From then on , SheJin has been persuading himself that this is all a dream. He couldn't not come up with a solid reason how this is all happening so he must indeed be in a dream. But dreams are supposed to end, right? Then why is his not ending?

Everyday he follows the old woman to serve breakfast to the family. Later on during the day he will fulfill meal request for the royal family. Aside from that he helps prepare three meals for the royal family and only delivers the breakfast and meal requests. Other foods are conveyed by the maids .

The dishes he has to make were simple but the price for the ingredients was inarguably extortious as they were imported from other different provinces. A single meal would have ingredients that cost nearly half his monthly wage, which is a lot

By virtue of him working here, he also found out that he has to stay in the servant quarters, which were surprisingly well furnished as apparently he is a little less than a bottom feeder when he is responsible for feeding the king and his family.

The clothes he found in there were a perfect fit for him but he never wore them. All the other clothes that he got he bought with the money he is given for being a royal chef.

It's a comfortable lifestyle but he is not receiving the privileges with open arms because he feels out of place like he is borrowing someone's life.

Though he interacts with so many faces everyday ,he hasn't really been acquainted to them . The males around here seldom come to the kitchen so he doesn't have that male exposure in his daily life.He is always surrounded by females who have a great tendency to engage in endless talk . Therefore the only people he has around are those that talk till they run out of vocabulary. He really dislikes it especially when they start to talk about female related things. Those kind of topics are discussed everyday and they have no shame in talking about them in his presence or during eating because they just think of him as an innocent little brother.

One of the maids here is a shamelessly social, so she befriends nearly every worker she sees at the palace. By virtue of that ,she frequently has a dinner with some of her friends at the same location that all chefs and food maids dine.One day she as expectedly invited some of friends and coincidentally one of her friends looked exactly like SheJin 's past girlfriend from the hospital .

The joy he experienced when seeing her especially when she was dressed like a snowflake , was beyond words. Reason being he already missed her greatly because he thought the reason his life was so blunt was because of her absence. Plus seeing a familiar not-so-hated face was therapeutic.

So he went ahead and confessed to her. She agreed without a hitch.

He could see her every now and then but because of imperial rules, he can't be with her until she is dismissed so they mutually agreed to keep their relationship a secret.

That is supposed to be heartrending but it seems like SheJin is just fine with it. Surprisingly SheJin felt indifferent towards her now that he was finally his . When they were together it felt like being in the presence of someone he knows but doesn't care if he never sees again. Reason being that he forced himself to smile and be happy whenever they were in each other s company. Nothing was flawless,no sort of rekindled spark but she probably couldn't pick it up because she had that unwavering 'i am appreciated ' look. For SheJin it felt like re-meeting a stranger frequently. And that will soon escalate to maddening.

On the bright side , this lack of emotion isn't hurting him but it's really exasperating because he really wishes that it hurt. They shared the best of times together, the lack of feeling is like saying that all of their memories were a free fall. None of it mattered at all.

To avoid wasting emotion feeling pathetic over someone who is no better than a stranger to him, his mind diverted his attention elsewhere like the mystery he thought lingers around YongSun.

At first glance it was reasonable to believe that YongSun is not the king s son .

In actuality all the other children are King s nephews and niece and those women are his sisters. And YongSun is his son.

The fact that it wasn't a secret in the palace means that it was not something worth feeling gallant over discovering.

SheJin would see YongSun everyday but even then they are not that close and he doesn't care. SheJin s life felt like it is following the reverse of stereotypes. Time spent with people here makes him hate them more unlike common belief that time makes the heart grow fonder and blurs imperfections.

It's true that when YongSun does talk to SheJin , he is fond of the way YongSun smiles at him. But it feels like there is a lot more that should be coming from that single moment,yet for some reason, SheJin isn't getting that...

If this is going to be the pattern forever, SheJin is genuinely going to lose his sanity...

****

" Father, we have to find a way to seal that entry again, it's been eight months but still the entry is getting more and more wide", replied YongSun sitting cross legged across from his father

They were in the king s room. His chambers are exceptional.

His bed is a very large platform elevated from the ground , enclosed by a gorgeous bed canopy that has been painted wholely white and finished with incredible calligraphy. A cherry on top for sophistication and class.

To the side of the masterpiece , there are wooden golden brown rods hanging from the roof to the end of are silver lantern cages that have a twisted like framework.

On the left of the bed is a very enormous black wood day bed. The day bed can accommodate for three people to sleep on comfortably. This statement artwork has its leg crafted to resemble the legs of lion . Meaning who is to sit on it is no different from the pride-leader.

The Shoji windows are used to border this chamber and to separate the bedroom from the private ,very luxurious bathroom that has an in-built bath-tub.

" I tried to assemble the west sect cultivators but their energy cores are too weak to repair, reinforce and maintain the shield", remarked the sweet flower.

" The east and south have been trying but their cultivators are not strong enough. Not even their sect leaders combined can close the seal. Maybe we should go to the north",he added

"No! The north is next to the heavens. We can't have it anywhere near that, we just have to keep stalling it",he refused that notion.

"Father, I don't think stalling is a solution. It's been two weeks since we got that letter and ever since then the sky has been clouded " answered YongSun

Just as the king was still about to answer his son a knock came on the door.

The king prompted the person to come in..

The young male worker entered the lion s den and he bowed, to the beings in the room, with undoubtable respect baked by fear.

"Sir, the cultivators have arrived and they say that there is a new color in the sky", the worker spoke whilst his head was bowed.

YongSun and the king immediately stood up and they stormed towards the outside of the chambers.

