“You,” Kunlun pointed at the four-year-old child. “Chuci.”
“Yi!”
“Chuci.”
“Yiyi!” The child giggled.
“Chu! Ci!”
The child threw herself forward, clutching her arm and shaking it back and forth: “Yiyiyi!”
Meng Zhaozhong watched the two sitting opposite each other in the courtyard—one large, one small. He stacked the firewood he had just chopped against the corner of the wall, then brought over a new pile and kept chopping. He watched as he chopped, a smile creeping up to the corners of his eyes. He didn’t notice that he had already chopped enough firewood to last three months.
“Mountain Saint, shall I give it a try?” He rubbed his palms and called out from a distance.
Kunlun didn’t move a muscle, continuing to be stuck in the loop of “Chuci” and “Yiyiyi.”
Meng Zhaozhong didn’t mind. He walked up to Kunlun and repeated, “Mountain Saint, shall I give it a try?”
The tall figure blocked her view. Only then did Kunlun look up in surprise, blinking her eyes. “What?”
“Shall I give it a try?”
“Oh, alright.”
Kunlun stepped back a few paces. The child lunged forward, then looked longingly at her. Her short little legs kicked against the painted cloth as she tried to crawl over. Meng Zhaozhong raised his hand, signaling Kunlun not to pick her up. Then, pointing at Kunlun, he asked, “Who is this?”
“Kunlun!”
Kunlun’s eyes widened slightly before the whites of her eyes subtly rolled upwards.
Meng Zhaozhong: “…”
Why was she nothing like his little sisters back home? When his younger sisters were babies, learning to talk wasn’t like this, hey!
“Wrong, good child,” Kunlun pointed at herself, smiling brightly. “It’s Shizun.”
“Kunlun!” the child said decisively.
“Shizun!” Kunlun persisted.
“Kunlun!”
…
“Meng Zhaozhong, pour me a cup of tea.”
“Yes.”
“Meng Zhaozhong, pour me a cup of tea too.” A soft, childish voice.
“Yes.”
“Huh?” Meng Zhaozhong turned his head to look at the child. Just moments ago, she could only say “Yiyiyi,” and now she could suddenly speak a full sentence?
Kunlun took the teacup, glanced sideways at her, and said flatly to Meng Zhaozhong, “She’s teasing me. You’ll get used to it.”
The honest dragon youth, Meng Zhaozhong: “…”
Are you two teaming up to tease me?
“Just watch,” Kunlun cleared her throat lightly and asked the child, “Who are you?”
The child said lazily, “Yi.”
“You are Chuci!”
“Yiyi!”
“Good child, your name is Chuci.”
“Yiyiyi!”
Dragon youth Meng Zhaozhong felt he could no longer bear to watch the Mountain Saint. As long as the two of them were having fun, that’s all that mattered.
Upper Realm, Purple Firmament Hall.
“Your Majesty, it was not that your minor official was careless. There are demon creatures inside that Kunlun Mountain. This minor official’s cultivation is meager; it was fortunate that I ran fast and wasn’t made into a meal. But the movement in the mountain made it impossible to conceal my tracks. A moment of carelessness led to being discovered by the Mountain Saint’s people.” Du Heng knelt and reported.
“Since when does Kunlun Mountain have demon creatures? Where did you enter the mountain?”
“Midway up the mountain, there’s a large waterfall, just to the left of it.”
“Oh? Then where did you meet Kunlun? She used to live at the Cloud Dwelling near the summit of Kunlun Mountain. What about this time?” The Heavenly Emperor sat behind his desk, the jade beads hanging from his Nine-tassel Crown veiling his face, making his expression even harder to read.
Star Lord Du Heng pondered for a moment. “Minor official was led to see the Mountain Saint by a dragon youth. Minor official does not know exactly where. However, the dragon youth did not lead me for very long, so it should not have been near the summit.”
The Heavenly Emperor responded with a low “Mm.”
Du Heng thought for a moment, then added, “But one cannot rule out the possibility that the dragon youth used the divine ability of Space Shrinking. After all, minor official’s cultivation is truly shallow, so it is normal not to have noticed.”
The Heavenly Emperor glanced at him. “You certainly have a way with words.”
Star Lord Du Heng hastily prostrated himself. “Minor official wouldn’t dare.”
“Rise,” the Heavenly Emperor straightened up, stepped in front of his desk, clasped his hands behind his back, and squinted slightly. He asked, “You met the Mountain Saint?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Star Lord Du Heng rose shakily.
“How was it?”
“To which aspect does Your Majesty refer?”
“Any aspect. For example…” The Heavenly Emperor paused, then suddenly said casually, “Between her and me, who is more like a god?”
Before Star Lord Du Heng could even steady himself, he was so frightened he fell to his knees again with a thud, his thighs trembling. “Minor official… Minor official…”
It was over. These knees seemed beyond saving. But knees were still a small matter—if his life was lost, then it was truly over.
“What are you trembling for? Hm?”
