Martial Hall of Emperor Jun Wu

"Yìfēi remind me once again why we are here?" Xiàn Fèng asked in a whisper.

"To suffer," ShuîYuê answered instead.

"Normally, I love dressing up and being social, but I don't like this idea today," Yìfēi complained.

"I mean, same here," Xiàn Fèng agreed.

"Especially not for those who we are waiting for," Yìfēi grumbled unhappily

"I finally understand your tendency to avoid these occasions, Water Master," Xiàn Fèng murmured, sympathising with ShuîYuê.

"Yeah, I wondered why you hated being dressed up and waiting for someone who you don't even remotely like," Yìfēi chimed in, totally agreeing with the Fire Master.

"See, I knew you guys would understand someday," ShuîYuê sighed, rubbing her forehead.

The elementals stood outside the Martial Hall, along with all the high-ranking officials, all dressed up like it was the New Year, to welcome the Ghost King why because Jun Wu wanted to appear hospitable.

'Well how about he stands here instead, to welcome his favourite Ghost King,' ShuîYuê had said this the second Jun Wu told them that they would be welcoming Ghost King of course she had whispered it to Xiàn Fèng and Yìfēi, she didn't have the guts to say this in front of the Emperor.

Xiàn Fèng and ShuîYuê became friends too and now the three of them (Xiàn Fèng, Yìfēi, and ShuîYuê) complained about the injustices being done to them at the Wudu Palace getting drunk on sunflower tea, jasmine tea and lavender tea respectively.

They had been standing here for half an hour already. It was good that the weather had started to cool down, or else they would have been smoked in the sun, while Jun Wu, of course, sat on his throne comfortably snacking on some fruits and drinking wine.

"They are entering the Palace gates," a guard informed, and everyone unconsciously straightened up.

True enough ten minutes later the silhouettes of four people were visible, as they neared their appearance became clear, the first one was a tall, tanned man who was built like a bodyguard his muscles popping out, and he had fiery red hair which was cut short, how rude and rebelling, emerald eyes along with plenty of scars covering his body, black pants and red robes which were hung loosely around his waist exposing his might build, an axe was also hanging to his leather waist belt.

It made ShuîYuê shiver as she recalled getting her arm sliced with that very same axe, her stitches often hurt when she stretched her arm a little more than the stitches liked her to, she was more than certain she wasn't going to survive that day, he's the most dangerous man she had ever fought with, ShuîYuê had heard rumours but she could bet no one could be as ferocious as him in battle if Yìfēi hadn't reached ShuîYuê in time, she would have been tortured to burn in the sun from excessive blood loss until someone pierced her trident in her heart ending the misery.

Right behind him was a tall girl, her hair was the same red and her eyes were chartreuse green, a whip at her waist she had a nice muscular body along with a big burn mark on her forearm which reached her neck, her robes were very exposing along with her arms they were deep neck, her burn mark also reached the middle portion of her chest, the uneven skin and the red burns distracted everyone from her face, She was wearing long boots her toned thighs flexing with every step she took, they were uncovered to making a lot of senior officials either gawk at her exposed legs or avert their gaze in embarrassment.

The one next to her was a black-haired beauty, her eyes blue and troubling she had various throwing knives at her waistband, dressed in dark blue robes her back was exposed, a bunch of thin blades secured in a strap along with her hair tied in a bun, a scar on her back illuminated as she passed by the turn.

ShuîYuê wondered why these people were so rude; her cheeks were already burning in embarrassment seeing the exposed parts of these two girls; she could never in her life even sleep without at least two sets of robes which covered her arms to full length along with everything else.

"I fought those two girls," Xiàn Fèng said in a whisper as Yìfēi opened her mouth to say something, but ShuîYuê nudged her to remind her where they were standing; she was probably going to tell Xiàn Fèng about the man ShuîYuê had fought was walking right towards them.

