To the Sky Kingdom

by Tang Qi

  Xuan Nu shuddered from within his arms. She looked over, and her eyes opened wide in fright. “It’s Mo Yuan!” she muttered.

  She had mistaken Ye Hua for Mo Yuan.

  “It hadn’t been my intention to see you again so soon,” I told Li Jing, each word causing me pain. “You’re very skilled, Demon Prince. You nearly killed me just then.”

  He dropped Xuan Nu and rushed over, but Ye Hua’s immortal barrier stopped him from getting any closer. I looked so hideous with all my injuries that he had to look very carefully before recognizing me.

  I had cast a magic spell to summon the Kunlun fan, which was back in my hand now. I gave an admiring sigh. “Demon Prince, what a good choice you made marrying this empress. In that terrible battle seventy thousand years ago, I was not too badly injured, but today I have had a proper taste of your wife’s ruthlessness.”

  Li Jing’s face was whiter than mine, even with all my blood loss. “Si Yin, Your Majesty Prince . . . w-w-wha . . . what’s going on?” he asked nervously.

  Ye Hua loosened his grip on me, and in a calm voice he said, “Demon Prince Li Jing, this is your Purple Light Palace we are all in. I was just about to ask you that same question.”

  “You’re asking the wrong person,” I turned to Ye Hua to say. “It was his wife, Xuan Nu, who abducted my master and your son. She’s the one you should be asking. Don’t worry. Dumpling hasn’t been harmed.”

  “He’s your son too,” Ye Hua said quietly.

  My stepson, and in a way my son, I supposed, so against my better judgment I said, “Yes, my son too.”

  “Your son?” Li Jing asked in astonishment.

  I nodded.

  His eyes lit up and then went dark. “You . . . you . . . you,” he kept repeating but was unable to say any more. He turned to look at Xuan Nu. Ye Hua looked at her too. Seeing both of them looking at her, I turned my eyes to her as well.

  When Ye Hua had arrived, he had thrown a bolt of lightning and split her pearl into pieces. She was kneeling down next to Dumpling’s ice chest now, and seeing Li Jing look at her, she started to panic. “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, our son can finally return. Look, I’ve found him a proper body. I always knew Mo Yuan’s body would come in useful. You should have given that bitch Bai Qian the Jade Soul when she first came to the Purple Light Palace demanding it. Oh, but who would have thought she’d be able to look after Mo Yuan’s body so well without it? You used to be jealous of Mo Yuan, Your Majesty, but you don’t need to feel that way anymore. From now on he’s going to be our son . . .”

  “Shut up!” Li Jing shouted.

  “Your Majesty!” Xuan Nu exclaimed in bewilderment. “Have I said something wrong? Wasn’t that the reason you wouldn’t give that bitch Bai Qian our Jade Soul? Because you were jealous of Mo Yuan? But he will be our son now. Ah yes, you still don’t know who Bai Qian is. Bai Qian from Qingqiu and your old flame Si Yin are one and the same.”

  Ye Hua’s hands were trembling.

  I struggled out of his arms, and propping myself up with the Kunlun fan, I stepped outside his immortal barrier. “Just you try it, Xuan Nu. Try to insult my master one more time. Try to insult me,” I sneered. “My master has the most highly revered immortal body, and I have been using my own heart blood to keep it alive for the past seventy thousand years. Your son is not worthy of such a valuable and precious body.”

  Li Jing turned around violently, his eyes crimson. He took a couple of steps toward me. “Heart blood? Are you saying . . . ?”

  I took a step back, and with venom in my voice, I said, “What did you think back then, Demon Prince? That I wouldn’t be able to preserve my master without your Jade Soul? You should listen to what your wife has to say. I am Bai Qian from Qingqiu, and I used to be a nine-tailed white fox. Ask her to tell you what powers the blood of a nine-tailed white fox has.”

  I pointed to my chest, which still had a sword running through it, and gave a deep laugh. “My master’s immortal body was so badly injured that he needed to be fed a whole bowl of heart blood every night for three months. I was badly hurt in that battle too, and I was scared that removing all that blood from my heart might kill me. I thought that the two of us were still friends, and so I grasped the nettle and came to ask if you would lend me the Jade Soul. And what was it you said to me, Demon Emperor Li Jing?”

