A Trial by Halves

A Flicker of Comprehension

Landing heavily to her knees, Cheng Yus harsh breathing and concerned voice lost itself to the even harsher breath from Ye Hua.  Su Sus eyes had once again began to glaze over and as Ye Hua quickly took his son from her arms, Ci Hang moved towards the bed.  They knew they did not have time to linger, but he wanted to study the energy.  

It was thick, dark and definitely Qing Cangs , but after a thorough search for the source, he soon realized it was merely residue.  The actual power source had to have been hidden in the canopy itself which annoyed him immensely.  Not because it was missing, but because he was Haode had been taken back to the Celestial Palace on it.  

Cheng Yu had told him that Haode had been in the bed chamber, and had been studying the bed closely, so it was more than likely, he had noticed the power coming off it and even worse, that source was now in the Celestial Heavens and continuing to gather cultivation from the Celestial Heavens energy source.  It wasn't as strong as the island they had left nor as strong as Kunlun Mountain, but it was strong enough.  But not wanting to return just yet, seeing as Ye Hua was going to continue running, he put it to the back of his mind to dwell on later.

If Ci Hang was really honest, he would admit that he was allowing Ye Hua and his wife to escape because he loved the thrill of mystery solving and in just one day, he had not only been given a mystery to beat them all, but he was thoroughly enjoying the solving.  And sending Ye Hua back to face his Grandfather, along with Cheng Yu, was not an option. 

 He was actually having fun with what he now knew would be a chase.  Not only was the inner desire to solve Su Sus predicament at the forefront of his mind, so was Ye Huas magic, which he knew he would unleash the moment they returned.  And seeing the way that Su Su was reacting to Qing Cangs residue energy, he knew Ye Hua would definitely want her out of that house.

But  it was exciting, in fact he had not had anything remotely this exciting since Ye Hua was very little.

As a child, he was generally a good boy, well mannered, studious and respectful and most of all honest.  Only, being a genius, when he did commit himself to mischief, it was always spectacular and briefly his mind went back as one such incident came to mind, one that almost paralleled this one.

Ye Hua knew that when his Grandfather got a new Harem woman, he would disappear for a couple of days or more if she was really beautiful and the peace he got from those few days were what he not only thrived on, but continuously wished for, because everyone knew he rarely left the boy alone for a second.  Haode was such a task master that Ye Hua was constantly seeking peace until eventually he took matters into his own hands.

And so a whole month went by where the Palace saw a continuous flow of beautiful woman passing through his Grandfathers doors.  For a whole month, no one saw Haode and of course not even Ye Hua, who seemed so much happier for it.  But that soon came to an end when a woman arrived with her Demon minders and family to join Haodes Harem.

The uproar at her arrival brought the flow of women to an abrupt end.  Having heard of this womans unnatural beauty, Haode was of course mesmerized and instantly love struck, but being a Demon, she could not marry into the Celestial Palace.  Only they were there because of a promised alliance and untold wealth, which the Demons saw as most beneficial and a definite advantage, only the Celestial Palace had not offered such a deal.

Eventually a meeting was held in the Grand Hall and this so called deal which the Demons had in writing which Haode himself had supposedly signed and sealed was shown as proof that he had requested their daughter himself.  

Denying he had even though the writing was in his own hand, or rather exactly in his own hand, Haode was forced to take extreme measures to prevent a war seeing his visitors were becoming aggressive and outraged.  Offering a peace deal, alliance and wealth without the girl in order to keep good relations with them, he then conducted a thorough and almost brutal search for the one who had placed him in that predicament by holding interrogations of every soul in the Celestial Heavens including Ye Hua.