by Tang Qi
I glanced at Ye Hua, who was sitting to the side drinking tea. “This is Ye Hua, Sky Emperor of the Ninth Sky,” I said to Phoenix Nine.
Phoenix Nine kept her eyes steadfastly upon Si Ming, staring at him for ages with a bleak expression on her face. “Si Ming, what a terrible destiny you’ve written,” she exclaimed.
I was unimpressed by Phoenix Nine’s blatant disregard for Ye Hua and threw him an apologetic smile. He smiled back at me and continued calmly and unhurriedly to drink his tea. Si Ming seemed offended by Phoenix Nine’s comment about his terrible destiny. It was akin to telling a top scholar they were unlearned, or standing in front of a courtesan and saying she had a plain face.
Si Ming offered her the cold tea, the corners of his mouth twitching. “There were some flaws in my initial writing of the emperor’s fate. But since he has started to fall in love with you, I must now request you continue playing out the role of the woman in the destiny notebook who the emperor was meant to fall in love with. Dong Hua was keen for a love calamity to play a big part of his mortal life experience. Originally this was the role of the woman who fell into the water, but after all that has happened, I must ask you to step into this role.”
“Why me?” Phoenix Nine asked in anguish. “I have fully repaid my debt to Dong Hua now. Let me get this right, Si Ming. Not only are you not going to help me to escape this situation, you are actually going to make me stay here and create a calamity for Dong Hua? Si Ming, you are really dishonoring our years of friendship.”
Si Ming took his cup, placed the lid on it, and swished around the tea inside. “It’s just as you’ve said. You were the one who ruined the emperor’s destiny. Forcing you to create a calamity for the emperor is compensation. If you refuse, imagine what Dong Hua will think when his mortal life comes to an end and he returns to his immortal form and hears you confess what you did. It will be too late to ask for his forgiveness then.”
“This has nothing to do with Phoenix Nine,” I blurted out. “I was the one who altered Yuan Zhen’s destiny, which led to all this . . .”
Si Ming put down his teacup and stood up. He gave me a respectful bow and said, “There are some things you may not understand, Your Highness. In destiny we talk in terms of causality. All things are linked, and one thing results in the development of another. Phoenix Nine was responsible for what happened to the emperor. The fact that she has become caught up in this affair, and used the two lives incantation magic as well, means that if the emperor’s destiny is to change drastically, she will definitely experience magic backbite. The method I have just suggested is the only way to avoid this.”
I looked at Phoenix Nine with a deep sense of sorrow.
Phoenix Nine dropped miserably back into her chair, poured herself a cup of tea, and took a sip, looking doleful. “So how am I to create this calamity?” she asked Si Ming.
She had accepted her fate.
“All you need to do is to be sweet to the emperor and win his heart. When the emperor has fallen deeply in love with you, you need to trample over his heart, again and again and again. That’s it. Your work will be done.”
Phoenix Nine shuddered. I shuddered too.
“When the time comes, I will choose you some play scripts that will show you how to, um, trample all over a loving heart,” Si Ming said.
Phoenix Nine laid her head and chest down on the table and started to sob.
I heard a eunuch outside announcing the emperor’s arrival. I stroked Phoenix Nine’s head, filled with sorrow on her behalf. Leaving her there like that, Ye Hua, Si Ming, and I got up and walked out through the wall.
They escorted me back to Purple Bamboo Garden. On the way, Ye Hua put his arm around me and said, “I’ve got some more business to deal with. You head back to Qingqiu tomorrow, and I will meet you there in a few days.” Once he said this, he turned on his heels and was gone. Si Ming explained that they needed to rush back to rejoin the empress’s Flat Peach Conference.
I stood there for a while, thinking that there had been something so familiar about standing there with Ye Hua, his arm around me, but I could not work out why. It felt as if Ye Hua had been living in Qingqiu for such a long time already, and from what he had just said, he did not sound as if he had plans to leave any time soon. How long was he actually going to stay? I thought about it until I felt drowsiness hit, and scratching my head, I walked inside to sleep.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Midmorning the next day, I crawled out of bed, feeling extremely rested. I went over to say farewell to Yuan Zhen’s mother. She was sad to see me go, but aware of my status as a supreme being, she knew she could not make me stay. She simply sighed a couple of times before bidding me farewell.
