Legend of Fu Yao

“Wait for a while more. When the lights are out, let’s go play one round at the palace,” Meng Fuyao said. “For some things, if you want to find the answer, it can only be found there.”

“Mm,” Zhangsun Wuji replied. He picked up the light fragrant scent of the woman beside him, and it was the cool and sweet-smelling aroma unique to a maiden. Mixed amongst the rows of cherry-apples and iridaceae, her smell was not overwhelmed. Instead, it was one-of-a-kind, and it seeped into his body. Meanwhile, she wore soft and plain robes, and she resembled a cloud floating across the silky sea of purple, red, yellow, blue, and red flowers. Under the starry and hazy night sky, she radiated a mysterious sense of beauty.

As he looked at her, he thought a lot about her. He thought of her clear forehead, her bright eyes, the corner of her eyes that slightly lifts up when she smiled. He wanted to accompany her in a field of apricot blossoms and watch each other until the sun rose.

Suddenly, he recalled that it seemed to have been a very, very long while since he had tasted her at such a close distance.

As such, being the proactive person that he was, he immediately tugged Meng Fuyao’s waist towards him, while she was still thinking about her night plans. Tilting his head, he quickly planted a kiss on the corner of her lips.

Meng Fuyao was shocked. Before she could react, the unique scent disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. Zhangsun Wuji was leaning by the flower rack and watching her with a smiley expression. Seeing his expression, Meng Fuyao could not help but feel softhearted. She sighed and said, “To think that the noble Crown Prince is becoming more and more sneaky! No decorum at all, no decorum at all.”

Zhangsun Wuji smiled gently. “This is not counted…” He stopped short of completing his sentence. Suddenly, he looked to the side and shouted in a low tone, “Who’s that?”

Vertically in front of him, an extremely faint silhouette flashed by.

Meng Fuyao immediately jumped to her feet. She twisted her body and dashed straight ahead. The silhouette was extremely stealthy, and in just a moment, it had already escaped far away. While the silhouette was in mid-air, it looked back, and it seems to look back at them vengefully.

Though it was far and hazy under the night sky, one could feel the extreme resentment in those eyes. It resembled a snake silently climbing out from a dark corner, staring at them creepily with bloodshot eyes. Even from far away, anyone could sense the chilly and rancid odor. One look at those eyes, and one would immediately feel a chill down their spines.

However, Meng Fuyao smirked. Resentment? Who in the universe never had that before? She might have dominated the Five Regions Continent, experiencing different kinds of emotions, and had been domineering and shameless, but her heart was also as steel and cold! She had brushed past weapons and survived raging fires! Similarly, her pores were filled with the same kind of resentment. She had nothing to be afraid of!

Her figure resembled a dull rainbow in mid-air. In an instant, she tracked down the silhouette ceaselessly, and one could hear her robes fluttering against the wind behind her. She was not extremely fast nor slow, but she constantly tailed the figure. Knowing that Zhangsun Wuji was right behind her somehow gave her a calm and soothing effect. It was as though whenever he was here, she would never be afraid of not having someone behind her back.

Some people did not need to do anything—they were naturally the widest and greatest pillars of support.

As she chased quickly, the person in front used a very strange technique. The silhouette would swing to the left and right, and with every swing, a gust of green smoke would appear. The smoke would disperse in an instant and gather within the next instant. Suddenly, when it dispersed once again, the smoke turned around a corner.

Meng Fuyao followed the smoke, and when she turned at the corner, a black figure jumped out and dashed towards another direction, and it seemed to be heading to the northwest corner of the palace. The more they ran, the more remote their surroundings became, and less and fewer buildings appeared. The person seemed to change techniques again as it seemed to slow down; there was no longer the dispersion and gathering of green smoke. After running for a while, he suddenly twisted his body and disappeared into a forest.

When Meng Fuyao reached the spot, no one could be seen behind the trees. Stunned, she stopped, and she looked towards her left and right. There were only desolate greenery and a palace that left slightly ajar. Moonlight shone on the ground, but the man had disappeared.

Meng Fuyao could not really believe that anyone in the universe had actually escaped from her. Of course, the strongest five of the top ten wielders would be an exception. However, was that really Epsilon?

Tang Yizhong’s tone seemed to imply that Epsilon had ties to the royal family. However, who was the person he was affiliated with?

Meanwhile, there was the movement of wind as Zhangsun Wuji reached. When he neared, he lightly snapped his fingers—this was the secret signal agreed between him and Meng Fuyao. It was to prevent the imposter from pretending to be Zhangsun Wuji again.

“Disappeared?”

“Yes.” Meng Fuyao carefully searched her surroundings. She guessed that for a person to suddenly disappear, there must have been a tunnel or something like that.

Zhangsun Wuji looked up and said, “Xuanji’s palace is designed in a complicated and strange manner. It is probably as such to conceal things in the dark. We can afford to search more carefully.” Suddenly, he pointed towards a small corner of a roof that appeared behind the trees. He added, “Fuyao, look at that. That palace seems a bit strange.”

When Meng Fuyao raised her head, she saw a dilapidated and dark-red corner of a roof under the night sky. A copper bell which had turned black was hung on the roof, but as the bell was too rusty, no sound was created even when the wind blew. It lightly swayed in the windy sky, and from afar, it looked like a stiff puppet that was being hung up.

Meng Fuyao’s heart skipped a beat when she saw that sight.