  “I didn’t know how badly hurt you were, Si Yin,” he said hoarsely. “Si Yin, I really didn’t know . . .”

  I wiped the rainwater from my face and pointed at the ice chest containing Mo Yuan and laughed. “Do you know how I managed to sustain myself while extracting blood from my heart all those months? If you consider me a good goddess, it is because I still have a sense of gratitude and know how to repay a debt. My master looked after me for twenty thousand years and saved me from countless mishaps. If I didn’t repay this debt to him, I would not deserve to be called a goddess. I was completely helpless. After I’d extracted heart blood for the seventh night, I lost consciousness. If Mother hadn’t found me in time and transferred me half her cultivated spiritual energy, Si Yin would have disappeared without trace. You remember what I said back then, about me and the Purple Light Palace being bitter enemies? Until now, I’ve thought about how hard this friendship between the God and Demon Clans has been to build and decided not to make an enemy out of you. I hope you don’t think it was because I was afraid of you.”

  Li Jing looked disconsolate.

  I had been speaking with so much force I had aggravated my injury. I did not feel too bad while I was speaking, but when I stopped to catch my breath, the pain became unbearable.

  I was just suppressing a cough when Ye Hua rushed over and took hold of my arm. I had not noticed, but while I had been rehashing the past with Li Jing, Ye Hua had rescued Mo Yuan and Dumpling from the ice chests and brought them over to where we were. He drew a circle of immortal energy around them to protect them and stood them up behind us.

  Seeing Mo Yuan and him together, they looked even more similar, from their hair to their clothing. It was only Mo Yuan’s paleness of face that distinguished them.

  Li Jing stared at me for a long time before saying, “That’s not what happened, Si Yin. I spent a long time looking for you after you left, and I’ve never stopped searching for you these last seventy thousand years, not for one moment. I’ve thought about it long and hard, Si Yin, and Xuan Nu was correct in what she said. The reason I didn’t give you the Jade Soul back then was because I knew you’d use it to save your master, and I was jealous. Si Yin, I’ve never stopped loving you.”

  I recoiled in shock when I heard this. I stared at him and sighed. “Li Jing, I don’t believe you when you say you’ve never stopped loving me. You are always pursuing things you’ve lost or can’t have. But as soon as you have them, you no longer cherish them.”

  Tears welled up in his eyes. He gave a bitter laugh and said, “Are you just saying that to shift the responsibility for our breakup onto me and make yourself feel better? You never really loved me, did you? That’s why you let me go so easily when I met Xuan Nu. You were already bored with me by then, weren’t you?”

  The blood and vigor that I had been fighting to keep down started to surge up once more. “You were the one who wronged me!” I sneered through gritted teeth. “You were the one who hurt me! Did you expect me to have the magnanimity to marry you and share you with Xuan Nu? And now you’re claiming it was my fault. You saw how vulnerable Xuan Nu was and how in need of your pity. But even though I was a boy at the time, my heart wasn’t made of stone. The way you both treated me was cruel. Where were you when I was drinking away my sorrow and dealing with those horrendous nightmares? What were you and Xuan Nu doing then?”

  Li Jing went white.

  I leaned against Ye Hua’s arm, coughing so much I could hardly breathe. Behind me Ye Hua sneered, “Demon Prince, don’t get caught up trying to settle past mistakes. We need to discuss the debt your empress has incurred today. Should we make it a public debt or a
private one?”

  When Li Jing failed to respond, Xuan Nu spoke up, her voice shaking. “What do you mean private or public?”

  Ye Hua looked at Li Jing and, in a serious tone of voice, said, “If it’s private, Li Jing, you will have to skin your stupid wife and pull out her tendons, and her soul will be reincarnated as an animal and get lost in the sea of suffering. Only this way will my indignation be eased. If it’s public, then our Sky Clan will call out the sky troops, who have been sitting around for years, itching for a battle, and we can see which clan’s army has been training hardest.”

  Xuan Nu took a deep breath. She staggered over to Li Jing in the heavy rain, wrapped her arms around his leg, and lifted her face to him. “Please save me, Your Majesty!” she implored.

  Li Jing looked at her and said, “You are a fool.”

