Emperor Of Blue Flower Mountain

As one of the oldest living things on the mountains, he"d seen a lot. But today had astonished even him. The trees had managed to take on human form. In Jianghu, powerful plants would occasionally take human form. But it was rare and infrequent. Yet right now he was in a packed yard filled with talking, laughing Tree Spirits.

What"s more, they weren"t calm like you"d expect from a tree. They took very much after their caretaker, Xuiying. They were loud, boisterous, dancing and singing, without the slightest bit of shame about their behavior. They"d even started pa.s.sing around alcohol and somehow managed to get prodigiously drunk.

The idea of a tree getting drunk would have, at any other time, been hilarious to him.

But he was too angry just then to find anything funny. He was looking for a particular Tree Spirit. This Tree Spirit shouldn"t exist because, when he last looked, the tree it had come from was withered and dead. The only way he could have been mistaken about this tree"s death is if it had purposefully mislead him.

He was very, very angry.

His whole face was set in a ferocious scowl and his fury rolled off him in dark waves. Sober and drunk people alike took one look at his face and immediately backed away. The drunks actually tripped over themselves trying to remove themselves from his path.

After making two rounds in Blue Flower Palace, Lu Fan had still not found the Tree Spirit. After thinking on it, he decided to leave. He made his way deep into the forested mountains, to a crack in the mountainous terrain. There, in the center of the crack, was a stump of a very old tree. The stump had pieces of decaying trunk scattered around it, covered in moss.

Staring at the stump with a chilly expression, Wushan Lu Fan spoke:

"Come out."

Silence greeted him.

"Fine. If that"s how you"re going to do things…"

He walked forward through the tangle of roots, raised his leg and kicked the rotting stump. Even as a human, his leg strength was nothing to joke about. If he"d used that strength on a living being, they"d have died instantly. As it was, the stump quivered slightly from the impact, wood chips and moss scattered around him.

After waiting a moment, he said, "I"m going to ask nicely one last time: come out."

When he once again got silence in return, he raised his leg and began to kick the stump without holding back. Each impact was enough to shatter boulders. The stump began to vibrate heavily, pieces of it flying here and there.

"How dare you—" Thud! "—play dead like that!" Thud! "What wisdom?" Thud! "What knowledge!" Thud! Thud! "I can"t believe I mourned for you!!"

Thud! Thud! Thud!, his foot continued to slam into the stumped trunk viciously.

"STOP!!!"

A feminine voice desperately rang out.

The image of a rotting tree shimmered like a heat mirage before vanishing. In its place, a huge ancient tree covered in glowing blue flowers towered above him, bloating out the starry night sky.

And there, right in front of the ma.s.sive trunk, bent over as if she"d been punched in the gut, was a woman with a pained facial expression. She had light blue eyes, dark skin, and dark blue hair currently messily draped around her shoulders.

"No more kicking, please! No more!" Shuya wheezed heavily, leaning against the tree. Visible footprints could be seen in the trunk where Lu Fan had kicked.

He folded his hands over his chest, his face still black with rage.

"Look, I know you"re angry—"

"Angry? ANGRY?! Do you think I"m just angry?" He spat out, not letting her finish. "I searched for you! I didn"t believe you"d really died, so I searched! But even your little replicas had wilted! Did you think it was funny to watch me be so frantic? To see me search everywhere in the mountains for even the barest hints that you were alive. Did you think it was a hilarious joke to watch me weep for you? DID YOU HAVE A GOOD LAUGH AT MY EXPENSE?"

He raised his leg to kick again, causing her to immediately lower her body in a bow, forehead almost touching the ground. His kicks were no joke, one more and he"d likely cause the trunk to crack.

"I"m repenting! I"m repenting!"

There was strained silence between them.

"Why?"

"…I didn"t want to talk to him."

Lu Fan didn"t need to ask who "him" was as there was only one person on the mountain she hated to a degree that she"d be willing to fake her own death.

"Why deceive me as well?"

She wiggled uncomfortably at his question.

"You… you never say "no" to him. I knew you"d tell him about me, that you"d bring him to me. Even if I pretended to be dumb, he"d never leave me alone until I talked… so… if I looked dead…"

"I see." Came the icy reply.

