Fast-forward to ten years later, Seventy-Three had been cultivating and learning from Zhe Yan at the Ten Miles of Peach Blossom as his second master. Since moving there, the nightmares had stopped. Zhe Yan roughly recalled a moment where he had left the orchard momentarily only to return and find Seventy-Three surrounded by falling blossom petals, appearing to resemble fingers in the distance. It had been such a mesmerising scene as the petals fluttered above Seventy-Three, enveloping him. On a closer look, Zhe Yan found that Seventy-Three was unconscious and had tried to rescue him, but a barrier had formed itself around Seventy-Three, preventing Zhe Yan from intruding further. When Zhe Yan tried to break down the barrier, he found himself unable to, due to the power of the protective magic surrounding the barrier. The magic clashed with Zhe Yan's own magic and caused a few of his trees to burst into flames. Zhe Yan had been left no choice but to retreat for the sake of his orchard.
When asked about the incident, Seventy-Three only answered that he had been drunk from sampling the wine he had been brewing and chosen to sleep under one of the peach blossom trees. When he awoke the next morning, he had seen the burnt trees and was unaware what had happened to the burnt trees the night before. Zhe Yan pretended to have no idea of what happened and suggested that the trees may have been struck by lightning, and asked Seventy-Three to replant the burnt trees instead. From this incident Zhe Yan was able to deduce that Seventy-Three's cultivation was very high, to be able to produce such powerful and devastating effects even when he was asleep, surpassing even the immortals of 'high god' rank in spite of his young age. However, on the surface, Seventy-Three had looked like any normal immortal.
Zhe Yan would tell Seventy-Three of the two beauties of the Bai family, who would often bother him from time to time. He would often tell stories of how mischievous the two were, and remind Seventy-Three how lucky he was to be born in a different generation from him. Zhe Yan stated that had both beauties came to pester him at the same time, he would not have known how his orchard would have been turned out, with all the chaos that they brought along to him. Unknown to Zhe Yan, Seventy-Three was already plotting on how to meet the two beauties. He knew that he was considered a lowly immortal compared to the two beauties who were of royalty status, but he had been eager to see them for himself after hearing of Zhe Yan's tales about them. According to Zhe Yan, they were considered the first and second ranked beauties in the Four Seas and Eight Deserts, and no other female could match with their beauty.
In the decade that Seventy-Three lived in Zhe Yan's orchard, it was seldom visited by immortals, apart from Bai Zhen and his mount Bifang. Occasionally they would have a visit from the Second Prince of the West Sea. Seventy-Three had never got the chance to meet the beauties that Zhe Yan had told him about. Although Seventy-Three didn't know, but at this point, Bai Qian had returned to the Sky Kingdom with Ali, while leaving Qingqiu in the hands of Bai Zhi and the Bais, and Fengjiu was still in her slumber, occasionally visited by Zhe Yan to monitor her condition and prescribe further medication. Seventy-Three would also accompany Zhe Yan to send wine to other immortals as gifts when Zhe Yan saw fit. They had officially visited the West Sea and the Nether Realm. On his first sight of Seventy-Three, the Lord of the Underworld, Xie Guchou, had mistook him for Donghua due to the similar colour of his hair to that of Donghua, but Zhe Yan wasted no time in giving him an explanation and introduce Seventy-Three as the seventy-third disciple of Mo Yuan.
It was said that Lord Xie had been a friend of Fengjiu in the past, and with her disappearance Lord Xie had not appeared in Qingqiu for some time. Perhaps, with his business in the Nether Realm, he had hardly any chances to see Donghua in person to remember clearly how he looked like and also, he probably hadn't got wind of what had actually happened to Donghua in the Nine Heavens as the truth behind Donghua's disappearance had been carefully hidden by the Immortal Realm. Lord Xie was also not one of the guests present during the royal family.
Nevertheless, as Lord Xie was a man of a few words, he had happily accepted the explanation and acknowledged that he was mistaken. At the same time, Lord Xie also told Zhe Yan that despite the rumours of Donghua's death that he had heard from immortals passing by in their travels, he was positive that Donghua would come back anytime as there had been no evidence of his death, nor any incarnation recorded in his Book of Life and Death.
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Fengjiu saw herself in a beautiful place, surrounded by clouds and mist, with purple-coloured blossoms adorning the trees. She stretched her hands out and called for Emperor Donghua.
"Dijun, are you there?" There was no reply.
"Donghua?" she called out again. "Donghua Dijun, where are you?"
She felt a light breeze pull on her hair. Purple blossoms descended from the trees, swarming her and caressing her gently, as if Donghua was alive and touching her again. The petals enveloped her, landing in her hair and on her clothes, some on her feet. She continued to walk further while still calling Donghua's name, but the sight before her caused her to freeze in her footsteps. The path before her was pitch black, leading to complete darkness. She feared that this was the reality of Donghua's fate. For the first time, she felt scared.
A crowd of concerned family members had gathered around Fengjiu's bed, starting from her grandparents and parents to Bai Zhen and Zhe Yan. Bai Qian wasn't able to return to Qingqiu as she had spent a long time away from the Sky Kingdom, and at this moment she couldn't leave as she needed to stay behind in the Sky Kingdom to assist Yehua with a number of matters. According to Migu who had been watching her, Fengjiu had started showing signs of waking up. He had seen one of her fingers move slightly but she was still sleeping. She had been sleeping for 1,510 years after all, and everyone was excited for the day that she would finally wake up. After some time, Zhe Yan stood up upon completing his diagnosis of Fengjiu's condition. He asked all those present not to worry, as Fengjiu's condition was stable.
