With the help of Mo Yuan and Liansong, Wenchang had been occupied with repairing the pagoda for ten days. According to the High God, it would take sixty days to rectify the damage caused to the Sky Kingdom. Fortunately, they were able to rebuild as much as they could of the buildings and the surrounding structures, and substitute the potted plants and decorations, to prepare the Sky Kingdom for the upcoming celebration.
A custom order for a new selection of celestial scholarly robes had just arrived for Wenchang. Since his arrival to the immortal realm formerly as an apprentice and a disciple of the God of War, he had never worn any colour other than plain white. Prior to being sent to the Kunlun Mountains, his outfits as a young immortal mainly consisted of a little touch of pale blue on his white outer robe coupled with his white inner robes. The situation was different now, that he was the new lord of Taichen Palace and a royal celebration was coming up. To commemorate the coronation of the new Sky Emperor, Wenchang had decided to take up his old friend Siming's suggestion to not stick to his rigid choice of wearing only white, and introduce some new colours to his attire. As the goddess Weaving Lady (Zhi Nu) was away visiting her husband, the Cowherd, once a year, it had taken a longer time for his robe to be completed. Fortunately, Zhi Nu's apprentices, with their ample training, had been able to complete her unfinished work, before the given deadline.
Among the robes that Wenchang received from Zhi Nu, there had been a variety of colours, namely blue, red, yellow, black, purple and pink. Wenchang set aside pink for Zhe Yan and randomly picked up the purple robe for himself. On his first impression, he felt a strong desire to wear that colour, as if that particular colour appealed to him. As he was trying on the robe, he heard a knock on the door.
"You may enter," Wenchang said. He realised how difficult it had been for him to don this purple robe, meant to be worn during occasions, as opposed to his plain white apprentice robes. The material of the robes had appeared to be more fragile and he had to be very careful while pulling the robe over his body, and furthermore, there had been so many layers. He wondered how he was going to take them off afterwards, without using magic. It was no small wonder that immortals tended to use magic at every opportunity they had. The handiwork of Zhi Nu's apprentices had been very exquisite, and each design on the robe had been very distinctive.
Picture credited to the original poster on Weibo.
Chong Lin pushed open the door and entered graciously. "My lord, High God Mo Yuan has called for your presence at the demon-sealing pagoda." "I will go immediately," Wenchang said, and Chong Lin disappeared. As soon as he had finished dressing, he headed to the pagoda at once. Mo Yuan was indeed waiting at the pagoda, to which Wenchang greeted him politely, 'Master'. Upon seeing Wenchang approach, the God of War pointed to the repaired portion of the pagoda which had cracked earlier, and requested for Wenchang's assistance to test it with him, for any signs that it would crack again.
It was basically a 'stress' test to see if by applying powerful magic to it, whether it would be prone to cracking again. Mo Yuan had already started the first by using different skills and strengths of his own, and now he wanted to ensure, by combining his power with that of Wenchang, whether it would break again. Wenchang now had newly-acquired powers and the increased years of cultivation, particularly which he had gained from his banishment to the mortal realm and undergoing of a mortal trial. Although it had not been formally explained to Wenchang himself, it had been Hao De's decision to send Wenchang to undergo the harsh mortal trial, for him to gain some actual experience and increase his cultivation.
"The purple colour of your new robe suits you very well," Mo Yuan said, as they sat down to take a break from all the hard work they had been performing earlier. "Where is it from?"
"A custom order from the Weaving Maiden, Master."
"You should wear it more often," Mo Yuan said, thinking of how Donghua had been in his majestic purple robes. Compared to that of Donghua, Wenchang's new robe had been slightly more patterned. Donghua had often worn plain dark purple robes devoid of any patterns or designs to remind him of the harsh life that an emperor should take in his route as the sole ruler of the universe. Of course, this was before he had become the lord of Taichen Palace, where he lived a life that had been somewhat luxurious. Ever since he abdicated and left the throne to Hao De, he had been spoiled with thousands of maids and servants to attend to his every need, and enjoying himself with the most pleasant of dishes and wine.