In an instant, she felt a strange feeling that was hard to be expressed. It was as though she was walking along a forest, and she heard a long and far-sounding call from the past. The call seemed to evoke a silent but passionate response in her body. The response overwhelmed her like waves hitting against the coast, but it was also silent and solemn at the same time. It seemed as though a quiet but grand film was being played in front of her eyes; it shook her to the core, but it was also noiseless and stifling.

Her body swayed.

Immediately, Zhangsun Wuji extended his hand to support her. He leaned down and asked in a very concerned tone, “Fuyao?”

Meng Fuyao blinked, and she could not fathom why she would have such an extreme reaction from seeing a corner of a roof. Was it because it was too similar to a random horror film scene in the previous universe, and it was etched in her memory?

In the meantime, Zhangsun Wuji searched her eyes intently. Suddenly, he spoke. “Fuyao, let’s go back. Did we not say that we wanted to explore the Emperor’s palace?”

“That’s true…” Meng Fuyao looked at the sky. If they did not go now, it would be too late. Furthermore, if it was indeed true that Xuanji’s Emperor was immobile, then there must be someone who wouldn’t want him to meet anybody. To explore his palace tonight, they would have to spend more effort. They had to get there earlier.

She looked up and took another look at the roof. She stepped out towards the opposite direction, but suddenly, a breeze passed by, and the copper bell swayed.

The silent sway of the bell seemed to be a puppet that was injected with nightlife, and it waved to her just before she walked away.

Uncontrollably, Meng Fuyao walked towards the bell.

Meng Fuyao walked so slowly that she seemed to be wading in mud and water, and her footsteps were no longer light and breezy as before. However, Meng Fuyao seemed not to have realized that she was abnormally slow, or rather, she had lost consciousness of her body.

As Zhangsun Wuji stared at the beautiful figure in the night sky, his eyes gleamed, as though he had something to say. However, he chose to remain silent and walk up to her.

Step by step, Meng Fuyao walked toward that direction. She pushed the secretive layers of short bushes towards the side, crossed a sealed and dilapidated wall, and stopped in front of an abandoned palace.

Meng Fuyao looked up at the average-looking palace, which was deeply hidden behind the trees, and did not have the exquisiteness and beauty of other Xuanji palaces. The copper lock to the door was rusty, the walls were stained with dark-green moss, and creepers filled the walls. Under the chilly moonlight, the creepers seemed to be pairs of ghostly green hands that swayed creepily.

In her mind, a scene of the cold moonlight seemed to flash by, and a similar yet slightly different image unveiled in her memory. There was a dark-red but bright door, beige and clean walls, green-clothed attendants and purple-clothed eunuchs rushing in and out, and someone who stood in front of the door. That someone lowered down gently and spoke to her in a low voice.

Suddenly, her vision seemed to have changed to another angle, as she needed to look up before she could see the golden bell on the roof, the clear blue skies and the exquisite chin above her head. As the wind blew past the roof, the copper bell created crisp and clear sounds, but the bell did not sound as good as that person’s voice.

The person was still speaking, but what was said? What exactly was said?

The voice seemed to dash towards her from the deep end of her memory lane. It was blur and long, like raindrops creating strikes of watermark on an originally clear and transparent glass surface. Those words gave her a sense of reminiscence, and while it seemed so familiar as though it was said right beside her, it sounded like it came from the other end of the world.

Meng Fuyao tried hard to listen to what was said, but she strained herself so much that her brain suddenly hurt. Pain engulfed her in waves, and the glass surface in the rain was utterly shattered. Her vision, the dark-red palace door, beige walls, the attendants and eunuchs, the roof and the bell, had completely disappeared. What remained was just the cold moonlight, the locked palace door, and stained palace walls.

After looking at the wall for a long while, Meng Fuyao slowly walked up and gently placed her hand on it. As though she was caressing the skin of a loved one, she carefully brushed her hand from top to bottom. When she was about to reach the foot of the wall, suddenly, her heart felt suffocated, and she felt cold from head to toe. It was as though she was being struck by lightning.

That strike hit her body and the top of her head as well. It caused her mind to go completely white, and she could no longer see her surroundings. Out of extreme dizziness, Meng Fuyao gave a low cry. She hugged her head and stepped back profusely, and she kept sucking air into her mouth because of the unbearable pain.

A pair of warm hands suddenly pressed on her shoulders. It was steady and calm, and heat emitted from the palms. With the simple press, a warm current flowed into her body and calmed her chaotic inner energy. Zhangsun Wuji spoke in a worried tone. “Fuyao, let’s go back.”

Meng Fuyao closed her eyes and opened it. Without saying anything, she patted his hands. Then, she pursed her lips and took a step forward.

It was a clear sign of her attitude towards her decision at the moment. It was also her attitude towards life—she would escape if she could, but if she couldn’t, she would face it.

Although Meng Fuyao knew that it would be painful, it might be even more painful to not know. To turn away and escape because of fear was not something that she would do.

Gently, she took a determined step forward. She walked up the dusty steps, and with a flick of her fingers, the copper lock fell.

The heavy, rusty and black copper lock fell into her palms. It was cold and heavy, just like how she felt at the moment.

The door was right in front of her eyes. Those stories that constantly neared her but detoured away would probably rush towards her uncontrollably after she opened the door.

Meng Fuyao’s hand stopped in mid-air.

However, that stop was only for a short while. Then, without any hesitation, she pushed the door open.

Creak—

The door shaft, which had not been oiled for a long while, created a loud and long creaking noise that sounded like the whimpers of a lonely person waiting for their death at midnight. The moonlight was stretched, and it reflected on the long pathway that was filled with dried leaves.