Chapter 36 (2/2)

“Xiao Yao, stop!” The Grand Emperor blocked her path.

Xiao Yao pushed him aside and ran towards the edge of the forest “I hate her, I hate her! From the day she abandoned me I had no mom anymore! I don’t care if she’s dead or alive, it has nothing to do with me! Whether she’s a hero or a wh.o.r.e also has nothing to do with me……”

SLAP! The Grand Emperor’s hard resounding slap landed on Xiao Yao’s cheek.

Xiao Yao’s cheek was red and throbbing in pain and she stared incredulously at the Grand Emperor. He never once said an angry word to her and even in the desert he would risk death to s.h.i.+eld her first. But right now he struck her because of a woman who divorced him,

Xiao Yao angrily yelled “She divorced you hundreds of years ago, she doesn’t want you!”

“Your mom doesn’t want me but she never abandoned you! If it wasn’t for you then why would she need to survive in this not G.o.d, not human, not demon painful way? Look around here, do you think this is a place for anyone to live?”

Xiao Yao stared at the Grand Emperor where his two arms were shriveled up and his one leg was as dry as tinder. Even a supremely powerful G.o.d like the Grand Emperor could not last even a day in this place, yet her mom had been in here for hundreds of years.

Xiao Yao’s rage evaporated with only her despair burning her up inside. She whirled around and rushed towards the inner part of the peach blossom forest while yelling on the top of her lungs “Mom! Mom! Mom…..I’m here, I’m here, your Xiao Yao is here……”

The peach blossom petals blanketed the sky like the misty rain of the South in an unending torrent falling.

Xiao Yao kept calling out “Mom, Mom, Mom, I’m Xiao Yao……”

A figure in blue appeared in the midst of the peach blossom petal rain and Xiao Yao stopped in her tracks and stared at the sliver of blue in the sea of red.

With the peach blossom petal rain covering the landscape the figure was murky but she walked very hesitantly.

Finally she got close to Xiao Yao but with still a distance separating them she stopped and the peach blossom petals fell even more heavily. Her face was covered in the peach blossom petals and Xiao Yao couldn’t see her clearly at all.

Xiao Yao opened her mouth but her throat was dry and she couldn’t speak so Xiao Yao tried to walk forward but the petals gently but insistently pushed her back so she couldn’t move.

The Grand Emperor behind Xiao Yao asked “Ah Heng, is that you?”

After some time a scratchy voice answered, a voice that sounded like her vocal cords had been burned “Shao Hao?”

“It’s me!” The Grand Emperor’s voice was shaking.

“You’ve grown old.”

The Grand Emperor wanted to laugh but couldn’t “You…..have you been well?”

“Very well.”

Very calm, very nonchalant, the two of them conversed as if they merely ran into each other on the streets in the misty rain, with the hundreds of years behind them but still two close friends who could candidly ask each other’s well being.

The Grand Emperor said “I brought Xiao Yao to see you.”

The figure in blue silently stood there and it wasn’t clear what her expression was but the petals flew around her as if clouds were converging and parting in an ever changing pattern.

Xiao Yao pushed aside the thick petals and desperately tried to walk forward but the figure in blue appeared startled and immediately moved back “Don’t! Don’t come close!”

Xiao Yao yelled “Why can’t I go over? I want to go over, I’m going to go over! Why do you have to hide in the peach blossom petals, make it go away!”

“Xiao Yao, be obedient!

Xiao Yao often heard that when she was a child “Xiao Yao, be obedient!” When she was naughty her mom would say that. When she wanted to eat snacks and not eat dinner her mom would say that, when she wouldn’t listen to Zhuan Xu gege her mom would say that…..but back then her mom’s voice was gentle and melodic, not scratchy and rough like now.

Xiao Yao’s tears fell but she didn’t rebel against her mom like she did as a child and really was obedient and stopped trying to walk closer. But she was still stubborn like a child and asked “Why can’t I go over?”

“I have the power of the sun’s fire inside of me. It can burn up lush green land and endless forests and turn it into an unending desert. If you come too close it will burn you.”

Xiao Yao was shocked “You…..you are the drought monster?”