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It had seemed like eons since Fengjiu had last set foot in the Sky Kingdom. Every breath of the air there had reminded her of his presence, regardless whether she was in Taichen Palace or not. The air had been cool and sweet, and with every step she took, she felt he had never left her at all. Her mind was clouded with memories of how she had often pestered Donghua when she was just a young immortal. The very place had been where she had professed her love to him, hugged him and even laid a kiss on his lips. To accept the fact that he was gone forever was killing her slowly from inside. Every word that he had written in the scroll that Siming had presented to her, resonated clearly in her mind, bringing bouts of emotion into her mind as tears filled her eyes.
As she made her way into the terrace, she suddenly saw a tall immortal dressed in a purple robe standing with his back to her. Without giving it a further thought, she immediately rushed to the immortal and embraced him from behind. He had to be one of her hallucinations, she thought. After all, she had hallucinated his presence, also with his back to her, during her own coronation. She had felt so emotional that she couldn't refrain from calling out, "DIJUN!"
In a flash, Wenchang turned around to see who had embraced him, and upon seeing the face before him for the first time, he immediately realised how similar she was to the 'Fairy Beauty' that had rescued him in his mortal lifetime as Zhang Ya. Her resemblance to the beauty whom had saved Zhang Ya had been so strikingly similar, especially the phoenix birthmark on her forehead. If she wasn't the fairy beauty, who else could she be?
Fengjiu was shocked to see that the purple-robed immortal before her had not been an illusion or part of her imagination, but another immortal dressed in purple. From the back, he had been so alike to Donghua. Wenchang realised that the small face of the female immortal before him had been stained with tears, and feeling sorry for her, offered her his handkerchief, which was coincidentally purple in colour as well. As the female immortal accepted his handkerchief, she quickly jumped up in a fright, "Ah! I have been sleepwalking-" she looked around her, and continued, "Where am I? This isn't the Hall of Great Treasures, is it?" Wenchang had lived in the Sky Kingdom to know that such a place didn't exist, but allowed her to continue her act. Hastily she ran from the terrace shouting "I am lost! I need to go back", while still holding Wenchang's purple handkerchief. Wenchang sighed and resumed the continuous task of 'stress testing' the pagoda with Mo Yuan, who had not witnessed their meeting.
A day went by, and the immortals were expected in the Grand Hall for a gathering to send off Hao De. Wenchang had chosen to dress himself in a white robe with a light shade of lavender. Liansong, who had been standing next to him, observed how he had been eagerly searching for the presence of a particular someone among the crowd of immortals that had gathered. In a low voice he whispered teasingly, "Look at how interested you have been in beauties recently." This was partially true as it was fact that he had rarely left the palace, but he was now obligated to attend some events as he had heard that there would be beauties attending these events, and a few had actually tried to catch his attention. Liansong rambled on, without stopping, about the beauties in the Sky Kingdom, and their rumours (with the exception of his Cheng Yu, of course) but Wenchang wasn't bothered about his one-sided conversation, as his eyes continued to scan the hall. As Liansong talked, all he received from Wenchang had been a single nod to indicate that he had been listening, despite that he wasn't interested in what the gossiper had to say.
"The Bais have arrived," a young immortal announced.
The Bais, with the exception of Fengjiu, made their presence, to which Liansong explained to Wenchang that they were the in-laws of Yehua. Again, Wenchang responded with a nod.
Fifteen minutes passed, and finally Fengjiu made her grand entrance, flanked by her old friends Siming and Cheng Yu. "The Queen of Qing Qiu arrives," the immortal announced. Her arrival sparked Wenchang to quickly turn into her direction and observe that she looked ravishing in her elegant red gown, compared to how she had appeared yesterday in her simple attire of pink robes. In addition, she was beaming happily and laughing while conversing with her friends, stopping momentarily to exchange greetings with the immortals present. She looked a lot more beautiful when she was in a jovial mood. He watched as she mouthed a temporary goodbye to her friends and headed towards the Bais to take her seat among them.
