The Devil of Scarlet Rain

Chapter 17 - The Red Lantern Manor (Part 2)

Slightly raising his brows, Xia Hei replied, "You meant the painting of Yun Shang Xing Yu's Purple Heaven? Seems like the news have travelled far. I heard that Sir Jing is a great painter yourself, but I didn't know you are a fan of Yun Shang Xing Yu too."

Jing Yun Sheng's slender fingers gently caressed the wine cup in front of him as he spoke, "A long time ago, I was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of this painting during my service with the Scarlet Emperor. After so many years, I still could not forget the captivating scenery of the painting."

There was a hint of nostalgia as his voice trailed off. After a brief pause, he continued, "While I was on my journey here, I received news that you are going to auction it off tomorrow night."

He set his cup down and looked at Xia Hei straight in the eye.

"What about this? No matter how high the price is offered by your bidders, I will double the price to purchase it."

Xia Hei stared at Jing Yun Sheng in surprise. He had high hopes for tomorrow's auction because he knew that the Purple Heaven would fetch an incredibly sky-high price. Never did he expect that before the auction had even started, someone would come forward with such an outrageous offer.

"Double price? Do you even know how much this Purple Heaven will cost you?" He asked dryly.

Jing Yun Sheng laughed heartily as his eyes narrowed, forming a beautifully crescent shape. His clear crisp laughter that echoed in the cold night was like a gentle breeze that softly tickled one's heart.

"It doesn't matter how much it will cost." He lowered his eye and smiled wistfully.

"Whatever I have set my eyes on, I must obtain it."

Jing Yun Sheng was still smiling as he turned to look at the dark sky. It was not the usual inky darkness, but a soft black night that seemed to bring the promise of sunlight.

"It will be dawn soon. I must take my leave now."

With a flap of his sleeve, he stood up and turned around, so that all Xia Hei could see was his back.

"It is truly a pleasure meeting with you, Xia Hei. Someone will come to the auction on behalf of me tomorrow."

Xia Hei did not speak further as he watched the graceful silhouette boarded his boat that was docked not far away from the pavilion. As he watched, the boat slowly set sail from the brightly lit pavilion into the never-ending darkness.

His servant who was standing dutifully behind him finally could not hold back his curiosity anymore. He stepped forward boldly and asked in a low voice, "Boss, why did you return the white lotus jade? You obviously like it very much."

He, who had served his master for so long, had never seen Xia Hei returning any gifts given by others, much less a jade as fine as this.

Xia Hei shook his head and let out a harsh laugh as he replied, "Even though I, Xia Hei am not afraid of anyone, but there are some people I prefer not to mess with. He is merely testing me."

Upon hearing Xia Hei's words, the servant nodded in understanding. Indeed, who had not heard of the name of Jing Yun Sheng? At the age of eight, this man was recognized across the world as a peerless talent. A prodigy who succeeded his clan at the age of thirteen and reached the peak of power at the age of sixteen as the prime minister of Mo Empire. The Jing clan was originally one of the oldest and powerful clan in the Mo Empire. However due to the disputes with the Scarlet Emperor, the clan had defected from the Mo Empire a few years back.

As for the disputes with Scarlet Emperor, who did not know it was solely over a single woman. It was not any other woman, but the great beauty of the Mo Empire, the only daughter of the Yang clan, Yang Yi. She was known by the Mo people as the Daughter of the Sun (Yang Nu) due to her unparalleled beauty.

Yang Yi and Jing Yun Sheng were childhood sweethearts who were betrothed since birth. They were truly a match made in heaven as one is a peerless beauty, while another was a peerless talent. Their fairy tale love story was widely known even in the Yin Empire, but it did not end well as the Scarlet Emperor had also fallen in love with Yang Yi.

It was truly a twisted fate, because Jing Yun Sheng was also known to be the mentor of the Scarlet Emperor. He had personally groomed the young crown prince into a powerful emperor, but no one had expected that there would be one day when both the teacher and student would fight ferociously over one woman.

In order to obtain the beauty, the Scarlet Emperor had used underhanded method by framing the Jing clan and even massacred the entire Yang clan. It was one of the most gruesome history remembered by the Mo citizens when the Scarlet Emperor went all out to destroy two of the empire's oldest clan.

During that event, the Jing clan managed to escape their cruel fate, but their power in the Mo Empire had greatly decreased. Jing Yun Sheng was even abolished of his position as the prime minister. This had caused great animosity between the royal family and the Jing clan, so it was no surprise when the Jing clan betrayed the Mo Empire later by allying itself with the Yin Empire.

"Boss, we usually do not deal with people like him. This time he takes the initiative to approach us first, I am afraid..." The servant did not finish his words, but his meaning was well understood by Xia Hei.

Jing Yun Sheng was an extremely intelligent and cunning man, and he had played a major role in the rise and fall of the Mo Empire. This kind of man who could scheme effortlessly and cause the loss of million lives without even batting an eyelid was even scarier than the Scarlet Emperor. After all, he was the person who raised the destructive monster himself.

Xia Hei furrowed his brow upon thinking of what kind of troubles this man would bring them in the future. However, he had no solid reason to refuse this business. Also, he did not want to provoke this dangerous man. He rubbed his temple as he let out a wary sigh.

"This case must be managed with care. I will personally handle it."

The servant quickly nodded his head upon hearing Xia Hei's word.

"I will make arrangement for it immediately. Who is this person that Jing Yun Sheng is looking for?"

There was a long pause as Xia Hei took a deep breath and turned to look at the boat that had already sailed far away. He could still see the graceful silhouette standing tall, admiring the sky with his hand behind his back. From the fluid outline, he could almost guess what Jing Yun Sheng was thinking about.

The painting that Jing Yun Sheng gave them was already kept securely back in the sandalwood box. Just from this, Xia Hei could see how much this person had treasured the painting. It was a beautiful ink painting, not because of the beauty painted in it, but because it contained the emotion buried deep in the heart of the artist.

With a flap of his sleeve, he stood up and turned to go.

"Who else could it be?" He replied.

"Of course, it is the woman who had caused the fall of a great empire."