Dong.
Dong dong….
One day before the Worship Day, the huge sounds of drums suddenly echoed in Da Jiang City.
The earth seems to be shaken by each and every drumbeat and the noisy city suddenly became quiet.
People in the city know that the drumbeat meant that the Kyrin Family is asking for their lords to assemble for urgent matters. The five lords of the Kyrin family will soon gather at the house of the Lord of the Purple Kyrin, the leader among the five veins of the family.
But nobody knows what has happened for now.
When the drumbeat started, Jiang Zizai was already at the Purple Kyrin House with Lu Dingxing and Ruo Xiaoyue.
Every heavy drumbeat seemed to strike at Jiang Zizai's heart, making it difficult for him to breathe.
On the Purple Kyrin Platform.
This is where grand meetings are held and important decisions are announced in the Da Jiang Palace.
It is a huge place, with five flags hanging high in the air on each side.
Among the five flags, the one in the middle has a purple kyrin totem embroidered on it. Nine thunder beams encircle the body of the kyrin, who is looking up to the sky with a dignified and inviolable look.
The image of the kyrin totem itself is intimidating and owesome.
This is the Purple Kyrin's totem! The leading lord among the five lords of the Kyrin Family.
The other four flags are for the Fire Kyrin, Ink Kyrin, Yellow Kyrin and Gold Kyrin.
Jiang Yunting, the Lord of the Purple Kyrin, has evolved his totem to the "Nine Sky Kyrin Totem", the highest level within the Martial Realm.
The Nine Sky Kyrin Totem is one of the Eight Super Totems in the Land of the Yanlong, and can be compared to that of the Yanlong Totem, the one that belongs to the Emperor himself, and which is also one of the Eight Super Totems.
In fact, on the Land of the Yanlong, these are the only two Super Totems that are known to the people, while the other six have disappeared for a long time.
And the two are owned by the Yanlong Emperor and the Lord of the Purple Kyrin, one for each.
When he was young, Jiang Yunting, the Lord of the Purple Kyrin, helped the Yanlong Emperor to land the throne. Afterwards, he fought for the emperor to defend and expand the Land of Yanlong and established himself on the battlefield. He is famed for his honest, integrity and discipline.
Nowadays the world is peaceful and Jiang Yunting is stationed in the south to protect the border from the "essence beast" and keep the people in the south safe and sound.
For the commoners, the Lord of the Purple Kyrin is a capable and loyal lord, serving the emperor and the people with his best.
He is so respected that no one would believe that something may have gone wrong for him.
That was what Jiang Zizai's was thinking at the moment.
On the Purple Kyrin Platform, among all the lords an VIPs, a beautiful women stood in the center.
She is elegantly dressed, and she has a slim figure, a graceful and dignified look. She seems a bit weak, but one can not fail to feel her inner strength.
But at this moment, everyone can see from her eyes that she was anxious.
She is Jiang Zizai's mother Ruohua, the wife of the Lord of the Purple Kyrin.
When the Lord of the Purple Kyrin is out defending the border in Huangtian Pass, she is the one in control.
Of course, she is the women that Jiang Zizai respected most. His greatest hobby is to make his mother laugh.
But at this moment, no one has the mood for laughing.
Standing besides Ruohua are the VIPs of the Kyrin family.
There are five lords in the family, and the Lord of the Purple Kyrin rules supreme.
The Lords of the Gold Kyrin, the Fire Kyrin, the Yellow Kyrin, and the Ink Kyrin and the distinguished elders of their respective family have all arrived and are scattered around Ruohua.
All of them looked solemn and stern for the occasion.
But no one knows what is really going on in these people's minds, and some seemed to have been tipped off about what is going to happen.
All eyes are upon the Purple Kyrin Platform.
There, a bird of the Essence Beast is holding a golden scroll ten times larger than its body with its beaks.
The golden scoll is the the Decree from the Yankong Emperor.
The essence beast is a strange and powerful animal in this world, co-existing with humans under heaven and competing with humans for survival.
The bird has no feather, but it has golden scale like that of a dragon. It is a flying dragon tamed by the Yanlong Royal Family for sending royal messages.
Here comes the Royal decree.
The scroll unfolded itself with a golden blaze, giving it a majestic power that owes everyone.
Everyone kneeled down as if some huge rock was on their back.
Jiang Zizai stopped the urual smile that always hung on his face, his heart trembling, feeling the full force of the Emperor.
"For the Kyrin Family"
The scroll with the golden blaze quickly unfolded until it is flat.
The golden blaze burn on the surface of the scroll, making a reflection on the face of everyone present.
Sudeenly, a golden figure stands out from the scroll. It is the figure of the Emperor himself!
He is not here in person, but the image of him is so vivid that everybody lowered his head to the ground.
Jiang Zizai bites his own teeth and clenched his fist. He wanted to resist the majestic power, but failed.
Now it is time for the announcement.
Everyone is holding his breath.
Here it comes.
The deep echoing voice of the Yanlong Emperor is much louder than the drums, and can be heard in every corner of the Da Jiang city.