MíngLóng wondered how these officials who were at the gate of the Martial Hall wore so many clothes, she was feeling hot just by looking at the five sets of robes they wore not to mention they were all covered from top to bottom only their heads and palms were exposed, she wondered if Jun Wu made them cover their heads too.

The person walking in the centre was noticeable after the initial shocking looks of his companions, his tall and lean body was adorned in maple red and black robes which covered his snow-white skin, a round butterfly necklace was around his chest five butterflies in five circles, made of silver, a mesmerising red jewelled
hairpin encased the top of his long black hair, which swayed with the wind; his arms moved as he walked, and his broad shoulders had some of his hair locks leaning against them.

The sunlight made his obsidian orbs glimmer with crimson as they glinted with mischief and danger, a single round earring in his left ear, two small red gems in the centre around silver which appeared to be the eyes of a monster and the four shapes below the two red gems were like the moustaches of the monster, a long red gem was also brushing against his shoulder from his earring right in the centre of the monster shaped earring's mouth.

His silver vambraces had red strings dangling from them, a red thread was also tied around his right hand's middle finger, which held a silver scimitar, inside a black scabbard which had silver chains around it, a bright red gem was at the hilt of his scimitar, his black boots had a pair of two silver chains on them a pair of butterflies on each chain, thin sliver long jewelles surroundings the sliver chain jingled as he sauntered like he owned the place.

They walked up the stairs and stood at least fifteen feet away from the officials and elementals. The elementals were supposed to greet them, but even the most outgoing people like Xiàn Fèng and Yìfēi avoided this; ShuîYuê was looking in an entirely different direction to avoid being the one greeting them.

Earth Master sighed walking forward she raised her hands, the left one in a fist and her right on top of the left one she bowed, "Greetings to Your Highness, the Ghost King," she greeted politely, silence, no one accompanied her in the greeting, it was just Earth Master who greeted, she shook her head, "Please come inside, His Majesty awaits your arrival," she added moving to the side so they could go in, the red-haired man tched before entering.

Ghost King entered the Martial hall, his eyes on Jun Wu, who was staring back at him; behind him were the three people he came along with, followed by the crowd of officials and elementals.

Ling Wen went forward and greeted Ghost King respectfully, "Please have a seat," she pointed to the left side, Ghost King sat down as the red-haired man stood to his side while the two females stood to his left.

The Crown Prince sat at the right side of Jun Wu's centre seat, his obsidian orbs glaring at the ghosts; senior officials and elementals all stood in a straight line next to the sitting crown prince, Xiàn Fèng stood to his right, followed by ShuîYuê, Yìfēi and Shù Zìrán at last.

They were served tea, which Ghost King accepted, "Ghost King," Jun Wu called, the man who had everyone in his Martial hall avoid looking at him in the mighty Emperor's presence was sitting comfortably like he owned Jun Wu's central palace, no fear in his or his subordinates eyes, a smug look was present on his face as all the officials huddled close in a line worried and scared looks on their faces due to Chéng Huá's notorious reputation as a Supreme Ghost King.

He's the only Ghost King to be titled Supreme as all those before him were killed by Jun Wu and after him, no one dared to crown themselves as Supreme Ghost King, he had this almighty Emperor of Heaven scared, Huá could see the way Jun Wu was trying to avoid looking at his scimitar, it's bright red gem shining in his Master's hold.

"Emperor Jun Wu," Ghost King acknowledged, in the same tone, the tension in the room was enough to suffocate one to death; Ling Wen went ahead, changing the topic to the peace treaty quickly in hopes of breaking the deadly tension.

"You will stay in the side palace. The arrangements have been made," Jun Wu stated simply.

He knew this man's tendencies to create havoc wherever he went, and the worst he just sat and did nothing but at the same time everything went down the drain, he is infamous for his achievements, some people liked him far better than Jun Wu because he changed Hell's conditions since he took charge of that place.

