*Pic above is the burnt Forbidden Forest*
THIRD PERSON POV
Arriving at the eastern border, The Emperor his himself between his army and let his generals to and a few soldiers to confront the suspicious army 500 miles away. General Ai Zhong Shen and General Li Huizhong appeared before the enemy alone with their men watching from afar.
"Who are you, people? How dare you camp near the borders of Chen Empire. Are you asking for death?" General Li said in an intimidating way.
The camping soldiers that saw them stood up, not saying a word. The others soon follow until all one thousand soldiers stood in front of the generals.
"Where is your general? Is he not here?" General Ai asked the quiet army that looked too young to be in an army. Even if they were supposed to be soldiers, they're supposed to be under training.
Then, one young man came forward and bowed, showing his respect to them. "I am the general. We mean no harm to Chen Empire. We were running away from the Eastern Emperor."
The generals looked at each other with a frown, wondering why would these young soldiers run away from their own country. General Ai took the initiative to ask. "Why would you run away from your own country?"
The young general had a pained look and told them what happened. "As you can see, we are still young and are supposed to be in training. But, our Emperor seems to be at war with the South Empire. Since our country did not have enough soldiers and are poor, he decided to take all young men into his army with only little training given. The older people were ignored and they died due to starvation while the children were taken as slaves. As for young women, the- they-" the young general stuttered with anger in his eyes. "They were taken as-as prostitutes unwillingly. All of us don't have any more family. They all died under that cruel Emperor and his ministers and generals. We and the other young soldiers like us managed to run away with some food and weapons to hunt in the forest and protect ourselves. We were separated but promised to meet up at the Eastern border of the Chen Empire."
Hearing their story, the generals did not know whether to believed them or not. Suddenly, Ying came forward.
"Huizhong, what they said are true. I've tried to sense for lies but there are none." Said Ying aloud.
"Alright, Ying. Then, let's take them to the Emperor, General Li." Huizhong said.
Returning to the Emperor, the generals explained to the Emperor the story that they were told. The Emperor kept quiet while watching the young soldiers. A few minutes of silence passed and the Emperor finally made a decision.
"Generals, let your right-hand man take these young soldiers to the training division and divide them accordingly. The other soldiers can go back to your respective duties. General Li, General Ai, do a checkup around the borders with a few soldiers to see if you can find other young runaway soldiers from the east. Eliminate those who look anonymous. I don't want spies from the east or north in my Empire. The deal between them has not been settled."
"Yes, Your Highness." Said both generals. The Emperor and his guards were about to leave after hearing their answer but were stopped when arrows shot out of the forest and towards the Emperor's direction. Thankfully, it didn't reach him as the shadow guards blocked the sudden attack.
The generals and soldiers were immediately on high alert. Xing went up into the air when the arrows started shooting and came back down after the fire was ceased.
"Zhong Shen! It seems they are a few miles away. Use your fire blaze to give me a boost on burning them. There are not that many so one attack would be enough." Said Xing to Zhong Shen. He nodded and ran forward with Xing flying upwards.
Zhong Shen stopped and sent a burst of flames that came from his body towards Xing. Once the flames enveloped the Phoenix, it went up into flames and with one flap of its wings, big and fierce flames were shot towards the spies within the forest. The spies were burnt to a crisp along with part of the forest. The soldiers behind the generals rejoice for the safety of the Emperor. Unknown to them, a bit of the flame hit the forbidden forest. It resulted in the said forest to suddenly start burning.
Xing saw what was about to happen and immediately called Ying for assistance. Ying then grew into her true size and told Huizhong. The Emperor, General Li and a few soldiers followed Huizhong while the others went back with the young runaway soldiers.
When they reached the forbidden forest, part of it was burning and the fire was getting bigger. Huizhong with the help of Ying made clouds appear above the forest and heavy rain was poured. The flames became smaller but the forest was still burning. So, using the last of his strength, Huizhong called water from the lake and beneath the ground to him. When he had enough water to create a water sphere, he positioned near the flames and let the water sphere spin. While spinning, water from the sphere splashed out onto the flames. While Huizhong and Ying were doing that, Xing and Zhong Shen were extracting the flames into themselves resulting in the flames to disappear.
