LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 78: Power Resource a prison?
Empress Lihua did not sleep a bit and waited for the sunrise. She had a lot going on in her head. She was anxious and her mind constantly wandering back and forth, wondering what to do about her son. She hated the fact that he is all alone in the Demon Realm with his father no longer next to him. She did meditation for sometime and tried to find her son's star and it's fate. She could hardly find him and read the star. Unable to continue, she quit asked for some water to drink to the personal maid. Lihua exhausted herself. She couldn't her past a guard that was protecting him. Lihua was shocked to find that. A layer of protection over him, his star and it made her pound. "Is she really protecting him or is it somebody else? But how can the dead still protect one who is alive? Lihua had yet to understand about the play of the crystals. She didn't want any tricks put on her son.
Emperor Tai called for the Empress and she walked into his chamber. He looked okay but he said he didn't want to get out of the bed. "Conduct the ceremony on my behalf," he ordered her to hold the funeral and send the gifts to Aqua's parents and her sea palace. Lihua did not deny it prepared for the ceremony. She put on white gown and a matching tiara on her head and headed out to the court where King Aenon and the minsters waited along with his family. She saw Krystal standing next to Rivera. Lihua had not seen her for thousands of years after she left the Water Realm. It was Krystal who assisted the midwife during her delivery and took Huo'er first in her hand. Lihua wondered if she still remembered about the past. Lihua have a smile and walked past her. Lihua had no idea that Grand Prince Aiden is her son. Everyone greeted the Empress and brought the things that were prepared for the funeral. Everybody was dressed in white except the guards in the armour. King Aenon asked his General Lee to arrange the carriages to the Mount precious, and from there arrange special carriages to hike through the woods to reach the precious fall on top. The power source of Water Realm. Believing there's a shenlong in hibernation under the mountain, people are always scared to wrong the Water Realm and get punished severely by the dragon's breath. Though it is a myth it is what people always believe in. But Tai did not seemed to believe in any of that.
Lihua got on the carriage with her maid. The horse looked well groomed like ones in Star Kingdom. She wondered if Aenon had called anyone from there to do the rituals. If he did, she had no idea about how to face them.
It took a long time for them to reach the foothills of Mount Precious. They saw the school in the distance that used to be a hot place for the young cultivators practicing and learning their clan's techniques training to become a better person, a leader. But ever since Volca messed it up and caught Huo'er, the school turned upside down and shut down forcefully sending the master away on exile.
Rivera often checked on Lihua to see if she was okay and rode on her horse alone, behind her husband. General Lee was leading the way. They started climbing the hills through the woods. It looked calm, serene and beautiful with fresh air. The green trees and rain cloves grown all the way up to the center on the mount, looked like a flower bed. The chirping of birds nonstop that felt like melodies kept the mood quiet.
They reached the precious fall everyone had praised about in their life times. A world like no other. A forever spring and endless meadow, trees and flowers, and through the middles was a water fall that fell like it's from the sky, the water skraying every where around it. The most around the woods. There were few tombs inside the woods, the royal family tomb where the ancestors with great powers are buried. And like them, Aqua was one of a kind too who had one of the qualities of the shenlong. Rivera looked emotional but stronger than she did before. Lihua felt the similar pain inside her. She felt glad to have Huo'er but then she recalled what could happen to him if she really carry on with the shutting down the power resource of Aqua, one thing only a Water King can do. "Huo'er could really be in danger again, " she talked inside her head and shot a quick glance at everyone. Then she gave life to one of the statues on the ground and used the locomotion spell to move it round attacking people remembering to not hurt anyone. She pretended like it not her wrong doing and continued using it.
The guards formed a front line to protect the royal family and guests who had joined the trip. The statue of a centaur it was with a spear in the hand. Aenon pretendedike he didn't know about who woke it and gave a quick glance at his wife. Queen Rivera tried using her power to suppress and tame the cursed statue without breaking him. Lihua stepped back from everything and walked where the things were kept for the funeral. She then slowly ignited a fire and came back to her place immediately before anyone noted. Then she removed the spell from the centuar. By that time, General Lee found how the things got destroyed and informed the king who was healing the wounded soldiers along with the help of his wife. Rivera instantly looked at Lihua. Empress Lihua winked at Queen Rivera and got up.
"What a mess? I cannot believe such a thing is happening on top of the hill," she complained.
"We're really sorry your highness, pardon, " King Aenon cleared his throat and spoke to the Empress politely fully aware of what had happened. But the people had no idea about it.
"We are sorry for what happened, your highness, " General Lee apologised. "I should made sure everything is clear coming here ahead of you all, please give me a punishment, I will take it," King Aenon and everyone looked at General Lee. Queen Rivera stood there very satisfied with the believable drama Empress Lihua had put on. After all her friend still had some parts of her alive with heart and her brain, working together rarely. Rivera nodded at her husband.
"We will no longer hold any funeral for Aqua, it appears the nature is against, the realm does not will to do it, probably because you have conducted it already before, let's not touch the power resource and harm the realm King Aenon," Lihua spoke and commanded the people to get ready to leave back to Water Palace. "We shall very clearly explain what about everything that happened to Emperor Tai, it was his soul wish to hold the funeral when he visits the Water Realm, for the family, since Aqua has been sacrificing everything for the cause, he wanted to forgive her for dying for a Demon, by doing this," Lihua remembered to hurt and insult the family through her words anyway not even minding it is for her own son,"
"If I had not let her train for the cause, she wouldn't have seen the moonchild as a part of the cause thinking she should protect the family of Her higness," Queen Rivera protected her child. "Love is one, duty is another, both was directed towards one for my girl. One and I lost my child, my son in law, and my grand child," she said. "I lost my family," she said in the end, showing her how she accepted Empress's son while she did not being with Tai. It pricked Lihua well. To hide her emotions, she smirked at King Aenon and Queen Rivera before she turned away and look at her personal maid Jina.
There felt a change in the course of power and Aenon felt them in his blood. He knelt suddenly with the change of flow that unexpectedly ached in his veins. Rivera ran towards him and helped her husband stand back on his legs. Rivera checkedhers, but she looked fine. He turned towards the course of power, soon as he stood on his legs and withdrew his swords, asking everyone to wait behind and walked towards the falls.
There was a small cave behind it that went towards the underground, beneath the river that formed in the point of the falls. It was dark and very cold. King Aenon used his power to light the tunnels and walled forward looking around to see what it was. An unusual movement happening in the power response. He could hear the howling of the wind in the distance behind him as he walked to the depths of the cave. It got darker and darker and narrowed as he walked in. It was the second time he was coming into the cave. The first time was when his daughter was born with abnormal blood condition. And he had take his first born to the cave to restore her health and diagnose her feeding the precious water medicine from the cave.
Then soon he started hearing a melodious tune being played with harp. He felt it very familiar to hear them. The harp. The same harp. The similar tune. The similar notes. He walked faster and tried to unlock the power shield put in front of the chamber set inside. He careful unlocked and solved the power security system and stepped inside the chamber. He could see the shadow of the hard being player. He took few more steps forward to see what what was happening inside and stopped like he was on the dead end, his jaw dropped. He gasped and then walked quickly forward. He inhaled and exhaled fastly. "No," he said. He had tears in his eyes. He put the sword back in its sheath and wiped his tears.