Chapter 138 – An eight faceted unrest
(Regular Chapter.)
The moment the youngster heard the reference to the ‘little princess’, a ray of light gleamed in his eyes, reflecting a hint of desire and longing. It seemed that the youngster was attracted to the charms of the little princess, and had been pursuing her for a long time now….
Inside the middle carriage, sat a young girl, dressed in white colored clothes; only sixteen or seventeen years in age by the looks of it, her picturesque elegance couldn’t be described in mere words, but her face reflected a hint of cleverness, and it would seem that she wasn’t exactly a law-abiding citizen, and was probably on the naughtier side of the spectrum. At this time, due to the constant shaking of the carriage, she was holding the hand of the white bearded man who was sitting next to her: “….. Third grandfather, why would you hide such things from me? You told me just enough to get me interested, so now you need to tell me more!”
The old man was sitting with his eyes closed, and didn’t seem very different from a corpse at the moment. He opened his eyes and his face wrinkled, while his heart was inwardly cursing: I’m finally beginning to realize why people are so afraid of her! No wonder the old man wanted the little princess to be escorted away…. He just wanted to breathe a sigh of relief by removing his burdens; and he must even be rejoicing from the pains that she will inflict on the others….if only I had known this earlier….
“Little girl, while we are away from the Blizzard Silver City, I will tell you a story which is being talked most about these days….. I can also tell you the story of the horses which look like dragons, or about how I got so old…. Little girl, your grandfather is getting old now, and the story which you want to hear is over a decade old, so I don’t really remember it very clearly anymore… do you think that my old bones are lying to you?”
The old man was almost on the verge of crying; had he known about the little princess’s temperament, then he would have spared himself from signing up for this errand.
I really hate this…. When I received this news, I thought this will relieve me of my boredom and would help me in finding some inspiration. But it appears that I won’t even be able to find any relief here! It would’ve been better if I tossed my old bones into a wreckage….
“Why would you start the story, and then suddenly stop it… you’ve left me hanging…..” the little princess pouted her mouth in distaste, while swaying her body like a pampered little baby: “Third Grandfather, you’ve barely mentioned the Jun Family, and that Jun Wu Yi….. and then you also told me that big sister shared a touching love story with that man, but then you haven’t told me any further details….”
The third elder groaned; this story was a taboo inside the Blizzard Silver City, and no one would talk about this affair very easily. He had only mentioned this story to her in order to stop her from troubling him, but little did the old man know that this tale would attract her interest, and would keep her imagination glued to it. She had been nagging him for more details ever since…..
Allow my old bones some rest….. you’ve been asking me about this since last night… it’s been over fifteen or sixteen hours now….
“Younger Brother, you come and tell the little princess a story. If you exchange positions with your elder brother this once, then I’ll always owe you one!” the third elder proposed an exchange in positions.
“Well, only if you remember that you’ll owe me one later….. the word has it that there’s an old lady in this empire who found a ghost with a long tongue which vomits blood. The ghost seeks beautiful princesses, and drips blood on them….” The sixth elder was clearly in no mood to be trifled with.
“Ah – no! No! No! I don’t want to hear the sixth grandfather’s story…. I want to hear the third grandfather’s story!” the other old man hadn’t even finished his sentence when the little princess cried out and hastily refused his narration.
“Third Brother, you see that I tried to take your place, but the little princes won’t allow me to…. ha ha ha…… third brother, please don’t forget that you still owe me one for trying ha ha… I guess it’s your job to make the third princess happy again; meanwhile I can get some more sleep…..” the sixth elder started laughing out loudly.
“Despicable! Shameless! You have no code of brotherhood!!” the third elder cursed out in resentment.
“Third Grandfather, do you hate Xue’er, ah?” The little princess’s eyes instantly gleamed tearfully, and she made a crying face.
“What, how?” the third elder denied flatly: “I feel bad that Xue’er even thought so!”
“Then you have to tell me the story about big sister and Jun Wu Yi, otherwise it will mean that you hate Xue’er.” The little princess’s face immediately transformed the look of anger to that of joy, and her joyful face started beaming a happy smile again.
“…..” the third elder held his breathe, praying that he’d faint…..
What sin’s debt am I being forced to pay here…..
As the wheels rolled, the princess continued to chatter in high spirits, and didn’t shut up for even a single minute. Even though the third elder was an able bodied Spirit Xuan, his old wrinkles gradually continued to deepen from the torture, and as his spirts continuously left his body, his disposition started nearing that of a Tian Xiang City beggar….
~ In another direction ~
Another team of people had been marching towards the Tian Xiang Imperial City.
“Guo Shi, between you and me, this whole Xuan Core incident is very risky… it is likely to bring more harm than good.” The speaker was a thin-bodied middle-aged man dressed in black clothes, who was sitting on a horseback. The rigid lines on his face spoke of all the bitter tragedies of wars he had suffered in his life, which seemed to igniting a feeling of rage inside him.
“This border does look dangerous at first, but since the Yu Tang Empire has been living in peace for so many years now, so there shouldn’t be much of a problem. Moreover, since the three princes of the Tian Xiang Empire are wrangling for power at this point, we should push the wave and add to the billows so we can fish in troubled waters, and profit from the circumstances. Besides, with me around, even if the opposition army was equally matched in strength, I don’t think that anyone will be able to stop me from leaving the Tian Xiang City if I so chose to.” The speaker was an elderly man dressed in white robes; his hands were tucked inside his sleeves, while his hale and hearty face exuded a very leisurely aura.
