Vol 6 Chapter 184

chocolily

I make this decision is so that there will be some benefits for those that purchase the ebook once I've publish it as ebook.

XH 184

Even if the Third prince does not want her to attend the meeting just because Jing Ke would be there as well, Xiao Hua insisted on going, because she wanted to know about the sealed gate. She knew it was not because the discussion was a secret that he wanted her to opt out of the meeting, because earlier he had asked her to join the meeting before the trio returned.

Since she wanted to join, he suggested that she stay behind the screen and she vehemently refused. 

“It will offend Jing Ke! And I won’t be that scared when I’m not alone with him!”

The Third Prince swallowed his disagreement, and decided it would be good to make Xiao Hua braver. "Alright. Come, let's have our dinner first before we meet them."

They do not dare to eat for a long time while the others waited for them, just enough to fill their stomachs. When the young couple stepped into the room where Da Bei and Da An had brought the guests to, Long Yuen and Doctor Bai were already there, waiting. 

“Xiao Hua, come and let me have a look at you,” Doctor Bai said worriedly as soon as she stepped into the room. When Third Prince was not in attendance, the two elderly asked for the reason from the two younger men with despondent aura. 

“I’m fine,” Xiao Hua quickly answered. “I’m just tired and skipped lunch so the dizzy spell happened.” But Doctor Bai still checked her pulse to confirm her health.

She gave Jing Ke, who had fortunately covered his face with his mask, an apologetic smile. “Lord Jing Ke, please forgive me for showing such an embarrassing sight to you.”

Xiao Hua would fix the awkwardness by praising his face, but she feared that her praise would come back and bite her ass in return if Jing Ke proudly showed off his face to her in the future!

Jing Ke nodded and his despondent air slowly scattered away.

“Then it’s all Third Prince’s fault then?” Yang Ling quipped. “Hey Third Prince, as soon as I step a foot inside Guilin, I already heard about Miss Bai Hua as your child bride! Are you not afraid to be scolded for treating your child bride this way? She needs to eat a lot to grow up properly!”

“Don’t speak of rubbish,” The Third Prince scolded. “Whatever Xiao Hua wants, I will give it to her, including food. It is your chattering non-stop at fault.”

“I’m sorry!” Xiao Hua raised her voice to cut in before the light bantering would escalate to fight, embarrassed that she had brought drama and caused arguments to rise. "It’s my fault for being a picky eater. It’s not Third Prince’s fault at all.”

“Picky eater? No way~” Yang Ling did not let the issue die down. “Third Prince is one of the wealthy men in Guilin, hiring a good chef to make delicious food is an easy thing no matter how exotic your taste bud is! Lizard's meat, snake's liver, bat's meat, none of them are impossible!"

“What is an outsider involving himself into a couple’s matter doing?” the 19th Emperor finally decided to stop this useless conversation. 

The chatterbox boy that dared to speak up against those in authority surprisingly stepped back. 

But the 19th Emperor continue on. “If Long Zhu could not satisfy Xiao Hua’s appetite, there is still this old man! I have a good friend who is an excellent chef! She could make even a simple stir fried vegetables into one of a first grade dishes!”

Doctor Bai shoot his old friend a look of contempt despite the gentle smile was still on his face. “Why would my daughter goes to an outsider like you for meal? There is still her father here to fill her stomach." He turned to look at Xiao Hua gently. "Xiao Hua, your father is not bad in cooking. Just tell me what you want to eat and I will make it.”

Xiao Hua did have doubts about the 19th Emperor’s friend to excel in cooking, but when it comes to Doctor Bai, she was more willing to believe it! Did the novels she had read not boast about the host’s cooking skills after either buying the skill from the system shop, or mastering the skill before allowing to enter the next world?

This young lady wants to eat ice cream, crepe, pudding, sushi, lasagna and many more! Just thinking about it nearly reduced her to a drooling fool. 

The Third Prince was still smiling, but in his mind, he was already scolding these shameless old geezers that dared to lure his little bride-to-be away with food!

“Tian Chi, report,” The Third Prince ordered without his usual gentle mannered tone. 

Tian Chi, who was laughing inwardly at the ongoing drama, had to calm herself down and speak in a serious tone. “We manage to find the place thanks to the map in Lord Yang Ling’s hand. There is a small village built around the area with the sealed gate located inside it. We thought we can easily find the sealed gate but-” 

Yang Ling’s face revealed deep frustration, cutting in Tian Chi's report. “We can’t find it! We had looked around everywhere but there’s no ‘gate’ or strange symbols around the area. The villagers know about the sealed gate, but not a single one can point us to the exact location! Hey prince, could it be the sealed gate is just a story told by our ancestors to scare off naughty children?”

“Those villagers, are they behaving normally? Do they have any similar illness?” Doctor Bai inquired thoughtfully.

“Eh? I didn’t notice anything from them. They looked normal enough,” Yang Ling said. His attention was focused on searching the gate, not stalking the villagers. He might be a chatterbox, but he never slacked in his duty.

