The Undead Village Arc 4

The dining hall lit with candles and lined with maids and servants welcomed the royals, lavish food items and drinks had been arranged.

It looked rather like a celebration rather than a meeting dinner.

The biggest seat was at the end of the table designed with unparalleled architecture, it showed itself off.

A few had already arrived and settled down, by the time the Guang king made his appearance and everyone stood to greet him, only a few people were missing.

Guang Yun was still under intensive care of the royal physicians, hence not present in the hall; the queen stayed with him. The second were the twins of Hua clan, Hua tou and Hua Xian; known to arrive late and it didn't surprise anyone. The third was Huo Yi, only Huo XiaoLi made an appearance.

"Where might your brother be Lady XiaoLi, mind if I ask?" Guang Zhen finally had the nerve to whisper it, loud enough for everyone's curiosity to spark up.

"The meeting required the representatives of the family" Huo XiaoLi was no less of a critic when it came to giving witty answers.

Though she never did answer directly, she always left her words ambiguous and open for interpretation. An elegant and smart lady, she portrayed the image well.

It was time that the Hua twins walked in just to move their attention. Hua tou walked in first and lightly lowered his head as an apology, the sister came after him. Nobody dared say anything but everyone did find it rude and somewhat irresponsible for the future rulers of Hua family to be this inconsiderate.

Expecting no other guests, the king began the dinner first and let everyone have their fill. You could see they were the royals by the way they held their cutlery while delicately eating small chunks maintaining their elegance.

Once they'd eaten, the King had the tables cleared before he began talking.

"As you know my brother Guang Yin and his wife Hua Zhizi have departed from the palace following the late Prince Guang Ming's death to spend time in mourning; therefore, they shall not be here for the meetings" The king excused for the absence of his brother.

Though nobody questioned it to begin with, yet it was somewhat a response to Huo XiaoLi who never excused for her brother even if he wasn't the representative. Huo XiaoLi showed no response.

"Your Majesty, dare we ask, for what reason have we gathered here?" Shui Tianshi tried to derail this game of subtle sarcastic shots.

"As you may know what we have initially gathered here for is to decide the future of the kingdoms, this year has to be the most crucial as per the prophecy of the Guang elder oracle who appeared 18 years ago and vanished" The king reminded everyone.

"Seems like the prophecy is already turning true" Qi ShuanFeng only mumbled and the royals started whispering about what he might mean especially after knowing the second Prince Guang Yun's situation.

"We have yet been unable to determine the cause, why a crack has appeared at this time and what happened at the Huo Palace 18 years ago that made a surge of dark powers to show up, why did it remain quiet for 18 years, there are alot of unanswered questions" Guang Zhen intervened, catching the curiosity of everyone present in the palace yet again.

Again eyes shifted to the veiled Princess Huo XiaoLi.

"Indeed, the prince is right, there are questions I have regarding my belated Queen and Mother's departure, I dare say I'm quite brimming with vengeance, demanding revenge from those evil spirits that killed her, yet her sacrifice makes me patient, for I cannot step in harm's way when she gave her life to protect mine and brother's life"

Huo XiaoLi, once again gave a strong response, Shui Tianshi seemed to be deeply effected by XiaoLi's diplomatic words. She took it to her heart and under the table she reached her hand placing it on XiaoLi's hand as a form of reassurance.

Shui Tianshi did understand word games however she was easily fazed by emotional words unlike the stoic XiaoLi.

XiaoLi was taken by surprise at the sudden gesture, that woman barely made sense to her.

Guang Zhen was silenced again, afterall, it would be insensitive if he'd say anything especially after Huo XiaoLi brought up her dead mother deliberately.

"Enough, we can figure the answers later" The king brushed off the situation "The matter at hand is that a crack has opened in the Netherworld ane the demons are slipping out, it'll only be a matter of time that it widens and Mowang might reappear into the world"

The king's words spread a kind of terror, even mentioning Mowang was triggering enough, it took five gods to take that being down, would these five kingdoms of mortals with spiritual powers really be enough?

Did they have that kind of power to take down the demon lord?

"Spiritual powers are rare, even among royals, not all children have spiritual powers and most children with spiritual powers die before being born as their bodies cannot handle the surge of power, therefore they should be preserved" Hua Tou spoke up to everyone's surprise, they'd barely expect a word from those twins.

"What kind of cowardly thinking is that?" Qi ShuanFeng knew no bounds when it came to insulting cowardice.

"What my brother implies is that all royals without spiritual powers should be protected as they can still produce children with spiritual powers, as for those who do have spiritual powers, should not be prude and reckless for it won't be just them that'll be effected if something were to happen to them" The sister, Hua Xian defended her brother.

