LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS 219 The Last Living Descendant 1

Xing was bathing in the waterfalls along with Ayane. The water that fell from a height fell on her head with a strong patter almost like the knocks her brother gives. But oddly it was therapeutic and felt like that falling water was massaging her head and body.

Closing her eyes, Xing thought about the journal she read last night and she felt something was odd about it. Why did that journal appeared out of nowhere now? What an I supposed to find out from it? Or, Was the Emperor right to doubt it's originality?

Xing felt relieved after getting massaged by that refreshing falling water and she was in her way to change her clothes the maids brought for them. Yukiko already had left and Ayane left after Xing insisted that she won't change until she was there.

Meanwhile in the campsite, the two men decided to prepare for dinner for everyone themselves without the servants and Kouki had to go along with that even though he knew nothing about food except eating.

Yi Kwan is well trained in cooking as he's a commoner and the Water Emperor is used to help his Foster parents while growing up and he had good idea about cooking too. Kouki who was raised as a Prince was really out of his comfort zone. Sadly he couldn't even kindle a fire and he felt like those other men were looking down on him for his noble upbringing.

I am a Noble, alright! Even when I had to leave the palace fearing my life, I lived with the Huangs. How would I know to make fire? And how are they slicing fish like that? Is this how food is made?

Kouki felt out of place as he saw the men with their sleeves pulled up and looked like they knew what they were doing making a barbecue and he felt ashamed for some reason. So he made an excuse of picking firewood and left.

" This boy reminds me of Ryuga... Not even knowing how to kindle a fire", the Water Emperor chuckled after Kouki left.

"Ah, give him a break! Which Prince would know such menial task? He is still young and yet he has the Divine Ruler is by his side. He'll become great. Did you hear of the incidents that happen during his coronation? ", Yi Kwan said with a smile in his face looking at the direction he went.

" Divine Ruler, huh! ", the Water Emperor snorted," Let's see... I heard Tongtian was Coronated by the God of Wind himself. And a war started right after his coronation. What is the use of being Coronated by a God? I see no god fighting for them! And Lord Táng... I've heard a lot about him.. Uh, Her.. But isn't she... Well...", he stopped what he was about to say, 'She's just a girl!' as it wasn't very nice ," Let's see... Yukiko seems to like her a lot. She has no friends back there in my palace. So, I'm fine with that "

" Well, Byeol likes her a lot too, oddly. She doesn't get along with women that often.. We'll, there is no girl she even bothered other than Empress Yukiko at least", Yi Kwan said as he was marinating the fish, " Hey, This salt is pretty useful", he said looking at the jar Xing gave them.

As they were talking, Yukiko joined them followed by Ayane soon and they went on with preparing the dinner.

-----

Xing who was an expert in getting lost in her own home was in deep thoughts walking her way back.

She was about to find the oddity in that journal but it skipped her mind the time she was about to get that. She was really frustrated and unknown to her, she had wandered off into different part of the forest.

She decided to change her thoughts and wondered about the weird smell on Yukiko's clothes. She was familiar with it and at a moment of thought she knew what it was.

Abortion drug!

Oh, heavens!

Xing was devastated as she found out about that. Yukiko clearly wants the baby so it must be others right? Xing felt bad because for a moment she thought that she was the only normal one out of the three women.

Ayane is a woman on the Dragon Throne and she is an Empress by name only while Yukiko is the only one true to her position with her husband the legitimate heir to the Throne with a traditional inner palace run by the Dowager Empress.

So is this the work of other women in the inner palace? Xing was furious. They had added the drug in her clothes to infuse into her slowly and steadily preventing her having the child. She had known about the wickedness of the women inside the inner palace with all the power struggles and to improve the status of their family.

How cruel!

Xing decided to find something to help her with as she liked Yukiko as she was genuinely a good person and Xing really hated using children as pawns. If anyone could help her, it should be her right? She is still in the same mountain range that belongs to her!

As expected, Xing found the main ingredient of the antidote. It was the venom from the red tailed Viper whose habitat is the desert usually but for Xing this mountain is every place as she wants it to be .

Xing saw the confused viper on a branch of a tree and at the same time Kouki walked right near the tree and seeing her, stood right in front of the viper's mouth as he didn't notice it. The head of the viper was dangerously close to his head and Xing knew its venom would kill paralysing the heart within seconds.

But that snake won't kill him, a son of heaven!

"Kouki! Do not move!", Xing whispered and walked like a cat towards him. Seeing her inch towards him in a weird way made him confused and before he could ask, she was right at his face, "Shh", she said and grabbed the snake right by its head, "Got you!", she smirked victoriously.

The Emperor cringed hard seeing her holding a snake in her hands and from the colour of the snake he could say it must be extremely poisonous.

"Kouki, Good thing you were here, snakes are scared of me! If not for you, it would have been hard for me to catch this one ", she looked at the snake in the eyes holding its head in her hands dangerously close to her face.

The Emperor saw the snake writhing to get out of her grip and he was scared for her. And did she really say snakes are scared of her as opposed to she's scared of snakes?

"Snakes are scared of you?", he asked confused.

Heavens! I can never get used to this... This.. Woman..?

"Yes", Xing laughed and pulled out the jar if salt she had and poured all the salt out. The Emperor watched her as she found a cloth to cover the mouth of the jar and asked... She literally "asked" the snake to get angry for her and pressed its mouth on the cloth while the venom was collected in the jar. She was repeating it several times as she was talking to him,

" I found out really young that animals won't attack me and even if I get accidentally bit by venomous animals or reptiles, it won't affect me. So I used to do this experiment to confirm my findings that no venom affects me by getting bit purposely by snakes and stung by scorpions and such, right? And I was fine.. ", she looked at the Emperor now sitting in a rock by the side with his face pale, like his knees gave out.

" Yeah, everyone does that ", he said sarcastically.

But Xing didn't get his sarcasm," Right? ", her eyes lit up and the Emperor lost the faith in the universe... How was she made? Is Huang AoTian really her father? She should be an immortal, right?

"So, I decided to play a game with your brother", she continued not Noticing his aghast expression , " Wait, weren't you six when you met my brother? You played with snakes that young? Your mother didn't stop you?", he asked out of reflex and only after asking he remembered this one... This one could have!

"Mother didn't know", she waved her hand, "Hear me, so one day when I and your brother were out in the mountains, I found a cobra.. The one whose head flares up, right? It is a beautiful species...", she smiled reminiscing. The Emperor who was cringing hard didn't want to interrupt her because he wanted to get this story of hers over with soon.

" So I caught it when he didn't look and made it bite my hand and it was hanging from my hand and I screamed to get his attention and he turned to look at me.... Heavens...! You should have seen his face", she laughed.

"What the... Mingxia!", the Emperor almost cussed at her. Isn't this too much?

"Why are you getting angry for. It was a prank...!", she chuckled, "It won't hurt me!"

"But he didn't know that at that time... How could you..."

"He said the same thing afterwards I explained him. I could hear him gnashing his teeth and his veins were popping out in his forehead. He was really mad! Now that I think about it, he'd have hit me if I weren't a girl... You should have been there to see... ", Xing's smile gradually disappeared as she realised what was wrong in the journal she read.

She shook the jar to see she have collected enough venom for the antidote and let the viper go and it slithered off without even stopping as if it was happy it was let go.

" Tianshi Emperor had a child with Empress Shu, Kouki! ", she said and the Emperor's jaw dropped.

Chapter end

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