Chapter 154 “Missing Mother”
But why would the Hong House give a sick steed to Hong Yu Long? There must be another reason for this.
With a bit of curiosity, Ling Yue didn’t hesitate any longer. In one push of her foot, she jerked herself up the side of the animal and pedaled herself up the horse’s back.
Squealing in pain of having someone barging on top of it, the scarlet horse doesn’t relent and continues to struggle by swaying and jumping repeatedly. Its intent was to toss Ling Yue off and then trample her to death.
“Shameless girl, best you die under the horse’s hooves for not knowing your place.” From a certain distance, Hong Yu Long makes an insidious grin.
“Not good, things are going really bad. Hurry and bring out the soul piercing crossbow and bring the animal down.” Seeing the standoff between Ling Yue and the scarlet horse going nowhere, Sir Qing’s nerve was quickly getting rattled.
Now that their lord himself has given the order, it didn’t take long for his men to bring over the giant crossbow usually reserved for military uses. Normally one wouldn’t be able to afford to have a mechanical device of such dangerous nature, mainly due to its intended siege use, but the Qing clan was a huge family in the capital. If they wanted something, they will get it with their vast wealth.
As per the “Soul Piercing” name implies, this crossbow was meant to pierce into the heart of the enemy’s enclave with its volley of ten arrows at once. If not for the desperate situation here, one wouldn’t dare use it because the costs are quite high for the expendable arrows.
To see Sir Qing bringing out the big gun just to save a girl from the Lan House, Hong Yu Long promptly took on a gloomy expression for this represented the guy’s intent to ally with the Lan House.
How unexpected, the usually neutral standing Sir Qing would be wooed over by an insignificant brat.
By now the bolts are locked and loaded for firing. The issue though was Ling Yue who remains atop of the horse. If they fired now, the arrows would likely hit her too.
“What a grumpy thing.” Ling Yue’s hands have started to bleed under the constant strain of the reins. If she didn’t have her Jade Flower Hand Technique to aid her from falling, she would’ve been kicked off dozens of times already.
After several attempts, Ling Yue finally found a chance to affix herself into a position which would allow her to inject her spirit smoke into the animal.
Sure enough, after her initial checkup, she quickly found something of unusual nature.
In the skull area of the scarlet horse, there’s a mass of flaming red energy that’s likely the cause of the animal’s irritated state.
Now that she’s found the cause, it’s time for her to fix the problem. Manipulating her spirit smoke, Ling Yue attempts to devour that mass of red energy in one gulp. However, when making contact, the foreign mass inside the skull promptly pounced at her in retaliation.
“This is?” Figuring the substance wasn’t ordinary, Ling Yue then invoked her senses to check what the stuff were. Shockingly, the feeling she got felt familiar to when she absorbed the water element of the cauldron fragment she found in the marsh.
Based on the red flaming coloration, Ling Yue figured this must be one of the five elements of nature, the energy of a fire sprite.
But then why would a simple scarlet horse have something like this within its skull? Thinking back to the origin of this horse, she then recalled it was the old marquise of the Hong House who went to the north to capture it. If her speculations are correct, this animal must’ve been tainted with the fire elements during its capture from the marquise.
If that’s the case, then it would mean the old marquise of the Hong House has a fire sprite in his possession and unintentionally left a part of its power within the animal, hence the reason the horse was acting so grumpy.
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Unable to take her sweet time while the scarlet horse continues to struggle, Ling Yue quickly controls her water element to neutralize the aggressive nature of the fire energy. Before long, the flaming element diminishes and took on a passive state, just enough for her spirit smoke to devour with resistance.
Now that the foreign substance was gone from its skull, calm returns to the scarlet horse, leaving the lingering bystanders flabbergasted for the correct wording.
“As expected of a member of General Lan’s house, what formidable riding skill.” They all marveled at her magical riding skill.
This feat alone has dispersed any rumor floating in the air about Ling Yue’s legitimacy for Lan Ying Wu was also heralded for his amazing horsemanship in the battlefield. Like daughter like father, what else can they say after this?
“Woo,” Ling Yue reins in the horse to stop in front of Sir Qing. “Your horse,” she then hands the reins over to him.
Apparently the scarlet horse didn’t like her gesture. Issuing a whine, it nudges her on the shoulder to showcase its unwillingness.
All spirit beasts are mentally developed to a certain degree depending on their growth, therefore this scarlet horse knows it was Ling Yue who saved it from the impending danger of losing its life. To the animal, she’s the one it wants to follow, not the kid who stood at the sideline.
“Miss Lan, good skills. I won’t be a mood killer, consider this scarlet horse yours since you tamed it.” Sir Qing wasn’t one to dwell on material things.
He could tell this scarlet horse have submitted itself to this second miss of the Lan House.
As a gentleman, how can he not oblige something so wonderful as to pair a beauty with her steed.
Besides, back in the pet shop he had already discovered the girl to have a strong affinity with differing spirit beasts. Now that he’s witnessed something so grand here, he’s certain the girl had the tamer’s touch.
Happily patting the horse, Ling Yue jokingly talks to it, “Horsey, you must think it over carefully now. My home’s food can’t be compared to Sir Qing’s place where you can eat whatever you like.”
The latter squealing loudly, clearly happy to be in Ling Yue’s care.
Towards their interaction, Sir Qing couldn’t resist chuckling at the comedic scene.
While on the other end, Hong Yu Long looked absolutely dismal. Its one thing if Sir Qing had managed to tame the animal, but now his scheme had backfired and ends up benefiting this bitch instead. Annoyed beyond reason, he turns and leaves the place without looking back.
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After the incident at the school entrance, nothing else major happened other than Ling Yue writing a letter home like she planned about the Ghost Festival.
“It’s little cousin Ling Yue’s letter. She also sent many gifts home along with it.” Knowing his grandfather’s been worried about his cousin’s safety in the capital, Ye Saint (big cousin) quickly brought the letter over after getting it from the messenger.
The letter didn’t mention anything of major importance, merely how she joined the alchemist association, the Lan family’s been very good to her, and that she’s been doing well by making some new friends at the Grand Martial Hall. Then at the end of the letter, she specifically asked about her grandfather, mother and Granny Liu’s current state of affair.
“Grandfather, it seems that Ling Yue’s doing well in the capital so should we tell her the truth about third aunt’s situation?” After reading the letter, Ye Saint felt very happy for his cousin. Issue was, the entire Ye family’s been keeping a secret from Ling Yue.
On the third morning after she left Glass City, Ye Huang Yu also disappeared from home, leaving no traces of her whereabouts other than a letter behind.
In the letter, Ye Huang Yu repeatedly mentioned they mustn’t tell Ling Yue about her departure.
“Don’t let Ling Yue know about this for the time being, otherwise, knowing her temperament, she will definitely rush back here immediately. Your fifth uncle have already entrusted some of his friends in the capital to search for your aunt. If my guesses are correct, Huang Yu must be in the capital too because she couldn’t drop the events from back then.” As her father, how can Ye Gu (grandfather) not know his daughter’s way of thought. His only hope now was that Ye Huang Yu wouldn’t endanger herself and return safely one day.