"Now you're just molding his words" Qi ShuanFeng spoke mockingly.

"Enough, we're not here to argue" The King settled it yet again. It was no surprise that these five kingdoms didn't get along, especially the young ones.

"Their words have merit though" Shui Tianshi spoke up "As you might know I'm the only princess of ShanShui clan, the rest of siblings either died at birth or after it. Children with spiritual powers are hard to be born and if something were to happen to me, the clan would be left heir less. Therefore, we cannot be reckless"

Qi ShuanFeng clicked his tongue, his brother sat next to him, he stepped on his foot lightly to stop him from acting rash.

"What the lady said is quite reasonable, don't be reckless and donot underestimate your enemy, the enemy has the potential to crack the seal of gods, they cannot be underestimated" The King reminded everyone.

The debate was becoming more and more of a competition of bringing one another down, it was evident that none of them were united. The king had decided to come to the main plan for now since this was going nowhere.

"As you might know, the second prince Guang Yun has been injured badly, so he shall remain in care until recovery as for the rest the turmoil has begun in all five directions of the world, I'm afraid we can't sit still... I will let the first prince explain the rest"

"Thankyou father" Guang Zhen took the table and the maids came carrying a huge rolled up sheet, letting it unfold on the table, revealing a huge map the size of that dining table.

"This is the map of all kingdoms and as it turns out, they're all too huge for us to be monitored in one go and so I propose we set up a Monitoring division in each district that shall be held responsible for documenting the cases of appearances of demons"

He pointed at the marked dots on the map

"These are all the main districts or centres that can easily look over a wide range of areas. They have to arrange the cases on basis of priority and all cases shall be gathered at the capital division where they'll be rearranged and the heads of capital divisions will be of course the family representatives of those kingdoms. These heads will then dispatch soldiers according to the nature of situations and only attend the highly dangerous ones themselves, if the situation is too grave then they can send in requests to another capital to send in aid or ask another representative to aid them, especially with second and third rank yaomo"

Everyone seemed to be immersed in the idea provided by the Prince.

"Creating Monitoring districts is efficient but having districts with a single representative is too risky, a person cannot handle that much, representatives should be people who are more accustomed to desk work not those who should be on field" Shui Tianshi argued.

"I agree with her on this" The king also argued.

"Then we can select trustworthy people to be the representatives of Monitoring division who will carry out the tasks of reporting cases based on their sensitivity" Guang Zhen adjusted.

"You'd need special messengers too that would be allowed to cross borders at will to carry out messages for the Monitoring division" Shui Tianshi added.

"My lady is right, I was about to add that, not only messengers we'd need trainers too, who can teach soldiers effective ways to deal with demons so that we have less casualties" Guang Zhen suggested.

"So what we need is multiple monitoring divisions in different areas having their capital divisions in each of the five kingdoms.. Then there should be a Head division maintained by the five representatives of the five capital divisions" Hua Tou intervened again, the audience were less surprised this time.

"That's a good point there your highness" Guang Zhen responded respectfully "The five representatives should have a head division where they can have their meetings and dispatch soldiers accordingly, as for us, they'll report the most severe cases to us and based on severity we can dispatch both alone or as teams"

"All is well but where do we get an instructor to guide the batches about demons, even we do not have plentiful knowledge about their weaknesses, we only use powers to suppress them and their kinds" Hua Xian argued.

"As for that I have certain suggestions" A smirk appeared upon Guang Zhen's face.

"I suggest we give the office of head of Monitoring division to Qi JuanFeng and the dispatch division to Huo XiaoLi while the instruction division to Huo Yi"

The announcement made both Huo XiaoLi and Qi ShuanFeng stand up stamping their hands upon the table a bit aggressively.

"Of course it is upon them to accept the position, I shall not compel them to do so, please take your time to consider" Guang Zhen spoke eloquently.

"You crafty-" Qi ShuanFeng would've cursed if it weren't for JuanFeng who immediately stood up and tugged his brother's arm.

XiaoLi seemed a bit agitated but it only took her a moment to calm down and analyze things.

"I have too much on my hands as the representative of Huo clan; as you know there's no Patriarch or Matriarch of our clan currently, I'm afraid I cannot handle the task of dispatching" XiaoLi gained her composure, Guang Zhen appeared to have some objections

"However" She intervened before he could speak "I will let Huo Yi be a part of instruction division, on a condition"

"And what condition is that?" Guang Zhen inquired.

"Guang Yun should be the head of dispatch division, only then shall Huo Yi be the head of instruction division" Huo XiaoLi placed her offer, it made Guang Zhen feel a bit counter challenged but having one was better than nothing.

