CHAPTER 10: MEIXING VS SHILONG

The door to the dungeon opened.

“Meixing!”

Meixing looked around the empty room in confusion. “Here?”

“Come with me.” The soldier said.

Meixing was led out by the soldier back to the councillor room. There her grandmother awaited her and hugged her.

“Oh my baby!” she said. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Were they mean to you?”

“I’m okay grandmother.” She said. “You’re out of your bed.”

“Yes, Poor Ling is bedridden but worried Ling, would walk till the ends of the world for her granddaughter.” She said before kissing Meixing on the forehead.

“Meixing,” Shilong said from his seat next to the other two council members said. “You have been accused of spreading Purple Pox to the to bolster the profits of your ointment.”

“That’s impossible,” Ling said. “How could a little girl possibly spread Purple Pox. How would she even know how to.”

“True, a little girl would not know how to spread it.” Another council member said.

“Yes, but we need to remember that this ‘little girl’ might not be acting alone.” Shilong said. “I mean, she does have an older and wiser guardian. I’m sure Miss Ling knows a thing or two about Purple Pox and how it’s spread.”

“I do not!” Ling said.

“Maybe, or maybe you’re the real one who is suppose to be in the dungeon.”

Meixing’s hands balled into tight fists. She could not believe Shilong was now targeting his grandmother.

“This is foolish!” Ling said. “Every year we have an outbreak of Purple Pox. In none of those years, no one has ever been accused of spreading it. But now because my granddaughter has found a cure, you want to punish her for it? I feel sorry for whoever finds the cure for the common cold.”

The council members began arguing amongst themselves at this. It was turning chaotic with them speaking over each other and no one hearing each other.

Meixing said something but it was drowned out by the men arguing. She took a deep breath and shouted out louder. “I’ll give you the ointment recipe!”

This shut the men.

“If it will prove my innocence, I’ll give you the recipe for the ointment.”

“Yes,” one of the council members said, “that’ll prove your innocence but there’s no need to…”

“I will and anyways, it will help the town I’m sure.” she said. “First, you’ll need the main ingredient, purple flowers…”

Meixing and her grandmother arrived at their shack.

“That was a brave thing you did there.” Her grandmother said.

“It’s okay granmama.” Meixing said. “I’ll find another way to make money.”

Her grandmother slept while she sat on the floor and meditated on growing her spirit energy. The day turned into night and she left the house. She went to the old shack where she and her grandmother used to live. She moved the ruined boards aside and dug the ground.

There she found the sword and the Jade hog.

“IT’S ABOUT TIME YOU CAME BACK!” Dong said. “YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW MUCH I DETEST BEING BURIED!”

“I’m sorry, Dong.” She said with a frown.

“What’s wrong? You look more pathetic than normal.”

“I-I had to give away how to make the ointment.” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh! You are forgiven, I guess.”

“We’ll need to handle Shilong. He’s being so annoying!”

“You are most fortunate to have me to assist you. Let me show you how to ruin a man.”

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“I don’t get it,” Meixing said as she returned the Jade Hog where she had found it, at Shilong’s hiding place. “Why would we return the Jade Hog back?”

“Because in your hands its useless but in Shilong’s hands, it will be more useful.”

“I don’t understand.”

“No, I don’t expect you would. Now, let’s get some red paint.”

Two days passed. Two days of Meixing watching Shilong carefully from the shadows. When she could, she meditated just to stop Dong from complaining about how much time she is wasting not getting stronger.

After two days, Shilong wore his disguise once again.

“He’s on the move!” Meixing said. “What do we do now?”

“Now, we enact the second part of the plan!”

She ran to towards the council officers, dodging anyone in the way. She stopped just short of the council offices, going around back to one of the windows. He crawled through the window, her think body allowing her to squeeze through easily.

“Quick, behind the pillar!”

She dove behind a pillar as someone passed by.

“Now, head straight!”

“I really need to learn Awareness Widening Stance.” She whispered as she ran across the building with Dong guiding her. She finally made it before a large map in the council offices. The last time she had studied this was when Dong was helping her determine when the Gecko demons would descend to her town, nearly 2 months ago.

“Wait!”

“What?” she tensed.

“Is this what you were trying to recreate?” Dong said. “Seeing this now makes me realise how truly trashy your drawing skills are.”

