Ch 17:
Ye Hua
By the time Ye Hua reached Zhuxian Terrace, the only item had left was A-Li’s old silver rattle that he had used an infant. Ye Hua stood to jump off Zhuxian Terrace after Qian Qian, but he felt several arms forcefully hold him back. His Uncle Lian Song yelled that Ye Hua was the new Heavenly Lord and A-Li’s father. Uncle Lian Song screamed that Ye Hua’s death wouldn’t bring Qian Qian back. Ye Hua dropped to the ground and sobbed uncontrollably. He would never see his beautiful Qian Qian again. This time she was undoubtedly dead after finally telling him that she loved him. The piercing pain in his heart that he was experiencing was unbearable. Ye Hua pounded his chest hard repeatedly, unable to breathe.
This time, his beloved Qian Qian, was gone forever.
Those around Ye Hua thought him to be insane when Ye Hua went back to Mount Junji the following day and had her home rebuilt. He worried that SuSu’s soul would wander, looking for her hut that she had wanted to return to, for three hundred years. Now, she could finally return as she’d earnestly desired. Ye Hua laid on their bed and cried for hours unable to stop. He realized Qian Qian hadn’t forgotten a single detail of her heavenly trial and had instead become self-destructive, due to his failures and mistakes. Qian Qian had approached and returned to Ye Hua and Celestial Heaven with the intention of successfully killing herself this time.
=================
Qing Qiu
Bai Zhi, the Fox King, knew something terrible had happened. He felt as if a spearhead stabbed his chest when he saw Bai Zhen carrying a heavily bloodied Bai Qian, in his arms. Bai Zhen was crying uncontrollably, as he put his dead baby sister’s body on her bed.
The Fox King blamed himself for allowing Bai Qian to stay behind. He should have known better, but Bai Qian had become a master of hiding her feelings, and he had fallen for her act. It had been her intention all along to jump from Zhuxian Terrace. This plan had been Bai Qian’s only solution, for releasing SuSu, as well as ridding her memories that had haunted her constantly.
The Fox Queen’s screams and wails echoed through Qing Qiu before she passed out from grief. When she finally regained consciousness, Bai Qian’s mother came and washed her beautiful daughter’s bloodied body and face and changed Bai Qian into her favorite dress. She kissed her daughter as she watched her husband, Bai Zhi, the Fox King, cut his heart and feed his dead daughter blood from his own heart. The Fox King would never allow his daughter to die, even if it meant he would die in her place.
==================
Ye Hua
Heavenly Lord Ye Hua received correspondence from High God, Mo Yuan, saying that Qian Qian’s body had reappeared in Qing Qiu and that Qian Qian was dead. Her injuries were too substantial due to her previous accident as well as the recent loss of her child. Qian Qian’s body was already weakened and unable to endure the killing energy from Zhuxian Terrace. Mo Yuan informed Ye Hua that Qian Qian had been moved to Kunlun temporarily so that her disciple brothers could grieve the loss of their fellow disciple. Mo Yuan also told Ye Hua that there was a momentary window of time if he wanted to see her one last time.
The Fox King was resting, from his recent act of feeding Qian Qian blood from his heart to preserve her body, since the Fox King was unable to let his dead daughter go.
Ye Hua went to Kunlun Mountain on the night Mo Yuan had instructed him to. A breathless Qian Qian looked as if she was resting. She still had color to her skin with an expression of peace. Ye Hua couldn’t help but touch her face. She was cold and rigid. Qian Qian was dead. Ye Hua couldn’t control himself as he began to cry again. Ye Hua wished that he was also dead and lying beside her so that they could at least be together in the afterlife. Ye Hua caressed her cheek and kissed her lips for the last time. Ye Hua promised that he would take care of A-Li and that she was and would continue to be the only love of his life before he took one last, longing, look and left in tears.
===================
Mo Yuan
Ten thousand years later…….
Bai Qian’s body had remained in Kunlun in her dead state during the entire 10,000 years after her death. The Fox King wouldn’t allow her to be burned to release her soul as per the custom of Qing Qiu. He’d continued to feed Bai Qian his heart’s blood rendering him weak, but nobody could stop him. He stated he would rather die with his daughter than live without her. Bai Zhi, the Fox King, also hoped the divine energy from Kunlun Mountain could somehow help his daughter’s soul re-gather since Kunlun had been her place of happiness and joy. The Fox King’s hope never wavered, and he said that his daughter’s will was strong and that she was trying to re-gather her soul because she wanted to live.
The Fox King, however, fell ill from his constant self-inflicted sacrifice of feeding Bai Qian his heart’s blood. High God Zhe Yan came to Kunlun to check Bai Zhi and instructed him to stop his actions because he was killing himself. Zhe Yan then went to see her, and came out of her room wide-eyed, and stunned, and suddenly announced that he felt the low-level divine energy coming from Xiao Wu’s body. Zhe Yan used his soul searching spell, returned and said that Xiao Wu was coming back. She was still without enough cultivation and that the Soul Gathering Lamp was needed, but that there was a sliver of hope.
