After witnessing the fight of Fang Xuezhi and Guan Yu, Xuanwu decided to pay a visit to the mortal realm to find Na Shaotian, her husband.
"If Fang Xuezhi finds the Shagguan Longyang spear first, then all of heaven and earth will be doomed." she whispered to herself as she descended down at a nearby empty field.
Xuanwu looked around and realized that she landed directly to the lands of the kingdom of Dragon blade. Treading casually, she passed by the outskirts of the city leading up to the stairs of the palace gates.
"Halt!" one of the palace guards shouted as they unsheath their swords towards Xuanwu. "You're not from here are you? What is your business?"
Xuanwu remained her calm countenance and displayed her utmost gentleness.
"I have an urgent matter to discuss with the emperor." she said as she stepped foward to pass by the guards but one was seemed unconvinced.
"Well I don't believe you! If you have business with the emperor, you should pay respects first to me..." the arrogant guard spoke highly with his grim smile directed towards Xuanwu.
"Ah...So you want an immortal to be rude now?" given these words, Xuanwu gripped her right hand and conjured a large golden axe holding it with one hand directing to the guard's head.
Looking up at the large axe, the guard wanted to flee and cower in fear but instead the smell of urine filled the air which sent a hinge on Xuanwu's nose withdrawing the axe from her hand and covering her nose instead.
"P-please forgive me.... Forgive me...." the guard repeatedly pleaded.
Xuanwu smiled grimly and stuck the axe on the stone floor of the palace entrance.
"If I catch you cheating people may it be mortals, immortals or demons, I will never forgive you, you got me? NEVER...."
She flipped her hair and uprooted the axe on the cracked floor dissipating it into the air like gold dusts that vanished gradually.
All of the other guards knelt as they acknowledged the arrival of the emperor.
"The emperor has arrived!" a eunuch shouted as Xiaoxing Fu stepped down his
palanquin gracing the guards and maids with his presence.
Na Xuanwu presented herself and bowed curtsily to him. Xiaoxing Fu recognized the beautiful woman in front of him and stared at her wide eyed...
His heart was about to leap out of his chest as he kneeled in front of her kowtowing.
"Your eminence!!! I am deeply sorry for not recognizing you earlier!!! Please punish me!" he shouted as his head touched the floor of the palace few more times. The guards and maids were amazed by this. No one dares to make the great emperor bow. They never thought...
"Xiaoxing Fu, I forgive you but... In one condition, I want you to dismiss the one that made me feel uncomfortable earlier."
Xuanwu pointed at the guard who was still rooted frozen on his position.
"Niao Shuang!!! Come here." Xiaoxing Fu shouted. The embarassed guard did not dare to stand up so he commanded two other guards to carry him in front of Xuanwu.
"Did you try to swindle again?"—Xiaoxing Fu
"I—I just..."—Niao Shuang
"All I needed was YES or NO. Did you swindle or not?"—Xiaoxing Fu
"N—NO!!!!"—Niao Shuang
Xuanwu's countenance darkened. She stretched one of her legs and conjured the battleaxe again.
"Dare to lie in front of my face or this axe will rip you to pieces." she calmly said with a fake smile.
The guard trembled with fear and so at last he spilled the beans.
"YES!! I SWINDLED. The teals of gold received here is not enough to support my family! I—I did it for a greater purpose!" he said in a stammering manner.
Xuanwu held her head down.
"You know what, you're still lying."
Using her eyes of eternal night, Xuanwu reached out to the pocket from the guard's sleeve and took playing dice from inside.
"You did not swindle for your family, you swindled for your self and your uncontrollable gambling. Your greed reached the ninth heaven, mortal."
The guard's eyes grew wide. He knelt before Xuanwu and kowtowed many times constantly apologizing with every bow he makes.
Xiaoxing Fu felt annoyed and disgusted so he dismissed him immediately.
"I am sorry for that your eminence... Tell me, what brings you here in our kingdom?" —Xiaoxing Fu
"I heard that my husband ran an errand for your kingdom so I am here to ask for my husband's whereabouts. Do you know where he is now?"—Xuanwu
"I see... For now, he ran errands for us in Mount Lingxiao up north... Why do you need to ask an audience for him?"—Xiaoxing Fu
"Listen here... All of the kingdoms is in great danger. Somebody is planning to revive the shuras during the blood moon and I need Shaotian so we can stop that person from reviving the threats that plagued the world 50,000 years ago." —Xuanwu
"I get it... I'll send my best guards to accompany you to north Lingxiao mountain."—Xiaoxing Fu
"No. I'd rather not risk it. The northern part of Lingxiao mountains are home for fallen celestial creatures." —Xuanwu
"Alright then. Good luck with your journey."—Xiaoxing Fu
--------------------
Covered in wounds and struggling to stand up, Shaotian picked up his sword once again as he was face to face with a white giant frozen gorilla. He needs only one more tusk to complete the mission as he already cut one of it's tusk down without killing it.
