To the Sky Kingdom

by Tang Qi

  Mo Yuan explained that the problem had started when his mother, Mother of the Universe, became pregnant with him and his brother. It was the year that the four poles fell and the nine kingdoms crumbled. Mother of the Universe had worked hard to repair the four large pillars holding up the sky, but it impacted upon the health of her unborn babies, and she had been able to give birth to only one healthy baby, the bigger one. Father of the Universe felt that they had let their youngerst son down badly, and he obstinately held on to the little soul that would otherwise have flown out of the world and vanished. He raised it inside his own primordial spirit, waiting to see if he had the fate and fortune to create an immortal embryo for his son, so that he could wake up and be reborn. Father of the Universe used half his magic to create this immortal embryo, but still his son’s soul did not wake up. Father of the Universe decided to turn this immortal embryo into a dazzling golden egg instead, which he buried at Mount Kunlun’s back mountain, to be dug up once his son’s soul awoke.

  But as fate would have it, Mother of the Universe and Father of the Universe returned to the primal chaos before their son’s soul could wake up. Before Father of the Universe passed away, he explained the situation to Mo Yuan. He separated his son’s soul from his own primordial spirit and entrusted it to Mo Yuan’s care. Mo Yuan placed his brother’s soul in his own primordial spirit, just like Father of the Universe had, and nurtured it there. Much time passed, but Mo Yuan’s twin brother still failed to wake up.

  “It must have been when I offered up my primordial spirit to the Eastern Desert Bell that he finally awoke. I think he must have collected up all the pieces of my scattered soul, and put them back together again, as I don’t know how else I could have managed to wake up. I have a vague recollection of a child sitting by my side for seven or eight thousand years, repairing my soul. He’d managed to repair half of it when a golden light shone right into the cave where we were, carrying him away. After he left, I continued the work of repairing my soul. It was not easy, and it took a long time. You say he’s heir to the sky throne, which leads me to think that a Sky Clan lady must have wandered into Mount Kunlun, found the golden egg that Father of the Universe buried, and swallowed it. His immortal embryo must then have taken root in her abdomen. That must have been the point when the golden light shone in and took him away.”

  Zhe Yan gave an awkward laugh. “When Ye Hua was born, seventy-two multicolored birds circled around for eighty-one days, and a haze of smoke hung in the eastern sky for three years. Learning that he is your twin brother, it is no wonder.”

  Learning this news felt like being struck by lightning. I had never imagined that this might be my future connection to Mo Yuan. As I listened to him explain his relationship with Ye Hua, I entered the calm state that follows a great shock. The fact that they were twin brothers seemed obvious now, given the way they both looked.

  Mo Yuan wished to go and meet Ye Hua. He had just woken up and needed a couple of years of confined rest before he would be fully recovered. I did not think he was in a fit state to go rushing off to the mortal world and imagined that so doing would have a negative impact on his recovery. I went against the natural inclination of an apprentice always to be honest with their master and thought up an excuse to stall him. I promised that once his injuries were better, I would bring Ye Hua over to meet him.

  Despite its spiritual energy, Yanhua Cave was very cold and not a suitable place for Mo Yuan’s recuperation. He was intent on returning to Mount Kunlun, to the cave at the back mountain where he had always done his confinement in the past. I was not keen for him to see the sorry state that had befallen Mount Kunlun, but paper cannot wrap fire: he was going to have to find out this upsetting truth at some point. Deciding that it would be better for him to come to terms with it sooner rather than later, after a couple of rounds of tea, I accompanied him back to Mount Kunlun. Zhe Yan and Fourth Brother, having nowhere special they needed to be, decided to come along too, as did Bi Fang.

  With Fourth Brother astride Bi Fang and the remaining three of us on lucky clouds, we soared toward Mount Kunlun, the place that Fourth Brother described as astonishingly different from how it was in the past.

  I was certainly astonished by the sight of it.

  All the way down from the entrance of the mountain, we saw crowds of little immortals. Some were standing, others squatting or sitting, and there was a circle of swirling purple-and-green mist covering half the mountain in radiant, mystical beauty. This immortal energy steamed and billowed, making it obvious to all present that it was indeed an immortal mountain.

