Chapter 43: In The Library Room

Kun Shang squatted in front of Xiu'er and put a hand on her shoulder. She was breathing roughly, swallowing her dry throat in between each tear but she wouldn't lift her head to see him.

"Xiu'er, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I didn't understand how you were feeling earlier. I made you worried about me with Chun Yi, and didn't trust you about Yaoyao. I should've listened to you and Xiaogua. I'm glad to have you by my side. I know not to trust her now and will keep my guard up."

There was a shift in her arms as one hand disappeared to wipe her face. When she lifted her head, her cheeks were dry and her eyes slightly red and puffy. They were just a foot apart, squatting next to each other, their heads passionately close. Deep, deep down somewhere in their hearts, something stirred. It may not be love and it didn't have to be, but it was friendship, it was caring, and it was trust. Xiu'er just hoped no one would break that connection.

"How long are you going to stare at me?" She said to break the silence.

He realized she had made a joke to lighten the mood. He stood up first and extended a hand. She looked at it. His hand was large and masculine. She put her small dainty hand in there and it almost disappeared as he clamped his fingers over it. It was warm, comforting, and relieving. She expected it to be rough and dry but it was actually soft and firm.

With them both on their feet, they discussed the matter at hand. The room they were standing in looked like a normal classical library with standard books of simple genres.

"There doesn't seem to be a door out of here." Kun Shang confirmed. "I'm afraid we'll have to see if there's a hidden latch or a mechanism that will open up a door somewhere."

"That won't be the case," she stated. "I've already looked around at the walls. It wasn't built to have a hidden door at all."

He turned his body around. There were six bookshelves on each side of the room alongside each other and two tables in the middle, a total of 14 boring pieces of furniture. He saw A'Li shifted from underneath the covers and walked over to the table.

"Why is he like that?" He asked her. Xiu'er appeared beside him and carefully fixed the blanket to snuggle around the monkey.

"A'Li was born a premature monkey." She gently patted his butt. "It took me a lot of effort to nurse him back to health. Because of that, he had complications when he was younger, especially his internal organs. But he's a lot better now. All that's left is his weak immunity to the cold." She took a seat and rested her head on the table, just above her arms and looked into the face of the sleeping monkey. Seeing the healthy breathing of A'Li was good news to her.

"There was one thing that I still do not understand," he took the seat across the table from her, "and no one was willing to give me an answer. I was told to believe there was no cure for Chun Yi's poison. If that is really true then how was I saved? Do you know who saved me?" He paused and looked down into her eyes. "Xiu'er, you do know who saved me, don't you?"

She blinked and sat up straight, but never took her eyes off A'Li.

"Maybe Western Sect saved you. After we arrived on the mountain, Master Quan sat you in the Heart Cleansing Spring which cleaned out the poison from your body... I think." She creased her forehead and scratched her neck to convince him of her uncertainty. "But she also said just because you were saved, doesn't mean any of them found a cure. It's true that the poison of the Holy Cursed Lady cannot be cured, but it had been suppressed successfully by the Spring. That's what I was told. From what I understand from Master Quan, you're not cured but just permanently healed. With that being said, you could still die tomorrow if things turned out wrong."

He squinted his eyes. "So the Heart Cleansing Spring is the cure to Chun Yi's poison?"

Xiu'er wet her bottom lip and thought about it. "Yyyyes... No! I don't know, I don't even remember what she said. Anyways, if that is true maybe they didn't want the secret to be out. I mean, they looked pretty protective of that Spring. By the way," Xiu'er paused, "I was just thinking. If you were trained to be a protector of assassins, who did you work for? What is your job in the capital, the Palace?"

His mouth opened slightly. He had been wanting to keep his identity a secret, but seeing that she was someone he could trust and possibly harmless, he decided to open up.

He smiled and lowered his head. "I protect the Emperor."

"No way!" Xiu'er slapped a hand on the table. She couldn't help the smile growing on her lips.

"I was one of six bodyguards. We're called the Emperors Six Golden Bodyguards. We're practically the closest people to him, guarding him day and night."

"If that's the case…" Xiu'er wiggled her finger pointing at his sword. "How did you get that?"

Her question took him off by surprise. Not because he felt the need to be defensive but because it was a long story.

His life first started with his mother. Kun Shang was sent to the Palace at a young age by his mother to be trained to become a bodyguard. After many years of hard work, he competed and became one of the Emperor's most prestigious bodyguards. He guarded the Emperor for three years.

In the meantime, his father had repeatedly asked him to quit, saying instead of doing that, he should be taking over the family's fishing business. Finally, Kun Shang's had enough of his father's lectures and did quit the Palace. Kun Shang became a simple commander for his uncle who was a general of a small army for another two years. At the end of the two years, or about three weeks ago, he was recommended by the Emperor to enter into a competition to win the Sword of the Millennial Gods.

After winning the competition, the Emperor gave him the sword and three missions to complete. The sword was for his reward, the missions for the responsibility of wielding the sword. The missions were derived from a dream the Emperor had that was supposedly meant for the mortals to take action. The dream said that someone, or something, was going to destroy Earth and Heaven in the near future.

This sword will be the only thing stopping the evil doer. With it, Kun Shang was to restore it by finding the powers of the sword. The sword was made up of five elemental powers that worked together to become one powerful weapon. Then, he must find the Dreamer Princess of Yanwei Kingdom. And finally, save the world.

So far, he thought Xiu'er and her brother could help him find the Dreamer Princess since they lived in the Kingdom of Yanwei. Unfortunately, it didn't go as he planned because Xiu'er and her brother don't know the Royal family. On the up side, he found Xiaogua who was the water element to the sword, Yu Yue as the air element, and he was the fire element.

"That's crazy," Xiu'er couldn't hold back her smile. "Does that make you extra strong or something?"

He shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"I believe so. When I was 10, I almost burned down the boy's dormitory by accident. That was when I first realized I was extraordinarily strong and could create fire. The boys made fun of me for a year, but eventually I trained hard enough to control it and overcame my powers. Remember what I did on the roof that night in the capital? I created fireworks using my fire powers. Unfortunately, for others whom the elemental powers latched themselves onto and do not have the training to control it, will seem to suffer painful headaches. Take Xiaogua, for example. He does not have good control over his water powers, resulting in large outbursts of uncontrollable energy. People in my village are terrified of him, although he has never hurt anyone. They called him a water demon just because he possessed powers beyond their beliefs. When I met him, he begged me if I could remove it from his body so he can become a normal human."

Poor Xiaogua, Xiu'er thought. He deserved so much better than that.

Kun Shang's deep loud sigh made her sit up taller.

"I'm embarrassed to say I've made no great progress in regards to my missions ever since leaving the Palace. If the Emperor knew about this he would be disappointed for giving me such a relic. I wish I knew how to use it properly let alone how to put the powers back. These absurd missions are probably making you want to laugh right now. I've doubted it myself too. How could there be an end of the world? It's just a stupid dream. A fantasy dream anyone would have. There's no sign of any evil, no sign of demons or bad spirits. If darkness was going to come, shouldn't we see any signs by now? Do you think it was right that the Imperial Court gave this action upon such a dream?"