Chương 30: The Jade Emperor has something to say

A.N: The Jade Emperor uses the royal "we" when he's making a point about what kind of asshole he is.

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A goddess kowtows on a white jade floor. The entire room is made of jade, including the imposing throne in front of her where a a god with piercing gold eyes looks down at her with an expression of utter disgust. He looks as smooth and cold as the jade that surrounds him.

"Xie Xiu, we have given you an opportunity to redeem your sins, and this is the news you bring us?" The Jade Emperor closes his eyes, and rest his face on his closed fist.

"Your Heavenly Majesty, please forgive this humble one, but during the trials I prepared, neither of them seemed to recall their previous existences as Gods." Xie Xiu fears the fury coming off in cold waves from the god sitting on the throne.

She knows her very existence is hanging by a thread, but there is someone whose life matters far more than her own. For him, she will survive the Emperor's rage.

"When we visited you in the holding cells to question you on your transgressions, you knew that your freedom relied on the information you brought us on the mortal with the amber eyes and his companion. Can you say you have not failed?" The Emperor is disgusted by her failure, but even more so by her fear.

In his long life, there was only one brave enough to look him in the eye and withstand his gaze.

Xie Xiu raises her tear-streaked face and levies him with a pleading look. "This lowly one did everything in her power to attest that they didn't recall being gods. During the trials they weren't able to change back into their beast form, nor did they display any heavenly powers. They are no different than common humans."

That perks his interest. Siming assured him that both Ling Yan and Shu Luan would live out a senseless existence as mindless beasts, without ever achieving sentience. And for centuries it was so. Now, for reasons unknown they both have human forms, but none of the abilities of mystic beasts.

A human's life is short and treacherous, he can still ensure it will be rife with tragedies.

"What was their connection with each other?" he asks.

Their previous relationship is something he will not allow them to rekindle. He will burn down the Heavens before the gives Shu Luan the satisfaction.

Xie Xiu knows she needs to measure her next words wisely. The Emperor is known for his volatile temper, and she is one of the few who knows how much this topic distresses him. "From what this lowly one was able to observe they seemed...close, and their bond is strong, although I cannot say if there's love or lust between them."

The Emperor's fingers curl around the jade throne armrest, and his thin lips twist in contempt.

"We will ensure there's not. You say Siming's underling Xiaoli rescued them?"

Xie Xiu nods.

"We don't know if he can be trusted, but the Master of Fates is not someone we can openly contest."

It displeases him greatly that even as the supreme ruler of the Heavenly realm he still has to play at civility with the other high gods. Be careful not to overextend his reach, listen to their advice, watch them bow to him and flatter like humble subjects when in reality all they do is make demands of him.

Siming is far too well-liked for him to question the actions of his underling. Despite his wishes, even as the Emperor, he has no say over the comings and goings of High and Minor gods alike.

This is something he will need to assess carefully and with the utmost discretion.

"Shu Luan owes me a lifetime of sorrow, and Ling Yan a lifetime of loneliness, I will make sure they pay their dues." He's talking to Xie Xiu but the words are for himself. The humiliations he suffered will cost them both dearly.

Xie Xiu remains quiet, her eyes fixed on the cold jade floor and her arms extended in front of her head in supplication. She knows sorrow and loneliness too, but she can only prostrate herself in front of the one who caused it.

"Where are they now?" The Emperor asks Xie Xiu, contemplating stepping over her upturned hands as punishment for the paltry information she brought him.

"This humble one heard the minor goddess Bai Xiaoli say she would be taking them to the Kunlun mountains, your Heavenly Majesty."

"They must be looking for answers regarding their nature." The Emperor's smile glints like the edge of a keen blade. "Let's see if they like them."

He gets up from his throne and walks towards the heavy doors carved from raw jade into magnificent soaring dragons, their jaws open as if they would swallow the whole universe.

He runs his fingers over the cool dark jade, stopping at the point of one of the Dragon's teeth, he presses hard against it, as he does every time he walks by these doors. One day he'll break off the dragon's tooth with a single touch, for now he stops just before the jade gives out under his fingertip. Today is not that day yet.

Xie Xiu raises herself from the floor and musters the courage to ask, "Your Heavenly Majesty! What about my son?"

The Emperor turns to her, one corner of his thin lips raised. "You haven't done enough to earn seeing him. You're lucky he's allowed to live considering the monstrosity of his birth. If you continue to help us, and prove yourself more useful, We'll bring you to him."

Xie Xiu can only swallow down her tears and bow her head in a supplicant display of gratitude.