Shuya saw him raise his leg again and she jumped forward, hugging both his legs to prevent further kicking.

"I"m sorry! I know I was wrong!"

Staring down at her disheveled appearance, his eyes narrowed.

"I am the last of my generation."

She looked up at him, confused by the change of topic.

"The generation after me, and after that, and after that, have all since died. They all disappeared, one by one. Until only I was left. Have you ever wondered why I lasted?"

Seeing her perplexed expression, he continued, feeling worn out. "It was you. I stayed for you. Everyone else grew bored or weary with life, but I always found a reason to live in you. No matter how many years pa.s.sed, no matter how many friends and family died… there was always you with a new story or joke or just a branch to lay under. Even when your Master left and you stopped talking to me, I thought… It was alright. We"d reconcile given enough time. And then you… you… died… and I thought…"

Lu Fan"s voice faded and his anger with it, leaving a hollowness behind. In the following silence, Shuya"s guilt compounded.

"I was planning on ...leaving soon you know. I figured I"d wait till things had resolved itself with Mei and Lord Jin, then go "look" for my family… and now that you"re alive, all you care about is not getting kicked." He shook her off his legs, causing her to drop roughly to the ground. He backed up a few steps, his face rigid again. "You selfish, horrible woman. Even if.. Even if you didn"t love me… I thought… we were friends—"

"W-we are friends!"

"—you dare say that after what you pulled?"

She looked down, brows furrowed and biting her lip.

"I"m sorry."

Her apology came in a low, contrite voice. He turned his back to her.

"I"m really sorry! Really!" She inched forward, grabbing the edge of his pants timidly. "I know I was wrong, really I do. I won"t do it again. I promise I won"t. Please don"t hate me."

He shook her hand off. "As if that"s enough to make up for what you"ve done."

"Look, I— I— called a truce with that pu— that guy."

"Lord Jin."

She gulped

"If you"re going to be repentant, at least use his proper t.i.tle around me!"

"…r-right. I"m in a truce with him, Lord Jin, so… so… I won"t do anything mean like before. We can talk like old times and—"

"As if I"d want to talk with you!"

"Don"t say that!" She stood up and hugged him from behind, her whole body pressing against his back. "I even have a body, just like you! Imagine all the fun we can have, now that we"re the same!"

Wushan Lu Fan"s body went rigid. He was a very old buck, but in his prime he"d been a notorious lady"s man. His love for women was renowned in the forest, and he had even met Shuya in pursuit of another beastie. Who else would have a fling with a tree but him? Even his own family had given up on him.

But in the end, it wasn"t gaining morals or a sense of shame that had stopped his womanizing ways. It was age. As he grew older and everyone else grew younger, he found it harder and harder to view newer generations as anything but children. And he had no interest in children.

Shuya was the only thing living in the forest that was older than him, the only one who didn"t look like a child in his eyes. As her voluptuous body pressed against his back, a feeling he hadn"t felt in a very long time stirred in the pit of his stomach.

She must have sensed it, for she lifted up her face and breathed softly into his ear from behind, "We can do things that don"t require talking…"

There was a long silence before he turned around.

"d.a.m.n you.." His brows slanted down reflecting his remaining anger. "Don"t think I"m going to forgive everything with just this."

"Of course, of course," She agreed readily, one hand loosely wrapped around his neck and the other making a twirling pattern on his chest. "You look very handsome as a man."

"Of course I"m handsome. What else were you expecting?" Came Lu Fan"s matter-of-fact reply, his face leaning into hers, his hands snaking around her body. "You, however, are much more appealing as a human than a tree, and this time I won"t get splinters!"

She frowned slightly, nose wrinkling at his arrogance. If he hadn"t covered her mouth with a pa.s.sionate kiss, she"d definitely have complained.

His touch was a little rough since his temper hadn"t cooled off, but she didn"t fight him over it. Since she"d truly done him wrong, the least she could do is let him vent a bit. And anyway, his roughness was fun in its own way.

———

Some time later Lu Fan and Shuya were laying among the enormous roots of her tree. The horizon was starting to lighten, indicating dawn was near.

Running his fingers through her hair, Lu Fan asked, "I"m a little curious… us Beasties must transform our whole person, yet it"s only your Spirit that is human-like. Your tree form is still the same."

