章 14: 1.13 Star Dancer
2nd Imperial prince left his men to finish the clean up and quickly rushed in the direction of the academy. In the end, he was still worried that something might happen to Tian He.
"If I hurry, I might make it before Tian He's group performance." His voice contained a slight nervousness as his eyes became determined.
The fasts movements of his legs left nothing but blurry images of his figure as he made his way forwards and prayed hopefully that he would make it in time.
….
Tian He and her friends were now waiting for their group to be called up to perform on stage. Yu Yan and Liu Wei were happily chatting, while Tian He was thinking about what the response of Chen Su Su would be if she saw their group performance.
Noticing Tian He's absentmindedness, Yu Yan poked her friend's shoulder.
"Tian He, what's wrong?" Tian He abruptly woke up from her thoughts and her gaze fell on Yu Yan.
"Ah, nothing Yu Yan, I was just thinking that since the Emperor and his court officials are watching the group performances, do you think the Official Imperial Dancer, Chen Su Su will also come?" Tian He asked curiously.
"Hmm, she should be attending, after all, she did graduate from this academy and I would think that she would be looking forward to meeting the new talents of this year. In fact, I was hoping that she would come and rate our performances, but that's just pipe dream, we're just a bunch of new students after all." Yu Yan said nonchalantly.
After listening to her thoughts, Tian He smiled slightly and thought, perhaps it could become reality.
"Yu Yan, after our performance, what if we announce that we would like to ask for Chen Su Su's participation in our dance? What do you think of this idea?"
Looking at her friend's idea, her eyes couldn't help but lighten up, even though it was audacious, what they were about to do was even more daring and bold.
"Yes, we should definitely do that, with the status as a junior seeking for their senior's cooperation, Chen Su Su won't be able to resist coming out! Ha ha, Tian He, what a great idea!" Happily hugging her friend for her suggestion.
Patting Yu Yan's back to let her release her, she returned to her thoughts, whether or not Chen Su Su agrees or not, she'll definitely challenge her to dance together with her when the time comes.
If they both danced together on stage, she was sure that the audience wouldn't want to miss out on it.
If Chen Su Su decides to acknowledge her as her daughter, then that'll make it easier for things, if not, she could just follow with her earlier option of becoming famous before requesting her to dance with her, by then, she doubted she would refuse. Anyways, once her task is completed, she can just hand over the reins to the original owner and she won't have to bother about these complicated choices again.
Finally, it was their groups' turn to go on stage. When Tian He and her other band members assembled, she looked at them briefly, Wang Li who played the qin and Li Jie who played the drums were clutching their instruments in nervousness. Liu Wei was trying to display a calm and stable attitude, but the slight shivering of excitement and tension of his arms betrayed him. While, Yu Yan had no control with showing the world that she was tense and nervous, the dark blue satin ribbon she held was going to be squeezed to death by her soon.
"Yu Yan, relax." Tian He tried to soothe her friend's nerves by patting her hands.
Yu Yan reflexively clung to Tian He, "Tian He, what happens if I mess up and end up ruining the whole performance for everyone?"
Her scared deer-like eyes darted around Tian He, like she was seeking for some kind of comfort to her agitated nerves.
"Yu Yan, believe in yourself. All this time, I've watched you practiced harder than anyone else, your dancing skills are superb and your improvement over these months could be said to be stellar."
Yu Yan looked at her and asked, "Really?" Her hopeful eyes searched Tian He's calm ones.
"Of course, Yu Yan. Would I lie to you about something like this?" Tian He said in a matter of fact manner.
Hearing her friend's calm and assuring voice, she couldn't help but regain some confidence and strength.
"You're absolutely correct Tian He, we've worked hard, we deserve to succeed on that stage. All those long hours of practice were not for nothing." Yu Yan raised her confident and determined voice to proclaim to the other members who were nervous beside her.
When the other band members saw her excitement and cheerfulness, they also relaxed a bit. Yu Yan was right, there's no use in fretting about anything now, all that matters is that they take their practiced skills and amazed the judges with this one brilliant feat, after all, who else was as daring as them to have dancers who could also sing?
Tian He saw their renewed determination and confidence and nodded her head in approval, she knew that Yu Yan's cheerfulness could assure everyone's nerves.
"Alright everyone, let's do our best and aim for the top. The judges won't even see us coming." Tian He excitingly said while she placed her hands in front of her.
