Chapter 49 (2/2)

Xiao Yao coolly said “Leave him be. At most he can stay three days anyways.”

Sir Bi continued “Xiao Yao, are you truly certain? Once you are the Royal Mother you are destined to be alone for the rest of your life, and can never leave Jade Mountain! It’s not too late to change your mind!”

“I know you’re concerned for me but I am truly certain! You and Lie Yang live on Jade Mountain all these years and are doing just fine.”

Sir Bi didn’t know what else to say and could only watch Xiao Yao worriedly.

Xiao Yao smiled “It’s fine! Go rest now, starting tomorrow I will be the Royal Mother and then you and Lie Yang have to listen to me on everything!”

Sir Bi had no choice but to leave her be, but he turned back from the forest as he walked away and saw Xiao Yao still sitting above the water in a daze, her figure all alone, and he sighed deeply thinking that this tableau would continue for hundreds and even thousands more years.

Dawn arrived on Jade Mountain and illuminated the vistas.

Xiao Yao changed with the help of the servants into the most elaborate court dress and put on the Royal Mothers’ peach blossom crown. Once the ceremony was done and she took the Jade Seal from the Royal Mother and stamped it on the proclamation decree to the world then she would officially rule Jade Mountain.

Xiao Yao walked towards the ceremonial stage with the a.s.sistance of the servants, and on both sides of the path were blooming peach blossoms.

Xiao Yao stared at the peach blossom forest and remembered when Jing proposed to her. It was on Cao Ao Peak on Sheng Nong Mountain, which didn’t have any peach blossom trees, but Jing knew her parents pledged their love under peach blossom trees so he used his power to conjure up thousands of miles of peach blossoms and as the petals rained down he nervously asked “Tu Shan Jing wishes for Xi Ling Jiu Yao’s hand in marriage.”

Xiao Yao reached out her hand and caught a few peach blossoms and smiled.

The Royal Mother was dressed in ceremonial robes and waited for her on the altar. She lucidly watched Xiao Yao and the only spectator below the stage was Zhuan Xu, his face starkly white and exhausted as he kept his eyes on Xiao Yao without blinking.

Xiao Yao walked directly to the altar without looking anywhere else and the Royal Mother asked “As custom, I shall ask one final time – once you are Royal Mother you cannot get married or ever leave Jade Mountain. Do you still agree?”

Zhuan Xu yelled “Xiao Yao———-“ with tears in his eyes, pleading with every fiber of his being.

Under the peace blossoms falling around her Xiao Yao seemed to spot Jing and she tightly clenched her hands around the petals in her palm as she smiled at him and said “I agree.”

The Royal Mother nodded “Fine!”

Zhuan Xu painfully closed his eyes.

Shui Hong led Xiao Yao on the stage and she knelt down as the Royal Mother took out the Jade Seal and started reciting the succession pledge.

Xiao Yao reached out and was about to take the Jade Seal when the sound of a crane calling anxiously reached them. Everyone looked skyward as the Royal Mother scowled “Today is an important day and Jade Mountain is not accepting visitors!”

From the sky came a white crane with a blue robed man standing on its back, refined and elegant.

Zhuan Xu’s expression darkened and he took a few steps back while Xiao Yao stood up with her eyes open wide in shock and her body shook in surprise.

The man in blue vaulted off the crane’s back and landed on the altar. He appeared to have just gotten over a grave illness, his complexion pale and wan and his figure thin. But his features were graceful and refined and his demeanor calm and composed. He politely bowed to the Royal Mother “Tu Shan Jing from Qing Qiu. I’m here to pick up my fiancée. I heard from the servants that the succession ceremony was going on and should have waited but I had no choice to barge in so my apologies for the intrusion.”

The Royal Mother was dumbfounded and asked “Tu Shan Jing? You didn’t die?”

Jing glanced at the regally attired Xiao Yao with tears in his eyes “Xiao Yao, I’m back. I hope you don’t hold it against me for coming so late!” Jing walked towards Xiao Yao and two servants blocked his way with peach blossom branch canes. Jing didn’t want to anger the Royal Mother so stopped and said softly

“Xiao Yao, don’t become the Royal Mother, you promised to marry me!”

Xiao Yao walked off the altar as if in a dream towards Jing and the servants didn’t stop her after seeing the Royal Mother didn’t object.