  “Are you really going to skin me and pull out my tendons?” she asked in a shrill voice. “Have you f-f-forgotten all I’ve done for you? Would you have ascended so easily to the Demon Throne without me? And now you’re actually considering . . . Your Majesty!” she implored. “The Sky Clan won’t send out the troops. He doesn’t have the authority. He’s only heir to the throne. The Sky Clan will never agree to send out the troops over a girl . . .”

  Ye Hua altered his grip on me. “I wouldn’t be sending the troops out just over a girl. Mo Yuan is a highly revered Sky Clan god, Bai Qian is a goddess and the Sky Clan’s future empress, and Ali will probably inherit my position in the future. All three of them have suffered enormous shame and injustice at your Purple Light Palace today. Do you really think that the Sky Army will take that lying down?”

  Li Jing ignored Xuan Nu, who was clinging to his leg. “Xuan Nu has always been slightly crazy,” he said, looking dazed. “There’s no way she would have done such a terrible deed otherwise. Please, Prince Ye Hua, be lenient with her.”

  “Qian Qian, do you think we should be lenient?” Ye Hua asked me softly.

  He loosened his grip on my body, but I found it too painful to speak. I had wanted to add a word or two, but I felt too exhausted. All I could do was shake my head emphatically.

  “Prince Ye Hua, it’s very kind of you to treat this bitch Bai Qian so well,” Xuan Nu said with a laugh. “But were you aware she was having an affair with her master?”

  I was filled with rage, and was just about to stagger toward her and give her a slap across the face, but Ye Hua sent a bolt of lightning in her direction, saving me the trouble. Li Jing was no longer protecting her, and the bolt blew her back ten feet. She tumbled onto her gold couch and spat out a mouthful of blood.

  “I never usually hit women,” Ye Hua said. “Qian Qian said that your faces were very similar, but I am unable to see the likeness.”

  I left Ye Hua’s arms and walked over to Xuan Nu, supported by the Kunlun fan. I looked into the face that was so similar to my bloody face and gave a little laugh. “I didn’t really care about my appearance when I let you take my face. But whenever I see your face now, it makes me feel miserable.”

  She shrunk back in fear. “W-w-what are you going to do?” she stuttered. “T-t-this is the way I’ve always looked, you . . . you mustn’t take away my face. Invite Zhe Yan here if you want, I-I-I’m not scared . . .”

  I already had the fingers of my right hand pinched together. I laughed in astonishment. “Invite Zhe Yan to do what? I was just having a joke with you before. Do you think he’s the only one in the Four Seas and Eight Deserts who can perform face-changing magic? I’ve been sitting idle for the last seventy thousand years. I developed a sophisticated technique for the craft during that time.

  “If you’re to be skinned and have your tendons pulled out, I would prefer it not to be with my face on your body.” I gathered up my strength and chanted a spell, pinching my fingers together to release it. A dazzling white light shone out, and Xuan Nu looked over at me in a trance.

  I leaned forward and patted her face before pulling a mirror from my sleeve and giving her a look. “Look at your face now,” I said in pleasant voice. “Isn’t it marvelous? This is what you used to look like. Perhaps you’ll remember now.”

  Li Jing stood to the side, muttering, “How can she look like this? How is it possible?”

  Xuan Nu gave a sudden loud shriek. I looked around and saw that she had ripped her own eyes out. “No! No! No!” she screamed hysterically. “This isn’t how I look! This isn’t me!”

  Her face was dark with blood. Li Jing was at a loss for words. I shook my head, and with a sigh I said, “She was always very highly strung.” I turned to Ye Hua and said, “I always found her original face to be very delicate and pretty. I never understood why she was so obsessed with mine.”

  Ye Hua looked at me through dark eyes and, holding me close, turned to Li Jing and said, “Do as you see fit, Demon Emperor.

  “Qian Qian, can you walk by yourself?” he whispered gently in my ear. I thought about it and then shook my head. I saw a circle of soft light in front of me and fell into a deep sleep.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  There was a very rigorous set of rules for those studying at Mount Kunlun. You always got up at seven in the morning and you extinguished your oil lamp and slept before midnight.