The frozen gorilla is a fierce fallen celestial creature. It's hands are thrice as large as a normal gorilla with two huge tusks used for ramming up it's prey. Luckily for Shaotian, his reflexes are fast enough to avoid the creature's attacks however, it is too fast for it's size making Shaotian being tossed in the air to and fro and ended up being wounded.
"One more blow and that tusk is going to come off. I need to risk it." he whispered with a frozen breath as he charged towards the gorilla. The sword was about to hit it's tusk but instead, the gorilla caught him with it's large hands and the sword was thrown far away.
"Oh no... I can't reach it... Is this the end for me?" he felt the gorilla's fierce breath as it was about to devour him alive.
He closed his eyes expecting that the creature kill him but instead, the gorilla's head fell down letting him go in an instant.
Looking back up, he saw a tall figure of a slender woman with long black hair clothed in golden robes with a phoenix fire mark on her forehead.
"Xuanwu???" he asked as Xuanwu helped him back up.
"Long time, no see."—Shaotian
"Did you even miss me?"—Xuanwu
"Every second."—Shaotian
Picking up his sword, Shaotian cut off the celestial beast's tusk and put it inside his satchel.
"Why did you decide to accept such perilous task? North Lingxiao mountains is not a place for mere mortals to venture freely." —Xuanwu
"The crown princess is expecting a child on her womb and the emperor wanted to give a blessing to the crown princess' family. No one in the kingdom accepted the task so I participated." —Shaotian
Xuanwu's blood boiled. She hit Shaotian's face with her hand.
"I know you accepted because of the high pay! Na Shaotian... What would I do with a man like you!!!" she shouted angrily at him as he retreated and apologized with his knees on the ground.
"I know I am wrong please forgive me! I—I just wanted some teals so I can surprise our daughter too since she will be giving birth soon."
With his words, Xuanwu's eyes widened.
"What did you say? Yingluo is about to give birth?"—Xuanwu
"Yes, this upcoming month."—Shaotian
Looking up the skies, Xuanwu gasped as she recalled... Next month is the birth of the crimson moon.
"The child's blood will be used to paint the moon red and revive the shuras, we can stop Fang Xuezhi if—"—Xuanwu
"If?"—Shaotian
"You would help me find the ruins of Shangguan Longyang sect."— Xuanwu
Recalling back from his memories, Shaotian remembered from 10 years ago. The scroll that his master entrusted him with his dying breath. It contains the map of the lost sect.
He pulled out the scroll from his satchel. The map pointed to the northeast of Lingxiao.
"It's in the northeast. There are few celestial creatures there because of the toxic miasma. I think we'll be safe if we take the route to the cliffs." —Xuanwu
"There is a toxic miasma surrounding the lost sect? How did you know that?"—Shaotian
"I will tell you later."—Xuanwu
As they hiked at the caved cliffs more further, the winds became violently strong sending off bone chilling blizzards that can freeze any mortal in it's blow.
"Let's look for a cave to pass the storm." Shaotian beckoned to Xuanwu as he took her hand and led her inside a cave.
Xuanwu lit up a bonfire using her magic after Shaotian gathered pieces of wood.
"Your master... Is he one of the disciples?"—Xuanwu
"Yes he is. He said, he shall be the last generation of Shangguan Longyang."—Shaotian
"50,000 years ago, during the war of the shuras, Shangguan Longyang's finest craftsman, Xi Guanghao crafted a magnificent divine weapon that can break heaven and earth. I was the one who asked him and gave him the materials that he needed to create the weapon in hopes of defeating the shuras."—Xuanwu
"If they are so glorious and righteous, why did my master's sect delve into chaos and ruin?—Shaotian
"30 years ago, a notorious outer disciple tried to rob the weapon. The weapon created a cataclysmic fog that covered the sect's premise and killed all of the disciples including their grandmaster. But only one survived."—Xuanwu
"And the only one that survived is..."—Shaotian
"Your master..."—Xuanwu
Dumbfounded, Shaotian realized that the greatest regret that his master did was caused by his greed.
That is why the old man kept repeating the same line of sentence everyday.
"One day, you will realize that greed will only bring you nothing but death."
The blizzard storm stopped as powdered snow and sheer ice settled upon their wake. Visible down the cliff, is the ruins of Shangguan Longyang sect.
Slowly, they descended from the cliff down to the entrance of the sect.
Torn flags, torn entrance doors and brittle-looking pillars greeted them as they both went inside.
It was dark so Xuanwu decided to light up a ball of flame. As the light illuminated the dimmed entrance hall, piles of bones are scattered everywhere around the place.
"Is this the devastation of the miasma that you talk of? If I'm not wrong, these are the disciples that you talk of?" Shaotian whispered with his spirit a little bit dampened just with the sight of the piles of bones.
"Yes they are. Now, where were we?"
Xuanwu opened her eyes of eternal night and finally sensed the weapon's energy.
Xuanwu took steps further down the hall.
"What's the matter, Xuanwu? It's dangerous here, be careful not to step on something."—Shaotian
"The Linglong spear... It calls me." —Xuanwu