  During the twenty thousand years I had been studying magic at Mount Kunlun, it had always been a rather understated place. How had it become so lively?

  Bi Fang retracted his talons and dropped down, Fourth Brother still astride him. Fourth Brother approached a little immortal who looked honest and gentle. He cupped his hands together, and giving a deferential bow, he inquired about what was going on.

  “I couldn’t really tell you,” the little immortal said through rapidly blinking eyes. “I just came out to get some soya sauce, and on the way I heard the news that mystical breath had been seen swirling around the top of the next mountain for the past three or four days. I heard that a large number of immortal friends had gathered to see what was happening, so I rushed straight over to have a look too. As you can see, it was well worth the trip. This mystical breath . . .” He clicked his tongue in admiration. “Well, it is not like any mystical breath I’ve ever seen before. It’s just so beautiful. I’ve been sitting here watching it for two days now. Get down from your bird and let him pull up worms while you watch the spectacle with us. I guarantee a feast for the eyes. There’s a space here next to me. I can squeeze up and we can watch it together.”

  Fourth Brother thanked him for his kind offer before excusing himself and walking quietly back to where we were. “It’s nothing,” he said with a cough. “They’re just admiring the grace and majesty of Mount Kunlun and have traveled far and wide to give praise.”

  Zhe Yan hid half his face behind his sleeve and also gave a cough. With a playful smile, which spread all the way out from the corners of his eyes to his brows, he turned to Mo Yuan and said, “Mount Kunlun is an immortal mountain that rose from a dragon’s backbone. Perhaps the mountain sensed your imminent return and became so excited it started puffing out mystical breath to greet you with, attracting the attention of these ignorant little immortals from nearby.”

  Mo Yuan kept his composure, but I could see the corners of his mouth twitching.

  The five of us decided to make ourselves invisible to enter the mountain so as not to disturb the little immortals watching the spectacle from the mountainside. Ninth Apprentice was extremely conservative, and the prohibition at the entrance of the mountain was the same as it had been for tens of thousands of years. He had kept everything just as it was.

  I thought Ling Yu would be the only apprentice we would meet today, but as soon as we entered the mountain door, I looked ten paces ahead and gave a jolt of surprise. My sixteen fellow apprentices were standing there in two lines, one line on each side of the foot-wide stone path. They were dressed in the robes they had worn back then with their hair tied in topknots.

  The Shorea tree that the two Buddhas from the Western Paradise had brought over when they came here once for tea was still standing in the courtyard. My sixteen fellow apprentices were standing solemnly under this Shorea tree, their arms folded in front of their chests, looking as if they had been standing in wait like this for the past seventy thousand years.

  It was First Apprentice whose eyes were first to go red. He fell with a thump to his knees, and in a shaky voice said, “Ninth Apprentice shared the news a few days ago. We knew that mystical breath had been seen soaring into the sky above Mount Kunlun and that every so often a dragon’s groan could be heard. Even though we didn’t know exactly what it meant, we all traveled through the night so we could be here. We suspected that it mig
ht be the felicitous sign that Master had returned, but none of us could quite believe it. We were standing in the hall just now when we sensed your immortal energy hovering outside the entrance to the mountain. We hurried out, but we weren’t quick enough to greet you at the entrance. Master, you’ve been gone for seventy thousand years, but you’ve finally returned.” After he had finished his speech, he broke down in tears. His face was the same, but it had aged a lot. His sadness infected the others, and all fifteen apprentices knelt down one after another and burst into tears. Sixteenth Apprentice Zi Lan’s body was wracked with silent sobs.

  Mo Yuan lowered his eyes. “I’ve made you wait for a long time. Please rise, all of you. Let us go inside and talk.”

  Our reunion started with all the apprentices sobbing loudly. Once they had finished crying, they talked about how their carelessness had led to the disappearance of Little Seventeenth, Si Yin.