"Alright then, but my brother needs to recover completely before any of that" Guang Zhen tried to keep his composure.

"It is okay, my brother can assist your brother with work while he's recovering" Huo XiaoLi pulled up a smile. Guang Zhen couldn't really answer that. There was a moment of tense silence that everyone could feel.

"I have decided to take up on the prince's offer too" Qi JuanFeng broke the silence.

"No you-" ShuanFeng tugged at his arm but JuanFeng gave him a reassuring smile.

"It's okay brother, I want to be of use, I'm only doing desk work anyway, you're the one I'm more worried about since you'll be putting your life in danger" JuanFeng had a soothing temperament, his voice was calming enough for his brother.

"Okay but he shouldn't be doing fieldwork, that's my condition" Qi ShuanFeng was known to melt easily when it came to his brother. He was defiant to his parents most of the time but would still listen to the same thing if his younger brother would ask of it.

"Of course not, the only ones who'll be   engaged in combat will be me, you, Lady Tianshi, Huo XiaoLi, Huo Yi and my brother" Guang Zhen responded.

"What about them?" Lady Tianshi questioned regarding the Hua twins.

"The Hua family is known for their connection with nature and their knowledge about herbs and medicines, it's only natural that they will teach and aid those who've been harmed during combat, I hope they can also help with spiritual wounds" Guang Zhen suggested, the Hua twins showed no response, it was considered an approval on that account.

"All that aside, I have a question" Hua tou finally spoke up.

"Go ahead" Guang Zhen stated.

"Why is that guy who isn't here being held accountable for guiding troops to fight against demons? If we don't know enough about demons, how come he does?" Hua Tou spoke with a doubtful expression which made the rest question this fact as well.

"Good question, as you know about the Village in the Forests and the attack that happened there upon my brother.. Prince HuoYi was the one who saved my brother, the second time he owes the Huo siblings against demons"

Guang Zhen showed his gratitude to Huo XiaoLi with a bow

"He shared some information with me about the second rank yaomo needing a medium to survive in the physical world, something I didn't know before.. And he shared some other content that I wasn't really aware of until he mentioned" Guang Zhen exaggerated raising suspicion against Huo Yi.

The siblings were already not that trust worthy considering the first thing they did after making an appearance after 18 years of silence was to murder a prince. They were full of secrets and unanswered mysteries.

"Allow me to explain" Huo XiaoLi had to speak up "As you know the late Huoshe Matriarch was known for her combative abilities against demons, after her death, her journals were passed onto us, my brother is an avid reader, he seemed to have immersed himself in various sorts of knowledge that was left behind by our mother as well as researches by others, therefore, he is well knowledgeable" Huo XiaoLi covered up their suspicions.

"Oh then it'll be our honor to benifit from his knowledge" Guang Zhen responded.

"Alright, it seems like things are worked out now, implementation should start as soon as possible" The king broke the tension yet again.

"As you wish your Highness" Guang Zhen responded.

"Meanwhile, I want First Prince Guang Zhen and First Prince Qi ShuanFeng to head towards the village in the forest and deal with the current crisis" The king said and both Guang Zhen and ShuanFeng showed their allegiance by placing their fist against their heart.

The King then stood up showing the meeting had been adjourned. The officials bowed as the king departed. Right after which the Hua siblings departed as well, late to arrive but early to leave.

XiaoLi was the second one, she did not want to stay there any longer. She took her leave. Lady Tianshi followed afterwards.

"Are you really really sure?" Qi ShuanFeng held his brothers hands tightly in his own.

"Yes brother, I want to be of help" Juan Feng smiled.

"You're not allowed to enter any battlefield and I don't allow you to put yourself in danger, do you hear me?" Qi ShuanFeng was really protective when it came to his younger brother, he literally squished the boy's face in his palms making his face appear like a fish while making him agree.

" Yes sir! " JuanFeng replied.

" Ah! I can't let you go" ShuanFeng hugged the boy tightly squeezing him really hard in his strong arms, he was quite big in stature compared to his brother, so he completely engulfed him in a hug.

"How come you hug him like this but when I ask you, you get mad?" Guang Zhen asserted reminding him that he was still in the room.

"Huh?" ShuanFeng frowned at him.

"Now, now, don't get mad, he'll be safe here" Guang Zhen backed away seeing that agitated expression.

"I'm still not done with you, you crafty-!" ShuanFeng drew his sword yet again.

"Uh Oh" Guang Zhen collected his robes in his hands and made a run. JuanFeng stood there smiling.

There was never a dull moment among these two.

On the other hand, XiaoLi was beyond mad. The moment she entered her chamber she locked it and threw her veil onto the ground, taking off the beautiful black blindfold, different than the usual one and putting it down upon the dresser. She took off the royal robes sitting there on the bed in just bandages that covered her upper body whilst still wearing the long red skirt underneath.

