Nineteen

PART THREE

Note: Sorry to say this will be a short chapter.

"He had seen his share of beautiful women in the overlong years he lived. Fengjiu wasn't necessarily the most beautiful, but fate was funny that way. All the beauties, no matter how alluring, were never able to leave an impression on him. Only her, whether her smile, whether her frown, whether her embarrassment, even when she made a face at him, he remembered it all. Each image was crystal clear in his mind." -Pillow Book, Book 1 page 313

He wasn't sure who he was anymore, Donghua or Wenchang. Now that he had Donghua's memories, it had been such a huge emotional battle for him. Whether he was Donghua or Wenchang, he knew both of his selves loved Fengjiu.

Dijun woke up in his old home Bihai Cangling, carrying Fengjiu's body. The place had been exactly as it had been in the painting that Seventy-Three had made. They had suffered damage from the power of the evil energy beneath the immortal punishment platform.

As expected, shaking Fengjiu was fruitless as her primordial spirit had already left her body. Reciting a healing spell, he fixed the external scrapes and bruising to her body, and then teleported them back to Taichen Palace. Despite the protection from his scabbard, she still sustained minor injuries on the outside. On the other hand, Dijun had suffered worse injuries due to the tremendous energy from the platform. His crimson ceremonial marriage robe had been reduced to tatters and ripped in different areas, and yet masked the severity of his injuries from view by another.

Dijun placed Fengjiu on her bed in her guest quarters in Taichen Palace and instructed Chong Lin to call for Siming, so that he may know what is written in Fengjiu's fate book since she was now in the mortal realm. Immediately, Chong Lin recognised the voice of the real Dijun. Dijun also instructed for Cheng Yu to take care of her old friend's body while he hunted her primordial spirit in the mortal realm, but those who knew were to keep it a secret. As Chong Lin left to carry out his instructions, he transferred part of his cultivation to Fengjiu's body to allow her to recuperate from her injuries.

Cheng Yu was curious about his change in voice to that of Donghua and why he was in a tattered robe, but said nothing and obeyed his instructions to not leave her friend's side while he was not around.

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Dijun utilised the powers of the magnificient Miaohua Mirror in order to locate Fengjiu. As the mortal realm was made of billions of worlds, it would take time and thus, it was not guaranteed that it would be able to find her. When he used the Mirror, a bright light flashed across the Sky Kingdom, hence signalling to all the resident immortals that the most powerful immortal in the Realms had returned after more than sixty thousand years of seclusion, as they believed. The news spread across the Four Seas and Eight Deserts in no time.

The news of Dijun's return lured Liansong to the Miaohua Mirror, since it was only Donghua Dijun who was said to be able to operate the said artifact. As he approached the falls, he was hysterical to see the flashes of light coming from the falls. He ventured closer and was surprised to see the immortal which he recognised as Wenchang due to the braid in his hair, and said teasingly, " I just saw you have good walk yesterday, now you are married and look horrible in your wedding clothes. Don't tell me your in-laws ill-treated you?"

Dijun retorted with a nonchalant voice, "Liansong, if you don't shut your mouth, I will beat you up until your mouth is as crimson as my robe!"

Liansong was flabbergasted. "Dong...Hua?" He almost shrieked like a little girl. From that cold tone of voice, the familiar voice and the way he responded, he knew it was Donghua. It had never occurred to him that Donghua and Wenchang would turn out to be the same immortal. For a few seconds, he stood there as if frozen, confusedly staring at the Dijun but it didn't take him long to figure out the truth behind Donghua and Wenchang.

The prince tapped his lips with the fan he was holding. "Finally, you are back, Donghua. So all this while, you were actually Wenchang? This does add up, but how did you manage to get your memories back?"

"The Immortal Punishment Platform," came the reply. He then added, "Ask the earth deities in the mortal realm if they manage to find Jiu'er." He had last seen her soul enter the womb of a mortal woman just before he collapsed.

