3 Chapter Three

"Xianghua wants our help. We can not deny that. We need to join forces immediately."

"I agree with you brother Rong."

Yu Song, the younger cousin of emperor Yu Rong  and Yu He sat along with His Majesty discussing the important matters at hand.

Clouds of terror overshadowed Xianghua and Qinshen due to sudden threat of ZhaoShu. The both kingdoms had shook in despair, not having any knowledge where the next attack will be. Will it be Qinshen or will it be Xianghua. Yu Ring invited Gu Lin to Qinshen to plot a strategy against the storm standing in their fronts.

The royal family took shelter in Guijiang palace. They decided to combine their powers and create a protection barrier for both kingdoms. Yu He offered to fight the front. Yu Song decided to seal access to Xianghua to direct the enemy to Qinshen's Shixing Iron Forest.

"Royal Father, Yu Long has made his presence. Your son wants to join the war. Please let me assist you in this battle."

"Yu Long, you have a responsibility to protect the Royal families of Xianghua and Qinshen. If all go to war who will stay back for defense?"

"But father-"

Yu Long was cut off by his elder brother He. "Long, the strategy has been set. It's time for us to get started. Any kind of delay will cost us."

"Brother He."

Yu He smiled at his younger brother while patting his head.

"Yu Lin and Mother empress need you."

Yu Long pouted and mumbled under his breath "Yes, Elder Brother He."

Yu He couldn't help but laugh at how cute his brother was. That was all the more reason he wanted to keep him safe.

Yu Long was dejected and felt left out. He shook his head twice. It was war time. They needed to stay strong and believe in their elders because they are never wrong. Finally Yu Long stood up from the pavement and reached out his hand for the sky and said, "Qinshen will win this. I also need to prove I am true warrior."

Yu Long thought it was time he goes and teaches his younger sister how to practice her power.

In the world of cultivation, there were basic six natural elements namely the soil or earth, the water, the air , the wood and  the metal. These elements are said to gifts bestowed by the Heavens during the time of birth. Yu Long possessed water element. He could control water and make it take any shape. The advanced magic techniques involved using water in its different states, may it be boiling or vapour state or the cold ice crystal state. The increase in control and precision increased with increase in cultivation levels.

Yu Rong was fire element master, Yu He and Yu Song were Metal users whereas Gu Lin was Earth user. Lin Na was a very strong water element user. She taught Yu Long how to control and advance levels in the cultivation of Water element. She could control anything that contained water, like tea or the drinks. She was scary but her level was nowhere near Yu Rong. He was powerful Fire element user. He could control flames, his flame colour was blue which turned to white when he used a lot of mana. Earth users were strong. Despite their appearance they are scary. They might be lean and thin but they could easily create twenty feet height walls, or depth into the crust of earth. Air users are tricky and dangerous. But unfortunately they have been pretty rare expert Air users, nowadays they are almost extinct. No Air user can achieve a mastery in this field because it is very difficult to control.

There are three types of cores for mana or spirit. One is the general spirit core or the bronze core. It is the common people's core. These core has limitations in cultivation. These core people can't use or control their mana properly.

Second is the Silver core. These core owners can easily cultivate and advance through all the levels easily. The silver core is higher in status than Bronze core. This core is pretty rare.  Then there is golden core. Rarest of rare. Most powerful cultivators own them. The amount of strength and mana possessed by these cultivators is still beyond one's knowledge.

It is difficult to identify one's core until they attain complete control over their element and core. Yu Long also doesn't no his core colour. Yu Rong , He Zhen and Yu He are the one with silver cores. Yu Song, Lin Na, Gu Lin have a bronze core. Golden core owners no one.

"Yu Lin, time to spar."

"Yes, I am coming. Please wait for me, Brother Long."

"Brother Long, today I went through the Imperial teacher SuXi' s teaching. It was so thrilling. I can't wait to try it. If I win, Brother Long will have to give me a reward. And this time just a hairpin won't do." Yu Lin said gleefully swirling her toes in front of Yu Long.

Yu Long laughed. "I won't hold back this time then."

#Two days later

It was a big day for the Xianghua and Qinshen. It was the day of war. The patrolling guards were waiting to ambush their enemies in the Xianghua-ZhaoShu border. Yu He was leading them. Yu Rong stayed back to protect the Capital City, Guijiang. Gu Lin went to protect the capital city of Xianghua. The royal families stayed inside the Imperial palace of Guijiang. All women, children and older,feeble people were moved into the Imperial palace boundaries.

Lin Na as an empress held the responsibility to protect the Imperial palace. Yu Long supported her in the task of accommodating and shifting all the children, older men and women into the palace boundaries.

Then there was a sudden thunder in the north of Qinshen. From the direction of Shixing, the Iron forest.

"Lord Yu Song, Are you alright?"yelled the Chief Guard of the army led by Yu Song.

Then there was a loud screeching yelp heard from within the forest.

"O heavens, is that Lord Yu Song. Let's look for him."

Because of this their formation broke. One by one all the guards yelped. Chief Guard looked around. No one was there. He was sweating so bad that his clothes were wet. He immediately sent his mystic bird to Imperial Palace with a message explaining their situation. Then he felt as if someone was behind him. He looked back and yelled."Aaaaaaaa…."

The bird flew over the Capital City into the Imperial Palace. Yu Long who was helping at the entrance of the palace took notice of it and immediately whistled. The bird landed on the palm of Yu Long and burned into flames. The flames took shape of letters that read, " Iron Forest is the route of invasion. Yu Song Lord is missing."

Yu Long immediately asked the palace guards to convey this message to his father. He then sneaked off to stall the enemy till his father arrived. He wanted to be involved in the battle as well. Now was his chance. With a smile on his, he said to himself, "I am coming soon to destroy you."

@Shixing, the Iron Forest

"Ahh, may be I expected a lot from these tiny kingdoms. They are such a waste of time. No one fought back."

Said a handsome young man with rich black hair with strands of silver. His eyes were beautiful Hazel in shade. They fluttered here and there in search of his next target.

His eyes shone brightly when a beautiful man, younger than him reached in front of him panting.

"What a beauty. People would easy mistake you for a woman."

"You dare to disgrace this Prince of Qinshen. Are you the leader of the guards of ZhaoShu? Where is my uncle? What did you do to them?"

"Your uncle? I don't know what you are talking about, Your Majesty." he said teasingly.

"Keep your false graces to yourself." Saying so Yu Long immediately created a magical Barrier enveloping them to prevent the aftershocks of his future attacks.

Seeing that, the young man couldn't help but chuckle. "You are so strong. Such a powerful barrier. O heavens, looks like I can't escape." He said playfully.

Yu Long was infuriated seeing this.

"My name is XiYi."

" I don't care about your name. Answer my questions. Where is Uncle Song? And are your men trying to play hide and seek with me." Yu Long felt no mana in the Iron Forest. They must be hiding. Just when Yu Long' s face started to crease in the possibilities, XiYi immediately said, " So mannerless young Majesty. It is definitely not a good habit to not tell your name when someone introduces themselves in front of you."

Pissed off to his limit, Yu Long chants, " O Captor of Mystic Radiance, I summon thee." Immediately a strings bright light originated from behind of the intruder and bound his hands, legs and waist, making it impossible to move.

"Woooooo, scary."said XiYi while smiling teasingly.

Yu Long advanced at a faster pace and in a blink of an eye he was holding a beautiful Blue crystal sword to XiYi's throat.

"Now answer me!"