"Mother, am I a coward? We didn't give Zang any warning."
From inside a small wooden house behind a tall, forest-covered hill, Feng—who would depart that very morning to attack Yulan City—asked for blessings and prayers from Queen Liu.
They sat facing each other. Feng took his mother's hand and held it gently, kissing the back of Queen Liu's hand several times.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps between the hills, trees, and flowers that had begun to bloom with the coming of spring. Feng gazed at his mother, who looked even more beautiful bathed in the sunlight.
Queen Liu gently stroked her son's back.
"No. They are far more cruel than we are. We are doing all this for our people, Feng," she said, pulling her son into an embrace.
She reassured Liu Feng again.
"They are even more ruthless than us. We are merely warriors fighting for the rights of every living being, Feng."
Feng's three masters were already waiting outside, smiling proudly as they waited for Feng to finish saying goodbye and asking for his mother's blessing.
"Go now. Your masters are waiting. Don't disappoint them."
"Yes, Mother."
Feng stood up straight, filled with confidence. He walked down the wooden stilt house that his masters had built when he was still a baby.
He saluted his mother, bowing with both hands clasped in front of his chest.
It took them several days to finally reach Yulan City. Supplies and weapons—everything had been carefully prepared.
Even if they grew exhausted, Feng and his three masters already had a strategy to enter Zang's palace.
They only targeted Zang. To incapacitate Zang. They had no intention of hurting the soldiers who were merely doing their duty—guarding their kingdom and their king.
"You enter through the underground tunnel."
"You go in through the water tunnel."
Because Feng's three masters had once been soldiers—indeed, even commanders—there, they knew exactly where the hidden entrances to Zang's palace were.
There was a water tunnel beneath the waterfall. An underground passage leading to the hill where Yulan Palace stood majestically.
"If you encounter soldiers and they can be persuaded to cooperate, make them part of our group."
"But if they refuse to even talk, then you'll have no choice—draw your swords."
"Protect Prince Feng well," one of Feng's masters said to the soldiers who had joined the attack on the kingdom.
Feng entered with one of his masters and several soldiers. The rest headed toward the other secret entrances.
"Intruders!"
As soon as they passed through the inner gate of the palace, the guards discovered them.
"Who are you?"
"What do you want here?"
They pointed their swords directly at Feng and the people who had come with him.
It didn't take long. Once a single soldier shouted, everyone went on full alert.
"There are intruders in the palace!"
"Protect the palace!"
"Protect the king!"
The shouts echoed back and forth. This was not what Feng wanted. But to protect his people, Feng had no choice but to act if he had to.
Dozens, even hundreds of soldiers arrived, surrounding Feng and his companions.
"Stop. Don't take another step. Do not attack us."
Feng leapt onto a large rock and shouted loudly from above.
"I am Liu Feng, son of King Liu—your king. I only want to take back my kingdom and my people, because I want them to prosper."
"To live without being burdened by excessive taxes. I can prove that I am the son of King Liu, not the illegitimate child of Queen Liu and a soldier."
Everyone fell silent, staring at Feng. They seemed to be waiting for what he would prove.
They, too, had grown tired of Zang's arbitrary rule and his habit of oppression.
"Zang, what's going on? Are there intruders?"
Zang stood silently atop the palace, looking down—at Feng and his group, and at his soldiers who were standing still, listening to Feng's speech.
"Are they fools? They believe Feng's words so easily."
"Who is his mother?"
Zang asked his mother, who stood beside him, staring intently.
Feng's face truly resembled King Liu's when he was young. That resemblance was what left the soldiers astonished and silent.
"Is he Queen Liu's son? The one you banished twenty-five years ago?"
Queen Zhenyi asked her son.
"He said his name is Liu Feng. Is that Queen Liu, Mother?"
Zang looked back at his mother, confused and uncertain.
"Didn't you say you ordered the soldiers to kill them after we expelled them from the palace, Mother?"
Queen Zhenyi shook her head. She wasn't even sure anymore. The soldiers had only told her that Queen Liu was dead, and when she demanded they bring back the bodies, they said the corpses had fallen into a ravine.
"I possess the same power as my father. Please, find a place to hide. I don't want to hurt you."
"I will show you—the fart power, the very same power my father, King Liu, possessed. You know it, don't you?"
They nodded in unison. Some had only heard the stories from long ago, when King Liu was forced to unleash his fart technique in battle. Others had witnessed firsthand how devastating King Liu's fart had been on the battlefield.
"Come on, hide behind something extremely sturdy."
Feng's bald master, with his white beard and slightly hunched posture, shouted a warning.
Everyone there ran to find shelter. Some hid outside, even behind the kingdom's walls, behind the royal artillery tanks.
"Zang, do something! Or Feng will take your power!"
Queen Zhenyi tried to provoke her son.
But it was useless. Only children born of royal blood—believed also to be descendants of the gods—possessed such extraordinary abilities.
Zang glared at his mother, his eyes already welling with tears.
"What do you want me to do, Mother? I have no power at all. Are you still denying that I'm not Father's son?"
"Why did you have to betray Father? Why did you have to sleep with a lowly man, just an ordinary military commander? And why did I have to exist, Mother?"
"If I could choose, I wouldn't want to be born into this world, Mother—unless I were like Brother Feng."
Zang turned away and hurried off, leaving his mother behind.
"Come on, we must leave this place."
A man dressed as a military commander suddenly appeared and grabbed Zang's hand, along with Queen Zhenyi's.
"Do you still care, Commander?"
Zang slapped the man's hand away.
"Why did you stay silent when Mother said I was King Liu's son? Don't you want to acknowledge me as your child?"
The man remained silent. It wasn't that he didn't want to. It was Zang's mother who had begged him—because she wanted Zang to live in wealth and power, not as a lifelong servant to the king. Being a servant was miserable.
"We'll discuss this later, Young King Zang. Come on, you must leave quickly."
"I've prepared everything for our escape. For now, we must hide."
"We'll find Prince Feng's weakness. He must have one, just like His Majesty King Liu did."
"Once we know Prince Feng's weakness, we can eliminate him too—just like King Liu. Come on!"
He pulled both of them forcefully, and the three of them ran away together.