Rising Phoenix

"Who is Kulcha Irgi?"

"My Uncle. His blood is purer than my father's. My father was born to a concubine, but he was born to the Lady of the House." Helian Zheng continued explaining. "But he has never complained and has always been loyal to my father. Father King has always felt that he has owed something to his brother, so when he was titled Shunyi King by the Imperial Court, he passed the Patriarch position to uncle. Uncle now controls twenty thousand Golden Lion warriors and in the Irgi Family is second in power only to Father King."

"What power do you have?"

"Many of Irgi's best Golden Lion Camp warriors died against Da Yue, and we have less than twenty thousand soldiers in the King's Army. White Deer and Blue Bird both have ten thousand warriors. We cannot afford internal conflict or else Irgi will fail; White Deer and Blue Bird will remain neutral in an Irgi internal war so my twenty thousand will go against uncle's twenty thousand."

"It will be even." Feng Zhiwei smiled coldly. "But I don't understand why he would attend the meeting and conspire to overthrow Irgi rule. What does he gain?"

"Under me, he will only be a figurehead Patriarch. He cannot control the army even if he is technically in charge. If I am exiled, he will be the true number one in Irgi and will command forty thousand warriors, and though Golden Roc might be the strongest, Golden Lion will surely be second. As second, he will have great grassland and be king of his own territory."

"A good plot. Good plot." Feng Zhiwei casually praised.

"As we expected, Hongji Le has a commanding plan." Helian Zheng smiled bitterly. "I had planned to subdue my restless brothers in the King's Court before turning to fight the Golden Roc Tribe, but he has revived the Alliance Meeting and plans to subdue the tribes without a battle. If I am deposed at the moot, I can only flee."

"I will not flee." Feng Zhiwei replied, a quiet smile on her lips.

"I will not flee as well." Mudan Hua appeared out of nowhere. "I will be Queen for Hongji Le Golden Roc and you can do whatever."

"Haha." Helian Zheng laughed in amusement as the tough and fierce "mother and daughter" turned to face him. He felt his worries fade and his heart relax, and he took up the reins of his mother and Feng Zhiwei's horses in either hand, spitting before roaring with laughter: "Flee my ass! For my mother and my wife, Helian Zheng will head to Bing Valley River even if I must crawl!"

Feng Zhiwei smiled quietly, looking up at the blue sky.

Mudan Hua beamed: "Son! You finally found your conscience! I didn't let you eat my nipples in vain…"

"Peng!"

Queen Mother Mudan fell to the muddy ground as her filial son pushed her off her horse…

…

On the banks of the Bing Valley River, twelve round, gold-topped tents stood around a huge purple felt tent. Camp fires burned in every direction and numberless armed soldiers patrolled the area.

The land was barren and uninhabited by any tribe, a neutral ground for the twelve tribes to speak and negotiate.

February snow covered the hard, barren, frozen soil, but inside the tents were warm as spring.

"I hear Jadran Irgi crossed the Chang River yesterday." A skinny old man asked a white cheeked man. "Hongji Le, what if your plan goes wrong?"

The white faced man smiled coldly, his face ordinary but his eyes gleaming with a sharp brilliance. This was the Patriarch Chieftain of the Golden Roc Tribe who had betrayed thousands of Irgi warriors to their deaths and assassinated Old King Kuku — Hongji Le Mottetu.

Hongji Le Mottetu calmly replied, answering Kulcha Irgi: "No matter how fierce the baby bird struggles, it cannot compete against the soaring eagle high up in the heavens."

The entire tent burst into understanding laughter.

"The little brat still smells of his mother's milk, I'm only afraid that he might lose all his nerve when he faces the King's Army!"

"He will never dare approach the Bing Valley River."

"This generations Irgi Family is doomed."

Hongji Le quickly interrupted as Kulcha Irgi's grew uncomfortable and his face fell: "Irgi's new generation has failed, but they still have a hero from our father's days. Our own Kulcha, the fiercest warriors of the past!"

Kulcha smiled awkwardly; when had he ever been called the fiercest warrior? He had only ever been titled by Liu Mudan "Number one fool."

"But this so-called Sheng Ying Princess granted to Jadran Irgi by the Imperial Court," A dreamy voice spoke slowly amidst the loud and rough laughter. "What kind of beauty is she? Sheng Ying… Sheng Ying… how beautiful."

"Kereyid!" A man shouted, tossing a grilled gigot at the voice. "Actions speak for a man! As the number one pretty boy of the steppes, won't this Ying Ying throw herself into your arms at first sight?"

A man in a red leather robe sat up from where he lay on a felt rug, frowning as he flicked the grilled gigot off of himself: "You're so dirty."

As he moved, the man's long hair ruffled behind him, a rare white gold that glittered like platinum even in the tent's dull light, but even the moonlight strands of his hair paled in comparison to his beautiful, intoxicating eyes. He was like a silver fox walking through a frozen world, and whoever met his eyes would feel as if the icy world suddenly melted away into spring.

His eyebrows arched upwards at the most perfect angle as if he had walked out of a painting, and his skin was smooth and lustrous as crystal.

Silver gold hair over his red robes, incomparably gorgeous.

"If it were up to me," The man began, toying with the hand of a servant girl. "I am not interested in who rules the steppes, I will be satisfied if I can play with the Sheng Ying Princess."

"Deal!" Hongji Le guffawed. "For better or worse, she's a princess. You cannot toy her to death like the others?"

"Why not?" Kereyid blinked, smiling quietly. "Central Plains women are submissive and obedient, if she were really that impressive of a princess, why would she be married off to the steppes? Relax, her only status is through Jadran, and if Jadran is not king, she is not queen. If she is not queen, why can I not play her to death?"

Hongji Le laughed again, saying: "As you say, as you say." He had no intention of arguing with Kereyid, the youngest and most cunning patriarch in their midst. His cunning was that of a fox and his vicious that of a snake, and although he had been born to a slave, he had managed his way up to Chieftain, and not his father or mother or sisters or brothers had survived.

The further he stood from him the better, after all no matter what happened, Hongji Le was still a normal person.