"Last night, a dramatic incident happened in Huangtian Pass."
The single sentence lifted Jiang Zizai's heart to his throat. He wanted to cough a bit to relax himself, but he failed again.
"My brother, the Lord of the Purple Kyrin failed me in my disappointment."
Hong…..
This is a huge piece of information that stopped everyone's breath.
"He betrayed the empire and its people, by colluding with the Kingdom of the Summer Underworld. He opend the Huangtian Pass for tens of thousands of the Essence Beasts to enter our land. During a single night, 100 thousand of my people died and their body are littered all around the land."
Honghong….
This is like a thunder out of the blue sky.
Jiang Zizai's mind became blank.
Tens of thousands of the Essence Beasts have broken through to our land, and butchered the people!
Families broken, bodies littered all around!!
Huangtian Pass, the most important fortress of the empire, defended by the Lord of the Purple Kyrin, just collapsed with collusion??
"This tragic incident and the treacherous behavior of Jiang Yunting has been witnessed by all warriors of the Kyrin Legion, who are still fighting the beasts on the border despite a heavy loss."
"But Jiang Yunting himself, after opening the pass for the beasts, had run away to the enemy".
It is just an outrageous accusation! Jiang Zizai doesnot believe a word of it!!
His father, his role model whom he adored, is the most loyal and trustworthy man on earth.
He knows his father more than anyone else does.
He will never betray the empire. He is incapable of letting 100 thousand commoners to be butchered.
But the emperor has said that the warriors of the Kyrin Legion witnessed the incident themselves.
And, perhaps only Jiang Yunting himself can open all the complex locks of the Huangtian Pass.
And, why did he run away if he hadn't done anything wrong?
Jiang Zizai can no long kneel on his knees, and he collapsed on his bottom. He wanted to say something for his father, but he couldn't utter a word.
One hundrede people died. That is not something to be excused, not even for Jiang Yunting.
He is completely out of his mind now.
On the one side, it's the emperor's words. On the other, it is disbelief.
The Kingdom of Summer Underworld is to the west of the Yanlong Empire, and the two has been fighting each other frequently. But with the Huangtian Pass in the south broken through, it dramatically worsened the Yanlong Empire's situation.
As if knowing the disbelief among the people, the blaze on the scroll gradually risen up and formed a picture.
It's Huangtian Pass!
In the picture, a man in purple dress killed the general defending the pass and opened the gate!
And that man in purple dress is Jiang Yunting!
Jiang Zizai suddenly coughed out blood. He can not bear to see the picture!
He shook his head. He can't believe it even if he has seen it with his own eyes!
That's not his father. That's not him! He is a hero!!
The Yanlong Emperor appeared on the scroll again, he continued "the Kyrin family had been loyal to the empire for long. Your family will not be affected by the incident in Huangtian Pass and no one present here will be punished. From now on, the five Kyrin lords must clear your own house and be ready to serve the empire and the people to clear your name."
"As far as Jiang Yunting is concerned, I will personally get him arrested and punished by death."
"Those who can offer leads to his arrest will be generously awarded."
"In addition, …"
The emperor looked at Jiang Zizai and his family, and stopped for a while.
"Jiang Junjian, the Elder son of Jiang Yunting, and Lu Yuan, the Zhonglie General are suspected accomplices. They have been arrested and are on their way to the Yanlong City. If convicted, they will be hanged in a proper date".
His brother! Lu Dingxing's father, the loyal associte of his father! Both of them are criminals now!
He can still remember how his brother helped him out everytime he had done something wrong.
His brother would tell him that it is the duty of the elder brother to protect the younger one.
But now, he will be hanged "hanged in a proper date"?!
"I have also send people to investigate if there are more accomplices in the Da Jiang City."
"That’s all."
And that's all.
Everything for Jiang Zizai seemed to have changed.
His father is convicted of treason, and is nowhere to be found.
His elder brother is a suspect waiting to be hanged.
The whole family has been turned upside down.
He raised his head, but the scroll has gone. Only the flag with the Purple Kyrin is flying in the air. The sun has hidden itself as well in some big clouds.
He felt like being snabbed in the chest and bleeding.
He felt the knife is still on his chest but he cannot pull it out.
At present, his mid is still blank. He stood up and looked around, and he found that most people, like him, seemed confused and didn't know what to do.
"Mother."
He saw her at the center of the crowd, and could not help to call her.
He knew that she must be even more traumatized. One was her husband, the other her son.
She looked pale now, like a petal in late autumn. She looked into Jiang Zizai's eye, not knowing what to do.
It pained him to see her in pain. But he could not do anything. He hated himself at this moment. He could not do anything, not even share her pain!!
It was not clear who is in charge in the Da Jiang Palace now.
The other four Kyrin Lords seemed to be confused as well, or even angry.
But one can not tell whether the anger was directed toward the Royal Decree or toward Jiang Yunting.
The compitition among the Kyrin Lords are not a secret. It is only during the past several decades that the Lord of the Purple Kyrin has become dominant as a result of Jiang Yunting.
But now, Jiang Yunting was ruined.
