“I’ll deal with both of you later.”, saying this Yong Meng put on his outer robe and went out, followed by Song Qing. ‘Good! I am safe for now.’, thought Song Qing and turned towards the cook to reveal a devilish smile.
Soon Yong Meng and Song Qing reached Full Moon courtyard. When both of them entered, Liu Ji Lie greeted them, “Meng’er, sorry for troubling you so early in the morning.”
“It’s fine master.” he answered and all three of them entered Liu Ji Lie’s study. Niang Jun was already seated there. They greeted him and seated themselves. Niang Jun looked at the flowers in the garden and said, “Miss, why don’t you go out and enjoy the view. We’ll be here talking at some serious matter and don’t dare bore you.” When all in the room tilted their heads in agreement, Song Qing got up, and went out in the garden. As soon as she was out of the room, the door behind her shut instantly. Song Qing went out and sat on a wooden chair under a tree. Back in the study, there was a serious atmosphere. Niang Jun spoke as he stirred his tea, “Yesterday, I heard two disciples gossiping about you and your rumoured subordinate Song Qing. They were pitying you, who had summoned a mortal according to them. I couldn’t help but laugh when I heard them. Do you know why?”, he lifted his head and gazed at Yong Meng who was looking a bit confused for a while and continued, “Indeed they were senseless to think the heavenly prince to be this weak. But let me clear something here—” He suddenly stopped and smiled, then he rose up quietly and opened the sliding door (well to avoid confusion, the sliding door faces the garden, kind of like a French window) to reveal a stupefied Song Qing, with her ear towards the door, looking as if she was trying to listen to their conversation secretly. “Looks like you got some itchy ears. No Problem.”, saying this Niang Jun took her in his arms and proceeded towards the chair. Song Qing’s whole body was stupefied, she couldn’t even lift a finger. ‘Why…why can’t I move?!’, she cried in her head. As Niang Jun seated her on the chair, a terrifying white coloured snake appeared on his shoulder. This snake had a silvery white skin which shined like stars in the night sky, green eyes gave it a terrifying look. It had a certain kind of shining stone embedded on its forehead. The snake was quite big. It slipped down from Niang Jun’s shoulder to Song Qing, coiling her body from the top to the bottom. All colours left Song Qing’s face. She didn’t dare to move an inch even if she could move. “Quite beautiful isn’t it.”, Niang Jun looked at the snake and praised it, as his gaze turned towards Song Qing’s mortified face he said, “Don’t worry, it’ll protect you, in case someone pesters you, while you can’t move.”, saying this he went back to the study and closed the doors. ‘Beautiful my foot!’ Song Qing was going mad, ‘Doesn’t he have eyes? And did god forgot to give him some brain? Protect? This thing will surely eat me. I know! He is doing it on purpose.’ When she was thinking all this the Liu Twins appeared there. One of them remarked, “Hey, isn’t she the prince’s subordinate?”
“Looks like she is being punished.”, the other one laughed.
“She even dared to disrespect the divine deity, surely she would be punished. Oh! And we were thinking that she was being specially treated by the prince.”
“She’d know her true place now.”, both of them giggled. Right now, if Song Qing could move, she would’ve told them what punishment meant right then and there, but that was out of her power now. Her face became red with anger as she heard their babble. ‘Curse that Niang Jun’, she cried in her head.
Back in the study, Niang Jun took his place and continued, “Where was I? Oh yes! At length, she is not your subordinate.” Yong Meng was greatly perplexed, “What do you mean by that?”, he asked. Niang Jun, first looked at him then surfacing the ends of his tea cup he spoke gravely, “Have you ever heard of Heavenly Goddess Ji Hua?”
“I have. I heard that she disappeared some 200,000 years ago, no one knows what happened to her.”, answered Yong Meng. Niang Jun looked up at him and spoke, “But I know. She reincarnated as an immortal. Do you know who she is? She is Song Qing.” As soon as he uttered these words Yong Meng lost control and cried, “What!??”
“I know it’s hard to believe and I can’t explain the matter right now, but you may be sure, I am speaking the truth. As you know we can’t establish a master-subordinate contract with someone of higher status, so she is not your subordinate. The fact that you actually summoned her is just coincidental, your spiritual energy matched with her’s for a second and so you were able to summon her.” Yong Meng sat there stupefied. Looking at his face filled with disbelief Niang Jun said, “If you dare not believe me, then why don’t you use the summoning mantra again.” The summoning mantra was a powerful one. No matter where the subordinate is, he would’ve to appear right then and there when his master chanted the mantra. It was a clear way of finding out whether Song Qing is his subordinate or not. If she was, she’d surely appear there, no matter if she was bound by a barrier and if she wasn’t his subordinate then, nothing would happen, no matter how many times he chanted it. So, Yong Meng started chanting the mantra, but nothing happened, Song Qing didn’t appear. He in despair tried a few more times but the outcome every time was the same, she didn’t appear.
Yong Meng was filled with confusion; how could that happen? Well, this was one of those rare cases when the subordinate was not really the subordinate.
“As you have clearly seen now”, Niang Jun began “I have no more to say now, but I’d like to thank you for keeping her with you all these days when I wasn’t here. Now, as I have come, I’ll be taking her with myself.”
