Chapter Ninety-Two: The Battle at Luolong

At the temple fair in Azure Qilin Town, held for the blessing of children, adults and children alike set off fireworks, scattered sweets, and wore masks to play at being demons. The place was alive with merriment. Spring Breeze said that if Mountain River had come along, it would have been even livelier; no mask would be needed at all, since he would frighten people to death just by showing his face.

I spent half the night running wild with Little White and Spring Breeze, and watching the two of them, I felt a warmth in my heart. Spring Breeze truly loved Little White. Though their temperaments were utterly unlike, together they were so tender and harmonious they seemed like a family.

When we were worn out, we found a teahouse to rest and drink tea.

“Spring Breeze, thank you,” I said.

“I suppose I should check whether the dawn ledger is mistaken. Has the sun risen in the west? The little crow is actually thanking me!” Spring Breeze teased.

“Raising a child is no easy thing.”

“You do know that, then! I’ve watched over this child for five hundred years, and I feel as though I’ve aged tens of thousands! So hurry up and agree to me, and be a proper mother,” Spring Breeze said.

“Then I’ll have to find you the most fitting wife,” I laughed.

“When was the last time you thanked me? A few hundred years ago, was it? If I recall, after thanks there ought to be some other gesture too, isn’t that right?” Spring Breeze said with a grin.

I understood what he meant and laughed. “Little White, kiss your father once.”

Little White kissed Spring Breeze. “Father, you smell wonderful.”

“You brat! That doesn’t count. Come on, little crow,” Spring Breeze pleaded, tugging at my sleeve.

I truly did not know how to repay Spring Breeze. While I was recovering in Jade Clear Realm, Mountain River had kissed him, not I. Now that I knew his feelings, I could not do such a thing. I thought of everything else I might do instead: sewing him tens of thousands of garments, losing him some money, planting trees for him for thousands upon thousands of years...

Only then did I suddenly realize that Spring Breeze’s five-hundred-year bargain had been a trap all along, meant to leave me forever owing him a debt I could never settle. Yet if I agreed to be with him out of gratitude alone, I would be failing him. I lowered my head and stared at my teacup, at a loss...

“Little White, your father’s Spring Birth Token fell under the table. Help me look for it,” Spring Breeze said, sending Little White away.

“Okay.” Little White obediently went to search for the token.

Spring Breeze leaned across toward me... I looked up and saw his handsome face, solemn and composed, and for a fleeting moment he resembled my master... I froze...

A sharp crack rang out from the storyteller’s striking block! I jumped in surprise. Spring Breeze also froze, half his body still stretched across the table...

“Is... is my Spring Birth Token with you?” he asked me awkwardly.

“No.” I looked around.

Spring Breeze sat back down, cheeks red.

“Father, I couldn’t find the Spring Birth Token. Did you remember wrong?” Little White crawled out from beneath the table.

“Fine, fine. Watching you has made me forgetful,” Spring Breeze complained.

“Hush, they’re telling a story on stage. Listen,” Little White signaled for us to be quiet.

On the stage, the teller said, “Now then, as for the Imperial Tutor of the Nine Provinces...”

Spring Breeze shot to his feet and pulled me up by the hand. “Little White, let’s go eat something delicious.”

“We just ate! They’re talking about Second Uncle on stage, and I want to hear it,” Little White said.

On the stage, the tale continued: “That Underworld Prince, Ming Zhong...”

I rose as well. “Little White, let’s go!”

“Mother, I want to listen!” Little White clung to his seat and refused to move, nearly crying from anxiety.

“Why have you become so tearful lately?” Spring Breeze said in alarm.

“Mother, Father, please,” Little White begged us.

Little White was not willful. He had never once begged me before; he had always been the one comforting me. This was the first time.

“Forget it, Spring Breeze. Let’s hear it. Storytellers always make things up anyway,” I said, holding him back. I thought that in the end, Little White would have to face this. There was no avoiding it; better to accept what comes.

“Honored guests have asked why this humble immortal knows the battle at Falling Dragon so clearly. Because I am the conscience of the storytelling world! My tales are no invented nonsense, no rumors repeated from mouth to mouth. I carried my head in my belt and went to the battlefield myself to see and hear it firsthand! You hear me, honored guests? Enough chatter, back to the story!

“Thunder drums shook over Falling Dragon Mountain, and dragon aura surged into the heavens! At the shout of the three armies of the Nine Provinces, even Falling Dragon Mountain quivered! There stood the Imperial Tutor of the Nine Provinces, the divine Bright Reverence of the heavens, Cloud Radiance, wearing a purple-gold cloud-crested helm, a jade wind soaring-dragon cuirass, and rhinoceros-hide war boots. A robe of black crystal brocade billowed in the wind! Splendid in bearing! Mighty and imposing...”