This diversion meant that it was nearly noon by the time I got back to Qingqiu.
Not much had changed there in the two months I had been in the mortal world. The mountain was still a mountain, the lake still a lake. Mao the Sun Prince was still treating the area with extreme kindness, and the sun was not too strong, not too weak, but just right.
Mystic Gorge was standing at the entrance to the foxhole.
“I’m back. It must have been relaxing having all this time without me ordering you about,” I larked.
Mystic Gorge gave a muffled laugh and surprised me by saying, “But didn’t you get back yesterday, Your Highness? You’re about to undertake a serious new mission. Why are you talking as if you’ve only just arrived back from the mortal world?”
I felt momentarily too stunned to speak. “I have only just arrived back from the mortal world,” I said eventually.
It was Mystic Gorge’s turn to turn pale. “In that case, who was it that came here y-y-yesterd . . . ?” he stuttered.
My heart gave a lurch, and I started to tremble.
If someone had been posing as me so convincingly that even Mystic Gorge, with all his spiritually cultivated energy, was unable to tell us apart, it could only have been one person . . .
I closed my eyes. Xuan Nu. Very well. I had not gone looking for trouble with her over the last seventy thousand years, so what had she been doing in Qingqiu?
I took a deep breath and said, “It must have been Xuan Nu you saw here yesterday.” Mystic Gorge stared straight ahead, biting his lips so hard they turned white.
“What was she doing when you saw her?” I asked when I saw how strangely he was acting.
With a quiver in his voice, Mystic Gorge said, “W-w-w-when she came to see me yesterday, sh-sh-she told me she’d found a new way of preserving Mo Yuan’s immortal body and asked me to bring him to her. I-I-I thought it was you, Your Highness, so I w-w-went to Yanhua Cave and carried out Mo Yuan’s immortal body. His Little Highness Ali had just woken up from his afternoon nap and was really happy to see you. No, I mean, he was happy to see the woman he thought was you. And sh-sh-she . . . took off with him too.”
My heart gave a huge lurch. I grabbed Mystic Gorge by the collar. “Are you saying she’s abducted Master and Ali?”
Mystic Gorge stared at me, his face pale. “I was the one who gave her Mo Yuan’s immortal body, Your Highness. Punish me however you see fit. I deserve to die.”
The sky boomed with thunder, a bolt of lightning struck down through the billowing clouds, and the Kunlun fan I had not used in over five hundred years appeared in the lake before me. I saw my crimson eyes reflected in the seven-foot fountain of water that spurted up from it.
“Oh, fan of mine, you are going to taste some blood today,” I said with a laugh.
“Your Highness!” Mystic Gorge called hoarsely from behind me. I turned around.
“All I’m going to do is fight a battle and bring back Master and Dumpling, don’t be worried,” I reassured him. “Boil me a pan of water and leave it out. I will be sore and tired by the time I get back and in need of a wash.”
I took out my length of white silk and tied it tightly around my eyes, cast a spell, leaped on a thick black cloud, and headed straight for the Purple Light Palace. Fr
om ancient times, the most profoundly evil members of the Demon Clan had been given the sky punishment of having only stillbirths. Legend had it that one she-demon was so evil and murderous that three of her babies died in a row. Later she thought of a way around this punishment. She used magic to keep the soul of her dead baby alive and then killed a young immortal and transferred her dead baby’s soul into his body, thus bringing her baby back to life. Ten thousand years after the Demon Clan Revolt, Zhe Yan came to see me in Qingqiu and mentioned in passing how Li Jing’s wife had had a stillbirth.
Xuan Nu, I thought to myself, if you have the guts to lay one finger on Mo Yuan’s immortal body, I will inflict a bloodbath upon the Purple Light Palace. Do not think for one second that our clans’ friendship will stand in my way.
Seventy thousand years ago, the Purple Light Palace had been extremely well guarded, but there was no one at the gates today. It seemed like an invitation for a funeral.
