Chapter 120: The Gentleman in Seclusion

The next day, from afar, I saw Lu Xue walking hand in hand with him toward the Cloud Viewing Terrace. Little White was sitting directly on the ground of the terrace, holding a military treatise, eyes fixed intently on the text.

“Oh! This little one truly loves to read,” Lu Xue exclaimed in surprise.

Little White continued reading without glancing at either of them.

“Little White, sitting on the cold ground like that will chill your bottom. Be careful not to wet the bed tonight! Han Qing, your mother must be truly worry-free to have such a child. When you have time, be sure to talk more with Brother Chunfeng,” Lu Xue said with a smile.

“All right,” he waved his hand and conjured a soft cushion beneath Little White’s bottom.

Little White glanced at Lu Xue and said, “This young divine lord fears no cold! No need for your meddling!”

Lu Xue chuckled warmly. “Han Qing, this child is quite something. Remember when Yu Fei caused trouble at Mount Sumeru and Xue’er beat her? Little White thought Xue’er was bullying the weak and gave her two lashes. He didn’t know Xue’er was defending his mother’s honor. Looks like Brother Chunfeng’s family education is rather lax—your second uncle must discipline him more.”

I hurried over, pulling Little White close, and told Lu Xue, “My child needs no one else’s concern. If he strikes someone, it’s only because they deserve it!”

“In some families, if the mother strikes, the child naturally learns to strike back—like a shrew. Isn’t that right, Han Qing?” Lu Xue teased, looping her arm through his.

Little White turned around, raised his hand and gathered the energy of the Cloud Condensation Heart Method, saying coldly to Lu Xue, “This young divine lord not only knows how to strike but also how to kill. I think you’d better not want to live much longer!” The tone sent a chill down my spine. If he knew Little White was the son of the Underworld Lord, whose debts his son repaid, what would happen then? I quickly clutched Little White and scolded him, “Children must not speak nonsense!” and tried to leave swiftly.

He leapt in front of me. I stepped back two paces, shielding Little White, watching him warily.

“Who taught you that?” he asked softly, his eyes filled with kindness.

“My father divine,” Little White replied.

“Don’t lie!” I reprimanded Little White.

“Oh? Does he treat your mother well?” he continued.

“Of course! He loves my mother very much. He says anyone who bullies her should be taught a lesson by me...” Little White began to recount his dream again.

“Shut up!” I covered Little White’s mouth, hugging him tightly and making a quick getaway.

“Han Qing, Brother Chunfeng treats her so well; you should treat Xue’er the same!” Lu Xue said.

“All right!” He looked at our backs for a long time.

At noon, I went to deliver food to Tian Sheng. Little White had assumed his true form and was playing gleefully in the Heavenly Pool, churning up all the water. He and Lu Xue stood beside the pool. Lu Xue snorted softly, “Brother Chunfeng’s child looks quite adorable but is terribly undisciplined—domineering and unruly. Look at how he’s stirred up the pool water. If no one disciplines him properly, if he’s not taught a lesson, when he grows up, he’ll surely cause calamities.”

He smiled faintly. “He is adorable.”

“The Purple Dragon has truly given birth to a White Dragon. It seems Chunfeng’s wife’s true form is white; otherwise, it wouldn't make sense,” Lu Xue said, holding her master’s arm and covering her mouth to laugh.

“Yes,” he agreed.

Little White saw the two of them standing close by the shore, deeply affectionate, and flew up onto the shore, taking human form, his body dripping wet as he stood before him. “Second Uncle! I have something to say to you!”

“Oh? What is it?” He cast a spell to dry Little White’s wet clothes.

“Daddy says you are the most wise Supreme God; the senior brothers say so too, and mother as well. But I only see you wandering around with her every day. Can’t you do something proper?” Little White said earnestly.

Lu Xue was utterly embarrassed.

He laughed, “Do what proper thing?”

“Fixing the sky’s cracks! You’ve already returned, yet you let me fix them! I’m so young, and there’s so much to fix. It’ll take a long time and be exhausting,” Little White complained.

“Fix the sky’s cracks?” Lu Xue was puzzled. The task of mending the sky’s fissures began after her master’s soul dispersed. She only knew about the snow of Kunlun but not the reason behind this flying snow.

“Oh... thank you for your hard work. Second Uncle will do it for you in a few days,” he said warmly, full of affection.

