Why would the Zhònghuà Imperial Family's lost heirloom find itself within the Jiu Tian Sect hands?
Did they steal it? If so, why?
Clearly, they aren't afraid of incurring their overlord's wrath, so the sect had to have taken some precautions to prevent their catastrophe.
The most pressing question would be: what do they intend to do with it, since that's most likely what those who left the elder legs forwards wanted.
Everything now became more complicated, now that the Imperial Family was involved, and her unwillingly thrown in the middle of it. "Do you know if it holds any special purpose?" she asked, thinking about that eerie scene a few days ago.
"I don't, Your Royal Highness, but now, I'm really scared. This is getting way over our heads and we could be killed if—"
"Relax, buddy, that's why I told you not to overthink it with me onboard. That being said, I'll keep this artifact. As a foreign official, I can't disregard items of such value, lest the diplomatic relations between our people go down the drain," she calmly said as the artifact disappeared inside her ruby bracelet.
Plus, it would force the hands behind this murder to make a move against them. It was dangerous, especially with the merman beside her, but she hoped that her status and improved abilities would keep them from eternal darkness.
"By the ten seas, I hope you're right, Your Royal Highness, I hope you're right," Kamealoha said as he steadied his breath. "I'm far too young to sleep with the fishes," he mumbled under his breath.
"Alright, as soon as I'm ready, we'll bounce from here and go towards your ore. We'll sleep there before we'll move for my second ingredient, OK?"
"Works for me," he nodded.
Two minutes later, a fully clothed Lyshisha and her group left the area with the illusion curtain intact to buy some time under a ruddy sky…
*
The twilight sky shone with bright stars when the queen's group arrived near the Fang mountainous valley, its verdant hue tinted grey under the starlight. The Jin Cài (violet) river within flowed at its foot like a sinuous vine, its mouth barely visible on the cloudless horizon. Owls hooted with joy as they began their nocturnal hunts.
"A violet river? That's a first for me," Lyshisha said, as she directed her summon on a gravelly path abutting the river.
Kame laughed. "Actually, that's not really the case. The river's lid is made up of violet rocks, which gave it its color and name. I have to pick up the best quality from them, so I'd like to ask for Your Royal Highness forgiveness as it's gonna take a while for me to scour the best ones," she heard him say as they landed, her tigers splashing inside the river to drink and wash their exhausted frames.
Luckily, the water was shallow, allowing them to happily let their heads and paws float. "All right, then. How far do you need to search from here?" she asked.
"Not very, why?"
"Because I'll have to set up an illusion field to protect ourselves for the night, since it's late now, remember? About that, why don't you wait at least until tomorrow morning to search them? The visibly is pretty low, now…" she asked.
"Well, the reason is it boils down to impatience, and I still have quite a lot of energy to spare, since I haven't done much since the Hanfeng Forest. I do need to stretch my legs, and the water is perfect for me to do so, so don't worry about it. Don't forget that my vision is enhanced underwater anyway," he said.
She nodded, then recalled her Impundulu back within herself. "OK. I suppose you have some stuff for camping or somethin'?"
He chuckled. "I do, Your Royal Highness, don't you worry about me again, I'm fine."
She raised her hands in defeat. "All righty, then. You go on while I set up the curtain. It will be within a six-hundred-foot perimeter length by … sixt-no seventy feet in width, so please be careful if you venture beyond those limits, understood?"
Kamealoha's black eyes almost widened at her statement. "Wow, uuh … thanks, Your Royal Highness, I'll have a very large search area to work with then," he replied with amazement in his voice after he recomposed himself.
This woman never ceases to astound him.
She just casually talked about drawing a domain larger than a football field like it was picking up algae on the reefs of a shallow sea!
He still vividly remembered how it took three veteran mid-level Letter Grandmasters to conjure something similar deep inside the Chayton Great River to fool the local sea life into not interfering with their Chayton stones extraction!
And it took them so much effort to cast it they had to be carried away by some workers due to severe mental exhaustion!
Aaah … comparisons were cruel sometimes…
"You're welcome. After I'm done, I'm going to sleep, so good night in advance -or good swimming instead!" she said with a toothy grin.
"Thank you, Your Royal Highness, you too!" he said before he shrugged out of his clothes and dove naked in the river.
Lyshisha witnessed how nimble her friend swam inside the water, his figure sashaying along the shallow waves like a tulip stem battered by the summer wind.
As he began to inspect the stones under the tigers' joy, the crippled queen closed her eyes as her mind pictured the area within the perimeters she established. Seconds later, her Moon Core pulsed with might, sending a wave of matter energy through her hands thrumming with opaque matter letters spiraling in four plate-sized circles.
Her eyes sprang open, and she sent each circle to four points, spawning an oblong-shaped illusion fifteen feet high.
From the outside, no one would differentiate between illusion and reality—unless one was strong enough to detect it. Only from the inside, would someone see the mirage faint outline and could easily exit and return without damaging it.
With this, she could set her heart at ease against a handful of enemies as she returned to her birthday suit, finding a place to sleep over the sandy grass as she closed her eyes under the moonlight…