I was not the same person I had been seventy thousand years ago, the one who needed Mo Yuan to sneak into the palace in the dead of night to rescue me, and I gave a bitter laugh. The Kunlun fan in my hand seemed restless. I brought it to my lips. “Can you smell the blood?” I asked it.
I entered the palace and found Xuan Nu sitting upright on a gold couch in front of her Floating Shadow Palace, looking extremely smart and well dressed, flanked by two lines of demon soldiers. “Bai Qian, it’s been seventy thousand years. I trust you have been keeping well since last we met,” she said with a laugh. “I heard His Majesty Li Jing mention that Si Yin was actually a girl, and I had a strong feeling it would be you. The first time I met Si Yin in Mount Kunlun, I was astonished. No one apart from you has ever looked that much like me.”
I gave a placid smile. “I imagine you are trying to amuse me, Empress,” I said. “This isn’t actually how you look. My memory has always been good, and I still remember your former appearance. You can’t have forgotten, can you? Zhe Yan from the Ten-Mile Peach Grove has been rather idle of late. If you really have forgotten, I could ask him to come and help jog your memory.”
Her face went from red to white. She gave a chuckle. “Whatever happens, today you are going to die. There’s no room in the world for anyone who looks like me. Yesterday when I managed to get my hands on Mo Yuan’s immortal body and your son, I knew it was just a matter of time before you arrived. I’ve been waiting for you. I knew you must have been preserving Mo Yuan’s body, even without the Jade Soul. And you didn’t disappoint me,” she said, clicking her tongue in admiration. “Your only transgression was to keep me searching so long. But you’ve kept Mo Yuan’s body in excellent condition, and I am delighted my son will soon be in possession of such a fine body. Bai Qian, I will honor your meticulous service by allowing you a quick and easy death with minimal suffering.” With that, the gold couch rolled back, and the two rows of demon soldiers started surrounding me.
“Let’s see what you’ve got,” I sneered.
The sky boomed with thunder, and the Kunlun fan leaped from my hand. Soon we were surrounded by howling winds. The Kunlun fan started to grow, and soon it was three feet tall. I leaped up and grabbed it as the demon soldiers came at me with their weapons.
The fan moved in a circle, shielding me from all their swords, spears, and clubs. I brandished it again, knowing that each move meant life or death. It had been a long time since the fan had been in a fight, and it was giving everything it had. It stabbed through the flesh of one body after another, pools of blood dripping onto the ground.
Many of the demon soldiers put up a good fight. They wielded their weapons at cunning angles to try and reach me, and I only just managed to avoid being stabbed. I still had the upper hand, but there were far more of them, and we fought from noon until the sun set in the west. Most of the demon soldiers had been killed or injured under my fan, and only three were left fighting. I had a surface stab near my shoulder blade, and the white silk cloth had been torn from my face during the battle.
My eyes were my weakness, and Xuan Nu suddenly brought out a pearl that dazzled with a golden light. It glinted with such brightness that my eyes felt like they were being cut out with a knife. I lost focus, and a sword came at me and stabbed me in the chest. Xuan Nu gave a loud laugh. “If His Majesty were at the palace today, you might have had a chance at staying alive. But unfortunately for you, he is away on a hunting trip. Oh dear, it’s distressing to see you covered in injuries like this. Why don’t you call to be rescued?” She turned to her solider and said, “Hu Na, kill her for me.”
Dying here without even having set eyes on Mo Yuan’s body seemed absurd. The pain in my body would be nothing compared to the pain in my heart. The sword had gone in through my chest and out through my back. Hu Na, the demon solider who had stabbed me, was looking very pleased with himself. Complacency caused him to let his guard down, and I managed to grab his sword. Fiercely brandishing the fan, I cut his head off before he even knew what was happening.
The golden light was still shining toward me, forcing me to keep my eyes closed. I managed to pry them open in time to see a figure flitting past. Xuan Nu, who had been talking so excitedly, now fell silent. The last two demon soldiers were putting up a good fight, but they had no more backup and were fighting against a fan that was thrilled to be drinking so much blood and was only just getting started. In no time they had become the fan’s sacrificial offerings.