  On hearing the name Si Yin, First Apprentice became so grief stricken that he was almost unable to breathe. I was Si Yin. It was me who had added medicine to their food so that they would sleep deeply enough for me to steal Mo Yuan’s immortal body and flee through the night, away from Mount Kunlun. He did not mention my misdeed, just kept repeating how careless he had been and that my disappearance was all his fault. He had spent all these years looking for me without ceasing, but he had heard not a whisper of me and imagined I must have met with disaster. First Apprentice was meant to be responsible for keeping an eye on all the younger apprentices, and failing in his duty filled him with shame. He begged Mo Yuan to forgive his carelessness.

  I had been leaning against Fourth Brother, but when I heard First Apprentice’s words, I rushed forward to come clean. “I haven’t met with disaster! I’m standing right here!” I explained, the rims of my eyes red. “I’m just wearing a different robe, that’s all. I am Si Yin!”

  The group of apprentices turned to me and stood staring stupidly. First Apprentice tumbled to the floor, and when he eventually crawled back up to his feet, he came over to hug me. He wiped away his tears, and sounding distraught, he said, “Ninth Apprentice always said that we all had subconscious homosexual tendencies. When the Demon Clan’s second prince came to abduct you, I beat him up so badly that I quashed this tendency in him. But it was already too late for you. Poor Little Seventeenth, not just a homosexual, but a cross-dresser too.”

  Fourth Brother let out a chuckle. “First Apprentice, have a look at my face,” I said sorrowfully, holding back my tears. “Can’t you see I’m not male?”

  Tenth Apprentice pulled First Apprentice off me. “You never used to bathe with us, Little Seventeenth, was that why?” he asked awkwardly. “Have you been a girl all along?”

  “Yes, she’s a la-dy,” Fourth Brother said. I stamped on his foot.

  When they had finished talking about me, the apprentices moved on to discuss their accomplishments over the last seventy thousand years.

  My sixteen fellow apprentices had been a rough-and-tumble bunch when they were younger, and I had followed their example. I no longer climbed date trees or waded in rivers to fish, but they had taught me how to hold cockfights and cicada fights, to race dogs, play games, eye beautiful girls, drink alcohol, and appreciate erotica: all the things pleasure-seeking young men did, I learned to do too. Behind Master’s back, I did whatever I wanted, thinking of myself as one of those tragic romantic lost characters.

  My sixteen fellow apprentices were at least partially responsible for the bad path I ended up on. But this same bunch had somehow managed to transform themselves into a group of respectable and accomplished men. When Old Fate had been writing their destinies, he had obviously fallen asleep halfway through.

  But I was happy that it had all worked out so well for my fellow apprentices, and hearing about all their successes was clearly very gratifying for Master too.

  But then I started to ask myself what I had I achieved during this time, and I felt a sense of gloominess travel up my spine.

  Fourth Brother had taken out a pen and sat to the side, scribbling down notes from what everyone was saying for the records. From time to time he would clap his hands and shout, “Legend! Legend!” Alongside my feeling of gloominess, I also started to feel a bit lost.

  “You are a lady, and ladies don’t need achievements in the same way men do,” Tenth Apprentice said to comfort me. “All my younger sisters wanted was to do was marry into good families. Marrying into a good family is a perfectly good achievement, Seventeenth Apprentice.”

  Sixteenth Apprentice gave a laugh. “At Seventeenth Apprentice’s age, she’s probably been married for years. She must even have a few children by now. When are you going to introduce your fellow apprentices to your husband, by the way? I’m very curious to see the kind of man someone like you has ended up with!”

  These words were like a punch right in the gut. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and gave a bleat of laughter. “You are too kind,” I said. “I am actually getting married the month after next. Naturally you will all be invited to celebrate with us.”

  Mo Yuan had been sitting to the side throughout these conversations, his eyes raised as he listened. As soon as I said the words “celebrate with us,” I saw the cup in his hand tilt and half his tea spill onto the floor. I rushed over to clean it up, while Zhe Yan gave a cough.

