130. Bird And Flower
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Meanwhile, somewhere else in Sky Realm, a new calamity had risen in the Swallow Clan.
The Bird Queen and her daughter- the Golden phoenix, future Empress of Sky Realm, had been offended by the Swallow Clan.
They accused the Swallow Clan's Royal family of stealing a millennia old peach to feed their useless daughter, Yan Liwei, and the Bird King was demanding that the royal family of Swallows step down and be banished from Sky Realm entirely.
Now, this Millennia Peach was a bit famous, as it was rumoured to be one of the most prized Bird Clan treasures, and almost everyone in the Bird Clan strived to earn it.
"How dare that waste eat our peach?" Bird Clan members complained left to right.
"They should indeed be banished!"
However, the Sky Emperor remained silent on the matter, refusing to persecute the Yan family.
Which only enraged the Bird King and Queen.
In anger, the Bird Queen and her daughter seized Yan Linfeng, the youngest Yan Princess, locking her away in the Central Bird Palace, simply because she spoke out of turn in Feng Yuexia's presence, daring to deny the accusations and defend her family.
This caused an outrage among the Swallows, especially since before this point, the Bird Queen and her daughter often visited the Yan clan, endlessly bullying Liwei or the entire royal family.
Yan Liyun, Yao Lien, and their daughters tried to be respectful, swallowing shame or anger, but they all recognized the Bird Queen's actions for what it was.
Plain jealousy!
The Bird Queen had managed to steal Yan Liwei's light, but she hadn't foreseen the problem with keeping up the lie...
In Sky realm's history, phoenixes, male or female, bore the most startling faces- beauty which could literally start wars as an endless line of suitors vied for their hand.
But the current Bird Princess, Feng Yuexia, did not command such a presence!
As a peacock, Yuexia had certainly been born beautiful. But she wasn't even an Azure Peacock like her father, so she wasn't too startling when compared to other peacocks.
...or even flowers.
...or even foxes...
But before she matured fully, Yao Ling quickly approached the Floral deity's sister, Qin Yuelian for help.
"I know you're envious of your grandniece!" Yao Ling had said. "I also think it's wrong for those younger to seize what is rightfully ours!" There was a bitter edge to her voice as she remembered her own younger sister's talent.
"Help me..." She continued. "And after my child becomes the Sky Empress, I'll ensure you're the next Floral deity!"
The two allied and went on to sacrifice thousands of flowers, feeding their vibrance and lustre into Yuexia every thousand years, and this made her one of the most beautiful women in sky realm...
But as she grew, her looks still couldn't be compared to Yan Liwei's natural charm and beauty!
To worsen an already difficult situation, the gold feather stolen from Yan Liwei had long lost its light, so the Bird Queen was secretly stealing the Bird Clan's cultivation treasures, and she was helped by her daughter, who had learned the truth behind her birth by now.
All this in a bid to maintain Feng Yuexia's fake phoenix powers.
Meanwhile, they did all they could to make sure Yan Liwei rarely ever left the Yan Clan, grounding her at every opportunity.
Yan Liwei didn't mind... Being weak for an immortal, she preferred to stay close to home, where everyone around her knew the truth and didn't look down on her.
However, Yan Liwei, 1st princess of the Swallow Clan, could never be accused of being a pushover.
In fact, through the years, she had gotten a few petty revenges against her aunt and cousin, though they would never know.
Once, Liwei had even spent all her allowance on a talisman which briefly nullified all spells....
Then she had activated it during one of Yuexia's grand birthday celebrations, causing the flower spell to temporarily vanish so Yuexia's real appearance would come out for several hours!
The Bird Queen had quickly lied that her daughter had been cursed by someone, and that the real appearance was 'fake', but Yan Liwei had enjoyed those precious minutes of confusion and shame.
However, things were dire at present and such petty tricks wouldn't save them. And when Liwei heard that Yuexia was personally torturing Yan Linfeng, she squeezed her fan shut in anger.
"Shamelessness was authored by those two. That woman stole my life for her child, but we let things go... Mother and daughter endlessly frustrate us, step over us, and belittle us, yet we do our best to accommodate them..." Liwei complained to her maid, a pretty robin.
"Hmph, we even turn a blind eye to their constant misdeeds with the Bird treasury..."
The magpie clan handled the Bird Clan's treasury, in charge of all expenses, wealth flow, and distribution of the cultivation treasures and resources.
But the Yan Clan were the accountants in charge of monitoring them.
As the 1st Princess, Liwei had practically taken on the mantle, and now her eyes trailed over several incredibly tall piles of ledgers.
"But now..." She continued, "Now they dare harm my little sister, and they want to exile us?"
