When Lin Xinglan finally awoken, they had stopped for another break, the soldiers took care of the horses before they went to do their own businesses meanwhile, she was with Qiang Jingyi watching him take care of his war horse. She found out that the name of the horse was Xiu which basically meant fine, beautiful, and it perfectly suited the black male horse. Not only did he look strong and tough, he also looked beautiful with his unexpectedly soft and healthy hair and his iron-willed but gentle eyes.
Patting the horse, Lin Xinglan asked Qiang Jingyi, "When will we arrive?"
Qiang Jingyi, who was feeding Xiu, saw that she patted his horse and a sour feeling wriggled in his heart. He coldly looked at his horse and saw that he gave him a cocky look as if he could see through him. That only added more dissatisfaction in Qiang Jingyi's heart and stopped to feed his high-and-mighty horse. Seeing that his owner stopped feeding him, Xiu immediately put a pitiful act and nudged his nose against his owner's shoulder, showing that he wasn't going to do it again. Qiang Jingyi gave his horse another cold glare before he continued to feed him.
He looked at Lin Xinglan and said, "A few more days. Lan, stop patting Xiu. If you continue, he will only act like a spoiled brat."
Lin Xinglan didn't stop patting the horse, "Doesn't that mean he likes me a lot?" The horse neighed at her words and she laughed, "Look, he even agreed with me!"
Helplessly sighing at this, Qiang Jingyi let her do whatever she wanted with his horse as he silently felt his heart being bathed in vinegar. She kept touching his horse here and there, even using such a gentle motion, why couldn't she do the same to him? Didn't it mean that his Lan preferred his horse over him? Thinking that his Lan no longer cared about him because of his horse, Qiang Jingyi refused to let Xiu meet Lan after they were done with the treasure hunt.
Travelling, riding, taking breaks in between... The circle continued for three more days until they finally arrived at the border of the forbidden area. The forbidden area, that was what the previous Emperors called the certain place that was located near one of the ghost towns in Qin, the fallen town. Nobody dared to go near that little town that was known to be cursed by exiled immortals.
The forbidden area belonged to that town, it was a part of it. In fact, it was just a normal forest but in the middle of the whole forest, there was a huge circle of nothing but the dirty ground and a crystal stone. In the middle of that circle, there was a large crystal stone stuck in the ground, only showing half of it above, it was also said that the stone was a dead stone. That circle was actually 'the forbidden area', and not the forest itself.
This was the first time Lin Xinglan had heard about it, she really couldn't rely on only reading books, she was determined to have a lot of tea time with Qiang Rong Kai to talk about all of the things she didn't know. Qiang Rong Kai happened to meet up with them a day ago after he completed another mission given by Qiang Jingyi. Truthfully, he suspected that the reason why Qiang Jingyi sent him away to do missions was because he didn't want him to stay beside Lin Xinglan every single day for a whole year.
Qiang Rong Kai clicked his tongue disdainfully at Qiang Jingyi's childish actions. Lin Xinglan didn't even object, saying that she wanted him to experience things outside of the capital city. Although he studied, played flute and even took care of his elder sister which caused him to stay within the capital city a lot, it didn't mean he wasn't experienced. He also had his fair share of adventures.
Lin Xinglan caught Qiang Rong Kai's gloomy expression and thought he was scared so she took his hand and comforted him, "Kai, the forbidden place you explained to me sounds a bit scary... But don't you worry, I will hold you hand so you don't need to be scared!"
Even though she said that, she was inwardly scared shitless, she couldn't stand horror movies so how was she able to stand such place? It looked scarier now that the sky had darkened as it was soon midnight, they had to lit the lamps they brought along to be able to see.
Qiang Jingyi frowned and immediately removed her hand from Qiang Rong Kai's. Afterwards, he put on a pitiful expression and looked at Lin Xinglan as he said, "I am more scared than the third prince so Lan should hold my hand instead. En, let's hold hands. I like Lan's warmth the most, it makes me feel safe."
The hidden guards and Qiang Rong Kai were used to see this kind of Qiang Jingyi so they tacitly ignored it but that couldn't be said the same for the soldiers. They couldn't get used seeing their general act like that, during the whole journey, they were unable to stop from getting appalled and shocked every time their cold, ruthless general got replaced by his lovesick puppy side!
Zaki Yaman rolled his eyes, "Your highness is such a shameless man."
Lin Xinglan, who seemed to be oblivious to all this, shook her head and helplessly said, "Jingyi, if you want to hold hands with me then just say it, you don't need to come up with terrible excuses."
