With her tear-streaked face, Fengjiu was sitting on the carpeted floor of the Taichen Palace, aimlessly looking at the plain ceiling of the palace, while being watched carefully by the kind steward. All of a sudden, the majestic door of the bedroom was flung open with extreme force. As she hastily stood to greet him, the Dijun stared at her with a stoic look on his face and suddenly said to her, "Follow me". Although Fengjiu was still a little lightheaded from all the crying earlier, she did as ordered.
Her mind was filled with questions and at the same time, she sensed an unfamiliar aura arising from the Dijun himself. His voice had seemed to have changed slightly, yet his facial expression was as unemotional as it had been the last time she had seen him. She cast aside her concerns that his voice had been slightly different. After all, what mattered was he was back. Even her voice would get hoarse from too much shouting or crying. She hurried to follow him, consumed by her desire and excitement to talk to him. Her emotions were swirling around in her head wildly despite her dizziness.
While she had followed the Dijun all the way from Taichen Palace to the unknown destination he was taking her in the Sky Kingdom, none of them had said a single word. After over sixty thousand years of not seeing him, twenty thousand of which she had been sleeping, she didn't know where to start in their conversation. She just wanted to see him again, even if it meant that this would be the ending between the two of them. She firmly understood what had been the price of defying fate after all this while, and if it meant that he would be safe without being with her, she would resign herself to this fate. She was glad he was alive and well, and she was ready to let go of any hope of being with him if that meant he would live.
She noticed that during the long walk, the Dijun had been stopping to take a few glances of her as they had walked and she had stopped to catch her breath. She looked around at the fragrant lotus flowers dominating the area as they walked past, and wondered where the Dijun was taking her in such a rushed manner.
Finally the Dijun stopped just next to the Immortal Punishment Platform, located just before Yehua's Xiwu Palace. This was the very platform that Bai Qian had leapt down from when she was Su Su, after being tricked by Sujin that jumping down from the platform would return her to the mortal realm. Fengjiu was clueless why Donghua would take her to the platform, but then she recalled the platform was located next to the Rock of Three Incarnations. Maybe, he had a solution to remove his name from the Rock, she thought positively.
The Dijun reached out to her with his open palms. She presumed that even after this long while, he still had feelings for her, and she willingly gave him her hands. "Come," he said in a soft and calm voice. As he took her hands in his, she asked him, "Dijun, where have you been?" He led her slowly to the platform, and she looked at him queerly, but went with him. She repeated her question, thinking that he might have not heard her words earlier.
Instead of answering her question, a sarcastic smile instead played across the purple-robed immortal's lips, and in a flash, he attempted to push her down the opening of the platform. However, she resisted the immortal's push, with her feet firmly affixed to the ground, and recited a magical incantation. Years of cultivation and swordsmanship had improved her physical and mental abilities and even when she was emotionally affected, she was very perceptive. On the other hand, she was stumped that her own lover had tried to push her down the platform. Was this her punishment for trying to defy fate? Was he now taking his pain out on her, due to him suffering the calamity for having provoked him into submission that fateful night? But, she had been punished too, hadn't she been? She had suffered, just as he had.
"Dijun, stop it! It's me!" she cried out, as she called for her sword to materialise before her. "I'm your Jiu'er!"
The purple-robed immortal just laughed insanely.
..............................................................................
Wenchang arose from his sleep as he saw the exact scene of what was happening at the Immortal Punishment Platform, in his dreams. The silly woman was in extreme danger! When he was battling the Vanishing Chimera back at Qingqiu, he had already observed that he had such a mischievous and yet, carefree fiancee. This woman would really be the death of him, he had said in the past. Not a day had gone without him not being concerned about her safety and well-being. Due to this, while he was tending to her injuries while she was in an unconscious state, Wenchang had cast a magical spell on her which functioned as a tracking spell and an amulet to ward her from harm. Every single time she sensed that she was in danger, it would activate itself and trigger a warning to him regardless where he was at that time. While he had anticipated such a situation, he had not expected it to have happened while they were at the Sky Kingdom.
He was still feeling the effects of a hangover, when he immediately teleported himself to her location. While she was strong, her opponent had been physically stronger. Finally, her opponent had broken free from the spell that had constrained him and struck her with an attack that caused her to fall headlong, into the opening of the platform.
