It was another sunny day in the Yu-Zhou. All was peaceful, until it was interrupted by a muffled explosion from the barn.
Bang!
A moment later, an angry servant covered in animal excrement came charging at the 8th prince with pitchfork in hand.
"Wang-Tian-Le! You little rascal! You were the one who planted a firework in pig shit weren't you?" anger burned in the servants eyes like two miniature suns.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." Wang-Tian-Le whistled in a care free manner.
Wang-Tian-Le, aged 16, he was the youngest of the 8 princes. He had a short, agile build and wild orange dyed hair. He wore a brown silk cloth, tiger skin dress and leopard skin boots. Some say he was the reincarnation of Sun-Wu-Kong from 'Journey to the West' but with less fur, others would say he was the missing link between man and monkey.
"You can't fool me! I can still smell the shit on you!" The servant levelled his pitch fork at him.
"Well…There's a naked women on the behind you!" Wang-Tian-Le shouted.
The servant turned behind him.
"There is no…" By the time the servant has turned back again, Wang-Tian-Le was nowhere to be seen.
"Wang-Tian-Le! You rascal! I won't forget this!" The servant shout echoed throughout the courtyard.
***
"My prince, you should cut down on your pranks." One of his guardians said.
"Why would I? They are fun! Plus they are just harmless little pranks, Xu-Kong." The prince said carelessly.
Xu-Kong appeared to be in his late forties. He had large black circles around his eyes; his face was yellow and thin. He tall but thin as a stick, he wore a white robe with covering his whole body.
Xu-Kong rolled over his eyes at Wang-Tian-Le's comment.
"The time you stole the servant girl's underwear?" Xu-Kong began listing.
"I did return her underwear afterwards." The prince said casually as he threw himself onto his tiger skin arm chair.
"The time you snuck a snake inside the kitchen?"
"Oh come on! It was a non-venomous snake and it was just a 1 time thing." Wang-Tian-Le defended himself, his voice growing with increasing annoyance.
"The time you stuffed the scholar's boots with goat shit?"
"He disrespected my mom!" Wang-Tian-Le exploded. "I hired you four to be my 4 guardian! Not my mom!"
"Wang-Tian-Le, you are the prince of Eastern-Jun, you need to grow up from your pranks." Xu-Kong said patiently.
"I don't need you to tell me what to do!" Wang-Tian-Le's face was red as a tomato.
"My prince, there is a letter for you." One of his guardians stepped forward and handed him a letter.
"Oh?" Wang-Tian-Le took over the letter. The seal was unbroken with a snake insignia on it. He quickly tore open the letter, then threw himself back in his arm chair and began silently reading.
"HAHAHAHAHA!!!" Wang-Tian-Le burst out laughing.
The 4 guardians looked to each other unsure what to say, eventually Xu-Kong spoke up.
"What did it say my prince?"
His laughter went on for another 30 seconds before finally subsided.
"Chaos." Wang-Tian-Le giggled.
"Chaos?" Xu-Kong's face was more puzzled then before.
Still holding back his laugh, Wang-Tian-Le held the letter over the candle flame and watched intently as the letter was being reduced to ashes.
"That's right, chaos." The candlelight flickered in the reflection of Wang-Le-Tian's eyes.
"Where?" Xu-kong asked.
"This whole kingdom." Sat crouched on his armchair with both feet on the chair.
"What do you intend to do when that chaos comes my prince?" Xu-Kong asked.
A huge wide grin spread across Wang-Tian-Le's face. Then without warning he grabbed his golden gilded rod and launched himself upwards, grabbing the floor beam above him. Then with the nimble flip of an acrobat he managed to get on top of the floor beam. He struck a pose with his rod then said:
"Chaos is a ladder. And I intend to climb to the top."