"What happened? Is it going to rain?" Princess Lingchen spoke up.

The servants scurried around to pack up things into the carriage once they heard the Princess's words. The soldiers inched closer to both the Princess and the Prince as they saw that something was wrong with the sky.

Mingyue looked at Yang Yun and saw his frown. "It doesn't look like it's going to rain."

Yang Yun shook his head, signaling his wife that he has no idea what was happening. Their view was obstructed from the leaves and tree branches upon them. Yang Yun moved away to get a clear look of the sky with Mingyue hanging onto his s.h.i.+rt. His eyes widened as he watched something moved to block the sun.

"It's not rain," Prince Lu Wei spoke after a long silence.

The servants immediately paused from their tasks. Since it was not going to rain, they do not have to move the belongings into the carriage to prevent rainwater from spoiling the goods.

"It's an eclipse," the Prince continued.

In an instant, everyone turned to look at the Prince.

"Don't tell me you've never witnessed a solar eclipse before?" Prince Lu Wei asked with skeptical. Although he thought that it would be strange if the others have not seen a solar eclipse before, looking at the others' reaction, he was uncertain.

"That's not it," Princess Lingchen shook her head. "Solar eclipse is not something strange. Just that, we did not expect that a solar eclipse will occur today. After all, an eclipse is easier a.s.sociated with something bad." The Princess frowned. The astrologist did not predict anything about the solar eclipse.

The atmosphere was quiet as everyone was watching the moon moved slowly to block the sun.

"Don't just stare at the sky," Vice General Fei Liu spoke to alert the soldiers around. "Don't slack off. Go back to your tasks. It's easy for anything to go awry when you're not paying attention."

The soldiers nodded and scampered to get back to their duty.

"It's better for us to move after the eclipse ended," Yang Yun said.

"How long do you think it will last?" Mingyue asked.

Yang Yun shook his head. "It's better for you to sit down near the Crown Princess." He smiled as he watched his wife continued to stare at the sky. Yang Yun covered Mingyue's eyes with his hand. "Don't look too much at the sun. It'll damage your eyes."

Mingyue nodded. She turned around and moved towards the Princess. But instead of sitting with the Princess, Mingyue stayed beside Ah Zhen. After all, even if the Crown Princess did not mind formalities between the two of them, Prince Lu Wei might think that Mingyue was without manners.

Yang Yun then joined the other guards from his Elite Troop to brief them of the situation and patrolled the area with a few guards. When Yang Yun returned to the Crown Princess' side, the moon has almost entirely covered the sun. He talked to Vice General Fei Liu for a while before he walked towards Mingyue.

"Is everything alright?" Mingyue whispered worriedly.

Yang Yun replied her with a smile and a pat on her soft hair.

Understood the gesture, Mingyue sighed in relief. She turned around to lean on a nearby tree when she saw something familiar. Her steps halted as she continued to stare at a spot not far away from the others.

"Shadow gra.s.s," Mingyue whispered to herself. She sauntered towards the familiar herbs as she took out the notebook in her knapsack. Mingyue crouched next to the small plant as she compared the information to the plant from her note.

Noticing Mingyue strange movement, Yang Yun then asked, "What's wrong?" When Mingyue did not reply to him, Yang Yun began to follow her. Mingyue was staring at a spot under the tree. And under that tree, was a small plant.

"Yang Yun!" Mingyue shouted excitedly. "I found it!" She took out her digging equipment to dug out the plant. In seconds, the small plant was in her hand.

Yang Yun's eyes widened as he saw the familiar plant in his wife's hand. His heart started to beat erratically. Yang Yun rushed towards his wife and grabbed her wrist.

As soon as Yang Yun touched Mingyue's hand, he felt a force pulling his wife away. In a panic, Yang Yun tried to grab Mingyue with both hands. At that moment, he saw fear in Mingyue's eyes. "Mingyue! Hold on to my hand!"

Mingyue nodded as she tried to hold on into Yang Yun's hand tighter.

With a glance, Yang Yun saw that a few soldiers marched towards him to help. He tried to pry away the herbs in Mingyue's hand, but he can only felt her hand slowly slipping away from his grip.

The sky above them began to turn brighter as the moon started to move away from the sun. Yang Yun fell on back as the force pulling him disappeared. When he looked up, Mingyue was nowhere in sight. In his hand were the shadow plant and the thumb ring he gave her.