Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Dead?

Again she was too late.

“How did she die?”

Siming smiled charmingly.

“In the name of love. She died for the fool Fang Yiqi. I have their fate written down in my scrolls right here. Unfortunately, contrary to what you planned out for them, she didn’t manage to achieve it.”

Qiwan reclined on the rocking chair in Siming’s chamber.

“Is there anything I can do to help them?”

“Of course, if you want to see Chu Xinran, there’s always a way. You are a senior immortal after all. There’s nowhere that restricts you.”

“Deity Siming, your meaning?”

“You can travel back into the past three mortal years before she died. But you can’t change the ending of their love story, nor their fate. Chu Xinran is now a mortal and she has to take her own path and live her own fate.”

“Where can I find her, Deity Siming?”

“Your husband, Immortal Di Qing, is bestowed with the special ability of premonition. If you wish to find Chu Xinran and Fang Yiqi, go to Mortal World 400 with Immortal Di Qing. Other than that, I’m afraid I can’t divulge more.”

And it was from that point, that Qiwan made up her mind to search each nook and cranny in Mortal World 400 to get to Chu Xinran.

……………………………………………………………………

Back to present time

“Xiao Qi, if you wish to seek this human, I will by all means support your wishes and help you in whatever you will.”

Di Qing put his hands on her shoulders as he gazed into Qiwan’s eyes. She smiled happily, but there was no love in her heart. She was only indebted to him. Goodness knows how she even got pregnant, when they barely shared the same bed.

She appeased herself again with the fact that her parents hadn’t even done the deed when her mother fell pregnant with her and birthed her after three years. Perhaps it was the same with Di Qing. He didn’t even question how she had gotten pregnant so quickly, probably because he was a new immortal and didn’t quite fathom how things worked in the immortal realm. And the same with her, she was already over thirty thousand years old and she didn’t even know what being an immortal was all about, other than cultivation and following the rules.

Her attraction to the immortal she could never have an ending with was the reason she had broken those rules. But now that things were over between them, she could only accept her fate with Di Qing. He was the one she would spend her infinite lifespan with.

Di Qing hadn’t touched her at all, apart from her shoulders or her hands. Even he shied away from a sensual kiss with her, and he had never seen her in a state of undress. Their feelings were mutual, it was more of an obligation rather than true innocent love. Qiwan still envied Quyan for pursuing her true love, but now, nothing she did would change the reality that she and her true love would never be together.

Yes, the man who had seen her bare and came together with her as one, would only be Yingshang. She clenched her fist hard to contain a tear, then faked a smile.

“My husband, I would be glad if you could accompany me on the journey.”

“I would be most happy to,” he smiled bashfully as he took her hand.

Then, it was silent between them.

Qiwan would continue to wonder about Yingshang, even for years after that. An exiled god with no connections to the immortal realms, he was out by himself until he ran out of the mortal life he was given. Then, for cycles after that, he was reborn, again and again, not in the mortal realm but in the ranks of lesser deities. World after world, lifetime after lifetime, she didn’t know but he was still thinking about her as well.

She had stowed away Yingshang’s magical boat in a chest she buried underground, along with every portrait she had drawn of him or her journal entries about him. Maybe one time if he ever came back, she would gladly return the boat to him, but the memories they shared would remain the deepest of her secrets.

Tang Jing was gone, leading a happy and blissful life married to Min Yang. Qiwan knew that the last thing she could do was to also give Chu Xinran a happy life, whether it was this life or the next.

Then she remembered.

The day when she was on the boat with Yingshang, it was Chu Xinran’s birth in the mortal realm that had caused the pang in her chest. Because Chu Xinran was made of her blood and immortal breath, she felt the link between them.

She hoped it wasn’t all too late.

Mortal Realm 400

Within the army barracks, a soldier with a sharp nose and distinguished facial features was reading a book with a lamp lit beside him. In another bed nearby, a girl disguised as a man was watching him intently.

“Xiao Chu, you should go to sleep.” the man said.

Xinran didn’t care much for sleep. She had found that she had much strength in her and could lift heavy items and lots of other stuff. She barely needed sleep, so six hours a day was more than enough for her. But something in this young man drew him to her.

At nights, she would often dream of a woman, who she reckoned was a goddess, in a pastel robe. The goddess would tell her that she was born to fulfil Fang Yiqi’s desires and she was fated to him.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be the complete opposite. She had chased him around in circles, harassed him and tried to make him fall for her. In her exasperation, she had followed him to join the army in the guise of a young man. No matter what she did, she never got his attention. He ignored her so hard that she called him heartless.

Xinran was just sixteen. She didn’t know if what she felt for the young man was definitely love, but she continued to pursue him all the same. If she was born for this mission, then she should go on with it. After all, nobody struck her the same way as this Fang Yiqi did.

Fang Yiqi, she dreamily lay in bed and imagined him accepting her the way she wished.

Unfortunately, it was just her imagination. Fang Yiqi still had his nose in the martial strategy book, making small gestures with his hands on how he should practice the moves depicted in the book.

Behind the window, a couple watched them, the woman showing major interest. The man was calm, focusing his attention on the woman instead.

“As a matter of fact, she does look like you.”

“Shh,” Qiwan whispered. “We can’t let them hear us.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve set up a force field that will keep out our noises from them,” Immortal Di Qing said. “So tell me, my dear wife, about this mortal woman who you are so interested in.”

She scowled for a moment.

“Chu Xinran was my creation. I had long forgotten about the past, until Deity Siming told me.”

“My premonition tells me it's not going to end well.”

“Shh!”

Qiwan pulled Di Qing to a corner, impaling his eyes with her deep brown eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“Again, you’ve forgotten we are in a force field. My senior immortal, if only you paid a little more attention to what we immortals are capable of.”

She smirked. “What about them? What’s going to happen?”

“The girl will give up her life for the man. We can’t change Fate’s Arrangement. Even Deity Siming has no power over this.”

Qiwan stared at the couple languidly. “Is there nothing I can do for them, considering it was me who brought Xinran to this world?”

Di Qing consulted his powers again, before he spoke up, answering her doubts.

“In her next life, you could probably meet her and create a presence in her life. But you cannot mess with fate.”

“How do you know so much?”

“Let’s just say, I have been in a similar predicament.”

The duo’s conversation was interrupted by the abrupt noise of a cock’s crow deep in the morning. With a single gesture, Di Qing dispelled the force field.

“It’s late now, my dear wife. We should leave.”

The last she saw of the two inside the room was Xinran’s deep infatuation for the man who would come to reject her continuously and lead to her most tragic end, Fang Yiqi.