It's already nighttime when Emperor Yin Renshu and Princess Yin Xiulan heard a loud exploding sound in the sky. His majesty immediately extinguished the campfire and get his guards up. As for the princess, she still remained crouching, spacing out while facing the small mound. It seems she already gave up trying so hard to survive. She lost her holy weapon during that fall. Her brother lost his sword too. She's hopeless and feels like they really got defeated in the game of fate.
The loud explosion is followed by a sharp whistling sound as a light launches into the sky. When it reached a certain point, the small light scattered with a loud bang. The firework forms a white five-petaled flower. It's Wan MoliHua Palace's emblem.
"Xiulan let's go!" Emperor Yin Renshu grabs his sister's wrist and drags her along towards the direction where the firework came from.
He thought it must be Prince Yin Wenyan or anyone in Wan Moli Hua Palace.
The Princess, on the other hand, didn't say anything, nor resisting his brother's pull. While running away from their camp, she didn't break her gaze in Liu Chen's grave. Still can't decide whether she wants to stay or run away from it. The mound is slowly getting smaller in her vision as the two of them run farther until she can't see it anymore.
Emperor Yin Renshu knows that his sister is grieving over the death of his most trusted subordinate but they must prioritize being rescued first. For the nth time, he tries to encourage his sister to keep her life going and struggle in the times like this.
"Don't worry, Xiulan. When things are already settled, you can always visit him. For now, we must get out of this damn forest. I'm sure, he wants you to be saved as well. Otherwise, he won't die for you."
Princess Yin Xiulan gritted her teeth. "Mn. I know."
In an instant, the princess looks like she finally gathered herself back again. The last statement of her brother made her realize that she can't stop here. She must not die right here and now or else, Liu Chen's death will be all in vain.
She must live. Punish the ones who deserve it. Avenge the late Lieutenant General Liu.
Princess Yin Xiulan runs as fast as she can, almost overcoming his brother's pace.
"Liu Chen..." She said in the back of her mind. "I won't let you die a meaningless death."
The emperor is surprised by her sudden awakening. This made him feel like a thorn is being pulled out from his chest.
"Finally, you're back." The emperor sneered. "I can't be a good big brother so you better keep yourself up."
"So you're actually aware of that. Yes, you suck. I won't sugarcoat it." Princess Yin Xiulan sneered back. "You should call me big sister instead."
"Not gonna happen."
Another firework is launched in the dark sky. They're almost there.
"Renshu! Xiulan!" Prince Yin Wenyan's loud voice echoed in the forest.
With their distance, the emperor and the princess could barely hear their brother. This signifies that they aren't too far from him. Only by then did they confirmed that it was really Prince Yin Wenyan who sent the signals.
"Wenyan!" Emperor Yin Renshu yells back. "We're here!" He picks up the dried branch he saw on the way and ignited it with his spiritual energy, providing the light and at the same time, giving a hint to the other.
Prince Yin Wenyan sees the flame coming close to him. Finally, after hours of searching for them, he finally found his lost siblings. He left out a sigh of relief. He thought searching for them would take him a few days.
"Wenyan!" Princess Yin Xiulan hops to his brother, grasping him tightly. The prince, on the other hand, almost lost his balance but good thing, he managed to support himself not to fall.
"There's a bunch of traitors in the imperial palace!" She exposed the issue to her brother.
The emperor also said, "Yes. And it's the grand empress dowager who's behind all of this."
"Mn. I know." The prince said with a solemn expression on his face. "I'm so sorry. I didn't see through this."
"It's not your fault." Emperor Yin Renshu taps his brother's shoulder. "The grand empress dowager and that Lieutenant General Song are in cahoots. They are the ones to blame."
The princess gets impatient to make the responsible ones pay for their misfortunes. She didn't bother to console her brother. "Anyway, let's go back to the palace. Things should be settled as soon as possible."
"About that..." The prince scratches the back of his head. "I lost my way. I don't know which direction is the way out."
"..." Emperor Yin Renshu got speechless.
It's very rare for Prince Yin Wenyan to be careless. Everything he does is calculated and planned perfectly beforehand. He must be thinking a lot of things in mind and is very stressed about their current situation.
For him to get lost in the middle of a search and rescue operation... now it's the three of them that need rescuing.
"Great! Now, it's the three of us that's lost." Princess Yin Xiulan annoyingly crossed her arms on her chest. "Who's going to lead the way now?"
"Don't worry." Despite the crisis they're facing at the moment, Prince Yin Wenyan is still calm, even smiling, trying to somehow calm his siblings. "It will be much easier for us to find the way out if we go above."
