Chapter 10

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When the Third Prince Yuezhen appeared in front of the Palace of Bright Justice, he was accompanied by roaring of thunder so loud that the guardsmen on duty in front of the Palace couldn't help flinching.

All around them the storm raged. The trees were all but pulled from their roots with the ferocity of the wind, and all the lights in the lamp posts had been blown out so that almost complete darkness covered the stony courtyard. Even the moon dared not peek out behind the darkened clouds.

As the Third Prince threw back his wide purple sleeves and advanced towards his father's Palace, he saw his older brother Yuekang standing there, waiting for him. Yuekang indicated his head when he saw him, "Third brother."

Yuezhen stared at him with a speculative gaze. He stood straight for a beat longer than was polite - certainly Yuekang's shoulders stiffened - before he smiled and bowed. "Older brother."

Yuekang stared down at him. They were both the Jade Emperor's sons, but how different they were. Yuekang, tall and lanky and two thousand years older, struggled to keep a sneer from rising to his lips.

What kind of man can he even be, with a face as pretty as a girl's? He thought disdainfully. He's just a child but already his fame exceeds mine. Always they talk about him in the inner court; the hero, the warrior. But has he spent a single day assisting father in the daily running of the realms? What does he know of politics and ruling? How dare they even consider him as a rival to me for the position of Crown Prince? So what if Princess Yuting favors him, shes only a silly girl otherwise why would she reject me in favor of him-?!

"Has father summoned you as well?" Yuezhen voice pierced through his furious thoughts.

"Yes brother. In the middle of the night too, I wonder what the emergency is? I was already asleep when the eunuch came."

"I was training in the Tower of Punishment."

Training... training! They say his cultivation has increased exponentially in the last century but it can't be anything compared to my two thousand years of seniority? Yuekang thought. Am I not a dragon as well?

"Why is elder brother standing outside then in this rain and wind?"

"Now the eunuch is saying the Emperor is not ready and for us to wait. Wait in this weather?!" Yuekang shook his head. "And all this because of a little fox!"

"... a little fox?"

"Haven't you heard? How can you not have when the Lady Yuting is... Oh I forgot, you've been in the Tower of Punishment. The rumors have spread all over the court. This afternoon your future wife got into a fight with one of your mother's maidservants. Apparently the girl is a fox of all things, I thought they'd all been wiped out! Anyway seems like the fight got pretty heated because they both transformed into their original forms. The Lady Yuting's maidservant went to get the Empress for help but father happened to be taking tea at the time with her. And so they both came together and I suppose father got quite a shock when he saw the little fox, it's probably been centuries since he last saw one. Anyway since then its been raging and storming and half the court is afraid that their palaces are going to be blown clean away."

The corner of Yuezhen's mouth quirked. "Is that so? I am sorry to have missed it, then. The fox versus the phoenix, it would have been a spectacle worth seeing."

"Unfortunately you likely won't have another chance. If the little fox isn't dead by now, she'd be wishing she was. As for that future wife of yours, I'd be careful if I was you. She's so spoilt and unreasonable, I'm afraid the next one she attacks will be you, dear brother!"

Yuekang looked sideways to see if Yuezhen was going to deny the description of Yuting as his future wife but his brother didn't. Yuekang gnashed his teeth. Everyone knew how furiously he had courted Princess Yuting and all the gifts he had given her. It was terribly humiliating for him when she had declared she would marry none other but his Third Brother and then spent the last century chasing him around, despite his obvious disregard for her.

At this moment Song-gonggong, the Jade Emperor's personal eunuch appeared at the door of the Palace. The poor elderly man grabbed wildly for the side of the door as the winds assaulted him. The two Princes however, unaffected by the wind and rain, gazed at him expectantly.

"The- Jade Emperor- will see you now, your Highnesses." He managed to get out.

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