Red Snow

Chapter 32

The palace was more impressive inside. Rows of high seatings lined left and right, all of them filled with immortals. Bai Qian reconsigned some of them to be Ye Hua's close family, others to be gods and deities worshipped throughout the mortal realm.

At the end of the hall rose a throne, made of gold and jade. And sitting on it was the heavenly lord in his yellow imperial robe. He banged his gavel the moment she stepped in.

In the end, Bai Qian had found herself under the scrutiny of the bureaucracy of heaven.

"Bai Qian of Qing Qiu," The Heavenly Lord said her name out loud, "The fifth daughter of the late Fox Emperor Bai Zhi, apprentice of the demoness Da Ji. The White Plague, the Scarlet Beauty, "

Wow, she hadn't used those titles for centuries.

"You had surrendered yourself to face heavenly justice for the crimes you committed in the mortal realm," the Heavenly Lord continued and unfurled a scroll from his table. It was so long, it rolled to the end of the room.

"Throughout your three thousand years there you had helped your aunt to burn down hundreds of villages, raid dozens of cities, kill a thousand men and..."

"I get it," Bai Qian snapped, "I did a lot of bad things,"

"You were also an accomplice in the murder of the High God Mo Yuan,"

"I did not!" She protested, "That whole thing was an accident!"

He banged his gavel again, "Silence, it was written clearly here that you were,"

"By who!"

"By me," Just then, Ye Hua stepped out of the crowd. "Your Majesty, that report is biased, it was written in a fit of anger-"

"You're the one who is biased," the heavenly lord said, "What are you doing? Standing up for this criminal?"

Seeing Ye Hua again was like being stabbed by her aunt. It stirred up anger and resentment inside of her. No matter how many times, Bai Qian had to remind herself that Ye Hua was innocent in the whole ordeal.

She couldn't help but think about what would happen if Mo Yuan chose her instead? Would she live an innocent life in Qing Qiu? Or Kunlun Mountain? Would her hands be as red as hers now?

"I'm just speaking the truth," he said calmly, "Da Ji was the one who triggered the bell, Mo Yuan willingly sacrificed himself to appease it. Bai Qian is just a witness. You shouldn't charge her for that incident,"

The heavenly lord waved his hand, "That still doesn't erase the crime that she did,"

"Yes, it does not," Ye Hua agreed, "Please look at the fact she surrendered herself, Bai Qian felt guilty and regretted her mistake,"

"Do you?" The Heavenly Lord asked.

Bai Qian nodded, "Yes. I didn't know better, so I followed my aunt blindly. It wasn't until she was gone that I realised my mistake. "

"How?"

"I had help," Bai Qian saw Yan Zhi and Zhi Lan sitting in the crowds, "People who taught me between right and wrong, showed me my conscience,"

Bai Qian looked at Ye Hua. She tried to imagine him wearing ratty clothes covered in mud, "And then I was given a chance to do good, and it showed me how nice it was to be kind,"

She began to describe her days with Zhao Ge, helping him with his project, feeding the townsmen, using her essence to grow more food for them.

Bodhisattva Guan Yin once urged her to stay at Ye Hua's side. Now Bai Qian realised that it wasn't for him, but her instead. The goddess had given her a chance to do good. In the end, she kept her promise, Bai Qian had received a place in Qing Qiu as a reward.