Crossroads

With a wave of his hand, Yun became dry again, but he wasn't mad. No, he was amused. Deities and mortals always had such short tempers. No wonder they spent half their lives on scheming and revenge. Truly a waste of time.

His prophet fan was never wrong. He looked at it again, and saw the image change into a frail woman stumbling in a snowy place.

Their time was almost up.

Yun looked into Bai Rong's eyes and said, "That incantation you used comes at a high price, and you will regret using it if I had not stopped you in time."

She glared at him again, but he stopped her from speaking. "I can save you, but you have to make a choice."

"Say it."

Good. She should have been this calm from the start. After all, she was the first non immortal being he had met in a long time, and first impressions mattered.

"Your life, or revenge?"

"I hate crossroads," she muttered.

"Life is made up of choices. Do you choose to haunt him as a ghost for revenge, or live a peaceful life with no revenge?" He peeked at his fan again. Almost there...

Bai Rong kept silent for some time, and he could hear the conflict in her mind.

'Haunting him as a ghost sounds good.'

'But that won't do much damage, and I want him to live a life worse than death.'

'Why don't we choose to live? A life without more bloodshed sounds nice.'

'No, stupid. The whole point of not dying was to get revenge, and living in peace means no revenge!'

Telepathy was one of the downsides of his job. Sigh, some of the things he had overheard over the centuries were better left unsaid.

Bai Rong finally stopped her mental debate and said, "I choose to live a peaceful life."

Yun stared hard into her mind, but couldn't see any suspicious thoughts. Why would she suddenly be so complacent? Something felt off. 

She just smiled innocently under his scrutinizing gaze. "Can I leave now?"

Never mind. He never understood what the odd creatures of the realms were thinking, anyway. It was always more fun to watch their choices play out. "Seal the deal first."

A golden light flashed as they shook hands, and a red mark appeared on Bai Rong's forehead. Yun nodded in satisfaction. "From now on, everytime you think of exacting revenge, that mark will remind you of our deal. No vengeance in exchange for your life and the healing tea."

The dark expression on her face when he said that proved that he had ruined the plan of revenge she was most probably brewing. 

Yun laughed. "Silly thing. You can never cheat a god, especially one who can see the future."

Her soul started to fade since he brought her back to life, and he put a jade pendant in her hands. "Give this to her later. Farewell."

In a flash of light, she was gone. Yun stared at the spot where the spirit of Bai Rong stood previously and shook his head. "Why not choose the peaceful road?"

The hurried footsteps of his attendant reached his side. "Your Excellency, His Majesty requests your presence in the Celestial Palace! The Second Prince Consort is about to give birth!"

Yun snapped his fan close. He took out the other half of the pendant he had passed to Bai Rong and smirked. "Ha, ha, ha! There will be a good show to watch in the years to come, or else I am not Heavenly Realm's Celestial Diviner. Xiao Bao, set course for the palace immediately!"

***

Bai Rong opened her eyes and saw nothing but white. Then she felt something cold in her palm. It was a jade pendant with a lotus carving, but it appeared to be broken in half. Wait, not broken... The edges were too smooth and fine. It was split. Intentionally separated into two. For what? Where was the other half?

"Hmm. Yun said, 'Give this to her later.' But who is her?" she pondered aloud. "Immortals are so weird. They never give specific instructions, just like the two choices. Yun only told me about the mark after the deal was made! I never want to see him again."

Something felt different, but before she could figure it out, Bai Rong heard a blood curdling scream that made her hair stand on end.

'Curiosity killed the cat, but I'd rather kill my curiosity.'

She carefully approached the direction of the scream and drew a small knife. Then she got it--she felt different because somehow that liar Yun had healed her wounds with his special tea after saving her life.

A disobedient part of her brain disagreed. 'Well, he wasn't exactly a liar. He just lied by omission.'

She set it straight. 'Omission by purpose is still a lie.'

'But--'

'Why am I debating lies and omissions and whatnot with myself?!'

'I'm becoming deranged.'

Deciding she should stop her mental debate before she added craziness to her list of problems, Bai Rong sighed, "I should have asked for more of that tea. What a pity I forgot." Did that mean she could cultivate again?

Bai Rong tried to summon the spiritual energy in her surroundings but to no avail. Life, sadly, was not a perfect story.

"I guess it's better than being dead."