Book 1: Winds Begin to Blow in Tai Yuan
Chapter 14 - I Will Be In h.e.l.l
It seemed like only a long dream. In the dream, there was ascene of dawn breaking and waters surging - it was the clear blue waters of theNamtso Lake [1]. Far above, the cloudless sky and silver snow peaks reflected apure white brilliance onto the lake surface, which looked like crystallizedwaves of silver. Occasionally there would be fish leaping out from the waves,and the sunlight would flash off their scales in a myriad of vivid colors.
Mother still appeared the same as she was before fallingill, faintly standing by her side. When the wind blew her hair into disarray,her mother"s fingers stroked the sides of her ears, helping her tuck it backbehind her ears with a familiar, warm touch.
Absentmindedly, she recalled that this was the one time sheand her mother had traveled out together. Her father had left when she was onlya child, and her mother could only raise her and struggle for survival in anearthly world that even poor people would consider particularly cramped andnarrow. Fortunately, her mother was an open-minded and generous person - shewas someone who could bitterly work overtime through the night for an extra tenyuan, yet was also someone who, because of her daughter"s wish to one day visitthe high plateaus, could spend ten years" worth of savings.
Standing before Namtso Lake, the vast winds of the highplateau swayed and swirled without rest like sharp swords pa.s.sing between theice peaks in the sky, and with air whistling, they shot towards the boundlessearth. From far away beyond the horizon, there came a faint whisper like thechanting of Buddhist sutras, circling overhead along with the low-flyingHimalayan vultures. In that moment, she seemed to hear in the depths of herheart, some sediments of haziness and obsession being shattered by the gusts ofsnowy wind.
After returning from Namtso Lake, she chose to study AncientHistory and Archaeology.
She had chosen to accompany the endless earthen yellowwilderness, the thousand-year-old gigantic Buddha carvings, the long-untouchedwild ruins, the deep and unknown valleys, the steep cliff sides where ancientcoffins still hung in the air. [2]
In a blink of an eye, she was walking down a dim, longpa.s.sageway. Blue and white porcelain oil lamps flickered, while the wide blocksof ma.s.sive stone that paved the ground were trod on by her army boots, soundingwith the echoes of empty s.p.a.ces underneath. Her feet moved under the goldenlight, and s.p.a.ced every three steps on the stone surface would be carved a hugelotus blossom. Gradually, the "品" shaped underground chambercame into view, and inside the side chambers of the pa.s.sageway, emeraldsculptures of large beasts stared across at each other.
The distant noise of what sounded like Buddhist mantrascould be faintly heard chanting by her ear once again, seemingly nowhere andeverywhere at the same time. She restrained her heart that wanted to jump up,and, following her instinct, she continued forward towards the main tombchamber.
Yes, it was there.
A towering, vast, pure white stone column, majestic andmystical beyond what the mind could imagine, had images of auspicious beaststhat seemed to want to leap up into the skies. The pale gold domed ceiling hadtens of night-luminescent pearls embedded in it, each one flashing with light,as if creating another Ninth Heaven.
Her eyes only stared at that golden coffin.
Who was silently in a deep sleep inside it?
On the huge gold coffin was carved a pattern, vaguelylooking like a person"s face.
She went forward step by step.
"Fuyao."
The call from behind her was intimate yet mournful, afamiliar voice, yet an unfamiliar tone.
She quickly turned back.
"Mom ..."
A pillar of white light beamed down from an unknownlocation. Inside the white glow, her mother"s body was frail and thin, theblue-striped white hospital gown so bright that it hurt her eyes.
"Fuyao, are you well?"
She froze in place, tears welling up in her eyes. With atwist of her body, she began to sprint towards where the white light hadconverged.
Over there was her mother, she was her caregiver, she washer only harbor to rest at after a long drift at sea, she was her ... home.
In the instant she turned her body, that inexplicable lowchanting sound behind her suddenly grew even louder. Sound after sound, themuttering pulsed louder, turning into a huge sonic wave that spread throughoutthe chamber until it surged like the tides, layer after layer coming towardsher. As if it wanted to restrain her in place, the sound surrounded hercompletely.
"Fuyao ..."
"If you turn away, I will be in h.e.l.l."
"Morning."
A low elegant male voice was heard by her ear, soundingquite familiar. For a quick moment, Meng Fuyao thought that the sounds in herdream had appeared once again. She thought that she had crossed through timeand s.p.a.ce again, traveling to that place preordained by her fate.
Startled, she opened her eyes. Her still somewhat blurryvision turbulently shook like water ripples, reflecting an otherworldly handsomevisage into her eyes. Meng Fuyao stared dumbly for a while, before remembering thatshe had actually, while fleeing in a life-or-death situation, fallen asleep inthe arms of a man she had only met twice before! She had even dreamt such abizarre and strange dream.
It truly was a new experience she had never felt before.
