Chapter 47: Chapter 47

Luo Ye kingdom.

It is currently 30 minutes left before midnight. Theresa has been pacing up and down in the living room. Also, Long Ren has been meditating to kill time.

He was no longer as strong as before but he didn't want to let his mistress know. He ought to do what is needed by midnight but only if his mistress parent's casket arrived here in time.

Ju Wei seemed to be the unconcerned one amongst them because he was eating strawberries with eyes closed.

"Hmmn! How delicious," he mumbled.

"For the 13th time, don't say anything Ju Wei" Theresa turned to him and barked. Then she continued pacing.

"Please be here on time, please" she prayed.

15 minutes left before midnight.

Theresa had begun to sweat. She's no longer pacing up and down but she still couldn't bring herself to sit down.

Ju Wei had already fallen asleep while Long Ren had stopped meditating. His hair has also changed to green 4 minutes ago. He stared at his mistress with worry.

"Mistress, please calm down. If it's fate... they will be here on time. You..." he didn't get to finish his words because a portal appeared and at once Theresa's eyes shone.

The first person to be thrown outta the portal was Marabelle whose clothes had changed- not to a Han Fu but a denim jean bum shorts with fishnet trousers underneath, a yellow crop top and jean jacket that reached her thighs.

Her hair is in two side ponytails and she's wearing 6-inch high heels and her make-up is still the same as the one she wore to Delhi, India.

"Marabelle, where is she?" Theresa asked eagerly.

"I..." she couldn't finish her words because the casket came out and landed safely on the floor.

"My mom..." Theresa muttered as she walked to the casket and touched its lid.

She could see through the transparent lid, her mother. The one who worked hard to make her see the earth. The one who never let her get bullied by anyone. The one who loves her the most, she's here. She's finally here. But she isn't breathing.

Theresa began to weep and hugged the casket's lid.

"Mother... mother. I'm sorry. I should have listened to you that day. You wouldn't have been this way. Mother... please open your eyes. My beautiful mother..." she cried.

Long Ren got up from his seat and walked to her.

"Mistress, it's okay. We need to perform the rituals soon," he said as he patted her back gently.

"Yes! We need to." Theresa agreed and wiped her tears with her sleeves and then she walked to her bestie.

Long Ren turned to Marabelle.

"Where is the chest?" he asked.

"What? The chest... it was right atop it when..." Marabelle was cut off once again by the portal throwing out Clark who was holding tightly to the gold chest.

He fell on the floor on his belly but he still held tightly to the chest. From his gritted teeth, it was clear that he'd worked hard to make sure that he didn't lose the chest.

"Father?" Theresa called out in surprise.

She ran to him and took the chest from his hand. Long Ren collected it from her and walked back to the casket.

"Father... are you alright?" she asked in worry. A tear slid down her cheeks.

Clark had heard that his precious daughter was alive but hadn't seen any solid proof other than her silky hair. Now that he could see her... he couldn't really believe his eyes. She was squatting right here in front of him!

"Theresa..." he whispered "I love you Theresa." he whispered again and closed his eyes.

"Father? Father! Long Ren, what's going on? My dad isn't opening his eyes." she cried out in worry and fear.

"Don't worry mistress. He's safe. Let me take him to your room and rest assured I will respectfully not peek at his privates." said Ju Wei who had awoken about a minute ago.

"JU WEI, GET YOUR ASS OUTTA HERE NOW!" she barked.

"Yes, great mistress. But can I still..."

"OUT!" she barked at him again.

"Okay! I'm heading to the excluded room. If you need anything... ow!" Ju Wei's hand had been hit by Long Ren's fireball.

"Master... you..."

"GET OUT, YOU PEST!" Long Ren thundered.

"Yes,yes. I'll leave. I'll leave now." he finally said before disappearing.

Marabelle wasn't shocked to see this. She was worried about uncle Clark. She didn't want anything to happen to him.

"Don't worry, mistress. He'll be fine.He's just exhausted. By the time we're back, he'll be alright." said Long Ren.

"Okay!" Theresa nodded. They don't have much time left. They needed to leave and do the ritual exactly at midnight.

Long Ren put the casket into his ring and then held Marabelle and Theresa.

The trio then vanished from the living room leaving only Ju Wei and Clark in the house.

