Chapter 123 - 123 - The Golden Temple Faction's Atrocities

A drop of rainwater trickled down her slanted nose and dripped onto the fistful of sand. The sand got wet immediately.

"What is this? It's getting wet now," she whispered in shock. This was a phenomenon she had not seen before.

Yukiya held the wet soil in her hand and gazed down at the dry soil. The fistful in her hands were getting wet but the ground was not.

"This is really strange," Long Ki squared next to her.

He pinched some of the wet soil and sniffed it. "it's normal soil" he whispered.

"but let's see what happens when we throw it down," he held her hands softly. She flinched a little when their hands touched.

But the red dragon was too intrigued by the sand in her hand to notice. He slowly tilted her hand and made her pour the wet sand down.

as soon as it touched the ground, it became dry sand.

Yukiya still didn't understand the cause weird occurrence. 'How is it possible for the sand to get wet in my hands but dry out on the ground?' she thought with wonder.

The soil was not cursed, it was the entire ground. But then she noticed the entire yard of the house. The land there was also bone dry. She started analyzing the possibilities. 'it's not that easy to curse an entire plot of land, so vast..... maybe it's not a curse at all... maybe...'

"There is something underground," both of them uttered at the same gazing at each other.

"you think so too..." Yukiya whispered.

Long Ki nodded. "I have never encountered something like this.... but I still believe it's not possible for a curse to be this wide spread and this effective,"

loud knocking on the main door distracted them from their discussion.

"ill go check it out," Long Ki dusted off his hands as he strode away in the corridor.

"I'll come along," Yukiya uttered and followed behind. his long strides were hard to catch up to. as soon as she got close, the red dragon gazed back at her and quickened his pace.

after a while, she was literally running to walk alongside him.

"hey slow down,"

The red dragon gazed back at her with a flushed face. "woman....why are you insistently following me? is it perhaps because....you like me,"

Yukiya froze. 'why am I following him? I just wanted to check who was at the door, but a single person is enough to do that job,' she thought. her face soon became slightly red. "I...I..," she stuttered.

At the same time,⁸ knocks on the house's main door became insistently louder.

"Old lady, open up. don't act like you are not home. and send those outsiders here too," a loud voice shouted from outside.

Yukiya and Long Ki slowly went to the open the door. but a wrinkled hand held on tight.

it was the old lady.

"little lady, I will deal with the people outside. Please, you can rest in your room," she said with a kind smile on her face.

"but we can...." Yukiya started, but the red dragon held her hands and shook his head.

"let's go back to our room," Long Ki whispered and nodded towards the corner of the corridor.

The people on the outside banged on the door again. "old lady, how can you make respected sir wait out like this. Come on open the door,"

The old lady went to the door and opened it slightly. "what is it old Rue? can't you see its raining, shouldn't you be collecting water in your place,"

"hump, why should I? I have already sold my place to this kind gentlemen. They even brought me a house in the town of Nevada," the gaudy man said with a sense of pride.

When this cursed drought started, their village which was a fertile farming land became barren. The farmers were the first to get affected. Old Rue was so one of them.

He had a small plot of land in which he cultivated corn and wheat. But now it became useless. He was not able to take care of their family's expenditure. So one fine morning when a kind-looking gentleman offered to buy his land, he was more than willing.

the man also gave him a small plot of land in the nearby town, which he was more than happy to receive.

As the mysterious man was giving the deed he held back and whispered, "old man, why don't you help me convince this town people as well. I can buy their land for a handsome price,"

Old Rue happily accepted. so he went house by house and helped convince them. most of the town sold their houses and plots. but this old lady was not willing to sell her house.

'I have to convince her somehow,' he thought with renewed determination.

Old Rue got closer and pushed through the main gate. "old ma*, why don't you sell this house? this way you can feed your grandchildren also,"

The old lady humped. "Rue, don't make me mad, I already refused your offer. This is our ancestral land, we will live here and we will die here,"

This statement pissed off old Rue. "old lady, do you want to starve you grandkids? what a cruel woman, refusing such a good deal."

"you take your dipshit logic somewhere else, we don't have time for you," the old lady shouted and slammed the door.

But the mysterious man standing outside held it open. "Old lady, I would like to apologize for my friend's rudeness. we are only trying to help out. please do rethink your decision," he whispered in a hoarsely.

The old lady tried to close the door, but the man held out open with just a finger. she was stunned.

The man's face was hidden under a Cape, but the old lady could feel the murderous intent flowing from him. His golden and white robe shone under the morning sunlight looking angelic, but the Aurora he gave out was more like a demon.

'who's this man? This old Rue, he brought along trouble with him again,' the old lady mentally cursed. She struggled to close the door.

Long Ki and Yukiya who were hiding in the corner saw all this.

"Darn, it's those Golden temple people." Yukiya whispered through clenched jaws.

"who?" Long Ki held her hand and caressed softly.

"they are a group of asshats who believe that whoever cultivates light energy is a holy being. They think they are above all and for most I heard a rumour that they also captured a Kirin. this helped consolidate their position as one of the top forces of this Kingdom," She whispered and dashed out.

She slammed the door with all her strength and closed it firmly. A loud bang was heard outside, but she didn't bother with that golden temple man.

Yukiya held the old lady's shoulders and whispered, "Are you really going to sell? I will deal with these stupid guys for you,"

The old lady sighed. "let's talk inside,"

When they settled down near the hall, the old lady narrated everything that actually happened in the past six months.

The man from the golden temple had visited to their town six months ago and from then the problem started. The soil became to dry and won't hold water. One by one, people decided to sell their houses and moved to the nearby town of Nevada.

"this looks like a ploy. Maybe they are the ones that messed up the land to buy it from people at a low cost," Yukiya muttered.

Long Ki sipped the cup of tea slowly. "maybe.... shall we capture that man and torture him for info," he injected with a calm smile.

Yukiya peered at him with her eyes narrowed. "Let's try our best not to use violence as of now. later when we are sure that they are the culprits we can punish them accordingly,"

"But it will take longer. I can just beat that man baby a few times until he spits out the truth," Long Ki shot up with a clenched fist.

Yukiya softly patted his shoulders and made him sit down. "Long Ki, let's not do anything hastily. that man has a whole faction behind him. if we hurt him without any convection, then they might seek revenge with the towns people,"

Her soft pat's calmed the red dragon's anger. he docily sat with a subtle blush on his face.

Yukiya saw this and smirked. 'This silly guy can also be cute sometimes hmm,'

She softly coughed and continued. "we need proof. with that we might even be able to take down the entire golden temple faction."

Long Ki gazed up with a small smile. "But how?"

Yukiya patted his head and caressed his fluffy long hair. "I might have a way to do that,"

She gazed out the window at the raging storm outside. "This storm might be our ally,"