"1st Princess, please calm down! Don't be annoyed on the account of lowlives!"
"Hmph. *'Drive a Tiger to the wall and it will leap over'..." Liwei floated to her feet. "Send word to the Magpie clan. Tell them we're personally going over to audit the Bird Clan treasury, but before then..."
(*She and her family have been pushed too far)
Liwei waved a hand, and nearly a thousand ledgers floated out of the pile, neatly arranging themselves in a stack which shrank into a tiny gold feather.
The feather floated over to the maid as Liwei continued.
"Send our own ledgers directly to the Sky Emperor." She tossed her a brilliant flaming token. "This token will lead you straight to him. Tell him Yan Palace is finally ready to cooperate, and that we've specially compiled these ledgers for eight thousand years!"
Liwei appeared by the window, one arm behind her back. "I'm going to make that mother and daughter spit out all the treasures they've swallowed through the years!" She said. "And then I'll drag them down from their high position!
"Since they fear my identity so much, then I can only reclaim it!"
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Meanwhile, over several thousand years, everyone in the Floral Realm had come to admire one name amidst the younger generations.
Zhurong Fen.
The discarded Sky Princess had a somewhat lonely childhood, as everyone blamed her for the late Sky Empress's death, forgetting she was the late Sky Empress's last legacy.
Still, Zhurong Fen pushed herself beyond the cold glares and glances, and with her innate talent, had risen to become unmatched in her age group, rising as the top talent in Floral realm.
But beyond all this, she was immensely beautiful, gentle and kind, refusing most challenges or provocations with grace and humility.
Rather than endlessly compete, she preferred to spend most of her days in the vast fields where flowers birthed or planted their young, and she spent that time tending to them.
One day, the same year Yin Bailong had first come to Sky Realm, Zhurong Fen overheard several flowers conversing in the Floral Palace.
"Did you hear?! The Crown Prince's cultivation has risen a few levels!"
"What's the point? He can only grow slowly because of his bloodline limitation."
"Yes! But even Lord Medicine couldn't make him grow at all! Not till..."
"Yin Xiaolong, right?!"
"Hmmm, that fellow is indeed powerful! Less than a year in his presence, and the Crown Prince's cultivation grew by a few levels!"
"I hear he was born a genius... Too bad his mother died while giving birth to him."
"Aiya... I imagine it wasn't easy for the East Sea King to look at him afterwards......"
The flowers noticed Zhurong Fen, and they shot her uncomfortable glances before promptly moving away.
Clearly they had drawn the similarity between her birth and Yin Xiaolong's birth, and how they had both 'killed' their mothers.
And Zhurong Fen felt a mild curiosity.
A genius like her, probably ignored by his father as well, but now working with her own father and brother...
'Who is he?' She wondered in passing thought.
But she didn't dwell on it, discarding the thought easily.
However, as the years passed, Zhurong Fen's name became more popular, and everyone assumed this would reopen the Sky Emperor's old wounds.
But instead, the Sky Emperor was filled with immense guilt over his grief-stricken decision back then, and he called Zhurong Fen back to Sky Palace.
"I will apologise for wronging you." He said after she had paid her respects. "In a world like ours - a world where we might spend endless millennia, one's mate is one of the only anchors.
"I lost mine at your birth, but didn't consider that you were also a child who lost their mother." He sighed. "I won't ask for your forgiveness, but you'll be reinstated as Sky Princess, and Sky Palace is open to you from this day on..."
Zhurong Fen gave him her sweetest smile, linking her thumbs in a bow. But before she could say anything, the doors swung open.
In came Yin Xiaolong (Bailong), Tianlong, and Fei Yun.
"Father! We've found hidden deposits of meteorites near the outlands -..."
Tianlong was speaking, and the sky emperor maybe even said something in response.
But for Zhurong Fen, time stood still as her icy blue gaze fell on Yin Xiaolong.
The *'Yin' in his name was boldly matched by his long silvery-white hair which shimmered faintly in the sunny hall, flowing like moonlit water down his back, and his gold irises held a calm and sure confidence, only enhanced by his unmistakable dragon aura.
(*Yin - Silver)
Despite such raw power, there was a playful air surrounding him, and his dimples deepened mischievously. But there was also something unbearably pure about him.
It was not the fragile purity of innocence, but it was almost as if the world could turn upside down several times over, and yet nothing would corrupt him.
Was it the light surrounding him, whereas she had always felt like a shadow?
Zhurong Fen could not say what drew her to him exactly, but she found herself watching his every tiny motion and emotion as they flickered across his face, and she was filled with a sudden desire.
She wanted Yin Xiaolong to be hers!
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