First Prince Hàoyú
Mount Kunlun~
Mo Yuan’s students are nervously pacing and waiting for me. I haven’t been here in ages. Nothing has changed, but then this is Mount Kunlun, the ancient and majestic mountain that has been home to the prominent mountain top school in the clouds since established by the creator of all things.
As I approach the familiar grounds, memories flood back from a time when Mo Yuan, Bai Zhi and I were just young and eager novice students. I was fifty-five thousand years old. It feels like a lifetime ago, as it should — Over a hundred thousand years have passed since then.
Trying to compose myself, I straighten my clothes and run my hand through my windblown hair. Unfortunately, today’s journey was anything but relaxing. Riding on Bi Fang, my loyal phoenix spirit, we dashed through the skies, battling against the powerful gusts of wind and turbulent clouds. The reason for the terrible weather was the moody cloud deities were bickering again, but what else is new?
The urgency in Die Feng’s message left no room for delay. ‘High God Zhe Yan. Princess Changying is in danger!’
Bi Fang had pushed himself to his limits, racing against time to reach Mount Kunlun. He hadn’t even come to a complete halt before thrusting me into the school’s receiving area.
“Greetings to High God Zhe Yan.” Die Feng and Chang Shan, Mo Yuan’s first and second disciples, greet me on ceremony but there’s clearly an emergency, as the message stated. “What’s happened?” I ask as they lead me into the inner areas of the school. We are walking towards the lotus pond and Mo Yuan’s seclusion cave.
Senior scholar Die Feng’s smooth face is still hairless like a boy. He doesn’t look a day older than when he joined Mo Yuan’s school over ninety thousand years ago, but his gaze exudes the wisdom of the older immortal he has become. “High God Zhe Yan, our little nineteen, Yinger, showed up suddenly. She was covered in blood and still bleeding profusely. It appears she used magic in the mortal realm.”
“Ying’er used magic in the realm of humans?” I chuckle, amused, wondering what or who could have transformed my flawless student into a rebel.
She is my perfect pupil. Ying’er is everything a healer should be. She is gifted, intelligent, intuitive, resolute, focused, never tempted to seek quick remedies and follows the rules set by those before her. She has never broken a celestial rule.
I didn’t think she could be so reckless. I wouldn’t have guessed; she could act without considering all the consequences. I didn’t know she had it in her to behave irresponsibly just like me…
Die Feng’s pace suddenly speeds up, making it more challenging to keep up. I have a distaste for being hurried as much as I do for running, but this individual, who possesses both charm and rigidity, is not someone who fabricates stories without cause. If he is in a hurry, there must be a valid reason.
“I sent a message to Crown Prince A-li in Nine Heavens, but he’s still recovering from his lesson and unable to get out of bed.” He tells me.
Die Feng and I have vastly different definitions, with him believing that half a dozen celestial lightning punishments from Lord Puhua are a necessary lesson. However, these punishments were incredibly severe for a young boy like A-li. In fact, they would have been fatal for other cultivators three times A-li’s age, reducing them to mere dust with nothing left for their grieving parents to bury. Thankfully, A-li’s maternal grandmother, the esteemed Fox Empress, intervened and promised to take care of Sujin in Qingqui.
It could have been even worse, which highlights the hypocrisy of the situation, as Sujin was actually sentenced to far worse by the previous Heavenly Lord than the mere childish pranks A-li played on her. A frog is higher on the food chain than an insect, but this is just how the Celestial laws work. The Gods don’t appreciate being under-minded by other gods. Especially by a young prepubescent immortal like A-li.
It hurt’s their pride.
“Why didn’t Ying’er use blood clotting moss from the Kunlun lotus pond. That would have stopped her bleeding?” I ask, still struggling to keep up with Die Feng and Chang Shan. We aren’t going towards the lotus pond rather, they are taking me into the corridors that lead to their bedrooms.
Chang Shan replies, “That’s where she was going. Many of our brothers saw her. Some teased her about being naughty like seventeen. She didn’t like that one bit. It was a few moments later, we all felt a sense of…” The disciples stop. Both looking at each other as if waiting for the other to step in.
“Then sensed what?”
Die Feng speaks slowly, each word measured and deliberate. “Something dark and evil. Some of us heard a voice. A few brothers heard what they described as laughter, and it made their skin crawl. Others felt a sense of hatred they couldn’t explain, and a few were overcome by lust. It came from inside Shifu’s seclusion cave and that’s where we found her. Ying’er was unconscious inside.”
