Chapter 3: Yiyi

Another incense stick’s worth of time passed.

“‘On the Mountain of the Heavenly Emperor, there grows a grass. Its shape is like a mallow, its fragrance like miltwaste. Its name is Du Heng.'” Kunlun said. “Good.”

Only then did Star Lord Du Heng understand. Perhaps the Mountain Saint had not spoken for so long that her hearing and speech had degenerated. He couldn’t help but feel a surge of pity inside. Much of his awe for her faded, and he secretly lifted his eyes to size up this legendary figure.

Upon first glance, he felt the great Buddha was unbelievably beautiful, a celestial being of exquisite features and graceful bearing, like a piece of art painstakingly crafted by heaven and earth—the best sculptor—over hundreds of thousands of years. Every eyebrow, every eye was movingly beautiful. Even Fairy Chang’e up in heaven would dim in comparison before her.

A second glance revealed that her face seemed rather ordinary. In her cyan robe and long skirt, she would at best be considered delicate and refined in the Mortal Realm, possessing an elegant aura.

By the third glance, Star Lord Du Heng felt he simply could not see her face clearly at all. Her whole person seemed shrouded in white gauze, hazy and misty. If you tried to peer through the white fog to look closely, the more you looked, the more you saw only a white blur.

Star Lord Du Heng thought to himself: This must be what a true god is like.

In truth, after that great war forty thousand years ago, all the gods of heaven and earth had been slaughtered by that demon, leaving only immortals. Even the Heavenly Emperor could only be considered, at best, a half-god, half-immortal, sitting on the Heavenly Emperor’s throne by the borrowed glory of the ancient Nuwa and Fuxi.

“Why are you not speaking?”

Star Lord Du Heng jolted awake as if from a dream, meeting Kunlun’s clear, bright eyes. He hurriedly said, “Minor official was on holiday recently. Since ascending ten thousand years ago, I haven’t had a chance to revisit the Mortal Realm, so I planned to tour the human world. Somehow, I got lost and accidentally trespassed on the sacred mountain. I beg the Mountain Saint for her forgiveness.”

He was already prepared to wait another incense stick’s time for a reply, but unexpectedly, Kunlun immediately asked back, “Accidentally trespassed?”

“Yes, yes, minor official deserves to die ten thousand deaths.”

“Pardon?” She started being hard of hearing again.

“Minor official deserves to die ten thousand deaths.”

“Deserves what?”

Du Heng: “…”

He took a deep breath, just about to “roar” his crimes at Kunlun, when Kunlun turned her back to him and said distantly, “Then how did you know I am the Mountain Saint?”

Upon hearing this, Du Heng burst into a world-shaking coughing fit.

“Mountain… Mountain Saint, wh… what did you just say? Minor official… cough cough… didn’t catch that.”

“I said…”

“Please instruct me, Mountain Saint.”

Kunlun’s delicate, mist-like brows furrowed slightly. “You minor Star Lords, how come you are as hard of hearing as this old thing who has lived so long and not yet died? I fear this Heavenly Court is declining day by day.”

Why did these words sound so familiar?

Du Heng’s smile was so stiff his face ached. He repeatedly said, “Yes, yes, yes.”

“I asked you just now, how did you know I am the Mountain Saint?”

Du Heng was nearly scratching his ears and cheeks in frustration. “That dragon just now told minor official, ‘The Mountain Saint requests your presence.’ That’s when minor official realized he had caused a great disaster.”

“Pardon?”

…

One incense stick’s time later.

Kunlun: “You recognize me?”

Du Heng: “What makes the Mountain Saint say that?”

“I mean…” Kunlun paused again.

After another incense stick of time.

Du Heng had snuck a short nap with his eyes open. He heard Kunlun softly finish her earlier sentence: “Does everyone in the Heavenly Court know about me?”

“Yes, your blessings are generous, your longevity is like the mountains. Of course, the Heavenly Court remembers you.”

“Oh.”

By now, the sky had long since turned completely dark. The bright moon hung overhead. Du Heng was startled to realize he had been kneeling for over an hour. In total, he hadn’t heard this great Buddha say much, and it had all been meaningless small talk. Nor had he received any punishment. It was truly strange.

He lifted his eyes again to steal a look at Kunlun’s expression, thinking he saw her frown. Her expression showed a hint of impatience.

“The Heavenly Emperor still thinks of me?”

Du Heng looked bewildered. “Huh?”

Kunlun touched her sleeve and said enigmatically, “You may leave. I will have Meng Zhaozhong escort you out.”

This time, Star Lord Du Heng was truly confused. The great Buddha seemed even harder to read than the Heavenly Emperor. When the Heavenly Emperor had given the task, it also seemed as if he hadn’t expected any news to be brought back at all. Just the same expression as he said: Go to Kunlun Mountain and have a look. Whatever you see, whatever you hear, tell me everything.