“I… no, no, minor official… minor official isn’t trembling.” Star Lord Du Heng was shaking like a sieve. “Naturally, Your Majesty is more like a god. No, Your Majesty is a god. The Mountain Saint… ah, no, she… she is merely a stubborn old relic clinging to life in a corner.”
The Heavenly Emperor fiddled with the white jade thumb ring on his finger, tasting the word: “Stubborn old relic?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Du Heng let out a breath, twisting his hips slightly to suppress the urge to urinate.
“But I…” The Heavenly Emperor laughed coldly, his voice sharp as he questioned: “I can die. All gods, all immortals, will eventually die. My father and mother died. Why is it that only she does not die? Why can she live as long as heaven and earth? Even if it’s her, why is even that demon… why is even a demon nobler than I?!”
“I rule the Three Realms! Every god and immortal bows before me! What does she count as? I am the true divine being!”
Du Heng’s face was ashen, his heart equally so. If this torment continued, he might as well just die.
He heavily knocked his head against the floor and simply lay prostrate, not getting up.
He waited quietly for the Heavenly Emperor to finish his tantrum. Then, Star Lord Du Heng heard his voice, calm as usual again: “When you met her, did you notice anything unusual? For instance, was there anyone else around her? Any pets? Or did she frequently cast her gaze somewhere? Did she seem like someone with a concern in her heart?”
Du Heng thought to himself: What is wrong with the Heavenly Emperor? One moment he’s throwing a fit, the next he’s asking if someone has concerns. So temperamental, so unpredictable—truly, a ruler’s heart is unfathomable. The Mountain Saint hadn’t provoked him or offended him, yet he himself had even cursed her, just to save his own skin.
But then, since the Mountain Saint lives as long as heaven and earth, would she hear what he had said? So he silently added in his heart: Mountain Saint, forgive me, forgive me. Those words don’t count.
Star Lord Du Heng kowtowed again and reported everything he saw—every item, every word Kunlun said to him, including all the useless questions when she was hard of hearing, and even her servant Meng Zhaozhong. He tried to recount it without a shred of subjective emotion. Things like: how Meng Zhaozhong the white dragon was truly magnificent; how the Mountain Saint seemed like a true deity; how the Mountain Saint lived so simply while the Heavenly Emperor lived so extravagantly. He kept all these observations bottled up inside, afraid that the Heavenly Emperor would lose his temper again.
After his underclothes had been soaked through and dried from cold sweat three or four times, Star Lord Du Heng was finally released back to the Hundred Flowers Valley. He immediately decided to seclude himself, striving to make his presence in the Heavenly Court negative.
— The Heavenly Emperor still thinks of me?
The Heavenly Emperor’s expression suddenly changed. He turned and strode out of the hall.
“Your Majesty!” The Curtain-Raising General waiting at the door hurried to follow.
“Do not follow me.”
The Heavenly Emperor did not summon the imperial chariot pulled by nine dragons. Instead, he rode a cloud directly to the Thirty-Second Heaven. He stopped before a quiet, elegant palace. Plantain herbs grew thick before the hall, and the faint sound of strings and pipes drifted in from somewhere unknown.
The palace doors slowly opened on their own.
The Heavenly Emperor felt much calmer inside. He walked straight in.
First, there was a long covered walkway, with clear jade-green water below. Wind lotus were planted at the bottom, each lifting its head boldly as they watched this Heavenly Emperor who came to intrude once every thousand years. Then, they started chattering and chirping among themselves.
“He’s coming over. Who is this? Who is this?” asked a very young lotus.
An older lotus answered, “This is the Heavenly Emperor. He lives three heavens below us.”
The young lotus said to another young lotus, “Aiya, the Heavenly Emperor? Little Nine, did you hear? That’s the Heavenly Emperor, the Heavenly Emperor!”
The other young lotus: “Heavenly Emperor, Heavenly Emperor, what is that? What is that?”
“Don’t make a fuss. Discuss it after he goes in.” A woman’s voice drifted through the air, slow and gentle, as if smiling. “Otherwise, he’ll take you down to the Twenty-Ninth Heaven to make lotus leaf meat buns.”
“Lotus leaf meat buns, lotus leaf meat buns, we don’t want that! We don’t want that!”
“Then won’t you obediently shut your mouths?”
The chattering lotus pond immediately fell silent. The Heavenly Emperor raised an eyebrow and smiled. “A Yang, it’s fine. Let them make noise. Everywhere I go feels stifling; only here with you can I relax a little.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t pluck you to make lotus leaf meat buns,” he said, turning to the lotus pond, his tone considered kind: “I am the Heavenly Emperor. The Heavenly Emperor rules the Three Realms. You also must obey me. If I say no one is to pluck you for meat buns, then no one dares to pluck you.”
“Not even the Jiangchu Fairy?”
“A Yang?” The Heavenly Emperor looked at the hall door at the end of the walkway. A graceful, beautiful silhouette could faintly be seen. He smiled, “Her? I cannot control her. Offending her for your sake, wouldn’t the loss outweigh the gain?”
The lotus pond fell silent once more.
“A Jun, how long are you going to dawdle outside? The tea is getting cold.” Jiang Yang said.