It was rumoured to be more wealthy than Heaven, whose luxuries outshine everything in its way; all the criminals and those who committed crimes were sent to Hell to suffer by Jun Wu, and Chéng Huá made an empire out of those lunatics.

Anyone with some knowledge would be able to construct a city or nation, but how could someone build an empire out of criminals and monsters, Ghost King did and the smug look on his face along with his expensive attire gave Jun Wu enough stress, Hell was progressing drastically and if Jun Wu didn't do something he feared it would surpass Heaven.

"Thank you. I also would like to stroll around your palace without any restrictions." Chéng Huá remarked with a smirk on his face, not in a tone one would use for asking but more like demanding it.

Jun Wu knows him for his cleverness and sharp mind, no one would ever want to fight him, just the mention of his name had officials pissing their pants, and his scimitar was even worse than his General it could poison, reopen the wound on someone's body on Ghost King's command and fight without having to hold it, his spiritual weapon was rare an active one, he could send his scimitar to the far end of the room and control it from here worse his scimitar had a mind of its own and had consciousness, everything adding more to the terror of Supreme Ghost King.

"Go ahead, for now, please rest," Jun Wu replied, standing up, leaving the room as everyone except for Ghost King and his three companions bowed.

ShuîYuê sneakily took glances at the three subordinates of Ghost King they were all naked to her in some way or the other, the one who had fought her wasn't covering the front of his upper body, that red-haired girl was exposing her long legs, arms and bosom, the black haired one was half uncovered from her back, did these people not have any manners or decency to dress properly, they were appearing in front of the Emperor of Heaven.

At least Ghost King respected Jun Wu he wasn't naked in any body part, on the contrary, ShuîYuê thought that he was the most well-dressed person other than Yìfēi and Xiàn Fèng she had seen, her curious eyes stared at his scimitar which was more feared than his General Yông, she wondered how such a beautiful scimitar could be scarier than the Chief of Ghost army, it's red gem was glimmering often as ShuîYuê titled her head, it seemed to be following her head movements before she concluded that to be the work of reflection and sunlight.

Huá could feel many nervous glances on him along with someone staring at his scimitar, he didn't need to turn his head to see he could feel it in his body, someone's eyes were lingering over him and more interested in his scimitar, his hands were on either side of the seat, legs not spread open like he was some woman of the brothel, his lower legs were crossed and he was leaning in his seat, his face turned towards the Emperor, his hair locks were probably tickling his sharp jawline before she could stare at him any longer Xiàn Fèng was whispering something in her ear.

Yông Zìxìn's eyes were fixed on someone. Ghost King had noticed that for some time now, he was staring at a beautiful, tall young woman who wore white and cyan blue robes with a fan in her hand, which she waved gracefully.

"She fought you?" Chéng Huá inquired Zìxìn, who shook his head.

"The shorter one," Zìxìn uttered.

Ghost King's eyes landed on the girl next to the beautiful lady, she was dressed in black robes, her hair tied in a beautiful ponytail, she looked so delicate her face was like a child's, round and innocent, she was quite small too, the man next to her towered over her small height, she was easily the shortest person in the room as other people beside her had to lean their head down to be able to hear her, the white-clad lady next to her seemed to be cautious about touching her as the girl kept her left hand over her right.

Chéng Huá stared at her for quite some time finally having a face to go with the name he had been trying to find out about until she locked eyes with him for a split second before she looked away as an orange-robbed man whispered in her ear, her eyes widened and her lips parted slightly she whispered something back to him quickly before standing again properly.

Ghost King felt someone staring at him. No, it was the Crown Prince who was glaring at him. Ghost King smirked, 'Interesting,' he thought to himself; ghosts left for the side palace, but he didn't forget to look at the girl one last time, who was busy listening to the white robbed lady talking to her.

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Author's note:

My hands are shaking, man ! This chapter has me so nervous. Here he is, finally Chéng Huá in his full glory, I am so damn nervous I don't even know why, anyway, have fun, that's all, good day !!

Word count: 2500