4
IMPERIAL PALACE.
Spring courtyard.
This courtyard belonged to one of the emperor's concubines, Han Chunhua, the deceased Han Fei's step-sister. It had beautiful flowers of various species, shapes, size, and colours neatly and orderly planted around it and was one of the most beautiful courtyards in the palace.
Maids were moving to and fro trying to get their duties done. They were all wearing the palace's uniform. A blue skirt and yellow shirt designed with flowers. Maids in the palace are required to be at least pretty and smart. Eunuchs also needed to be obedient, hard-working and smart too regardless of their appearances.
The emperor currently has 9 concubines and one imperial concubine but he has not gotten an empress yet. The concubines were
Bai Lifen, 2nd daughter of the 3rd richest merchant Bai Feng.
Hong Liu, eldest daughter of the prime minister.
Zhang Meili,5th daughter of general Zhang
Chen Dai Yu, the only daughter of scholar Chen.
Hong Meihui,2nd daughter of chieftain hong.
Da Meixiu,3rd miss of the Da family.
Jian Luli, daughter of the minister of finance.
Fan Dandan,2nd miss of the Fan family.
and finally the imperial concubine Han Chunhua.
Fa Changying, daughter of general Fa Longwei is the newly married 9th concubine.
This spring courtyard has 8 maids and 4 eunuchs.
Sitting in her bedroom, dressed in a pink gown was Han Chunhua who was daydreaming about the emperor penetrating her tonight.
She had been his favoured one since the day she married into this palace after her ugly sister.
She was very beautiful and had long black silky hair and very nice curves that showed no matter what she wears. She also had good boobs that made the emperor wanna put his cock between them and so she made sure that every time he came be it day or night her boobs were ready for work.
There was suddenly a light knock at the door bringing Chunhua to reality.
She was not happy at all.
"What is it?" she barked.
"Could you please open the door?" said a gentle voice.
That voice was very familiar to her. It's the emperor's voice.
Realizing that fact, she quickly arranged her clothes and sent some of her spirit energy to the door which immediately opened and she knelt.
In, came a guy whose face was covered in a mask. He was wearing a red dragon robe and his hands were behind his back.
"This lowly concubine greets his majesty" she greeted while bowing her head.
Normally, he never allows her to finish her greeting before using a stripping spell on both of them and forcing his jewel into her mouth.
But today, he let her finish greeting but did not even answer.
He only walked to her bed and began to sniff around the bed.
Han Chunhua's heart nearly jumped out of her chest.
"Don't tell me he has found out." she thought in fear.
While she was thinking of a way to escape, the emperor slowly took off his clothes leaving only his pants and turned to a confused Chunhua.
"So my concubine, how 'bout I punish you today?" he asked.
Chunhua was scared as she just realized that the emperor had a tail.
Wait! She had never seen him before with a fox's tail and what's that tattoo on his shoulder and even his voice...that's not the emperor...
"It seems I got scared for nothing." Chunhua sighed in relief.
"You are not Him right?" she asked
"Now you know, don't you feel foolish all this while? Your emperor has long been dead since the day he married Fa Changying. So simply put, you have been sleeping with a beast. How is that? Do you like my present?" the man asked with a smile.
This smile revealed fangs and teeth stained with blood. Chunhua wanted to faint.
"No!No! He isn't dead. He cannot be dead." she screamed.
"Don't bother screaming as no one will hear you. Don't you like me penetrating you so much? I'll fulfil your dreams once more." said the man who laughed evilly.
"No! It can't be.No..." she screamed when the man fired a stripping spell unto her clothes which immediately vanished.
"Now baby, don't be afraid. I will be gentler than on the day we got married." said the man who was completely bare right now.
"Come and let me make you scream like you always do?" the man said again.
This time he transformed into a horse and neighed.
"Now come here" he barked.
"No! No! "Chunhua ran towards the door but found it locked.
"Today, you will feel my true power" he barked again as he galloped towards Chunhua.
It was at this very moment that a man appeared in the room.
He had fangs and a horse's tail.
"Big bro, why didn't you call me for the feast.? when you're done please fetch me her brain," said the man.
"Yes little bro"
"Nooooo"
A loud scream resounded throughout the spring courtyard. The two maids who had been standing guard outside rushed inside in panic to see Han Chunhua breathing heavily.
The two pretty maids who just rushed in were concerned.
"Madam! Are you alright?" they asked in unison.
"Water! I...I need water," she said in a whisper.
