Li Ming froze as the cold tone entered her ears. She let Snowy and the baby fox jumped out of her arms before she turned towards the owner of the coldness that had suddenly taken over the previously warm atmosphere.
She frowned as her gaze landed on none other than the fourth prince of the Han Empire, Zhang Yong.
She looked at Roushan who was standing behind the Fourth Prince and raised her eyebrows in question.
To Ruoshan's credits, the man was bold enough to shrug in response to her unasked question.
Her gaze again landed on the Fourth Prince who was still emitting the coldness and his eyes were full of hurt.
For a moment Li Ming felt a heavy feeling taking over her heart. It was clear that Zhang Yong was angry about her betrayal. She tricked him and snatched away the same thing from under his nose for which he was planning and plotting for an entire month and maybe even before than that.
It took only a few moments before she kicked those guilty feelings out of her mind. It was true that Zhang Yong was more or less one of her allies.
This man had never tried to make things hard for her if you could neglect their first few encounters. He had been her helping hand on more than one occasion.
But she did what she thought was important. She didn't want Zhang Yong to end up as her enemy because that would totally f*ck her life.
That man could snatch away all the things for which she had worked so hard in revenge.
But at the same time, she did what she thought was necessary. The moonstone was a must for the fairies and there's no other alternative. At least none that she was aware of.
She took a deep breath and prepared herself to face the consequences of her actions but to her amazement, nothing happened as she had thought.
The cold aura of the fourth prince disappeared completely and the next second his expression changed into one of those of a little boy who had been told no for a candy.
Li Ming even thought that she saw a hint of a pout but when she looked more closely, there was no sign of a pout on his face.
"Ming'er, why didn't you tell me your reason for coming to the Thundering Peaks?" Zhang Yong asked as he made a sad face.
He almost let out laughter as he noticed Li Ming's completely confused expression. But he somehow succeeded in keeping his fake expression in check.
It took her mind a few seconds to realize the situation before she found herself blurting out, "You are not mad?"
"Of course I'm mad. You went around stealing not only the 'White Pearl Lotus' but the entire Godly Maple Tree from under the nose of the Supreme Immortal. But you were so cruel that you didn't even invite me with you on this adventure. Moreover, you left behind more than two dozen of my personal sleeping guards and a whining child." Zhang Yong said in his hurt tone.
"Whom are you calling a whining child?" Ruoshan glared at Zhang Yong as he said the words through his greeted teeth.
"Isn't it too obvious!" The Fourth Prince replied with a mocking smile plastered on his face.
"You....!!"
"Will you two stop bickering like a married couple?" Li Ming cut off whatever Ruoshan was about to throw at the Fourth Prince.
The two immortals stopped dead as they stared at Li Ming with horror-filled eyes. Her words were like a cold bucket of ice that someone had poured on them.
It was Zhang Yong who broke out of his trance first. He went close to the girl and clutched her arms tightly as he said in half irritated and half annoyed tone. "Ming'er don't say things like that. It will ruin my reputation."
Li Ming pushed the clingy prince away as she folded her arms and stared into his eyes, "You too should keep some distance from me. Otherwise, it will ruin my reputation."
Note the sarcasm.
Zhang Yong let out a deep chuckle at her words. He shook his head and looked at Ruoshan as he asked, "What have you done to my Ming'er?"
"Nothing much. She's just a little bit more intelligent than before." Ruoshan replied with an indifferent tone. His coldness disappeared the moment Li Ming had pushed the Fourth Prince away.
"Oh for heaven's sake take a break you two." Li Ming said with an exasperated sigh.
"Li, are you out there collecting hot male models for a fashion show? Where did you even found these Gods?" Bobble whispered in her ear as he stared at Ruoshan and Zhang Yong, nearly drooling.
She flicked his head to make him stop before he would devour the two men with his thirsty eyes.
"Goodness, are you all have always been this perverted and I haven't noticed till now, or is something wrong with this place?"
"We aren't perverted and nothing is wrong with this place too. It's just you who's blind and can't appreciate the Gods that are surrounding you." This time the sarcasm came from Terra.
Of course, the little blonde was waiting for a perfect moment to flaunt her very much-not appreciated sarcasm.
Li Ming rubbed her forehead as she looked at the crowd around her. Her eyes landed on the pond where something was shining brightly in the moonlight.
Alvina noticed Li Ming's surprised expression and also turned towards the pond. Just a glance was enough to know what was the sparkling object in the middle of the pond. But still, to make sure that her doubts were not wrong, the fairy flew towards the middle of the pond.
Everyone looked at Alvina, waiting to hear the good news but rather a sharp shriek left the pixie's mouth nearly destroying everyone's eardrums.
Li Ming teleported right next to Alvina, her feet barely touching the surface of the water. Flying wasn't one of her best strengths and though she was only levitating in the air at barely a few inches from the water surface, still the lack of solid ground from under her feet made Li Ming slightly uncomfortable.
"What's wrong? Why did you shriek like that?" Li Ming asked the fairy as she tried to slowly adjust her eyes to the brightly sparkling object which was supposed to be the Moonstone.
Alvina was still too shocked to utter a single word, so she only pointed her small trembling fingers at the sparkling stone.
Li Ming's eyes finally adjusted to the bright light and her gaze landed on the stone but to her surprise, there was not only one stone there but seven different colored stones - blue, green, amber, pink, purple, cyan and orange, encircling a white stone.