Chapter 662
: Flirting
Chapter 662: Flirting
Sunlight from the highlands streamed through the tall windows, slanting into the quiet room and landing on the floor covered with a silver-gray velvet carpet.
The patterns of golden pheasants and dragons embroidered on the carpet seem to take flight as the light and shadow shift.
Each thread shimmered with a faint glow, subtly echoing the magical rhythm that permeated the room.
The room was sparsely furnished, except for the neatly inlaid mithril runes on the walls, which stood out prominently.
These runes spiraled around the entire room, constantly emanating a soft yet firm silver-blue aura.
They rose and fell slowly, breathing like living things, silently suppressing the pure, radiant energy that permeated the room and was about to break free of its restraints.
In the very center of the room, there was a snow-white cashmere cushion, and a very young girl sat cross-legged with her eyes closed.
She was surrounded by a nearly transparent pale golden halo as she focused intently on guiding the flow of light elements within her body during her cultivation.
Sunlight fell on her golden hair, reflecting a soft glow like molten gold.
Her eyelashes were long and thick, casting a faint shadow beneath her fair, almost transparent eyelids as they fell.
"Your Highness Liuying." A soft, respectful, and somewhat cautious voice came from outside the door, breaking the silence of the room.
That was the voice of the middle-aged mage Marcus.
He was personally appointed by the contemporary Grand Duke Wang Mian to be the family's Dharma Master, specifically responsible for taking care of Liu Ying's daily life and relaying messages.
The girl immediately opened her eyes, and the soft light that had gathered in her eyes due to her cultivation slowly dissipated.
Her eyes were a pure sapphire blue, as clear as lake water, with a pale golden halo around the edges, exuding a youthful liveliness and purity.
"Marcus, what's wrong?"
Outside the door, a middle-aged mage wearing a dark gray robe and a family mage badge on his chest bowed slightly and said with utmost respect, "I just received news from the airport that the Skylark has landed safely, and that High Mage... has arrived in Mithril City."
The girl, known as Princess Liuying, whose full name is Liuying Wangmian, had a fleeting, almost imperceptible glint in her eyes.
"Is it the substitute player who's about to join?"
“Exactly,” the middle-aged monk nodded from outside the door.
The reason he didn't go into the room to report was not because the girl was too arrogant, nor was it because he was disrespectful.
Rather, the light element energy in the room was too pure and abundant; once you came into close contact, you would feel an almost scorching pressure that was unbearable for ordinary people.
"According to the latest news, he has successfully challenged the Glorious Gym and now holds eleven gym badges. He is now aiming for our Ryukyu Gym's badge, but whether he succeeds or not, this substitute spot is a done deal," the middle-aged mage added.
“A new team member,” the girl said softly, her blue eyes looking out the window. “I’m a little curious. I really want to see how his French Bulldog performs.”
As the captain of the Golden Flower Dynasty team in the Unparalleled Magic Fighting Tournament, it's perfectly reasonable for him to be curious about the new team members who are about to join.
Requesting to observe the other party's fighting seems to be just a very ordinary matter of observation.
However, upon hearing the girl's words, the middle-aged monk outside the door turned pale, as if he had heard something extremely terrifying.
"Grand Duke Wang Mian and His Highness Richard have repeatedly warned that Your Highness Liu Ying, the power within you is too domineering and overwhelming. You are not yet able to control it. If you go out at will, the light element power within you may accidentally dissipate and harm innocent people, or even... harm yourself."
"I know, I was just saying." The girl replied softly, her tone calm, but a hint of disappointment and frustration flashed in her eyes.
The middle-aged monk sighed inwardly.
He had served the Wang Mian family for many years and watched Liu Ying grow up. He knew better than anyone that this girl, who was the most noble in the entire Liuge County and even the entire Golden Flower Dynasty, seemed to be favored by the heavens and protected by her family, but in reality, she did not even have the most basic right to go out freely.
She is the only direct descendant of the Wang Mian family in generations, and is the treasure of the entire family.
Yet, he was trapped in this magnificent cage by his own talent, day after day, year after year.
He still remembered the day Liu Ying was born. The newborn girl was surrounded by a golden halo, and her cries were clear and crisp, yet they could draw together the light elements in the world to surround her, like fireflies.
Therefore, Grand Duke Wang Mian named her Liuying.
The Wang Mian family placed high hopes on Liu Ying's talent, and everyone believed that this girl would become the most powerful light element mage in the Golden Flower Dynasty in the future.