Fengjiu felt herself plunging downwards. Perhaps this was the end, she thought silently as she felt her consciousness fade away. All her memories were flashing before her. She wasn't afraid of death, she just had so many questions in her head that were left unanswered. Was fate punishing them for their moment of desire? As she had her eyes closed, she didn't notice that someone had descended the platform to follow her in her descent, as she fell into an unconscious state from. Wenchang extended his arms as far as he could until he managed to reach her and hold her in his embrace, as he recited a protection spell to ward her with the scabbard of his dagger to protect her from further harm.
Tremendous pain consumed him, apparently the destructive powers of the Immortal Punishment Platform, which had been said to be stronger than tens of thousands of immortal warriors. Thousands of lightning bolts were continuously striking him all over his body, as he almost cried in agony from all the shooting pain in his body, primarily his back. As the energy coursed through him, searing through his body, images clouded his mind. First came images of a man in purple with long silvery-white hair sitting on a throne, surrounded by thousands of beings, most of them whom he failed to recognise. Then, gradually, the images started to become clearer in his mind, and he was able to point out all the familiar faces, until he had seen all of his missing memories. The images finally ended with him holding a bloodied woman in a pale green dress in his arms. Every memory of the past had came back to him finally, as he had wished. Among all the chaos in his mind, he found a moment of clarity while enduring the agonising pain that the destructive forces of the platform had inflicted on his immortal body.
The truth had finally come to light. He was the lost god after all, the master of Taichen Palace, and Fengjiu's one true love. He had made the oath to protect all the inhabitants of the Four Seas and Eight Deserts, at the cost of the person he would come to love most. He had hidden his love for her, until she had severed her tail, and taken a full blow from the ghoul lord Qing Cang for him. Nobody had mattered so much to him until he had met her. Every time she had cried, every time she had been in pain, he had wanted to break down, but he had held himself back and hid his emotions. He had caused so much grievance to this little fox whom had done so much for him. She had asked if he would have loved her if he hadn't wiped his name from the Rock. She had smiled so happily when he had told her "I would have." And he had really wished that he could have.
If only he had recovered his memories earlier, it would have not come to this. She wouldn't have been pushed down the platform by the shapeshifting beast. She would probably have been happily married with him now as the Lord Wenchang. He would have been able to protect her from the beast, and it wouldn't even have a chance to get near her. Beings of that kind had an insidious nature, and it was likely that it wanted to consume her primordial soul and benefit from the cultivation and immortal energy that she had on her.
"Jiu'er!" he cried out as he witnessed with his own eyes, Fengjiu's primordial spirit leaving her own body, and the Dijiang beast that had now reverted to its original form as a four-winged magical creature, following after her. They were headed to one of the worlds in the mortal realm, which he entered as he followed after them. In his half-consciousness he sighted a strange object flying in the sky, seemingly a double-winged iron bird, rectangular-shaped mountains with exquisite designs that are not too high, and iron carriages roaming around. Chaos everywhere. Was this the legendary end of the world as the gossipers would laugh about? And where in the realms had he ended up in? He wondered as he descended swiftly to the strange ground, with Fengjiu's body still in his embrace.
His memories of that fateful night where they submitted to their desires for each other had never been clearer in his mind. Nothing in the Four Seas and Eight Deserts would have come easily, without his sacrifice. But now, he was nearing his end due to the peacefulness of the world, as it was reaching a new era and change. How could he have undone his previous oath without having to pay with the consequences of going against what he had promised? As he had sacrificed his own chances of romantic love and marriage for the sake of the eternity of the realms, those years of hardship, punishment, love, hate, gratitude and grudges had been nothing but a fated calamity, and that had been how destiny had shown him its charity.
He had never abandoned his oath, he had just known his time was due. And a new era was about to begin.
But yet, he had not expected his destiny to be with Fengjiu after all, as Wenchang.
And then, everything faded to black.
.............................................................................
End of Part Two.
Footnote: The Shapeshifting Beast
Originally, the Dijiang 帝江 (Thearch Long River) was a fictional beast, bright red and having six legs and four wings with no eyes or facial features of any kind, and hence lacking an apparent head (courtesy of Cryptidz Wiki). In Fated Calamity, its version of the Dijiang is a beast possessing shapeshifting abilities and capabilities beyond its original description. It also has an evil nature and schemed to devour Fengjiu's soul in order to obtain strength in acquiring a permanent appearance for itself.
The beast was able to retain Donghua's image due to staying in the nearby falls (Miaohua Mirror) created by Donghua. As much of his cultivation was present in the area, the beast had been able to copy its appearance. However, it was unable to fully mimic his voice or speak in full-length sentences (it can only says one to two character words) due to the absence of an actual mouth.
Yes, Donghua is finally back and here to stay.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
