In the year 1368 Ming Dynasty arose from the series of natural disasters that hit China during the middle 1300s, adding to the misery of the people under the harsh rule of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. Emperor Zhu was the one who established a dynasty named Da Ming or Great brightness. In the long history of China, Emperor Zhu was the only emperor born from a peasant family. Zhu had been orphaned in his early life. From these humble beginnings rose a great dynasty honored by the next generations.
167 years later, Beijing city as the capital city of China, showed prosperity, it is the wealthiest and home to many members of its educated elite. The construction of each part of the capital was an enormous undertaking, requiring the mobilization of massive labor forces and gathering of great quantities of materials. Emperor Yong Kangxi ruled the empire, increasing its power as time passed by. Emperor Kangxi only has five sons, his four younger sons don’t have interest in the throne, and the four of them have a great person behind them that can support them if they want to pursue the throne. Although the four of them doesn't want the throne there are still many threats to the First Prince.
The first Prince, Prince Yon Kangxi, was born from Emperor Yong and Empress Io. He was a prodigy and great in everything. He is the eldest Prince and the heir to the throne. There are many threats to his life and due to this reason, he would chase any assassins that come in his way with the hope that he can unveil the mastermind of the attempted assassinations.
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The trees are giving shades I could run and play at. There are varieties of flowers that send different scents of nature to my nostrils. The scenery in the Forest of Beast Mountain owned by my parents is very enticing but it is not safe to wander deep inside the forest because many deadly beasts subsist there. My father’s Martial Art School is situated deep in the forest of this mountain. Due to the attack of the deadly beasts to my father’s school, the students are getting lesser year by year and it’s been a continuous problem of my father.
I am leading ten top students that are good in martial arts from the Martial Art School into the forest. I am tasked to thread the perimeter of about two miles. We are about to hunt for a level three beasts that are acting roguish. It keeps on attacking the enrolees of the school and the small and weak students. These recent attacks are affecting the school’s reputation.
Zetian clan has been known as a clan of martial artists for centuries doing Assassination jobs. But since my birth our clan only accept mercenary jobs such as bodyguard jobs, investigating, spying and looking for rare items that are requested by the clients.
“Be alert! Focus on every tiny movement around you. Be attentive especially to bloodlust beasts that have killing intent. This will also be your drill honing your senses and instincts!” I hushed with an authoritative voice.
“Yes, boss!”
“Boss! Level one Mountain Rabbits!” said one of the male students who seemed alarmed and frightened to the point of almost crying and running towards us. He is coming from the west. He came from the west since I divided the group into two to save time.
“Level one Mountain Rabbits? That’s one of the weakest beasts in the mountain and it’s only level one. Why are you so flustered?” I frowned.
Mountain Rabbits are so weak that even by learning basic martial arts can beat them without breaking a sweat. What more this student that is about twelve years old and has been training in the school for over five years.
“Boss, this is different, they are acting savagely! They are also in large quantities that even if we kill one of them they won’t feel fear and would still charge forward like blood-hungry monsters!”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Take care of yourselves! Don’t let it hurt you. Get ready, on your fighting stance!” I commanded. I think this is not just a simple matter since I can hear the rumbling of the ground. Everyone pulled out their weapons varying from daggers, sword, whip, and spear.
“Don’t think that they are only measly rabbits. We can’t underestimate them. Treat them like the strongest beast you could ever encounter and give it your all”
“Yes, boss!”
From the distance, we can see the herd of Mountain rabbits hopping madly towards our direction. Looking carefully, I could see the appearance of the rabbits. Red eyes that look like it was spitting fire, they are baring their teeth mixed with foaming saliva and blood and their claws are protruding causing the ground and surrounding plants reduce to a pitiful condition.
This kind of sight makes my skin crawl and my blood to turn cold. But I know we can handle this. These students that are with me are great martial artists that learned to fight from the age of seven.
The moment the mountain rabbits are within our reach we branded our weapon with their blood, killing one rabbit after another. The fight seems endless since their number is not to be trifled with. Looking at the rabbits in front of us they are definitely not a normal mountain rabbit based on their appearance.
Being a child of a great physician and as a physician myself, I could clearly distinguish that getting in contact with the rabbit’s saliva and their scratches are harmful. Just by visual observation alone, I know these rabbits are showing signs of rabies. Good thing I am adept in medicine because of the influence of my mother who is known as a Wander Miracle doctor. My mom can cure many varieties of illness. She travels from kingdom to kingdom. She treats the rich, the poor, the nobility and even royalties. My mother’s profession is the reason how my mother got to meet my father. My mother saved my father from the verge of death.
I was trained by my parents since young. They say I am a genius in medicine due to my photographic memory. Since I am a fast learner my mother trained me at the age of five. It is very easy for me to practice and cultivate myself because of the fact that I live in a mountain where I can find and learn about herbs.
After an hour we were able to annihilate all the mountain rabbits. Approximately two hundred corpses are loitering around us. Some are hurt and was transported to the school to be treated. A student picked one of the dead rabbits for me to examine.
“As expected this is not a simple case of rabies. They were fed with herbs that make them aggressive. But base on their reaction, it wasn’t the one that we can find in the forest. The herbs that are fed to them are cultured and artificially cultivated to have double effects than the normal one.”
“Was it made by the other rival schools?”
"We can't conclude that yet," I answered back. We can't be impulsive. The wrong conclusion might cause outrage to other schools. They might think we are purposely pointing them as the culprit to tarnish their reputation.
“If it wasn’t the rival schools, then who did it?”
"Those rabbits were sent by the Royalty's nemesis. Those rabbits ere purposefully sent by the assassins to distract the bodyguards of his highness." said the low authoritative voice coming from my back.
I turned around and saw my father, Kang Zetian. Father is old but it doesn’t show in his physically fit body. Father is already fifty years old, but with his unwrinkled skin, long black healthy hair, good posture, and masculine body, he doesn’t show aging, he merely looks younger like a thirty years old young master, wearing Hanfu and holding a fan. My father loves fashion since he cannot wear such fancy clothes during his youth since he is working as a warrior and as the personal bodyguard of the Emperor but now he is not a full-time manual worker anymore due to his age and his promotion as the Emperor’s confidant.
Father came near me and gave me a hug. He aided me toward a stallion.
“Yana, I need you to bring some of your troop and secure the eastern part of the mountain, the Emperor and his bodyguard is still missing. We are going to look for them in the west since the guards that escaped the assassination testified that they were with his highness in the west when the attack was made.”
Assassins nowadays keep on trying to assassinate the Emperor. Yet there is no avail.
“Yes, Father”