"It"s because Little Sister and I, our pact… hm… contract, was not a direct one."

"Who"s Little Sister?"

"Heh, the venerable Imperial Queen Consort Bao Mei Hua!"

He squinted, what a ridiculously long t.i.tle.

"You made a pact, a contract, with Lady Mei? How did you manage that when she was in a coma?"

Shuya blinked. "Didn"t he tell you?"

"He?"

"That pu— Lord Jin."

He frowned slightly. "Other than searching for a cure for the poison, he mentioned nothing else."

Her eyebrows rose at this. "So he kept that place a secret even from you, huh?"

"Ah," Lu Fan suddenly realized something and gave her a troubled look. "Don"t tell me anymore."

"What! Aren"t you curious?"

"Loyalty before curiosity. If Lord Jin didn"t tell me, then I"m not to know. And I don"t want to know. There"s no reason to tell me, so keep it to yourself."

She pressed her lips together unhappily. This Buck might be cavalier with most relationships, but his commitment to Jin had always been real. She understood more or less why Jin wasn"t letting people know about that world he"d created, but it didn"t seem fair to keep a secret from his most loyal subject.

Lu Fan saw her expression getting uglier and decided he better change the subject. She might just tell him to be contrary.

"What did you mean by the contract not being "direct"?"

"…I gave her one of my twigs to plant." Shuya clearly saw through what he was doing but, being a gracious person, let him get away with it. "That was what made the pact, rather than my main body directly."

The fingers running through her hair stilled. "So this.. This is not really you?"

She turned to him and scoffed. "Don"t be stupid. All my twigs are an extension of me, you know that. I explained it to you once."

"I also recall you saying those extensions can live freely from you. Their will is the same as yours and they depend on you to survive, but not to think. You often talked to me in surprise about what new thing one of them had learned when you weren"t paying attention."

Shuya shrugging her shoulders slightly. "Usually I let them be semi-independent, that"s less mentally taxing. I can even control them directly if I like, I can control all of them at the same time. That"s super exhausting though, so I don"t usually do it."

"This one you control directly?"

Her eyes narrowed and she tapped his chest. "You think I"d miss out on this?"

His fingers began to move through her hair again, apparently pleased. "That"s true. I am magnificent. You"d regret it later if you heard about this experience second hand or just by watching."

Her face stiffened at his comment. Since she walked into that, she could only purse her lips in annoyance. "Anyway, this twig is still an extension and not my main body. So the contract is with the twig and not me directly."

"I see… so the twig gets to transform while your main body remains the same?"

"Exactly so."

"Why do it that way though? Why not have the Queen make a contract with your main body?"

"She was weak when I met her, very small and delicate." She gave a troubled sigh. "I"d never made a contract with a person, but if what"s typical held true… Her power must be equal or stronger than my own for the contract to work properly. If not, there is a chance of a backlash. At best I might accidentally invert the contract, making myself the Master. At worst…"

"…severe injury or death. I see." He nodded. "The twig was a weak enough proxy to make the contract safely."

"That"s right." Shuya gave a gentle smile. "She"s so much stronger now but it"s still not enough. The power difference between us is still too wide. It will take a great deal more time before she reaches a point she can make a contract with me directly."

"Hm… then what about the other Tree Spirits? How did they get their forms?"

"Ah, they"re like me. They used a proxy to make a contract with Little Sister."

"…but isn"t that… what"s the point of doing that? Don"t contracts put a drain on the contractor? Wouldn"t that mean it"ll take longer for her to make a contract with your main body?"

"Well, initially there is a burden… but the proxy demands are low. When she first made a contract with my extension, I was like a ghost. No one but Little Sister could see me. Even when my body became solid, I made sure to keep the energy demands low. It"s not like I was drawing power just from her after all, I could draw power from my main body as well. The same is true for the other Spirits. And actually…" Shuya rubbed the bridge of her nose and hesitated.

"Actually what?"

"We were giving more than taking. We trees have always been like that; sharing our burdens between us, helping the younger ones grow and stay strong. Each Tree Spirit has been getting energy from their main bodies and giving it to Little Sister, contributing to her overall cultivation. It was part of the training."

