Old Man Mo almost hit Skeleton Crow again. But a moment later he realized that it was not a wise decision. What Skeleton Crow said was true. Ying Hua still wanted to live, and still wanted to find the meaning of life. Moreover, at this time her age was only eight hundred years old, she was still very young.
It felt like only yesterday that she was nearly killed by Emperor Heng, and then finally saved by Emperor Liang. At that time she had promised Emperor Liang to find meaning in life so that she would have more motivation to endure.
"Princess!" called Old Man Mo anxiously. "Are you alright? Did Skeleton Crow hurt you? He likes to say impolite things."
"But it's the truth!" mumbled Skeleton Crow persisted. "And just so you know, Old Man Mo, even though I'm only two thousand years old, I already know good manners so as not to offend others. I know what's best and what's not."
Old Man Mo glared at him, signaling for the crow to close his mouth. 'That boy! Didn't he see Princess Ying's sad face?' he thought.
Now Skeleton Crow was holding a lecture session, after calling several birds around their hut, which was quite far from settlements and crowds.
The birds lined up in front of the large cage that enclosed him. Their eyes looked innocent, their heads sometimes moved in different directions.
"Listen, you Babies! You are still very young, and you may die at the hands of hunters or perhaps when the human is starving. So my advice is never to fight with each other. Never kill each other over fighting over females. Make sure you all can live in harmony so that you can become a demon like me, and then become respected leaders! Do you understand? Hey, Green Feather! What are you looking at? Listen to your teacher when he speaks!"
But the Green Feather had already flown and approached a female, then began to sing to lure the female bird.
Seeing this the other little birds seemed to laugh at Skeleton Crow. Then they flew away while fighting with each other.
"Hey! Did you forget the lesson earlier? It can help you become a demon! If you are good enough you can become gods! Hey!"
Old Man Mo shook his head. He almost apologized to Ying Hua again for Skeleton Crow's carelessness and undisciplined attitude. But before that happened she had already spoken.
"Although Skeleton Crow is such a rude and empathetic person, he often speaks the truth." Ying Hua eyed the figure of Skeleton Crow, which waved his thin hand. His messy hair looked like a tangled thread. "I really shouldn't be this calm, and at the same time not give up so easily. I have to keep looking for ways to fulfill the energy of the Control Key so that I can quickly incarnate and end this suffering."
From a distance, Skeleton Crow screamed. "Aaaa! My ass! Why is it hot again?" He looked at his buttocks, which suddenly let out a feather that had been burned and charred, like a rain of feathers from the sky. "What is this? Why are all my feathers falling out?"
He tried to scoop up the feathers, which were now splattered in the cage. "No! My precious ass! What's going on? This can't be happening! I can't go bald! Especially in sensitive areas. The females won't even look at me!"
Ying Hua and Old Man Mo immediately changed their expressions, from serious to embarrassed.
"Weren't you the one who advised the little birds not to think about the female?" quipped Old Man Mo.
"What?" squeaked Skeleton Crow in annoyance. "I never said anything like that. I forbade them to fight each other just because of a female. Not that I forbid them to chase after the females. If they stopped doing this then who would they make out with? The males?"
He jumped while rubbing his buttocks with all the moves he had. As all else failed, He immediately looked up and glared at Ying Hua. "You must have attacked me with the Eternal Flame, right? Didn't you? Cheater! You cheated! We promised that we wouldn't use that move! Now give my ass back to how it was!"
Skeleton Crow raged. He gripped the wooden prison that locked him and then tried to get out of it by using various moves. But sadly all that didn't work.
"Hey, Old Horse! Free me! Why do you always lock me up? You have no right to do this to me! I'm not a criminal!"
"I wouldn't have locked you up if you hadn't gone too far with Princess Ying. Besides, I'm sure she wouldn't hurt you if you didn't start first."
"SLANDER!" shouted Skeleton Crow. "I was slandered! Give me back my ass! Give it back!"
Before Ying Hua could do anything, suddenly the lock-shaped necklace around her neck glowed white.
"Princess!" said Old Man Mo. "Someone who has been reincarnated needs you!"
Ying Hua nodded. While glancing anxiously at Skeleton Crow, she immediately left by splitting herself into airborne particles, then searched all over the place to find someone she didn't know the identity of.
Old Man Mo caught up with her. "Stay here! Your ass will be fine in no time. Don't let the wind blow! Or your ass will burn!" He ran as fast as a very tough horse. His footsteps sounded very loud.
"There's too much wind here! I can't avoid them! Get me out or I'll go to one of the rivers and dip my ass in there, then you'll see the river dry with the Eternal Flame! Hey!" Unfortunately, Skeleton Crow's screams yielded no results.
Ying Hua had already shot far away with his body already split into air particles. She stopped at the outskirts of the market and turned her body into a solid-state. Shortly after that Old Man Mo caught up, who was tossing his hair like a horse.
Ying Hua closed her eyes, opened her palms, and then clenched them.
'The energy around me, just get absorbed into the pores of my hands! Show me where this immense attraction comes from!'
Ying Hua opened her eyes, then walked as fast as the speed of the wind to keep up with the pulling force. Due to the immeasurable speed, many of the extremely busy people in the market were unaware of her and Old Man Mo's presence.
The market was very busy, even busier than usual because an imperial festival was about to take place.
Finally, Ying Hua's hands shook violently when she was at the end of the old yarn shop.
"You did it, Princess!" Old Man Mo was like a nanny who kept Ying Hua up. "I'm going to block the surrounding area so people don't pass. Just be careful!"
After Ying Hua nodded, Old Man Mo stuck his stick in the ground, then he ran fast beyond the gale. Dust scattered in all directions, and in an instant a barrier formed around the place.
Ying Hua almost walked into the old yarn shop. But suddenly a young man ran from inside the shop and hit her.
Now she fell and lay on the floor, while he was on top of her, looking at her very nervously.
In his hands tied a red fabric.
'I feel like I've seen that fabric before,' thought Ying Hua.
***