“My Ying’er is unconscious?! Why didn’t you tell me this first!?” I yell in a burst and run past them, rushing to her room.
She lies in the center of a bed, which matches her twins. I thought she had outgrown it, but now it completely engulfs her. The surrounding blankets fold up around her slight frame, resembling greedy lips that seem to want to devour her. She appears small and fragile, with ghostly white skin, likely from blood loss. Blood still flows from her visible openings and it is hard to see because she’s dressed in all black. However, judging by the concentrated wetness on the lower part of her soaked dress, which clings to her like a second skin, it seems she’s bleeding from other places.
I take a deep breath and exhale healing energy onto her face and body. The flowing blood stops instantly and thickens into dried clots. Her little heart is fluttering and racing, working harder to pump blood through her body. With my palm hovering over her chest, I can see her racing heartbeat under her blood-soaked dress. Her chest thumps up and down with each beat, like a hummingbird. She has a fever, and small boils are forming on her face because of her dragon’s inner heat.
I control my phoenix magic, making her heart slow down. She has lost over half of her blood. Ying’er requires a blood transfusion and a significant amount of immortal life force to replenish what she has lost. It’s unfortunate. Her father isn’t here. It must be her father, as he possesses the same black dragon blood and life force as his second daughter.
I consider briefly summoning A-li, but he’s weak. It might be risky for him and her. Ying’er might accept his blood, but it’s uncertain. A-li is a dragon, but not a black one. It’s not the same. It’s like giving a red fox white fox blood. Also, I don’t have fungal grass for a safe life force transfer, and the only time fungal grass is unnecessary is when transferring one’s own life force back to them.
Saving Ying’er requires the blood and life force of someone who shares every single characteristic with her, from her hair to the DNA of her blood—her identical twin.
There is something mysterious about a twin’s unexplainable bond to each other. Changchang is standing in the doorway. Noone has called for her but here she is, “Uncle Zhe Yan, what’s wrong with Yinger?” She runs to her baby sister. Her lips quiver, and the black dots in her green eyes tremble as she holds Ying’er’s face, and before I can explain anything, she says, “Uncle Zhe Yan, I know what to do.” She presses her forehead to Ying’er’s and mummers, “Jiejie is here and while you’re unconscious, I’m going to hug you the entire time. That alone will give you reason enough to want to jump out of this bed.”
Changchang wraps herself around her sister. Dragon magic floods the room when she and Yinger revert to their dragon form, but small, like infants. I imagine they might have been like this in their mother’s womb right before their births. Except they are black dragons having broken the White Fox’s light spell that once concealed their scales.
The girls intertwine tightly, their black tails coiling. Changchang’s scaly wings wrap around her little sister protectively. Her pink dimpled human hands transform into claws, and her black fingertips, like daggers, slice through the air, before leaving a long line from her shoulder to her neck. Changchang’s green eyes glow brighter with each blink, and her dragon’s tears drip onto her sister. The tears cool and heals Yinger’s fever instantly. Changchang nudges her sister, tilting her neck to encourage Ying’er to feed. Ying’er with her eyes closed follows the scent of blood, her nostrils flaring. She bites down and suckles, drawing blood with each tug.
The light from their black chests shows their hearts beating in perfect harmony as one. “Not too much girls.” I warn. “We can’t have you both falling sick under my care. I fear your vengeful older brother will turn me into a brooding hen or, worse, a mandarin duck who has lost its mate.” Her emerald eyes flicker, resembling the green embers’ sparks inside of a roaring fire showing her understanding. A series of low grumbles comes from Changchang. She’s laughing at me, which means she’s aware….
Changchang’s reptilian tail uncoils with Changying’s and rests on my hand. She shares a vision she’s seen in Changying’s memories. It’s a red glowing area inside Mo Yuan’s seclusion cave. Her tail suddenly shudders, recoiling from my hand and rejoins her sister’s.
========
It took that old bitch long enough and what timing. She fed me fresh blood from her womb out of all places. If I didn’t already know what a whore she was, I would have sworn it was clean, pure, and virginal. Bai Qian’s blood fed, called to me and has released my trapped spirit.