“Why would you wish to escort me through the Tian Xiang Empire at your own risk….. the threat is much greater for you than it is for me since you’ve been at war with Jun Family for years, and have killed so many of their men in action? Because of the wars that have been waged in the past, the Jun Family’s descendants are almost exhausted in number… so obviously this situation is far more dangerous for you than it is for me….”
“Why is this dangerous for me? If the Jun Family had the tendency of taking this opportunity to take a military action against me, then they simply wouldn’t have been worthy of being called my enemy.”
The middle-aged man’s cold face smiled calmly, “They say that even if my victories were unwitting, they were still victories…. but one thing is for certain…. A few of the Jun Family’s members didn’t die at my hands! In all fairness, the three Brothers of the Jun Family were better than me!”
As he said these words, his face suddenly exposed a color of humiliation, and he stated angrily: “Jun Wu Hui and his brothers have always been the enemies that I’ve most admired in my entire life, and I will probably never meet anyone as good as them. Even if I had died in the battlefield fighting against them, then I wouldn’t have had a single complaint from my life. But the manner in which I won the war was no less than a shame for me. I have come to the Tian Xiang City to escort you; firstly….. secondly, but more importantly, to find out how Jun Wu Hui died!”
“If he was killed behind his back, then even though he was my enemy, I will still avenge his death!” the black-clothed middle-aged man’s face was clearly expressing his anger: “A man with his valor didn’t deserve to die in the thickets of a conspiracy!”
“I would expect such words from you.” Gou Shi’s face exposed a profound smile: “Even though I’ve known you all these years, I still wondered if you ever tried to get him killed in secrecy?”
“What would you even say that? If there was anyone who wanted the three Jun Brothers dead in secrecy, then that was you, not me!” the black-clothed middle-aged man turned around to face his companion, and glared at him.
“The Frog at the bottom of the well always thinks that he’s the best since there’s no one around.” Guo Shi’s eyes were still calm in the face of his companion’s glaring eyes: “I can assure you that I had nothing to do with Jun Wu Hui’s death. Although I did intend on getting him killed, and I even made some arrangements, but in the end, I had no part in his death.”
“Well!” the middle-aged man’s look changed to a very ferocious one as he shouted out: “That was a military matter, why would you stick your nose into it?” he paused for a second, and then suddenly yelled out even louder: “Who are you to stick your nose into it?!”
Guo Shi was silent for a long time, before he finally stated: “Zhao Jian Hun, some things aren’t just military matters…. Sometimes you also have to think about the country and your family…..” he was unable to finish his sentence, and started gazing into the night sky in front of his eyes instead.
Zhao Jian Hun, the middle-aged man in black clothes was the first general of the Yu Tang Empire, and was Jun Wu Hui, Jun Wu Meng, and Jun Wu Yi’s sworn enemy!
Zhao Jian Hun smiled bitterly and said: “Jun Wu Hui and Jun Wu Meng might be dead, but Jun Wu Yi is still alive…… I will find my redemption one day, and only then will I be free from the humiliation of this victory!”
“The four consecutive victories over these past years have really driven me mad! Did you know that?” Zhao Jian Hun looked up at the sky and sighed.
~ In another direction ~
This border was being stained by another squadron, who had borne tremendous hardships to get here in time. This border was associated with the Shen Ci Empire.
The distant savanna was led by a middle-aged, black-clothed, iron-cladded man; small flacon which was resting on his shoulders flew into the sky as his face exposed a gentle smile: “A peak level nine Xuan Beast’s Xuan Core? That’s indeed a good thing; if it wasn’t for such a treasure, then I wouldn’t have been able to exchange blows with some of the other heroes of this world. I live for these joys of life!”
[TL’s note: the Shen Ci Empire is a savanna land.]
This tall and straight standing middle-aged man had a very slender body, and even though his face seemed very ordinary, it still exuded an unexplainable breathtaking charm. His long hair wasn’t restricted in any way, and was flowing straight down his shoulders. His charismatic temperament had gained him the support of the savanna, and he was practically worshipped in his land! He stood overlooking the heavy blanket of darkness which covered the Tian Xiang Empire, almost as if he was the creator of all beings!
“Tian Xiang City, I’ve arrived!” this man was known as the ‘Falcon of the Savanna’, and was one of the strongest of his generation. His looked and the sky, and roared as the weather started to take a turbulent turn over the savanna!
At this point, his troops scattered into numerous smaller factions, mostly comprising of three or five in number, and the largest faction was no greater than twelve, while some men even went alone; but all teams had the same target in sight – The Tian Xiang Imperial City!
All these teams started to converge towards the Tian Xiang Empire…..
At the same time, inside the distant Tian Fa forest, all kinds of mysterious Xuan Beasts were flying above the forest at lightening speeds, disturbing the peace of the Tian Fa forest with the fluctuation of the winds that they brought along with their tyrannical speeds. They rushed over the forest as they continued to carry forward. The animals inside the Tian Fa forest were unable to understand the reason behind this suddenly human unrest….
After a long while, a shocking roar sounded in the skies: “If we allow a peak level nine Xuan Core to fall into the hands of another, then it will be a shame like no other!” this overwhelmingly thunderous sound caused a ruckus inside the hearts of the wildlife of the Tian Fa forest, and left the living creatures of the forest trembling in fear…..