The thick vines were intertwined to form a natural wall. The tall branches cast shadows over the ground. A thin mist hung low above the grass, making the forbidden garden look darker and more mysterious than usual.
Punya followed behind Li Shan carefully. Every step they took was filled with silence, only the sound of their light footsteps echoing through them. Princess Meilin walked ahead bravely, her eyes shining with determination. Beside her, Weng Qing gripped the sword tightly. Her body contained a silent energy, ready to fight at any moment.
Meiling, the young maidservant of Princess Ling Ya, looked quite nervous. She hugged the tray of herbs to her chest, as if it was the only protection she had.
"I have a bad feeling," Princess Meilin whispered softly, her eyes scanning the surroundings cautiously.
"Me too," Li Shan replied, his tone filled with tension. He had grown up in this garden, and he knew that this place had never been this unnaturally quiet before.
Meiling moved closer to Punya. Her body trembled slightly. "Are you sure you should come?" She whispered. "Princess Lingya will not be pleased if she finds out that we are here."
Punya understood Meiling's concerns, but this was not the time to hesitate.
"But Second Prince Xiao Yang is here," Weng Qing said, her sharp eyes staring ahead. "If we let him use the power of the forbidden fruit without control, it could be a disaster."
Punya pursed her lips tightly. In a way, she understood that the power of the forbidden fruit was not something that anyone could use easily. It was a power that required a great deal of understanding and control. If Second Prince Xiao Yang tried to use it without knowing the consequences, everyone would be in danger.
"Let's go," Li Shan said, before leading the way forward.
They walked deeper into the forbidden garden. Every step was carefully taken. Some vines moved as if they were alive. The wind blew gently, but it felt like a whispering sound around them.
Suddenly…
Thud!
A strong gust of wind blew past. Along with the vines' rubbing sound that started to move more violently, as if trying to block their path.
"Watch out!" Weng Qing warned before drawing her sword.
Punya felt something lurking in the darkness. She paused and glanced at Princess Meilin who had a serious expression.
"Something is not right," the princess whispered.
Then suddenly, the ground shook. Black vines shot up from the ground like giant serpents. They tried to entangle them!
"Trap!" Li Shan shouted before jumping to the side.
Weng Qing swung her sword. Slash! Her sword managed to cut the vines, but they quickly grew back.
Punya tried to retreat, but another vine shot towards her!
"Punya!" Meiling shouted. She tried to help but was blocked by the vines.
Punya gritted her teeth before deciding to take out a fruit from her bag. It was a "Fire Red Chili" which had the power to burn and destroy anything it touched. She squeezed it until the liquid inside spurted out and flicked towards the vines.
Whoosh! Blue flames instantly erupted. The vines that were burned by the red chili liquid were pulverized, they convulsed and shrank back.
"Use fire!" Punya shouted in warning.
Weng Qing nodded before flipping her sword. Weng Qing's sword was made of a metal that could conduct lightning power. She gathered her power and swung her sword down towards the vines. A bang! sound was heard. The lightning power shocked the vines until they disintegrated.
Li San quickly grabbed Punya and Mei Ling's arms. "Let's go before they come back!"
They ran forward quickly and finally arrived at the center of the forbidden garden.
In the center of the area, there was a large tree standing tall. It was so tall that its top disappeared into the darkness, and at the center of its trunk, there was a large hollow with purple light shining out.
Inside the hollow…
They saw Second Prince Xiao Yang standing in the purple light.
His face was full of lust for power, and in his hand…
It was a forbidden fruit!
--
As soon as the forbidden fruit was bitten, a golden light shot up into the sky, like lightning exploding from an ancient tree. A strong wind blew, causing the surrounding trees to sway, and leaves flew everywhere. Second Prince Xiao Yang's body trembled, before his eyes turned scarlet.
"I feel... a huge power!" His voice echoed throughout the forbidden garden.
But in an instant, his body suddenly convulsed, the hand holding the fruit trembled, before a loud scream rang out from his mouth. Xiao Yang collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. The golden light emitted from his body turned into a stream of energy that shot out in all directions.
"Your Highness!" Yang Sheng, the imperial mercenary, rushed over in shock, but before he could get close, a mysterious energy wave sent him flying into a tree with a bang.
Xiao Yang looked up, his eyes blazing with rage, his face looking like a demon that had come out of hell. "I... I can't control it!"