Until she was standing before Jing, Xiao Yao still couldn’t believe this was real. She reached out her hand to touch his face “Jing, is it really you?”

Jing answered “I am Wen Xiao Liu’s Ye s.h.i.+ Qi. Because you counted seventeen leaves on the herbal branch, that is why I am called s.h.i.+ Qi.”

Xiao Yao smiled through her tears “You’re really back!”

Jing grabbed her hands “I’m sorry for making you wait so long!”

Xiao Yao burrowed into Jing’s arms as her tears fell “Jing, Jing, you’re finally back!”

Jing comforted her “Don’t cry…..don’t cry…..”

Xiao Yao started crying even louder and pummeled his chest “I kept waiting for you, I kept waiting for you and didn’t believe you died. Every full moon I think you’ll come back but you never did! I waited so long and thought you wouldn’t come back……..I thought you really abandoned me…..I hate you, hate you…..”

Jing let Xiao Yao hit and yell at him while repeating “I know you suffered a lot and I didn’t keep my promise. I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Xiao Yao nestled in Jing’s arms and kept on crying.

By the time Xiao Yao stopped crying and calmed down, half an hour had pa.s.sed and the altar was empty, neither Xiao Yao nor Jing knew when everyone left. Clearly the Royal Mother succession ceremony wasn’t going to be completed.

Jing looked over Xiao Yao’s Royal Mother outfit and his heart ached “Thank G.o.d I was in time!”

Xiao Yao asked “Where have you been all these years?”

Jing explained “Hou forced me to duel and I secretly ate the life preserving pill you gave me beforehand. I wanted to jump into the water to escape and Hou kicking me in the water helped my plan along. But his kick was much stronger than expected and I fainted in the water. When I woke up it was five days ago at dawn on a deserted island in the East Sea. A mercouple saved me but I couldn’t communicate in their language. We communicated in gestures and I figured out that they found me unconscious in the ocean and didn’t know who I was or how to wake me. They placed me on the deserted island and fed me herbs from time to time. Luckily there are tons of strange treasures in the ocean and they accidentally chanced upon the right sea herbs to wake me up. I rushed back worried about you and only then did I learn 7 years had pa.s.sed. The Yellow Emperor told me you were not on Sheng Nong Mountain and told me to rush to Jade Mountain.”

Xiao Yao wiped her tears “I want to go thank the mercouple that saved you.”

Jing sighed “Merpeople live in the vast ocean without a set residence. When I left and asked how I could find them again, they just pointed to the ocean so I don’t even know how to find them again.”

Xiao Yao said “We can look for them in the future, take our time, but now we need to go beg forgiveness from the Royal Mother.”

The wind was softly blowing as the sunlight filtered down through the trees. Xiao Yao walked hand in hand with Jing and stared at him, as if confirmed that he really was beside her.

Sir Bi walked up and Xiao Yao said to Jing “This is the Ah Bi I’ve told you so much about.”

Jing tried to bow low but Ah Bi dodged the courtesy and Xiao Yao didn’t object because she knew the demons were strict with hierarchy. She smiled “It’s good that you’re here, come see the Royal Mother with us!”

“Hold off on seeing the Royal Mother, Zhuan Xu is on the cliff…..” Ah Bi let out a loud sigh “You guys need to go see him!”

Xiao Yao’s smiled disappeared and she grabbed Jing’s hand tightly as if afraid he would disappear. Jing squeezed Xiao Yao’s hand and said to Sir Bi “We’ll go.”

Sir Bi bowed to Jing before heading off.

Xiao Yao tried to act nonchalant and said to Jing “Wait for me here, I’ll go and be back quickly.”

Jing asked “Why can’t I go see His Majesty the Black Emperor?”

Xiao Yao opened her mouth but couldn’t get the words out.

Jing said “Before going to Qing Shui Town, I brought extra secret guards just to be extra safe. But Hou’s people actually took out all of the Tu Shan clan guards, that’s something the Chi Sui clan leader can’t even pull off! Back then I knew only one person in the entire world commanded such power, and because I guessed it was the Black Emperor that was why I kept trying to inch closer to the river as I battle Hou so I could use the river to get away because there must be more people waiting in Qing Shui Town to take me out.”

