Song of Heroes

As he was thinking of many things of course Charles did not pay attention to his surrounding when he collided into a young girl and the sound of crash could be heard and then the sound of crying fills the second floor of the Everlasting Happiness Inn.

Charles falls to the wooden floor and feels his butt a little numb because of the impact but he was not badly affected.

The crowds on the second floor were also shocked and then look at the boy and girl that crashed each other.

Seeing that the boy and his uncle come down from the third floor, many people in the crowds guessed that the uncle and nephew pair is a distinguished person.

The crowds also look at the girl the boy crashed with.

The girl was cute and very precocious. But the boy, the boy was beautiful minus a lightning scar on his left forehead.

Many of the crowds believe when this boy grows up he would break many woman hearts.

The crowds have seen the girl from the beginning she entered, she has been running around the Inn with no person inside the Inn manages to catches her which makes her a Jianghu person.

The old man behind the girl was also a distinguished person.

The second floor crowds mostly come from Jianghu and distinguished household, and some of them knows the Old person and whispered to their friends.

'Old man Du' some of them whispered.

Then some of them recognized the red scabbard of the other person and the shock in their heart multiplied with a smile on their faces as they are sure today is a good day for a great show as they whisper to their friends

'Red Sword Lancel.' The crowds knowing this also feel excited.

Knowing that both of the men in each side is a person normal people dare not offend, they just watched, eager to see a good show.

The people in this kind of inn, does not worry about trouble.

They only worry the trouble is not big enough.

After all if the trouble is not big, how could they enjoy a great show?

In Jianghu the most common place for a duel to erupt is at tavern or a restaurant. And duel in Jianghu erupt sometimes for nonsensical reason.

Battle for martial arts manual is also numerous, and sometimes even fighting to the death

They are used to it.

So, the Jianghu people are truly eager to see what will happen. Will the young man with the red sword duel with Old man Du?

If they did, then in their wandering in Jianghu, they will tell these stories added in with their opinions and will be crafted to not only enhance the battle but also made the people not watching it green with regret.

This is why story of battles greatly spread among the Jianghu people as fast as forest fire in the summer.

The girl was immediately brought up by an old man with a white beard and white eyebrows. The old man was wearing a black robe and he looked otherworldly.

It was the aura he is giving off, like he was untainted with mundane matters, pure of heart.

He dusts off any dust around the girl and asks her

'Yuhuan, are you fine?' The old man asks.

The girl was sobbing as she keeps rubbing her forehead.

There is some redness on her forehead. Charles while he was also fall, he did not feel that much pain.

He did not even flinch. The only reason he falls because of his lack of balance.

Seeing the girl would not stop crying Charles felt guilty. If he pays more attention to his surrounding how could he crash himself with this girl?

Her name was Yang Yuhuan hailing from Chu of the Aeropa.

Yuhuan was running around the second floor with her grandfather and was clearly awestruck by the colorful costume of the dancers and performers of the Everlasting Happiness Inn.

His grandfather is coming here to the Pass to visit the Scholar of Sword Meng Zhang to inquire about some matters.

Yang Yuhuan comes from a Jianghu family so she is very willful and very precocious.

They passed the Pass inspection since the General of the Pass knows her grandfather. Her grandfather is the Diviner Sage Du Long.

Famously known as the Diviner Sage Du.

Since many people in Jianghu knows that the Scholar of Sword Meng Zhang is the owner of the Everlasting Happiness Inn, her grandfather wanted to meet him first to ask for some help.

In the morning when Yuhuan heard her grandfather wanted to go to Everlasting happiness Inn, Yuhuan insisted to follow her grandfather.

Of course her grandfather could not really bring her to kind of place that could give birth bad reputation for a maiden like Yuhuan but since she was a child, her grandfather has always doted over her.

In the end, her grandfather allowed her to come.

When she saw how lively and how colorful the Inn really is Yuhuan could not contain her excitement and run around the Inn.

It was then when her grandfather started chasing her on the second floor asking her to stop that she collided with the boy

Yuhuan was already 13 years old.

She is older from Charles by three years and by that logic she should not have felt so much pain. But when she collided with that man forehead it was like she crash her head onto a boulder.

She felt like her head is being split open.

On the other hand Diviner Sage Du could only shakes his head and smiles bitterly as he apologizes to the boy uncle.

As he was apologizing he looked at the boy and then he was shocked.

In his heart alarms rings out.

'He could not let that kind of boy near her granddaughter'

He instantly thought but when Lancel look at the old man gaze towards Charles, Lancel did not let go of the old man hand, preventing the old man from coming near to Charles.

The old man channels some internal energy too push away Lancel and come to his granddaughter but Lancel reflect the internal energy with his own internal energy.

They battle in silence, trying to overwhelm each other with their internal energy, with no people in the crowd knowing any better.

