite the bad weather, the head-eunuch insisted she start travelling. This particular eunuch is a gift from the emperor, as such, the emperor's person. Concubine Shen could not cross his words when he had taken up the emperor's name, thus, she had started her journey despite the misgivings. However, her heart could not help but feel something amiss. there is an ominous feeling in the air, she could not quite place her finger on it.
Concubine Shen looked out anxiously. She has been a virtuous daughter, later on, a dutiful wife. This particular trip has been riddled with problems from the time it began.
A man came to her when she first started the journey, sprouting some nonsense about the emperor killing off all the blessed in the kingdom. He insisted that her own family will be in danger as well, if she follows the emperor's directive as is. the guards chased and killed the man, meanwhile, concubine shen hid the paper he passed to her in her sleeves.
Her family is famous for having the blessing of Shennong. Men and women of their family can make crops grow faster. Their lands yield the highest harvest in the kingdom. This time, she is going back to remake and bring their legendary bangle of life, at the behest of the emperor. The emperor assured her the change he suggested will increase the power of blessing more than ten fold. It is always good to have more harvest. He only needs it to be consecrated by his own Taoists before returning to his in-laws.
Despite the emperor's advice to not open the scroll before the ceremony, she gently eased off the wax, reading the formation written there. Then she read the formation the rebel has given her.
when she was young, there was a time she attended a Taoist school. She knows how to read Taoist formations. No one knows about it. If she follows what the emperor dictated, all of the blessing's power will be bound to the artifact, including her daughters. If they die, the power will be locked in the artifact, to be taken by any who could find it.
If she follows the directive given by the insurgent, all the power will be tied to the artifact and themselves. The power will always be bound to the blessed first, artifact after. One can not claim the blessing by killing them, for the blessing will be returned to the bangle of life when a person of Shennon lineage dies.
The bangle will continue to hold all the power of bloodline. The more generations bind their power to it, the more powerful the artifact is going to be. When the last of their family perishes, the power returns to the angel.
Concubine Shen had the headache of her life trying to decide between the two. The only difference between them at the end of the day is whom the power goes to when everyone of shannon lineage dies. She wondered if the rumors about the emperor are true. It is said the prince Mo Xing long's mother, and all of her family is killed by the emperor because they did not give up their family treasure.
Finally, she decided to use the rebels Taoist formation. Thus, she reforged the emperor's decree carefully with the new information. She heated the wax gently, reapplying the seal. The artifact creation ceremony concluded with no surprises, and she gave the artifact to her daughter for safekeeping.
There is nothing she could do if the emperor is set on killing her and her family. The only thing she could hope for is that the emperor will spare her family if he could not retrieve their power. .
However, the return journey is proving to be troublesome. she could not prevent that feeling something wrong is about to happen. Her anxiety is propagated to her children.
"Mother" her daughter called her, waking her from the deep thought, asking if they should move to the other side of the carriage, to balance the weight.
The little princess patted her younger brother's head, trying to soothe him.
The disaster struck at this moment. First, they all felt a weightless-ness. The mother, who is faster on uptake than both kids, rushed to hold the young child in her arms, pushing the quilt on to her daughter. The little princess tried to wrap the quilt around herself, but they were thrown from the carriage before she could so much as unfurl the quilt.
The young girl clutched at the two ends of the quilt as she fell down, while her mother wrapped around her younger brother. Thunder lit the dark of the night once more, this time, the girl could see her mother hitting a rock, her hands coming loose around her younger brother.
The girl vaguely heard her mother's last words.
"Live on, my child." her mother said.
It could very well be her imagination.
Her younger brother rolled a little, but the child's body came to stop on a ledge. His cries went further and further away. Her fists tightened on the quilt's ends in shock. Then the girl felt a tug, as the quilt caught on a tree, swung her and threw her forward, right into the middle of a raging torrent. She tried swimming back, but her power was too small. Soon, the girl's eyes closed, she saw no more.
At the same time, in the capital of the country, a messenger entered the emperor's room.
"News from Northwest your majesty. The artifact creation went smoothly. Concubine Shen left her family with the artifact." the messenger informed him. The emperor threw him a bag of coins, and the messenger left.
the emperor struck his hand on the drum besides him. The sound reverberated throughout the room, like a war beat. Almost immediately, twelve black clad men appeared in the center of the room. They stood still, as if they have always been part of the room's décor.
