Proofread by Zhu Yuan
I was scared to death by this dream. I woke up suddenly and looked at the outside world. It was already dark. The silence around me was terrible. For the first time, I felt that the place where I had stayed for one thousand years was so strange.
Bai Xiaoshan was gone, and it was like a blunt sword that kept stabbing at my heart. He had been with me for 1,700 years. Although he often took pleasure in bullying me, he had never really hurt me. When I was in Qingqiu, he started to protect me. He often called me "stupid fox" and laughed at my slow practice, but if other monsters dared laugh at me for this, he would beat them for me.
My mother pa.s.sed away when I was two hundred years old, so in the one hundred years before the appearance of Bai Xiaoshan, I lived by myself, with no relatives or friends. My practice was so slow that I was often bullied by other demons. Since Bai Xiaoshan appeared, no monster had ever bullied me, because Bai Xiaoshan always protected me in time. When he was not strong enough, Bai Xiaoshan was often bullied by others because of me. Sometimes he would be beaten most severely. However, he had never said anything about it. Every time he saw me looking at him with tearful eyes, he would pretend to disdain me: "Why are you crying? I"m not doing this for you! A man can only become strong after he overcomes difficulties. Besides, to protect his own wife is a man"s bounden duty!"
Later, Bai Xiaoshan"s practice progressed rapidly, and the common demons were not his rivals at all, so no one dared bully us anymore. He had been practicing with great concentration, hoping to become an immortal as soon as possible.
Obviously, he was a demon who desperately wanted to be an immortal, and he could practice faster by himself. But he never left me alone. For instance, when he could go to Qiyun Mountain alone, he still chose to take me with him as a burden.
I seemed to be accustomed to his company, and had never thought about what I should do when he was gone. How could he disappear suddenly? He was even closer to me than my relatives.
All good things must come to an end.
It was destined that Bai Xiaoshan could only accompany me for 1,700 years.
Early the next morning, I walked out of Bai Xiaoshan"s coop and felt that someone was outside the fence. This evoked in my mind a burst of excitement. Was Bai Xiaoshan coming back?
I thought it was a surprise, but there was only a shock without any joy in it. The person standing outside was not Bai Xiaoshan but Emperor of Donghua.
I admired his perseverance very much. Judging from his appearance, he should have been standing outside all night. I didn"t know what he owed Fairy Peony and what would make him so persistent. It was a pity that I had no intention of becoming a fairy, so he was doomed to return in vain.
I turned around and left, but he slowly followed me and I couldn"t get rid of him.
"Can you let me go? You owed Fairy Peony, not me. So I won"t bother you to help me become a fairy. Please return to your place!" I used to be a follower of Bai Xiaoshan, which was taken for granted by me in the past. Suddenly, a top fairy from heaven came to be my follower. To be honest, I was not happy at all.
"There is no difference between Fairy Peony and Bai Li, and I am looking for you. You are the only one that I want to help." He looked at me and said slowly.
"I don"t want to be immortal at all." I reiterated once again.
"Why?" He asked.
"There is no reason! To be an immortal is not delightful. Why should I waste my energy on such a meaningless career?" I curled my lip with indifference.
"Why do you think it is meaningless?" He smiled faintly. "After you become a fairy, you will be free from sufferings in the world forever and don"t have to endure the pain of reincarnation anymore. The life span of a demon is no longer than ten thousand years, but a fairy can live forever. Since then, you will be free to enjoy your life at any place in the world. Are these reasons enough to convince you to become a fairy?"
I turned around and replied firmly: "Even the ten thousand years for a demon is too long for me, let alone a permanent life. I cannot bear the everlasting loneliness in heaven. Although reincarnation is painful, it is also a brand-new beginning. My life now is much better than that of a fairy who would never change. You came to me because I was Fairy Peony in my previous life. But in this life, I am Bai Li now, and I have nothing to do with Fairy Peony. If I remain unwilling to become a fairy, why do you waste ten thousand years to help me?"
He remained silence for a long time.
Just when I thought he would give up, he began to speak with equanimity and confidence as he always did. He said: "Why not? You will always remain the same after you return from the reincarnations. Fairy Peony or Bai Li, there is no difference to me. If you are determined not to become an immortal, if you really want to suffer from the reincarnations, I will come to you every time you are back to the world. I have endless years. There must be one day when you will change your mind and I can help you."
There was no denying that I was really shocked by his remarks. I was only a fox demon but Emperor of Donghua pitied me so much because of the blessing I received in my past life. Well, I didn"t know whether it was a blessing or a curse.
Ignoring him, I went back to the fox cave listlessly, determined to wait for Bai Xiaoshan till he returned.
A month pa.s.sed. I didn"t see Bai Xiaoshan, but here came the heaven disaster in my fate.
Once demons reached a level of cultivation, they would be tested by a natural disaster, and becoming a human and becoming an immortal were two of the most crucial tests. The progress behind the huge changes was tremendous, so the power of the natural disasters would increase rapidly. Bai Xiaoshan spent five hundred years to take up the human form, and he was almost beaten back to its original shape when he was going through the disaster. It took me two thousand years to become human and I was afraid that the disaster would be more powerful. Maybe I would die in the disaster.