She rolled her eyes. “Shut up, Dong.” She said as she pulled the map off the wall and folded it up. This was an important artefact to the town, a map showing the surrounding areas. She reached into the water sack that she carried, opened it and poured the liquid inside on her palm. The red liquid pooled in her palm.

She threw the paint where the map had been and quickly left.

The soldier came around and froze. Where the map had been, was now nothing. He raised the alarm, calling more soldiers. The leader looked at where the map had been and saw the red mark. He ran his finger against it and looked at the red that stained his finegr.

“This… This is fresh.” He said. “The thief may not be far away, search for the red paint!”

“Sir, I’ve found a few more drops!”

The soldiers followed the red marks across town…

“Shilong, King of All.” Shilong repeated the password. The earth boulder began to shift to the side, revealing his store of wares and supplies. Something fell on his head, puring thick liquid onto the side of his face.

He wiped a bit with his fingers and looked at the red liquid staining his face in confusion. He looked around, drawing a knife as he retreated deeper into the store.

“Whose here?” he shouted but got no response. He placed his new prize down. He quickly exited. “Shilong, King of All!” he said.

Nothing happened…

He looked at the open door with wide eyes. “Shilong, King of All! Shilong, King of All! Shilong, King of AAAAAAAAllllllll!”

He had begun hyperventilating when he realised that the door was not closing. He began wiping away at the red paint staining his face, suspecting maybe it had something to do with that. She jogged some distance away from the storage place and shouted the password.

“SHILONG, KING OF AAAALLL!”

He peeked and the storage was still opened. He did not know what was going on but he knew he had to gethis most valuable things out of the storage palce as it had been compromised. He rushed back and collected the most precious things. Bags of gold, jewels and the Jade Hog. He could not take everything of value but he did stuff his arms with everything he could.

He ran through the woods in panic.

“Hey you! Stop!”

He heard the voice, strong and commanding. He did not stop. He instead ran faster, away from the voice, desperately trying to protect his things. He could hear a few feet coming after him. He was tackled to the ground.

The soldiers lifted him to his feet.

“Councillor Shilong?” the head soldier said.

“Captain!” Shilong said and gave him a nervous smile. “Thank goodness its you!”

The Captain looked on the ground and his eyes widened as among the jewels and old on the floor, he picked up the Jade Hog. “The Jade Hog? This was stolen.” He looked at the old man questioningly. “You had this all along?”

“N-No I didn’t!”

“Then explain why you have it!” he said.

“I-I-I found it!” his eyes widened. “I found it in a weird room. Seemed to be some kind of stash for a thief. I took it with all this gold to return it to town before the thief returned.”

“Prove it. Show it to us.” The man said.

Shilong nodded.

Shilong led the suspicious soldiers back to his secret storage place. When he arrived, he was amazed to see that the boulder door was closed.

“No… it was here.” He pointed at the boulder.

“There is nothing here. Just a hill and a boulder.” The captain said.

Shilong bit his lip. His password had somehow worked and closed, which was awful for him. In order to prove his lie, he had to have the soldiers see the storage place.

“Shilong!” the captain said. “I am not satisfied with your answers!”

He had to say the password, which may damn him but he had to risk it.

“Shilong, King of all!” he said, shutting his eyes and looking to the ground.

“What?” the captain said.

Shilong looked up in surprise. The boulder was not moving. “Shilong, King of All!” he said. Nothing happened, other than the captain growing more angry.

“Shilong, you are under arrest.”

“No! I’m being framed!” Shilong shouted, foaming at the mouth. “I’M BEING FRAMED!”

“Take him away!” The captain said as they dragged the man away.

Once everyone had cleared, Meixing exited from her hiding place.

“Wow, so that’s how you destroy a man.”

“You’re welcome.” Dong said. “And now, you have enough supplies to last you a few months. So you can fully concentrate on getting stronger instead of dumb things like making money so you can stay alive.”

“That was a good part of the plan.” She said.

“Now, say the password again.”

She rolled her eyes. “Song Wu Dzu Dong, Emperor of Everything.”

The boulder began to move aside, revealing the mutlitudes of things that Shilong was not able to take, which included a lot of dried food, a few pieces of jewels and a few bags of silver.

“This should last me a few months.” She said with a smirk. “And I now have a place to meditate.”

“Good, we’ve wasted enough time already.” Dong said. “To get stronger, the road will only be harder from this point on.”