They stood outside and raised their blessed orbs to the heavens blanket. Indeed there was a very ugly color that had been born

A mixture of red, grey and black all over the place. Almost like a non-objective artwork bred for the goal of inducing regurgitation.Moreover a few black birds would cross over the sky every now and then.

Just the king was still standing outside, another worker came to the king and he told him that the sect leaders have assembled at the meeting room

The king wasted no time and he paced to the meeting room. His steps were quick as is his mind in trying to look for a credible solution other than his initial.

Upon entering the meeting room, a total of six middle-aged men and one young one stood in conversation with one another.

When they noticed the king s expensive soles thump the floor, they turned and lined up .All of them bowed to him as he quickly ascended the throne. Sect leaders and their cultivators do not have a specific pattern. So they can wear any color, just that they tend to do it as a group. The thing that differentiates them is the crafting of their talisman and their levels of cultivation are represented by the color of the waist belt.

The first sect leader dressed in blue spoke" the clouds are an ominous sign, our cultivators have been fighting the creatures but they are getting stronger"

The next one to speak was dressed in cream white, leader of the west sect " the creatures surrounding the boarder don't seem to end. Every one is worse than the last"

The last sect leader spoke what the people in the room where already guessing

" The seal crack is widening by the minute", he spoke in a fractional whispering manner

The king banged his hand on the table as he could not calm down the commotion germinating in his head, more especially after hearing those despicable words

" We can just guard the gate to the north so that the nightmares don't acess it", remarked the last sect leader

The king immediately flicked his wrist meaning he agrees with everything that was being said.

And quickly the young men went outside and instructed their sect cultivators to form a seal. Only the south sect had come with their best cultivators because other sect cultivators are guarding the cracked seal and others are surveying the whole grounds for any abnormal things.

The south cultivators received the order and they quickly dispersed to the open space in front of the palace.

Each produced golden leaves . Immediately after that happened, three jumped onto the walls , the other four remained on the ground and they rushed then lined themselves against the walls and the other one had his back to the doors of the palace. Their golden leaves resonated to one another. The ground had a twenty four pointed star, while the sky leaves made fifty four triangles that kept sliding over one another.

Admist the attempt to merge the seals and make a diabolical one, a large gush of wind erupted throwing open the doors of the gate.

Everyone focused on what they thought would come out the doors that they didn't notice the lethal birds approaching.

When the birds were about a meter away, they cried and they each started to join together their wings then they transformed into T- shaped metal spikes that aimed for the cultivators...

The spikes were faster than raindrops but the south sect has great reflexes. One cultivator caught the metal shape when it was inches from his face and threw in on to the seal, making the metal spike burst into flames.

The spikes didn't stop flying and simultaneously the cultivators didn't stop dodging them. The sky cultivators had to break formation otherwise they would be injured.

Yan being the one with the white belt was the first to break formation.He pulled and jointed his double ended whips and he started to make a fan with them , so as to send away the spikes.As he did that the spikes kept on bursting into flames for touching his now golden whips.

At the same time as he was doing that,his fellow cultivators removed their silver thread swords and started to fight against the flying spikes

The ground formation broke its formation to help their colleagues but at that moment, the spikes stopped bombarding the cultivators and they suspended midair.

Out of the blue, the spikes were pulled hastily by some attraction making them to join together. Their syncing manifested into a giant eagle , that screeched mercilessly..

The echo from the eagle sent the cultivators flying into the air but they didn't fall down instead they prepared for combat.

The ones on the ground flew into the sky and encircled the bird that was still increasing in size

The bird froze there flapping its wings and the young cultivators got confused. Yan signaled that they act swiftly.

Two cultivators next to one another, joined their whips by the ends to one another and each held an end.

Within seconds ,they started to ran around the bird at the speed of lightning in opposite directions so as to bound the bird .And as they did that the bird s wings were defautly stuck to its cavity

They kept moving around the bird and thanks to that, the whip was getting more and more close to the bird. At one point, the rope part ended up touching the perimeter of the bird. Thanks to this contact, the flesh of the bird started to become red.

Two other cultivators looped the neck of the giant bird and each pulled to themselves somewhat choking the bird

Yan stood in front of the bird and two other cultivators froze to the sides of the bird. They placed their hands in prayer pose and simultaneously, the golden leaves that they produced floated to them and started to orbit overhead of the the bird

The golden leaves formed yet another star this time like a mesh because it had two hundred criss-crosses

The mesh of the leaves slowly lowered to the bird which was still screeching but not as loud.

Out of the blue, the threads of the cultivators started to develop a black color on them

The black color, slowly developed to red and as it was turning red, the silver threads were served..

The cultivators were startled and just then smaller black birds started to emerge from all directions. As they were nearing the bird , they transformed into long thick needles and they staked the bird all over.

At the same instance, black ropes pulled all the legs of the cultivators and lowered them to the ground . Because of this, the mesh was broken and the leaves shriveled.

Everyone gawked at the scene that befell their eyes,

The ropes that had pulled the cultivators flew to the sky and they outlined the contour of a human

The outline outstretched its arms and the needles kept on piercing the bird that was now screaming in undeniable pain

Before anyone knew what was going on, the contour outstretched its arms to the side and simultaneously, the bird screamed for the last time and exploded leaving a black orb floating in mid air.

The explosion produced to what seems like burnt paper that upon touch would crumble, basically it was just harmless.

The human contour lowered its self to the ground ,and everyone s eyes subconsciously followed it not realizing their mouths were hanging wide open

The creature started to take shape of a human.

Black leather boots, black Bajis, black leather sleeveless long Banbi with an equally black hood. Everything black. The bandages that covering the region from the knuckles all the way to the elbows, were also black.

The figure landed softly and stood there, head facing the confused cultivators.