So Jing already knew, and didn’t need her to explain, so Xiao Yao sighed and lowered her head “I’m so sorry!”

Jing sighed as well and pulled Xiao Yao into his arms “Don’t feel bad, it’s not your fault.”

“You…..you…..you know the reason why Zhuan Xu wanted to kill you?”

“Even if I didn’t know then, I know now.”

Xiao Yao murmured “If you know then you need to be careful. I’ll go see him and after he leaves it’ll be fine.”

Jing said “When I went to Sheng Nong Mountain to look for you, I talked with the Yellow Emperor and realized I made a big mistake as well. Let’s go see the Black Emperor and talk things out.”

Xiao Yao hesitated, not because she didn’t want to see Zhuan Xu but because she was afraid!

Jing said “The Black Emperor is the person you trust the most, don’t let one mistake make you lose faith in him! Have you thought about why he was willing to let you marry Feng Long but tried to stop you from marrying me? He was just as pained in both instances.”

“Because….he thinks you’re not as good as Feng Long.”

Jing shook his head “That’s just the surface reason, the most important reason is that His Majesty believes I don’t have the ability to protect you! He’s lost so much already, he could not place you in the care of someone weak. Tell me the way to the cliff!”

Xiao Yao docilely led the way.

Zhuan Xu stood at the edge of the cliff as if staring at something. Xiao Yao looked out in the same direction and only saw clouds.

Xiao Yao softly asked “What are you looking at?”

Zhuan Xu didn’t turn around but said warmly “I can’t see Xuan Yuan Mountain. From Xuan Yuan Mountain to Sheng Nong Mountain, I thought I had it all but looking back I realize I can’t see the phoenix flowers on Cao Yun Peak anymore. No matter how many phoenix trees I plant on Sheng Nong Mountain, it’s not the same as the ones on Cao Yun Peak.”

Xiao Yao replied “Standing here of course you can’t see it. You rule the entire world, if you want to see it you can go to Cao Yun Peak!”

Zhuan Xu turned around and the moment he saw Xiao Yao he also saw the young man beside her, standing straight and composed.

Jing bowed respectfully “Your Majesty.” After he straightened he took Xiao Yao’s hand again and one white, one blue, they were like the moon and the forest, always beside each other.

Zhuan Xu stared at them before looking past into the clouds once more.

Xiao Yao thought Zhuan Xu would say something or ask something, but he didn’t ask how Jing survived or what they planned to do. He was expressionless, with no sadness or anger. Jing was just as weird, silently standing there without explaining anything or taking his leave.

Zhuan Xu and Jing, one was as solid as the mountain, the other as true as the tree, and Xiao Yao was just about to get anxious when Jing squeezed her hand in a.s.surance as if telling her not to rush things.

Zhuan Xu slowly walked up to them and stared at Jing to ask “When Feng Long was dying he told me that the idea to give up Xuan Yuan Mountain for Sheng Nong Mountain was yours. And that you convinced him to back me.”

Jing candidly responded “Yes.”

“Why conceal it from me?”

“I didn’t think too much back then, all I wanted was to see Xiao Yao as soon as possible, so I gave the chance to Feng Long so he could accomplish his dreams.”

“Why help me? Only because of Xiao Yao?”

“No! When I first went out to do business, the Yellow Emperor had just united the Middle Plains and I followed the merchant groups to many places and saw people displaced by the war. I believed sincerely that the world needed a strong compa.s.sionate ruler, one who cared about the lives of all citizens. For Xiao Yao I could break from clan rules and not support the other princes, but I couldn’t truly go against my clan and openly support Your Majesty as ruler. I did what I did because I know Your Majesty’s magnanimous hope for the world and I remain steadfast in believing that my choice is correct. Even today I do not regret my choice, and I know Feng Long didn’t as well. Our choice and determination to support you is the right one.”

Zhuan Xu stared hard at Jing one last time before silently walking past Xiao Yao and heading down the cliffs. His guards surrounded him but everyone kept their distance, making his lone figure seem even more isolated.

Xiao Yao’s eyes followed Zhuan Xu until his form disappeared from sight, as if watching the most important and precious part of her life vanish forever. Her body trembled and ached from the pain in her heart so she grabbed her chest with one hand as she leaned on Jing’s body for support.

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