*******

Cherry land (Luo Ye's neighboring country).

The imperial palace,

Jasmine courtyard.

This courtyard is surrounded by jasmine flowers and a few other rare flowers.

Whenever one goes to this courtyard, he/she is greeted by the wonderful fragrance. In this courtyard, lived the princess of Cherry land. This nation is known for beauties and perfume. The cultivators are either nature or wind-based and it is like a paradise for first-timers.

The people in this land do not eat meat or fish nor cereals. What they eat are fruits, seeds and special leaves that are edible. Occasionally, they'd eat lotus soup and cakes which are always fragrant.

The women here are known for their hourglass figure too. It's only when they get pregnant and give birth that they lose it though not completely.

This nation however, compared to Luo Ye, is small in size and population. Their cultivation schools that are well recognized are only 8. Their names are; Love sect, Crystal clear sect, Kissy sect, Sky sect, Blue coral, Excuses sect, Farming sect, Indigo immortals and finally Dreamy sect which is the most powerful.

The love sect in contrast with their name uses the things that are precious to people against them. It could be a child, heirloom anything vital to them. They only know how to defend against attacks until they find the opponent's weakness or something he values most and then they show their prowess.

Some of them would deliberately spray on some perfume not to show off but to anger the opponent. This perfume contains an ingredient that would make the opponent blurry for 7 seconds. But it only happens when they are at a disadvantage.

The Crystal clear sect is good at controlling water to a certain degree but it is supported by air.

The Kissy sect disciples go about dressing like beggars in the first year of school and receive various assignments like provoking rich men and escaping unharmed, kissing little children of noble after stealing bread from a bakery for which the sect will eventually pay for.

And of course, they can also kiss the faces of grandmas that are known to be quick-tempered and escaping without being harmed by the elder lady especially if she's alone cultivator.

The Dreamy sect accepts the best students from these other 8 sects after 5 years of training from their various sects.

When these students are enrolled in the Dreamy sect, they are given tests that seem impossible even though they are possible.

For example, they could be told to find two tigers that were mating, shoot both mates and let them die still in their mating position.

It could come off as easy but the tigers they are told to find are a species that have zero to 1 probability of being seen in twos.

A student could find one tiger that is male but cannot find a female. Also, these tigers are very fierce and powerful. They hate being seen when they are mating as they'd feel ashamed just like any human.

This shame eventually turns into anger and they chase their opponent. Their skin is also thick; making it hard for sharp weapons to pierce through and they run insanely fast when chasing their opponent.

Their nose and ears are capable of detecting intruders from a mile away so this mission is never easy. Often those who pass into the school could number 50 or maybe 65.

Then, they are told to train and cultivate by themselves for three months before their official training will begin. Those who don't meet the required cultivation level will be kicked out or become school servants if they don't wanna leave.

The imperial household of Cherry land consists of the king, 3 concubines, two empresses, one consort, and 17 courtesans.

The children of the king amount to 40 since most of the women in the harem are fertile and there is less scheming since it is prohibited by the king.

The crown prince is from one of the two empresses who wasn't favored for 3 years. Now she enjoys the favor. There are 8 other sons, but they cannot compete for the throne until the emperor dies or abdicates.

The other 31 princesses are taught etiquette and some martial arts.

15 of them will marry soon once they hit 15 or 16.

The oldest princess is currently 15 and so she will marry soon to a prince. It's not like she cares anyway.

The Jasmine courtyard mentioned above, once belonged to a courtesan named Li Ying. She died when her daughter was just seven years old and the king gave her a grand burial. The courtyard now belongs to her daughter named Wang Jiao.

She likes to go out to play outside the palace with her servants. Now she's all grown up. She's currently 15 years old but everyone thinks that she's 14. Her mother gave birth to her in a village and hid her for a year.

At that time, Jiao didn't grow toowell and at the age of two, she looked like a one-year-old so her mother lied when she came into the king's harem.

This princess always wears a veil when she goes out. Not long ago, she was kidnapped by some men when she wandered off on her own and since she didn't carry her royal identity token, she couldn't prove her self and was sold to a brothel after they made her unable to use her powers which are teleporting and fragrance accompanied by air.

Yeah! This girl is the same girl that our Theresa saved with three refined pearls from the hands of lecherous evil men. She is a student of Dreamy sect and is known to be the most beautiful princess in all of Cherry land.

