Another Life

Chapter 1

As she swung the Kunlun fan towards Qing Cang, forcing him back, both he and Mo Yuan felt the force of her power.

Seventeen you've grown, he thought with pride. But the next moment Qing Cang had recovered. He swung his axe towards Bai Qian, forcing her to scramble backwards. Mo Yuan appeared by her side, blocking the blow with his sword.

"Shifu!" Bai Qian's eye were wide with shock. "You're awake."

He curled his hand behind her back to support her. The touch of her was strange and yet at the same time intensely familiar. "Yes I'm awake, seventeen." My seventeen. Bai Qian's eyes filled with tears.

"Mo Yuan!" Qing Cang's voice broke through. "Finally you are here! I have been awaiting you for 70,000 years. Now I can finally have my revenge."

"Shifu let me handle this," Bai Qian said. "You haven't yet fully recovered. I can take care of it. I can still tell he is injured from your previous battle - being inside the bell hasn't let him recover - let me finish him off."

"Wait," He said. "Together, then."

Her eyes grew bright.

***

In the end it happened as it always should have, master and disciple together, finishing off an ancient enemy that had torn them apart for nearly a hundred thousand years. In the end as Qing Cang lay on the beach, coughing up blood, he revealed his last move.

"I have linked my life to that of the bell," He cackled. "You may have defeated me but not for long. When I die the bell will consume the whole world and everything in it. You will all accompany me in death!"

He collapsed after those words, the Ghost King finally passed from the realm of the living. As the bell grew larger in the sky, Mo Yuan felt himself being immobolised. Bai Qian stepped forward in front of him.

"No," He said realizing what she was going to do. Weakened as he was, she was marginally stronger than him at that point. By the time he broke the spell she had put on him it would be too late.

"It's my turn," She told him, face pale with determination. "It's my turn to make the sacrifice so that Shifu can live in peace."

"Seventeen stop at once. Come back!"

She turned away from him. The next moment there was a new voice spoke, low and amused.

"There will be no need for any of that."

A hand touched him from behind and he was released. He turned and looked into the cold, calm eyes of Donghua Dijun.

The purple dressed God, the only God in all of the Realms who had been born not of a mother but of a stone, raised his arms. A light came from within him. His voice and fingers began to move.

Mo Yuan immediately recognized it as the spell to seal the bell. The one he had been unable to perform without giving up his soul. As he spoke Donghua spread his arms. As he did so the bell began to shrink in size and move towards him, until it disappeared into the bright light generated by the elder god. Afterwards Donghua lowered his arms and when he opened his palm Mo Yuan saw the bell sitting there, now a minute object no bigger than a thumb.

"That is spell to seal the bell," He said. "Except for me and Seventeen, I didn't think anyone else knew it."

Donghua smiled. He moved a little and Feng Jiu appeared sheepishly from behind him, holding the bamboo scroll for the spell. "I was worried." She said. Donghua took the scroll from her and returned it to Mo Yuan. "Had you been in complete health no doubt you could have done that yourself. However in this case thankfully I arrived in time. Otherwise if your disciple had given up her soul today then it would be your turn to wait 70,000 years and that would be a tragedy... or should I say a comedy? It's all the same to me."

Of all the Gods in the Nine Heavens, the one Mo Yuan understood the least was Donghua Dijun. It was a sentiment shared by many. It was impossible to tell whether he was being serious or joking.

"Thank you for your aid." He raised his fists in a gesture of respect. "The world has you to thank as their savior."

"Can't let the two of you take the glory all the time," Donghua said. He stepped closer with an amused look on his face. "Say I had almost forgotten what you looked like, it's been such a long time. Looking at you now the resemblance to the Crown Prince is really quite uncanny."

"The Crown Prince?" Mo Yuan blinked. Could it be?

"Yes, it would be amusing to see the two of you standing side by side one day. Anyway I must be off. Siming is still waiting to finish a chess game and if I'm gone too long he may get untoward ideas towards my pieces. Farewell."

"Donghua-!" Feng Jiu reached out but it was too late, he had gone.

"You should go after him." Mo Yuan said. "He's injured."

"Injured?" Feng Jiu looked dismayed.

"Yes though he may try to hide it behind nonchalance, the sealing of the spell takes a significant blow. To someone as powerful Donghua Dijun no doubt he will recover completely in good time, but right now he certainly requires rest and care."

Feng Jiu said immediately, "Gugu don't tell my dad where I am!" And disappeared. The Heavenly host too took their leave, no doubt to report to the Heavenly Emperor what had just occurred.

Mo Yuan paused for a moment and turned around. They were finally alone and together after their separation 70,000 years on this very beach. Bai Qian's eyes were fixed on his and still wet with tears. There was a small smile on her face.

"Shifu" Bai Qian said softly. The next moment she was in his arms.

"How could you be so stupid." He too was crying. "If you had given up your soul, I don't know what I would have done..."

Above them in the suddenly bright sky birds of different colors suddenly appeared, heralding a new dawn.

***

Seventeenth had warned him the halls on top of Kunlun Mountains were mostly abandoned as the disciples had gone back to their respective homes. But to both their surprise when they arrived, all the disciples were there. As one they kneeled.

"Shifu," They said, most wiping away tears. "Six days ago the birds appeared in the sky, just like they did today. We knew it was a sign that Shifu was returning so we came back and readied the place in anticipation."

"I'm back." He said.