---

In the earthly realm, Wu Yun's stomach turns, and he has to steady himself on Lan Tian not to keel over from nausea. His mind might be aware that he just traveled the equivalent of two thousand li in a second, but his stomach hasn't received the missive yet.

"Is it like this every time?" Wu Yun asks, turning to Bai Xiaoli.

"You get used to it, but for short distances it's definitely preferable to ride a horse, or walk."

"Or fly," Wan Mi says, her skin has taken on a green hue that wasn't there when they were still in the secret dimension.

"Or crawl." Despite his dignified appearance, Lan Tian is just as shaken as the other two.

"The three of you sure are ungrateful for a group of people who literally needed to pray for my help."

Wu Yun takes in a sobering breath and is finally able to notice the place they traveled to. Bai Xiaoli left them in a valley between tall mountain ranges, their peaks hidden above between a sea of clouds. Pine trees almost as tall as a small mountains themselves, surround them in every direction

The air smells like fresh snow, and pine needles crushed underfoot, it tastes charged, like the earth after a thunderstorm.

Wu Yun realizes he's cold. There's no snow covering the ground, but the temperature is several degrees lower than it was in Liucun. He pulls the neckline of his robes closer against his neck, and looks around at the pine trees and at the mountain range in the distance.

"Are these the Kunlun Mountains?" He isn't as impressed as he expected he would be. They're just very tall mountains.

"The Kunlun Mountains, are a Heavenly dimension on the mortal realm, they exist beyond the boundaries of the human earth." Wan Mi says, sounding like she's reciting from memory words she had to copy over and over. "You aren't actually seeing Kunlun. Yet."

"We went through all that, and we still need to walk?" Wu Yun asks, looking up at the distant peaks with a sinking feeling.

"Not quite," Wan Mi says.

She takes out a jade token from inside her robes that Wu Yun hasn't seen before, it has characters carved in an ancient script he doesn't recognize. Wan Mi jangles the beaded tassel hanging from the rectangular token.

The sound of the two dangling silver beads is minimal, but the repercussions are dramatic.

In front of Wu Yun's eyes, a stairway appears leading upwards towards the clouds, hanging suspended from the air itself.

He can't believe his bad luck. "We have to climb that" He looks up at what looks to be at least ten thousand steps.

"I'll carry you if you're tired," Lan Tian says, his expression earnest.

Wu Yun flounders to come up with an answer. Why does Lan Tian have to look at him like that? It makes him feel soft and vulnerable in ways he can't understand, and that he loathes as much as he likes.

"Are you mad? You'll break your back trying to carry him. He can walk," Wan Mi answers for him, and for once Wu Yun is glad for her impertinence.

"This is where I'll leave you," Bai Xiaoli says, looking up at the huge stairway with no small measure of relief. "My Heavenly Superior must be wondering why I left piles of work undone."

"Aren't gods supposed to answer prayers?" Lan Tian asks.

"Only the ones we want. I'm the minor goddess of clerical tasks. The prayers I get are mostly about not misplacing inkstones, or always having brushes with soft bristles. I never answer any of them."

"Will you get in trouble, because of Wan Mi's prayer?" Wu Yun says, still undecided on whether he wants her to get in trouble or not.

"No, the only reason I was able to answer was because she prayed to me by name and not by office. If she prayed to the minor goddess of clerical tasks she would have needed to pray for an inkstone saying 'please help, signed Wan Mi' for me to receive the prayer."

"Thanks again for helping us," Lan Tian says, cupping his fists and bowing to Bai Xiaoli.

She's amused to notice that as always he's the only one of the three of them with any manners.

"Don't mention it, take care of your air-headed husband, and your stubborn daughter," she says, hiding a smirk at Wu Yun's scowl, and Wan Mi's pout.

Bai Xiaoli is about to return to the Heavens when someone descends from the skies and lands in the middle of them with a flurry of feathers.

Two large wings unfurl from around the body of a beautiful woman, and disappear into her skin. She is tall, and wears a silk robe, with long slits along the forearms, her sleeves drape down to the ground and trail behind her like a veil. Her sharp eyebrows are sculpted above her fiery eyes like twin swords ready for battle. Her peach blossom lips are twisted in displeasure.

Blue and red feathers grow out of her temples and disappear into the silken black of her long hair.

When her red eyes skim over Bai Xiaoli she feels her stomach drop. Not even in the Heavens has she seen anyone so beautiful.

Wu Yun is very impressed by her wings, he's sorry she hid them away.

The woman's eyes land on Wan Mi, who hides behind Lan Tian's robes.

"Master, I can explain," she starts, her voice small and pitiful.

"For your sake, I hope the explanation is worthy, because the punishment you'll receive otherwise will make even the Heavens tremble."