Heavenly Star

At five in the morning, the sky was still murky with thick fog covering everywhere. This kind of weather was most unsuitable to set out on a long journey, but it did not influence Ye Wuchen’s journey.

The finest top-of-the-line red horse of the Ye Family, a young man less than twenty years of age, and two young ladies interdependent with him. All the things he needed were already stored inside his ring from the God of Sword.

“Do you really need to bring them with you? It’s really dangerous outside… Mother can take care of them for you.” Although she knew that she would be rejected, Wang Wenshu still tried to persuade him once more. A major part of her reason was that she was worried that these two girls might become a burden.

“En, they are used to being with me and I don’t want to part from them either. Don’t worry, I won’t let them or myself have any mishaps.” Ye Wuchen explained once again, then he pushed open the main gate of Ye residence.

In the middle of the thick fog, a slightly trembling yet delicate figure could be seen. Ye Wuchen was startled at first, then frightened. Releasing the ropes of his horse, he quickly ran over to embrace the figure in his arms, feeling sorry he said, “Xiao RouRou, how long have you been waiting?”

Hua Shuirou’s entire body was wet because the dew. Ye Wuchen used his hand to touch it, feeling that it was entirely ice-cold. He did not know how long she had been waiting there. Feeling sorry for her, he no longer cared about other things and gathered some mild element of fire from the surroundings to warm up her body.

Wang Wenshu also rushed over to hold her ice-cold hand, somewhat reprimanding, “Foolish child, why didn’t you come inside?”

“I-I’m not cold.” Her body was shivering and her lips were a little bit pale. She worried that she will not be able to see him off in person if he left early, and concealing herself from her father, Hua Shuirou had been waiting here when the sky was still pitch-black. Fearing that she might disturb Ye Wuchen and the Ye Family’s peaceful sleep, she did not dare to call out when she arrived and just quietly sat there as she anxiously waited for him to come out.

“Look at you now, still saying you are not cold. When did my Xiao RouRou learn to lie to her own husband?” Ye Wuchen protected her in his chest. Under his great efforts, Hua Shuirou’s body eventually started to warm up. She leaned her entire weight on his chest and foolishly said, “With you hugging me, how can I feel cold?”

Ye Wuchen gently laughed and hugged her tightly once again. “I will be back as soon as I can, just patiently wait for me. On the day of my return, let’s get married… Even if the Emperor won’t allow it, I will make him agree to it.”

After a short moment of silence, she happily mumbled, “En…”

After a good while, she lightly pushed away Ye Wuchen, then took out a small bundle wrapped in cloth from her chest then placed it in his hand. “Husband, these are the clothes I have made for you during these past few days, and a pair of shoes. My daddy said that for about ten miles southward you might not see any households, so I have prepared some food, it should be enough for your lunch today.”

She extended both her hands to take off the necklace from her neck. It was a multi-colored ring-like jade pendant, standing on tiptoe, she gently placed it on Ye Wuchen’s neck. At the same time she looked into his eyes lovingly and said, “This is my mother’s necklace, handed down from generation to generation in her family. When I was born, my mother let me wear it to protect me throughout my life. Now I let it be worn by my husband, so that it may protect my husband on his journey, until your safe return.”

Ye Wuchen’s heart felt like it was being melted by her warmth. A sudden thought came into his mind, if it was not for the unknown accident that brought him into this world, it would have been some goddamn bastard who was enjoying this warmth.

He held the small bundle tightly and held her hand. “Wait for me…”

At this time, he could only say these three simple words to her.

“Go now. The earlier you go, the earlier you can return.” Hua Shuirou arranged the hair around his forehead and the part of his clothes that she had crumpled. She was reluctant to part from him yet she knew that he must have his own reasons to leave very early. She can love him, long for him, miss him, be unwilling to let go of him, yet she could not afford to be a burden for him, nor delay him.

“Go now, and be careful along the way. If the your goal is unattainable, you must come home earlier. Your safety is the most important matter of all.” Ye Wei, who had been silent all the time, had suddenly spoken. This time was the imperial court’s assembly time, but he and Ye Nu did not go. Even if Ye Wuchen had shown confidence, they were still deeply worried and sick at heart. Because…If something were to happen by chance, this might be their last moments being with each other.

“Go now, the earlier the better, so no one will be able to discover it.” Ye Nu tossed his hand as he sighed. This old man had not been able to sleep soundly the whole night. He had wanted to step out of his bed several times to convince Ye Wuchen to give up this mission. His main concern was not dealing with the Emperor, but dealing with Ye Wuchen.

“Chen-er, don’t stress yourself out there. Please don’t get thinner. You should make use of those silvers…” Wang Wenshu pulled Hua Shuirou’s hand, since she was so reluctant to part.

Ye Wuchen nodded, his gaze swept through all of them, as he carried Ning Xue and Tong Xin and jumped back on the horse. Without looking back, he rode and left. The sound of the horse’s hooves was particularly loud and clear in the midst of silence but it gradually disappeared through the thick fog.

