25,000 Years Later
The Peach tree had grown substantially over the past 25,000 years, even outstripping the oldest tree in the Grove but for Bai Zhen, this tree would forever remain his favourite. He had been feeding it a glass of wine at the end of the week in her memory and he never once forgot a day either no matter what he was doing or where he was. He returned weekly to ensure she got her bottle of wine.
Lying down beneath the high branches, he smiled at a pair of love birds that Zhe Yan had added recently. It seemed to him as if these two exotic birds found something peaceful in her tree too, because the nest, which had taken them only a couple of days to build, was nestled well into the foliage which kept it dry from the rains and out of the direct sunlight.
Their song was the sweetest in the grove and for a while, their sweet voices sent his mind back to a time long ago when he had caught her dancing and singing in the tree tops. Back then. Zhe Yan had allowed anyone who was anyone to visit his grove being overly proud of his accomplishment and just wanting to share the peacefulness with the rest of the world.
That day, a few visiting dignitaries from the Celestial Heavens had arrived to admire the ten miles of Peach Trees and the wine that the kind god left for their pleasure. Only it was also her birthday and having been given a beautiful peach coloured dress from her favourite brother, she had decided to wear it to the Peach Tree Grove which she was grounded from. Or at least until Zhe Yan forgave her for some misdomeanor he didn't think even he remembered.
Only she chose a day when the Grove was filled with visitors and not only had they all seen her dancing and singing in the tree tops, but the gossip that spread like wildfire reached the den by the end of the week when a much younger Mi Gu repeated the story he had heard at the markets.
According to the visiting dignitaries, a Peach Maiden as beautiful as the sun and as alluring as the wine they had filled their bellies with, was dwelling in the Grove and no sooner did Zhe Yan hear the story then it became apparent why his Grove was now inundated with all manner of men seeking a glimpse of this elusive maiden he was supposedly hiding.
The sheer number of visitors was overwhelming the grove to a point where he was not only fearful for the safety of his Grove, but he was also forced to raise a barrier to keep them out. He also made it known as to who she was in order to put an end to the gossip. It was also very lucky that she was so very young at the time, or her father would have had to deal with marriage proposals and at the tender age of ten thousand years.
Now smiling at the memory, he looked up at the love birds who were preening each others feathers, and he couldn't help but feel the downward spiral of sadness at what could have been. Three men, three lifetimes and all for nothing, he thought morosely as the two above his head ignored the tears that began to gather as they continued to love each other as fate had deemed them to.
Ye Hua had undergone his rise to Heavenly Lord not long after the war ended. Having killed Qing Cang and all but squashed the small rebellion that followed, his Grandfather had deemed him ready for the throne. And so, the years of peace under his leadership rolled on. Now and then, he would be seen in the grove lost to his memories, but neither he nor Zhe Yan approached him. There wasn't a need anymore, because she had in the end forgiven him. Also sensing the mans need for solitude, they had had left him be.
But from the gossip he had heard, Ye Hua had begun dating. There were no wedding bells or even the likelihood of a Empress on the horizon, but after twenty five thousand years, it was certainly a step forward. Many lovely ladies passed through the doors of Xiwu Palace, but as yet, he had not found the one who could heal his broken heart. Bai Zhen had heard him crying in the grove not that long ago, so he knew the man still had a way to go, but at least he was now making an effort to move on.
Guotin on the other hand had once again closed down the Demon Lands. They all knew that he had fallen heavily for her and he suspected that had she been allowed a little more time, she would have chosen him.
In fact Bai Zhen was the only one from the Fox den given permission to enter the Demon Lands after she died. And for a short while, he had learned for himself just how close they had become. He never judged anyone who did him no harm, so in this man he saw for himself why his sister had come so close to giving her heart away. He wasn't the bad man the world made him out to be, if anything, Bai Zhen had seen a man worthy to rule alongside his sister.
His manner was gentle and kindly, but his eyes at times seemed to stare off into space, as if her death had left him with a permant ache and nothing much to look forward to. In fact it was obvious that he was barely holding it together. In just a few weeks, he looked as if he'd aged a hundred thousand years, never had he looked so worn out and weak.
But their meeting had been brief, and only given so that Bai Zhen could return the bracelet he had gifted her. And with a deep bow given from both men, the Demon Lands closed behind him. No one outside their barrier had laid a single eye on him since that day, but he had heard that Guotin had immediately placed himself into seclusion and was there still.
Mo Yuan on the other hand had completely shut the world out. Not just closing down Kunlun Mountain, but he refused all visitors, even his own Disciples. Placing himself into seclusion, Mo Yuan had all but given up on life. For him, she had been the blood flowing through his veins and when she died, he had literally felt it as a burning ache his heart, the moment hers had stopped beating.