Getting up with a slight blush, Meng Fuyao sat up and lookedaround, discovering herself in a quiet, still room. Judging from the hangingsand decorations, it was clearly one of Profound Origin sect village"s guestrooms. To put it another way, they were currently still inside the ProfoundOrigin sect.
Yuan Zhaoxu had already changed his clothing into someordinary cloth outfit. Unfortunately, this person"s temperament was far tooextraordinary - the cloth fabric on his body couldn"t cover his aura at all. Instead,the common clothes had illogically become more n.o.ble and charming thanks totheir unadorned simplicity.
He idly sat on a chair, using the tea cover to lightly stirthe tea stems in the cup [3]. Master Yuanbao"s att.i.tude was arrogant as hecrouched on Zhaoxu"s shoulder. After waiting for the tea to cool to anappropriate temperature, his little head dipped forwards and drank a mouthful.
Yuan Zhaoxu was faintly smiling, as if he did not mind atall, while Master Yuanbao smugly celebrated his successful sneak attack. Zhaoxusilently finished stirring his tea, then suddenly plopped the teacup cover ontoYuanbao"s head.
With a "pa" sound, the large and heavy porcelaincup cover landed on top of Master Yuanbao"s snowy white head, immediately coveringhis whole body underneath. Master Yuanbao was caught off-guard by the huge objectlanding on top of him, and plus he had never practiced iron neck martial artsbefore, so he was instantly pressed down low. Wearing that cup cover, hestumbled in three circles on Yuan Zhaoxu"s shoulder like he was drunk, thenwith a "peng" he planted into the ground.
Crawling back up, Master Yuanbao didn"t dare to go seekrevenge against his master. He could only stick his b.u.t.t in the air, then go tothe wall corner and start drawing circles. Yuan Zhaoxu acted like nothing hadhappened, smiling towards the Meng Fuyao who had been watching their antics."Who did you dream about?"
Starting, Fuyao vaguely thought of the dream she just had,her head feeling a bit absentminded, but also a little suffocated. Yet her faceforcibly smiled, and she said, "Not much, just dreamt of some things fromthe past."
Yuan Zhaoxu sipped some tea, lifting up his eyebrows fromthe rim of the cup. His eyelashes were dense and long, covering over his deep blackpupils. "Oh? Past things? Then why were you holding me so tightly andrefusing to let go?"
"Ah?"
"You were hugging my sleeve, crying Mama."
"Ah!!!!"
Meng Fuyao"s face immediately turned scarlet.
Putting down the tea and leaning slanted on the chair, YuanZhaoxu"s eyes held faint laughter in them. "Mama? Is that referring tomother? Your way of addressing your elders, seems to be a bit different fromthe people of the Five Regions Continent."
Fuyao first turned awkward, then her heart arbitrarilybecame a little frantic. After thinking, she shot a smile. "From yourHonor"s words, you seem to understand a lot about the races of the Five RegionsContinent. Yet you don"t know that when us Yan Huang people address ourmothers, we always call out Mama." [4]
"Yan Huang people?" Yuan Zhaoxu"s voice was calm,with not the slightest trace of surprise.
"Yes." Meng Fuyao"s face was straight. "A remotesmall tribe of the Heng region, for generations living within the deepmountains and not interacting with the outside world. I was brought out of themountains by distant relatives when I was little. Other things I don"t remembermuch of, but this way of calling our mothers, I still have some memoryof."
She blinked her eyes, then stretched out her hand, slightlysmiling with a natural and generous expression. "I am Meng Fuyao, thank youfor saving me twice in a row."
Yuan Zhaoxu slowly turned his eyes to look at her snowy whitepalm. With a faint laugh he said, "Is this also one of your Yan Huangpeople"s ceremonies?"
Fuyao directly met his eyes. "In the customs of ourpeople, when a woman extends her hand towards you, ignoring it is a very rudething to do."
"Is that so ..." Zhaoxu dragged out the lastsyllable, his voice deep and graceful like a sigh immersed in a dream. Heslowly stretched out his hand, as if going to shake Meng Fuyao"s hand. However,right before their fingers touched, he suddenly flipped his hand and tugged, inone motion pulling Fuyao into his lap.
Softly laughing above her head, his light strange aromacompletely surrounded the slightly shocked Meng Fuyao in an instant.
"In the customs of our Infinite Empire, when a woman expressesintention to get intimate on her own accord, if I don"t accept her, it would bea very silly thing to do."
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1. Tibetan lake famed for its beauty. Link:
2. Burial practice of certain Chinese ethnic groups:
3. Tea stems:
Teacup he uses:
4. Yan Huang, "炎黄", is a phrase thatChinese people commonly use to refer to their ancestry. This phrase comes fromthe two legendary emperors, Yan (Flame) and Huang (Yellow) Emperors, who aresaid to be the ancestors of all modern Chinese people. Meng Fuyao uses it as a namefor her obscure clan since no one in this world should know about these figuresof history in her previous world. For more info: