“Now can you tell me what happened?” Ming Shu averted her gaze and looked at the man sitting opposite her.
Mu Huai was staring at Illuminating Stars that the master gave him. The painting was actually nothing much to look at. What really mattered was the pattern that would appear on it when it got close to fire.
That was probably the map leading to the Dragon Root of the Wushang Dynasty.
Mu Huai rolled up the painting and folded his hands together in his sleeves. “You saw a prophecy a few days ago, right?”
Ming Shu smiled slightly. “Uncle and Master did make a close deal.”
Mu Huai stared at Ming Shu and said, “Your prophecy, someone had predicted it a long time ago, though it was more detailed than yours.”
Ming Shu raised her eyebrows.
“Twenty-two years ago, the last prophecy of the last prophet was that wars were going to occupy the world. With evil spirits overrunning the land, the Wushang Dynasty was to be destroyed. And that prophecy referred to the prince, who was just born at the time.”
“Because of that prophecy, the prince was regarded as a reincarnation of an evil spirit, which made the emperor very dreadful and worried. But he didn’t have the heart to kill his own son.” Mu Huai looked at Ming Shu, saw she had no strange reaction, and added, “As the saying goes, even a vicious tiger will not eat its cubs. At that time, the emperor looked forward to the birth of the prince very much, but no one could expect it to end so.”
For so many years, the emperor didn’t abolish the prince for such a reason.
In order to change this prophecy, the last prophet took a glimpse at the holy secret, against the holy rules, then suggested the emperor take the prince as his formal heir, which might give them a chance to turn the tables.
But as a result, the last prophet died miserably.
“Why not kill the prince right away?” It’s much simpler
and can save a lot of trouble.
It seemed killing the prince meant that the male protagonist would be gone…
Mu Huai shook his head. “It’s not that simple.”
The prince could be killed, but even the emperor couldn’t bear to kill him at the time. He considered whether he would abandon his son for his throne and the world.
However, he did not.
Then there was only one possibility.
The prince couldn’t be killed due to some unknown reasons.
“Lord, come out and see.” Ye Cong’s voice suddenly sounded from outside. He seemed to have seen something incredible.
Mu Huai parted the curtains, and the blood sky immediately reflected in his deep eyes. It was like having been stained by blood. The redness spread from the horizon and covered the entire sky very quickly.
Within everyone’s range of sight, there was nothing but red.
This scene was exactly the same as what Ming Shu saw in the prophecy.
The first scene of the prophecy was now happening.
“What happened?”
“How did the sky turn red?”
“Lord, it’s too abnormal, I’m afraid something bad is going to happen.” Ye Cong frowned deeply. They had never witnessed such a weird phenomenon.
The wind was blowing.
Shashasha—
The trees all bowed to one side, and dust swept into the air. Startled horses neighed, restless. No matter how hard the people tried to quiet them, the horses were too frantic to calm down. Finally, they broke the reins loose and fled in all directions.
The people on horseback couldn’t control these anxious animals, so they had to abandon their steeds and jump down.
The horse pulling the carriage which Ming Shu was sitting in also went crazy. Mu Huai swiftly removed Ming Shu from the carriage.
“These animals have all gone crazy!” Ye Cong and the others gathered around Mu Huai. “Lord, what should we do now?”
Ye Cong swept his gaze toward Ming Shu and his lord. Although it felt a bit strange, the two standing together appeared to match…
Ming Shu’s dark pupils were stained the bloody red of the sky. She didn’t seem to notice that she was still in Mu Huai’s arms. Ming Shu stroked back her hair, mussed by the wind, and said, “This is absolutely leading to something unusual!”
Ming Shu lowered her eyes, feeling the temperature at her waist was not right. Then she saw Mu Huai’s white, slender hands lightly resting on her waist.
Ming Shu brushed off Mu Huai’s hands. “Uncle, are you quite comfortable?”
