Chapter 23 (1/2)

Ice Fantasy Chapter 23 – Nightmare. Xing Gui. Snow

Everything went quiet all of a sudden; Chao Ya and Yue Shen leapt into the air, thinking that there’s no black suppression above them anymore; Yue Shen’s moonlight brightened up the place once again because Xing Gui had withdrawn all her black ribbons suddenly.

And then I saw the sad smile on Xing Gui’s face, just that innocent child when I first met her.

She looked at me and said. “Ge.”

I turned around to see Xing Jiu standing behind me, looking so dignified and stern in his astrology robe. His hair was flying in the wind, strand after strand.

“Ge, how did you get here?” Xing Gui asked softly, looking at Xing Jiu. At this moment, Xing Gui was like a gentle and obedient girl; like the fragile little girl whom Xing Jiu carried out of the Mystical Star Palace.

“You don’t need to know how did I get here. Xing Gui, tell me. Are you the West Guardian?”

Xing Gui didn’t say anything, and I saw a glow flashed past her eyes very quickly. “Ge, if I were to say yes, would you forgive me?” She asked, lowering her head.

“No.”

“Why?”

“I have told you before. Ka Suo is a king that I respect the most; if anyone were to hurt him in any way, I would not forgive that person. Moreover you had already killed so many people, do you not hear the voices of the souls in the sky when you sleep?”

“Ge, I don’t care about those people. I just care about you. Do you really not want to forgive me?”

“Yes, I will not forgive you.” Xing Jiu turned his back against Xing Guo and I saw big drop of tear rolling down his face, falling onto the gra.s.s.

“My king, let’s end this.” Xing Jiu told me.

“Xing Jiu, that is your younger sister…”

“I don’t have this kind of sister.” Xing Jiu cut me off.

“Ge, you really want to fight me?”

“Yes.”

“Am I not your younger sister?”

Xing Jiu looked at the sky and sighed. “My sister, Xing Jiu, is a kind and pure girl. She will lie in my arms and fall asleep peacefully but she’s already dead now. She died in my memories and she will not appear anymore.”

And then I saw Xing Gui’s tear like some shattered lights.

“Ge.” Her voice sounded like still water, feeling so calm yet one could still hear the despair in it. “Ge, if I were to know that you would not forgive me, I wouldn’t choose to live a few more hundreds of years. Maybe it would have been a good ending if I were to die in the palace at the age of two hundreds. Because you wouldn’t hate me forever.”

And then I heard the tearing sound of flesh, I saw those black ribbons went through her chest like black waves and Xing Gui fell to the ground with a thud. “Ge, ge! Why didn’t you forgive me?”

“Why didn’t you forgive me…”

The place, where Xing Gui died, has a crystal ball. That was the dream she left for her brother.

Xing Jiu stood high up at the cliff with Xing Gui lying in his arms. They looked just like the first time when I met them. Snow was falling onto his hair and shoulders and he had opened his s.h.i.+eld to protect Xing Gui; his gaze was as warm as the lake water during spring.

“Xing Jiu, why did you come?

“Because I have been praying for my sister and you, and then I sensed that my sister is in a danger. I sensed that there are several powerful people attacking her, so I came all the way here until I saw the four of you and Xing Gui standing in the centre. At that moment, I know the truth. She is the West Guardian.”

“Xing Jiu, I thought you doted on her a lot. But why…”

“Ka Suo, all I can say is, the love I have towards my sister isn’t anyway lesser than your love towards Yong Kong s.h.i.+. So… Please don’t talk about this anymore because everytime if you were to mention it, I feel like I’m going to die.”

“My king, I will leave you because my sister is already dead and I have no one that I want to protect now. As for you, you have become stronger and there’s no need for me to protect you anymore. I may live in the snow mountain in seclusion, staying by Xing Gui’s grave and when the grave is filled with cherry blossom flowers that time, it will also be the time when I will cry non-stop.”

“My king, you are the most respected king in my eyes. I shall pray for you forever, but for now, please let me leave.”

I couldn’t say anything when I looked at Xing Jiu’s face.

And then Xing Jiu and Xing Gui disappeared in the snow, I could vaguely hear Xing Jiu’s singing voice from afar.

—

Nightmare. Xing Gui. Snow

“My name is Xing Gui. My father doted me the most. My father is the best astrologer in Ren Xue Cheng.”

My father was the toughest man that I have ever seen; I have seen the look of him when he was standing at the highest tower of the palace, reading the stars. He looked so serious and dignified just like the black basalt Star Sacrificial altar at the snow mountain. Wind gushed upwards from his feet like a tsunami roar; his astrology robe was fluttering in the wind like a pair of black wings. He would always look like a soaring eagle to me.

Many years had pa.s.sed and time flew past like water flowing past his body and I believed this would not cause any change to him because he’s still as strong and determined as ever.“

But everytime when he saw me, sadness would appear on his face and this was when I saw my strong father shed a tear for me.

”Because I am a kid that makes everyone worries.”

When I was still a kid, my mother told me tearfully that my star sign had been disrupted and I could only live till 250 years old. Once I was over 250 years old, my life would start to have an unpredictable trail because there’s a possibility to die anytime. After that I saw tears started streaming down my mother’s face, dropping into her pure red long robe, forming tiny flower pattern on it. I stretched my hand to wipe her tear away, telling that I would continue to live my life happily even if there’s only two hundreds years for me to live on.

And then I saw my mother burst into tears.

When I was born, the whole family was very happy with my arrival because my newborn body had already possessed a thousand years of spiritual power in it. My mother told me that when I was born, my hair was already longer than her and those crystal white hairs were wrapping me within it tightly while I slept soundly in it.

My father cried out of happiness.

But I was a child that made others worry.

My father held a star reading ceremony for the newborn and my mother told me he was exceptionally happy on that day. His smile was as bright as the sun in the sky, and everyone in the family was being influenced by his happiness because they have never seen my father smiling like this before.

But when the star reading session was halfway through, the whole alter went silent all of a sudden and everyone could see the shattered star sign above my father’s star staff. My father wobbled for a moment before he fell onto the icy cold basalt rock.

“I am a broken child and I shouldn’t be born at all.” This was what I have been thinking while I was at the dungeon of Mystical Star Palace.

My body was getting weaker and even a gush of wind was enough to make me vomit blood. That day when my father carried me down to the underground dungeon, he cried again. “Xing Gui, my dear daughter, you will be absolutely safe and sound when you stay here. Father is the best astrologer so I will change the star track for you. Father will not let you die.”

I looked at my father and nodded. “Father, I believe in you. You are the greatest astrologer.”

And then I closed my eyes. But I knew it’s impossible to change the position of the stars even with my spiritual power, let alone my father.

My brother, Xing Jiu, is also a child with strong spiritual power except that he didn’t possess such strong power and weird destiny like mine.

But I loved my brother because he has been the one comforting me. “You made me want to be a better person.”

Because of this sentence, I fell into his arms to cry.