Empress Of The Lost Kingdom

Once they stepped into the eerie passageway, an unknown fear hooded over Li Juan's mind. The dim lights and the silence lingered in the corridor sent chills to her body. Even without any proper reasons, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up in fright. The floor seemed to sway under feet and she subconsciously grabbed Liang's black leather jacket, for security.

Liang who has carefully led the way through the narrow passage suddenly felt a tug on his clothes. Since the ground was uneven, he reached out for the person who is walking behind him.

Without any hesitations, Li Juan tightly clutched on to his warm palm as if it was the last straw given to a drowning person. When her sweaty palms came into contact with his skin, Liang immediately understood that Li Juan's anxiety/ fear levels got kicked up because of the closed environment. 

"The air feels surprisingly fresh," He commented all of sudden to ease her mood, his magnetic voice echoing in the passageway. Even the last person who entered the secret passage was able to hear his question, "Did you feel it?"

"Oh, that's odd. There is no musty smell," Bai Yu who tailed Li Juan replied enthusiastically. He was waiting for someone to speak up in this spooky corridor.

"There must be some opening which allows airflow here," Su Wu, who had a bad time adjusting with the darkness, squinted his eyes and added, "otherwise we would've fainted because of rotten air."

"It's more like a floral scent," someone commented.

Since more people are joining in the conversation Bai Yu's mood got elated, like a curious kid, he asked countless questions and brightened the damp and dimly lit surroundings. After sometimes, Su Wu who got tired of answering his continuous queries reverted Bai Yu's attention over to Li Juan, whom he believed the right person to clear his nephew's doubts.

Within a short period of time, Su Wu evidently realized that Li Juan had much understanding and knowledge about Yu kingdom than he who lived as a Yu clan member for the last forty-five years.

After walking for thirty minutes, when the passageway resonated with the rhythmic crashing sounds of waves, Bai Yu again burst opened his bundle of queries.

"Jie, is there a river nearby?" He clung to Li Juan's slender arm and asked. "I heard waves crashing,"

"I don't think there is a river behind these walls," Li Juan replied. "But when we looked at the satellite images, we did find some glaciers, maybe they are moving around,"

"Actually, every river in the mainland is fed by the glaciers in the Tu mountains." Su Wu added, "However, there are only two rivers in this place,"

"The river which we saw earlier, the one with the waterfall, it is called the West Dragon river and the one we saw along our way, it is the east dragon river." Li Juan's answer had drawn everyone's attention.

"Why did they name two rivers with the same name? Did they ran out of names?" He asked half-jokingly.

"How would I know?" Li Juan replied with a dumbfounded face. Most of the information about Yu kingdom was the deduction of facts and the vague memories of her dreams.

"Ah, you always talk to grandpa and so I thought he might have shared all those fairy tales with you,"

Bai Yu said with a grin. While he was protesting against Li Juan it has come to his notice that, she always remained in her room reading or in Bai Qi's study room immersed in Grandpa Bai's lecture.

"Well, Grandpa did tell me about Dragon river." Li Juan suddenly remembered. "The story about the mighty Dragon God lives in the river and If we misplace a pebble from this wall, the dragon will flood the entire Jade land."

"Eldest uncle told you all these stories?" Su Wu inquired.

"He even allowed her to go through his personal library," Bai Yu pointed out.

"Really, uncle actually let you inside his library?" He was taken aback, in disbelief. "He doesn't allow a single person to enter his library, not even for cleaning."

"But everyone goes to his study room," Li Juan said in a flat tone. 

"We can go inside, but not allowed to touch the books, he considers them as his precious babies. I've never seen someone who is fanatic about books."

"Uncle Su, you are talking to the wrong person here," Zhang Zhi Jun suddenly commented, remembering the number of books he has seen in Li Juan's house in Jing City.

"Prin- ah, Li Juan's house is nothing better than a library." He almost addressed her as "princess."

Before the journey started, Li Juan requested everyone to keep her real identity hidden. She doesn't want any special treatment because of her title as the princess of Yu palace. Other than Su Wu and Liang, no one in the team knew that Li Juan belongs to the Bai family.

"Ah no wonder, your grades were so high all the time."

"Cough, cough, professor Su, you are moving away from the topic," Li Juan reminded him. "The river-"

"Jie, are you sure that if we remove a rock from this wall, the river will get flooded?" Bai Yu interrupted her and asked again.

" Why? Do you want to provoke the dragon?" Su Wu retaliated, unable to endure his chirpings.

"Can I?" Bai Yu retorted back at his uncle.

"Bai Yu," Zhang Zhi Jun called his name in a warning tone and stopping him from spouting any more non-sense.

Once Bai Yu's bickering got stopped by his brother, the dark and dank corridor again fell into thick silence.

"So is it the same river that destroyed the city?" Liang asked Li Juan as he felt that her anxious mood has improved a lot better.

"I believe so."

"It is not possible."Bai Yu's voice raised again. "How can these glaciers create a flood which can ruin an entire city?" 