"Kill." That is all the emperor said.
With that single word, the war began once more, as usual. Shen's family is but the first victim of the war.
Yet, it is different at the same time.
The emperor could feel it.
It is different this time.
This will be the last war.
When it is over, only one side will live on, either him, or the Angels.
...
At another place, the Crown prince rendezvoused with a man clad in black.
"Is it done?" The prince asked. He knew his father was going to kill the Shens.
Only, he improved upon the plan, and killed Shen concubine and her children as well.
When he learned of the resistance, he created a path for an insurgent to reach Shen concubine. She is stupid enough to believe the insurgent over the emperor. Not that there is much difference in either. If she uses the formation by insurgents, he could track the artifact. If she did not, her family would die along with her children, and the artifact would fall into the hands of the emperor. Either way, the Shen family dies.
Ah.. The ancestors said … Man plans, and god laughs.
The next day, a group of people found a girl lying face down on the rocky river bank. They came here early to catch fish. Whenever there is a very large rainfall, water flows in the fourth tributary, filling this particular rocky bank with water. The water fills fast, recedes faster yet. Thus, by the time the flood is over, the bank is full of fish.
This time, in addition to fish, there is a person. It's a young girl, who's barely eleven. Her skin is as white as jade, her hair shining even after being soaked by the river. She is wearing silk clothes, ornaments in her hair, ears and neck. Her feet are clad in pretty shoes. At first, they thought her a corpse, but realized, this girl breathed. The family put the girl in a sack, carried her off before others could find her.
The family decided to take her home, for if she lived, they would have one more person to work in the family. After all, they are farm laborers, the more people they have, the more money they'd get. If that did not pan out, they can always sell off the girl. She looked like she would sell for a good price.
The girl suffered a fever for two days and nights before she woke up. When she woke up, she was wearing rags, there was only a bone bangle on her hand.
"Who are you?" the girl asked the woman besides her ...
"Ofcourse, I am your mother. Don't you remember me?" the woman asked. inwardly, the woman is anxious. This ruse has to succeed.
"Mother? I don't have a mother." Chi Jiu shu answered. She really did not. hers died some time after her birth, her father remarried very early. She only has memories of her stepmother, not her own mother.
"What is this? Are you doing a hidden camera? It is considered kidnapping to bring people places without consent." She added.
"Old man.. Your daughter has gone mad.." The woman shouted in response, looking at the dilapidated door of a dilapidated straw hut.
A man in his forties came in. He is well muscled if a little on the short side, a bit too dark as if he worked in open fields, yellow teeth and stank of not bathing properly.
"You .. you are not my father. who are you?" the girl asked.
"Ah.. little eight ... have you gone mad after falling in the river? " the man asked her. The couple does not look at her eyes. They are looking at each other, then corner, then below her neck. Their behavior screamed 'Fishy'.
The only thing Jiushu could think of is 'traffickers'.
"Well, then, what is the date?" Jiushu asked.
This time, she could well and truly see their confusion.
"Date? what is that? is it something to eat?" the woman asked stupidly.
'what?!!! Jiushu is shocked. Are there people who do not even understand the units of time in current days?
"I am hungry. Can I have something to eat?" she asked.
If a trafficker group kidnapped her, these guys seemed to be small fries. If it were professional traffickers, they would have bound her with ropes and all. she just has to run away when they are not watching. Meanwhile, she will find someone who can answer her questions.
However, her plans are in vain.
The person who came with congee is a girl called fifth sister. She is even more ignorant than the ugly couple.
Jiushu slipped out and walked away after getting out of the hut. Even if it were during the modern era, she wouldn't have been able to escape from such wilderness. She knew as much.
she came to a stop when she realized their poor house is situated on a river bank. The escape route from the yard led to a river in the down hill, a secluded bank cut off on either side by steep rock walls.
Then she wandered off in the other direction, but she was caught and retrieved.
After a few such shenanigans, even Jiushu figured she had transmigrated. She did not just transmigrate to a simple period drama, but transmigrated to a land ruled by angels and demons.