Beneath The Embroidered Brocade 16 The Explosion That Shook The City

The entire chamber exploded and everything within the forbidden ground became ashes. The fire was so intense that was certain that there was not a living thing that could survive.

It turns out the air within the sealed chamber had been extremely flammable, which was the reason for the lack of lighting within the forbidden ground.

The next thing that happened was the raging fire that engulfed the entire street. The explosion had so much force that about half the citizens in the imperial city were jolted from their sweet dreams.

"WAR INVASION!?" Someone yelled within his own home as he rolled down from the bed, entangled in the bed sheets. His pregnant wife had to throw a pillow at him in order to shut him up and go back to bed, apparently, she did not care the slightest.

Unfortunately, most of the people living close by would be shaken up by the sudden loud noise, they would be restless as to why there was a loud explosion. Many would come out to see an entire street up in the flames of destruction.

The raging fire was so large, that it would not be an exaggeration to say that a town fifty miles away could see the fire. After all, light was most distinguishable in darkness.

Even the emperor was shaken from his dragon bed within the palace.

[Did the ministry of weaponry meet with mishap?] was first thought, but after all, he was the emperor so he ordered his guards to check on the city and report back to him as quickly as possible.

The running footsteps of guards soon came and as soon as they saw the entire streets that were practically in the gates of h.e.l.l.

Someone made a good decision and ordered the soldiers to "Put out the fire!"

Thus, there were thousands of soldiers scrambling to find water from the nearest wells to put out the fire.

"Your majesty." A man in the imperial guards came in and saluted to the emperor. He was head of the imperial guards, Yang Mo.

"En." The emperor nodded, signaling the head imperial guard to get up.

"Your majesty, the explosion happened at Shen manor."

"Oh. Go investigate this case further." The emperor ordered. He was surprised but had to keep his dignity as a ruler, after all, he cannot show his emotions so easily.

"Yes, your majesty." Head imperial guard bows as he retreats.

Within the prisons, Shen Congan who was sleeping was also woken up by the loud explosion. Although he was confined within a cell, he still knew that it was his manor that he exploded.

"They never listen." He silently muttered to no one.

He thought for a moment, [She would always be there. Could she survive being in that explosion with those intense flames.] After the thought, he saddened.

[It would be useless if she could recover, the concentration of the fumes could burn everything into ash. Even if she did survive, a body that was ash was useless.]

[I should leave now.]

None of the guards noticed anything strange as a meal was brought to him. The man was as quiet as always, so the guards went on with their patrols.

~

On the outskirts of the capital city, there was a fast horse galloping through the chilly night. On the mare's back was a young boy about ten years of age, he had outstanding features, dressed in blue robes, with many layers of warmth and a cloak that was flowing behind him. On the side of his saddle was a short sword in its sheath that glimmered in the night. The boy had a heroic aura like a general that was off to serve his country.

He would grow up to be a man that countless ladies would be dying to marry one day.

He had heard the loud explosion and came to see what had happened. Galloping from the barracks on the outskirts of the city at full speed, he unhesitatingly went into the forest at night.

As he went past trees, he noticed some strange patterns within the fallen leaves that led to a tree.

He got off his horse to get a closer inspection, he found there was a little girl lying behind a tree, she was quiet as if she was in a deep sleep.

Her features made her look like the young daughter of a n.o.ble household, but her clothes showed that she was a commoner's daughter.

To others, they might have thought they encountered a dead body in the deep of night, maybe even running the other direction without stopping to check. But this boy actually got curious and had to take a look.

The boy's hand reached over to feel her forehead. At the warm touch, her consciousness had awoken, but she still remained still and no one could sense if she was awake or not.

"So cold!" The boy gasped, as he retracted his hand and put them into his many layers of warm robes to warm them up again.

[Is she alive?] He couldn't help but wonder.

After all, he was a learned young n.o.ble who had heard of many strange things in the world. He had heard of such a case where the person was ice cold, but still alive.

[I just have to look for a breath.] He told himself.

If she is truly dead, he should bury her. He would not be able to live with himself knowing of such a case and leaving the little girl to the wolves. Such a thing would not sit well with his conscience, leaving him to always think back to this moment.

After his hands were warm enough, he placed two fingers under her nose to see if she was breathing. Feeling some weak breaths, his heart calmed down.

[Good, she's alive.] He let out a sigh of relief. By now, he had totally forgotten about the explosion that he had been planning to go check on.

Without any warning, she was grabbed and rolled up in his warm cloak. Although it was warm, she was still shocked by the sudden pull in strength.

She couldn't help but internally think [If this was anyone else, even if they didn't die from the coldness, they would definitely die of shock from that pull. Can't you be more gentle?]

After taking off the cloak he couldn't help but s.h.i.+ver.

[Let's return as quickly as we can.]