Chapter Seven

@ZhaoShu Imperial Palace in capital city of Qiying , one day after war

Zhang XinYi sat across the table drinking wine. He had claimed Qinshen. His dream of uniting all the kingdoms and becoming their sole Emperor was complete. Yet he felt defeated. He placed the glass cup on the table. Thinking about his failure to claim what he wanted the most, the precious gem of Qinshen, he couldn't control his wrath. He clutched the glass with so much strength that it shattered into pieces in his hand. Glass pieces were pierced into his skin. His palm was a bloody mess but made no difference to him. For the first time in his lifetime, he won a battle yet lost a war.

He wore his thick robes and a cloak made from the mystic wolf's skin, fur was soft and warm yet all he felt was cold. He made his way across the hall in a hurry.

"Your Majesty, your hand-"

"To the dungeons."

"But Your Majes-"

"Minister Jin, dungeons now."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Jin couldn't help but sigh. His master's obsession with the captives was on another level. This is the second time that night that he was following his emperor into the dark, cold dungeons, which reeked of filth and blood.

In the dungeons, there was hardly any light. The air was chilling. XinYi made his way to the last door in the dark. He opened the door to see Yu Rong's hands tied by the strings of bright light. His body was suspended in midair. His robes were drenched with blood and sweat. There were many fresh wounds, and the wound from before was also open. XinYi had just given him the right amount of treatment to keep him alive. Yu Rong had no strength to retaliate or fight his way out of that filthy place. His wrists were broken and could tear apart anytime.

"So the information has been extracted?"

"It's not working, Your Majesty. He has no strength speak. The bindings are too tight, and probably they extracted too much mana, he looks like he is frozen."

"Tie his hands and bring him down. Make him kneel. I will interrogate."

The guards immediately did as they were asked. Yu Rong's hands were tied but he was made to sit on his legs.

"Yu Rong, looks like you hate peace."

"That is the last thing I want to hear from you, Zhang XinYi." Yu Rong was breathing heavily.

Zhang XinYi couldn't help but laugh his roaring thunderous laughter. "Yu Long is mine. You like it or not."

"Over my dead body."

XinYi slapped Yu Rong's face and snapped his fingers.

Soon Yu Rong started choking.

"Can't breathe,Yu Rong?"

Yu Rong gasped for air.

"I control air. That is surrounding you, me and everyone in this dungeon cell. So tell me what I want."

"No-" Yu Rong coughed and longed for air.

"He might die, Lord Emperor." Jin exclaimed.

"Tsk." Disappointed, XinYi let Yu Rong breathe. Yu Rong took in long breathes, gasping for more air.

"Get her here now."

"Yes,Your Majesty." The guards rushed out of that cell and came back with another captive.

XinYi pulled her by her hair and made her kneel in front of Yu Rong, facing him. Yu Rong slowly lifted his face to see his wife. Lin Na.

"So you answer, or I start chopping her off piece by piece."

"You can kill me. You won't get what you want. I can die for my son."

"You see I have met your son once. I know he is special. He is the only one who has a golden like your late wife, Feng Bi. But that is not all."

"So what if you know his secret." Lin Na said staring at her beloved, whose face was now swollen , lips chapped and eyes dull.

"He will need me sooner or later. He will come after me. Looking for revenge, or maybe answers."

"And what do you know about him now that you met him once, Zhang XinYi." Lin Na glared at that devil standing beside him. "He is headstrong and determined. He is more powerful than you. And the day he realises that will be your last day."

" How amusing. The day he comes to me, he is going to mine. By being mine, I don't mean it as a prize but as a possession for eternity. Maybe something like you two. He will not be able to let go of me. Jin, contact all the spies to look for all the beautiful men and women in the Four kingdoms. I forgot, it is now one."

"Women as well?"

"Minister Jin, if they have run away, they will be disguised. Inform all the provincial ministers to look find me the most beautiful man or woman who fail to control their magic in their provinces. Beauty cannot be masked to the extent that it is called ugly."

"How does Your Majesty want to achieve it?"

"Announce a reward. They are free to use any means to get to him. He should be unscarred though. And also declare the Yu Siblings as the wanted runaway criminals. I will corner him, so that he would come to me for help."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Lai Jin responded and proceeded to make arrangements. He believed this scheme would be pressurizing the young prince to take a wrong step, but why would he come to His Highness for help? This was something Lai Jin failed to understand.

"Are you doubting my skills of getting hold of whatever I want?"

"You scoundrel, if anything happens to Yu Long,for Heaven's sake, you will be cursed for life and your soul will be reaped off your body and torn into multiple pieces. May you have the same fate as your parents."

The curses made no difference to XinYi but the mention of his parents' death infuriated him and his aura turned menacing and murderous.

"You know too much, don't you Lin Na? How about I make your sons my slaves and sell off your daughter to a brothel once I get hold of them?"

"You will never do so, you will cursed for life." Lin Na yelled almost bursting her lungs out.

"Do you think I care for your curses? Do you think your warnings will affect my decision. I have already planned what to do with Yu Long. I don't care about my life. I will take him with him to all depths of hell." His eyes glowed red with determination yet his grin was sinister. He immediately turned and left them both in that dark cell with other guards.

Lin Na and Yu Rong were scared about the fate of their children. They both broke down thinking about how their children's destinies were so twisted. How their lives flipped as this demon stepped into their territory.

@Ching, Taijing,# same day

After having a good meal, the Yu siblings decided to explore the small fair and stalls.