Tonight, she plans to sneak out of the palace to practice a technique she found in an old scroll near the river that is in the forbidden forest as it is rich in qi there.

Right now, all she is doing is being mean and nasty to her servants to tire them out so she can sneak out at the perfect time.

*****

10 minutes later.

Wang Jiao sprayed a perfume she made personally in the courtyard and all her servants fell asleep and then she ran out, scanned the surroundings and teleported.

Forbidden forest's river.

This river is located very deep in this forest and the area can get pretty scary at night. One would hear the sound of so many animals both pleasant and scary. One wouldn't be able to sleep at night either.

During the day, it is always beautiful scenery and makes one want to build his house right there and then. Tonight, there are no animals from the weakest to the strongest in this area.

A heavy wind had begun to blow and thunder struck when the two moons of Luo Ye met, just above the peach tree that grew in the middle of the water. It was a spectacular sight as the water began to bubble and turn slightly blue under the moonlight.

Three figures; Theresa, Marabelle and Long Ren appeared at this moment near the river bank and also the casket containing the corpse of Aarti, was in front of them.

Long Ren held the golden chest and despite the brightness from it, he took out the object causing the bright lights and it dimmed at once.

As he had earlier said, it was a flower. This flower that had nine petals which in turn have nine colors: pink, red, yellow, purple, black, green, orange, blue, white. It could be either refined into a pill or the essence extracted out and made into soup.

Long Ren threw the chest on the ground and unsealed the lid of the first casket and then opened the second casket that contained Aarti's body.

"Your mother is really a queen. She's so beautiful. I bet your dad must be handsome too." he praised, then stamped his right foot on the ground and rose in the air and flew high up to the night sky until his body became a tiny dot to Theresa and Lu Wei.

The two moons of Luo Ye met and passed by each other. For the few seconds that the two moons met, Long Ren was able to activate the nine colors of the nine petals of the flower and they shone brightly and emitted great heat.

If Long Ren wasn't a fire cultivator or didn't have the green fire in his body, then he would have become a meat patty but he struggled to hold the flower and descend quickly.

While descending, he brought out a pot and placed the flower inside and then covered the pot with a lid shutting off the blinding light, blistering heat and fragrance of the flower.

On landing, he placed the pot on the casket's open lid and gathered his low-grade green fire with his right hand and the earth fire which has two flames, one grey and the other red, intertwined.

He then slowly brought the two fires together and merged them right above the pot for 3 minutes and then with his right hand he opened the pot's lead. What came out was thick smoke and no dazzling light or fragrance.

Long Ren then brought out a clay pot from his space ring and made it fly to the river to fetch the bubbling water and then fly back half filled.

He used the pot's lid to get some water from the clay pot and our it into the pot containing the flower and then he put the pot's lid down on the ice casket's lid. He bit his right thumb and placed it above the pot. Blood dripped down from his thumb into the pot and then Long Ren covered the pot again.

Theresa and Marabelle only watched with anxiety in their eyes. They dared not say a word to mess this up.

Long Ren took the pot with the right hand; the merged fires was still atop it controlled by his left hand and then slowly turned to look back at the two moons of Luo Ye.

"I, Long Ren, a little subject and a nobody would like to save someone. Grant my wish, Heavens." he chanted and then he walked to the river bank, levitated in the air and dived into the river startling Theresa and Marabelle.

"W... What just happened? He dived into this bubbling river with the fires and pot. Wouldn't our efforts go to waste then?" Marabelle asked in worry.

"Relax! He won't disappoint." Theresa said.

Suddenly, a girl appeared in front of them.

"Who are you?" Marabelle asked. She's no longer shocked because of seeing people appear and disappear.

"Me?" the girl pointed to herself.

"Who else came outta thin air just now then? Of course, I am talking to you" said Marabelle sarcastically.

"You..." the girl turned to face Theresa.

"I'm Princess Wang Jiao of Cherry kingdom." she introduced herself.

"Yeah! Now the witch introduces herself. Pei," Marabelle spat.

"Buddy, be calm. We've got more important issues here." Theresa scolded.

"Yeah! You are right. Little girl, please go your way." Marabelle said.

"Why should I leave? This is my destination. I am here to practice a technique. Care to watch me practice?" Wang Jiao asked with a sweet smile.

