[Mother, where are you?]
Granted, JiDan is on his berserk mode. No one can stop him anymore.
Zhong Song watched his very nephew lost in rage, falling to the pit of madness. He wanted to stop him but the scholar knows that he finally reached his own limit. Looking at his incomplete fingers, Zhong Song thought that JiDan did live up on his name. He is not just anyone's son; he is the emperor's son.
That is the reason why his power is beyond the limit.
Stopping JiDan now is impossible. Not even the combined forces of the Shadow Guards and Zhong Song can contain his power. All of them could only watch as the world's destroyer has finally appeared before him. Who told anyone that coaxing a child is easy? Once, this little dragon was a cute and charming child. But by just the death of his mother...
JiDan had just enough blackness that he would extract revenge to anyone hurting his mother.
Lou MuLan shivered when she felt a cold bucket being thrown on her back. No, actually, all the gods, from the lower sections up to the higher positions can feel their hairs rising up from both fear and trepidation. They have the impression that JiDan did not look at them differently unable to recognize who are his friends and his enemies. This only means that JiDan will not care who will become a casualty as long as he can kill the mastermind of this game.
Anyone hindering him will be burned to crisp. Anyone hiding will still encounter the same demise. This world will end if the little dragon wishes.
Well, this is the world that made his mother suffer. Why should it stay?
[Mother, I am here. Why did you leave?]
JiDan strode forward going to Lou MuLan's direction. The lady concubine could not help but to take a step back, matching the pace of the little dragon's steps. Each steps passes keeps Lou MuLan closer to the death door. Earlier, the lady has the confidence to defeat Zhong Song and the Shadow Guards. That is due to the demons residing in her heart.
However, JiDan's rage has completely gone beyond the threshold. He is powerful enough to deflect the effects of the demons, rendering Luo MuLan's source of energy as trash. If wanted, one flick of JiDan's finger can kill her dead like a fly; an instant one killing move. Actually, by just simply staring at the little dragon's eye is enough to die.
Lou MuLan was unable to avoid the gaze and was trapped inside the sights of the little dragon. Those red blood irises flared the obvious hate sending daggers to Lou MuLan. Literally, pin-sized metals were formed on the blood streams of the lady concubine, sending it towards her innards, pinching and prickling whatever can be touched from her inside.
Lou MuLan can feel her stomach churn. Her blood is boiling while her bones are cracking. The organ holding the bile was punctured, severing the other organs inside her. The sour fluid rose up to her heart giving her heartburn. One more minute and the lady would be vomiting blood from internal injuries.
"My mother is always kind and gentle," JiDan stopped walking and announced. "He was awkward and clumsy; often talk to people with his head lowered. However, my mother faced everything with a clear resolve. His eyes will never lose contact to his aim."
It was only Lang Yuan's eyes that JiDan got from his mother.
"He was especially weak. He cannot even lift the doors inside the palace if none of the servants will open it from him. He easily gets cold at night that is why he has to wear thicker clothes to sleep. And mother easily catches cold yet he has taken good care of me when I got it," JiDan remembered how Lang Yuan furiously wanted to enter his room but the physician and Zhong Song did not allow him.
"He is not scared. He was just afraid of losing me. And I also feel the same."
JiDan pointed at Lou MuLan, his gaze burning from hate and tears.
"That heart belongs to my mother. Give it back!"
Lou MuLan clenched the hand carrying Lang Yuan's heart and showed it to the child. She has been absorbing Lang Yuan's essence but the heart is still full from power. The infinite source of energy can still be consumed, estimating that it can still give such huge amount of energy for a hundred of years. This kind of heart is hard to find.
She was only planning to consume Lang Yuan's essence until it dried up and throw it away. But after feeling such concentrated energy inside her, she changed her plans and would keep the heart away and become the most powerful. However, she can clearly see that JiDan can really get the heart away from her.
After all, she was just a weak god. She has no title aside from being the emperor's first concubine.
"You want this? Then..."
Pop!
If she cannot keep the heart, then nobody will.
JiDan watched Lang Yuan's heart exploding in a pulse. A human heart is very weak and small that a little force is only needed to pop it. The remaining blood sprayed down like a water balloon being pricked by a needle. Nobody can stop it from happening.
[Mother, I am here. Please, stay with me.]
Lou MuLan made a blood-curdling laugh [A/N: because she was already vomiting blood and the air on her air canals were being blocked by the blood. Um... yeah, this is a lame joke. Ha ha ha ha]. This feeling is the best of all. She knows that she will be dead anyway but the point of having the person she despises suffer made her feel ecstatic. The demons inside her heart partied in glory as the negativity of the air concentrated causing violet to black flame cover the concubine.
This is the sin of the dragon, the sin of the gods.
