C128 Blood Beads (9)

Xuanyuan Zhan could tell that something was wrong with the bead with a single glance, but he did not say anything about it.

"Since the blood bead has been retrieved, you should leave it to me." Xuanyuan Zhan, "It's not safe even if I leave it at your place. Furthermore, I'm afraid it will bring you danger. There are many pairs of eyes staring at him now. "

Feng Yu thought so too. Moreover, this drop of blood didn't have any use for him, so she had to return it anyway. After all, the Emperor told Xuanyuan Zhan to find these blood beads. Feng Yu did not notice the unfathomable look in Xuanyuan Zhan's eyes, and passed the wooden case containing the blood droplets to Xuanyuan Zhan.

"Since you've already found the Blood Bead, why don't you go to the palace tomorrow and hand it to the Emperor?" Feng Yu was a bit anxious. "I've always been feeling uneasy when I kept this drop of blood by your side for a day longer."

"Yu Er, don't worry, in two days I will present the Blood Bead Mask to royal father. I can't immediately return it right now." Xuanyuan Zhan said.

Feng Yu wanted to say something, but she didn't know what to say.

"Uncle Battle-King." Dou Dou's voice sounded, interrupting Feng Yide's train of thought. After a while, Dou Dou ran in and saw Feng Yu.

"Mother, mother."

"What's wrong, Dou Dou?" Xuanyuan Zhan asked, "Have you learned all of today's lessons?"

"I've learned it long ago." "Dou Dou acted as if I were so smart, how could it be difficult for him?" Okay, okay. Dou Dou still wants to go out and play today, Uncle Battle-King and Mother will take Dou Dou out to play, okay?

Dou Dou was noisy and refused to cultivate, he insisted on bringing Xuanyuan Zhan and Feng Yu out to play. Xuanyuan Zhan helplessly and lovingly looked at Dou Dou, replying.

Now that he had found the drop of blood, this matter could be considered to have come to an end. Feng Yu thought that he could use this opportunity to take Dou Dou out to play and help him relax.

"Why don't we go on an outing tomorrow?" Feng Yu suggested.

"Alright!" Dou Dou said happily. Dou Dou's mother had also taken him on an outing before, so Dou Dou liked it.

"Alright, then Uncle Battle-King will accompany Dou Dou and Mother on their outing tomorrow, alright?"

"Alright!"

Seeing Dou Dou being so happy, Feng Yu could not help but smile at Xuanyuan Zhan.

At night, Xuanyuan Zhan sat in his study room with the wooden box Feng Yu gave him today on the table. Inside the box was the bead of blood.

Xuanyuan Zhan stared at the wooden box for a long time. He seemed to be deep in thought.

His thoughts spun, and in the blink of an eye, he saw Xuanyuan Zhan when he was young.

That year, Xuanyuan Mo had still not become the emperor and was still a crown prince. It was September of the year of Geng Ming. With the passing of the late emperor, Crown Prince Xuanyuan Mo ascended to the throne.

Ever since the founding of the Xiao Kingdom, there was a rule that every new emperor had to go to Hongfu Temple to worship the heavens and earth, recite scriptures and blessings to help the previous emperor surpass himself. May the Xiao Kingdom have a smooth sailing and peace.

Every time the new emperor ascended to the throne, the blood bead would be sent to Hongfu Temple to pray for the blessings of the heavens. Since then, it had become a custom for the founding emperor to help him conquer the world.

That year, before Xuanyuan Mo officially ascended the throne, he went to the Hongfu Temple to pray for the Emperor according to the ancestral system. At that time, Xuanyuan Zhan's mother Ning Fei had never been unfavoured like this. Furthermore, blessing was an important matter of the imperial family, so naturally they had to travel together. There was also a royal family minister and his family.

Xuanyuan Qingtian and Xuanyuan Zhan naturally followed along with the Yan Fei. He remembered that when he was young, the Crown Prince was very domineering and didn't give any face to others. However, he didn't show it to Ye Xiao like he did now.

Xuanyuan Zhan still remembered that day when he stayed at the Hongfu Temple with his mother. In his memories, his mother was always so calm, not knowing anything about the affairs of the world, as if those worldly affairs had nothing to do with him. It was also because of this that even though his father did not like his mother, he still treated her with respect, and it was also because of this that the servants did not put his mother in their eyes. Of course, Xuanyuan Zhan did not like them, the servants saw that the two of them were easily bullied, and so they arranged for the two of them to stay in the most remote courtyard of the Hongfu Temple.

At that time, royal father only had him, Xuanyuan Qingtian and his second brother, the three sons. Usually, Xuanyuan Qingtian was the most domineering of them all. Even though he was not the legitimate son, because he was the eldest son and his mother and friends were extremely favored by him, all the servants in the mansion would always try their best to please Xuanyuan Qingtian and naturally ignore him. Furthermore, Xuanyuan Zhan's mother was not favoured either, so Xuanyuan Zhan, who was still young, would naturally be ostracized by those people.

On that day, the sky was a clear blue, a perfect day for offering sacrifices to the heaven and earth. Xuanyuan Mo led the group and prayed on the great altar at the Hongfu Temple.

Tens of thousands of monks sat on the altar, with the blood drops placed in the very center of the congregation. The people closest to the blood drops were naturally the presiding elder of the temple as well as various respected elders, and they sat around the blood drops. Below them were the monks of the temple in succession, naturally arranged according to the time when they entered the temple. The sound of chanting from the past entered his ears. It was those monks praying for the Blood Bead again. There was only one person who could stand so intimately on the altar and touch the blood droplets, and that was the incoming emperor of the Xiao Kingdom, Xuanyuan Mo. The others could only stare at them from afar.

