“Bei Tang? Why would your daughter be in Bei Tang of all places?”
Lu Jing Yi’s first reaction was to blink in complete surprise towards the words tossed from Wei Xuan. The Emperor’s mind whirled as he rubbed at the final missive clenched in his hands, and his mind failed to understand. He faintly heard the whispers of his past as he learned the politics of the three Empires of the Shattered Star Continent and how to weave through the messy network of politics, and the two words continued to screech without end.
Why Bei Tang of all places to be?
For someone from Great Yong to step into Bei Tang’s territory, was that not seeking death? The acrimony between the two nations was sufficient that the continuous border conflicts weren’t even determined as a matter of much concern by both parties…
“Your Imperial Majesty, should that not be my question, as her father?”
An embittered voice struck a fierce chord into the Emperor’s heart, and he nearly lurched over from the sudden pang of emotion. Lu Jing Yi furiously rubbed at his temples with fingertips laced with crimson spiritual essence as he tried to clear his mind. The minister and Emperor lapsed into a brief silence, until Wei Xuan raised his hand to cover his mouth and cough.
“The first three missives contain information sourced from various individuals – scattered but reliable. The fourth, I’m afraid, was written by a secret observer of the Imperial Family. Your Imperial Majesty should be aware of the consequences.”
“Consequences? If a mistake arises? My Third Younger Brother – is that what you mean?” Lu Jing Yi curled his lips.
“Jing Ju seeks to topple my reign from the shadows with each passing day. Should he obtain anything worthwhile, he would never relinquish his grasp.”
The Emperor chuckled to himself and tapped his finger onto the missive. Nursing his unsettled heart, Lu Jing Yi cursed under his breath and tore at the thin seal of paper, and unfolded the letter to reveal its contents. As the boldly written characters exhibited their form to the budding day sky, the heavens adorned with a wreath of gold, crimson, and ink rumbled with a pale thunder.
“Heavenly Phoenix. Contact. Crag’s Pass… Fire.”
The paper letter fluttered and dropped onto the ground in mournful silence. Lu Jing Yi groaned as he gaped at the letters written in cinnabar, the bloody crimson stains boring holes into his mind.
“Crag’s Pass… the Natural Domains. Fire… the World of Fire?” the Emperor gasped.
The characters were simple and few, bold and uncultured. It was obvious at first glance that its writer had grasped no more than the most basic calligraphy skills and had spent more time with his sword – hardly presentable before an Emperor. Yet, the solemn atmosphere it brought and an underlying desperation sang louder than the callousness of its writing.
“Why is Yu Xin involved with the Natural Domains – the World of Fire of all things? Wei Xuan, tell Zhen, what exactly what is going on here!?”
The final statement stabbed towards the solitary back of the minister, and Lu Jing Yi felt incredibly suffocated. He fought hard to restrain his aura from seeping out of his control, but the enraged spirit of an Emperor screeched at the silent skies.
They were currently faced with intense pressure from the Heavenly Sword Sect and the Violet Jade Palace! They couldn’t deal with the Natural Domains at this moment, even if they came with good faith!
“Other than this single missive that I had managed to intercept from a messenger heading towards the Feng Clan headquartered at Bi’an City, there is no additional information. Everyone who has stepped into the vicinity of Crag’s Pass for the purpose of wringing information has been killed by a mysterious force.”
“Surely, there must be survivors?” the Emperor’s gaze sharpened as he stared at the fallen letter, but made no move to collect it.
“The Childes of Heaven had a competition there recently, no? Any news about them?”
“None. Chang Luo is still alive and well, but nothing else is known.”
Wei Xuan sighed and stretched his limbs, extending both arms towards the infinite skies. The minister’s voice was hoarse as he clenched his fists, and traces of fragility intermixed with resolve exuded from his silhouetted frame.
“My second son is stranded in the mystical and dangerous Crag’s Pass. My fourth child is stranded in an entirely different country on her own without any assistance nor the knowledge to survive. What do you think, Your Imperial Majesty?”
