“At ease men.” Zhang said as he patted one soldier on the soldier.
“Alright then before we head to the villa then we have one stop we must make. Also from today onward she will be one of the madams too.” Zhang said as he held Ling’s hand.
Since they only had so many horses Zhang decided to ride with Ling. So after he jumped onto his horse he extended his hand down toward her. Soon she was sitting in front of him and his arms were wrapped around her waist as they rode down the street.
Many gazes of envy were laid upon the group as they rode down the street. Zhang, Yuying and Ai were used to this by now but Ling was still somewhat shy. She had spent most of her time training and had never caught this much attention before.
Zhang changed his mind about not interacting with his family or Ling’s after he saw that Huang Zu had a liking for Ling. He felt that if he did not act then maybe her family would be pressured into marrying her away to the prince against her will.
He was going to use his status as the next lord of Aurora to ask for her hand in marriage. Of course as just a formality because they were already engaged.
“Young lady your back! The lord will be very happy to know you came home. You also brought back friends.” The servant said.
“Ah yes princes Huang Zu had come earlier looking for your father.” The servant replied.
“Right away young lady.” The servant said as he led the way.
In the hall they could see Ling’s father sitting in a large chair at the very end of the hall while Huang Zu could be seen sitting in a chair to his side talking. In the middle of the hall were many boxes with extravagant gifts inside of them.
“Ling you came home at just the right time! I’ve come to ask your father for your hand in marriage.” Huang Zu said once he saw Ling walking into the room. However, when he saw Zhang walk in after her a slight frown could be seen on his face.
“Are they perhaps your friends?” He asked Ling.
The two of them seemed to totally ignore what Huang Zu had said.
Once Ling’s father heard Zhang’s voice a stunned look appeared on his face. But he did not say anything about it.
“Simple I propose that we both compete, with each person having one chance to show amaze her and then she will pick. Once she picks of course the loser must live with the outcome. What do you say brother Huang Zu?” Zhang said.
“Yea you can do anything as long as it does not cause harm to someone else and at the end she will decided who amazed her the most. Of course unless you are afraid that you are up for the challenge then maybe we can pick something else to do.” Zhang replied purposely provoking Huang Zu.
“Afraid? Hmph fine I agree to the challenge.” Huang Zu replied.
“Of course.” Ling’s father said. Although he had some doubt in his mind he felt that he knew the man under the helmet that was standing in front of him. Besides the voice there was that odd sense of confidence and mannerism that reminded him of the young man who had died three years ago. And the fact that this young man came with his daughter who did not interact with anyone from the opposite sex at all after the death of that certain young man.
To amaze Ling, Huang Zu who was a level 7 mage decided to use magic. With his amplitude the highest in the element of lightning Huang Zu was one of the geniuses of the kingdom.
Once in the middle of the courtyard Huang Zu assumed a stance with both of his feet spread out and his back straight. He then made a hand sign with his hand and concentrated his essence.
It was a technique called the wild dance of the lightning dragon. Once he had enough essence in concentrated Huang Zu unleashed it all from this finger tips that he pointed toward the sky. From his fingertips multiple giant white lightning builds shot out. After shooting into the air the ten odd lightning bolts transformed into the shape of dragons.
Yuying could be seen yawning as she watched Huang Zu’s technique. Although she was only currently at the 6th rank of cultivation she was not impressed with this technique. To her it was somewhat boorish due to the vast number of techniques she already knew. When in the Underworld she had countless supreme techniques to pick and learn from. This was sort of like child’s play to her.
As for Ling she was fairly impressed she could tell that it was a fairly high level technique that needed a lot of concentration to pull off. There aren’t many techniques like that in the Royal Academy’s technique hall for her to pick from sadly. What seemed odd to her was the lack of reaction from Yuying and Ai.
“After my turn we will see who is the one that is to give up.” Zhang replied with a smile. Zhang did not have any flashy moves because up until now he had relied on strengthening his body physically thus making him more of a warrior than a mage.
With a wave of Zhang’s hand, a continuous stream of purple energy from the Underworld Heart shot out of his finger tips and into the sky. Once the purple energy reached into the skies black clouds began to form out of thin air. Then after a few moments it began snowing. But the snow fell down in the shape of small flowers.
After a while Zhang stopped the stream of purple energy and the clouds dispersed and went away. He had to constantly control the purple energy or else it would have no rain the snow flowers at all.
“For you.” He said as he gave the crystal flower to Ling.
For Zhang and Ling apple trees had a special meaning that only they knew. When they were growing up they would spend almost all of their time chatting on a branch of an apple tree in Zhang’s garden. For her this five petal king bloom meant that he did not forget about her or about their past.
“So did I win? Although the snow flowers were fairly impressive but you have to admit my dance of lightning dragons was very spectacular.” Huang Zu said.
“I guess.” Huang Zu said and after a while departed.
“You can take off the helmet now Zhang.” Ling’s father said.
“How wouldn’t I be able to recognize the young man that my daughter was going to marry. Boy I watched you grow up how could I not tell it was you under that helmet.” Ling’s father said with a chuckle.
Thus Zhang began recalling what had happened to him just like he had done with Ling.
“I’m glad that you were able to come back to us.” Ling’s father said as he got up and gave Zhang a hug. He had thought of Zhang as his son for many years and was truly happy to see that he was alive.
“Uncle there was something else I wanted to talk to you about.” Zhang said.
“Let’s talk to your father first and we can all decide after that. Let’s have some dinner now and then you have to return to your villa that was arranged for you as to avoid suspicion.
“Brother that uncle seemed very friendly.” Yuying said.
“Must be nice to have such loving family.” Ai said somewhat dejected. Ai still had no memories of her past and was somewhat pained seeing how kindly Ling’s father had treated them.
“Now it’s time to get some sleep because we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” He added.
This chapter took me a while wasn't feeling it today T__T hope you guys enjoy it.