The King's Mate - Part 2: Yaoshi

Chapter 23

Hi guys! I'm sorry about the super late update today x.x I wanted to upload the chapter right I got home from the doc but I fell asleep instead ^-^; I know that's not a good excuse but at least I'm feeling a tiny lil bit better now? ^-^;;;

Anyway, on with the chapter!

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For the next few days, Hua Cheng went through the notebooks of Jun Wu which he had deemed too useful to throw into the fire right away, and learned everything he could about how he was expected to run this palace. There had been no attendants or personal servants that had come up to him to offer their services during these past few days, and Hua Cheng wasn't quite sure if there simply were none, if it was because he was expected to select his own, or if it was simply because these pure-blooded demons looked down on him.

Unfortunately, no notes and text mentioned anything that could be helpful to the situation, so in the end, Hua Cheng just decided to keep things like they were. He didn't need personal attendants to begin with; none of them would be as useful as Yin Yu anyway and would therefore only annoy him in the long run. Even if it was deemed unusual, Hua Cheng reasoned he had enough viable excuses to want to keep to himself.

More importantly though, Hua Cheng managed to have a breakthrough while studying the barriers that protected the palace, and even figured out how exactly those that only allowed entrance to certain people worked. It was an achievement he was quite happy about, though he wanted to talk to YanLi before he attempted to construct a similar barrier himself.

Thus, he opened a portal that led from his bedchambers straight onto the streets of Edge Town, a skill he was quite elated to possess now that he was emperor, and stepped through it. However, it seemed like there was quite the ruckus coming from the nearby marketplace, and Hua Cheng couldn't help but feel a bit curious despite himself. Wanting to satisfy his curiosity first, before he went to visit YanLi, Hua Cheng made his way towards the unusually lively area.

When he arrived there, and saw the scene playing out in front of him, he felt so annoyed that his left eye started twitching.

In the centre of the commotion was a rather bizarre-looking groundhog demon, with an intimidating mass of teeth and a menacing look on his humanoid face, and claws that had the potential to be very deadly. Its body was covered in coarse-looking fur, and was dirtied by mud.

However, there was something else on that creature's shoulder that especially annoyed Hua Cheng.

There, right in front of him, was his very own son, kicking and screaming bloody murder through loud, desperate sobs.

The sight instantly killed all of Hua Cheng's relatively good mood. In fact, he felt very much enraged. Though it seemed like that dirty demon had a pretty hard time getting a proper grip on E'ming.

Without thinking, Hua Cheng walked towards said demon, his aura undoubtedly murderous. In fact, the simple action of walking up to that demon had the surrounding, onlooking demons quiet down until only his son's yells and sobs could be heard, as well as the demon shouting at him in an attempt to get him under control. The demon was so focused on E'ming that it didn't notice Hua Cheng, even when he was already standing right in front of him.

Hua Cheng grabbed the back of E'ming's collar, and plopped his son out of the flimsy grasp of that stinking groundhog.

Rather predictably, his kid started screaming even louder, and flailed his limbs into all directions. Since this child of his had turned into a bit of a safety hazard, Hua Cheng held him up with his arm stretched out to the side, as far away from his own body as possible, while grasping the groundhog demon's neck in his other hand.