It’s been too long since I was free. I wish I could stretch out even though I don’t have limbs. My body…I don’t have a defined form yet, but it feels good to move around again. If I had a beating heart, it would be racing in euphoria. My spirit soars freely in circles. Too bad it’s in this lousy seclusion cave.
You old bastard! Damn you, Mo Yuan!! I wish you would have stayed dead for keeping me locked up in this shithole you call a place of seclusion, but then we’ve had some fun together in here.
We certainly have had some splendid times, old man.
In your peaceful meditations, I’ve been filling your ears with whispers of naughty, oh, such filthy thought for centuries. Urging and inciting you in secret whispers. Possessing you to do terrible wicked things to your precious Bai Qian and boy, were you a good and obedient host.
I almost enjoyed fucking Bai Qian as much as you did. Especially when she didn’t want you. The non-consensual Bai Qian was extremely arousing because I didn’t allow you to take no for an answer. You should thank me for keeping your winning streak going strong.
It’s too late now, but I should have had you shave your mustache and beard while you were under my possession, making you look like you-know-who. That would have really messed with her mind. You were almost perfect, but you failed to keep a single one of your seeds you implanted in her womb alive, leaving my spirit trapped when I could have been reborn as your and her child—The child who would have exterminated you both—the irony would have indeed been so exquisite, no?
Mo Yuan the wise.
Mo Yuan the noble.
High God Mo Yuan, Mo Yuan, Mo Yuan!
How unwise you were that day in the White Goddess’s palace. Everyone, even a low born like me, knows life force transference without fungal grass is a NO-NO. You left yourself wide open and vulnerable for me to possess you. I should thank you for your flawless timing and for saving Bai Qian’s blood rubies instead of destroying them when you could.
Did you think you were saving a sacred treasure because it came from her heart? You foolish sentimental buffoon.
Perhaps you were, because you spared me.
You saved my unyielding hate. My restless vengeance.
You preserved my demon soul hidden inside these little red beauties, but you also trapped me until today. Today, I tasted Bai Qian’s sweet blood again…
“Who are you, demon? I see you have been enjoying my pupil’s blood.”
What the hell is this!? Who is this to interrupt my rapturous return most rudely. Oh, it’s that old hen Zhe Yan. I thought someone would have plucked and roasted him by now, or that is what I had hoped.
“What a wicked demon you are, feasting on the blood of an innocent child.”
Zhe Yan stares at my core intently. He senses my lingering life force, but I won’t let him know who I am. I won’t give him the satisfaction and I’m unsure of what might happen if someone with his elite cultivation were to speak my name out loud.
It could either strengthen me or make my unstable power even more unpredictable.
He kneels, inspecting the blood-stained ground, his clothes shifting in the sudden breeze as I snicker at his grimace. His fingertips feel and rub the broken rubble of rocks and dragon bones that once encased me. Looking up, he scrutinizes the flaming, glowing red light emitted by Bai Qian’s blood rubies floating above him.
I read his lips as he commands, “You don’t belong here. Shatter and return from the depths you came.” I brace myself as he casts a phoenix spell at me. However, it has no effect on me because only one being can influence my existence.
Bai Qian
She is my lifelong adversary. My competition. She used to be my childhood friend, who teased me by sharing her face, which she took back with no consideration for me. She is the thief who stole my husband and oddly enough, she could be my mother. My demon spirit lives in these rubies. They were made from her heart’s blood, saturated with her heartache and hatred during her torture by my hand, then saved and concealed by Mo Yuan in his secluded cave.
I have patiently waited, like an unfertilized egg until the day I can finish what I started. Suck every drop of her blood to revive myself and my son, but how annoying. Meanwhile, unfortunately, I have to listen to this geriatric duck quacking at me.
“Demon. I sense you and know who you are. You offend me by feeding on my pupil. You owe a blood debt, Demon Queen. I was wondering what happened to your filthy soul. It seems even hell wouldn’t take you.”
Zhe Yan then calls to me and I hear my name for the first time in five hundred years.
“I know it’s you. Demon Queen, Xuan Nu.”
Four Years Later in the mortal realm~
“Emperor! Emperor! It’s an emergency!” Eunuch Bo announces himself breathlessly. Entering my study, the sound of his hurried footsteps resounding. His rapid shuffle filled with urgency, but he’s not alone.