She punched into the bed.

"I will be okay sister" Huo Yi spoke within her mind.

"I can't let you do this, what if they find out what they're not supposed to?" She shook her head.

"Don't worry, I will not guide them beyond limits, I shall not endanger my secrets" Huo Yi reassured her.

"That Guang Zhen is way too clever, you can never be too careful when it comes to him" XiaoLi appeared tense.

"Sister, why did you ask Guang Yun to be stationed around me, isn't it risky?" Huo Yi asked.

"If I hadn't done so, then Guang Zhen would have chosen the spot for himself, that's what he wanted by presenting an offer that I'd reject, he wanted to get atleast one of us under his surveillance, I couldn't have let him close to either of us, the closer he is to us, the more the risk, comparatively Guang Yun is naive and innocent, he shall not cause trouble" XiaoLi answered.

"Let us be cautious nevertheless, you get careless for some reason when it comes to Guang Yun "

Huo Yi reassured his sister, she didn't answer yet there was an unknown expression upon her face like never before, she also seemed tired

"You take rest now, I'm awake"

He said and her body began to change again, her chest sunk in and shoulders grew wider and buffed up, the bandages turned a bit tighter, the face, the body, everything changed as Huo Yi appeared.

He changed his sister's robes and wore his own after adjusting the bandages underneath. He then stepped out after tying the blindfold. The blindfold was obviously made out of magical threads, it was no ordinary cloth but woven especially for the siblings to cover their eyes, they could actually see clearly through it quite normally.

Though it was mostly worn by XiaoLi since she needed to see the faces of people and understand the intentions of those whom she dealt with as representative.

Huo Yi did not really care if he could see or not, the world was too black for him anyway.

He headed towards the garden to take a stroll but ultimately ended up near the chamber of the younger Guang Prince.

He watched the Queen leave with a sorrowful expression. He stayed back until she'd left and only then proceeded to his chambers.

He somewhat sneaked in. The prince had been asleep for two days straight. His spiritual energy had depleted alot and it was taking him time to recover.

Huo Yi walked in the huge vacant chamber, to the beautifully decorated bed upon which the prince laid, fast asleep with his beautiful strands of gold hair spread under his head. He looked pale and lifeless. Kind of like how one could imagine snow white laying in her coffin awaiting her savior to send life surging through her body.

HuoYi moved the silk curtain and sat upon the bed. He looked at the prince's condition, his lips had turned somewhat to a purplish hue. He stared at the sleeping prince infront of him through the blindfold with a confused expression. Why'd he end up here? What did he want to do? He let his mind process until he came to a conclusion that none of that mattered.

"This is the second time" He whispered and slowly took the prince's hand in his own. He leaned forward upon him, letting the dark rivulets of his long hair descend upon the prince's pale face.

A gush of dark energy got sucked out of the prince, his veins appeared purplish black and beating, making him groan a bit and got absorbed into Huo Yi's body whose veins blackened up as the darkness travelled through him.

The prince's body became more relaxed and peaceful after it.

His eyes fluttered open and he saw the handsome face above his own.

"It's you.." Guang Yun smiled brightly right after coming to life "Am I in heaven..?" He mumbled in a half drowsy state.

Huo Yi was perplexed, he moved back, pulling his hand away "If you were in heaven, why would I be there?"

"Why wouldn't you.." Guang Yun mumbled, still being in pain over that infected stab wound.

Huo Yi's expressionless face had a tint of amusement, his lips curved a bit into a smirk "What if I say, someone like me can never go to heaven"

"Then I wouldn't want to be in such a heaven" Guang Yun whispered, yet cringed in pain while smiling.

Huo Yi found himself perplexed yet again; he only broke out of it as Guang Yun groaned in pain.

Huo Yi took his hand again.

"What.. are you doing..?" Guang Yun asked painfully.

"Taking some of your pain" Huo Yi mumbled and again let the darkness flow through his veins as he absorbed Guang Yun's pain without faltering.

Guang Yun felt a bit better than before.

"You saved my life...again.." Guang Yun whispered.

"Don't speak too much, let your spiritual power heal, this wound will close up quickly as soon as you regain your powers" Huo Yi insisted.

Guang Yun somewhat nodded and closed his eyes, still holding onto Huo Yi's hand.

He fell asleep again.

Everyone in the palace almost did, other than those who were preparing for a long term battle against darkness. Those people were awake and preparing for what had to come.

The next sunrise would be a changing point for most of them and they were only somewhat prepared for it whilst they stared at the huge full moon in anticipation.