Bai Xiaoshan insisted that we go to the mortal world. In fact, the biggest reason was to help me avoid the disaster. According to Bai Xiaoshan, to protect the innocent, fairies in heaven would surely be careful about the disaster they designed. I would at most be seriously injured, and would not turn to be fox forever.
However, after Bai Xiaoshan"s sudden disappearance I had completely forgotten the disaster. It was the thunders outside that reminded me of it. I was sweating subconsciously. I couldn"t believe that I was so unfortunate. I had just taken the human form several days ago and was going to be beaten to the original shape. Then I had to spend another two thousand years to become a human again.
In fact, I was not afraid of losing the ability to become a human. After all, I had no interest in being a human. But I was afraid of the pain. With so many lightning lashes, I would be scorched.
Outside the fox cave it was dark. Thunders lightened the world from time to time. Branches swayed in the wind with a sound of unutterable sorrow. I looked at the sky outside the cave and missed Bai Xiaoshan especially at that moment. If he had been here, I wouldn"t have been so afraid, and I didn"t know whether I had a chance to see him again later.
Suddenly, I realized that Emperor of Donghua was still standing outside the fox cave. Over the past month, he stood outside my cave. His persistence surprised me very much and I wondered when he would give it up.
Although he was a top fairy, he might not know how powerful the disaster was. I decided to remind him of the disaster and let him go back and rest for one day. If he wanted, he could still stand there tomorrow.
When I rushed out, there was no one outside the cave. I twitched my mouth and sighed to myself. The top fairy was also afraid of the disaster. When there was a danger he suddenly disappeared. It was so disappointing!
With great contempt for Emperor of Donghua, I slowly returned to the fox cave, laid on the ground, rubbed my body, and decided not to care about the disaster. If it robbed me of the ability to become a human, I would spend another two thousand years for practicing. I had this perseverance!
I was indeed an optimist. When the heaven disaster was befalling me, I could sleep soundly. After a night of wind and rain, the sun rose again. A crash woke me up.
That was the final sound of the heaven disaster. After that, everything became peaceful and the disaster was over.
I couldn"t believe that I wasn"t hurt at all! I opened my eyes and checked my whole body and finally made sure that I was totally fine. I wondered whether it was a bluff of the heaven disaster last night. It offered great cry and little wool!
I proudly walked out of the fox cave with high spirit. It seemed that I went through the heaven disaster by dumb luck. Even the disaster failed to hurt me. However, I didn"t expect that the situation outside was so miserable. It was indeed a mess with branches and leaves lying all over the ground, which proved that the disaster that happened last night was not a dream.
All of a sudden, I found a familiar figure in front of me. When I rushed over, I found that the man was Emperor of Donghua again. I didn"t see him last night but he appeared as soon as the disaster was over. He was a selfish immortal who knew how to protect himself.
He looked at me without a word. On his handsome face I even saw weakness, which he never showed out before. I guessed that he was finally tired after standing for a month.
"Your Majesty, you should go home now. I won"t change my mind. You don"t have to do this." I didn"t want him to wait for me any longer. He kept waiting for me outside of the cave day and night. Even onlookers would be touched by his firmness. But to be an immortal was not what I wanted after all. I couldn"t waste my life on what I didn"t want just because I was moved by him.
In fact, I was already tired of explaining to him, because he didn"t listen to me at all. He just looked at me, smiled faintly and said nothing.
Since Emperor of Donghua wouldn"t regret, I shouldn"t stop him anymore, and I wouldn"t cast pearls before swine again. But when I turned around, he said to me, "Are you looking for Bai Xiaoshan?"
I immediately turned back and asked eagerly, "Do you know how to find him?"
He shook his head. Seeing my disappointed face, he said: "As far as I know, Bai Xiaoshan has been practicing with great concentration. I also heard my fairy friends praising him in heaven. Perhaps his disappearance is his chance to become a fairy, and maybe he has been enlightened by a fairy already. Why don"t you come back to heaven with me? I will not push you to become an immortal. I just hope that you can give yourself a chance. If you really miss Bai Xiaoshen, once the time comes, you will meet him again."
I was silent for a moment. I had to say that his proposal was attractive to me. In the past two thousand years, I had long been accustomed to Bai Xiaoshan"s company. I was eager to find him. At least I wanted to ask him in person. Why did he leave me alone in the mortal world?
"Now there is only yourself in Qiyun Mountain. Do you want to live here alone? If you don"t want to stay in heaven, you can come back at any time. I won"t force you to stay there." He added.
I lowered my head and thought for a while. In fact, he was right. Without Bai Xiaoshan, I would be a solitary demon in Qiyun Mountain. Although the process of practice was designed to be lonely, it would be hard for me to get used to the loneliness.
At last, I made up my mind, "I will go back with you, but I have one requirement. Don"t call me Fairy Peony any more. I am only a fox demon in this life, and that"s all."
Hearing my words, his eyes suddenly shone with strange brilliance. He smiled and nodded, "Okay."
After a while, he asked hesitantly, "May I call you Li?"
I tilted my head and decided to accept the nickname.