"Tian He has the right idea, no matter what, we're the group that's going to set history today." Liu Wei followed her movement and placed his hand on top of hers.
Giggling with excitement, Yu Yan also placed her hands-on top of Liu Wei's, "Haha, that's right, we're going to become the only group in the history of this academy's founding to put on such a crazy show!"
"I agree." Wang Li, the qin player who had a small stature, but shining eyes also placed his hand on top Yu Yan's.
"Me, too." Li Jie, the drum player also placed his big hands on top the qin's player.
Seeing everyone agree with her, Tian He couldn't help but smile in gratefulness for meeting such good friends.
"1, 2, 3, yeah!" Everyone yelled with their excited and determined voices.
After happily letting out their nerves, they gathered together and mounted the stage, what awaited them will be a life changing moment.
The judges looked up from their desk and saw the next group of performers, surprisingly they saw the same amazing student who wore that golden silk face mask mount the stage with actual students. Usually, students' in training would pair up with other students' in training so that their sacred powers can sync better but recalling how this lady was even better then the majority of their actual students, they shook their heads, and returned their attention to the group on stage.
Now let's just see how their synchronization skills are.
Once the group members went on stage, they began getting into position, Tian He and Yu Yan stood towards the front while the instrumentalists were spread out to the left and right sides of them, giving them enough room to maneuver around the stage with their dance moves.
After receiving the que to start from the judges, the instrumentalist began playing their music. First, the flute was heard playing, it was a calming soft tune, like a small river's breath, then the qin's sounds followed with a few strings, slowly matching the melody of the flute.
When Yu Yan and Tian He first heard the flute play, they both started humming softly with the music, their hands gathered towards each other and waved their satin ribbons slowly. After the qin's sounds were heard, Tian He twirled her rosy red satin ribbon, while Yu Yan twirled her dark blue satin ribbon, they briefly combined, the contrast of their colors blended together almost made it look like the combination of morning and night.
At this time, the drumbeats could finally be heard, its tempo increasing fast with each beat. Realizing this, Tian He and Yu Yan separated and spun right and left respectively, their ribbons followed them as they twirled it around them. Tian He and Yu Yan's voice also became louder and louder with each increase tempo of the melody.
When Tian He and Yu Yan stopped their spins, they stepped forward bravely and flung their ribbons in front of them, the constant twirl of each ribbon eventually formed images of a huge red rose and blue peony. Their actions have already caused gold and blue particles of light to gather and form into lotus blossoms and blue peonies that surrounded their respective dancers, further enhancing the beauty of each twirl of their satin ribbons.
With their first step was completed, Tian He and Yu Yan began their song.
"Little flower why do you grow alone
The storm loves to follow this lonely life,
Time will wait forever for you no more
Little flower why stay alone like this."
"We shall calm the mighty waves together
Joys of growing together I beg you,
This lonely life I shall destroy for you
Little flower can you hear my singing."
Tian He and Yu Yan's voices combined perfectly together, one calm while the other vibrant, the yearning of a free and loneliness life could be felt within their delicate but powerful voices. Soon, blue roses started forming around Tian He and surprisingly, there were even some purple peonies forming around Yu Yan, looks like the stage was all Yu Yan needed to push that final step to break her bottleneck.
Their voices were sometimes soft, sometimes loud, all perfectly following the melodies and playing of the instrumentalists. A beautiful scene of floating golden lotus blossoms, blue peonies and roses, purple peonies, green qins and flutes, and a yellow drum filled the stage. They surrounded each of their respective artists, glowing brighter and brighter as the music continued.
The audience and judges that witnessed this scene was stunned into silence. They had never seen a person that could evoke two types of sacred powers, and it wasn't just one person, although it was only a few, they could still spot the eye-catching purple peonies that appeared around that dark blue satin ribbon dancer once she started singing the song.
This is impossible! The synchrony of the melody and sacred powers had to be perfect in order to produce this effect or else the 'Heavens' will never approve of it. But looking at the scene they couldn't doubt their eyes, if only one person was hallucinating, they could believe it, but could be that all of them were having delusions?
Tian He and Yu Yan stepped, leaped, and twirled around the stage, their flowy skirts and statin ribbons twirling around them, sometimes their speeds were so slow that you could see each distinct patterns their fingers were making, but sometimes their speeds were so fast that all the audience could see were blurred images of their flowy skirts and statin ribbons.
