Inside a dark room, Zhuge Liang sat in a corner staring at the dark sky from outside his window. Far down below, his eagle eye saw people from Suzhou celebrating for the heroes that saved their town. He frowned but kept his composure.
'I shouldn't be carried away by my temper.'
After a while, a woman entered the room he is in. She bowed in front of him and spoke...
"You called for me?"
"Yes, I need you to do something for me Xiao LanRong..."
"Name your price..."
"I know you seek greater favor from me on the upcoming ceremony of divine selection... If you help me, I might get you a position securely."
Zhuge LanRong scoffed. His father's tricks are conspicuous however, she thought that in her current state, she'll never be chosen as one of the delegates for the divine selection.
"Tell me what to do father..."
A smile curved up Zhuge Liang's lip.
"Make your father proud... LanRong'er."
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Suzhou's streets were filled with great lights. Although the weather's pretty bad, the people insisted on celebrating their gratitude upon the heroes that saved their town.
Li An and Zhang Xiaoxing happily chatted at the counter of the bar while Yin Elaa was passed out drunk beside them.
Wei Yue and Xian Hua chatted with the other guests in the happy tavern while drinking liquor. As bearer of the power of the Jade Phoenix, Wei Yue's tolerance for liquor shot up from 0 to 100.
Xian Hua's gazed upon him with his red face.
'Seriously, how many mug-full did he finish?'
Wei Yue looked at the pitiful Xian Hua as he chugged up the remaining mug.
"Ah, master... May I?"
The happy waiter approached him and cleared out fifteen empty mugs from Wei Yue.
He almost chugged a whole barrel of liquor but he did not got drunk.
'Curse this! Bring back my normal drunken state!'
He almost cursed the heavens as he emptied two more barrels of liquor. After a while, he stood up from his seat and excused himself to the comfort room...
Luo Na asked Xiao Na to assist the drunken Xian Hua to his room. Xian Hua did not want any help from him but because of hie current state, Luo Na and Xiao Na almost beat him up just to assist him back to his room.
"Ah this fool is really hard-headed sis!"
"Don't badmouth him or else we'll end up talking with him until morning!"
Both of them piped down as they carried Xian Hua away to his room.
The smell of liquor filled the whole tavern until evening.
When morning came, everything went back to normal.
Luo Na stretched her body. Her body was tired and sore. She goy up from her bed and saw Xian Hua sleeping peacefully by her side. She smiled and touched his hair. She then made way for the bathroom and as she witnessed herself in the mirror, her eyes widened.
Bite marks and love bites surrounded her whole neck down to her chest and her shoulders. She put warm compress on it but it wouldn't just fade easily.
'I guess I'll reprimand Xian Hua from drinking too much liquor again.'
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Everything is now complete, however, there's just one thing that bothered Li An and Wei Yue's mind.
Zhao Min haven't returned.
Wei Yue could not do much more so he just conjure his magic and summoned a wild bird. He wrote on a piece of parchment and put it on the bird's claw before he set it flying.
All of them returned back to the path and soon, leave Suzhou's walls. They saw the townsfolk waving goodbye and they too waved their hands.
"We need to pass by the kingdom of Dragon Blade first."
Wei Yue's decision is firm. He will have a serious talk with King Fu that will decide Old Jianghu's future.
Zhang Xiaoxing nodded in reply and the others agreed then too...
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[Dragon Blade Kingdom]
As they have arrived at the outer wall of the Kingdom, King Fu sent out an envoy to greet them and led them inside.
"King Fu expects you all... And oh, welcome back Prince Zhang."
"Thank you." Wei Yue nodded in reply. They all followed the envoy and he led them inside the throneroom.
Seats and a table of feast were already prepared as they all entered the room. Music of Erhu, Pipa and Guzheng with the sensational beat of the drums started and they all seated themselves. King Fu stepped down from his throne and joined the heroes in the table.
His face is filled with happiness as he talked with Wei Yue about his future plans of uniting their kingdoms.
"Oh, Wei Yue... Zhang'er had already sent me a message regarding the wedding. Now, I must personally meet this wonderful vice general of his..."
"Oh, she's already here."
Wei Yue asked Li An to move to the nearest seat to where King Fu is. When King Fu saw Li An, his heart would've want to scream in glee.
"Bright eyes, beautiful skin and strong personality. She's exactly as Zhang described her on his letter."
Li An bowed her head and turned her gaze to Zhang and then to his father.
"Raise your head child... I want to see your prowess as Zhang had described."
Li An slowly raised her head until she completely faced King Fu.
"My King, I'm no royal blood. My parents now rests below the ground and I have nothing for dowry. But, rest assured, I do love your son and I'll do everything to protect him and love him till my last breath."
King Fu's eyes widened after Li An's reply. He stood up from his seat and gave her a hug.
"From now on child, you are a part of our family."