"Training? You were helping her cultivate?"

"En… the way things were going, she was going to be in that coma a hundred more years before that poison was properly out of her system."

Lu Fan saw her matter of fact att.i.tude and knew she wasn"t boasting. He then thought of how miserable his Lord had been over the last few years without his Lady.

Feeling a little moved, he patted her on the head. "I don"t know why you changed your mind, but thank you for helping my Lord."

"Bah! Who helped him?! I did it for Little Sister!"

"Right, right," He chuckled wryly. "Will you make a contract with Lady Mei again when she"s strong enough?"

"Of course!"

"What will happen to this twig body then?"

She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I don"t know… I could reabsorb it but.."

"But? You have something else you plan on using it for?"

"I could make it small, like a child."

"…a child...?" He stuttered out the question in stark astonishment. Exactly what did she think they just did? Was she trying to give him a complex? Make him out to a be a pervert?!

"Hm… I"ve been thinking it might be interesting to see how independent I could make one of my extensions." She continued without paying him any mind. "Its base personality would still be like mine of course but… what if it lacked my knowledge? What if it was raised in a completely different environments than me? What if it only had its own thoughts and never had access to mine? What kind of person would it turn into? Doesn"t it make you curious?"

Hearing her enthusiasm, he pulled away in alarm. "…you… are you trying to act like a G.o.d?"

She wagged a finger in his face. "Who"s playing G.o.d? Since it"s a piece of me, that"s more like I"m playing parent than anything else."

"The world does not need two of you…" He muttered in dark exasperation.

"Hey! I just thought of something!"

"Hm?"

"How about you play parent too."

"…what?"

"That"s right, that"s right! I"ll be the Mother, you be Father."

"WHAT!"

"You always played the Bachelor Buck, aren"t you tired of it?"

He was already moving away from her, a horrified look on his face.

"I refuse."

She inched closer, eyes shining. "Don"t be like that. I know you get bored. This will give you something to do."

He got up and gathered his scattered robs and inner clothes. He was shaking his head adamantly while also casting her a slightly panicked expression.

"Don"t pretend this is some joint venture. You"re absolutely going to dump this kid version of yourself on me to raise and quietly observe from the side! I know you! I"m not so bored to want to babysit a mini-version of you! G.o.ds, just the thought of it… I"m already exhausted." He pressed his lips together and glared indignantly. "And will you please consider things from my perspective? Even if this isn"t you, it"s also you… ugh. How am I going to raise a child I just did… that… with? Are you TRYING to confuse me? I"m going to be mentally scarred!"

"Aw, don"t be like that!" She tilted her head, not really understanding his objections. It was just a twig, what did it matter? "If it doesn"t remember anything and it has a new body, what"s there to be bothered about? And didn"t you say you"ve stayed alive all these years for me? Imagine how it"ll be with TWO of me!"

"Oh, no. No, no, no. I refuse absolutely, unreservedly. Don"t think of forcing that on me." He was quickly dressing and trying to keep a stern face. "I"m serious Shuya. I have enough nieces and nephews, I don"t need fatherhood. I don"t need a weird fake-child on top of it. You just cast aside any thought of it, you understand?"

She gave him a pouting face. "What are you objecting so adamantly for? It"s not like this is happening any time soon…"

"I don"t care if it"s happening five hundred years from now, I"m saying no in advance!"

He"d gotten his clothes on and was already walking away hastily. Shuya had a malicious grin on her face as she watched him make a run for it.

She called out to his receding back, "Just think on it, alright?"

"I already did and I said no!" He replied while picking up his speed. He really felt like he was going to get trapped if he stayed even a little bit longer.

When Shuya was sure he"d properly left, she burst into hysterical laughter. She had to wipe a tear off her face from how hard she laughed.

In all honesty, it"d really been just a pa.s.sing thought of hers. Even if she"d decided to do it, she could have given the child version of herself to Little Sister. She would have absolutely loved raising a Mini-Shuya. There was no reason Lu Fan needed to partic.i.p.ate, she"d only suggested it on a whim.

But then he"d so ardently objected to it that her contrarian nature had been riled up. Now she absolutely was going to do it, and she was undoubtedly going to find a way to force him to partic.i.p.ate.