"Jiu'er? The Qingqiu queen Bai Fengjiu?" Liansong repeated in shock. He immediately wanted to know what happened. Despite his intelligence, all the facts were coming to Liansong's mind very slowly, and he needed time to absorb the reality of what had just occurred. Without wasting any time, he summoned the sky birds and ordered them to acquire information from all immortals under his custody as to Fengjiu's whereabouts.

"Greetings, Your Majesties." Siming made his appearance. He handed Dijun the mortal fate book that pertained to Fengjiu's mortal self but it had been found to be empty. Liansong suggested for Dijun to return to Taichen Palace and take a rest to recover from his injuries, and have a change of clothes, but the persistent immortal refused, and proceeded to search for Fengjiu in more locations with the Mirror. With a wave of his fingers, he swapped his clothes magically to his favourite purple robe.

It took him seventeen days to finally locate the exact mortal world where Fengjiu's primordial spirit entered. Liansong came to him with the information of the woman whose womb Fengjiu had inhabited, the country of Samsara. However, the bad news was that the Dijiang beast was still unable to be located at this time.

Back in Fengjiu's bedroom, Dijun was caring for the soulless Fengjiu. He made a small cut on his palm with his finger and dripped a few drops of his magical golden-red blood into Fengjiu's mouth. Siming materialised in the room and observed Dijun feed Fengjiu with his blood.

Bowing deeply with clasped hands, Siming greeted Dijun before showing him a fate book. "Do you want me to write anything in her book?" he asked.

"No," Dijun responded in a solemn voice. "I will and can find her myself. You were right. Lyrid Dong Shaoyang is the best choice."

"Do you need this?" Siming asked, producing a vial from his sleeve and holding in his right hand for Dijun to see. It was Siming's 'Forget River Water' from the netherworld.

"I've just gained my memories. I suppose you should save it for later," Dijun said.

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Siming.

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Altria's Dream

A seventeen-year-old pretty young girl was walking down a dark alley to her dormitory after returning from school. She had just completed her assignments and projects since it would be holidays soon, and the semester would come to an end.

Four men emerged at the end of the alley and started moving towards her with the intention of taking advantage of her. Panicking from the situation, the frightened girl bolted as fast as her legs could take her. Suddenly, like magic, a purple-robed god with white hair materialised before them and came to her rescue. The men fled immediately, and the purple-robed god told the girl, Altria, that he would escort her home.

As the god used his magic, several spirits appeared to be attracted to his magic and followed after them, and the numbers slowly increased to hundreds. Without using magic further, the god promptly ignored the spirits and continued to walk, until their way was fully blocked by the spirits. The god rose into the sky with the girl to avoid the spirits. The girl watched her surroundings in amazement to see that the spirits were unable to follow them as they were physically tied to their location and unable to leave. Actually, they were lost souls, and leaving the location would cause them to lose their existence.

While they were up in the air, Altria noticed that the god could walk and glide in the air, and gladly she was taught the god himself how to walk and jump over the rooftops until they reach her dormitory. Bidding her goodbye, the god told her that he would meet her someday. She watched him descend gradually with her large, interested eyes.

Before she could ask the god in strange purple robes a question to satisfy her curiosity, he had vanished.

It had to be a dream, Altria thought to herself.

Altria had woken up from her sleep following the incident with the memory of what happened, and nothing in the 'dream' had seemed real in her mind. Since then, he had been reliving the events in her dream again and again after she slept. Who would have believed that this dream of a seventeen-year old could be true?

The reality had been that Dijun had entered the mortal world where she was and as he, as Wenchang, had implanted a tracking spell in Fengjiu's primordial spirit, it had followed her when she was reborn in the body of a mortal in the mortal realm. The spell itself had alerted Dijun of her impending danger, and hence he had been able to come to her rescue.

Soon, Dijun thought. We will meet very soon, Fengjiu. Or rather, Altria.