"If we check the history, most of the ancient cities perished due to natural calamities." 

Han Guang who was silent till the moment finally opened his mouth to explain. As a professor himself, he loved when his students bombarded him with questions. Especially people like Bai Yu intrigued him. 

However, there wasn't a single person who was curious about the lost city in his excavation team.

"Whether it is ancient or modern cities, all of them have emerged near the water sources, especially rivers and seas. A small change in the direction of flow of the river can create or destroy topography of the land."

Han Guang was happy to answer.

"They are the creators as well as the destroyers."

"Thank you, professor," Li Juan's soulful voice tinged with smile floated from the other side of the corridor,

"Actually I have another theory," Cheng Tao who was remained silent, unlike his true chatty nature, suddenly proposed.

"On our way to the palace, we have come across a place where hundreds of bodies were cremated. It can't be considered as a cremation ground. It is more like someone burned a hell lot of dead bodies. Even we could find a large number of melted metals," Cheng Tao commented. They spent quite a lot of time, examining the outer zones of the Yu kingdom before the other team came intruding. 

"If my calculations are correct, some kind of holocaust has happened here. It must have grown uncontrollable and created some ecological imbalance in the atmosphere." He continued,

"Or a wildfire which created a pressure variation in such a closed place, it may be triggered a cloudburst followed by rainfall, which could have increased the severity of the flood." 

"That was the most logical reason, that I've come across with, good job Youngman," Meng Yu praised him.

All of them were aware of the war in Yu kingdom which made them homeless. Even after thousands of years, no one could come up with a possible deduction of what actually happened in the war which resulted in the disappearance of the entire place.

An opening appeared on the other side of the passage.

"We have reached,"

The moment everyone stepped out of the secret passage, they felt like they have entered into a magical world.

In front of their eyes, a spectacular view of a valley filled with montane green grasses and pretty flowers appeared, in the backdrop of the snow-capped mountain peaks touching the blue sky.

The entire place was immersed in tranquil silence. At the end of the field, a lone plum tree stood in full blossom. When a gentle breeze passed over the valley, light Pink-coloured petals showered down.

"The valley of eternal love," Li Juan heard someone's voice in her head.

"Wow, this is breathtakingly beautiful,"

"The air is so pure and fresh,"

The valley echoed exhilarated hustles and bustles of human beings.

While everyone was enjoying the panoramic view of the valley, Li Juan stood frozen to the ground, unable to move away from the spot she stood,

She has seen this place before,

"Jie, why aren't you coming?" Bai Yu waved his hand and invited her over. 

Li Juan felt her heart was jumping excitedly as if it wanted to get out of her body.

She somehow had an intuition that this place is sacred and should be respected.

She bent down to remove her trekking boots and placed it near the entrance of the cave. 

The moment Li Juan stepped into the moist ground with barefoot, the howling of the mountain window suddenly stopped, even the rippling of water faded away and the atmosphere has suddenly become silent.

Zhang Zhi Jun who was searching for Li Juan among the team members, narrowed his eyes when he saw her still expression.

Something wrong with her.

He tried to call her name, but Liang who stood beside her stopped him.

Every time her feet touched the wet ground, Li Juan felt some kinds of vibrations entering into her body, sending electrocutions on to her mind.

She walked towards the plum tree as if she was lead by someone. She didn't see anything else or heard any noise.

Her ebony eyes were glued to the plum tree.

As soon as Li Juan stood in front of the plum tree, the sudden window rustled the leaves and the plum tree showered its petals on her. 

Out of nowhere, a pair of azure Magpies flew towards the plum tree with loud chirpings.

People who were startled by the sudden sound turned and saw an extraordinary view.

The magpies were flying around Li Juan.

"I've always noticed that Miss Li is followed by magpies," Meng Yu commented with a surprised face, "They are not so social with humans, yet they fearlessly comes towards her."

Everyone has witnessed it, whenever Li Juan comes out of her tent, a pair of magpies always shows up. 

"Is there anything on the tree?" One of the workers asked, "maybe there will be a nest and birdlings, that's why they are trying to attack her?"

"No, no they aren't attacking,"

While everyone was curiously looking at the strange interaction between the birds and the woman, Li Juan paid no attention to her surroundings.

She could only see the plum blossoms and the magpies.

Chirp, chirp, [you are finally here]

Li Juan raised her arm and one of the magpies obediently sat on her palm,

"Where is she?" Li Juan asked the birds. 

The birds flew from her hand and sat on the ground filled with flower petals.

Under the sudden surge of various emotions, Li Juan's heart started trembling, as if endless streams of power were striking incessantly upon her mind, rendering unable to stand, as she fell with a thud onto her knees on the ground.

Her eyes brimming with tears as she skimmed off the layer of flowers, covering the soil beside the plum tree.

She frantically dug the soil with her bare hands, 

"Chirp, chirp" the birds talked to her in a language which is only recognized by one who shares the Bai bloodline,

"Here lies Bai Yu Yue, the last queen of Yu kingdom, the mother of the Yu clan, the protector of Jade land."