There’s another with him. Who was behind, but now he’s sprinting ahead of the servant. Prince Hàoyú, the first, flips onto his back and slides under my desk, disappearing inside my robe. His warm exhaled puffs isn’t the most comfortable feeling on my skin but he ran all the way to Hall of Mindfulness from the imperial harem and here comes the reason for his disappearing act.
Yueli rushes in, panting from chasing our son. I call him our son, but he is Jinghua’s child. He is Prince Hàoyú. His name means vast universe. He was the first and only male born in my harem thus far. My other concubines, including Noble Consort Shao Wan, gave me beautiful princesses. I now have six perfect daughters and this boy.
This little one’s dimpled face and unruly hair are truly special. With the wisdom of an aged elephant, he’s also mischievous like a chimpanzee and remarkably quick, like a gazelle. This little beast, he is the one who owns my heart.
After Jinghua’s untimely death, which affected everyone, our families agreed that Yueli and I should marry to protect the reputation of the royal family. I urged Yueli not to mention she was pregnant to protect Jinghua’s child. We kept it a secret, married and completed all six rituals. Our royal wedding was celebrated for weeks in some places.
During the second trimester of her pregnancy, royal father abdicated the dragon seat to me. Not long after that, she gave birth to the first prince, the most perfect baby ever born. This was without consummating our marriage.
First Prince Hàoyú’s birth wasn’t well received by everyone. Not everyone was convinced he was of my seed. Some Officials and members of the harem dared to whisper about how big and healthy Hàoyú was considering being born premature. He was born six and a half months after our wedding since Yueli was two months pregnant when she returned from Qingshui City.
Those who uttered and voiced such considerations no longer exist, or live in the capital, and as far as everyone knows or is concerned, he is my son. It doesn’t hurt that he is a splitting likeness to Jinghua, hence also me. I plan to grant him the title of Crown Prince on his next birthday.
“Forgive me, Emperor,” she says. She’s the one everyone calls the White Empress because of her snow white hair. Yueli’s hair never darkened after Jinghua’s death. “I thought I saw the first prince come this way.” She expresses her apologies again for disturbing me, but she’s scanning the room with her keen gaze.
“Is there an issue, Empress?” I play dumb because the boy under my robe is sending me messages through pinches and pokes on my calves. She rubs the sides of her temples, clearly troubled by something. As the Emperor, it is my function to maintain a calm and composed demeanor, but protecting this little one comes first—Always.
She sighs, exasperated. “First Prince broke one of Noble Consort Shao’s most cherished teacups.
I clear my throat and reply. “There are over ten thousand teacups within the palace. I’m sure she can find a replacement.”
“Emperor, the tea set was made by Master Chu.”
I chuckle at her. She’s making a big deal out of something small. “Empress, have the man make Noble Consort Shao another one.”
“Master Chu died last year, and he had no disciples. The tea set is irreplaceable.”
“I guess a replacement is out of the question.” I mutter under my breath. I can’t help but flinch when he unexpectedly pokes my inner thigh hard, signalling me to get rid of his mother. He probably has to use the plum pot as he has broken wind under my robe several times.
This occasionally happens when he has too much dairy. His breakfast was his favorite sweetened warm cow’s milk with fresh youtiao for dipping. I know this because we had breakfast together. The stink has reached my nose. “Empress, I’m sure you’ll find a solution. I leave all harem matters to you and if you’ll excuse yourself out. I’m busy and preoccupied with official matters.”
I hastily shuffle the memorandums. I want to appear engrossed in my work, to create the illusion of a busy emperor.
“It’s not good to coddle him, you know. Emperor isn’t helping him but hindering him.” She argues and I reply without expression, “Who are we speaking about, Empress?”
Her lips tighten, a thin line etched across her face, as she realizes the futility of her argument. I subtly remind her of the lunar cycle. It’s a full moon. It’s the night she, the empress, serves me, the emperor, during the best time for yin and yang harmony. She bows respectfully, telling me she will prepare herself and her attendants for tonight, and leaves the chamber, but not until scanning the room once again. Her gaze stops on the spot under my desk and narrows.
I know the simplest way to get her to leave. I mention casually, “Grand Emperor and Empress Dowager aren’t getting any younger, nor are your parents. Prince Hàoyú deserves a sibling. A didi…or two. How does my empress feel about this matter?”
This method is foolproof and has never failed. Yueli doesn’t have a reply as usual and she can’t flee from my study fast enough.