If he knew beforehand, then why send him? Wouldn’t that Curtain-Raising General be more suitable? Besides, the Heavenly Emperor even called the Mountain Saint “Aunt.” Wouldn’t it be better to come personally and build some rapport?

Had the Star Lords before him been sent to Kunlun Mountain for the same reason? But what was there to forbid speaking about this?

Filled with questions, he was escorted out of Kunlun Mountain by Meng Zhaozhong.

Kunlun dismissed the Illusion Spell on her hand. The originally well-made cyan robe sleeve had been chewed to tatters. Chuci was still restlessly moving around, barking manically in the direction Star Lord Du Heng had left. The sharp fangs Kunlun had never seen in this child’s mouth before were also bared: “Yiyi! Yi! Yiyiyi!”

But her milky, childish voice carried no intimidation whatsoever.

“You noticed? Du Heng carries the scent of a seal.”

“Don’t be impatient,” Kunlun said, amused, taking the person into her arms. She turned and walked back into her room. “Come, good child—how many of my robes have you ruined this month?”

Kunlun’s brows were curved, her eyes seemed to sparkle, the corner of her mouth quirked up, forming a perfectly flawless smile.

As she patted Chuci’s back to soothe her, she also fixed her gaze on the departing cloud in the distance. Ha, that Heavenly Emperor, thinking of her? It was laughable. What he couldn’t rest easy about was Chuci—the fierce and ruthless one who was ultimately burnt to death on the Demon-Suppressing Platform all those years ago.

“But you remember this: all the humiliations you have heaped upon me today will one day be repaid. I will point my sword at the Thirty-Third Heaven and make you gods of the Nine Heavens—pay blood with blood!”

The words she had spoken that day seemed to echo by her ears. It wasn’t just the Heavenly Emperor; she was the nightmare of every immortal in the Heavenly Court who had experienced that great war. Kunlun had always believed she would definitely return for revenge, sooner or later.

It was just that she herself…

The nursing baby crawled out from her arms, scrambled up to her neck in a few swift moves, and planted a loud “smack” of a kiss on her face, covering her cheek in drool. Then, with a “Yiyiyi,” she wrapped her arms around her neck, rubbing her face back and forth, trying to make her laugh.

Kunlun’s brows curved. She pinched her furry ear.

Oh well, she could only hope to minimize the damage.

It was just… a thousand years had passed, so why was Chuci still this tiny? Kunlun was utterly baffled. Back when she herself was a child, although she also grew slowly, at least she actually grew.

Back then, Chuci would always love to lean lazily against a tree trunk, chewing on a wild grass blade and laughing at her.

— Hey, Little Kunlun, we were clearly born around the same time. How come you grow so slowly? After ten thousand years, you still haven’t reached my chest.

And Kunlun would stand under the tree, looking up at her unblinkingly. The very young girl always wore an expression of composure inconsistent with her appearance. Those pitch-black, bright eyes would make the Demon King unable to resist laughing. Finally, with a hearty laugh, she would fly down, pull the person close, and give her a cool, light kiss on the lips. She would then transform into her original form, carrying her as they rode the clouds and raced the wind.

At that time, the primordial world was still unformed. There were no birds, beasts, immortals, devils, humans, or ghosts. Heaven and earth were theirs to roam.

Remembering past events, Kunlun belatedly realized: When they first met at Taihua Mountain, Chuci was already in an adult form. But how many years she had grown inside the Myriad Demon Grotto, Kunlun had absolutely no idea. How could she have been so foolish back then, believing she was truly growing too slowly? Privately, she had even specifically studied how to grow faster—and was laughed at again when she was discovered.

If that’s the case…

“You also looked like this back then, wobbling and crawling around underground for at least a thousand years.” Kunlun pulled the child, who was tirelessly coating her neck with drool, down. Poking her puffy, pink cheek, she asked, “Oh, so you laughed at me? What gave you the right to laugh at me? Hmm?”

“Yi! Yiyi!” the child answered.

“What are you ‘yiyi-ing’ about? All you do is ‘yi’! Tomorrow, we’ll move somewhere else.”

Chuci was born from the Demon Domain, where the turbid qi was thickest, and grew up there. But the Kunlun peak was the source of pure qi. The further from the peak, the stronger the demon energy. That’s why Kunlun had been moving further down the mountain with her all these years. If they had stayed where they originally lived, when Star Lord Du Heng arrived, he wouldn’t have encountered those demon creatures in the soil.

Kunlun initially wanted to move to the Myriad Demon Grotto, but even though Chuci had ‘died,’ the monsters in the Demon Domain were no pushovers. Forty or fifty thousand years ago, Kunlun wouldn’t have feared these demons, but now her heart was willing while her strength was lacking.

But before Kunlun could even move, when she woke up the next morning, she discovered the child she held in her arms had grown overnight. She now looked about three or four years old.