Li An's tears fell from her cheeks. She could remember her parents.
Memories flashed on her mind as she received King Fu's warm embrace.
Zhang exhaled before taking a cup of wine. He got a fork on his other hand and stroke the glass which caught up everyone's attention.
"A toast... To the kingdom's alliance..."
Xiao Na also raised his glass and has caught the attention of King Fu.
"Well Xiao Na, do you already have someone in your mind? Your sister already found hers, how long will you keep me waiting boy?"
'Errrr...'
Xiao Na's thoughts were disorganized. He could not utter a single word. He was never in engaged on a romantic relationship before.
(AN: Huwaaa Xiao Na! Marry me! :3 )
King Fu sighed and then spoke.
"If you want, I can pair you off with Lu JiangMei."
"Sire... I did not hear about this Lu JiangMei before... Who is she?"
"She's one of the greatest nurses here in the palace. She works faraway sometimes and comes back every few months."
"Oh... So she's not here now?"
"Yes. She's on an outreach... Helping the villages that have been scarred from the war that I unconsciously wrought."
"Ah..."
"Oh and one more thing, JiangMei'er is a blind girl but she excels far beyond other blind people."
"Ah... It's alright sire... She's wonderful."
King Fu was delighted at how Xiao Na responded about JiangMei. She's indeed a good girl. He took her in after her parents abandoned her outside the palace walls.
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Everyone seemed to be overjoyed of the celebration including Xiao Na. He is excited and at the same time ecstatic on meeting up this Lu JiangMei.
He stood up and excused himself from the feast. He went outside and tied his hair on a ponytail. It's awhile since he cut his hair.
'If I cut my hair now, will sister nag about it? Ah, it's so inevitable... Maybe if I'll just trim it a little... Hmm...'
He thought deep long and hard while he walked until he came back to his senses by a thud.
"Ow!" A girl fell on the ground after she bumped unto Xiao Na.
"Are you alright?"
Xiao Na helped her get up. She brushed off the dirt off her robe and smiled at Xiao Na.
"I'm sorry. I was lost in my thoughts I haven't saw you on the way."
"Ah, it's okay."
Xiao Na apologized and the girl accepted his apologies. The girl's voice sounded gentle and she looks beautiful so Xiao Na took a walk with her.
"I'm Xiao Na. What's your name?"
"I'm Lu JiangMei. I'm new to the palace."
Both of them shook hands while walking. Xiao Na felt a tingle on his spine. He looked at the girl and felt a strong divine aura coming from her.
When they had reached at the far side of the palace where no one dared to go, he immediately grabbed the girl by her neck and forced her in a corner.
"P-please! Let me go!"
"Stop lying! You are not Lu JiangMei! Lu JiangMei is not here and is currently in an outreach!"
"Believe me, please! I'm Lu JiangMei!"
Xiao Na gritted his teeth.
'This girl won't stop lying. Is it to cover up her ulterior motive? What's the deal with this girl anyway?'
"Don't lie to me! I sense a strong divine aura coming from you and to tell you the truth b*tch, Lu JiangMei is blind!"
The grip from Xiao Na's neck tightened. He thought that this girl might be one of XuanZheng's servants.
"Oh- *chokes* Okay I'll tell *chokes* you the *choke* truth!"
Xiao Na let go of her in an instant. The lady scrambled on the ground and held her throat.
"Who do you work for? Do you work for XuanZheng?"
"No...*coughs* I do not work for that pitiful piece of dung. She's already banished to the dire necropolis."
"Then who sent you here?"
Xiao Na glared at her and pointed his dagger up on her face.
LanRong's face was painted in fear. She never met such a man like Xiao Na.
'The mortal realm is indeed full of scary men but this is different. He's not mortal and he's scary as a God.'
"Zhuge Liang! Zhuge Liang! My father sent me!"
Xiao Na withdraw his dagger and put it back to it's sheath.
Luo Na and the others came running towards them.
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Seeing LanRong spill out the beans towards Xiao Na, he flipped everything out of his table.
An angry expression showed at his face.
'The siblings are more knowledgeable than I thought. I shouldn't have sent my imbecile daughter only to have her stain my name!'
Zhuge Liang called forth someone and hatched a new plan right away...
"Master..."
"Yes... I want you to kill the Na siblings and bring me their heads."
"As you wish."
Awwuuuu! I ate balot this afternoon! (._.) Aborted duck egg tasted IDK. The spicy vinegar haven't expelled the strange flavor on my mouth... Leleeee... The next time I would pick Penoy not Balot... I don't want eating whole aborted duck again (╥﹏╥)
Ah BTW. Sorry the chapter update took too long... I did many things for today and my daughter always cries in time when my phone always run out of battery! (T▽T) meheh... It's okay though...
I'll update as soon as I can! WRYYYYYYY!