Legend of Fu Yao

Epsilon looked at him, and a sigh escaped his lips. “I have no reason to guide you two, but till now, this martial arts of mine only has one disciple. And looking at this disciple… This martial arts cannot be lost in my hands… Forget it… Take it as my compensation for that day…”

He tossed over a book that Zhangsun Wuji promptly caught, and then he ordered, “Carry her over.”

Meng Fuyao raised her eyebrows. At this point, she finally understood why Epsilon, of which she had done her due diligence of tormenting him, was willing to guide her. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to protect the Xuanji Empress and used this as a chip in exchange for her life.

But she would rather not accept his guidance than to leave that woman alive!

The three stood there motionless as Zhangsun Wuji made sustained eye contact with Epsilon. After a while, Zhangsun Wuji bent down and dragged out the Xuanji Empress out from under the bed.

Disconcerted by his decision, Meng Fuyao glared at him with anger in her eyes. Zhangsun Wuji welcomed her gaze without cowering.

His eyes were straightforward and honest, with insistence scribbled all over his eyes. Meng Fuyao frowned, and after a while, she could not help but turn away.

It was the first time the two had made eye contact after that night. Meng Fuyao felt that she had lost to him once more. She had lost when she was being unreasonable. And even if she had been reasonable, she still had lost.

On the other hand, Epsilon couldn’t care less about their eye contact game. He silently caught the unconscious Xuanji Empress, and in the most gentle, loving manner, he carefully placed her on his lap and tenderly caressed her long hair.

This 40-year-old lady was still ever beautiful. In her slumber, the usual hot temperament etched onto her brows faded and was instead replaced with a troubled, melancholic frown.

It was a rare expression. Yet, he found that strangely familiar and he leaned back, deep in thought.

In the cloudy sky, a young girl from his memories looked down upon him with knitted brows.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you? Dead?”

She kicked him a couple of times, almost shattering his bones that were falling apart. He opened his eyes with a groan and saw a radiant girl amongst the bright rays of light that stung his eyes.

“Don’t move… Don’t move…”

He really couldn’t move. Thunder, that bellicose fellow, was way too ruthless. He’s like a canon that must blow up both himself and the opponent. While the top five in the Top Ten would sometimes gather together to exchange blows, they were, after all, still masters that valued their own life. No one would fight like an uncivilized fool to the point of death. Except for this Thunder, this f*cking Thunder.

If he moved now, his bones would fall apart.

The lady stood there and observed him. After a while, she got up and said, “There cannot be contact between men and women. How can I stay by your side? I’m off.”

He stayed silent and motionless. ‘Go as you wish,’ he thought. After all, he would heal in a couple of days, lying here under the sun and the rain. At most, he’d have a few pains from now on.

But after a while, she returned with people behind her.

“You can’t move?” She squatted down as her eyes reflected the sun rays. “I am in a good mood these days, and so, I decided to save you,” she announced pridefully.

She ordered the servants to cut down the tree and build a tiny house around him that could keep him away from the harsh weather conditions.

He thanked her, and with her nose in the air, she said proudly, “I am just caring for my citizens. I am, after all, the next empress.”

In the next couple of days, she got her servants to send food over. Other times, she would come personally and sit by her side, listening to his stories that he had from traveling around the world. The scent of a young lady intertwined with the smell of nature, and for some reason, he could differentiate it. Some days, he would be intoxicated with that scent and relish in the thought that the world actually had such aroma to offer.

He came from a poor family and was often bullied. After suffering many hardships, he had finally become a disciple of his current sect. To be able to practice Tongzi Gong, one must never sully his purity; an existence no different from that of a monk or eunuch. There was no lack of disciples with great potential, but many were unwilling to give up their sexual desires. In the end, it was a choice between him and his senior brother. He knew that he was not as good as his senior brother, and so, he murdered him.

He mastered the Virgin Boy Technique. His teacher repeatedly instructed him that women were like fire, one that would set the foundation of his martial art ablaze. And so, for many years, he had never gotten close to any woman. The scent and beauty of women was something that he had only seen afar and hidden away from once they got close.

But now, the him that was rendered immobile could not reject the presence of a woman. The scent he had not smelled for the past ten years seemed to slowly fill up his lonely and empty heart.

Her bad temper was something he understood with just a few days of interacting with her. She would often chase the ox carts down the mountain. And the ox that were frightened would tumble down the mountain, with some falling off the cliff with a miserable shriek. She would then be on her carriage, bursting into fits of laughter. “Squeezing with me? Go and die!”

Sometimes, as she would gather some flowers and carry those vibrant flowers in. Just as his eyes lit up at the scene of a beauty with a bunch of flowers in her arms, she would throw the flowers beneath her feet and stamp on them with so much hatred, till their original state was barely recognizable. “What blooming in unison? I hate it! I hate it!”