Finally, the song was about to come to an end, and Tian He and Yu Yan were getting ready for their finishing move. Tian He was twirling her statin ribbons on the right side of the stage while Yu Yan was twirling hers on the left side, suddenly, as the final beats were heard, both of them back-flipped towards the center of the stage, their ribbons that flipped with them consecutively looked like the rotating sun and moon.
When their feet landed back on the ground, they immediately twirled and connected their ribbons together, the rosy red and dark blue combined together to form a mesmerizing purple, the many small gems imbued on them created a picture of the night skies only found in one's dreams.
Their sacred powers immediately followed their movements and exploded into millions of particles of light, obscuring the crowd of their ribbon dancers and causing some of the audiences who sat near the stage to close their eyes.
Finally, when the lights scattered away, what came into their sights were many real manifestations of lotus blossoms, roses, peonies, wooden flutes, and mineral like drums planted on the stage. The sudden scene made the group members on stage look like glowing immortals frolicking in a colorful but ethereal garden.
Tian He and Yu Yan were half kneeling in the center of the stage, their arms to their sides from their finishing move, their chests could be seen rapidly moving up and down, trying to catch their breaths. If one looked closer, small beads of sweat could be seen flowing down from their foreheads, it was obvious that their meticulous and incredible dance moves required great precision and strength.
However, there was no exhaustion shown on their faces, in fact, nothing but joy and satisfaction could be seen displayed on their faces. Both of them were looking into each other eyes, capturing the happiness and fulfillment shown in them.
Suddenly, the sounds of the whole audience standing up all at once could be heard, their hands clapped graciously for their performance, however; this time there was no shouting or screaming, but that couldn't hide the admiration and awe that radiated from their emotional expressions, it looks like this group performance made them too speechless to speak.
Hearing the applause, all the group members woke up from the after effects of their performance and looked into each other's eyes, suddenly they laughed and rushed towards one another, hugging and jumping together as they shared their joys of successfully completing their group performance.
When the judges calmed down the applauding audience behind them, they turned their attention towards Tian He and her group members on stage, seeing this, the group members separated from themselves and respectfully stood in a straight line across the stage, excitedly waiting for the judges to comment on their performance.
Small proud smiles could be seen on the judges face while looking at the members on stage. The principal of the academy stepped forward to speak his piece.
"Tian He, Yu Yan, Liu Wei, Wang Li, and Li Jie, to start off, I would like to take this time to thank you all for such a great performance, this is probably already known to everyone, but this is the first time in the academy's history that I've seen two sacred powers evoked by a single person and if one isn't enough, there's two of you."
His eyesight slightly fell on Tian He and Yu Yan on the stage, making them blush a bit.
"Overall, every one of you performed beautifully. I can't find anything that I could criticize, but as the principal I've seen my share of talented artists, one thing that I always tell the students is that even though you may have talent that doesn't mean you can slack off in your efforts to practice."
He looked sternly at the members on stage for a bit until he saw their determination and stubbornness, appreciating that they've understood this point, he moved on to his final speech.
"Of course, since without hard work, there's no way you guys would have been able to pull this grand performance off. So, let me make an announcement, for the rankings on this time's group performance, we judges have decided to directly place your group in first place, and if there's a performance that could beat yours, then all I can say is that there's a talent above a talent, but for now, congratulations to Tian He, Yu Yan, Liu Wei, Wang Li, and Li Jie for a job well done!"
The principal clapped his hands again in another congratulations, followed by the other judges, and finally the audience.
This time, Tian He and Yu Yan couldn't hold back their tears and started crying a bit, seeing each other's tears, they hugged each other and laughed stupidly for feeling too touched by the judges and audience's acknowledgements. Liu Wei, Wang Li, and Li Jie patted their backs and shoulders lightly to soothe their joy filled cries.
Meanwhile, the Emperor, Chen Su Su, and Consort Dai who sat together in one of the VIP booths and witnessed this grand group performance were all displaying different expressions from each other. The Emperor and Chen Su Su were both moved and proud of their daughter, some tears could also be seen in Chen Su Su's eyes, it looks like she was the most proud and appreciative to have a daughter that shared her joys and talent of an artist.