"What will you do now? You can no longer revive your mother. Your mother is finally gone-"
Lou MuLan was not able to complete her sentence when a needle sharp metal object pierced her throat. The child that was still a few meters away was suddenly in front of her, holding the silver sword that was struck to her neck. JiDan's eyes are looking at her, void from any emotion of hate and fear.
It was the eyes of a person that has lost his control.
[Mother... why... why did you leave me?]
SNAP!
CRACK!
Lou MuLan also wanted to bring JiDan down. While blood is spraying out from her throat, her hand secretly sneaked out to stab JiDan and his heart but was stopped when a snapping and cracking sound suddenly resounded to her ears. She looked at her hand that is now missing five fingers leaving a bloody mess. She whipped her head up to look at the little dragon. How did he managed to-
That is when she realized something. The solemn face of the little dragon suddenly smiled. There was something different from JiDan. His eyes... why were it golden?
"That's enough playing. Time to execute judgement!"
Suddenly, the little face of the dragon dissolved into flakes as the little films of skin flew to the air. Though, the image hiding before the illusion has the same face but the adult version of it. The first concubine can feel the sudden coldness on her back. The power that she thought she had consumed was emptied out in an instant.
Not only did the person before her changed. The surroundings, the blood on the stage, the flames that filled mostly to the anger of the people cracked and shattered like a mirror. It is as if she was inside a mirror house that has different reality. Now that she had stepped the final floor did she realize that she was living inside an illusion.
Right.
Lou MuLan has fallen inside an illusion.
Everyone has fallen inside the illusion.
The little child gradually changed from a small kid to a taller man. Beside him is the little dragon that was clutching on his dragon robes very tightly. JiDan looked at his father with an intense gaze, pulling unto his robes as if wanting to get something. Yu XueQin ignored the child for now. He has to punish this lady who made his family cry.
"I never thought that such dragon has existed under my roof. You even dared to touch my family," Yu XueQin chuckled grimly. "You did not even decently kill your father."
The Lou Minister and his family was missing. It was after Lou MuLan visited her family.
"Filthy," Yu XueQin said.
Lou MuLan's neck was not really pierced by a sword but was only strangled. Now that she can see clearly, she can feel her breath flowing. Yu XueQin stabbed the woman's chest using his dragon hands and dug only to the tip of his talons. That is to not instantly kill the lady and have her feel the feeling that she did to Lang Yuan.
The emperor raised his hand up making the woman struggle in pain. Lou MuLan tried scraping the talons off but it only made the pain to worsen. Yu XueQin carried the woman for a while before throwing her off to the ground. The lady squirmed but another person was already on her side stepping her head to the ground.
Yu XueQin nodded to the person.
"Lou MuLan, the former first concubine, killed her family with her own hands," Kun Shao reported. "A number of servants confessed that Lou MuLan conspired against the Empress Candidate tampering all his materials for today's trial. There is also the same tampering done in the past."
Lou MuLan wanted to say a few words but the hermit only strengthen his legs to shut the lady off. He took a piece of pearl and showed it to everyone. The gods recognized the silver sphere knowing that only the Lou Family could only possess such thing. Yu XueQin nodded, Kun Shao bows and returned the pearl on his pockets.
"Well then..." Yu XueQin looks around the people to announce his verdict. "I will order thee to throw the first concubine to the cold palace."
The people are surprised. The emperor only wanted to bring the first concubine to the cold palace? Did she not kill the empress candidate? Did she not almost murder JiDan? Did she not commit the crime of killing her own family? Why her punishment is was only bringing her to the cold palace?
All these questions are asked on their minds but only a few people could understand. Yu XueQin knows that simply killing Lou MuLan will not bring great retribution. She, despite all the sins she committed, will only be brought to reincarnation. Yu XueQin cannot allow that to happen.
He can destroy her soul but that would be charity. What he wanted is for Lou MuLan to suffer. And the very place that could make her suffer is inside the Imperial Palace. He will not kill her now. She will kill herself very slowly from constant torture Yu XueQin prepared.
Kun Shao let his leg go and have the other shadow guards carry the first concubine. Lou MuLan did not struggle and only stared in the air in daze. Yu XueQin turned around to look at the small child beside him that was jumping and hoping trying to reach out to his father. Yu XueQin sighed and smiled, carried the small dragon on his arms.
JiDan was frantic when the emperor finally holds him up. Just then, his little hands moved to his father's chest clothes and removed the collar to seize a necklace. It was not really the golden necklaces that the emperor often wears. It was a vial as large as JiDan's hand locked with a wooden cork tied into a string. JiDan stared at the contents of the vial, his eyes flickering from excitement and happiness.
"Mother, mother, I am here. Mother," JiDan called to the vial.
The flames of the little dragon quickly dissipated as he held unto the vial tightly. Yu XueQin did not let the small child down and continued carrying him up before facing the number of shadow guards and the scholar who is in shock. Zhong Song watched the scene with oddity, his hands trembling.
What the hell just happened?
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Yay! I updated!