Wenchang continued to watch Fengjiu dreamily as he was unable to take his eyes off her, for a strangely long time. Mo Yuan who was seated in the opposite direction in the hall, noticed how Wenchang acted in Fengjiu's presence, but kept silent. Wenchang's surprising reaction to the beauty did not escape the aged Hao De's observant eyes, as well.
Hao De had been thinking of how relieved he was now that he would no longer have to take all the stress and worries of the Sky Kingdom, which was now Yehua's burden, but sadly, Donghua was not around to witness this to himself. He then watched Wenchang's dreamy look, and recalled that since taking up the responsibilities of the Sky Kingdom as one of its newest monarchs, he seldom had any social interactions with anyone outside Taichen Palace. Even in the Sky Kingdom, the only friends he had were Liansong, Siming and his fellow disciples Seventy-Four and Seventy-Five. Like Donghua, he shied away from crowds and disliked attention from others. Looking into the direction of Wenchang's eyes, it had been very obvious to Hao De that he was in fact, staring intently at the Bai beauty, who had seemed to have grown maturer and prettier compared to that time where she had been seen by his very eyes to be lying in a pool of her own blood after her high immortal trial. Looking at Wenchang now, Hao De could only laugh to himself. At the same time, he was very appreciable to Wenchang while he had been Seventy-Three, as a very helpful ally and a keeper of the documents and books in the Registry. Among all, his greatest contribution had been his help in defeating the monsters that had escaped from the demon-sealing pagoda.
Hao De was suddenly aware that the King of the West Sea was watching him in his joy, from the King's seated position opposite him. The King greeted him and congratulated him before saying, "You might not wish anything better than what is about to happen (referring to the coronation of his grandson)."
Hao De firmly responded, "Perhaps there is nothing better than one more 'joyful event' (xi shi, pertaining to marriage) with the Sky Kingdom. After all, "
The King's large eyes almost popped out of their sockets in amazement. The immortals all started gossiping between themselves in their excitement to know who was the next immortal to be lucky enough to be match-made with the Sky Kingdom. "Could it be the Third Prince and Cheng Yu?" Some immortals started guessing and laughing, considering how insistent Liansong had been in his courtship of the goddess.
A serious look was plastered across Hao De's face. He turned to Mo Yuan and declared, "Another marriage in the sky, a tie of union between the Kunlun Mountains and the Bais."
Bai Zhi Dijun was struck by shock and anger by Hao De's words. Immediately he stood up from his seat, about to protest that his granddaughter could by no means, marry an old haystack like Mo Yuan. Furthermore, she was his daughter's master, which meant she would be her great-master or even her grandfather, if they were to consider Mo Yuan's friendship with himself. Of course, he was glad that Fengjiu had not ended up with Donghua, which would have proven the most complicated of all relationships. Though he had known of Fengjiu's admiration for the cold Emperor Lord, he had not known of their affair in the Sky Kingdom.
Mo Yuan's response had been very straightforward. "I have 77 sons (as he now has 78 disciples). Who among them is the chosen one? But please bear in mind, that I wish for him to decide on his own, whether to accept this arrangement."
"I propose a glorious unification of the Sky Kingdom and Qing Qiu, by having a marriage between Wenchang, which I now take as my godson, and the current queen of the eastern lands belonging to Bai Zhi."
Zhe Yan stood up from his seat and bowed his head in respect to Hao De. "I apologise for my interference, About-to-be-retired Lord of Heaven, but I have a few words to say. Furthermore, I have spent a number of years with Your godson since he was a young immortal, to be able to understand his true nature and his personality."
"Speak your words, Zhe Yan," Hao De replied.
"The two of them seem to be surprised. I beseech Your Majesty, to give them time to decide."
As Hao De looked in the direction of both Fengjiu and Wenchang, he realised their eyes had been glued onto each other in shock and most probably, confusion. While Hao De did not know of their chance meeting with each other, he presumed they just needed more time to settle down and know each other.
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