“The world calls me the drought monster? Then I am.”

Xiao Yao asked “Have you been living here this entire time?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t come pick me up, not because you didn’t want to, but because you can’t, right?” The truth was right in front of her eyes but Xiao Yao still needed to ask because she was waiting for this answer for her entire life.

The blue shadow appeared to understand Xiao Yao’s pain and reached out her hand and walked forward a few steps but immediately pulled back “I have the sun’s fire inside me so wherever I go it will be destroyed so I cannot leave here. I can only wait here for you. I’ve waited four hundred years to tell you in person that Mom is so very sorry to you. Xiao Yao, in my entire life I did not let down my kingdom or my people, but the only two people I let down was your dad and you. Mom is so very sorry to you…….”

After four hundred years Xiao Yao finally got the answer she needed, the answer she never imagined she would ever get in her entire life.

In that moment Xiao Yao released all her anguish and bitterness as her tears fell and she knelt to the ground “Mom!”

The blue shadow shook and almost bent low but the peach blossom petals around her surrounded her tightly as if comforting her and sharing in her sorrow.

Xiao Yao cried “Mom, have you been alone here for the last four hundred years?”

“Not alone, your daddy has been with me.”

Xiao Yao looked back at the Grand Emperor and then realized it wasn’t that dad but…..Xiao Yao quickly asked “Qi Yo is also still alive?”

Ah Heng knew Xiao Yao’s emotional knot over this issue so didn’t get angry with Xiao Yao calling her dad by his name but also didn’t answer her question. She asked “Who is the young man behind you?”

Xiao Yao turned around and her heart fluttered in nervous sweetness as if she was on a secret date with her boyfriend and her parents caught them.

The Grand Emperor answered “His name is Tu Shan Jing, the Qing Qiu Tu Shan clan’s current clan leader.”

Jing knelt to the ground to bow his head low “Greetings to the Princess.”

Ah Heng raised her hand “No need for such formality, you are the clan leader.”

The Grand Emperor explained “He wants your most precious thing, of course he’ll be like this.”

Ah Heng looked at Jing bowing on the ground behind Xiao Yao with no intention of getting up and understood everything. She felt conflicted and couldn’t speak for some time.

Jing and Xiao Yao nervously remained kneeling until Xiao Yao couldn’t help but call out “Mom?”

Ah Heng appeared to snap out of it and asked “Is he good to you?”

Xiao Yao said “Yes, very good.”

Ah Heng added “No one treats you even better? Why does it have to be him?”

Xiao Yao said “Because only him, no matter what happens, he will never leave me.”

Ah Heng appeared to chuckle before she called “Jing!”

“I’m here.”

“Please take care of Xiao Yao.”

Was that her stamp of approval for him? Jing immediately bowed three times and joyfully replied “I will definitely do that.”

Ah Heng asked “Where is Zhuan Xu? Where is he now?”

Xiao Yao said “Zhuan Xu is now the Emperor of Xuan Yuan and lives on Sheng Nong Mountain.”

Ah Heng was silent and then asked “When did your Grandfather pa.s.s away?”

“Grandfather is still alive.” Xiao Yao vividly explained how the Yellow Emperor dramatically abdicated the throne to Zhuan Xu and then shared how both men were doing now.

Ah Heng asked “Has Zhuan Xu taken a wife?”

Because she already spoke for so long, Xiao Yao was back to being animated again and she laughed “Mom, you’ll never believe this even in your dreams! You should ask how many wives he has rather than if he has a wife.” Xiao Yao sat cross-legged and used her fingers to count for her mom “He has the Sheng Nong clan, and in the Middle Plains he has the Tan family, the Ji family, the Gong family, and in the North he has the Wan Mei family, the Li Jie family, and in the West he has the Heng Sa family, the Xiao Yue family, and ……oh! There are too many that I can’t even remember them all!”

Ah Heng softly sighed, happy to know that Zhuan Xu was safe and well but also dismayed shock “He’s nothing like Fourth brother and Fourth sister-in-law.”