Charles who did not realize the gaze of the old man and the silent battle ensuing because of him was thinking of something to stop the girl in front of him from crying and then he think of something.

Then he inconspicuously takes a coin from his pocket and put it into his hand.

The performer around the young boy of course realize it but the girl did not notice anything

'Want to see something interesting?'

He says to the girl and the girl slows the volume of her sobbing as her big eyes look at Charles inquisitively.

She nodded as she uses her dress sleeve to wipe her tears. The performers nearby also look at the young boy manners and was very impressed.

The boy wanted to console the girl and has a trick.

The performers have long been in the performing business and the way the kid does it while it is crude it is interesting. What performance can one do with a coin?

He keeps his eye contact with the girl while palming the coins.

When his eyes look at Yuhuan, she blushed looking so intensely by a boy.

Even though she is willful she knows the separation between men and women.

Then Charles makes his move and he reaches his hand behind Yuhuan head and Yuhuan blushes more furiously than before.

Some of the performers giggle and was curios. What is the kid trying to do?

He moves his hand slowly away from the person as he slides the coin from the back of his hand to the front.

Yuhuan felt her body tingles with embarrassment.

Charles holds up the coin in front of her and he declared

'You got a gold coin inside your ear!' and looking at this sudden appearance of the gold coin appears out of nowhere Yuhuan was puzzled.

She touches her ears trying to feel if there is any more gold coin.

A gold coin is a lot for poor people.

Yuhuan could eat many mantou with a gold coin so she tries to dig her ears with her fingers eliciting the laughers of the performer.

'Brilliant kid!' One of the performers shows a thumbs up to Charles as Charles just smile.

He already managed to keep the girl from crying that is good enough.

'Here.' Charles said as he gave the gold coin to Yuhuan.

'This comes from your ear so it will certainly belong to you' Charles said and the performers laughed again.

Yuhuan take the gold coin in a daze but then she grabbed Charles robe.

Her eyes was round and was full of curiosity and excitement

She asked enthusiastically

'How did you find a gold coin in my ear? My mother always cleans my ears and never found any gold?'

She asked with a questioning appearance and Charles chuckled.

The performers laughed. Lancel who was looking at this scene smiles.

But Old Man Du was not.

Lancel release his hand after seeing that Old Man Du did not really wanted to harm his nephew and strike silently the pent up internal energy to the corner without the sound.

The soundless internal energy strikes the stone pillars and left a deep imprint of a palm.

Lancel was not overspent and breathe as serene as the wind while Old Man Du was slightly panting. Old Man Du attainment on martial arts is not as high as Lancel considering martial arts was not Old Man Du specialties.

Old Man Du said in his heart

'I was too late! The Karma has formed'

Meanwhile, the two kids are still conversing with each other. Charles then used his two fingers and then suddenly a gold coin appears on his hand.

'Wow!' Yuhuan exclaimed as she unconsciously let go of Charles sleeve.

Charles was just performing parlor magic tricks. All it takes is some sleight of hand and misdirection

Charles then said

'It's magic.'

'Really? Teach me!' The girl said.

'Why?' Charles asks.

'I want to have many gold coins so I could buy many mantou. I like mantou. But Grandfather and mother always said a woman shouldn't eat too many mantou.'

Hearing such an innocent wish, Charles burst out in laughter.

Old Man Du could not let her granddaughter formed any more karma between her and this kid so he grabbed Yuhuan and then bowed a bit as he said

'Forgive my granddaughter, Lord Lancel'

Looking the wariness of the old man, Lancel knows that the old man must have business with the Inn so he also gesture to Charles to come closer.

'It is nothing' Lancel replied.

'Children can be excitable, this is understandable.' Old man Du sees that Yuhuan still does not return the coin to the boy so he ordered.

'Yuhuan, give the boy back his coin.' Yuhuan glared at her grandfather and said

'This is not his coin. This coin is from my ear. It clearly belongs to me.' She said while sticking her tongue out to her grandfather

The performers and the crowds on the second floor all laughed out loud.

Clearly, the boy was playing tricks on you yet she still could not understand?

But the people did not say anything.

The boy clearly plays a trick to stop the young girl from crying which shows the boy has good intention.

Charles then added from behind Lancel

'It is true, I did take it from her ear, Daozhang' Charles could instantly tell the man was the one who follows the teaching of the Wise Master about the Path with the old man minimalistic luxury and his eyes that seem could not be tempted by the temptations of the fleshly body.

'Then, thank you to Young Master' the old man said but his face still shows the same wariness which puzzles Charles.

'Let's go Nephew' Lancel said as he already felt something is wrong with the old man behaviors.

Yuhuan was still looking at her gold coin and when she sees Charles was going down she shouted

'My name is Yuhuan. If we meet again, I will treat you to mantou' which elicited another laugher among the crowds.