For two thousand years in Jade Clear Realm... for two thousand years my master had always been the very image of immortal elegance, as untroubled as drifting clouds. I had never seen him armored and riding into battle. Yet his brilliance was such that it had once made me fall asleep...

“The Underworld’s Second Prince, Ming Zhong, wore a black-gold helm with tied hair, a dragon-scaled black-gold cuirass, and a black-gold face guard, wielding a hundred-and-eight-section python whip of black bone. Mounted upon Dragon Roar Chase, he stood in yin to the heavenly Bright Reverence’s yang, his aura no less formidable...”

At the mention of Ming Zhong, Spring Breeze grasped my hand and looked at me with furrowed brows. “Little crow, let’s go!”

“Hush!” Little White was listening with rapt attention.

“Spring Breeze, I’m fine...” I withdrew my hand and placed it under the table, gripping the crystal sword tightly at my wrist.

“The two armies faced off, the fires of war raging, smoke and dust billowing. At Jade Clear Realm of Kunlun, they formed the great Jade Mountain Kunlun Array: in the Heaven position, the Divine Lord Cloud Radiance; in the Earth position, Emperor Glory; in the Fire position, Divine Lord Kunpeng; in the Thunder position, Divine Lord Stone Peak; in the Wind position, Divine Lord White Marsh; in the Water position, Divine Lord Chu Fang; in the Lake position, Divine Lord Zi Chan; and in the Mountain position, Divine Lord Eastern Silence. The array shifted with wondrous subtlety, its offense and defense seamless. Amid dragon roars and tiger cries, the Underworld’s soldiers lay strewn across the land, dead and wounded by the countless thousands...”

“Father, I want to learn that formation from Second Uncle!” Little White said excitedly, then, meeting my displeased gaze, he quickly swallowed the rest of his words.

“Seeing the tide turn against him, Ming Zhong cast out three Chaos divine artifacts at once: the Heaven-Suppressing Seal, the Binding God Lock, and the God-Collecting Mirror. In an instant winds rose and clouds surged, heaven and earth changed color, and the three artifacts merged into one, summoning heavenly thunder and fire to strike the great formation of Jade Clear. The Mountain position’s Eastern Silence blundered, the formation was broken, and the heavenly soldiers suffered grievous losses.”

I clenched my teeth until they ground together. “That traitor, Ming Silence!”

“Divine Lord Cloud Radiance reined in his horse, and White Moon Chase threw back its head with a long cry. The divine lord’s gaze was like lightning. He raised his hand and summoned the Sun-Shooting Bow and Pursuing Sun Arrows. With the force of his divine power, the Pursuing Sun Arrows gleamed with flowing brilliance, icy light flashing in all directions. The divine lord drew the bowstring tight, sealed the arrows in place, and with a single bow and three arrows, he sealed down Ming Zhong’s Heaven-Suppressing Seal, Binding God Lock, and God-Collecting Mirror...”

Everyone burst into applause, and Little White cheered with them.

My master’s archery was peerless, every shot true. How could it not be wonderful? He had taught me archery himself, hand over hand. He had said that if my aim grew too good, the little beasts of Mount Kunlun would be in danger, and warned me not to wipe out all the game on Kunlun Peak... How could I bear to use the archery he taught me to kill the little creatures of Kunlun Peak? I used it to save people. I only ever loved to eat the pears he planted...

The storyteller went on. “Who could have known that just as Divine Lord Cloud Radiance was loosing his arrows, Ming Zhong would cast yet another ancient divine artifact—a Heaven-Origin Shattering God Pestle—rushing forward to strike the divine lord’s heart! Seeing danger, Divine Lord White Marsh stepped before him to block the pestle. Though White Marsh’s power was formidable, how could he withstand an ancient artifact? The pestle shattered his heart meridians. Divine Lord Cloud Radiance shielded White Marsh and sealed the pestle. White Marsh clutched the divine lord’s hand and said, Divine Lord! White Marsh knows his fault! I am sorry! Then he coughed blood and died, his soul returning to the Nine Heavens...”

The tears in my heart nearly spilled over...

“Little crow, let’s not listen anymore,” Spring Breeze said in anguish. He knew that what came next was what I could bear least of all.

I lay across the table and waved my hand. Having heard this much, I felt that I had to hear the end.

“The divine lord’s expression turned to grief. He summoned the Dragon Abyss Sword and fought Ming Zhong! In an instant, the pure white radiance of Dragon Abyss lit the land of the Nine Provinces with blinding brilliance, and wherever its sword qi passed, the Underworld’s dark soldiers perished without exception! Ming Zhong then transformed the black bone whip into a dark cloud blade; black light blotted out the sun, and wherever the sword qi passed, the heavenly soldiers were slaughtered! The two swords clashed! Heaven and earth inverted! The world spun! The divine lord hurled himself upward with a blaze of pure white, transcendent qi. In an instant, Falling Dragon Mountain was buried in snow, the light of heaven and earth reflected one another, and holy brilliance swelled to greatness, with dragon aura soaring! White light and dark light crashed together, lightning and thunder shaking the Thirty-Three Heavens! It was enough to make the eyes blur and the ears ring, the heart tremble with awe!”