Their were different types of herbs, pills, potions, some were ordinary whereas some were special. There were fifteen such medicinal stalls in that lane. They walked through the crowd looking at the stalls all filled with people. Soon they reached the end of the lane, unable to find a stall with lesser people. They wanted to visit a stall with smaller crowd so that they could explore the stall properly.  But the crowd was stagnant. They made their way through, but failed to find a shop to stop and look about.

Yu He sighed and said, "Always knew Taijing was known for medicines but had never seen this before. Even taking a breather for them is difficult. What a business!".

Yu Long bent down, panting and trying to get enough air. He almost suffocated in swarm of people. "Where is Yu- daughter WaXia?"

"Stick to your disguise, darling WaYi." Yu He spoke softly making sure only Yu Long heard him. "Let's look for our daughter. Xiaaaaaa…"

Yu Long caught the hint and immediately acted like a distressed mother, asking about if anyone saw a ten years old girl, with chubby face. Yu He asked Yu Long to stay in front of the last stall in that lane and wait for him, as he was going to look for Yu Lin in the concourse of onlookers.

Yu Long waits and looks about to see if Yu Lin comes to the end of the lane while Yu He looked in the centre of the lane.

"Young mistress, do you want to take a look at the rare artifacts we have?" A young girl about thirteen years old approached Yu Long, who was waiting for his siblings.

"I am waiting for my husband and daughter."

The girl was shocked. "Young mistress must be joking. You look too young to be  mother. Please don't take that as an offense. Anyways you can wait in our shop. It is very small and hence people easily avoid our shop. This way."

She was right. Her shop was the smallest and easily hidden between two large overcrowded stalls. There was another older woman in that shop. She appeared to be seventy years old and acted as the shop owner.

"Welcome to our small exhibition, Hui family welcomes you. Our family has a tradition of collecting rare artifacts and selling them only during major festivals."

"Young mistress, come here. Look at our collection. Do you want to buy some?"

Yu Long went over and looked in the wooden display. There were many small small ornaments, medals, brushes, rings, pouches and effigies. They even had a few old scrolls on cultivation.

"Do you know anything about Kungu's Four Scrolls?"

This question shocked the shop owner.

"Young Madame, you know about those old scrolls?"

"Yes, I like studying about history of the seven kingdoms. I heard that these scrolls are the best source of information."

"Yes, they are. But unfortunately they are not easy to locate. They are scattered over the current four kingdoms. But young mistress, even if you get them you can not access all the information until you get the jade symbol matching the symbol in the scroll. But if you are genuinely interested I can be of more help. I know that one such scroll is in Taijing-ZhaoShu border city of Bulung. But the jade symbols are a mystery. I doubt they exist. It was said they are associated with the dragon spirits. But they are a myth now. It is said they never existed."

"Hmm...how far is Bulung?"

"It will take two days for a Mystical Phoenix to fly from Ching to Bulung. So it might take more than two days, as matching Phoenix's speed is impossible."

Yu Long nodded.

"WaYi."

Yu Long looked behind to see Yu He carrying Yu Lin in his arms.

"WaYi, we need to go now. Its turning dark."

Yu Long greeted and was about to leave when the shop owner gave him a black jade key. "Take this. And when you reach Bulung, find Hui Family's library. You might find some clues about those scrolls."

"How much is this?"

"You can pay me later. Anyways this black jade has no aesthetic value, no one buys it. It is stressing to have an artifact that won't sell. So keep it. "

"Still please keep this." Yu Long handed over ten Dais.

"I am very grateful but I can't acc-"

"You gave me a knowledge that is rare to find. You deserve it. I will take this key as a token of friendship."

Waving them goodbye, the Yu siblings made their way to the inn.

"We need to leave now. They have announced prizes for people who find us and capture us."

"But they would they look for us? We need to wait for Royal Father's summons. We need to be-"

Yu Lin cut him off saying, "Qinshen lost the war."

"W-What do you- What do you mean lost the war? Where is Royal Father? Mother Empress?"

"They were captured. Qinshen was annexed by ZhaoShu. They want us to surrender as well. They have our sketches posted in every corner of the street. They were announcing rewards for people who find the beautiful people in the city and bring them to the Provincial head or Taijing's ruler, Hu Zhen."

"They cannot be captured. They are very powerful, aren't they? Brother He?"

Yu He turned his face away looking at the floor. This reaction was enough to answer all his questions.

"We need to free them, Brother He. Right, Yu Lin?"

"We can't. We don't stand a chance."

"How can you say so without even trying. This is not like you, Brother He."

Yu Lin was silent during this whole exchange of words between her brothers. She was worried not only for her parents but also for her brothers.

"We are leaving Ching tonight. We will proceed towards the capital city of Taijing. Understood?"

"No, we are going to ZhaoShu."

"Don't be ridiculous. We are not going to ZhaoShu. It is sure death if Zhang XinYi gets a hint of our presence in ZhaoShu. You can't fight him neither can I nor can Yu Lin. You faced him once, you should know."

Yu Long was about to retort when Yu Lin pulled his sleeve and sniffed, "I don't wanna lose you as well, Brother Long."

Seeing his beautiful sister's eyes shimmering with tears and her pale skin turned red, he gave up and agreed to follow his siblings.

I will get you one day, Zhang XinYi. Just wait. The day we meet on the battlefield, that day will be your last day.

Yu Long spoke to himself in his mind.

#at the same time, in ZhaoShu

Zhang XinYi smiled looking at the full moon that was shining brightly in the night sky.

We will meet soon, my cute Prince Long.