Legend of Fu Yao

The pathway was not long, and it linked three courtyards. The sides of the staircase were filled with cobwebs that swayed in the air, and they reflected the silver moonlight with every sway.

Meng Fuyao silently looked at this average-looking palace. It felt familiar yet foreign, as though she had seen it before, but it was not familiar to the point that she knew it by heart. There were just some details of certain places that tugged at her heartstrings and evoked strong emotions within her.

Very slowly, she walked along the pathway. As she stepped onto the dried leaves, sounds of “cha, cha, cha” were created as the leaves cracked, and the sound resembled mumbles she had heard in the past that were hard to understand.

Like a drifting ghost, Meng Fuyao went up the winding corridor, and she went straight for the third courtyard. Finally, she stopped in front of a small room that was locked.

As she stood before the room, she tilted her head with a look of confusion. Memories flooded her mind, and she could visualize chaotic and fragmented scenes. Those scenes flashed by like a slideshow… the small room… a lady in a green dress… lips pursed due to worries… a dark and small corner… hazy, bloodshot eyes… ghastly-white hands that reeked of urine…

Meng Fuyao whimpered, and she hugged her head. The messy scenes caused her blood to surge towards her brain, forcefully breaking past the barriers that guarded her memories. These memories that were instinctively locked up for self-protection were revealed in an instant; it was as though there was a small raft trying to survive the raging whirlpool of blood in her mind. Her brain was under extreme pain, and it seemed like there were thousands of knives stabbing at it. In just a short while, she had already broken out in cold sweat.

She was so resistant… so resistant.

Meng Fuyao started to doubt herself. Could she persevere and walk into that room? She had not fully undergone one month of recovery, and her martial arts skill was not at its highest level. After taking so long to stabilize her inner energy, she must not let herself end up in psychosis twice in one month.

Behind her, Zhangsun Wuji suddenly extended his hand. He took her hand in a very determined manner and said, “Fuyao, let’s go. At least for now, it is not the right time for you to face it.”

After a moment of silence, Meng Fuyao suddenly walked over. She dusted off the thick layer of dust on the window of the room, and she reached her head inside.

She saw just an average-looking room.

Everything was covered in dust, and she took quite a while to distinguish the objects. There was a bed… drawer… vase… curtain… and a black and half-concealed black object behind the curtain…

All of a sudden, Meng Fuyao fell backward.

She fainted.

When she landed in Zhangsun Wuji’s arms, her face was pale, her breathing was light, and the long eyelashes lightly fluttered. Zhangsun Wuji hurriedly placed his fingers on her wrist to check her pulse, but he realized that other than a slight unsteadiness in the pulse, she was not injured.

Fuyao… probably was too innately resistant. She had fainted out of a natural instinct to protect herself.

Zhangsun Wuji quietly carried Meng Fuyao in his arms, and he thought of her reaction when she saw the corner of the roof, and when she fainted when she peeked into the room. What kind of conflicts and tortures had she been enduring on this whole journey? The memories may have tried all means to force her to escape, but she still gritted her teeth and came close to her memories without any fear of consequences. Yet, in the end, she still lost.

As Zhangsun Wuji stood in front of the window, his eyes seemed to dart towards the interior of the room. It was as though he wanted to look at what was inside, but he quickly shifted his glance away after thinking twice. In the end, he just turned around, and he tightly hugged the woman in his arms.

Gently, he leaned down and gave a consoling, soft and careful kiss on Meng Fuyao’s lips.

“Fuyao… I’m here.”

It was a breezy day.

There was the aromatic scent of flowers that blossomed in autumn.

A person quietly bent down, and an exquisite chin could be seen.

Who were the people speaking? The voices sounded near yet far, but it was continuous. The tone was low, the surroundings were slightly cold, and there was a nice fragrance, although it did not come from the flowers.

The exquisite chin was moving. When a silky sleeve brushed by, it felt a smooth as skin. Everything was dark, but that person shone so much that it seemed as though her life had never been as bright.

Outside the window, there was the sound of laughter and footsteps. There was also bright and radiant sunlight. Sunlight… it seemed like a long while since it appeared.

In the darkness, someone extended thick and weak fingers that looked like a bird’s claws. They were as small as that of a baby, and the fingernails were filled with wood shavings. Clawing at wood… that was the only pastime.

“… I have to attend at the front… Please help me take care, you must… must…”

“Okay!” There was a cheerful reply from someone who sounded honest.

Suddenly, the small body shivered. It was fear… extreme fear. It was as though that honest-sounding voice was the worst and evilest mutter she had ever heard in her entire life.

The strange-smelling hand reached in.

The air around her suddenly moved like the ripples in the ocean. The scene was squashed, folded, and it quickly spun! It spun so fast that the traces could not be captured. Meng Fuyao opened her eyes wide to try to picture a complete image from those fragmented scenes in her mind, but she felt more and more dizzy, to the point that she felt like she was going to crumble, and she was going to be forever stuck in that sticky darkness.

“Fuyao… I’m here.”

I’m here.

I’m here, I’m here, I’m here.

Someone’s voice was gentle but thick, resembling a cup of strong tea with a sweet aftertaste, helping her to dilute the bitterness in her life that she could not be rid of.

It stopped her from submerging into darkness and pulled her out from the pile of mud.

There was a familiar and unique scent that belonged to neither flowers nor trees. There was an ancient and implicit charm to it.

Slowly, Meng Fuyao opened her eyes, and she looked right into a pair of intent eyes that expressed anxiousness.