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As all good times come to an end, the day would come when Seventy-Three had to return to the Kunlun Mountains to resume cultivation under the God of War. Mo Yuan had anticipated this moment, waiting to receive Seventy-Three with open arms day after day. He had missed his youngest disciple so much. In fact ten immortal years would seem a short while to most immortals, but to Mo Yuan, it had felt exceptionally long. Zhe Yan had sent a few king-sized wine jars to Mo Yuan as a gift, and among them were wine that Seventy-Three had brewed himself during his stay at the orchard. Seventy-Three accompanied Zhe Yan in delivering the wine to Mo Yuan personally. When Mo Yuan realised the moment he had been waiting for had come, he rushed out and welcomed his disciple with open arms, bringing tears of joy to Seventy-Three's eyes. As Seventy-Three had no parents, Mo Yuan had acted as a surrogate father to him. This particular moment had been etched deep in his memory.
He stayed and cultivated until he was almost 20,000 years. Seventy-Three vividly recalled in his memory, how he had been sorting and packing items with his seniors when one of them, Fifty-One decided to seize the opportunity to remind Seventy-Three to behave appropriately and pay attention to their master while he was lecturing on Taoist principles. Probably, Fifty-One hadn't realized at that point, that in the near future, due to Seventy-Three's photographic memory and having memorised all the scriptures in the Kunlun Mountains, he probably would be the one to substitute their master in giving lectures on the Tao instead.
When Seventy-Three reached the immortal age of 20,000 years, Mo Yuan had requested Seventy-Three to accompany him to the Nine Heavens in the Sky Kingdom in giving lectures to the immortals there. The last time he had given a lecture there had been more than 100,000 years ago, as following that, he had taken 70,300 years to patch up his soul after it had been shattered by the Donghuang bell during a battle with the Ghost Clan. The lecture he would be giving had been estimated to take half a month.
On one of the days that they were in the Sky Kingdom for Mo Yuan's lectures, Mo Yuan and Seventy-Three decided to pay a visit to Yehua, considering their family ties as Yehua was Mo Yuan's brother in a past lifetime. On Mo Yuan's inquiry, he was informed that Yehua was in Taichen Palace as its temporary master. Mo Yuan was also informed that despite Immortal Zhonglin being a reliable steward of Taichen Palace, he only visited once in a millennium.
The duo were received by Yehua and the Star Lord Siming at the entrance to Taichen Palace, where Seventy-Three greeted them humbly and respectfully, clasping his hands with a bow and referring to himself as Little Immortal, "Little Immortal (xiaoxian) Seventy-Three pays his greetings to Prince Yehua and Star Lord Siming." Yehua was very warm to Mo Yuan and Seventy-Three, although Seventy-Three felt that even he, like all the immortals in the Nine Heavens they had met earlier, would have his eyes fixated on him for some time. As this was his second time meeting Siming and given Siming's kind personality, Seventy-Three clicked immediately with Siming. The siblings bonded over tea in the pavilion, recalling the last time they had met. Yehua expressed how long it had been since Mo Yuan ever visited the Sky Kingdom or his old friend Donghua's Taichen Palace, and Mo Yuan inquired on how his relationship was with Seventeen (Bai Qian). While Mo Yuan and Yehua were rejoicing in each other's happiness, Siming had brought his new silver-haired friend out on a tour of the Taichen Palace. He had also promised Seventy-Three a look at some of the manuscripts he was writing, which would be used in future mortal fate books. A thought appeared in Siming's mind on how Donghua had looked as a young immortal. Surely he would look a bit like Seventy-Three, since Seventy-Three bore such a striking resemblance to him?
After the tour, Siming and Seventy-Three returned to the pavilion, where Yehua warmly asked about his impression on the tour. Seventy-Three replied casually that he was amazed by the diversity of the books he had seen in the library at Taichen Palace. Yehua informed Seventy-Three that he was welcome to pay a visit to Siming and his library of books any time he wished. Seventy-Three was delighted, but as Mo Yuan had trained him about etiquette in the Sky Kingdom, he did not express signs of any excitement and simply smiled and thanked Yehua courteously with a bow, "Thank you, Prince Yehua."
On the way out, they ran into Prince Ali, Bai Qian and Yehua's young son, who had now grown to be a young immortal. As in the past, Ali was a very talkative and inquisitive boy, often saying things without further consideration. Yehua had expected Ali to jump right into questioning if Seventy-Three was Donghua. Mo Yuan had a lengthy explanation to Ali who Seventy-Three was and while he had silvery-white hair like Donghua, he wasn't Donghua but Seventy-Three, his youngest disciple by age. Apparently, Ali had caught wind of the news of Mo Yuan and a silver-haired young immortal visiting Taichen Palace, so he couldn't contain himself and quickly rushed there to find out for himself if it was true. They ended up chatting for almost two hours. Mo Yuan had long heard of how chatty his nephew was with strangers, but just brushed it off as part of adolescence. This time, he was able to witness it himself.
Just before they left, they managed to have a short glimpse of the Miaohua Mirror, an artifact at the Taichen Palace resembling a waterfall, which was said to be able to see into an immortal's lifetime, as well as to visit any place in the realms, but unfortunately, Donghua was the only one who could activate and use it, so all he could do was sigh and admit how miraculous the artifact was. He wished that if only Donghua was around, he would have the chance to observe the wonders it could do.
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