The King of Kings: Three Days Emperor

Chapter 01: Dancing on Threads

The welcome ceremony started with the exquisite dancers prancing about on the terraces and the streets of Zhulin. It was the celebration of another year of great harvest for Jin. The country celebrated with the lighting of lanterns, a great feast and a martial art competition to decide who was the best in the year.

Martial artists from all walks of life loitered at restaurants and entertainment halls seeking for amusements and comforts. Locals mixed in with foreigners who came for the special Lantern Festival crowded around the town-square to watch a preemptive competition of martial art skills in preparation for the real tournament coming up. Only a few more days until the Lantern Festival, but the town could not hold back its joy. It was not just the festival that they were celebrating, but joining this festive day was the news of victory at Mount Liu carried out by a renowned mysterious general; Xue Hua.

Wu Lei was not in a good mood since losing his horse and also his beloved jade tassel that never parted with him since birth. His retinue: Xiao Tian, Wei Han and Bai Li were wondering how their young master was in such a predicament. To them, he carried himself as someone who is very observant and meticulously sharped. Surely even he himself was in disbelief since all they had seen on him was a deadpan smile, and he never said anything else after, "I lost my horse and my prized jade tassel."

His retinue glanced at each other as they observed him, Wu Lei was deep in thoughts. He missed his horse and would like to find it again. The Fairy left him a note telling him that she would pawn his horse, so all he had to do was go to the pawn shop–but which?

The group traveled in silence until they entered the town square where there was a huge crowd surrounding an acrobatic troupe. Wu Lei stopped his horse behind a crowd of spectators and watched the dancers from the troupe on tightrope.

"Something like this is very simple," Bai Li commented on the troupe's dance.

Wei Han looked at him and sighed, "Bai Li, must you be this boring? We can do it 'cause we're skilled in the art of qinggong. And these are beautiful ladies–nobody want to see you dance on tightrope."

Xiao Tian and Wu Lei snorted at the image of Bai Li in tighter clothes, prancing about on those tightropes. No doubt, that would be a marvelous scene to witness! Bai Li glared speechlessly at the two that tried to hold in their laughters. Bai Li turned to Wei Han ready to rebuttal, but he kept his mouth shut because it was not worth it.

"Come! Come! Come! Who wants to try our highest tightrope act in all of Jin? I must tell you, this is the highest you'll ever see an acrobatic troupe do! If you want to try, we have an assistant that will walk you through, or if you are brave enough, have a try yourself!" The spokesperson for the troupe announced. "For just one gold coin and you can have an assistant! And the view is great up there! You can see even the palace!"

"One gold coin? That's too much!" the crowd shouted back.

"One gold coin? That's a scam!" Bai Li agreed.

"In a way, it is." Xiao Tian agreed as he scanned every member of the troupe. "But, going up there would take up a lot of energy. Now adding in another person where you have to worry about their safety, and they have to do this a few times. Charging one gold coin seems to be a good price," Xiao Tian remarked. He had mentally calculated the price and the number of spectators whom he suspected to have money to do this act, but he clicked his tongue and shook his head a moment later. "If only they charge a few more silvers!"

"But if you can do it yourself, we'll give you half of what we earned today!"

"Ah! Great! Bai Li, you go and do it twice and get their money, we'll split it!" Wei Han suggested with a grin, Xiao Tian agreed while Wu Lei chuckled. Although he was entertained by the thought he had to put a stop to it.

"Business is business, they must earn money for a living. Don't randomly ruin others' hardships," Wu Lei reminded them.

"There are many martial artists here today, why don't they have a try?" Bai Li wondered.

The martial artists presented were mostly of foreign origins, they knew better to keep quiet than mess around with the locals. Others were drinking away at brothels, or finding their own enjoyment elsewhere. The crowds presented was split in half. Half complained about the price; half did try the act, but didn't dare to do it by themselves. As the four of them looked on for a brief moment, there came a high-pitched scream and a young man jumped up to one of the rope. He was not assisted but he walked fluidly, more graceful than any other dancers there. It looked as if he was the leaf that came along with the wind.

"THIEF! Catch him!" called a person from below.

He was carefree and enjoying the mild wind up in the sky, changing from one rope to the next. Passing each dancer on each rope with ease. He was flexible and quick with his body and feet twisting and spinning left and right. He passed through them with giggles and smiles. Even from the view below you could not tell if he ever landed on the ropes as his feet touched ever so lightly that it looked as if he was floating.

"Young Master, be careful!" shouted one of his servants from below.

"Catch that thief! He stole my purse and my bride!" The man insisted, and people roared in laughters at his dumb nonsense.

They were too mesmerized by person above, spinning and prancing about on the ropes that nothing could take their gazes away. Xiao Tian, Wei Han, and Bai Li too were watching without blinking. Wu Lei's eyes glistened with curiosity when he saw the young man luring a humming bird to follow his steps. The corners of his mouth twitched and curved into a faint smile. The young man was smiling brightly at the bird that landed on his finger. A smile like no others, a very quirky with eyes squinted and nose crinkled type of smile. He emitted a very free-spirited aura that reminded Wu Lei of his childhood.

"Catch him!" the man continued. He brought his servants over to the stage in an attempt to collapse the poles that held up the tightropes. They ignored the safety of the acrobats who were still up on the ropes, and the safety of the spectators below.

Bai Li and Wei Han were provoked by the man's thoughtless behaviors toward the people that they jumped out of their horses and sprint straight to the stage. Bai Li helped to hold up the posts while Wei Han stopped the servants by throwing them off the stadium. Wei Han snuck a few punches to the man's face. The young man on the tightrope changed ropes calmly from one pole to the next when they fell one by one. He was oblivious to his surroundings and a bit thrilled at the height that he didn't pay attention and was thwarted off the highest pole when it collapsed unexpectedly. Wu Lei quickly got off his horse to catch him.

Xiao Tian watched with a faint smile and a deep sigh, "There you go again." If there was something that Xiao Tian was sure about in regard to Wu Lei's preference, it was definitely petite things. If his reputation served him right, he bet– that it was a young girl dressed as a man. "Casually catching young maiden. Dressed in menswear."

Wu Lei only wanted to help out a free-spirited comrade. Yet, the first thing that Wu Lei noticed was how thin and small the young man was in his embrace. He fitted comfortably in his arms when they landed. His face was also small. The young man quickly jumped off of Wu Lei's arms. He was in utter shock that he kept a very intense gaze at Wu Lei until his servants interrupted.

"Young Master! Are you alright?"

"You're welcome," Wu Lei said before getting back on his horse. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" He shouted to Wei Han and Bai Li to get back, "We will be late!" They rushed back to their horses and galloped away from the crowd, leaving the young man gazing at their backs. His two similar sized servants were busy checking to see if he was wounded in anyways.

"That little rascal!" The man who lost his bride shouted. Bruises appeared all over his face and body. His servants passed out. "Catch him!"

That last shout shook the young man. "CATCH ME? You fucking bastard! You dare stole someone's daughter in the daylight and call her your bride? Forcing her to marry you, you little!–" He was about to give him more punches but his servants dragged him away.

"Young Master! Let's go back home now!"