On the other hand, Consort Dai was trying her best to maintain a neutral smile on her face, except if one looked closely, it looked like her mouth was frozen in a horizontally curve, and since she was also clenching her fists to prevent herself from losing control, it only made her look constipated.
Consort Dai's eyes were glued onto the stage, specifically on the dancer who used the rosy red satin ribbons for her dance. When she first witnessed the many manifestations of golden lotus blossoms, her mind was skeptical about that dancer's identity, it looks like she was most likely the person who healed that wretched bastard of his injuries two weeks ago.
But when she saw the water-like blue roses that appeared around the dancer after she started singing, her mind couldn't help but turn chaotic. How could this be? The water-like roses' glow felt so familiar to her, she would never mistaken it, her husband was the only person she knew that gave her the same feeling. As her thoughts went towards this direction, she couldn't stop it from becoming uncontrollable, her senses were telling her that the rosy red ribbon dancer on stage was actually her husband's daughter.
But with who? She made sure that no other women could get near him enough to spawn his children, it was only that slut that birthed that wretched bastard that slipped through the net, but fortunately for her, she died in childbirth, saving her the trouble of making a move.
Looking back at the rosy red ribbon dancer on stage, since it was the new student's competition, she could only be either 16 or 17 years old, but 17 years ago, there wasn't any women besides her husband except her and—
Suddenly, her thoughts stopped there, she was too afraid and shocked to continue. If it was really that women, then it was entirely possible!
Her hands couldn't help but clench her skirt so hard that her veins were starting to pop out. She kept thinking that what she thought was impossible, even if her family's power was abolished and she was placed in the Cold Palace, she could at least be contented that she was alive because that despicable women was lying coldly in the graves. But after witnessing that ribbon dancer's sacred powers, she started to doubt whether that woman was actually dead.
In the past, when she had her men chase and capture her, there was no mistake in her identity. She even watched that slut's corpse turned into ashes! How could she still be alive? Or did she leave her daughter for someone else to raise? But that's not possible either, her belly didn't show any obvious signs of pregnancy, there was no way that this dancer was their daughter, she shouldn't be.
As her thoughts got to this point, she instinctively looked at the Emperor who sat beside her for some kind of solace to her chaotic thoughts, but after seeing it, her expression froze. She saw warmth and appreciation in his eyes as he directed his gaze at the rosy red ribbon dancer, feelings that shouldn't be present unless he was somehow acquainted with her.
Realizing this, her body couldn't help but shake uncontrollably, she thought this was the worse feeling she had ever felt, all this time, she was contented and satisfied with herself for successfully separating that slut from her husband but now, she realized how useless these feelings were. The pain and agony that pulsed through her body with each heartbeat was unbearable.
In the end, were they watching her idiotic fake satisfaction while they secretly met to further bond their feelings together?
By now her nails have already dug into her skin and blood was seen absorbing into her purple skirt. Her gaze was hazy from immense anger, incidentally, they accidentally landed on the Official Imperial's Dancer who sat behind them, seeing her, a thought suddenly struck her, and her facial expression morphed into pure madness.
It's her!
How can she not see it before? Chen Su Su, she only changed her surname!
There was no doubt about it, evocation of such strong healing sacred powers and water-like blue roses, and her age, it all fits! She wanted to lunge at her, never would she have expected that the one person that stole her husband's heart and tried to kill had successfully managed to spawn a daughter with him, and such a talented one at that!
However, her feet that was about to get up to tear that woman into shreds paused when she heard the sounds of ceramic glass bumping into her chair, it instantly sobered her mind and she sat back down cautiously in her seat.
Gripping the ceramic glass bottle that she hid within her sleeves, her mind calmed down and instead of sorrow, she unexpectedly felt excitement, so what if she was alive, so what if they managed to have a daughter, they'll be all gone before the night ends!
She clutched the ceramic bottle that contained her deadliest of poisons, when she throws it down into the crowds, no one will be able to escape its toxin, once the gas is exposed to the oxygen in the air, it will spread like wildfire and easily seep into anyone's body just by breathing into it.
Only she had the antidote!
While Consort Dai was maliciously smiling to herself about her 'great' future where no one could question her authority, a small guard that hid in the corner of the booth saw all of her expressions and actions since she first set foot in this VIP booth, his eyes never left hers, but the hope and warmth he had before he came was no one where to be found now. Instead, what replaced it was nothing but horror and shock, he couldn't believe or understand why she would go so far.