The Emperor remained mute, and his gaze remained fixed onto the weary characters painted in cinnabar. The minister shook his head in pity, and walked forwards to place an ivory bead besides the silent and still Lu Jing Yi.
“Any mention of the Empress having any involvement with the Natural Domains will certainly cripple the Imperial Family, and your reign. The situation has been controlled for now,” Wei Xuan exhaled and trudged towards the exit.
“Regarding my daughter, it is best for Your Imperial Majesty to solve this matter quick, before I decide to get personally involved…”
The departing words were laced with a thick warning, and caused Lu Jing Yi’s lips to quiver into an unpleasant grimace. The Emperor swung his sleeves towards the ground to pulverize the missive into dust, and stood to witness the final gasp of night.
“Yu Xin… just what game are you playing this time? If you make Great Yong’s Minister of Defense leave Jiang’an, then the wolves will have been freed of their collar…”
–
Where was she?
An Fei’s eyes blearily dragged themselves open to reveal the dim lighting of a secluded bedroom. Her body was swathed within a thick layer of blankets, and a sore pain dragged itself through her limbs. The bedcurtains had been drawn, thus the young girl could only stare towards the ceiling speechless and utterly confused.
The last memory she recalled was collapsing unconscious in a puddle of toxic rain, and the young girl who resembled her appearance to an uncomfortable degree. Her current surroundings seemed familiar, but An Fei truly couldn’t discern the origins of her unsettling discomfort. With painful grunts and sluggish movements, the young girl dragged her drowsed body into a straggled seated position.
She gaped speechlessly at the milky white texture on her bare arm, and froze into place at the realization.
“When… when did the disguise come off?”
A deep, bonechilling terror drowned her senses as she ruthlessly raised the blanket covering her body, only to find it bare and devoid of a single grasp of clothing. The cosmetic disguise that she had relied so much upon had been completely revealed, displaying the magnificent body to her madly turning gaze. At the thought that someone foreign to her had stripped her clothes and placed her into the bed caused the young girl to wander between sighing in relief or bawling her eyes in dread.
“The qama is no longer here, as are the butterfly swords…” An Fei’s hands roamed through the bedsheets in a futile search.
“I still have the golden kernel, although my body’s in a nasty mess…”
A single peek at the mental visualization of the internal structure of her body had brought many concerns to the dazzled An Fei. The dark regions that had isolated her lower abdomen from the golden kernel of light as well as the extensive network of meridians had exploited the opportunity to expand. A large portion of her torso was entirely consumed by the shadowy blight, stopping only at the boundary of her heart in which the small kernel of light resided.
“Xilong isn’t here, and there’s the question of what happens after I come into direct contact with the winter rain. It can’t just stop at washing away my disguise and causing the… disturbance in my body to spread…?”
The mutterings of a young girl abruptly paused as the faint tremors and taps of footsteps drifted into her ear. Plunging into the blankets with a startled yelp, An Fei stared towards the closed folds of the bedcurtains as the source of the footsteps approached closer. Each demure tap of the foot caused trembles to coarse through her entire body, for An Fei had never been this defenseless before.
Her heart nearly collapsed when a pair of gloved hands reached into the folds to expose the bed to, and the scene that flooded her eyes caused her throat to constrict in surprise. She remembered why the bed had felt so familiar to her, yet was confused once again.
The encirclement on all sides by towering bookshelves, the center of the room occupied by a loose triangular arrangement of a bed, dresser, drawing table, floors and walls of a sky-blue crystal – how could she not remember?
Only, the last time she had entered the Archives, she had placed down several tomes on the ground besides the drawing table, but they were no longer to be seen.
“You… who are you?”
She could recognize the Archives of Time, but as for the middle-aged man standing before her dressed in an exquisite robe…
The middle-aged man quickly grasped the reason for her bewilderment, and a flash of disappointment rumbled within his eyes. Quickly smothering his inner turmoil with a quirky raise of an eyebrow, he took a step forwards and lowered himself into a light noble’s bow.
“My given name is Xu Shen,” Compendium smiled.
“I am the chronicler and compiler of the Archives of Time, the envoy of the Gate of Origin… as well as your personal librarian, if you will.”