Li An, the palace researcher, quickly checked the situation. He clutched the note tightly, trying to trace the words written about the forbidden fruit. "Your Highness! This power... is devouring you!"
"Do you think I don't know?!" Xiao Yang roared, before the power exploded again. His body floated above the ground, golden sparks scattered throughout the air.
The Great Prince Li Cheng, who had been watching the event silently, began to frown deeply. "This is the result of your own lust for power, Xiao Yang..." His voice was cold as he shouted out an order. "We must stop him before the power completely overwhelms him!"
"But which way?" Xian Lan, the female official in charge of the agriculture department, asked anxiously. "No one has ever been able to control its power!"
Li An was silent for a moment before gritting her teeth. "There is only one way... but it requires the power of another fruit to suppress it!"
"What fruit?" Li Cheng asked quickly.
"The fruit of suppressing power, 'Moon Jade'! But we must find him as soon as possible before the Second Prince loses his identity!"
Xiao Yang continued to scream in pain, golden energy radiating around him like a raging flame, as everyone tried to find a way to stop him, the ground beneath their feet began to shake.
"Too late!" Yang Sheng shouted, "His power is releasing what was sealed in the Forbidden Garden!"
A cracking sound came from underground, everyone looked towards the expanding crack, the Forbidden Garden was about to reveal its secrets that had been hidden for centuries…
Xiao Yang's heavy wind still echoed in the Forbidden Garden, his eyes that were once red from the power began to tremble in confusion after swallowing the Shadow Calm Fruit, the golden energy covering his body slowly dissipated, but the crack in the ground continued to expand, revealing something terrifying.
Pun Ya stared at the crack with a pounding heart, "This is…"
Before she could finish, a violent tremor erupted again, as if something was about to break free from its seal!
"Retreat everyone!" Weng Qing shouted as she drew her sword. Lightning from her Lightning Mango swept across the blade.
But before anyone could move, the ground beneath their feet cracked, and dark shadows shot up from the cracks, covering the sky with a power that seemed to devour everything.
"The power of the forbidden fruit is still there!" Li An shouted in panic.
"Oh no..." Xian Lan gritted her teeth. "It's not just the effects of Xiao Yang, it's something that was sealed in the forbidden garden all along!"
"I can feel it..." Punya muttered. She tried to use her special senses to read the energy circulating in the air, and found that Xiao Yang's power had released something that shouldn't have been awakened.
"It's the 'Eternal Root Shadow'! A demonic plant that has been sealed underground for hundreds of years!"
Suddenly, dark branches shot out from the ground, as if dozens of serpents were baring their fangs at them.
"Everyone, retreat!" Princess Meilin shouted, spreading her arms to summon the power of the royal family to form a protective barrier.
But the black branch pierced through the energy barrier as if it were not there!
"It can absorb magic energy!" Li An shouted. "Normal energy is useless against it!"
"Then we must use the energy of the fruits in the garden!" Punya suggested, before turning to Li Shan. "You have the energy of the Restoration Plant Seed, right?"
Li Shan nodded. "But I need time to build up my energy. I can't attack it right away!"
"I will protect you!" Mei Ling said firmly, before using her Qi to create an energy barrier to block the incoming black branch.
"I will buy time! This time, we should help each other." Yang Sheng charged forward, using his martial energy to directly attack the branch. Although it did not destroy the root shadow, it gave them time to prepare.
While everyone was fighting with all their might, Punya closed his eyes again, trying to use his senses to find the "weak point" of this demonic plant.
"There must be a way to stop it!" She muttered.
And finally, she felt something.
"The center of its energy... is at the taproot! If the taproot can be destroyed, This demonic plant will run out of power!"
"I will handle it myself!" Li Cheng roared, before using his sword to slash down into the ground, piercing through to the roots deep underground.
In that split second, Li Shan, who had been accumulating power for a long time, released the plant seed's restorative power into its taproot!
The demonic plant's roar was deafening, before it began to wither away, its roots that had spread out everywhere shrank back underground, the dark energy slowly fading away.
Everyone stood still, watching the demonic energy that was sealed back once more, the cracks in the ground slowly closing, the forbidden garden returning to peace.
Punya sighed heavily, glancing at Xiao Yang, who was now kneeling on the ground, panting heavily, his face filled with defeat and despair.
Prince Li Cheng approached his younger brother, "Is this what you want? Power that you cannot control?"
Xiao Yang was silent for a long time, before chuckling softly… as if he was amused by his own foolishness.