When the eyes caught her glance, they immediately lit up, and there was a mix of emotions in the expression—anxiousness, worry, discomfort, regret, pain, and hesitation…

She never knew that Zhangsun Wuji, who always concealed his feelings, would possess such complicated and conflicted emotions.

Meanwhile, her surroundings started to look clearer and clearer. It no longer moved ceaselessly like a water body and she was still in his arms.

“I’m alright, now.” Meng Fuyao got up and jumped to her feet. She looked at the Emperor’s palace that was further away, and then she looked back at where they had come from. A long while later, she said calmly, “Let’s stick to our original plan.”

Zhangsun Wuji neither tried to persuade her nor said anything. He only caressed her head quietly, and he watched how she once again sucked in all the pain like an oyster and allowed the pain to torture her from within while hiding it from others. Then, as time passed, she would try hard to convert those pains into a shiny pearl.

The universe saw how impressive and bright-minded she was, but they could not see the deep injuries that she had suffered as a result.

It was not that he didn’t feel sorry for her, but rather, he was afraid that he would feel too sorry. If he was, he might uncontrollably want to stop her from moving forward.

Meng Fuyao had never been the type of woman who would be willing to be protected and guarded by him, or let him pamper her, while he spread his wings to deter all types of pain and suffering. Her own wings were wide and strong, and they were always ready for a challenge to allow her to soar even higher. If he did not allow her to be fine-tuned by the darkness in the universe, how would she be able to ride the tides that would only become higher and stronger each time?

In the darkness, two silhouettes silently flew towards the Emperor’s palace.

The palace was quiet, and the number of guards was never too much or too little. Both of them dashed in like pairs of scissors when two groups of guards just finished crossing each other. The last person of the group suddenly felt the movement of wind behind him, but when he turned around, the surroundings were completely empty.

Meng Fuyao was about to dash into the most inner room, which was the Emperor’s quarters, but suddenly, Zhangsun Wuji tugged her hand. He led her to another side of the wall, and both of them pressed their ears against it.

Then, she vaguely overheard a conversation.

“… Just get rid of them!”

It was the sound of a woman. It seemed sharp, like the voice of Xuanji’s Empress.

“… You are finally not going to endure it?” the other person said in smiles. The voice was thin like a girl’s, and the tone was one of laziness and impatience. When Meng Fuyao heard it, her mind exploded, and she could feel the blood rushing to her forehead.

It was this voice!

Epsilon!

In an instant, her eyes turned murderous, but she quickly kept that expression. She remained as still as a boulder—experts like Epsilon could sense any form of movement or murderous aura within dozens of feet. No matter how angry she was, this was not the right moment.

“… I really can’t bear it anymore…” Xuanji’s Empress seemed to be highly agitated. She paced back and forth quickly in the room. A while later, she stopped and scolded, “A bunch of bastards!”

“This was not what you originally wanted…” Epsilon continued to speak in a steady tone. He laughed. “Didn’t you want the people to be killed without any consequence, and still be able to stabilize the situation?”

“Judging by how it is, how am I going to stabilize it? I just… sigh!” The Empress seemed as though she wanted to curse, but she ended her sentence with a bitter sigh.

“You should have said earlier. It would have been much easier, if not, why would I…” Suddenly, Epsilon gave a gentle laugh. “… Still, let them live until now, and be able to eavesdrop beside the wall!”

Bang!

Before Epsilon completed his last sentence, Zhangsun Wuji and Meng Fuyao had already hurriedly retreated. Even so, in an instant, the wall shattered into pieces, and ash flew as the bricks were thrown in all directions. The dark red and yellow glazed roof tiles created gusts of wind as they circulated in the sky, and in mid-air, they transformed into rays of light and crashed right on top of their heads!

“Is it tiring to hang on the wall? How about letting me bring you onto your deathbed?”

As the tiles flew, someone walked down the staircase and laughed. He stood at the center of the courtyard, slanted his body, and looked over with an eyebrow raised.

He seemed like a piece of jade soaked in the moonlight. Soft and gentle, he resembled the shadows of the scattered trees reflected under the moonlight.

Meng Fuyao smirked, and she kicked off half of the palace wall. The entire chunk flew towards Epsilon, creating loud sounds of wind movement.

“You can go and sleep instead. I’ll first gift you a blanket!”

Right after she kicked the wall away, she leaped onto it. Her black robes fluttered violently in the wind, and her body created a line as sharp as a blade.

“Watch out for my flying carpet!”

Epsilon smiled and watched. Casually, he extended his hand to catch the piece of wall. One hand hit on the wall, while the other hand went to grab Meng Fuyao, who jumped over like a black cat. He laughed. “Sleeping under the same blanket is good too. Just right, we can continue what we left off on that day.”

When the flying piece of wall reached, the gleam of Destiny Rebellion appeared.

Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind the wall.

The hand was carrying a jade Ruyi, and it silently shattered the cement bricks, as though those were tofu instead of stones. The Ruyi made superficial contact as it zoomed past, and the purple light gleamed as an arc screen was created, which aimed straight for 18 major acupuncture points on Epsilon’s body!

Immediately, Meng Fuyao backflipped and jumped off the piece of wall. She executed it with extreme accuracy, making herself land right behind Epsilon’s back. With a hand raised, she wielded a deadly stab of Destiny Rebellion!

However, Epsilon’s body suddenly twisted.

With that twist, all the bones in his body seemed to be twisted out of place, and they glided away from their original spots. One sleeve swayed towards Zhangsun Wuji’s jade Ruyi and twisted around the Ruyi. Then, the sleeve tugged on the Ruyi to hit on Meng Fuyao’s sword!