No one really knew the consequences of giving heart blood for so long, but the moment her body fluttered down from where the bell had been, then Mo Yuan literally collapsed from what Zhe Yan had called a heart attack The first time, an Immortal had ever suffered from such an ailment. But what had surpised them all, was the blood flowing through Mo Yuans veins, momentarily stopped and so for a time they thought that they had lost him too. Only Zhe Yans quick thinking and understanding that her heart blood was keeping him alive, had him quickly countering the effects of her death with a powerful spell, one that only her beating heart would lift.
It was enough to keep him alive and living, but he was on borrowed time. This was the ramifications of gifting so much of her heartblood for too long. Mo Yuans body had been fully dependant on it and had Zhe Yan not stepped in, he would have followed her. Instead, Mo Yuan walked away from everyone and everything.
Like Guotin, he had been in seclusion ever since. Most said it was so that they could regather their lost cultivation before coming back stronger and better than before, only a small handful of people knew the truth.
Now rising up from the tree where he had been all afternoon, Bai Zhen slowly made his way back to Qing Qiu to drop off the small posy of Peach Blossoms he had gathered for. And the moment his feet landed at the entrance, Mi Gu was there as he always was with a vase of water at the ready.
"Bai Emperor is with her." he informed him with a respectful bow.
"Good, I will go now." he said as he walked the short path to a cave she had once visited daily.
The day they had brought her home, his father had immediately taken her body to Yanhua cave where her mother cleaned and dressed her for burial, only Bai Zhi forbade it. She was his only daughter, his precious light in a dark world, and he refused to let her be buried. Instead he began the long and painful process of feeding her his heartblood to keep her body intact.
In Bai Zhis mind, his daughter had learned everything there was to know about soul rescue, so he fully believed that she would one day come back to them. After all, she had seen for herself, what Mo Yuan had done, and so he hoped and prayed that she too would find the strength to return.
No one stopped him, and no one dared to interfere. Not even the Empress who had ruled the den from the moment they married. This was one thing she had no say in. And as he entered, he found his father sitting beside her body which was laid out on the same rug that Mo Yuan had laid.
Her face was exactly the same as it had been in life. Her skin was flawless, her beauty unmatched and her body healed of every wound. Only her cold hands gave away her true state of health, but he said nothing as he quietly replaced the flowers in the same vase she had once filled for Mo Yuan.
And beside it was a little lamp that never died. Zhe Yan had kept hold of it, having forgotten to give it back. And the day she had died, he had raced into the sky to quickly snatch at a piece of her soul seconds before the rest disappeared. Placing it in the lit lamp in the hope that one day she would find her way back again, they all took turns at keeping close watch over it.
"Father, why don't you go and rest. Mother doesn't like you in the cold and damp for too long." Bai Zhen said softly as he took his arm to help him up.
"That goes for you too. Let Feng Jiu take over when you are done visiting." he ordered gently before turning to leave.
Watching as his fathers hunched back passed through the entrance, he sighed softly. HIs father too had aged severely over the years. Giving ones heartblood wasn't easy, but to his own daugher who lay unmoving and ice cold, had severely broken him. He had once been a most powerful deity to ever walk the realms, but now he was just a shell. Had it not been for his mother, and Zhe Yans constant support, he too might have followed her.
Now sitting down beside her, he pulled out the zither that rested at the base of the rug and began to play a melody that he had written for her when she was little, and it was one she could be heard humming through the halls of Kunlun when she was older. It told the story of a swan who bedazzled every pair of eyes that landed on it. It was so beautiful, that no other swans dared to encroach on the lake where it resided, because her beauty shone so brightly they were afraid they would be blinded by her But it was lonely in its little world with no friends or other swans to talk to.
Until one day, a handsome cob happened upon her lake. In awe, he approached but being so scared of the unusual visitor seeing as she never got any, she immediately attacked him. But being enamoured with her loveliness, the Cob subdued her quickly and because he was not afraid of her or showed signs of leaving no matter how angry she got, he soon wore her down until eventually she fell in love with him and they lived happily ever after.
It was a childrens story of persistence and enduring love which she had taken an instant liking to, and so he played it for her once again, until eventually Feng Jiu arrived to shoo him out again. His mother would not allow more than a couple of hours a day, and not so much for the cold and damp which he was more than strong enough to manage, but for the sadness that ones mind would easily fall into should they remain too long at her side.
"Come home Xiao Wu." he whispered softly before bending over her small frame to kiss the top of her head. The straightening up, he too slowly made his way out with Feng Jius eyes sadly watching him leave.
And so yet another day passed, with no signs from the lamp that she was any closer to returning or even if she would.