At the corner, Ye Wuchen finally glanced back. Being covered by the thick fog, they were not able to see his figure anymore, but Ye Wuchen could still see them clearly. Hua Shuirou was still maintaining her posture as she stood, her gaze was still indistinctly looking at his direction and she refused to leave. Aside from them, he saw another figure… The whole night last night, she had exposed herself under the moonlight until he left. Still sorrowfully looking at his figure from behind was Ye Shuiyao.

After two hours, from the gates of the Ye residence came the extremely sorrowful voice of Long Huang-er as she yelled out, “You big scoundrel… Big scoundrel! Just to see you off, it was my very first time as a princess to wake up very early, but you already left… Boo-hoo, you are so bad! I really hate you!!”

………………………………………………………………………………

Time: More than ten minutes after Ye Wuchen left.

Location: Imperial Study Room of Tian Long Imperial Palace.

A black ghost-like shadow emerged behind Long Yin. It bowed and said, “Your Majesty, he has already left. But one thing I can’t understand is the two young girls, who slept with him normally, are also with him.”

“Oh?” Long Yin turned around, “So that’s the way it is?” immediately he laughed heartily, “Indeed he is a very romantic young man, having his own private love wherever he goes. That is truly surprising, but this clearly shows that he wasn’t worried about his safety during this journey.”

“Do I need to secretly protect him?”

“No need. It seems like he has enough self-confidence. I may need your protection at any time.” Long Yin waved his hand.

At this time, the personal eunuch of Long Yin entered and said respectfully, “Your Majesty, the third prince wants to see you.”

“Oh? Qi-er?” Long Yin’s brows furrowed and said, “He must have something very important to be coming at this hour. Let him in. Elder Li, you may leave now.”

The two of them responded at the same time. The first one left, the other one remained hidden. Very quickly, there were quick footsteps that suddenly stopped. Long Zhengqi entered and knelt down on one knee, “Greetings to you my Imperial Father, why did you call for me at this early hour?”

“Please stand up… Oh? Wait, did I call for you?” Long Yin felt that there was something wrong. At the same time, his heart was suddenly covered by the faint dark shadow that originated from an unknown source.

Long Zhengqi got up confused as he said, “When I got up today I found paper beside my bed requesting me to quickly come meet you, Father. I thought that, Father, you were afraid to disturb my sleep so you left the paper. After I woke up I rushed over here… Wasn’t it a request from you, Father?”

Long Yin’s gaze became more penetrating. He lowered his voice and said, “I’m absolutely sure I didn’t command anyone to summon you over.”

“Then-”

Long Zhengqi had just uttered a word when his voice had been cut off. In an instant, his eyes opened very wide, as if they were going to burst out of his sockets.

He was seeing a pair of pitch-black eyes.

Long Yin was quick to discover that something odd had happened to him and quickly rushed forward to support his shoulders, “Qi-er, what happened?”

Bang!!

Long Yin will never in his lifetime forget that terrible, airtight noise. The sound of his favorite son’s body exploding, in addition to that bloody flow and bloody mist clouding up his entire vision… Just like the terrible curse of the Reaper, the scene was rigidly marked in the deepest part of his heart and brought nightmares one after another.

That moment, time seemed to have slowed down as fresh blood sprinkled all over Long Yin’s body. Large and small pieces of broken limbs and the blood stained his clothing and every corner of the study. Long Yin opened his frightened eyes wide, trembling as he became paralyzed on the floor like his soul had been taken away, momentarily in the midst of purgatory. Now, the only color that he saw in front of his eyes was the color of blood and only blood.

The three figures of elders appeared all at the same time and the eunuchs who had heard the noise have all rushed inside. The sight in front of their eyes caused them to be petrified, believing themselves to have woken in dreamland.

The three protectors looked at each other in dismay. Three old men, who were used to being emotionless, were now overwhelmed with shock. During this moment, a white piece of paper slowly floated down from out of nowhere, falling exactly into Long Yin’s hands. Long Yin, with both hands trembling, looked at the note and immediately his eyes violently contracted.

On the paper it was written, “The ruler of the nation, who has repeatedly harmed the son of the loyal and good man, will now be punished by the heavens.”

Long Yin crumpled the note in his palm and slowly stood up from middle of the bloody mess while his whole body was still stained with blood. After all, he was still the Emperor, even if he was affected by the psychological and the unpleasant sight, he simply must not fall down. He firmly gritted his teeth, at this moment what he needed the most was to stay calm… Very calm!

The eunuchs and imperial bodyguards, who had rushed in, were all stupefied, eyes frightened, yet no one dared to speak. Long Yin said coldly, “There’s an assassin who broke into the palace, but he was already killed. What are you all waiting for? Quickly clean it up!”

Like being woken up from their dreams, the onlookers started their cleaning with fear and trepidation. For those who had eyes, all knew that the third prince had just come in, and judging by the bloody clothes on the floor, this corpse was evidently the third prince. For the Emperor to make such command, it clearly showed that he did not want anybody to know of this matter. The only outcome they would get was to be killed to prevent them from divulging the secret.

With the fear of death that hung, they did not feel disgusted and were not evenin the mood to look at the three mysterious protectors.

Translated by:

Fatty_Uncle

Edited by:

seriouspotato patrick_father_of_dragons