He would stare at her in confusion, unable to comprehend the rage she displayed. But even her anger was so beautiful, so dazzling. She was completely different from the gentle, boring women he had seen.

She showed great interest in the happenings around the world and always asked plenty of questions. When he inquired why she, a noble, was interested in all of these, she put her head on her hand and slowly replied, “Because I’ve never seen it before, nor will I have the chance in the future.”

His heart thumped. “Why?” he asked.

She straightened her back and yelled towards the sky, “Because I will be the mother of the nation!”

He listened and chuckled. ‘What mother of the nation? What a crazy girl,’ he thought to himself.

But that was the truth.

Half a month later, he knew of her “mother of the nation”.

That night, the rain poured down from the dark skies. The tiny house, unable to withstand the strong forces of nature, was stripped of its rooftop. The floor was flooded with water. He slowly got out of bed and stretched. Since he was long healed, why did he lay in bed and pretend that he couldn’t move? It was high time he left.

But as he reached the door, he saw a white figure in the dark mountains dashing towards him. It was her.

In the stormy night, drenched from head to toe, she immediately pounced over into his arms the moment she saw him.

A youthful, tender body in his arms. Her contours and outline of her body were clearly seen as the wet clothes clinging to her porcelain skin, rubbing against his body. His body could not help but tense up.

“How… How…” She sobbed in his arms.

He lifted up her face. It resembled a rose, battered by the rain. So beautiful and yet, so fragile.

Who was the one that had broken this flower, causing her to cry in this downpour?

He gently patted her back and consoled her, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. No one can bully you with me around.”

Her sobs immediately stopped.

That night, he hugged her as she confided in him her ‘grievances’ — the Xuanji Emperor had patrolled around South and had stayed in her family’s mansion. He had his eyes on her sister born from a concubine and had decreed that he would marry her once he returned to the capital… His Majesty stayed in her house and didn’t notice her yet fell in love with that lowly sister of hers! It was not a humiliation that this noble, naughty lady could stomach. And so, she killed her sister.

Now that His Majesty was here to bring her sister back, it was natural that she should be the one to go. But after all, they looked different. What if His Majesty realized?

As he listened to her, he could feel his heart getting colder by the moment. Her acts were so sinister and unforgivable. He almost wanted to push her away, but it was the first time she was in his arms, shivering in fear.

And then, in his daze, he thought, what’s there for him to judge? She had killed her sister to snatch the empress’ position. He had killed his senior brother in order to learn the Virgin Boy Technique. They were the same, the exact same.

In his arms, she looked up with her tearful face. “You promised to… to protect me. You promised!” She sniffled.

He looked at her, at this poisonous rose filled with thorns. “Yes,” he promised, after a very long time.

A promise for a lifetime.

Epsilon’s freedom was now tied down to the bloody, scheming palace of Xuanji.

To this day, he could still vividly recall her expression when she heard her promise—the gleeful, sly look in her eyes.

He knew of her little schemes.

And he knew that she didn’t love him.

In her entire life, she only had eyes for authority, power, status, and worldly possessions.

And in his lifetime, he loved illusion, obscurity, the rose in the swamp and the red spider lily ¹ that grew in the ruins.

She trembled slightly in his arms, and her eyes twitched a little, as though she was about to wake up.

‘Don’t, don’t wake up.’

There was too much pain in this world to face. Rather than for her to open her eyes and face the pain and shame, it would be better for her to sleep and enter the cycle of reincarnation.

‘I know you wouldn’t want to face it.’

‘So sleep for eternity.’

Epsilon smiled lightly.

The ten over years became but a dream. In this lifetime, her countless vicious deeds, the vicious deeds he had done for her accumulated the bones of the dead, turning into her deathbed.

‘It’s fine, like this.’

He smiled as he gently caressed her face. Her features he knew by heart, her scent that had not changed the past ten over years were all carved into his soul.

Her eyes… Her nose… Her lips… And then, his hand stopped at her throat.

Ka.

That quiet sound resounded loudly in the room.

Epsilon’s expression remained the same. He slowly removed his hand, and the lady’s neck collapsed flaccidly.

Her life was silently cut short in her sleep.

Epsilon lovingly stroke her forehead, and recalled an intense fight they had many years ago. “If you continue like this, there will be a day where you die without a place for burial!” he had yelled.

She had looked up and proclaimed, “Then, before that, please finish me!”

Rather…

‘In this life, I have fulfilled your wishes.’

The rain drizzled down quietly.

Meng Fuyao took a step back with her lips pressed together. For the Xuanji Empress, such a death was way to easy on her. But then again, death was the end goal, and as long she died, there was no need to harp on the means.