Xiao Yao looked at the Grand Emperor since only he knew her Fourth Uncle like her mom did and could share in her opinion. The Grand Emperor said “Zhuan Xu looks a lot like Chang Yi, but his personality is like Qing Yang. And a little bit like me. But he’s more capable than Qing Yang and myself, he has the best from both of us.”

Ah Heng said “Thank you for taking care of and teaching Zhuan Xu.”

The Grand Emperor’s voice was pained “You know….that’s not necessary. It’s what I owe to Qing Yang and Chang Yi, and also to you.”

Xiao Yao said “Mom, my medical skills are very strong now and I can find a way to heal you. After Mom is healed then you can see Zhuan Xu.” She eagerly asked “Where is Qi Yo? Didn’t Mom say he has been with you? Why doesn’t he come out to see me?”

Ah Heng gently said “From the moment you stepped inside the peach blossom forest, your daddy has been keeping you company.”

Xiao Yao looked around “Where? How come I can’t see him?”

Ah Heng saw Jing still kneeling there and called him to stand up before saying to the Grand Emperor “Shao Hao, I want to talk to Xiao Yao alone.”

“Of course!”

The Grand Emperor led Jing to the side where they couldn’t hear the conversation anymore.

Ah Heng warmly said “Xiao Yao, do you want to know how I met your daddy?”

Xiao Yao nodded and remembered her mom couldn’t see her through the peach blossom petals so added “I want to know.”

“I was the littlest daughter of the Xuan Yuan Yellow Emperor and I had three full blood older brothers above me. But sadly my second brother Yun Zhe died before I was born and my eldest brother Qing Yang was always very strict with me. My mom and my fourth brother Chang Yi coddled and pampered me. When I was small I loved to play so I often snuck down the mountain and my mom didn’t try to control me. I took my mom’s maiden last name and called myself Xi Ling Heng and wandered the vast wilderness. One summer evening when the sun was setting in the sky, I was on my way to Buo Fu nation when I met a man wearing a red robe………”

In her mom’s story Xiao Yao became the young girl Ah Heng and lived through her happiness and sorrows with Qi Yo.

That man called Qi Yo gradually aligned with Xiao Yao’s childhood memories of him and was no longer a stranger to her.

When Ah Heng and Qi Yo made the promise to each other under the peach blossom tree in the Jiu Li tribe to meet every year there, Xiao Yao was so happy for them but also so worried.

When Ah Heng heard that the Yellow Emperor wanted her to marry her fiancee Shao Hao, she injured her eldest brother Qing Yang to escape Xuan Yuan Mountain and ran to Jiu Li to wait all night under the peach blossom tree. But that night the Sheng Nong Flame Emperor died and Qi Yo couldn’t come because the entire Sheng Nong Mountain was under lockdown and he broke their promise. Xiao Yao was so anxious for them.

When Ah Heng decided to marry Shao Hao for the sake of her mom and brother, Qi Yo came to disrupt the wedding ceremony. On the bird bridge Qi Yo tried to take Ah Heng away but his power was no match for Shao Yao who sent him flying into the water. Xiao Yao cried for them.

When Ah Heng and Shao Hao agreed to only have a marriage alliance in name but not be husband-wife in reality, Xiao Yao was happy for Qi Yo but also sad for Shao Hao because he didn’t know then that he would live to regret this decision for the rest of his life.

……………………………..

Xiao Yao’s tears fell like a downpour as she listened to her eldest uncle’s death, her fourth uncle’s death, Qi Yo’s anguish, her mom’s despair…..

In the end Xiao Yao’s eyes were swollen red from crying but Ah Heng’s voice remained very calm and peaceful “Behind him was Sheng Nong and behind me was Xuan Yuan. He – could never forsake Sheng Nong. I – could never betray Xuan Yuan. So in the end we could only battle to the death on the field. I’m sorry Xiao Yao, Mom lied to you. When I said goodbye to you on Jade Mountain I was already certain I was heading to my death.”

“Then….what about Daddy?”

Ah Heng said “I never asked him but he likely wasn’t. He was too brashly arrogant and would never go anywhere antic.i.p.ating death. But in the end, he died and I lived.”

Xiao Yao anxiously asked “But Mom you said you weren’t alone these past four hundred years and Daddy has been with you?”