Ye Cong: “…”
Mu Huai gave her a calm look, then took back his hands. Numerous MMPs began to run wild in his mind again.
It wasn’t intentional!
Right then, he only paid attention to the sky, and who would notice whether he was holding someone in arms!
Do you think I want to hold you?
Humph!
So angry.
He had saved her several times, but didn’t get any gratitude. Why was she
so unfair to him?
“Lord, what do we do now?” The horses all fled and something so strange happened to the sky. Ye Cong felt quite lost now.
Mu Huai gazed at the sky intently. “Settle somewhere first.”
Something is going to happen.
…
The bloody sky lasted a long time before it returned to normal. During this period, various animals seemed like they’d been collectively infected by rabies and ran wild.
Ming Shu sat in a broken-down yard, eating a bag of pastries. Ye Cong and Mu Huai were standing at the courtyard’s gate; their discussion could be vaguely heard from the distance.
This was a village very close to the imperial city. Ye Cong asked the villagers to give them this yard as a temporary foothold
The little beastie climbed out of Ming Shu’s sleeve. After thinking for a while, it bit Ming Shu’s wrist.
I want some food too!
Ming Shu didn’t seem to hear it. The little beastie again bit her wrist with some strength, which finally drew the owner’s attention. Ming Shu felt the sudden pain and almost dropped the pastry on the ground.
I want some, hurry, I want to eat the pastry too.
Ming Shu pressed the little beastie back into her sleeves. You want
everything!
“…” Ahhhh! I want to change my owner. I will change her immediately, right now! I don’t want to stay with her any longer.
“The imperial city is in chaos.” Mu Huai came toward Ming Shu and spoke in a light voice. “We will wait here for some time.”
“What do you think this is?” Ming Shu asked him.
Mu Huai kept silent for a while, sitting down opposite Ming Shu. “Have you heard of evil spirits?”
Ming Shu paused. “Evil spirits?”
The tone was unlike her normal smiling tone, but it was also not indifferent or confused. It was more like an inquiry.
Mu Huai didn’t have time to think about what it was and why she used such a tone. He continued, “A few hundred years ago, when the Wushang Dynasty was not yet established, evil spirits roamed. They fed on humans and hunted them, meaning the masses had no means to live. At the time, the entire world was shrouded in horror and disaster.”
The first emperor of the Wushang Dynasty couldn’t bear the suffering of the people. He then gathered warriors to fight against evil spirits and saved the people.
Their group got stronger and stronger. They developed from repeated defeats in the beginning to arrive at the final success: forcing the evil spirits to withdraw from the human world.
To prevent the evil spirits from invading the human world again, the first emperor gathered all the powerful masters in the world and made them work together, and in the end, all the evil spirits were suppressed in one place.
And that place was—
The so-called Dragon Root of the Wushang Dynasty.
The Heavenly Temple, with the consent of the first emperor, was established by those powerful masters who fought together with the emperor.
In addition to guarding the royal family, the Heavenly Temple had a more important task: to guard the Dragon Root where the evil spirits were suppressed.
Meanwhile, Mu Huai’s mission was to protect the Dragon Root from being destroyed by anyone. It was a very simple task.
But…
Now he’d failed.
Without any forewarning.
Annoying!
“So it means that someone has found the Dragon Root?” And
he or she released a group of little goblins… A smart guy.
Mu Huai was also a little confused.
One of the four paintings leading to the Dragon Root had been destroyed, another two were now in his hands, and the last one was missing. How was the Dragon Root found?
“The prince,” Ming Shu suddenly said. “Are you sure that the previous prophet also mentioned evil spirits in the prophecy?”
Mu Huai thought for a while, then nodded.
“The prince is definitely the key.” In the previous plot, Shen Ci was missing, not dead. And after Shen Ci disappeared, Cheng Jinyun accompanied him, so the prince didn’t take any excessive actions.
But this time…
It was hard to tell.