Once the job was done, there wasn't much left but only part of the forest. The part was completely or partly burned off. It was a sad sight to see but no one thought much about it until a black shadow jumped over them and stopped opposite the burned forest. It was none other than the Imperial Consort and his beast.
The Emperor seeing his wife, he was off his horse and walking towards the consort while asking his reasoning for being here than in the palace. But before he could get close enough, a loud scream was heard that shook everyone. It came from the consort himself. He was kneeling on the burnt forest floor while crying and holding himself. Everyone was shocked seeing this. They were puzzled on why the consort was crying horribly as if it was someone of great importance that died. Their question was answered when the Emperor tried to get closer to his wife but was blocked by a black tiger with green stripes.
Xiaoli growled at Huang Longwei as he tried to approach Feng Liqin. "Don't step any closer. Do you know what you have done!? You've just destroyed part of the Forbidden Forest! By destroying it, you've also caused Feng Liqin to get injured mentally." Xiaoli said angrily at the Emperor.
"What do you mean?" Asked the Emperor confused.
Xiaoli only growled again and explained. "Feng Liqin and this forest are connected. So, whatever the forest feels, he feels. When the forest was burning a few minutes ago, Feng Liqin felt the pain of the forest down to the grown. When you've managed to stop the flames from burning further, all he felt was death. He might not have any injury physically, but mentally he does."
Huang Longwei frowned. He understood what Xiaoli meant. He was just sad that he caused his beloved pain to that point. Xiaoli turned away from the crowd and comforted Feng Liqin. Huang Longwei wanted to take care of his wife and help him recover the forest.
He dismissed everyone and reminded the generals to do their checkup on the borders. He walked towards Feng Liqin even though Xiaoli growled menacingly at him and kneeled beside his wife.
Feng Liqin made Xiaoli reduce her size to that of a kitten and the fierce tiger agreed without arguing, seeing the state of her master. Huang Longwei got closer to the crying beauty. No words were said between them. Only silence as one watched while the other cried.
After a while, Feng Liqin finally looked up sadly at Huang Longwei with a tear-streaked face. Huang Longwei embraced Feng Liqin after seeing those sad but beautiful eyes. He whispered sweet nothings into Feng Liqin's ears while slowly rubbing his back. Once Feng Liqin stopped crying he spoke.
"What happened here, Huang Longwei? Why did everything suddenly become like this?"
Huang Longwei was quiet. He spoke softly of what had happened to Feng Liqin. Everything here was an accident and he would like to repay for it. Feng Liqin understood with a heavy heart and leaned on Huang Longwei while stroking the small Xiaoli. Huang Longwei kept rubbing Feng Liqin's back and would occasionally kiss his forehead.
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At the borders, two figures were riding their horses quietly. The soldiers that were with them had taken a few runaway soldiers that they met while riding beside the borders. It was just them and not one conversation was shared yet.
Zhong Shen sighs. He wondered how was he supposed to start talking with this strict beauty. He heard of General Ai. A general that was like a demon. If he was angry and spoke his mind, it was considered fine. But, if he became quiet when angry, that was dangerous. He was known to have strict training that could leave the soldiers on training half dead at the end of it. But, he also heard that this general was really clumsy if not focused and an airhead if he was in a relaxed mood. Looking at the beauty known as the demon general, he wanted to see for himself if the rumours said were true.
"So General Ai, I didn't know you were a water elemental. And a strong one at that. You rarely use it so I've never heard if your power before." Zhong Shen said, trying to start a conversation.
"Oh, really?" Huizhong looked at Zhong Shen with curiosity then looked up in thought. "I guess your right. I don't really remember using my powers during combat or during any other war. I guess I didn't see the need."
"I see." Zhong Shen answered awkwardly. He sighs again feeling disappointed.
"But, General Li. I've also heard some things about you." Said Huizhong while looking at Zhong Shen and smiled. "You are not exactly like how the rumours said. You are actually nice and easy to talk to."
With just that smile, Zhong Shen was awestruck. He felt his heart pounding quickly and his face felt a little hot. At that moment he knew, he had to have this general as his.
Huizhong, not knowing that his fate had been tied with another, leisurely rode with the general at his side, patrolling the borders while talking about things that Zhong Shen was not bothered with.
