"Are you going to stare at me like that all day or are we going to do it?"
XiNiang blatantly said as she stared cold daggers at Qiushan Li.
"I—I can't do it with someone whom I don't love."
"Heh. So demons do fall in love? It's so surprising that you creatures feel at all. The day you wanted to kill Mei WuTang and Ming's Grandmaster, you never felt any remorse doing such things."
Li's countenance darkened, he stood up from his seat and walked towards XiNiang. She wanted to leave by walking towards the door but before she knew it, Li already pinned her before she could make her dramatic exit.
"Tell me… If you know about us demons so much, look into my eyes and tell me… What do you see?"
XiNiang turned away her head. She can feel his warm breath against her cheek.
'Oh no… He's too close.'
"I—I'm… So—"
"Just look into them and tell me what do you see in them."
XiNiang turned her head and stared at a pair of lovely crimson eyes. Li's eyes were full of resentment and at the same time guilt. She felt that the more that she stared into his eyes, the more that she's falling deep on his emotions.
For a moment, she was in a trance but realizing that she was almost lost, she turned her head away.
"W-What is that? What did you do to me?"
"We demons have an ability called empathy. We can choose to make someone feel the same way as we do and also, show the same way as we feel."
"So that was it… From what I saw earlier, you… You felt pain, resentment, and… Guilt."
"Yes. I've taken countless of lives but amidst it all, I felt guilty."
"You're a warlord so you shouldn't feel guilty towards killing. You were written in the annals of Old Jianghu hundreds of years ago. General Qiushan Li, The Cold-Blooded Pike Master."
"Whom I was hundreds of years ago isn't who I am now. Everything changed until I met Qing Luan. But, she… She died once again."
"I'm sorry…"
Their conversation was then interrupted when Asuro knocked on the door.
"Li, may I borrow XiNiang for a moment?"
"Yes, master."
———————————————
YingLuo awakened from her slumber and found FeiXian sleeping by her side. Apparently, it's about a week ago since they came back from Emei. Although she's happy with FeiXian's presence, the guilt still bothers her.
She cast aside the sheets and head outside the balcony. The cloudy skies hindered the moon and a faint cool breeze passed by sending jolts in her body. YingLuo looked at the kingdom below. WenXi city and it's people were going on with their normal lives unknowing of another great war that they're about to face.
'Because of our school, Old Jianghu is now facing a great threat.'
She gave a worried look while staring down below.
Moments later, she felt large warm arms wrapped around her and saw FeiXian.
He then gave her a kiss on the forehead before putting a scarf on her.
"It's cold, why are you out here?"
"I was just— looking at those people below."
"*sigh* Come here."
FeiXian held her close. He put his hands on her tummy.
"Stop thinking about the worries. Can you feel him?"
YingLuo looked at him and raised an eyebrow. She then tried putting her hands on her tummy and afterwards, the 'thing' inside her began to move which made her gasp in surprise.
"W—What was that?"
"Baby says that he's happy to have you as his mother."
"Fei—"
"Na YingLuo… You are the most wonderful woman I've ever met. So now…"
FeiXian held YingLuo's hand. YingLuo's eyes grew as she heard FeiXian's words…
"Na YingLuo… Ehrrmmm… Will you ma— eh… No… Will you be my Hua YingLuo?"
"That proposal is horrible…"
FeiXian frowned as he heard her remark. He tried to turn his back but YingLuo grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"Don't turn away when I'm not finished speaking."
YingLuo raised her feet up to her heels wanting to reach FeiXian's face and gave him a warm and ardous kiss.
The kiss lasted for a sichen and ended afterwards.
"So, was that a yes?" FeiXian's face blushed like sichuan pepper corns.
"Take a guess..." YingLuo winked.
He then got the idea and carried YingLuo back to their room. Their night went by full of love making. FeiXian made sure not to tire out YingLuo and did all of the activities the most since he doesn't want Xiao Ao to be affected.
————————————————
XiNiang was summoned by Asuro on a vacant room just below his fortress in TaoYan city. The room that Asuro chose was spacious and also has it's magical absorption advantage if ever the Heavenly Sword goes berserk.
The sword was contained inside a glass with plated gold on it's sides. The gold had inscriptions that's the same ones that is surrounded inside the room.
XiNiang approached the glass and touched it but she automatically withdrew her hand because she felt a sting as she touched the glass.
"Why put the sword in a heated surface?"
"Like a blacksmith, you can only remove the impurities if you expose the metal on huge amount of heat."
"Aren't you afraid that it'll melt the sword?"
"The sword isn't made from ordinary metals… I should know this because I made this sword myself."
"W—What?"