“To save Xuan Yuan I summoned forth the sun’s fire power that was hidden in my body but the power was too strong that even a G.o.ddess couldn’t control it so I lost my consciousness and became a killing demon. I was destroying everything when your daddy saved me by using his own heart to replace my heart that was destroyed by the sun’s fire power. I promised him “the vines entwine the tree even if it’s dead, the tree remains with the vines even if it dies” and I wanted to die with him but he asked me to stay alive. He said “I never had parents and I don’t want my daughter also to have no parents. Since Xiao Yao was born I never once did my duty as a father so the only thing I can do for her to is keep her mother alive for her so that she can only day know what kind of people her parents were so that she doesn’t need to live her life in shame.”

Ah Heng touched the peach blossom tree “Xiao Yao, your daddy never ever did anything in his entire life that he needed to apologize or feel ashamed about. He never let down the Sheng Nong tribe or the Flame Emperor that he owed a debt of grat.i.tude to. The only thing he regretted when he died was you, his only regret was that he was never able to hear you call him daddy! He asked me “Tell Xiao Yao that I loved her very much, tell her that her mom and dad didn’t do anything wrong and she should never feel ashamed about us.”

Xiao Yao’s tears fell and she was in such pain she couldn’t talk.

Ah Heng touched her chest with one hand and pointed to the peach blossom forest with her other hand “Your daddy’s heart is inside my body and your daddy’s body transformed into the peach blossom forest. Xiao Yao, he’s been with me this entire time as we waited for you to come.”

Xiao Yao looked up at the peach blossom petals falling around her, caressing her cheeks and twining around her body, so tender, so affectionate, just like a dad’s embrace.

Xiao Yao’s tears poured forth and she yelled “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy….I’m your daughter Xiao Yao. Do you hear that? Daddy! Daddy……..”

Her heartwrenching screams reverberated around the forest and a gust of wine appeared to rise as the petals danced around her.

Xiao Yao cried to her mom “Mom, do you think Daddy heard me?”

Ah Heng touched her head and smiled “Xiao Yao, Mom needs to go now.”

“Go? No, no, Mom, you come back with me and I’ll heal you……”

Ah Heng walked towards Xiao Yao and her features were finally revealed.

In the red light Xiao Yao saw her mom and she didn’t have a single strand of hair on her head and her features were dried and shriveled, frightening and ugly beyond belief.

Ah Heng also finally saw Xiao Yao clearly and smiled “Your eyes are exactly like your daddy! Your daddy was right, when I finally saw you all the pain would be worth it! Xiao Yao, Mom knows you don’t want me to go but Mom really is so very tired. Now that you’re all grown up and have a lover to take care of you and Zhuan Xu to look after you, Mom can finally leave to be reunited with your daddy.”

Xiao Yao’s heart was like a knife cutting through but she knew death was the best release for her mom. Her mom already lived in this G.o.dforsaken state for the last four hundred years to wait for her.

Ah Heng walked up to Xiao Yao and in the falling petals she reached out and pulled Xiao Yao into her arms for an embrace.

To let his wife and daughter finally reunite, the peach blossom forest disappeared. An embrace right before death was so solemn and comforting as Ah Heng cried “Qi Yo, Xiao Yao, our family is finally together!”

Ah Heng’s body gradually vanished and Xiao Yao tried to hold onto her “Mom! Mom…..” but it was like trying to catch falling sand.

Ah Heng smiled and kissed Xiao Yao on the peach blossom birthmark on her forehead and Xiao Yao watched as her mom turned into a beautiful blue light that joined the red peach blossom petals dancing around.

In the haze Xiao Yao saw her daddy wearing a red robe standing beside her mom dressed in blue. Her daddy was still the proud and powerful warrior in her memory and her mom was back being her beautiful vibrant old self. The two of them were standing side by side in embrace while smiling at Xiao Yao.

Xiao Yao ran towards them reaching out her hand wanting to hold onto them “Daddy! Mom! Daddy, Mom, don’t leave me…….”

Her parents gradually disappeared as the peach blossom petals melted and everything vanished. There was no burning desert, no peach blossom forest, no red flaming sky.