Zhong Shen kept on staring at the clueless Huizhong that was talking none stop. They then stopped by a tree when Huizhong saw something on it. It was a marking of some kind they were not sure of. Zhong Shen decided to copy the marking on a piece of paper with some ink that he had with him. Afterwards, they went further ahead to rest as it was getting dark. While setting up camp, they found out they only had one tent. It wasn't a problem at first until Huizhong was about to fall off a small cliff.
He was trying the horses to a tree and giving them water to drink. Zhong Shen thought it would be funny to scare him but everything backfired when it resulted in Huizhong about to fall off the cliff a few meters behind him. Zhong Shen managed to catch Huizhong. He was holding Huizhong tightly in his arms and they were staring at each other's eyes with how close they were.
Huizhong was back to himself and tried to push Zhong Shen away with a red face. But, since he was clumsy, he slipped and pulled Zhong Shen and himself off the small cliff.
They rolled down the cliff and finally stopped with Huizhong underneath Zhong Shen. Surprised with the outcome, Huizhong tried to pull away and squirmed underneath the Imperial General. Zhong Shen didn't give the person underneath him the chance to run away seeing that he could capture the poor general into his clutches.
After a while of squirming and trashing, Huizhong finally stopped, feeling tired. Zhong Shen smirked. "Are you done?"
Huizhong frowned at him. "Why won't you let me go? We need to go back before it gets too dark."
"What if I said I won't let you go?" Zhong Shen had a grin on his face. He knew he can't get this clumsy beauty easily. So, he had a few tricks up his sleeves to get what he wants.
"Why won't you let me go?" The clueless general asked fumble.
Zhong Shen leaned down and whispered in Huizhong's ear, "Maybe because I can't help myself of wanting to eat you up." Huizhong's face burned up after hearing the shameless general's words.
Why would the general want me!? I'm not a cute kitten like little brother!!
Thought Huizhong angrily. He tried pushing Zhong Shen away but to no avail. He was breathing hard and the person above him could only grin evilly.
"How about we make an agreement? I let you go and we go back to camp like nothing happened. In exchange, you let me hold you every night during this whole week we are together. Okay?" Huizhong did not want to agree but he needed his freedom. He inwardly cried while foolishly agreeing to the person above him without much thought.
Zhong Shen smiled wide. He finally had a chance to taste this beauty below him even a little. With that thought stuck in his head, he let Huizhong go and pulled him up with a smile. Seeing the cliff before them, it was steep and hard to climb.
Fortunately, it wasn't a problem for Zhong Shen. He immediately took the startled Huizhong in his arms and pushed himself up the cliff. Huizhong held onto Zhong Shen around his neck tightly. He was scared with the sudden action that he closed his eyes and pushed his head in between Zhong Shen's neck and shoulder.
Feeling happy with Huizhong's action after reaching the top of the cliff, Zhong Shen did not let him go until they reached the camp and he sat on a log. He then put up fire on the sticks that he gathered before falling off the cliff.
Huizhong finally sat up on Zhong Shen's lap and looked at the fire made by him. He turned towards Zhong Shen and blushed, seeing how he was sitting on the general was embarrassing. He pushed himself off of the general's lap and sat beside him with a bit of space in between.
Zhong Shen chuckled and got up to get the food before they starved themselves. They are quietly eating with their beast when Ying and Xing were looking at them closely.
"Ying? What's wrong? Is everything alright?" Huizhong asked first.
"Yeah. The both of you looked worried a little." Said Zhong Shen.
The two creatures looked at each other than, Xing spoke, "It seems like the pattern of your roots are the same."
"WHAT!?" Both of them exclaimed with different tones. Huizhong was in panic while Zhong Shen was feeling happy.
Without a second thought, Zhong Shen immediately took Huizhong into his arms and towards the tent they shared. Both Ying and Xing looked at each other with a bored look and left the camp, knowing it would be filled with moans and groans from the couple.
*OK!! So, my English is crappy as hell. I don't like how I wrote this chapter but I did not want leave you guys hanging anymore. Now, for the smutty chapters ð I'll be updating that in another extra chapter after this one. So the next update will take a while... ð as I'll be posting three chapters in one day. You'll know why eventually.
Please vote and comment alright ð *