That was one of the main reasons why Adviser Yang could never be angry enough to cut off ties with this only son of his. 

“No...they...healthy...like normal...people,” Jing Ke answered instead. 

"Is there any missing people cases, perhaps?" The 19th Emperor asked. 

"How would we know that if we did not ask that question, ah!" Yang Ling complained. "I only asked about the gate and strange things happening around the village! But they did not mention any sickness or kidnapping, so we can assume those did not happen, right? Or else they would worry even more and beg us for help in finding doctors or missing family members."

Jing Ke nodded in agreement. "Did...not think… of it."

Doctor Bai smiled. "That's a good deduction. I never actually expected the gate would be in visible sight or there would be more rumors about it, along with attempts to open the gate by fearless people. Thank you Lord Yang Ling, Lord Jing Ke and Miss Tian Chi for your hard work."

Tian Chi bowed, not daring to receive the thanks. "This is what my master wish as well, there is no need to thank this one."

"I've sent Tian Chi there just in case for the worst possible scenario to help in healing the injured," the Third Prince explained. "Yang Ling and Jing Ke's strength are enough to fight for their safety."

Whatever they need to say was already said, so Yang Ling and Jing Ke left with hungry stomachs. Yang Ling had not returned home yet, coming straight to the Third Prince to give his report. His father already knew he was back, so if he did not return home soon, his father would send someone to drag him back home by his ears.

Tian Chi excused herself to return to the Third Prince manor, most likely to reunite with Tian Zi, and the Third Prince allowed it.

Xiao Hua itched to discuss about the gate, but she will need to filter her words. The 19th Emperor does not know that she was a transmigrator and the Third Prince does not know Doctor Bai was a system player.

But fortunately, what she could think of was naturally what the other three people with higher intelligence than her, could think as well.

"Could it be that only someone with special requirements could see the gate?" The Third Prince guessed.

Eyes flashed in realization, the 19th Emperor sneered in disgust and slammed the teacup down on the table. "Demons."

Doctor Bai had said that the Dark Beauty was a human that turned into a demon. If that was the requirement to open the gate, the condition to turn into a demon must be very difficult to achieve. 

Xiao Hua: Or it was easy but those demons were nice enough not to open the gates, unlike that insane dark beauty.

╮(︶▽︶)╭

"We do not know how the gate could be unsealed. We also do not know how to reseal the gate," Doctor Bai shared his worries. 

"I can ask about it from Azure Dragon," the 19th Emperor offered. "It's been a while since I last talked to the celestial."

Misunderstood Xiao Hua's surprised look, the 19th Emperor laughingly said, "Xiao Hua does not know about the great Azure Dragon? How about the history of Guilin Country and the Four Kingdoms?"

"I've heard about the Four Kingdoms that represent the four celestial beast." But not how you can talk to it!

From what Doctor Bai had told her, Xiao Hua had mistakenly concluded that the royalty bloodline can only use the power from the celestial beast to create a barrier of defense. She also assumed that the celestial beasts would not come out, remained as a revered entity that could lend you it's powers.

"The four celestial beasts are currently gaining their strength under the Four kingdoms. The Emperors of the Four kingdoms could meet the celestial beasts and borrow powers from them to protect the Kingdom," the 19th Emperor explained.

But what he did not say was that the matter of the Emperors could use the celestial beasts' power and able to meet them was a secret only known to the previous Emperors and the current one! It was kept a secret to protect the celestial beast from the power hungry individuals.

The reason why Xiao Hua could know about it laid on these three people's out of the box thinking.

The first was Doctor Bai, who does not mind that his transmigrated daughter to know about it, firmly believe that she was harmless.

The second was the 19th Emperor with high hopes for his favourite grandson to be the next Emperor, and does not mind his future granddaughter in law from knowing, since his own Empress knew about it as well. A strong Emperor would need an understanding Empress by his side as support. 

The last one was the Third Prince, who does not want to keep secrets from Xiao Hua. Even if his grandfather did not say it, he would eventually let Xiao Hua know.

Long Zhu get to know of this matter was thanks to the other three time traveller that were picked by the celestial beasts as their next vessel. The three of them were still their celestial beasts' vessel in this second chance, but Azure Dragon had yet to choose it's next vessel.

The four of them had travelled to the past, but the celestial beasts were not allowed to, their being tied to their own timeline. 

Doctor Bai nodded. "Please ask Azure Dragon if there is a way for us humans to see the gate as well."

Long Yuen turned solemn. "That knowledge is a double edged sword. If we guard that area tightly, it would alert unwanted parties. But it will also give us time to prepare in advance. Are you sure we should take this risk?"

"We need to," Doctor Bai sighed. "We do not have any method to identify demons, except when they are using the demonic Qi and reveals their demonic form."

"...The Azure Dragon have vast knowledge."

If Azure Dragon could not answer those questions, then they will need to take over the gate's location area and sent those villagers away before locking the area down.