Xiao Yao stood there in a daze for the longest time before she turned back around “My daddy and my mom are gone.”

The Grand Emperor’s hair had turned all white and he had tears in his eyes.

Xiao Yao looked up at the sudden clap of thunder and the sky tore open in a torrential downpour. In a split second everyone’s face was sopping wet.

Once Promised- Qi Yo and Ah Heng’s Ending:

“Ah Heng.” Shao Hao could say nothing more but he held onto Ah Heng and wouldn’t let go.

Ah Heng took out a blood stained handkerchief “You copied my writing and wrote this note asking Qi Yo to go to Ju Mountain to save my Fourth Brother, right?”

Shao Hao saw the blood and glanced at Ah Heng’s missing finger and his body shuddered slightly.

Ah Heng saw that he didn’t deny it and smiled “Thank you. Actually…I don’t hate you anymore. You aren’t our Eldest Brother so asking you to save my Fourth Brother was asking too much to begin with.”

“I promised to take good care of you and Chang Yi and it was I who didn’t fulfill my promise to Qing Yang. If you hate and loathe me, that’s only to be expected.”

Ah Heng softly sighed “When we were young we all thought we could just be ourselves and do what we wanted to do. It was later that we realized that we couldn’t break free of the chains of family and birth. You are Gao Xing Shao Hao, you can’t go save someone even if you wanted to. I am Xuan Yuan Ba, I have to kill people even when I don’t want to. Some things we want to do but can’t, other things we don’t want to do but are forced to. Even I’m in this position, much less you as the ruler of a nation. There are even more things you can’t do or are forced to do.”

Shao Hao was praying for Ah Heng’s understanding and now that this moment arrived and she understood the dilemma he faced, he didn’t feel comforted. Instead he felt this overbearing sadness. Both he and Qing Yang wanted to protect and s.h.i.+eld Ah Heng, not wanting her to become like them. But in the end Ah Heng became just like them. If Qing Yang was still alive and saw Ah Heng standing here wearing her battle armor with her sword in hand as she commanded thousands of attacking troops, his heart would break.

Their destiny was to keep the world safe, but they couldn’t even keep their closest loved ones safe!

“Ah Heng……..”

There was heavy exhaustion in Ah Heng’s eyes as she stared down at Shao Hao’s hand on her arm “Let go. I don’t hate you anymore but we can’t go back to the way it was. Because I now truly understand you, that’s also why I’m certain that we can’t even be friends. You are Gao Xing Shao Hao and I am Xuan Yuan Ba!”

Shao Hao’s heart was ice cold as his body felt powerless and his hand slacked.

Ah Heng lifted the curtains and walked out.

That night as all the troops were asleep, Ah Heng took Ah Bi out to survey the geography. She saw in the desolation a peach blossom tree blooming in an empty courtyard and realized that it was peach blossom season again and she didn’t even realize it. Yi Province wasn’t far from Jiu Li so she said to Ah Bi “Let’s go to Jiu Li!”

The entire tribe seemed empty with only a few nicely dressed young ladies but no one was attending the peach blossom festival as they sat quietly outside their homes.

Ah Heng walked into the valley and saw the blooming peach blossoms but there were no young men singing songs to the young women. Where did everyone go? A soft singing reached Ah Heng and she followed the voice to see a white haired old woman humming a tune under the peach blossom tree.

The old woman asked “You’re an outsider, right? Are you here for our peach blossom festival? Come back in a few years, all the men have gone to war and they will be back in a few years.”

Ah Heng asked “How long have you been waiting for your lover?”

“Sixteen years.”

Ah Heng was silent, the dead bodies turned into white bones in the battlefield remained lovers to the women waiting for their return. Day in and day out, the corpses turned to dust on the field as the women’s hair turned white waiting for their return.

The woman saw Ah Heng staring at her with pity and yelled “He will be back! He will be back……” Her voice gradually got smaller “The war will end, the war will end! The Sheng Nong and Xuan Yuan war will end and then he will be back………”

Ah Heng’s heart broke, this desolation was caused by them! The common folks didn’t care who won, they just wanted the war to end as soon as possible so they could resume their ordinary happy life.

