The Vampire Empress: Blood Queen & Her Kings

"A map?" 

Wu Xie could not believe that those unfamiliar designs that were carved over the fan were actually hiding a map. 

He could not understand why the fan suddenly decided to unveil the secret that it had been hiding for the past two months. The timing was too peculiar to not make him doubt. Besides, the fan seemed to be even more abnormal than he presumed.

As his eyes roamed over the fan, observing every minor detail of the map, he realized that the map was incomplete. Almost a third part of the map was missing.

"Interesting..." 

A small twitch appeared on his lips as he recognized the places that were marked on the incomplete map that he was holding in his hands. Only if he could find the missing part of the map.

He focused his gaze on the map and let his spiritual energy fill his eyes, etching each little detail of the map in his brain. It took only seconds before he was done and as he closed his eyes to let his spirit power relax, he found a replica of the map stored in his brain.

He opened his eyes and carefully closed the fan, letting its secret disappear once again as the fan returned to its original appearance.

He was looking forward to disclosing the secrets of the mysterious fan but at the moment, he had a banquet to attend.

***

"I'm done with my work for the day." 

Jiang Ying Yue heard Min Gu's voice as the girl stepped into the inner room of the third courtyard where the former was busy working on the formula of lipsticks.

Since the morning, she had been working on making waxelene so that she could easily make lip gloss without any trouble for the lack of petroleum jelly.

Just thinking about the money that she had spent on finding the three necessary ingredients that were used to make waxelene (soybean oil, raw beeswax, and rosemary oil), she could not help but cry in her heart. Even after spending a lot of silver taels to buy these ingredients, she still needed to work for hours to extract vitamin E from soybeans. Besides, she was still having a hard time casting the right spells.

A sigh left her lips when she realized that even after working for so many hours, she was only able to make a few jars of the waxelene. 

"Why are you looking so depressed?" Min Gu asked as she looked around the room, observing the huge box of the small empty jar bottles that were resting beside the table where Ying Yue was working. The jar bottles were of different sizes and shapes and were used to store cosmetic supplies.

Another sigh left Jiang Ying Yue's lips as she heard Min Gu's question. "The more I'm paying attention to my business idea, the more I'm realizing that we are sort on money. I would need to find a way to solve this problem."

A bright light suddenly shone in the room and the next second, instead of Min Gu, Silver was standing in front of her. 

The man crouched down beside her and raised his right hand to lightly trail his fingers over her eyebrows. "I'm sure you will find one. Didn't you say that earning money in this era is a piece of cake for you? Don't tell me you are backing down so early."

The immediate glare that he received made him pull away his hand as he looked at the girl with raised eyebrows.

"You are the one giving up! When did I say anything about giving up? I'm just not happy thinking about that my little brain cells have to suffer to think of another idea for earning money in a short time. Don't make up your own theories." She reprimanded him before looking away.

A small smile appeared on his lips as he lightly rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Alright! It's good to know that you are ready to fight for your future. By the way, I won't disturb you anymore. Don't wait for me during the dinner, I have plans for tonight." He informed her before standing up and stepping away.

"What plans?" Jiang Ying Yue hurriedly asked as she abandoned her work and looked up at the man who appeared to be quite happy about the fact that he had successfully grasped her entire focus.

"Can't you feel the sudden buzz in the air?" He asked instead of answering her question.

Jiang Ying Yue frowned as she tried to feel the energy of the atmosphere. Though the energy level inside the Cold Palace was as normal as always, she noticed the rise of the energy level of the rest of the Royal Palace.

"What's going on?" She questioned no one in particular as she tried to enhance her hearing powers to listen to any gossips near the Cold Palace.

Unfortunately, the Cold Palace was located in the furthest corner of the Royal Palace and not even birds loved to venture around anywhere near this abandoned place. 

Her new body was unable to let her use more than five percent of her real powers. Though her soul was still as powerful as it was back in her world, her new body was as fragile as a china doll. 

A frustrated sigh left her lips when she totally failed to use even her heightened senses to their full potential.

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Give some time to this new body of yours and train it to bear the weight of your powers. You just can't do anything and wait for a miracle to happen." Silver reminded her as he noticed her frustration.

Jiang Ying Yue was aware that she needed to work on her new body but that did not mean she was indifferent to anger and frustration whenever she failed in using her powers. 

"What's your plan?" She asked again, trying to change the topic.

"In planning to take a look around the royal palace. Maybe, I'll find out what's going on today."