I gripped the crystal sword so tightly that my body began to shake...

“Suddenly...” the storyteller said, pausing there.

My whole body jolted... Spring Breeze steadied my shoulder...

“Amid the lightning and thunder came the sound of water tinkling like a spring, as if at the beginning of heaven and earth, clear and profound. From within a jeweled goblet, a white jade dragon burst forth, coiling around the two combatants. In the whirling snow, the pair followed the jade dragon—at times flying in the sky, at times leaping through the abyss, at times appearing on the plains—locked in struggle! In an instant the jade dragon became a waterfall of spirit and flowed back into the goblet...

“The two had ceased fighting. Ming Zhong gathered his black bone whip and stood upon the clouds. There stood Divine Lord Cloud Radiance, leaning on the Dragon Abyss sacred sword, kneeling on one knee upon the clouds...” Here the storyteller’s voice grew choked; after a pause, he steadied himself.

“Little crow, let’s go, all right? Don’t listen anymore! It’s all nonsense!” Spring Breeze shook my shoulder. I did not move. I could no longer move.

“My master suffered the backlash of soul-capturing sorcery and had lost his heart-protecting scale; that was why he was struck by the jade dragon goblet...” My heart ached.

“Divine Lord Cloud Radiance knelt on one knee, clutching his chest and coughing blood... His face had already gone bloodless, his expression one of agony, while the immortal essence in his body scattered away bit by bit. He swayed, barely able to stand...

“At that moment, a black feather from a cold crow drifted down through the air... That feather, bound to its owner’s heart, held the purest and truest love deep within. It was no other’s feather, but the linked-heart feather of the divine lord’s most beloved little disciple, Divine Lord Yu Fei. After Divine Lord Yu Fei endured the agony of having his heart torn apart to gift that feather to the divine lord, the divine lord had worn it close to his body all along!

“The divine lord’s face was desolate. He stretched out the hand pressed to his heart to catch the falling linked-heart feather, but with the feather as well he tumbled from the clouds...

“Heaven and earth stretched on and on, clouds rose in drifting wisps, and snow fell endlessly from the sky... The armies had vanished, the bodies strewn across the land were gone, all things were gone. Only that one man and one feather seemed to remain in the air...

“The linked-heart feather at last came to rest in the divine lord’s hand. His eyes held comfort as he clutched the feather to his heart. All his immortal essence scattered, and he closed his eyes...

“Divine Lord Cloud Radiance still held the linked-heart feather when his soul shattered and dispersed. Even in death, he never let go. In life he had given himself to the people of the world, his bones hard as iron, but only after death could he remain heart to heart with the one he loved. Even in the laying out of his body they could not be parted, and so he and the linked-heart feather were laid to eternal rest together in a crystal coffin upon Mount Sumeru of the Thirty-Three Heavens.

“For forty thousand years, the people of the Nine Provinces and the Four Seas have said that Cold Lord Snow and Honorable Qing were heaven-matched, yet they do not know that five hundred years ago, Cloud Radiance and Yu Fei followed one another even unto death... On this very day, five hundred years ago, Divine Lord Yu Fei threw himself into the Heavenly River to be buried alive in sacrifice to the divine lord...

“As the saying goes: the armies of the Nine Provinces and the Four Seas went to war, a cup of jade goblet scattered their heroic souls; on Falling Dragon Mountain, the divine dragon fell, leaving only one drifting cloud in a linked heart.”

After the strike of the storyteller’s gavel, cries broke out all around...

Spring Breeze, still holding my shoulder, froze in place. Little White burst into wailing tears, crying that Father had lied to him, that Second Uncle was dead and not merely asleep!

I lay there, quietly prone, motionless...

Saplings began to sprout from the table, and grass grew from the floor. In an instant, plants covered the tables, chairs, beams, and pillars of the entire teahouse. Great trees thrust up from the ground; before some immortals could even react, the trees carried them soaring into the sky. The storyteller’s bamboo fan also transformed into a towering stand of spotted bamboo that pierced the clouds. Clutching the bamboo, the storyteller stood helpless in midair. Those present no longer had toothaches, the lame no longer limped, the blind no longer were blind, and everyone stared in utter shock.

Spring Breeze came to himself and hurriedly shook me. “Little crow! Hold on! Stop! You can’t cry anymore! If you keep crying, something terrible will happen!”

I lifted my head and wiped away my tears.

“Spring Breeze, help me look after Little White. I’m going to the Thirty-Three Heavens!” With that, I transformed into white light and shot toward the Thirty-Three Heavens...