Chapter 6 Her Highness

“Her Highness?” After a short silence, a hubbub of voices arose. “When did she come back?” “How can I know it? Not a clue at all!” “Can’t believe...she is still alive.” Song Ce heaved a sigh with his hands in his sleeves constantly trembling. His fear and anxiety couldn’t be concealed anymore. Ning Xiaoling was stunned for a while and then suddenly said, “Could it be her?” Ning Changjiu asked, “Who?” Ning Xiaoling immediately explained, “According to the legend, in the imperial palace, when it comes to ‘Highness’, everyone will not think of the crown prince, a prince or princess but...the foster daughter of a goddess.” Ning Changjiu became even more puzzled. “A foster daughter?” Ning Xiaoling nodded. “Legend has it that more than ten years ago, on the way back from the war, the late emperor met a fairy-like woman on the tower. He took this woman back to the palace, built a palace for her and even enshrined her as the descendent of a god. It is said that the woman was accompanied by a little girl who was four or five years old. Some guessed that the girl was the illegitimate daughter of her and the emperor while some believed that the girl was an orphan adopted by her. Anyway, the girl was also raised in the palace. However, more than a decade ago...” Ning Xiaoling lowered her voice. “More than ten years ago, the palace had just been completed when the late emperor who was in his prime had a serious illness and eventually passed away.” With a confused noise of voices around, Ning Xiaoling looked around carefully while speaking and felt relieved to make sure that no one was paying attention to her. Ning Changjiu thought through a lot of things. “So it was the goddess who died twenty days ago.” Ning Xiaoling’s eyes widened. After being stunned for a moment, she finally understood what he meant. People had a lot of speculations about the goddess who lived in the palace for a long time. Although rumor had it that she was an enchantress detrimental to the state of Zhao and had something to do with the abrupt death of the late emperor, who dared to hurt her over the past more than ten years? This goddess never showed herself but she left a lot of stories in the state of Zhao, such as slaying the demon with the flying sword in Qianyu Palace and black dragon coming to visit the emperor from beyond the highest heavens... In the state of Zhao, whether she was truly a goddess or a demon, she was somewhat a legendary figure. So Ning Xiaoling never thought about her that way. Now, thanks to Ning Changjiu’s reminder, she finally took a tumble and thought that if it was the goddess who perished, as her daughter, Her Highness wouldn’t leave the matter at that. The officials in the hall put on different looks, most of whom were horrified and frightened. Supposedly, they must have something to do with the goddess’s death. No wonder they were so scared... Ning Changjiu said, “Even so, why are they afraid? Since they dared to kill the goddess, why don’t they also kill the daughter?” Ning Xiaoling hurriedly pulled his sleeve, gesturing for him to stop talking. Fortunately, no one paid attention to him. Because a pretty figure walked over through the rain vaguely from outside, the crowd gradually quieted down. Ning Changjiu stood in the shadow behind the door and looked over there. Amidst the cold autumn rain, the forest shed its leaves shower by shower. In the green and yellow courtyard, a girl dressed in a white dress with a belt wrapped around her waist walked here slowly, holding an old red umbrella. She walked across the stone steps and folded the umbrella under the eaves. The way she held the umbrella looked as if she were holding a sword. The water dripped from the top of the umbrella, which could be heard clearly. She looked around the people in the hall and finally fixed her gaze on Song Ce. The girl puckered in a smile. “How are you doing?” As she spoke, the clouds happened to go away and then a beam of light shone on her through the indistinct autumn rain. Standing under the eaves at the moment, she looked half in the sunlight and half in the shadow. It was then that everyone came to their senses and greeted her with respect. In fact, few people had seen her since three years ago. Today, as they met her, they finally knew that the hoyden who went on a killing spree under the stairs of Qianyu Palace three years ago had become like this. Ning Xiaoling stared at her for a while and then dropped her gaze quickly with her heart pounding. Ning Changjiu glanced at her and he was also slightly dazed. The girl was innately beautiful. Without any makeup, she looked as pretty as a picture; dressed in a white dress, she shimmered with exquisite charm. Ning Changjiu looked at her, as if staring at a black-and-white-ink-colored flower blooming on the cliff, so everything lost its luster, leaving sheer black and white only. The girl met Ning Changjiu’s gaze. Ning Changjiu looked at her calmly without any avoidance in his eyes. The autumn rain continued and the cold wind blew through the hall. The