  Ninth Apprentice Ling Yu had kept Mount Kunlun spick-and-span. After Fourth Brother had been away from the foxhole for a couple of months, his room had usually gathered half an inch of dust. It had been seventy thousand years since I had set foot on Mount Kunlun, and yet the room in which I slept as an apprentice did not contain a speck of dust. I lay in my old bed, feeling slightly ashamed, and then turned around to face the other side.

  Sixteenth Apprentice Zi Lan was in bed in the next-door room. He knocked on the wall, saying, “Seventeenth Apprentice, are you asleep?”

  I gave a loud sigh out my nose to show I was awake still, but the sound was not much louder than a mosquito’s buzz, and I was not sure that he had heard, so I added, “No, I’m not asleep yet!”

  It was a moment before his voice floated through the wall, saying, “You have suffered greatly on Master’s behalf over these last seventy thousand years.”

  My impression of Sixteenth Apprentice was someone who always criticizing and challenging me. If I said east, he would feel obliged to say west, and if I talked about something I liked, he would have to smear it in the mud. Hearing these words made me suspicious, and I wondered whether it really was Sixteenth Apprentice. “Is this really Zi Lan?” I asked in a high-pitched voice.

  He was quiet a moment and then gave a snort. “It serves you right that you’ve remained unmarried all these years!”

  It was Zi Lan after all! I gave a chuckle, deciding not to enter into an argument with him. I lay back on the bed and turned to the other side. I’d lived to this grand old age, and I had done many things I regretted, but lying on my narrow Mount Kunlun bed, I felt as if none of them really mattered. The moonlight shone down gently, although there was no particular scenery outside for it to illuminate.

  News of Mo Yuan’s momentous return quickly spread. By early the next morning, everything that flew in the sky, all that crawled on the land, anything with a spiritual root had heard the news that the ancient God of War had returned.

  According to the rumors going around, Mo Yuan was wearing a gold-and-purple crown on his head, his mysterious crystal armor on his body, and locust boots on his feet, with the Xuan Yuan sword in the hand of one arm and a beautiful girl on the other. On the sixteenth of August, he had landed majestically down on top of Mount Kunlun. The whole mountain range shook three times, and all the beasts and birds had looked up to the sky and called out, while all the fish had bobbed to the surface of the water and wept for joy.

  There was not much truth to this account, and when we heard it, my sixteen fellow apprentices and I were shocked almost to the point of tears. The gold-and-purple crown, mysterious crystal armor, locu
st boots, and Xuan Yuan sword were all parts of Mo Yuan’s signature attire and had been on display at Mount Kunlun’s great hall for the last seventy thousand years for his apprentices to bow down before. After pondering who this beautiful girl on his arm might be, Fourth Brother and I decided that it was probably me.

  This outlandish rumor spread far and wide, and soon every immortal, god, and goddess in the Four Seas and Eight Deserts had heard it, and wave after wave of them arrived at Mount Kunlun to pay their respects to Mo Yuan.

  Mo Yuan had been planning to go into confined recuperation the day after returning to Mount Kunlun. However, due to this influx of immortal visitors, his plan had to be put on hold for a number of days.

  There was nothing out of the ordinary about most of the young immortals arriving to praise him. First and Second Apprentices led some of them over to Mo Yuan so they could say a few words, while others just had tea in the front hall, where they rested a while before heading off. It was the young immortal who arrived at noon on the third day who was somewhat unusual.

  This young immortal was wearing a white robe and had a gentle and quiet manner and a kindly face. When Mo Yuan saw him, his usually placid face did a double take. The young white-robed immortal was lucky enough to be given an audience with Mo Yuan, but he did not bow or pay homage, he just raised his beautiful soft eyes and said, “It’s Zhong Yin, do you remember? I haven’t seen Your Godliness for a long time, but your spirit has not changed at all. I have come to Mount Kunlun on my older sister’s behalf. She appeared to me in a dream last night and told me I should come here and deliver a message. My sister . . .” He gave a smile. “She told me to tell you that she’s been very lonely on her own.”

  I beckoned for Seventh Apprentice’s young immortal servant who was standing nearby and told him to offer Zhong Yin a cup of tea.