"Not really! Some other time." Theresa said with a small tone of impatience in her voice which Wang Jiao detected.

"What are you guys doing here anyway? You came to... who's in that casket? What sort of cultivators are you? Demon cultivators? What are you doing with a helpless corpse?" Wang Jiao threw questions at them and put up a guard against them.

Theresa wanted to facepalm.

"First, this corpse isn't helpless and second, it's my Mama. Do you get it? Now leave!" Theresa explained in annoyance.

"You really are demon cultivators. You couldn't even spare your own mom's body. That's how dirty your sect is. Taste my fragrance!" Wang Jiao yelled.

With these words, Wang Jiao took out a bottle from her spatial ring that she wore on her right index finger and spread its powder content in the air.

The powder smelled like watermelons but have the effect of making someone blackout. 3 minutes passed but Theresa and Marabelle just stood there watching her every move. She was shocked to see that the powder didn't even touch Theresa and Marabelle.

"How is this possible?" she asked in shock.

She didn't need to wait for an answer as a shield appeared around Theresa and Marabelle.

"You two... you escaped my fragrance due to this evil shield. I won't let you desecrate that body." Wang Jiao yelled.

She was determined to save the casket out of Theresa's 'evil' hands.

"Little girl, please leave us now." Marabelle thundered.

At this moment, Long Ren suddenly surfaced and jumped out of the river.

What was in his hand were nine enlarged petals, each enlarged petal had two more clours of grey and gold. These petals emitted rays that were soothing to the flesh.

"Mistress, get outta the wa.y"Long Ren said to Theresa, telepathically.

Theresa immediately pulled Marabelle to a corner 7 feet away from the casket. This action of hers made the shield to crash making Wang Jiao smile. She turned to look at Long Ren.

"Evil demon, let's see how... ouch!" Wang Jiao turned her neck and saw that there were needles embedded in her butt.

She turned to the source and saw Theresa smiling at her.

"How dare you?" she yelled and ran towards the duo.

Long Ren took this chance to send three petals towards the casket. The three petals flew to the casket and stayed just above Aarti's chest.

Aarti's body glowed for a few seconds but then the lights soon dimmed.

Long Ren sent 3 more petals to the casket and then the last set.

Finally, the nine petals reconnected and Aarti's whole body lit up and her body rose from the casket, levitating in mid-air. Wang Jiao turned around to meet this scene and her eyes shooted flames.

"These people really have another companion who's bent on desecrating the cultivator's body. Disgusting!" she thought and changed her attention from Theresa and co.

She rushed towards Long Ren but she was struck by thunder that came from nowhere. Her hair caught fire and she screamed in fright.

"My beautiful hair!" she yelled as she ran to the river and dived in, only for her head to bump into a rock.

"Damn it!" she cursed.

She swam further and plunged in but she soon surfaced and swam to shore panting heavily.

"Damn it! These demonic cultivators. You wouldn't even let the poor river be. Why make the water so hot?" she yelled and wanted to pull her hair in frustration but found to her alarm that, her hair was gone.

She touched her head and saw that all that was left was a neatly shaved scalp. It looked like she was bald from birth. She turned to look at Aarti's body that was now sitting in a meditative position.

Her hair fluttered and the nine petals above her face illuminated her face.

"Such a beautiful woman. They dare... Ptui!" Wang Jiao spat out blood and two teeth.

"You're all done for!" she yelled but then an egg flew into her mouth and she felt that her hands couldn't move.

She became afraid. What was going on now? She turned her neck and saw Long Ren urgently talking to Theresa.

"Those bastards!" she swore internally.

She was also surprised that she could curse this much. She had been trained back at Cherry kingdom with virtues and etiquette but it seems all those training had been forgotten since she came here.

She swore a lot and easily got angry. All her rationality flew away with the wind the moment she saw Aarti's body. She'd never been like this. Even when she was kidnapped, she wasn't too flustered.

She decided to just wait and watch things unfold. If it comes to worse, she'll just teleport.

Meanwhile, Theresa and her bestie wore concerned faces.

"You mean that you lost some cultivation due to demonic rats?" Theresa asked in disbelief.

She knew that Long Ren is powerful. Ordinary demonic rats cannot break into his seal whenever he is cultivating. If one did do so as Long Ren was saying, then it means that the rat was very powerful.