“Hmm. You need to learn well from my daddy and my father divine. They’re both very busy. You slept for five hundred years; don’t slack off,” Little White said.

He paused, then smiled. “All right!”

Upon hearing Little White’s words, Lu Xue’s eyes suddenly lit up as if she had uncovered a great secret. She hurriedly asked Little White, “They? Daddy and Father Divine aren’t the same?”

“Of course not. Daddy is Daddy; Father Divine is Father Divine,” Little White explained.

Lu Xue smiled slyly. “Daddy is the Supreme God Chunfeng?”

“Of course!” Little White replied.

“Then were you born of Daddy or Father Divine?”

“Of course Father Divine!” Little White declared confidently.

Lu Xue was stunned, wide-eyed, covering her mouth, struggling to suppress her laughter, and then asked, “Who is your Father Divine?”

Little White glanced at Lu Xue. “Why do you care who my Father Divine is?”

“Does your mother love your daddy or Father Divine more?” Lu Xue continued.

Little White looked at him. He smiled gently at Little White. Little White rolled his eyes at him, then at Lu Xue, and said, “My mother loves whoever she wants to love. None of your business!”

Lu Xue was so excited she nearly jumped. “Ah! Yun Xiao, this you must tell Brother Chunfeng! Little ones don’t lie,” she said.

“My daddy knows very well; no need for you to tell him! Busybody!” Little White turned and flew away.

Lu Xue was stunned and muttered, “So Chunfeng knows his son isn’t his own, and he can even tolerate a wife with multiple husbands! Those named ‘Fei’er’ are indeed extraordinary...”

In just one day, Lu Xue, with a smiling face, holding onto her Han Qing’s arm, came to me and Chunfeng. Calling me “Fei’er” repeatedly made me very embarrassed. Lu Xue said she was originally a fairy from the Hundred Flowers Island and had no family to return to after marriage. She wanted to take Hundred Flowers Island as her maternal home, and Chunfeng and I were to escort her to Yuqing Realm in grand style. This woman had just yesterday called me a shrew, but today praised me as a virtuous and gentle lady, her expression changing faster than the Faceless God changing masks.

“No, anyone else is fine; she isn’t,” Chunfeng said.

“Brother really loves his wife. But walking along won’t tire her,” Lu Xue smiled.

“Han Qing... Xue’er only marries once... please beg Brother for her... Han Qing,” Lu Xue coquettishly pleaded with Yun Xiao.

“All right!” I responded. I really couldn’t stand that syrupy tone anymore. The Mystic Crystal Sword is yours, the pears from Yi Xian Valley are yours, Kunlun Flying Snow is yours, the entire Yuqing Realm is yours! Everyone belongs to you. I don’t mind escorting you a little further!

“Still, Brother Chunfeng’s Fei’er is virtuous and gentle, isn’t she, Han Qing?” Lu Xue said with a fake smile.

“Yes,” Yun Xiao replied.

On the eve of the wedding, Chunfeng and I brought Little White back to Hundred Flowers Island with Lu Xue. Before leaving, Chunfeng reminded Fifteenth Senior Brother to guard Tian Sheng carefully and to be sure to tell our master about Tian De’s plot to harm him.

Back on Hundred Flowers Island, I sent a Flying Immortal Order, and the Danxia Holy Mother delivered the Vast Sea Bow. Bi You, from the Chen Guang Cave, appeared in her incarnation. I told her about my change of appearance.

“Bi You, the plan to eliminate Tian De has changed. We can’t wait any longer. Tomorrow, while Lu Xue’s wedding takes place, we will strike. You must not appear,” I said.

“Why? Are you afraid Supreme God Yun Xiao and the others will misunderstand? I can explain,” Bi You said.

“The wedding will be chaotic; explanations won’t help and might cause complications that hinder eliminating Tian De. You will not appear unless I command it,” I said.

“All right,” Bi You agreed.

I thought to myself, “To kill the crown prince is such a grave crime; if you don’t show yourself, you remain a Chaos Artifact, and no one can trouble you. But if you appear, it will be a death sentence. Whether success or failure, you’d be punished severely. You are already a soul. If our master becomes confused and treats Tian Sheng’s case as a crime, using the Heavy Star Thunderbolt to execute you would scatter your soul. It’s not worth sacrificing you for that villain. Tomorrow, success or not, I will use the Tears of Rebirth to let you reincarnate anew.”