The prince unsheathes his sword from its scabbard then, forms a hand seal. His sword floats mid-air, waiting for its owner to mount. Seeing that his brother isn't doing the same, Prince Yin Wenyan subconsciously looks at the other's left hip, only to see an empty scabbard.
"Where's your sword?" The prince asked with his gaze still fixed at the emperor's scabbard.
Looking guilty of carelessness, the emperor averted his eyes from his brother. "I think I lost it when we fell down the ravine."
Princess Yin Xiulan is guilty of the same case. She scratches her cheek with her forefinger. "My fan slipped from my hands that time too."
"..." The prince blinks and made a straight face. "Haven't you tried summoning it?"
"I can summon it?" The emperor and the princess said in unison. They look surprised and at the same time, amazed.
Prince Yin Wenyan thinks about it again. He isn't so sure about it since he only heard some cases that a cultivator can summon his holy weapon in a distance. "Well... I haven't tried summoning my sword yet but those weapons you have are holy weapons. A holy weapon has a strong connection to its rightful owner. It should answer the call if you summon it."
His majesty nods and extended his hand upwards, and uttered his command, "My sword, come forth!"
After a second, two, five, ten...
There's no sign that a sword is coming anytime soon. Nothing happened.
"..."
The three of them look stupid, silently waiting for nothing. The crickets sound even louder.
"Nothing happened!" Emperor Yin Renshu exclaimed as he stamps his foot on the ground. The proud action he made a while ago makes him feel a little embarrassed.
"I think you can only summon it when it's nearby. The closer you are, the stronger the connection is." The prince said. "Alright. Let's go to the exact place where you lost it."
With a mocking expression on her face, Princess Yin Xiulan asks the emperor, "Can you show us how to summon a holy weapon again?"
Meanwhile, Emperor Yin Renshu frowns. "Shut up."
The act that he made earlier made him feel embarrassed. Why would he not? He did a proud pose and waited for the arrival of nothing. However, her mocking statement earlier is never enough for Princess Yin Xiulan. His reaction only made her want to mock him more. "How about the facial expression at the very least?"
The emperor replies without even looking back at her. "Never in a thousand years. Would you like to do it instead?" He made it sound like he's challenging her.
Princess Yin Xiulan didn't back off from his challenge. "Actually, I can show you what you looked like. We have identical faces after all! It's like this."
She was about to exaggerate her brother's face using hers when Prince Yin Wenyan interrupted her. Just like in their old days, Prince Yin Wenyan acted as the referee. "Xiulan, please stop teasing him."
"Fine." She shrugs.
Ahead of them, the princess saw a blue petaled flower. She picks it up when she got nearer to it. She stared at it for a good while, and even smells it. Since it's just a wildflower, it doesn't really have a special fragrance on it. However, it gives off a refreshing smell.
Prince Yin Wenyan sees this and finds it strange. Ever since her childhood, she never paid too much attention to flowers. She didn't even appreciate the beauty of the expensive flowers in the market. For her to pick up a wildflower out of nowhere, and in the middle of troubles on top of that, is something not usual.
He speaks to his sister casually, trying not to make it obvious that he finds her acting strange. "I didn't know you like flowers now. The only flower that managed to hold your attention for a few seconds was jasmine."
A weak smile forms on her lips. Her eyes filled with sadness once more. "I don't really like flowers. I'm giving it to Liu Chen."
"Liu Chen?" The prince looks at his brother, silently asking who that person is.
The emperor, on the other hand, shakes his head, signifying that this matter should not be discussed right now.
"..." Prince Yin Wenyan doesn't have an idea what happened with her and this man she's talking about. However, he thought, maybe it's a sensitive topic for his sister so he didn't ask any further. He decided to ask about it some other time.
Since they're not that far from the stream where they fell, it didn't take too much time for them to reach the site.
The princess added the wildflower she picked up to the pile of flowers on the top of a small mound. She crouches facing it and stares at it silently.
Seeing this, Prince Yin Wenyan got a clue of who's this 'Liu Chen' she's talking about. It's a deceased person.
The emperor walks closer to his brother and said in a low voice, enough for the two of them to hear. "He's a lieutenant general. The one she trusts the most. He died fighting the enemy."
"I see. This soldier has my respect." The prince comes closer to the grave and pays his respect. He then taps his sister's shoulder. "The justice will be served."
"Mn. I'll definitely make them pay." She said with pure hatred reflecting in her eyes. "Wenyan, allow me to punish the ones responsible for his death."
"..." The prince is hesitant for a while. He knows that she will sentence them based on her emotions, and not equally and lawfully. However, he thinks that it's his sister, Yin Xiulan, who they should pay since she's the one who lost an important part of her. "Mn. Alright."
Just like what Prince Yin Wenyan said, his siblings got to summon their holy weapons out of the waters.