Nodding, Qiang Jingyi discarded his pitiful act and happily held hands with her, "Mhm."
At last, he commanded his men to enter the forest and head towards the forbidden area, with half of them holding a lamp, the forest brightened up with great contrast as they marched straight forward with clear vision. At the same time, Lin Xinglan tightly held Qiang Jingyi's hand, she slightly quivered in fear and gulped as they walked deeper and deeper into the forest. Gradually, holding hands became one sided as Lin Xinglan firmly hugged Qiang Jingyi's arm to feel safer.
Is this out from a fucking horror movie because I think I'm hearing creepy noises! This is too eerie for my cup of tea!
The wind brought the forest alive as the trees swayed and every often, the wind would calm down which only increased the eerie atmosphere by the lonesome sound of of the leaves scratching and scraping one another. To make it worse, the leaves on the ground would crackle under every step they took, and no one was talking unless necessary.
Lin Xinglan didn't notice the overjoyed prince beside her, Qiang Jingyi heart long ago stopped being calm as it only beat with high tempo. When she wrapped both of her arms around his left arm, he was startled but he soon became excited as he felt her body sticking against his arm, and even with all the clothes, he could feel her softness.
As the path they walked on became clearer and wider, Lin Xinglan's heartbeat increased, she was agitated but also eager to know what it looked further in the forest where the forbidden area lied.
Once they entered the forbidden area, an amount of soldiers with oil lamps swiftly surrounded the circle, the brightness gave them a clear view within the circle. Lin Xinglan gaped at the large crystal stone she spotted when she walked further in, it was crystal clear as she could see the earth below the ground through it and how deep it actually was, she didn't know but she knew that the the stone was bigger than her arm.
Zaki Yaman exclaimed excitedly as he pointed at the crystal stone, "Oh my, this thing is for sure worth a heavenly fortune!"
Qiang Jingyi was only able to inspect the crystal stone for a short moment before he felt his sleeve get tugged wildly, he looked at Lin Xinglan who had her face towards the sky.
"Jingyi, Jingyi, look!" She pointed at the moon above them, "The red color of the moon is getting intense!"
Her voice was loud enough for everyone to hear her, all of them looked up and saw the moon placed in the sky right above the crystal stone, they could see the redness of the moon getting stronger and deeper. Most of them were mesmerized by the blood red moon and didn't notice the crystal stone becoming red because of the moonlight shining over it. However, Qiang Rong Kai noticed the changes of the crystal stone and became alert.
"The crystal!"
Those who watched the moon moved their gaze to the crystal stone that had been dyed in red, they were shocked and confused to see strange things happening around them. They didn't get how the clear crystal stone that they were able to see through became red, matching with the blood red moon above them. Qiang Jingyi paid no heed towards the crystal stone and instead, narrowed his eyes in the same direction where the moon was.
"Something is falling down towards us, stay alert!"
Upon hearing this, Lin Xinglan swiftly looked back at the moon and spotted the thing Qiang Jingyi mentioned, she watched as the unknown object falling closer and closer to them. Seeing that Lin Xinglan was abstracted, Qiang Jingyi quickly pulled her closer to him as they moved a few steps back. Just as they thought the unknown object would land with a great force, it slowed down and began to float in the air right above the crystal stone.
They eyed the unknown object and saw that it was a white medium sized jade box that was illuminated by the red crystal stone. It floated until it landed slowly on top of the crystal stone like a light feather.
Lin Xinglan was blown away, she had never experienced such fantasy like circumstances, it was too unscientific for her eyes to witness.
Don't tell me, I'm actually in a fantasy world with real magic... ?! Holy fuck! This is fucking crazy!
Qiang Jingyi glanced at Shu Ya and signaled him to grab the jade box. Shu Ya nodded and walked up to the crystal stone carefully, in case there were hidden traps, only when he got to the crystal stone safely did he let out a relieved sigh. He was about to pick up the box when he suddenly grabbed nothing but the air instead. He became wary and swiftly moved his gaze where he spotted an uninvited guest.
He furiously glared at the male figure with the jade box in his hand, "That box you're holding belongs to my master. Hand it over."
Xavier snorted, "You're dreaming. This belongs to my young master!"
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A few more chapters and this story will be finished... I don't know what to say.
Forgive me if the writing in this chapter isn't detailed, I wrote most of it at like 6 AM, I needed sleep at that time but I went YOLO and slept at 8 AM instead.