That night, Lu Xue was so excited she could hardly sleep, constantly trying on clothes and changing jewelry. Suddenly, she found a hairpin box among the jewelry and hurriedly opened it. Inside was a wooden hairpin carved with auspicious clouds. She screamed, “Ah! Is anyone there? Someone, please! Hurry!” Although her voice was melodious, at midnight it sounded like a banshee’s wail, disturbing me so much that I came to her door and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Fei’er, Han Qing’s hairpin for tomorrow is here with me. What should I do?” Lu Xue said anxiously.

“He can use another,” I said.

“No! This is the cloud hairpin I carved by hand from a ten-thousand-year-old pear branch four ten-thousand years ago. It’s his favorite! Please help me. Good Fei’er, dear sister-in-law, good sister!” Lu Xue pleaded.

I thought, “Can you be any more shameless? You just called me a shrew yesterday, now so intimate with ‘Fei’er,’ calling me sister, though you’re tens of thousands of years old, and I’m only a few thousand. No wonder I’m shamelessly invincible!”

“I’ll send someone to deliver it to him,” I said coldly.

“No! What if those uncouth servants lose it? I don’t trust them! How about Brother Chunfeng delivering it himself? And don’t forget to tell Han Qing that Xue’er misses him!” Lu Xue handed me the hairpin box, then went back to her room to try on more clothes.

At the dead of night, it was inappropriate to trouble Brother Chunfeng to deliver some hairpin! I flew back to Yuqing Realm with the hairpin and met Fifteenth Senior Brother on watch duty.

“Auntie, why are you here so late?”

“This is the hairpin he will take tomorrow; give it to him,” I said, handing over the box.

“All right,” Fifteenth Senior Brother said.

“Did you tell him about Tian De’s harm?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Good,” I turned to leave.

“Fei’er!” a voice called behind me.

I froze as if struck by a spell. Even after five hundred years, no one calling me “Fei’er” could compare to his single utterance...

Tears welled up instantly. Wasn’t I Bi You to him? Didn’t he say I bewitched him and was expelled from the sect? Didn’t he abandon my cultivation records? Marrying Lu Xue endlessly, marrying the dead and then the living again! And now he calls me “Fei’er” again! Feeling resentful, I was about to turn when I suddenly remembered my changed appearance and new name, Bai Fei. Lu Xue had been flattering me wildly these past days for her own purposes, calling me “Fei’er” so intimately. He must have learned it from Lu Xue... So, without turning, I replied coldly through tears, “Brother Chunfeng doesn’t usually call me that; you needn’t be so intimate. If you have something to say, say it directly to your wife tomorrow. Don’t send messages through me!” Saying this, I left in anger.

Back on Hundred Flowers Island, I sat alone on the Sea-Viewing Rock, holding the Vast Sea Bow for a long time, restless and unsettled. Looking up at the vast blue night sky, three stars shone especially bright: one was his Heavy Star, another was my divine star far away, and a third was a brilliant Greedy Wolf star. The Underworld Lord’s soul had dispersed; his Pluto star had fallen. He was not the Red Flame Demon Star.

I plucked a flower and cast a divination: Qian above, Kun below. The result was the Hexagram “Shi” — yin and yang not mingling, blocked and closed, an ominous sign! Another cast at the sixth line showed misfortune! A sign of unworthiness in virtue. Changing lines formed the hexagram Tianshan Dun — still ominous! Qian above, Gen below. Heaven above the mountain below. The mountain stands high, and heaven retreats. Yin grows, Yang wanes; villains rise to power while the noble retreat! The hexagram clearly concealed a woman or villain greatly harmful to the noble man!

My heart tightened. This hexagram... he has been reborn, so why does it mean “the noble man retreats”? Could it be that the Yun Xiao in Yuqing Realm is not him? But his divine star has risen, and the Two-Life Mirror reflects him. Could he still have tribulations? “Red Flame rises, Heavy Star fades, Red Flame Demon Star, Chaos Artifact, refining heaven and earth, crushed by Heavy Star’s power.” Tian De, Lu Xue, or I... which one is the Red Flame Demon Star? Could my “Blazing Fire” truly be the “Red Flame”? And who is the Greedy Wolf star? To break this hexagram, could it be that I must...