"Lan, go get madam water" ordered the maid wearing a ponytail.
The other one who had two ponytails nodded and dashed out of the room as fast as she could.
The one remaining was Lihua who was lightly massaging Chunhua's shoulders and back.
"Miss, calm down. It's just a nightmare. Not real" she pacified but Chunhua was still shaking like a leaf.
"Li Hua! Get the emperor please" Chunhua said with a semi-order,semi-request tone.
"But Madam, his Majesty should be in a meeting with the officials right now." said a reluctant Li Hua.
Even though madam was the favoured one, it didn't mean that she could be free from severe punishment or death if she angered His Majesty.
"Fine! Just...just get lost and tell Lan not to bother with water." she barked.
"But madam ... you're not okay. I..." Li Hua was cut short by her madam.
"You wish me death right?"Chunhua asked.
"No...madam, it's not like that..."Li Hua tried to explain but Chunhua had no time for that.
"GUARDS!" she roared
In less than 12 seconds,2 able-bodied guards dressed in black and red rushed in and went on one knee, heads bowed.
"What is your wish Madam?" they asked in unison.
"This girl is evil. Flog her 20 lashes of the bull rod"Chunhua barked.
"Yes madam!" the guards shouted in unison and dragged a pleading Li Hua away.
"Nooo, madam! This is a misunderstanding"She cried.
"Increase it to 70 strokes," said Chunhua"And make sure you also do that to her accomplice"She added.
"NOOO" Li Hua's mouth was covered by one of the guards' hands and was dragged away in a disgraceful manner.
The bull rod was made from the bones of a middle level eight horned bull and a low-level dragon scorpion. Dragon scorpions were known to kill with one bite and could run really fast and the 8 horned bull had majestic strength but in the end, it was still caught by a prince 800 years ago and he made this rod from the two animals.
Now, this rod was going to be used on Li Hua who was still in beginner level 2. It's even a great feat for her to achieve considering the fact that she had no resources or time to cultivate.
One lash of this rod on her body could fracture all her ribs and another would cut her in half. Normally, concubines and even the emperor only ordered one stroke but Chunhua's ordering of 70 meant she wanted them squashed into a meat patty.
The passing maids could only shudder and run off to hide. They already were holding candles for the other unfortunate Lan.
Back in the cold palace, Theresa was weeping for she was not going to ever see her parents anymore.
She was her parents' only child for life! How were they gonna survive? Especially her mama who doted on her much more than her papa.
What about her bestie, Marabella Santiago? How will she go on? They had been best friends since elementary school. And her beloved sushi, pizza, and her doll, Lovina, she'd never see them again.
Even her idol could be no more seen. She felt the whole world hated her if not of all people, why was she the only one fit to come here?
Could it be that the deceased Han Fei Fei caused the plane crash in the process of trying to summon her?
Looking around the old, shabby, room, she saw the book the deceased pointed at before dying and vanishing.
She then got up from the shaky bed and walked towards it but a few inches away from the book, she suddenly fell down holding her head.
She was seeing a vision of two girls being dragged down to the special torture room.
Both were gagged and blindfolded. There were bruises forming at their wrists due to the way the guards roughly held their hands.
Theresa's heart began to ache greatly at this sight and she roared loudly.
Unfortunately, no one would hear her since the cold palace was made to be soundproof. Theresa kept roaring for 3 minutes before fainting, blood flowing from her mouth and eyes. Somewhere in the marketplace was Ren who had disguised himself as a middle-aged nobleman inexpensive clothes.
He still looked handsome in this disguise that some young maidens and middle-aged women could not help but wanna snatch him home and keep him for themselves.
It was evident on their love-struck faces.
However, the object of admiration pretended not to see. He had bought 16 outing clothes, four nightgowns, and 3 pairs of lady shoes earlier when he disguised as a middle-aged lady. Now disguised as a middle-aged man that even made some youths around want to hide under rocks in shame, he was heading to the jewellery shop close by.
When he finally entered, he was welcomed by a blushing female receptionist/sales girl.
Ren had picked 3 golden bell-shaped hairpins,2 pairs of golden leather belts, a golden comb and rings.
"Ah! That should be enough to satisfy that savage mistress" he thought as he kept the things he bought in his storage ring to the awe of some in the shop. Some pretended to be happy and even commended him for buying jewellery for his wife.
Ren nearly choked when they said 'wife'.
Man! He is clearly single. Can't they see it?
