The energy disturbance woke Mo Yuan before the noise got close enough to reach him; by the time the noise was close enough, he was fully dressed and walking out of his room. Unsurprisingly, Ye Hua was also coming out of his room. They walked towards the main hall of kulun together running into the disciples who were no doubt on their way to get their master.
There were five soldiers - heavenly guards, by their uniform waiting in the hall. Mo Yuan took his seat on the platform while his twin sat beside him. He motioned for the guards to speak. They looked at each other before one of them stepped forward.
"High god, Crown prince" the guard bowed in greeting "there has been an incident in Xiwu palace and the Heavenly Emperor has requested the presence of the Crown prince to resolve it"
"What was the incident?" Ye Hua asked
"Your highness, this one does not know. We were simply given instructions to come to Kunlun and return with the Crown prince for an urgent matter. The matter itself was not disclosed to us" the guard replied
Mo Yuan looked at Ye Hua who shook his head slightly and sighed; Ye Hua had no idea what it was about. If it was serious enough that Ye Hua was being summoned by the emperor in the middle of the night, it was serious enough for him to go with his brother.
"Let's go then" Mo Yuan said as he stood up and headed towards the door followed closely by Ye Hua and then the guards.
It was immediately obvious that something had happened when they got to the nine heavens; there were too many people bustling about. Even the forever daylight of the city could not explain it. The group walked towards the main hall of Xiwu palace where they were met with a baffling sight: Su Jin sat silently sobbing on the floor next to General Li looking like Ye Hua who bowed so lowly, it almost looked like he was flat on the floor. It almost looked like their arrival made the two fall deeper into their various actions with Su Jin's sobs gaining volume.
"Ye Hua greets everyone" Ye Hua said as the door closed behind the twins
"Ye Hua, what's the meaning of this? Why is there someone masquerading as you?" the emperor asked
"General Li's looks are part of the battle strategy for the war against the mermaid clan remnants. I needed someone trustworthy and capable" Ye Hua replied
"Trustworthy?" Yang Cuo asked "He forced himself on your sister"
"Impossible" Mo Yuan said, from his seat, drawing all attention to himself
"High god?" Sang Ji asked
"The spell used for changing the General's looks is Zhe Yan's. While it doesn't restrict the actions of the person borrowing the face, it has a significant backlash. The General will not be as he is if he had forced the princess." Mo Yuan concluded.
"High god, why would I lie about such a thing?" Su Jin asked
Mo Yuan smirked internally, he had an idea but he did not respond, rather he walked to the general "hit her"
"High god, this lowly one would not dare" the general replied, attempting to sink lower into the ground
Mo Yuan sighed; "General Li, I'm trying to demonstrate the strength of this spell and you are the only one that can help. So, hit her lightly, I'd prefer you not get killed by the backlash, Princess hold out your hand" He finished, voice rising to the level where both parties realized he was not taking any arguments.
The General tapped Su Jin's wrist with barely enough force to displace air, less than a second later, the general was thrown against the doors with enough force to bruise
"If he forced himself on anyone with this spell still active, he'd be dead. However, he can participate in consensual sexual activities" Mo Yuan said, taking his seat before continuing "Now, princess, what actually happened?"
It took a while to get the truth from the girl; she was stammering, stuttering and even fainted at some point but Mo Yuan refused to ease up on her till he had the full story. And it was an interesting one. She had seen the carriage drop off the general in Ye Hua's hall, seen him floundering and assumed he was under the influence of alcohol (Mo Yuan had to ask several questions before she admitted to the second part) and decided to check on him to see if she could help. Despite being refused entry to the hall by the guards on orders from Ye Hua, she had insisted that Ye Hua needed to tell her himself if he did not want her to come in and when that had not come, she barged her way in.
Initially, she explained that she had merely tried to give the general some tea when he grabbed her but a truth spell quickly solved all the back and forth and inconsistencies and showed that the lady had realized Ye Hua wasn't putting up his usual resistance or treating her with disdain and that she decided to take advantage of it by seducing who she thought was Ye Hua under the influence of alcohol. Knowing Ye Hua and his principles, he would have married her afterwards.
When the general had woken, he'd panicked and asked for Tian Shu, on seeing his interaction with the prince's right hand, Su Jin had deduced that something was off and immediately started screaming for help.
With the full story out, the air in the room became subdued; nobody spoke for a long while.
"They will both need to be married." Yang Cuo said
"General Li is a member of the white naga tribe and he is married with children" Ye Hua said quietly and watched the implication dawn on the others
The white naga tribe was strictly monogamous; to the point of exiling any family found to be in violation of the principle. At least that was the official stand, it was rumored they were killed off and children from such union if any were banned from marrying into the tribe.
"wha...what does that mean?" Su Jin asked
"It means that if the General marries you, you will both be killed by his kin, no matter where you are in the immortal realm" Le Xu answered, speaking for the first time since Ye Hua got in.
Su Jin blanched, looking wildly at the emperor then turning to Ye Hua crying loudly "Ye Hua, Ye Hua, you have to help me. I thought it was you, I wouldn't have gone in otherwise, I thought it was you, Ye Hua"
"How does that make it better? You would have taken advantage of me if I were in such a state?"
"No, no. I.... Please save me"
"Ye Hua..." heavenly emperor began then stopped
Ye Hua looked to his brother with panic in his eyes before the emperor could continue
"Ye Hua has been granted the right to choose his wife by the emperor. His good work and good fortune should not be overturned by another's bad work. As Ye Hua's brother, I would like to state that I am staunchly against taking the princess as a wife, our father would have been disappointed and mother would be heartbroken" Mo Yuan said with a straight face
Ye Hua released the breath he was holding; he'd thought briefly that his grandfather was going to have him marry Su Jin; he was sure there would be pressure but pressure he could deal with no matter the source or the amount. A heavenly edict he could not avoid.
"Ye Hua agrees" he said, quickly latching on to Mo Yuan's statement. "Ye Hua will not marry Su Jin" It may have been his imagination but his mother also looked relieved.
It was then agreed that Su Jin would move into the 'Palace of Absolution' usually reserved for the emperor's concubines who have lost favor or are being punished. In six months' time, if she wasn't pregnant, the family would decide what to do and if she was, they would deal with it at that time.
"What will happen to the General?" said princess asked, her eyes filled with undisguised hatred.
The General volunteered to leave the ranks and go back to a simple life with his family. Mo Yuan thought he looked so traumatized, but no one could blame him. While he had to stay till the battle was successful, it left one issue
"Who is going to tell Bai Qian we need to use the spell again?" Third prince asked
"I'll tell Zhe Yan, let me know if Bai Qian agrees" Mo Yuan replied
Wimp. Ye Hua thought as he watched his brother smile at him knowingly. He was not looking forward to that conversation, in fact he'd pay to have someone else do it for him.
Neither of them noticed the glint in the eyes of the sulking girl still sitting on the floor.