It was the first time she saw her 'father' and Jun Wu Xie had mixed feelings about it.
If his body had decomposed into a pile of bones, her emotions might not be stirred up much. But looking at that face that so closely resembled hers, it was hard for Jun Wu Xie to brush it off completely.
"Let me have a closer look." Jun Wu Xie looked at Jun Qing as she suppressed her raging emotions. They did not have much knowledge or technology on preservation in this age, and Jun Gu had been dead for ten years, buried underground. His body should be a pile of bones by now, but he looked just as he did, unblemished, like he had just passed away.
Jun Qing made way for Jun Wu Xie immediately. After so much that had happened recently, Jun Qing had somehow developed a blind trust to Jun Wu Xie's words.
Jun Wu Xie inspected the body carefully, and she found no pulse, no heartbeat and the body was icy cold. He was dead, but Jun Wu Xie did notice something strange.
Jun Gu's flesh was still soft, and his limbs had not stiffened. This did not correlate to his time of death. The condition the body was in, would only be possible if the person had just died.
Ten years, flesh that did not rot, limbs not stiffened, totally illogical.
Jun Gu's body had nothing else unusual, so.....
Jun Wu Xie's gaze drifted subconsciously to the piece of Jade in Jun Gu's mouth. That must be the Soul Jade that was sought after.
It was important enough for the Qing Yun Clan to mobilize a significant force to come to this distant kingdom to personally to retrieve it. There had to be more than meets the eye.
Could it be that, what kept Jun Gu's body in its untouched condition, was none other than the Soul Jade?
Jun Wu Xie stretched her hand out to the Soul Jade.
The cool clear surface brushed her fingertips. Suddenly, a foreign force shot through Jun Wu Xie's fingertips and directly to her brain.
She heard an explosion in her head, and all her thoughts and considerations were scattered by the force that hit her.
A strong force was pulling at her soul incessantly, feeling as if a huge vortex that had opened up within her, threatening to suck away her soul!
"MEOW!!" The black beast was in torment as well!
The force surged throughout their bodies, growing stronger and stronger!
"Wu Xie!" Suddenly, Jun Qing saw the pained Jun Wu Xie as she fell backwards, as though all strength had been sucked right out of her.
Jun Qing quickly stretched out his arms and caught her firmly in his embrace.
When her fingertips were detached from the Soul Jade, the pulling force stopped immediately. Jun Wu Xie laid in Jun Qing's arms, panting heavily. Her eyes were wide with shock at what had just happened, her heart still beating fast.
The total loss of control of her soul that she felt, that sickening feeling that her soul would be sucked out of her in the next second, was something Jun Wu Xie had never experienced before.
It had been just a light and brief touch on the Soul Jade and it had sucked all her strength from her. Sweat soaked through her clothes, her tiny face pale, drained of colour.
Jun Wu Xie's pale countenance frightened Jun Qian and Jun Qing.
"Wu Xie! Are you alright?" Jun Xian's heart had cringed when Jun Wu Xie had suddenly fallen and she looked pale as a ghost. He remembered what Jun Wu Xie was doing just now and he turned to look at the coffin, staring fixedly at the Soul Jade in Jun Gu's mouth.
Wu Xie had touched the Soul Jade just before it happened. Did the Soul Jade possess extraordinary powers?
Jun Xian turned to look at her pale faced granddaughter, then he turned to look at the untouched body of his son in the coffin, and reached out his hand for the Soul Jade.
"Grandfather! NO!" Jun Wu Xie clasped her hands to her chest, and screamed.