Everything he bought at the jewellery shop amounted to 100 gold coins but he did not mind dropping a pearl before walking out of the shop empty-handed. He need not worry about food as he had bought her freshly cooked noodles from a not so top-notch restaurant.
Now he was good to go, so he walked into a lonely alley with a sly smile. After going in a little deeper, he stopped walking.
"Come out, "he said not looking back.
Immediately 3 men jumped down from the roof of a house wearing mean expressions but Ren only laughed coldly in his heart.
"You call that scary? I give you just one star in acting" he thought to mock them.
"My fellow man, you've got something wonderful there," said the oldest among the 3 men. He was wearing a green gown and white trousers.on his waist was the waist tag that read
"Arrow".
"Wow! Are you talking about my cock? You've got great eyes. My cock is really wonderful. Would you like to try it?"Ren asked as if he did not know what they talking about.
"We're not perverted like you. Now give us the ring."The other man demanded.
"Ring? But that's meant for my grandma"Ren replied looking hesitant to give them anything"You better treasure your life and give that ring to us or else..." the one wearing black amongst the three was cut short by Ren.
"Look! I bought two rings. One for my Grandma and the other for my lovely wife. Isn't it a sin to snatch a poor man's belongings?" asked Ren looking sad but it didn't go well with the greedy men whose eyes revealed strong killing intent. Seeing them like this Ren shook his head.
"You want the rings right?"He asked.
"No need to stall for time, "said the one in green
"I have only one condition."
"Say it"the 3 spat in unison.
"Ok! I have a whip here," said Ren as he withdrew his bone whip from the storage ring which made them greedier and more impatient.
"This is an heirloom but it requires me to be in saint stage to use it. I'm already this old, having trash grade roots,...I...please take it and let these rings go. They're very vital"Ren 'pleaded'.
"Enough! Finish him Han Ru." ordered the one in green.
"Yes,, brother"Han Ru said cracking his knuckles."Fellow next time don't chew more than you can. I am not so cruel so I'll leave you with an intact corpse"
"Intact corpse? Take this"Ren threw the bone whip towards Han Ru and then brought out a chair on which he sat on.
"You can only get my ring if you defeat my whip. When you do please wake me up" Ren said creating a barrier around him. Then he brought out a table on which he rested his head.
The three obviously were irked beyond words.
"Just a mere whip?"Han Ru caught the whip but what stunned him and his two brothers next was that the whip began to vibrate and emit red light and electricity. You don't need to guess what happened. Han Ru was electrocuted to death even all his clothes had long disappeared.
Han Ru fell down dead and smelling of roast chicken.
Seeing this the other two stared at each other and there was only one word in their heads.
"Run!"In the spring courtyard, Han Chunhua was thinking deeply about that horrible dream. How could it be? She had an evil destroyer talisman necklace that was supposed to give her good dreams. How the hell did it mutate into a terrible nightmare? She was still shaken by it.
It looks like she won't be able to sleep with her husband tonight.
And whoever did that to her--they should just wait! She will feed their flesh to her wild cat.
With that, she lay back on her bed but did not sleep. She was formulating a way to catch the one who caused the nightmare.
******
Back in the cold palace, Theresa had re-opened her eyes due to a very strong headache. What came into her view was the vision of Li Hua and Lan being hit by the bull rod just once.
She could see that their ribs were broken and even their arms had dislocated. They couldn't scream due to the gag but it was evident they held not much hope for life.
Why does she feel so close to them? The pain in her chest...
Suddenly lots of strange memories flooded her brain and she came into realization.
They once served the deceased Han Fei when she was still at her father's house but were forced to serve the evil Han Chunhua when she married the emperor. Sometimes, they'd sneak to See Han Fei in her isolated courtyard and encourage her. They were a source of joy and hope to her but at this moment they were about to be killed.
Theresa immediately got up from the ground.
"Those bastards must pay" she yelled.
********
In the alley, Ren opened his eyes due to a slight pain in his chest.
"Mistress! I need to go see her now" he muttered in panic.
Looking at those who were being chased by his flying bone whip, he sighed and created a barrier trapping the two men in it.
All the whip had to do was play with them for a while. Making sure that all was 'fine' he left riding on a sword which he did not need to do but, of course, he needs to show off.
Flying swords are considered treasures and if any sect has one or two it was a very good thing.
Now he's got something urgent to do although he doesn't deem it too urgent.
"The savage mistress is in danger"