But no one expected that this talent would go to such an extreme.
The power of light within her body spread wildly like wildfire as she aged, becoming both extremely pure and extremely domineering, completely out of control.
On the third day after Liu Ying was born, the wet nurse that the Grand Duke had arranged for her to be her personal nurse had her left hand instantly burned to ashes simply because she uncontrollably leaked a trace of light element energy while crying.
From then on, Grand Duke Wang Mian strictly forbade anyone from approaching Liu Ying at will.
Even family members could only watch from afar.
All the care was provided by the monks.
He was afraid that someone would be hurt or even killed because of his daughter.
If that's all, it might not be the worst.
This at most makes Liu Ying a "hedgehog lady" that no one dares to approach.
However, as Liu Ying grew up, by the time she was seven years old, the power of the light element within her had increased to the point of "devouring its master".
The powerful light elemental force began to surge and burn wildly inside her body, gradually eroding her internal organs, meridians, and bones.
Each time she had an attack, she would be in excruciating pain, her whole body would spasm, and she would feel like she was dying.
If one possesses extraordinary talent but lacks sufficient power to control it, then it is not talent, but disaster.
Because a mortal body simply cannot bear such a near-divine talent.
Fortunately, Liu Ying was born into the Wang Mian family, the most prestigious noble family in the Golden Flower Dynasty.
If she had been born into a different family, she wouldn't be alive today.
Grand Duke Wang Mian mobilized the power and influence of his own family, and the royal Lister family did their utmost to help, summoning the dynasty's rune masters.
Finally, in Liu Ying's room in the county castle, a super seventh-order rune array was constructed: the Concealing Light Array, to suppress the power of the light element and prevent her from burning herself to death.
Then, from the age of seven until the age of fifteen, Liu Ying never left her room again, and could only focus on the Dharma Master's practice in it.
Like a canary locked in a cage.
At the age of fifteen, with the breakthrough in her mage level and the improvement in her strength, Liu Ying finally gained a certain degree of control over the light elemental power within her body.
At least I won't easily unleash harmful energy due to emotional fluctuations anymore.
Meanwhile, the royal family of Lister specially invited the dynasty's most powerful alchemist, who spent three years using precious materials to present her with a surprise coming-of-age gift before her sixteenth birthday.
A radiant robe tailor-made for her.
This robe can minimize the radiant energy emanating from her body, preventing accidental burns to others, and can also help her control her own power to some extent.
With this two-pronged approach, Liu Ying finally stepped out of her room for the first time since she was seven years old.
However, the time they could leave was still very short. After all, the effectiveness of a magic robe was far inferior to that of a seventh-tier rune array.
If she leaves the Concealing Light Rune Array for too long, the light elemental power within her body will once again go out of control.
Therefore, Grand Duke Wang Mian established strict rules:
Unless given his personal permission, Liu Ying can only leave his room briefly and move around in the core area of the main castle, and must never leave the main castle even half a step.
But everyone knows what a longing this young girl, in the prime of her life, harbors for the outside world.
Her favorite book since childhood was "Nolan's Travels," and when she was little, she would pester me to ask about trivial things happening on the streets.
"Your Highness Liuying." The middle-aged monk at the door hesitated for a moment, but finally made up his mind and lowered his voice even further:
"There are dragon bird formations training in the city today. The roads from the west of the city to the Liuge Academy are under strict control. Ordinary people are not allowed to pass through at will..."
He stopped speaking there and then said nothing more.
But the eyes of the glowing lights in the room were already as bright as two sapphires.
As her emotions fluctuated, the radiant energy within her also surged.
The pale golden aura around him became more and more obvious, and even the mithril runes on the surrounding walls flickered more and more rapidly because of this restless energy.
The silvery-blue halo flickered, as if protesting against the overwhelming power of the light.
"Thank you, Marcus."
Marcus sighed softly, said nothing more, bowed slightly, turned and slowly left, his footsteps extremely light, as if afraid of disturbing the girl in the room.
The footsteps in the corridor gradually faded away, and the area returned to silence, leaving only the faint sound of mithril runes flowing within the room.
But inside the room, Liu Ying was already putting on the custom-made robe of the Concealing Light Dharma in front of the silver dressing mirror.
The restless light element energy around her was instantly subdued, leaving only a faint glimmer like a thin veil around her body.