She made a solemn vow to the old woman “Yes, the war will end.”

Ah Heng walked away through the peach blossom forest and into the back hill where a white altar stood in the center. She walked up to the altar and saw an animal bone wind chime laying on the ground. She hung it back up on the pole and the wind blew a melody from the chime.

On Jade Mountain, in those lonely sixty years, she spent it accompanied by the sound of the wind chimes. She clearly already fell in love with him but refused to admit it. She left him in Qi Yo fort and moved to the nearby De Wa fort but clearly still worried about him but forced herself not to acknowledge it…….

Ding dong, ding dong…..

The sound remained as clear as ever but in the blink of an eye it had been hundreds of years. She was still as young and radiant in looks but her heart was old and weary.

Ah Heng turned to leave when suddenly everything stopped.

In the falling peach blossom there stood Qi Yo dressed in all red, quietly waiting for her like an unmovable mountain. It was like that back then, it is like that now, and it would forever be like that.

Qi Yo broke into a beaming smile and extended his hand to her. Ah Heng smiled back and rushed off the altar like a b.u.t.terfly traversing through the petals into Qi Yo’s arms.

They held hands and smiled into each others eyes.

The entire sky full of stars could not match the aura of their smiles.

Qi Yo held Ah Heng’s hand and they walked through the peach blossoms back to their bamboo residence.

The residence was kept neat and tidy inside and out with the courtyard filled with tended flowers of various colors. Opening the door, they walked inside and Ah Heng stared at Qi Yo as her throat constricted. Their home, he kept it so well tended.

Qi Yo smiled at her before he pulled her in for an embrace and kissed her on the forehead.

They sat down facing each other and shared a jug of wine, just like hundreds of years ago. Neither said a word, as if even speaking would be wasting their time together. Neither took their eyes off each other as if even a blink would make everything disappear.

Ah Heng started to undress Qi Yo who smiled and complied before he moved her to bed and slowly undressed her. He poured wine down her body and his lips followed the trail. In the small residence there was no Sheng Nong or Xuan Yuan, just a man and a woman who loved each other sharing the most primal of pleasures and the most pa.s.sionate happiness.

Both of them woke up at the same time in the middle of the night.

The moonlight trickled in through the window and Ah Heng stared greedily at Qi Yo’s face before tracing it slowly as if to etch it into her memory.

Qi Yo smiled and stared at her until tears came to her eyes. He pulled her into his arms as she traced a line of words on his chest “The entwisted tree will entwine in life and in death.”

Qi Yo initially didn’t realize Ah Heng was writing on his chest and after he realized it then he could feel that she was writing the same words over and over. Qi Yo grabbed her hand and brought it to his lip for a kiss with their fingers entwined.

Ah Heng stared at Qi Yo who smiled back and their bodies were once again entwined as if trying to become one forever with such fervor and desperation. Finally both were exhausted but still loath to part as they embraced tightly.

Qi Yo softly asked “Where is our daughter? Is she safe? You know there are too many people in this world who hate me.” This was the first time Qi Yo seemed worried about his enemies.

“On Jade Mountain, with the Royal Mother protecting her. And Lie Yang keeping watch over her.”

Qi Yo was rea.s.sured “That’s good.”

The moonlight shone on the wall and a small red light reflected. Ah Heng asked “What is that?”

Qi Yo lifted his arm and the small bow hanging on the wall flew into his hand. The red light vanished and the bow become the size of his palm. It was the Ancient Pan Gu Bow, a priceless treasure that Qi Yo hung casually on the wall.

Ah Heng laughed “You still haven’t tossed this away?”

Qi Yo picked up the bow and stared at it under the moonlight “I tried to pull it many times but it never responded. But I can feel that this isn’t a useless item, I simply haven’t divined exactly how it’s used and what it’s meant for.”

Ah Heng heard the legend of the Ancient Bow when she lived on Jade Mountain and it was stored there. Legend had it that the first Emperor Pan Gu created the bow to find the woman he loved. But it wasn’t clear why Pan Gu never once used it or why he designated it as the number one weapon in the ranking of all G.o.dly weapons.

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