The Fox King quickly said he would use his cultivation to make an elixir, but Zhe Yan told him that he would die if he did so. Zhe Yan offered, but Mo Yuan said even though his long slumber had caused him to lose much of his cultivation, as a son of Heavenly Father, his cultivation, even in his completely unhealed state, was stronger than everyone else’s. Mo Yuan also added that he owed Seventeen a life debt for feeding him blood from her heart for 70,000 years.
Bai Zhi, the Fox King, said he would go to Celestial Heaven and demand the Soul Gathering Lamp from Ye Hua, but Zhe Yan said that wouldn’t be prudent. Zhe Yan, as a third party, would get the Soul Gathering Lamp himself since he and Ye Hua didn’t have any past or present grudges. Zhe Yan felt Mo Yuan should spend more time in seclusion, to heal lbefore the making an elixir for Xiao Wu.
===================
Ye Hua
Ye Hua almost fell to the ground when he heard High God Zhe Yan explain, that he needed the Soul Gathering Lamp for Qian Qian. Zhe Yan explained that Mo Yuan would be making an elixir for Qian Qian and with the Soul Gathering Lamp, they hoped that she would return within the next one to two hundred years. Ye Hua brought up that Mo Yuan had yet to recover completely from his sleep of 70,000 years. He then asked why Bai Zhi, the Fox King, wasn’t making it? Zhe Yan explained the Fox King was too weak to do it himself. That’s when Ye Hua begged Zhe Yan, to allow himself to make Qian Qian’s elixir.
Ye Hua, also being a son of Fatherly Lord himself, had not endured anything that had to weaken his cultivation. Zhe Yan explained the Fox King would never allow Ye Hua’s elixir to be used on his daughter but Ye Hua begged Zhe Yan for secrecy. Ye Hua said that he owed Qian Qian three debts. Firstly, for SuSu’s unjust torture. Secondly for his inability to protect his unborn child and lastly for not being able to stop Qian Qian from jumping off Zhuxian Terrace.
There was some truth to Ye Hua’s reasoning. Zhe Yan said that he would arrange to take the Fox King away and Ye Hua should come when Mo Yuan was in seclusion. Zhe Yan also explained, even though Ye Hua was using his cultivation, that he shouldn’t get his hopes up about Bai Qian, because the Fox King would never allow their union. Ye Hua said that he expected nothing in return and that Qian Qian being back would be reward enough for him.
Ye Hua went to Kunlun the next day as Zhe Yan planned for him, it had been 10,000 years since he’d seen Qian Qian. She was still just as beautiful as ever. Ye Hua used up every ounce of his elite cultivation, made an elixir for Qian Qian and left it beside the Soul Gathering Lamp in Mo Yuan’s chamber.
=====================
Mo Yuan
When Mo Yuan found the lamp and elixir, he said nothing to anyone. If there was one thing he could never question, it was Ye Hua’s undying love for Seventeen. Ye Hua had made some unforgivable mistakes due to his youth, but he had been outnumbered by the evil ones that held power over him. Ye Hua was also a victim in his right.
When the Fox King saw the elixir and lamp, he never asked where they came from. Mo Yuan figured the Fox King was wise enough to know the truth without being told. Bai Zhi insisted they feed Bai Qian amnesia potion before her awakening, but Zhe Yan disagreed. Zhe Yan stated that there wasn’t a way to decide the mentality of Bai Qian after her jump from Zhuxian Terrace as well as her long slumber. If she still had all her memories, Zhe Yan promised to put her to sleep and feed it to her to rid Bai Qian of her suicidal tendencies.
The Fox King prayed to his ancestors and begged for their help as he fed Bai Qian the elixir made by Ye Hua and lit the Soul Gathering Lamp.
Mo Yuan had his head down with his eyes closed, earnestly praying to Heavenly Father and Mother to bring Seventeen back to him. He had guarded the Soul Gathering Lamp for two days and two nights straight. At the end of the third day, Mo Yuan heard a tiny sound and a soft sigh. He looked up to see Seventeen sitting up and staring back at him in extreme confusion and surprise. Mo Yuan quickly held Seventeen’s hand as he swiftly wiped the tears falling from his eyes as she asked in a tone of disbelief, “Shifu, when did you return!? Did I successfully reseal Qing Cang? Am I dead and in the afterlife with you?”
His little Seventeen was back and this time without the ghost of SuSu. In her mind, she thought she had just resealed Qing Cang. Mo Yuan said nothing as he held and kissed a very surprised, wide-eyed, Seventeen, deeply and unexpectedly.
to be continued……