Even if he could become Emperor through her actions, he wouldn't escape becoming the son of a mass murderer, the people will never acknowledge him, he would forever be known as a tyrant Emperor that killed all his family members for his position.
This thought horrified him!
It looks like this guard was indeed 1st Imperial Prince who disguised himself as a small guard and followed the Emperor to 'protect' him in this booth. 1st Imperial Prince was currently shaking, trying hard to gather his thoughts together, he couldn't let her do it, even if he became Emperor, he would never let her murder so many people.
He had to stop her. Looking back at his beloved Imperial Mother, his expression became determined and resolute, he knew what he had to do.
Suddenly, through the curtain screen, loud noises of surprise and expectation could be heard from the audience. On the stage, Tian He and her group members just finished asking for Chen Su Su to grace her presence on stage to dance with them.
The crowd was amazed at these new students' daring action, who was Chen Su Su, she was the only Official Imperial Dancer, some of the audience were skeptical whether their sacred powers would sync, after all, only if artists had practiced together consecutively or had ultimate trust with each other, will synchronization work. Although, most the of the audience and even the judges believed that this group's request is a bit over the top, some of audience were thrilled and excited to see it happen.
What would happen if the only Official Imperial Dancer and the rosy red ribbon dancer that could evoke two strong sacred powers danced together?
The main character that was asked to go on stage, Chen Su Su, also couldn't contain her excitement. She looked through the curtain screens and trembled slightly, she couldn't believe that her own daughter was asking her to dance with her. Even though she might have done it sorely because of her identity as an Imperial's Dancer, this chance to dance with her was too good to past.
Finally, Chen Su Su lifted the curtain screen from her booth and looked down towards the stage, the people that sat around her managed to catch her figure.
"It's Chen Su Su!"
"The Official Imperial Dancer!"
"She's going to announce her decision!"
Many shouts began to spread from that area throughout the whole audiences' seating area until it caught everyone's attention and all of them turned their heads in her direction, when she saw this, Chen Su Su raised her right hand into the air to silence the crowd around her.
Everyone obeyed her and became silent as they stared at her, waiting for her decision, was she going to consent, or deny these new students' daring request?
Without keeping the crowd waiting long, Chen Su Su announced her choice.
"First, I want to congratulate this group of new students' on their wonderful performance, to tell the truth, I haven't seen such a great evocation and synchronization of sacred powers in all my life, so to honor your great performance, I have decided to consent to your request and dance with you."
When the crowd heard her decision, they erupted in cheers of excitement, just this chance to see them dance made this trip worthwhile.
When Chen Su Su mounted the stage, Tian He and the other members greeted her politely before discussing which song to play for the dance.
In the meantime, Consort Dai who saw all this happen was unexpectedly calm, her face didn't show any anger, or any fury, her body was just calmly sitting in her seat, staring at the stage with her serene eyes.
1st Imperial Prince saw the sudden change in his imperial mother's facial expression and his heart became uneasy, he couldn't help but feel that all this calm was just waiting for the right time to erupt before it turned into an unstoppable storm.
Suddenly, before anyone could react, Consort Dai abruptly got up from her seat and rushed towards the curtain screens, she was raising her hand that held the ceramic bottle that contained the lethal poison gas and getting ready to throw it towards the stage below, 1st Imperial Prince was the first one to act, followed by the Emperor that sat beside her.
They both lunged towards her to stop her actions, since the Emperor was the closest to her, he was going to reach her first, however; a guard beside them was faster, he pushed the Emperor aside and right when Consort Dai's hand was going to let go of the bottle, she heard a scream behind her.
"Imperial Mother, Stop!"
Once she heard this familiar voice, Consort Dai paused her hands, this voice sent her heart into shock, luckily, 1st Imperial prince took this time to charge forwards, but just a few feet before he arrived, she turned around to meet him, and her distorted and despairing expression looked back at him.
Then, her face turned fierce and unyielding, she ignored her son's outstretched hands and twisted her body around and flung the bottle down towards the stage.
Both the Emperor, who was fighting the guard who blocked him earlier, and the 1st Imperial Prince, who was about to reach her, screamed in desperation and panic as they saw the bottle full of poison gases fall at a rapid pace towards the stage below.
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