...….
Golden Cloud Palace, located in the biggest dungeon in the deepest of the Golden Cloud Forest, where all the beautiful sights are found there, behind the very high waterfall.
It was late at night, but Tai Yang was still sitting in his King's chair. Sitting with a distant view of nowhere, he raised an object resembling a necklace string with a black jade ring pendant. He got it while holding the cute sweetie he met this afternoon. The thing that should be hanging around the little one's neck fell into his hands without him knowing it had slipped between his clothes, so it must belong to the sweet child.
The old man, Huang Bai, approached and stroked his beard while frowning as he saw that the King had been silently observing the small object in his hand.
"Ehem, my King, don't you have a rest yet? It's late. At this time, you usually enter the room"
Tai Yang glanced at his advisor. The man was an expert in the outside world, so he must know what it was. He handed it over to the old man's hand.
"Here, do you know what it is, old man?"
Huang Bai looked at the small object carefully for quite a long time until he widened his eyes as if he had remembered something.
"This, from its size, is the coat of arms of the Eastern state. Most likely it belongs to the royal family. I think I have seen it while working in the Palace. My King, where did you get this?"
Tai Yang glanced at Huang Bai, he took it and tucked it back into his clothes.
"Em, just found it on the road last time on patrol"
Tai Yang frowned.
"How can a village boy have it? Did he steal it? But, he looks like a good kid, maybe he also picked it up from the street" thought the young king.
The young king stood up from his seat. All the servants lowered their heads as the King passed them.
"Come on old man, let's sleep. Tomorrow I will be very busy patrolling again."
Hearing this, Huang Bai, who was walking beside his king, frowned.
"Um, what do you mean, by patrolling? Hasn't the bandit been caught?"
"Yeah, but the valley and the city are still full of bandits, old man, we need to check them one by one. Lest the old geezer mayor complains about our services again and finds excuses to reduce the tribute"
The two walked towards the inside of the palace, towards the bungalow behind the main building where each of their rooms is located.
"But King, you can send Pai, or old man Yo or Kang to finish it. You don't have to intervene yourself"
Tai Yang waved his hand.
"They're busy, old man, let them finish their job. Let's just say I'm going out for a while, it feels so boring in this palace all the time."
"But, King, the palace household matters are so much and..."
Tai Yang turned his head to stop Huang Bai's words.
"Down worry about that, Old man, I can take care of it another time, just take it easy. And, what's the point of having you here? "
Huang Bai stuttered. He could only obey the young king. He knew he would always lose.
.....
Old man Oei's Hut.
A black shadow shot from the trees and stopped in front of Elder Oei's hut. A tall figure in black clothes and a black mask that only revealed his eyes stopped at the door, peeking into the hut.
"Ekh" Inside the washroom, Yuen was still inside the tub soaking with a sweaty face. The pain kept coming and made him slowly lose consciousness. Elder Oei put some thin needles into Yuen's crown and forehead, to the back of his head, which made Yuen's pain slowly subside. Eventually, the young man fell asleep.
Mei Lan watched from the door with a He beside her anxiously. Her heart hurt every time she watched Yuen suffering like that.
"A Yuen"
The figure outside the house was ready to draw his sword to charge in, but just as he lifted it high, a black shadow pulled him away.
.....
Amid the darkness of the night among the shady trees of the forest, there was the sound of the wind with swords clashing in the air.
Jumping from tree to tree so lightly attack and chase each other.
A tree branch was hit by a sword slash and fell to the ground, the two black-clothed figures clashing swords on the mossy ground in the dense forest, shrewdly jumping to and fro avoiding simultaneous attacks.
The two pitted their long swords against each other. Made the surrounding air so light and sent many dry leaves flying high.
Big energy waves were released and pushed them far away from each other.
The two figures stayed in position until the black-clothed figure that was visible from its slightly bulky body attacked back quickly beyond the tall thin figure's expectation and stabbed its sword through the skinny figure's chest.
"Ah!" Fresh blood dripped down to wet the mossy ground.
The figure's eyes stared at the person who pulled him with a sharp gaze.
"Who are you? Why did you save the kid?"
The figure who stabbed his sword pulled his sword from the body of the thin figure who was now falling to the ground, swaying his life with the rest of his breath.
His hand tried to reach the figure with his hand to see the face behind the black veil.
The man tore off the sleeves of the fallen figure and used them to clean the shiny surface of his sword from the blood. A beautiful sword with two letters on the tip of the sword, with a white hilt and a yellow hanger, it was a special sword for palace guards.
He kicked a figure who was already dying but still looked at him sharply.
"Whoever comes, will die at my hands. I know who sent you here. It's a very bad decision to come here without any preparation. Meet your friends who have already gone to hell waiting for you there."
He kicked the fallen man so hard that he didn't move anymore, while his eyes still bulged as it took its last breath.
The figure of a man with a sword shoved his sword back into its scabbard. He turned his body out of the forest towards Elder Oei's hut. As he walked, a faintly visible jade hanger hung from his waist, a jade hanger with a carved shape resembling a horse's head.
A night with a strong wind blowing. The nocturnal animals greeting each other fill the silence with their sounds in the deep forest of the Lotus Valley, where the figure gracefully walks away, as the wind blows his dark long clothes.
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