Probably that rat is the lord and grandfather of all demonic rats. She wanted to facepalm. They were so close but now they were stuck in this condition.

"There is another way." Long Ren proposed.

"Tell us," said Marabelle.

"Mistress, you have to let go of your cultivation too. Just a little bit." said, Long Ren.

"The system shall revive when you become a foundation builder."Theresa recalled these words of her soon to be system Dorothy.

If she lets go of her cultivation, then it will take longer to activate the system not to mention that Long Ren said that it would take long for her to have another breakthrough.

But still, the person that needs it is her mother. Her one and only mother whom she'd wronged too many times. It was now to give her something. She would not be ungrateful or stingy towards her mother.

"I am willing to give away all my cultivation. So long as my mother can come back to life." Theresa said with determination.

"Good! It's settled then. Walk towards your mother and place your hands on her shoulders in a meditative pose and wait for my instructions. Hurry, we don't have much time left" said Long Ren.

"Yes," Theresa immediately sped to the spot where her mother was and sat behind her cross-legged.

She raised both hands and found that they were trembling. This is her mother- the one who meant the world to her, who treated her like a princess since day one, the one who always kisses her goodnight before sleep. She's here with her in this world but lifeless.

"Mama, I will make sure that father sees your smile not just for a minute or a day but forever. Mother, I'll do anything for you". she whispered and finally brought her trembling fingers to her mother's shoulders and steadied them.

"Long Ren, I am ready," she telepathed Long Ren.

"Okay. Repeat these words after me."Long Ren said to her telepathically. "Moons of Luo Ye Present, Forbidden river witnesses this, this loyal nobody seeks to let go of some load to save a life. Grant my humble wish!"

"Moons of Luo Ye Present, Forbidden river witnesses this. I Theresa Williams, this loyal nobody seeks to let go of some load to save a life. Grant my humble wish!" Theresa repeated in a loud voice and her belly grumbled.

She felt indescribable pain at her abdomen and her hands nearly dropped off her mother's shoulders.

"Don't drop them!" Long Ren warned her using voice transmission technique.

"It hurts! A lot!" she replied telepathically.

"It's only for a short while," said Long Ren.

Theresa then gritted her teeth and fought hard the urge to drop her hands. She felt as if all her accumulated energy and qi leaving her at a fast rate. Her hands began to tremble even more and she sweated heavily drenching her clothes.

"Theresa, my best buddy, you can do it. Don't give up. You are strong!" Marabelle shouted.

She wanted to encourage Theresa but she got a death stare from Long Ren making her shut her mouth.

"Buddy, you can do it." she muttered while Long Ren turned his attention to Theresa.

In less than two minutes, Theresa's cultivation went from Beginner realm level 6 to beginner realm level 1. She finally fell to the ground after spitting blood.

The petals above Aarti's head became brighter and emitted heat rays that were tolerable to fire cultivators but for Wang Jiao it was the greatest torture she had ever experienced. She thought she was about to melt.

"I really want to teleport now. What the hell is this?" she thought.

Aarti's body was surrounded by nine rings of fire and the petals scattered into bits of light that fell into Aarti's head and the rings of fire entered her body. After which her body stopped glowing.

"Success!" Long Ren shouted and ran towards Theresa who had fainted.

"Mistress, you're the best," he whispered before taking her into his arms.

"Let's go treat you." he then disappeared with her.

Marabelle was concerned for Theresa but she had some faith in Long Ren. He won't let anything happen to her. She ran to Aarti who had opened her eyes.

"Aunty, you are back. Tell me, do you feel pain anywhere?" Marabelle asked.

"Marabelle, where am I? Why am I dressed in these? Where are my husband and my daughter?" Aarti threw questions at Marabelle.

"Aunty, you are really back. Please don't leave us again, okay?" Marabelle said emotionally and then hugged Aarti tight.

"You're suffocating me," Aarti said.

"Sorry aunty. I was just too excited." Marabelle apologized.

"Just rest here for a bit and you'll get answers to your questions," she added and sat cross-legged.

"You're much more beautiful. I bet uncle would take you on honeymoon if he sees you." she said happily to the confused and worried Aarti.

"Theresa, Long Ren, please come back in time. I'm not sure if I can handle her." Marabelle prayed.