  Being on good terms with First Apprentice meant that when Master was called away from Mount Kunlun, I occasionally got away with skipping a class or two under his watch, giving me an extra hour or two in bed. If I was lucky, I could sleep until eleven, but that was the absolute latest. I kept up this habit for so many years that it had stuck and was still with me seventy thousand years after graduating. Even in the winter months when I was feeling lethargic, I could never stay in bed past nine.

  This meant that despite the tumult at the Purple Light Palace the day before, and the fact that my injured body and limbs ached so much it felt like my heart was being lashed with a cold whip, I was still wide-awake at the usual time. Finding myself back in my own carved bed, in my own room, in the foxhole, I gradually started to feel calm again.

  I had passed out the day before and did not see how Ye Hua managed to carry Mo Yuan, Dumpling, and me all back to Qingqiu, although with cultivated spiritual energy, it was unlikely to have posed him too much of a challenge.

  Sensible Mystic Gorge must have taken Mo Yuan’s body back to Yanhua Cave. I was worried that he might not have placed Mo Yuan in his preferred sleeping position and made up my mind to go and check on Mo Yuan once I was out of bed.

  I shifted my position, straining my chest injury, and it hurt so much it made me breathe in sharply. I saw something on my quilt shifting slightly in response to my movements, and I looked down to see pair of eyes gazing at me, filled with adoration. The owner of these eyes was lying on the edge of my bed, his face flooded with warmth and happiness.

  Shining eyes looked up at me and a voice gently asked, “How . . . how are you feeling now?”

  I nudged myself cautiously toward the middle of the bed, saying, “I had a good sleep and seem to have recovered most of my energy.”

  I was a goddess. My immortal body had been through a number of calamities and hardships over the past one hundred forty thousand years and was stronger than most. I could recover from most injuries fairly quickly, but not this quickly. I told this fib because I had found myself at odds with the person sitting next to me for some time now and worried that if he knew how vulnerable I was, he might take advantage and attack me, probably finishing me off.

  I had known this character since Zhe Yan had first introduced him to Fourth Brother to use as his steed. Zhe Yan had come back from his hunting trip in the Western Mountains with Bi Fang the bird, who was now sitting before me, smartly dressed. Initially after being appointed as Fourth Brother’s steed, Bi Fang and I had been on good terms, and he would often carry me on his back to the peach grove to eat peaches and collect wine.

  And then one day, he stopped carrying me. It was only a thousand years later that I started to understand his reason. He had taken a shine to Phoe
nix Nine and felt hostility toward me because Phoenix Nine and I were together so much.

  I had not wanted to get into an argument with him about his irrational jealousy. But it became very bad, and most days he would find something to spar with me about. I would end up getting riled as well usually, and that was how it continued. Because of this, his sudden disappearance had actually left me feeling secretly quite pleased.

  The curtains were wide open, and the ray of sunlight shining through, while not extraordinarily strong, was dazzling enough to cause a stabbing pain to my poor eyes. Bi Fang rushed over to the window, saying, “Would it better if I closed the curtains?”

  It threw me to hear him sounding so meek, and I was unable to respond with any more than “Hmm.”

  He closed the curtains and returned to the bed to tuck in the corners of my quilt. He leaned against the side of the bed and asked with affection if I wanted some water. Even Mystic Gorge was not this attentive and considerate.

  I was actually quite thirsty, but I found Bi Fang’s behavior confusing. While he was pouring me a cup of tea, I suddenly realized what was going on.

  “Fourth Brother?” I asked with a somber smile. “You’re Fourth Brother, aren’t you? I’ve just been in a battle and my magic powers are weak. You knew I wouldn’t be able to see through your transforming magic, so you dressed up as Bi Fang to trick me. Oh, very good! You’re spot-on with his appearance, but you haven’t quite mastered his personality. Haven’t you seen how dismissive Bi Fang is toward me?”

  The figure in front of me froze halfway through pouring the tea.

  He turned to me, a strange look on his face. “I’ve not undergone any transformation. I really am Bi Fang,” he said. “My master and His Highness have gone to the Western Sea on business. I was bored over in the peach grove on my own, so I thought I’d come here to see how you were.”

  I was taken aback, and my lips trembled as I tried to form a smile. Giving a forced chuckle, I said, “Oh, you avian folk! You can be rather detached. Different from us mammals! Please don’t take what I just said to heart . . .”