Xuanyuan Zhan knelt far away from the group of people and paid his respects to the droplets of blood. He was still a child after all, and did not have the patience to remain calm for long, even though his mother had warned him a thousand times before the ceremony that he should not look around randomly and remain devout. However, Xuanyuan Zhan still peeked at him out of curiosity.

He could see from afar that the blood-red pearl that was placed at the center of the altar was especially dazzling under the contrast of the sunlight. Just a glance was enough to cause Xuanyuan Zhan to be unable to shift his gaze away. Xuanyuan Mo was kneeling down in front of the blood pearl devoutly. The monks around were chanting in silence.

After the sacrificial ceremony was completed, the new emperor still had to pray at the Hongfu Temple for seven to forty-nine days before he could officially ascend the throne. The blood droplets were then placed in the Main Hall, and Xuanyuan Mo would come to pay his respects every day. Naturally, the people outside the great hall were all sent to guard it with heavy soldiers. After leaving Xuanyuan Mo and the host and monks who thought that they could freely enter and leave with Xuanyuan Mo's permission, other people would not be able to enter.

On this day, Xuanyuan Qingtian insisted on having the children of the royalty play games with him.

"You, this prince wants to play games, you two accompany me." Xuanyuan Qingtian said impolitely.

None of the offspring of the royalty dared to offend this young son whom Xuanyuan Mo liked a lot, as they all wanted to curry favor with him and play with him.

"Let's play the game of catching thieves. One of you will be a thief, and the rest will be my subordinates." Xuanyuan Mo ordered a bunch of kids.

Those children looked at each other. No one was willing to be a thief, and they were all the sons of influential families. Who would want to become a thief? The servant at the side saw and whispered into Xuanyuan Mo's ears. Seeing that Xuanyuan Mo seemed to have thought of something, he started to laugh.

"Alright, I've found someone to be my thief. You don't need to be my thief." Those children naturally did not wish for more. As long as they did not want him to be a thief, then what did it matter who the thief was?

Xuanyuan Mo sent his men to look for Xuanyuan Zhan in the courtyard where Xuanyuan Zhan and the Ning Fei were staying, saying that he wanted to play with him, so the Ning Fei thought that it would be good if he could play around with the children, and agreed, not seeing that Xuanyuan Zhan did not want to go out and play with them at all, she just treated him as a little shy and embarrassed.

Xuanyuan Zhan followed the servants and arrived at the center of the crowd. Xuanyuan Qingtian then spoke to Xuanyuan Zhan haughtily, "You, we are playing games, and we still lack a thief. You can be the thief. Just treat it as you stealing something now, I'll give you the time of an incense stick to burn to hide, we'll catch you as a thief in a while, hurry up and run, if we catch you, the thief will be beaten up. "Hmph." Xuanyuan Qingtian laughed at Xuanyuan Zhan with ill intentions.

Xuanyuan Zhan cautiously along the way, as if he was afraid that others would see that he had exposed his whereabouts to Xuanyuan Qingtian. He knew that it would be fine if Xuanyuan Qingtian didn't find him, but if he did, then Xuanyuan Qingtian would definitely find an excuse to beat him up and teach him a lesson. Normally, his mother would protect him while he was in the palace, and although he often bullied, it wasn't too excessive.

After around half an incense worth of time had passed, and not even an incense stick of time had passed, Xuanyuan Qingtian could no longer stay still. He brought a group of children to search for Xuanyuan Zhan.

Not long after, Xuanyuan Zhan could hear the voices of the children from afar. Sure enough, people like him could not be trusted, and before even the time it took for an incense to burn had passed, they had already come. In his panic, Xuanyuan Zhan saw the little kitchen of the Hongfu Temple and hid in it without thinking.

Then, Xuanyuan Zhan heard a group of people's voices.

"Let's go take a look." Xuanyuan Qingtian's voice sounded.

"Ahh … where is it?" One of the children asked, pointing to the kitchen. "Would it be there? Let's go and take a look."

The children searched for a while, but did not find Xuanyuan Zhan. Seeing that they did not find him, Xuanyuan Zhan felt that this place was not safe, and was afraid that they would return here. Thus, he planned to leave.

Just as Xuanyuan Zhan left, those people had not gone far, and one of the sharp-eyed kids spotted Xuanyuan Zhan, "Look, he's over there."

A group of people looked over and saw Xuanyuan Zhan. Quick, catch him. "

Xuanyuan Zhan immediately ran. He knew that if he really got caught by them, they would never let him go.

Xuanyuan Zhan did not care about the people behind him, and kept running forward. He only had one goal in mind, and that was not to be caught by them.

Xuanyuan Zhan ran in front with all his might, and the group of children chased after him as they shouted happily. Quick, catch that thief for me! "

Fortunately, Hongfu Temple was the temple of the Imperial Priests, so it was much larger than other temples. The structure of the temple was mostly constructed according to royal etiquette, so whenever Xuanyuan Zhan saw a place, he would go inside and if he saw a road, he would take a turn. Not long after, he left Xuanyuan Qingtian and the group of children far behind.

When Xuanyuan Zhan reacted, he realised that he had ran into a courtyard surrounded by what seemed to be a Buddhist room belonging to monks. Afraid that those people would chase after him, Xuanyuan Zhan casually ran into one of the Buddhist rooms.

With just a glance, one could tell that the owner of this temple, and even the entire imperial family, was respected. Xuanyuan Zhan guessed that the owner of this temple, was most likely a highly respected elder or host.

Because he was afraid that those people would chase after him, Xuanyuan Zhan did not dare to go out.