At that moment, Ruahua stood up and said, "No one shall leave. We will have a Five Kyrin Meeting now. All lords and distinguished elders should stay. Others are dismissed."
There is no need to hide anything now. The royal decree was heard by all and soon everyone will know what has happened.
Jiang Zizai knew that his mother is pretending to be strong. He felt sorry for her but knew that she had no other choice.
It's better to take things into your own hands.
But he knew from her voice that her heart was trembling when she spoke.
"Mother…", Jiang Zizai approached her.
"Go back home first, don't wander around and wait for me to come back." Ruohua smiled gently, and said, "Don't be afraid, son. There must be some misunderstanding. I will figure it out."
She was still trying to comfort him. But Jiang Zizai is old enough to know better. He knew that it was almost impossible to turn things around.
The Lord of the Purple Kyrin is no longer around, and all important matters shall be decided by the Five Lords Meeting(FLM). She has to deal with the matter quickly. She is now the only one that can represent the Purple Kyrin's House.
Some on the Purple Kyrin Platform just left, while others went for the FLM.
Lu Dingxing and Ruo Xiaoyue stayed with Jiang Zizai.
Lu Dingxing is tall and strong. But he is almost crying.
Ruo Xiaoyue squatted on the ground and sobbed.
"Boss, it is not possible. The Lord couldn't have done something like that, nor could Junjian and my father. They must have been set up. I want to go to the Huangtian Pass and find out the truth. I will clear their name!" Lu Dingxing said, clenching his teeth.
"Stop! Just go back to the house!" Jiang Zizai said, taking a deep breath.
He is the third male in the house. Without his father and brother, he knew he should behave.
Somehow, he felt that he had a lot on his shoulder.
Only one hour ago, however, he was talking about going to the opera house to have some fun.
"Boss, are you frightened?" Lu Dingxing was a bit out of control of himself.
"Keep calm. We cann't solve this problem."
"Have you doubted the Lord?"
"Bullshit, that's my father. I know better than you."
Despite the fact that he is not a TTM, he can be fierce in his own way. And his raised tone cooled Lu Dingxing down.
"Xiaoyue, stop crying. Let's go back first."
Jiang Zizai helped her to stand up. He knew that from this day on, tears may not be useful anymore.
Yes, from this day, this moment, his life would be changed.
But Xiaoyue cannot control herself, and she cried even louder, her tears dropping on his clothes.
She did not stop crying until they went back home.
The three of them waited for Ruohua to come back. Maybe the grown-ups would figure a way out, they thought.
"Boss, do you think the other four Lords would help us out? They have wanted this day for long. I don't think they will have mercy on us." Lu Dingxing said.
Jiang Zizai, looking at the goldfish in the pond and patting Xiaoyue's head, said, "That's right. The Yanlong Emperor said that the other lords in the Kyrin family were not evolved, and it was only our fathers and my brother. Their chance has now come."
The other four Kyrin Lords are not peace makers. You did not see any pain or sympathy in their eyes just now.
Even their safety here is now in question, not to mention clearing his father's name.
Jiang Zizai felt his weakness and helplessness now — he could do nothing.
All he could do is be angry and depressed.
At this moment, like never before, he felt that he needed to become men like his father and brother. They are the kind of man who could take things into their own hands and fight injustice.
But, the ancient gods seemed to have abondoned him.
Without a ZT, he could not evolve and all he could do is to have more muscles.
Lu Dingxing said anxiously, "According to the rules, if Junjian and the Lord can not be cleared, I mean if, then you are supposed to inherit the title. But you must reach the 'Saint Realm' in your evolvement to do that. If you can not obtain the ZT tomorrow when we worship the Pillar of Origin, you will not be able to reach Saint Realm forever! What could happen then… "
Saint Realm is the third realm for evolvement. His elder brother Jiang Junjian, the most talented among his peers, reached that realm at the age of 20.
And Junjian was supposed to inherit the title.
Jiang Zizai clenched his fist, and said, "You are right, if I can't get my ZT tomorrow, I will be be stripped the title of prince. If my brother can not clear his name, then the other Lords will naturally get the title."
All has changed.
One hour ago, he was not worried about the Worship tomorrow at all.
Even if he fails to get a ZT, he still had his father and brother.
But now, tomorrow's failure would mean that he will be stripped of the title of prince, and there will be no eligible heir to the title of Ruler of the South in the House of the Lord of the Purple Kyrin. That would put his family in an even worse position.
He still has his older sister pursuing her Evolvement in the Huguo Temple of the court, but girls are not entitled to inherit the title.
"We don't know where my father is, but at least his life is in no danger. But my brother may be hanged any moment. If my brother is dead, then the other four Kyrin Lords will waste no time to seal our fate".
Jiang Zizai had never been more worried.
His mother is still out there fighting for the family, but he know it is not an easy fight.
What if I can do something for her! He suddenly hate himself.
"Why the ancient gods don't like me?" he asked himself.
I need a ZT tomorrow! Yes, I need one!! Maybe I did not need it before. But now I do need it!!!
Jiang Zizai looked up to the sky, with an urgent and eager look on his face.