Xuan Nu lifted up her pearl, her hand shaking. “Don’t come any closer,” she said. “One step closer and I will destroy Mo Yuan and your son.” At some point during all this fighting, two ice chests, one large and one small, had been placed behind her. Mo Yuan lay in the big one, while the small one contained Dumpling. Everything appeared bloodred through my injured eyes, but even through this red sheen, I could make out Mo Yuan’s pale face.
I stopped in my tracks, placing the fan on the ground to support me. “What have you done to Ali?” I asked, full of rage.
She was still trembling, but was starting to look a lot calmer. “He’s in a deep sleep,” she said, leaning against the ice coffin. “But you move one step closer, and I can’t be held responsible for what happens.”
I gave her a forceful stare, and the blood flowed faster down from the corners of my eyes. “Draw the sword from your chest and slide your fan over to me,” she said haughtily. I said nothing, just continued to walk toward her, supporting myself with the fan. “I told you not to come any nearer,” she said in a panic. “Move any closer, and I will stab your son to death.”
She had a dagger in her hand. I felt the corners of my mouth twitch. “When I came to the Purple Light Palace today, I didn’t expect to come out alive. Go ahead and kill him. Kill him, and then I’ll avenge his death by killing you. I’ve been looking after Mo Yuan’s body for seventy thousand years, but still he hasn’t returned, and I’m bored with living. I will accompany Ali through to the underworld and make sure that he doesn’t get scared. You and me, we’ve both been alive for so long now. We shouldn’t still be taking this life-and-death stuff so seriously.”
She was getting very flustered. “You’re crazy!” she cried. “You’ve gone completely crazy.”
I wiped away the blood flowing from my eyes. Yes, I was a bit crazy, I decided, but not too crazy. This woman standing before me had abused my master and threatened my relatives. How could I just let that go? I had to kill her with my Kunlun fan, here and now.
The Kunlun fan was angry, and when it was angry, the world shook. The fan had sipped its fill of blood and was raring to go. The sky above the Purple Light Palace was filled with thunder and lightning. The heavy downpour of rain washed all the blood on the floor into one filthy red river.
Xuan Nu had become hysterical. “You can’t kill me,” she screamed. “If you kill me, His Majesty Li Jing will raze Qingqiu to the ground. How can you implicate all your kingdom’s subjects?”
I smiled, baring my teeth. “We’ll both be dead by then. Who cares what happens after?
She seemed to be having trouble responding, and I decided not to give her the chance. The Kunlun fan had stored up enough energy, and it flew out of my hand with a magnificent flash of lightning. At that moment, I saw a figure streak in front of Xuan Nu, and deflect the Kunlun fan’s powers back at me.
Once she had recovered herself, Xuan Nu grabbed at the sleeve of the figure and in a faltering voice cried out, “Your Majesty, Li Jing!” Once the Kunlun fan had been initiated, it had the strength to kill, and if blocked when soaring through the air like this, its rebounding force would be even more ferocious. I had used up all my powers and did not have the strength to dodge it. Gritting my teeth, I closed my eyes. I supposed there were worse ways to die than perishing under the force of your own powerful weapon.
No sooner had I closed my eyes than I felt myself being grabbed and lifted out of harm’s way. I turned around to see Ye Hua, who had arrived just in time, although if he had come slightly earlier, I would have been in better shape than I was now.
Ye Hua was standing there, his face pale, his lips puckered, and his pupils, usually so still, surging with fury. The lapel of Xuan Nu’s white robe had been dyed bright red by the blood from my face. Outside the immortal barrier, the Kunlun fan had incited a heavy rainstorm. Raindrops the size of tender dates crashed down onto the immortal barrier, and a huge rain mist splashed up. Ye Hua gently wiped the blood from my face, saying, “Qian Qian, tell me, who hurt you?”
I shifted my position and said, “They’ve all been stabbed to death. I was just about to stab the only survivor when her husband appeared and blocked my weapon. Oh, can you hold me more gently please? I’m in a lot of pain.”
Li Jing stood opposite us with Xuan Nu in his arms still. He jerked his head up and looked at me in astonishment. “Si Yin?” he said with incredulity.