Heaven in abyss, Hell in paradise

Ch: 9 (Responsibility bigger than Heaven itself)

Jade sighed, and her encounters with Water Master weren't pleasant ever except for the one time she had gone to inform her about Mei's daughter. She sighed bringing herself out of her memory lane as she saw Souxin talk with Yìfēi like they were friends, Souxin also had no hesitation when it came to being close to Water Master, she wiped her cheek casually where the ink was smudged. Jade couldn't believe it just because she had accidentally seen her in the bathtub and ShuîYuê had shouted at her so badly and here Souxin had just touched her cheek casually and had seen her in the bathtub plenty of time, Jade huffed Water Master had scolded her a little too much, it wasn't like Jade had done anything improper and they were both girls in the end so there was no reason to be so angry.

She was just about to leave when Yìfēi called her in loudly. She closed her eyes and turned around, smiling brightly, "Yes, Miss Yú?" she asked

"Souxin, this is Jade, Jade, this is Souxin." Yìfēi introduced the two maids. Jade looked at her insecurely while Souxin looked at her with slight distaste in her eyes, "Jade has taken care of a lot of things in your absence." Yìfēi said proudly.

"Ohh, thank you then, but there's no need to bother with my duties anymore as I am back." Souxin thanked sweetly

Jade didn't like Souxin's tone, but she calmed herself down she still needed the money, she bowed her head once again about to leave when she heard Wind Master scream she looked at her worried but Wind Master seemed fine, Jade was confused as why did she scream if she is not injured? That's when she noticed Wind Master and Souxin worrying over Water Master who looked bored, She peeped in to see that Water Master's hand had a huge cut on it, and blood dripped on the table staining it red, Souxin ran to grab the medicine box while Yìfēi scolded ShuîYuê for being careless who just nodded her head lazily.

Souxin quickly pressed a cloth to the hand but it was a little difficult for her to keep the cloth in one place while trying to get the medicine out, Wind Master was too frantic to help so Jade opened the medicine and started applying it on the cut, she had applied a little more pressure which ShuîYuê withdrew her hand at, Souxin glared at Jade having caused pain to her Master, she grabbed Water Master's hand back gently applying for the medicine then wrapped up her hand with a bandage. Wind Master breathed finally she hated seeing her friend hurt like this while the said friend didn't give a damn whether they were alive or not therefore Yìfēi had to be extremely careful when it came to ShuîYuê, she was the only person who Yìfēi trusted with all her heart.

Jade wondered if Water Master accidentally got injured or did it intentionally, the way she was so carefree about it while blood was dripping down her palm no person in the right mind looked as lazy as she, Jade had a slight suspicion that Water Master often got injured to be pampered by Wind Master, well, as a matter of fact Jade would like to be pampered by Wind Master as well if it meant she got to eat her favourite dishes while the said Wind Master scolded her gently she would get injured any given day.

Water Master's room, late night,

'I need to see His Majesty as soon as possible, but he isn't replying to my messages. What shall I do? We can't keep the crowning ceremony on ghost festival it would be too dangerous and on top of that fourth-rank ghost and Earth Master's scents were similar they smelled of woods and mint. The ghost must have been in contact with her.' Water Master thought to herself as she paced around her room, worried. 'My Palace is no longer safe for Jīnyú that's why I sent him back. On top of that, Earth Master is trying to harm Yìfēi for some reason. She is involved with the ghosts, but how do I explain myself to His Majesty? Earth Master has always had a good reputation among the elementals she had even healed the crown prince once. No one's gonna believe you, YueYue. You'll have to do something yourself.' She thought tired.

Just then, the Emperor sent a message through the communication array, which could only be excessed by immortals and by others if they were born in the same realm, as Jun Wu who is the Emperor of Heaven could mentally send messages to anyone from Heaven, but not to someone of another realm like Hell. 'Meet me tomorrow morning,' the message said, She went to bed straight away. The next day, Souxin changed her bandages and dressed her properly. She asked many times where she was going this early in the morning, but ShuîYuê brushed it off.

Martial Hall of Emperor Jun Wu

Bài ShuîYuê waited there, staring at the koi fishes when the heavenly Emperor showed up, she bowed to him.

"What is the matter?" he asked calmly

"Your Highness, the crowning shouldn't take place on the ghost festival it's far too dangerous." she cautioned, Jun Wu stared at her as she explained the entire death fever incident at her palace and at Earth Master's palace as well as the issue about their scents being similar.

"You can't accuse Earth Master of something so seriously grave." he advised, walking away.

"I know Your Majesty, but I wouldn't have brought it up if I wasn't sure." she pressed on, following after him.

"Of course I trust you, but we can't publicly investigate Earth Master." he said calmly, turning around.

"Then what shall we do?" she asked, worried.

"I'll have someone investigate this matter privately. You don't worry about it anymore. On the contrary, I have a matter. I need your help urgently." he spoke as his black orbs shined dangerously.

ShuîYuê was back at her palace. She went straight to her room, shutting it tightly, replaying the conversation she had with the Emperor.

"I need you to keep the secret in your body." Jun Wu said firmly

"Your Majesty -" she was cut off

"I know it's a big thing to protect but right now I can't trust anyone with it, with the crowning on our heads and the ghost festival approaching, I can't find someone to hold the secret for me." he ordered.

"But Your Majesty,"

"I can't give it to Xiàn Fèng he has already lost his purity, and Shù Zìrán can't be trusted it's only you and Yú Yìfēi left."

'Given her personality she is liked by many people for her righteous nature and she has many people who dislike her fame too, On the other hand, one likes me and they won't have a direct dispute with me either. I can't endanger Yìfēi's life like this.' Water Master thought worried, "I'll accept the secret, Your Majesty." she said, bowing her head.

"You must remain pure if you lose your purity it will leave your body itself." Jun Wu warned.

"Don't worry,"

Therefore Jun Wu transferred the secret to ShuîYuê's body She is pure, a virgin, and the secret contained highly classified information which was to be protected at all costs if the secret was known in someone's evil hands the Heavens would crumble.

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Communication array is a way of communicating with anyone, it is however a hard skill to master, The only people to have mastered this skill are Emperor Jun Wu and Ghost King Chéng Huá, Emperor Jun Wu can communicate or send messages to anyone born originally from Heaven, he cannot connect with anyone from Hell, similarly for Ghost King.

Distance shortening arrays are special points in Heaven to reduce travelling time drastically, as Heaven is vast it will take a long time to reach anywhere, therefore distance shortening arrays were set up, and they cannot be closed by anyone, all the places in Heaven have various distance shortening arrays which lead to different parts of Heaven, people usually use the common ones which will send them to the right place, no one enters any distance shortening array without the knowledge of where it would lead them, most of them lead to dangerous places, but none to Hell.

from the Royal Library of Central Palace

Word count: 1420. I hope you liked it.