Chapter 116 - The Mind Links

"So... how does the hell look like?" Jiang Ying Yue asked as she picked up a red grape and popped it in her mouth.

Since the hellhound was working for Empress Dowager, he could more or less be considered an acquaintance if not an ally. At least, they weren't enemies.

"Why don't you come for a visit? Seeing and experiencing everything on your own will definitely be much better than hearing about it from me." The hellhound boy replied as he picked a grape from her bowl and popped it into his mouth.

Jiang Ying Yue immediately covered her bowl of fruits with her hands as she glared at him. "Eat from your own bowl. How did you even dare to pick from mine?" 

The boy gave her an unhappy look as he seemed totally unimpressed by her reaction. "It's just a grape. Why being so stinky?" He murmured under his breath but Jiang Ying Yue heard him clearly.

"Hey, can I really visit your realm?" She asked after a few moments of silence while she kept her eyes fixed on the young lady from the Wen family who was playing the zither.

"I think you can. While demons are prohibited from stepping out from the Demon Realm, there's no rule saying that a mortal or an Immortal can't go there. I can go in and out of the realm because I personally don't belong to the Demon Realm, to begin with, but my identity as a hellhound bounds me to that realm."

Jiang Ying Yue listened patiently as she seriously contemplated about visiting the Demon Realm after asking for permission from Empress Dowager. She wanted to see what kind of place it was that the demons didn't want to live there anymore.

For a moment, she pictured the demon realm as hell that she used to read about in ancient magic and history books. But the thought left her mind as soon as it appeared. A realm for demons wasn't the same as hell in general. 

"What about those pixies? I can tell that they carry demonic powers, then how come they are allowed to step in and out from the Demon Realm?" She asked as she suddenly recalled the demon pixies that she had seen around Empress Dowager.

"Her Grace has created them using the dark energy that's present in the mortal realm. On one hand, it helped in purifying the spiritual qi in this realm, and on the other hand, she found some companions for herself." The hellhound boy answered while he enjoyed the wine.

Jiang Ying Yue found herself turning to look at the woman who was deemed as the most powerful and also dangerous demon. However, from the very beginning, Ying Yue hadn't felt any negative energy from that woman.

The said woman suddenly turned her attention towards Ying Yue, giving her a quick wink which almost caused the latter to choke on the grape that she was eating.

Jiang Ying Yue hurriedly looked around to see if someone had noticed the interaction between her and Empress Dowager but only found the hellhound boy and Silver paying attention while the rest were too focused on the performance and talking with each other.

"Don't worry, no one noticed." Silver whispered to her when he noticed her frowning.

Letting out a small sigh of relief, she relaxed in her seat as she once again turned her attention towards Empress Dowager but the woman was no longer looking at her. Instead, she was talking about something with the Head Eunuch.

It didn't take her long to realize that it was finally the moment for which and probably everyone had been waiting for ever since the banquet started. All the eyes turned towards Her Grace as the woman stood up from her throne and moved to stand in front of her seat as she addressed her people. "Since all of you are present here, we will use this occasion to sort out a very important business. It's time for us to correct the wrongs that had been happening in our Empire. But before we start on that, let's welcome the Princes of our Hyuang Empire." 

Once again within a few minutes, Jiang Ying Yue found herself choking on a grape as she heard the announcement. Though she was waiting for the Princes to surprise her and everyone with their entry, she wasn't expecting to get such a surprise. They were actually collaborating with their mother!

Silver nudged her from behind when she forgot to follow the suit as the rest of the guests stood up to greet and welcome the Princes.

It took barely a couple of seconds before the three Princes finally stepped inside the banquet hall. All three of them were looking majestic and ethereal in their high-quality clothes and the aura that they hold. It was hard deciding which Prince was better than the others.

Everyone was left dazzled as they all stared wide-eyed at the Princes. It wasn't until the Head Eunuch cleared his throat loudly to bring everyone out of their stupified state, did they all started greeting the Princes while also welcoming them back.

While others looked mesmerized, Jiang Ying Yue was glaring daggers at the three of them. If looks could kill, the three of them would already have lost their lives.

[Count it as a payback. You didn't tell us about your plan of collaborating with our temporary mother and now we kept it a secret that we will be working with her to deal with the situations here in the Capital.] 

It was Qing Shan who spoke through the mind link that the two of them shared, a gift that they received after completing their soulmate bond. 

On the other hand, the only reason she could talk through the mind link with Silver without even completing their bond was that the two of them were linked together through an exchange of their blood. She was his Sire.

******

[Flashback~

Jiang Ying Yue was on her way to the Vampire Court as the Seelie Court had invited high members of all the supernatural courts for the Year-End Council meeting and for some weird reason, the Vampire Lord had chosen her to attend the meeting this year.

"My lady, it's getting darker. Do you want to stop by an inn to rest for the night?" The coachman asked as he stopped the carriage and came to stand next to the window to ask her about her decision of what they should do next.

It was still medieval times and there was still a long way to go before the word technology would enter the dictionary of their world. 

Jiang Ying Yue, who was already irritated because of the 'attending the Council meeting' thing, became even more irritated at the coachman's words. She was suddenly regretting for leaving in such a hurry and not bringing her own men along with her.

She lifted the drape of the window and looked outside to glare at the man who immediately gulped down his saliva as fear took over his eyes.

"Are you afraid of the dark? Or are your tiger eyes unable to see in the darkness? Should I hire someone else for the job?" Just to be clear, she was genuinely asking those questions and there was only a little bit of taunting mixed in it.

"No... No, my lady. It's just... the guards of the Seelie Court have been hunting down a criminal around this area and this place isn't considered safe during the night as they could mistake us..."

"Unlike you, the Faes have sharp eyesight. They won't dare to attack the carriage of a High Lord from the Blood Court. Now get moving. We need to reach the Night City before dawn." Jiang Ying Yue didn't give the tiger shifter any chance to speak further as she cut him off before he could finish and threw a glowing crimson ball on the top of the carriage where it started hovering in mid-air while glowing brightly. It was a symbol of the carriage belonging to a High Lord from the Vampire Court.

The coachman immediately kneeled down on the ground as he started looking repeatedly. "Your Grace, please forgive this lowly servant. I... I w-wasn't aware of your..."

"Enough!" 

Jiang Ying Yue gritted through her clenched teeth as she tried to not get angry at the poor man. She was already having trouble calming down after reading the official decree that the Vampire Lord had sent her and now she was dealing with a man who couldn't listen to her directions properly.

She took a deep breath to calm down a little bit before speaking, "Don't worry too much. I'll make sure that you won't die here tonight. Let's get moving." 

The coachman didn't stall any longer and they immediately continued their journey.. The next few hours passed in silence as nothing bizzare happened but it didn't last for long as all of sudden, the carriage came to a stop and Jiang Ying Yue heard a loud crash outside.