Light noises of footsteps echoed against a certain hall as someone walked over. Their boots had its darkesk shade and their attires in a mixture of mahogany and black. Above their red yet seductive eyes, there was a simple strand of forehead decoration, made from purest silver in the three realms with a ruby red crystal embedded in the centre.
Their dark brown hair hang loose over their back. And when that long hair matched with pretty features of their face, this person seemed to have just been created by gods. They would even get mistakened for an angel if it were not for their obviously intense evil aura. In fact, this person was no other than....
princess Jingyi, the very beloved of crown prince Zixin.
His steps finally came to a pause just in front of a giant golden brown metallic door. On the other side of this door, there should be another hall where his father and subordinates would be holding a discussion.
"You've finally showed up. "
He Jingyi turned around at this terribly familiar voice of an old man. And there behind him stood his foster father, a legendary master and creator of high levelled puppets, Ye Hu.
"Did you get him? "
"Of course"
Tilting his head a bit and raising one of his brows, He Jingyi replied with a smirk. And as soon as these words fell, two demons came in, dragging someone whose condition no better than that of a lifeless corpse.
His face all swollen from merciless beatings and hittings of this prince's demonic subordinates. His legs had been broken. And as to his arms and hands.....though they were still attached to this person's body, it was no different from losing them completely.....because his nerves there had already gone dead as well.
In the past, people called this person right-hand man of demon He. But now, he was nobody but a convict who had betrayed his very lord.
Ye Hu merely took a casual glance at this miserable state of the man who had been his coworker for more than a decade or so. For Ye Hu, it was not anything strange anymore. It had been countless times he had to confront this sort of situation.....to witness such pathetic endings of his lord's disloyal subordinates.
It was almost like a regular occurrence. Nonetheless, this time, he felt somehow sad or scared. Despit his blank facade, he still felt frightened. But, it was not for this coworker but for himself.
There's nothing wicked or secret schemes he had done against Lord He. His loyalty for Lord He was never to be questioned. But there's only one. There was only one little mistake he did. Well.....let's just admit it. It was a very big mistake....so big that he was scared all the time to get found out. And his mistake?..... it was this kid....this kid Jingyi he created....
"Foster father, what's wrong? "
Only after He Jingyi called out, Ye Hu finally managed to come back to his senses. Shaking his head, the old man gave a short response "nothing". But then, when he realized the kid besides was still in his male form, his eyes widened in horror. Trying to lower his voice as possible as he could, Ye Hu scolded him in concern.
" Jingyi.... kid, are you crazy? Why are you still like this? Quick!..... turn into a female."
Scratching his head, He Jingyi let out a hesitant "okay" with a pout. Dazzling light of dark red that could blind one's eyes radiated from him as soon as He Jingyi clicked his velvety and pearl white fingers.
His appearance didn't change much. The same pretty face with the same wilful attitude.... the only difference was that he'd got some average-sized boobs in the chest which was indeed enough to make this angel turn into a deity.
Seeing a slightly disappointed look on the kid's face, Ye Hu sighed before patting him in the shoulder to coax.
"Jingyi, you know. This foster father just scolded you for your own good. It'd be the best for both of us to avoid anything that might arouse you dad's suspicions, yes? "
To tell the truth, He Jingyi was created from the heart of demon He's dead daughter.....his very precious daughter who died in her early six.
From some magical red ruby crystal, puppet master Ye sculpted the figure of six-year-old princess He Jingyi as to his lord's instructions. He summoned the soul of this dead princess from hell. Just like that, the soul was forced to enter its dead heart once again. For the finishing touch, Ye Hu placed the heart right in the left chest of the sculpture.
Master Ye made the impossible. And the crystal sculpture came to life. Just like how he had sculpted her, the girl was in her gorgeous crimson evening gown when she woke up.... just like before she lost her life. Both of Lord He and Ye Hu witnessed this girl turned into a real human from inanimate crystal.
"Imperial father? "
This was the very first thing coming from the girl's lips when she woke up. And that day, Ye Hu was given a chance to witness his master smiling and laughing like normal humans..... like real dads..... playing with his little daughter...like there's nothing more he wished to get in this world... like his life would be perfect for a lifetime with his little girl here.
But those days didn't last long. Just in a month after she came to life, princess Jingyi got sick. The fever was so bad that Ye Hu knew this girl's life might be in danger.
So, master Ye asked for permission from his lord and took the passed out girl with high fever to his workroom where he had created her. Ye Hu just intended to check whether the once dead heart of hers was working properly or not when he found out something horribly unexpected. This girl....she was never a girl.... it....it was a little boy!!....
Perplexed, Ye Hu attempted to find out the problem in his process of creation. But nothing..... he just couldn't find any mistakes... any reasons.... everything was done with utmost care. And Ye Hu himself knew it was just so impossible that he created the wrong gender.
After several checks over his work again and again, the only thing that came to his mind where he should go wrong was that soul summoning part. There... There's a high chance that he summoned the wrong soul and thus this very mistake...