'Enough of your running around, Yuhuan. Follow Grandfather and don't wander around anymore.'

'Yes, grandfather' Yuhuan nodded as she look down but unknown to her grandfather she was smiling and her heart was overjoyed now that she has a gold coin for herself.

On the other hand, as Du Long is climbing the stairs to the third floor he could not help but curse the fates.

He looks behind her and look at the smiling face of Yuhuan and he could not help but shakes his head.

She did not know she has already formed a karma thread with such a dangerous person.

The reason Du Long was called Diviner Sage is because he could see fates or glimpse some of it.

It was not something that could be taught. It was something that is inherited by the Will of the Heavens.

The first diviner lived during the Hardstone dynasty after the fall of Old Norveg on the Northern Hell.

The reason why Old man Du was so wary of the young boy is because he sees a glimpse of the boy fates.

In time of peace and prosperity, he has the fate of a wise and sagacious lord. In time of war and chaos, he has the fate of a founding emperor.

How could he not fear such boy considering the fates of Yuhuan?

When Yuhuan was born, her mother asks him to divine her fates.

Old Man Du fast for seven days and purify himself by not indulging in any activities that would angers the Heavens.

He then went to the Divine Immortal Peak in Xianyang and pray for another three days, pleading to the Gods of Heaven and Earth.

Then he divines the fates of Yuhuan.

Yuhuan has the fate of a Queen.

When her mother heard of this, the family held a celebration for three days and three nights and the Yang family treasured and adored Yuhuan, spoiling her of anything she wanted.

But what he didn't tell Yuhuan mother is that Yuhuan has the fate of a tragic queen falling for the wrong person.

After all, Yuhuan mother is his daughter. And Yuhuan father is his son in law.

To prevent this fate ever happening, Old man Du tries to go against the order of heaven and Earth and swore to sever the karma between Yuhuan and the man she will fall in love with by divining her paths in life.

Old Man Du in his life has dedicated himself to prevent any paths that could connect Yuhuan fates to be intertwined with the man of calamity.

This man that she will meet will be highly ambitious, his war horses will fly through the land, pacifying the land; he will not be willing to give up the mountains and seas, not be willing to throw his swords and forget his armor.

Yuhuan is destined to be a lovelorn tragic woman.

Yuhuan will grow up to be a woman of calamitous beauty, which could topple kingdoms and empire, but wanting to accompany her lover to the edge of the world, wanting to hold hand until her black hair turns gray.

Clearly, this kind of woman is not compatible with man of such ambitions to rule the four corners of the world.

This is why Old Man Du wanted to sever this tragic karma and take the burden on himself as his longevity is shortened every year.

Heavens has its punishment. Trying to meddle with its plans, of course there will be consequences.

In the Age of Magic, there is a famous phrase. Every magic has a price. The same could be said for Old Man Du abilities.

Who would have thought in the end, heaven plans is more thorough than him.

When Old man Du sees the young boy he immediately felt that life altering crisis.

That is because he could feel it down in his heart that the man would become the man Yuhuan will fall in love with in the future, thus dooming her.

After all, Yuhuan fate was the fate of a Queen…not a founding Empress fate.

The man of calamity possesses the fate of a founding emperor no wonder, Yuhuan will be destined to live a heartbroken life if she falls in love with him in the future

And who would have thought Old Man Du could ever see such kind of fate in his lifetime?

In the history of the Diviner Sage, there was only one who have seen such founding emperor fate and that was the Diviner Sage Su who met the Founding Emperor of Bourbon, Guilaume Bourbon during the decline and last years of Hardstone Dynasty.

Hardstone dynasty even though the first emperor is Olaf Hardstone who was deified in some places of Midgard he does not have the fate of a founding emperor.

He only has the fate of an emperor since he rules according to the laws of Old Norveg and has done nothing to reform any the old laws.

The Pendragon dynasty only changes the name of the dynasty but retains much of the Bourbon dynasty laws and administration.

Guilaume Bourbon was different.

When he defeated the Hardstone dynasty, he erected an imperial dynasty, the most illustrious dynasty in Midgard by reforming many old laws, pacifying the world and begun a thorough and complete change in economic reform in Midgard making the Empire strong and lasted as long as it did.

He allowed the Eresian to come back in and usher in an empire of peace and prosperity

He is deserved to be called a true founding emperor, laying the foundation for a hundred years even after his death.

Old Man Du has travel to many places but he has never seen any boy or man with the fate of a Founding Emperor destiny.

Since there is a Founding emperor destiny, then a Founding Empress destiny must also exist.

He then turns back and look at her granddaughter and sighed.

While the Karma is formed, if they do not meet for ten years, this kind of weak Karma will surely be severed by the laws of Heaven and Earth.

Hoping that this will be the case, Old man Du eyes once again burned with enthusiasm and pray inside his hearts that nothing will happen in this ten years.

****************************************************************************