Then, she quickly walked to the desk, opened the hidden compartment at the bottom of the drawer, and took out a thin silver necklace.
The chain of this necklace is made of mithril and inlaid with tiny white crystals, making it understated yet exquisite.
But it is far more than just an ordinary necklace.
The chain's core is inlaid with a moon-white shield-shaped gemstone, no more than two fingers wide, with rounded edges and a surface naturally covered with very faint concentric circle patterns, like the rings of an ancient tree.
When the sunlight falls, a thin, almost invisible layer of silver mist shines through.
It feels cool to the touch and as light as a feather.
It is called the "Breath of the Holy Shield," and is one of only two extraordinary artifacts forged from the Heart of the Anti-Magic Stone in the Plantagenet Dynasty.
The Heart of the Anti-Magic Stone is not an ordinary Anti-Magic Stone. It was born from the core of a giant Anti-Magic Stone at the founding of a dynasty and is the purest and most powerful part of the Anti-Magic Stone.
The entire Plantagenet dynasty only managed to obtain two.
The founding monarch, Liszt I, commissioned a legendary alchemist to forge it into two treasures.
One became the Golden Feather Seal, kept in the royal treasury, while the other, the Breath of the Holy Shield, was bestowed upon the first King, Grand Duke Mian, as a family heirloom to be passed down through generations.
As extraordinary accessories crafted from the Heart of the Anti-Magic Stone, whether it's the Golden Feather Seal or the Holy Shield Breath, as long as they are worn, they will grant the wearer immunity to all targeted spells of the 7th level and below.
Furthermore, it does not affect one's own spellcasting in the slightest, and there is no spell backlash whatsoever.
The Breath of the Holy Shield has been passed down through generations as a family heirloom by the Wang Mian family, and has protected the descendants of the Wang Mian family from fatal disasters on several occasions throughout history.
The current Grand Duke Wangmian passed the Holy Shield to his most beloved eldest daughter, Liuying.
The girl put on the necklace, the moon-white gemstone against her skin, and a warm, slightly cool sensation instantly spread throughout her body.
With everything prepared, Liu Ying looked in the mirror again.
The mirror reflected a face as white as jade, without a single flaw, with long golden hair like silk threads spun by sunlight, softly draped over her shoulders.
She gazed at that face and gently pursed her lips.
Immediately, Liu Ying took a deep breath, her internal magic power slowly circulating, and pale golden energy overflowed from her fingertips, gently spreading along the contours of her cheeks.
[Disguise Techniques].
In an instant, a gentle ripple of light spread across her face, like waves on water.
Her once exquisite eyebrows and eyes have become plain and unremarkable, her porcelain-white skin has become slightly dull, her pert nose has become ordinary, and the color of her lips has faded.
In the blink of an eye, it became the face of an ordinary girl who wouldn't even get a second glance in a crowd.
The faint light of the disguise slowly dissipated. Liu Ying blinked, making sure there were no more flaws in her appearance, before tiptoeing and carefully pushing open the door.
She looked around to make sure no one was there before slipping through the crack in the door.
With movements as light as a startled kitten, her fingertips lightly touched the door panel, using a faint glowing energy to cushion the rotation of the door hinges without making a sound, perfectly concealing her presence.
The girl's figure gracefully disappeared into the distance around the corner of the corridor.
Only after Liu Ying's figure had completely disappeared did a familiar figure slowly emerge from the shadows in the corner of the corridor.
It was Marcus.
He gazed in the direction the girl had gone, shook his head helplessly, but his eyes were full of doting affection.
At the age of seventeen, the Flowing Fire Mage broke through his level once again, and his control over the power of the light element within his body was further enhanced.
Although the control time is still relatively limited, at least it won't easily harm oneself.
Under these circumstances, the girl finally couldn't hold back any longer and secretly slipped out of the main castle for the first time, flying low around the city's outskirts.
Everyone in the main castle knew about this.
Even the Grand Duke who established the rules was fully aware of this.
However, everyone chose to play dumb, as if they hadn't noticed anything.
Because everyone dotes on this legitimate daughter who has no control over her own destiny.
The Wang family had only this one direct descendant for generations. In addition, she was beautiful, gentle, and never arrogant because of her favored status.
Even when he was trapped by his own talent, even when he lost his freedom, he never complained or took his anger out on anyone.
Because of this, the entire family cherished her like a treasure.
No one could bear to imprison a vibrant, freedom-loving soul forever in this magnificent cage.
(End of this chapter)