XiNiang couldn't believe what she heard. The divine sword that Cao Cao used for the battle against the evil forces was made by the Sixth Shura himself.
"The metal that I used forging it's body came from the most hard and potent metal in the whole ninth heaven. I took it from Oguadura."
"Oguadura? The Dragon of Slaughter?! H—How? You could've died?! Legends say that immortals die if they face Oguadura."
"Yes however, I lived. We fought for 30 days and 30 nights without eating or resting. That foul beast isn't that hard to handle but I wounded him fatally making him beg for his life and I took one of his scales instead."
"A—Awesome…"
"The handle… I made from a branch of the Aromatic Heart Arrow Tree. Ji Mei gave me one and told me that the weapon that I'll make will bring peace and justice between mortals and immortals."
"Aromatic Heart Arrow Tree… You knew the Goddess Ji Mei?"
"Yes. But sadly, she now became a titan of immeasurable power and at the same time, a heartless, unfeeling monster."
"We're sorry…"
"What are you sorry for?"
"It's just that… It's… Nothing."
"Alright, let's begin the purification now."
"Enn."
XiNiang agreed and Asuro lifted the lid of the glass slowly. As soon as the lid opened, the sword flew out of the glass waving violently at them. Asuro and XiNiang dodged the attacks precisely and locked their spells directly on the sword.
As soon as their spells got absorbed by the sword, a vision was shown by the sword. Both XiNiang and Asuro collapsed unconscious on the floor.
Their souls were transferred inside the sword.
"Where am I?"
XiNiang saw a blinding white light. She walked far with her legs until she reached a plum tree where a beautiful woman sat. The woman had a long white hair with her eyes gleaming in bright pink color. She wore a white inner robe and a violet orchid embroidered outer robe and had a symbol of the Shifting Flower Sect on her forehead.
XiNiang slowly approached the woman who is slowly caressing the flowers from where she sat.
"Excuse me, where am I?"
The woman gradually raised her head until she faced XiNiang.
"You're lost. Let me help you find your way back."
"T—Thank you."
The woman wanted XiNiang to follow her and she gladly do so. They walked and walked passing by the same plum tree every moment.
'That's weird. I think we've passed by the same plum tree every sichen.'
XiNiang felt inside her bones that it was odd so she stopped walking and asked the lady a question.
"Didn't we pass by the same plum tree few more times now?"
The woman did not reply. XiNiang is now growing impatient but she didn't gave way to anger and ask the woman once again.
"Lady, where on earth are we?"
"There is no point answering, you're going to be eaten anyway."
The woman's voice sounded sinister than before. Evil aura surrounded the woman as she twisted her head to her back. Her beautiful appearance was replaced by a horrid, disfigured creature whose limbs are broken. Two horns emerged from her head and her mouth had sharp teeth that could grind bones.
The evil creature lunged forward at XiNiang making her flee but no matter how much she ran, it's no use because she felt that she had ran a thousand miles but she passed by the same plum tree.
She was almost out of breath when she rested at the back of the plum tree. The creature looked for her but it couldn't find her. XiNiang looked for more clues how she could escape the creature until she remembered…
'THE FLOWERS!'
XiNiang popped her head and saw the creature tending to the flowers. She nimbly armed her hidden weapon and afterwards sent a spell on the ground which shoots up thorn vines and wrapped it around the creature preventing it to escape. XiNiang hurriedly tumbled and with her feet, she trampled on the flowers making her awaken from a nightmare.
As she awoke, she found herself pulled by the same creature upward and was about to be eaten when she pulled a blade from her sheath and cut the monster with a divine aura coming from her weapon.
The monster shrilled as it evaporated in the air. She looked at the sword. The other half of it looked a little bit cleaner except for…
She turned her head and saw Asuro about to be eaten by the same monster. She acted fast and threw the blades on the monster but it was just wounded unlike the other monster who had just died.
Asuro hasn't awakened yet and XiNiang rushed up to him.
"Shura! Shura! Wake up!" XiNiang couldn't think of any other way to wake him up so she tried spanking him with her hands back and forth.
SPANK. SPANK. SPANK. SPANK. SPANK.
Asuro's face turned beet red as XiNiang's hands left marks on his face. The monster violently roared and wanted to attack them when Asuro awakened and conjured a fire from his hands and threw it on the monster which burned it into ashes.
At last, when the monsters were dead, the Heavenly Sword returned into it's original form with a bright pink and gold hue.
"Shura… Your face."
"Thank you for waking me up but next time, I'm not allowing other women to spank my face except my wife."
"I am so sorry."
Actually, Gu XiNiang was a character inspired by GhostBride, a player from Sword of Shadows. She helps me everytime in a quest and always wears a white robe and a white veiled hat. ♡