officials were still stooping with their heads lowered. The scorched corpse in front of the statue was mixed with the awful decaying and charring smell. In the strange silence, they looked each other in the eye. Ning Changjiu found her a little familiar but he couldn’t think of when he had met her regardless. Maybe it was just because the girl was too beautiful that his heart for Taoism was flipped. Now he was still a human being, who certainly couldn’t avoid the common seven emotions and six sensory pleasures. Ning Xiaoling looked at them anxiously, plucked up the courage to take a step forward and said with a curtsy, “Greetings, Your Highness. My fellow disciple and I followed our master here to subdue the demon. Unfortunately, Master was killed so my fellow disciple has been acting weird recently. Please forgive us.” Ning Changjiu slightly came to his senses and thought of the regnal etiquettes in the mortal world. Then he just saluted clumsily. “Greetings, Your Highness.” The girl smiled slightly, saying in a cold and yet childish voice, “Since you are invited here to eliminate the demon, you are guests then. Besides, I don’t fancy the ritualistic formalities at all. How can I blame you?” Ning Xiaoling moved next to Ning Changjiu’s side and breathed a sigh of relief. “Why are you...” the girl narrowed her eyes and chuckled, “So sad upon seeing me?” The people all came back to their senses and knelt down one after another, exclaiming that they didn’t dare to. The girl raised her hand and motioned for them to get up. “As I just said, I don’t like these formalities.” Some people rose and then found the others were still kneeling so they knelt again. The girl glanced around slowly and heaved a sigh. Her voice got even colder. “You are not willing to stand up. Are you guilty about something?” Everyone secretly looked at each other and none of them answered. Among these people, Song Ce had the highest ranking. He was also in charge of the investigation of the sparrow ghost. He sighed softly and got up first. Looking at the girl dressed in a white dress with black hair scattering over her shoulders, he said, “It is great that Your Highness can come back. We are... more than delighted.” “Hmm…” The girl chuckled. Her lips were extremely pale, thin and slightly curled, which was gently raised at the moment. Her brows and eyes thereupon appeared rather vivid. She took two steps forward and walked to the people as if coming out of the picture. “Twenty days ago, the imperial palace was besieged by the cavalry. Where was Lord Song, who once pledged loyalty to my mother before the hall?” Song Ce was in a cold sweat. “That day... it was too chaotic. Fires and blood were everywhere in the city. I didn’t know what to do then.” “You didn’t know what to do?” The look on the girl’s pretty face was getting colder. Song Ce closed his eyes and didn’t dare to answer. The girl stared at him and showed fierceness in her tone, “You besieged the palace, set fires, killed people and trampled on the palace with the armored cavalry... You plotted that long and then now you were saying you didn’t know what to do? You were really...audacious in the extreme.” Song Ce said sadly, “That was the general trend. How could I do anything with my weak strength?” The girl looked at him indifferently and stayed silent for a while, asking, “Why?” Song Ce bowed deeply and then straightened his body bit by bit to look her in the eye with all his strength, saying, “If the goddess didn’t stay in the palace only and instead, she could learn more about people’s hardships and listen to their wishes, how could everything go like that?” The girl said, “She was always watching the state of Zhao.” Song Ce said with grief, “But that was not known by the people or me...” The girl said, “She didn’t care whether you knew it or not.” Song Ce stared at the girl’s childish and yet stunning face and asked, “What about you? Do you care?” The girl didn’t answer him. Instead, she stared at him calmly, waiting for him to continue talking. Song Ce sighed with an increasingly determined look, “The state of Zhao has weakened to this extent. In the previous battle against the state of Jin, our army suffered one defeat after another. Afterward, the state of Rong has been preying on our state and forced us to cede amounts of land to them. Now that the sign of the state’s doom has shown itself, the state of Jin has repeatedly said that. Your Highness, you’ve stayed in the palace for long and never know what we have been suffering day and night! What’s done is done now. I have resentment but no regret. Hopefully, my death can let you stop this...” “Stop it?” The girl frowned and then pointed at the charred corpse on the ground, asking with a grin, “You think they were killed by me?” Song Ce lowered his head and said nothing. The girl calmly said, “Given what you can see and hear, I guess it is not difficult to know when I returned to the palace and where I was last night.” Song Ce remained silent for a while, nodded and said in a deep voice, “Yes, I know... Last night, you