The Red String Of Yearning

Zhu XiangYu looks at the mirror. Is he looking good? The tiny gems embedded on the body of golden dragon, which is threaded on his red robe, is sparkling brilliantly. The golden dragon headpiece is heavy but it has added a mature and sophisticated look on his face. Yet Zhu XiangYu is not fully satisfied. In his current condition, there's no way he will look good let alone handsome and attractive.

Since he hit his golden core level, his body has slowed down aging. Either because of this phenomenon or because of his illness, his growth has slowed down drastically. He's not short but he's not tall either. He has a handsome and aloof face, but it still carries a very childlike look. And the mole on the right side of his upper lipline is not letting his childlike look go away. He sighs thinking that he looks at most fifteen years old, even though he has a taller, wider and stronger physical structure than most of the boys of fifteen. He really wants to get rid of this childlike appearance as he is no longer fifteen.

Moreover, due to the illness, this little prince's body has been decaying inside. His skin is pale, lips are chapped and his face looks like a skeleton. He can't even stand straight. His hair has no shining vibe, and they are turning white. The maids have been working very hard since morning to put on some make up on his face and make his face look a little bit livelier.

Zhu XiangYu has heard that the people of Shui clan are very beautiful; especially the women are more delicate and beautiful like the blooming lotus- pure, fragrant and eye soothing.

Though he has never seen any Lian maiden, his mind has already been filled with hundreds of thousands of praising words by his friends. According to them, Lian maidens are the real lotuses, bloomed with pure and ethereal beauty under the moon light yet they have thorns all over their bodies. People shouldn't judge them just by their delicate features; they are really strong. Those who can win the thorns can win them... and so on.

As the physical condition he is having, he cannot hope to live long, let alone having a cultivation partner. So knowing that a woman from Lian family of Shui clan is coming to cure him and become his cultivation partner, makes him feel happy, warm and grateful.

Young prince Zhu XiangYu's days were once filled with success and glory. At the age of thirteen, his spiritual core was established and this core was gathering tremendous amount of qi. There are many struggling cultivators whose spiritual cores are yet to be established even at the age of thirty. So everyone considered it as his talent in martial world.

At the age of fourteen, people started to call him Little Dragon and Little Imperial of Zhu family from Huo (Fire) clan. He is known as HuoZhu Xiao Long jun. He joined some missions and brought success. Many people were jealous of him. According to people's views, he was the blessing from heaven to the Zhu family. Rumors were spread that whoever earned just a single glance from HuoZhu Xiao Long got blessed, their luck started to flourish, their days got better and so on.

Such glorious was his life!

But when he stepped at the age of fifteen, he along with his parents first notices the abnormality of his core and his qi flow. His core was gathering more qi than his body's capacity. He started to train his body like a crazy under his father's guideline. However this didn't bring any good result. His body started to get deteriorated. Famous healers around the continent were summoned to heal him but they could not do anything. At this point he had his first minor qi deviation attack. Healers gave their all to save him.

Thus his blessing turned into his curse.

Zhu XiangYu's life was getting consumed by his own qi. He was facing continuous breakthroughs which were devastating for his body. His level reached near to his father's. No matter how much he tried to control his golden core and qi flow, no matter how much the healers tried to control his condition, every effort was in vain. The fire qi was raging like a living dragon inside his body, continuously burning him, devouring him. At last he faced the major qi deviation attack.