knelt in front of Qianyu Palace throughout the whole night.” Many people knew that but who else could be the murderer apart from her? Was it the illusory sparrow ghost? However, since she knelt before Qianyu Palace for a whole night, how could she kill the victim? The girl stopped explaining and just cut to the chase, “Where is my mother’s dead body?” Song Ce replied, “It has not been found yet.” “Hmm?” The girl raised her eyebrows lightly. Song Ce sighed, “But I’m sure that no one escaped from Qianyu Palace that day.” Faced with the fire, the armored cavalry, the arrows, the magic formation and the power of that divine being, no one could have a chance to flee. The girl didn’t talk anymore. She slowly raised her hand. Her slender and white fingers reached out from the wide sleeves, appearing even more slender. The hands rested on Song Ce’s shoulder. Song Ce was stiff in a cold sweat but he didn’t dare to move. When everyone saw this scene, they couldn’t help but think of the petite girl in front of Qianyu Palace three years ago, who had blood all over her body and still looked determined. Song Ce closed his eyes and got ready to die. The girl just smiled, adjusted his clothes and smiled, “You should cherish this hard-won official suit.” Song Ce was stunned. He didn’t realize that he had just dodged a bullet. His body was still quite tense. The girl turned her gaze from him to the rest of the people and smiled, saying, “I’m living in the imperial preceptor’s mansion. If you have anything to discuss, just feel free to come and find me.” “The imperial preceptor’s mansion?” Song Ce was slightly surprised. The girl had turned around and walked out. The autumn rain outside the eave didn’t stop yet. She held the umbrella again and said through the rain. “Since my teacher is dying from a critical illness, as his student, of course, I should serve him with all my heart.” As a breeze blew slowly, a yellow flower on the dress beside her arm was dangling in the wind. ... ... “The imperial preceptor’s mansion? How can she live there?” “The imperial preceptor is her teacher, who is kind of her only family. However, when the siege happened 20 days ago, he chose to stand by and watch...” “Hasn’t she known that her teacher has been on the opposite side of her?” “It’s possible.” “By the way, what about the assassins? What about the assassins sent by the state of Jin to kill her? Why did she still come back?” “Did they fail... How come? It is said that the third-ranked assassin in the state of Jin was sent to kill her. How could they fail in the end?” “It seems that we can only count on the imperial preceptor and the wizard patriarch. These two people who are incompatible as fire and water are finally on the same side. Unless that little girl had mastered invincible capabilities, she would definitely come to the same end as her mother did!” The officials were discussing animatedly, who probably thought on the bright side. However, a voice suddenly arose. “You really don’t understand? Didn’t that girl just imply that the imperial preceptor has been taken hostage?” The crowd followed the voice and only saw a young man in a Taoist robe stare at them in confusion. He looked as if gazing at a group of idiots. Many people recalled what the young girl said just now and took a tumble but they had been grieved beyond words before. Now that their ignorance was laid bare by a young man, most of them became furious. Song Ce finally couldn’t hold back his temper and then snapped harshly, “What on earth do you want to do? You are not needed here. Just get out of the imperial city. If you dare to utter another word, the money for your master’s funeral expenses won’t be given to you at all!” Ning Changjiu looked at him resignedly, wondering why this man was so ungrateful to his kind reminder. Was this the secular world down the mountain? Ning Xiaoling tugged at his sleeve and mumbled in a nearly begging voice, “Changjiu, let’s go...” Song Ce was in a very bad mood at the moment, and he was lazy to talk nonsense, waved his hand, and motioned to the guard to take them out. “Wait a minute!” Suddenly someone stepped forward from the crowd. Song Ce glanced at the man and said with disgruntlement, “Zhao Shisong, don’t cause trouble here.” The man named Zhao Shisong arched his hands as if begging for mercy, looked at the young man and the young girl, and ventured the question, “May I know how your skill is?” Ning Changjiu said, “Just fine.” Zhao Shisong thought for a while and said, “To be honest, recently, my wife has been infected with the evil spirit. The famous doctors and the Taoist priests have been sent for but they couldn’t cure her either. I wonder whether you would like to give it a try.” Obviously, he was going to make every possible effort. Song Ce just wanted to reprimand when Ning Changjiu had already spoken first, “Yes.” Ning Xiaoling had no other choice but to nod her head with pretentious confidence. Song Ce glanced at them and gave up stopping them. Then he just left with a flick of sleeves and his eyes became even colder.