Chapter 1.2: Fated Past

After the banquet, the gods and immortals slowly dispersed, but he lingered by the lake hoping to catch one more glimpse of that person. Because the next time they meet, it would probably be in some distant year.

Unknowingly, his line of sight fell onto a laurel tree and his breathing stopped. That man emerged from behind a column of the grand hall, accompanied by another slender figure.

His back obstructed the light so he couldn’t see his expression clearly, but the slender figure beside him would occasionally let out clear and pleasant sounds of laughter. From the woman’s side profile, he could see that she had a very beautiful appearance.

Then the wind blew, and their long hair got entangled together as though making a silent kind of promise.

His heart suddenly seized, and it became difficult to breathe.

The two figures approached an empty clearing on the edge of the lake. When he saw them, he hurriedly hid his figure into the bushes. He saw Bi Hua retrieve the leaf in his bosom and place it into the soil. Then he scooped a handful of water from the lake and poured it onto the ground over the buried leaf. A few moments later, a green shoot burst forth.

“To have Bi Hua Gege care for it, this leaf must be blessed from its hundred years of cultivation.” The woman spoke. Her voice was like the tinkling of jade, soft and ethereal, concealing a faint coquettish trace, but when everyone else listened to it they will be fascinated.

“Even though it’s only a leaf, it’s also a precious life.” Refined and gentle, it was the warm voice he used to encourage him when they met for the first time.

“Then if I was injured, would Bi Hua Gege treat me as well as you do this leaf?”

“What nonsense, how could you be injured?” Though it was a faint rebuttal, it carried no trace of reproach. Instead, one could hear the love within it.

The voice that had moved his heart then, caused him extraordinary sadness now.

The two figures didn’t speak anymore. Not long later, Bi Hua stood up and left shoulder-to-shoulder with the woman, their figures seemed so harmonious and natural.

No matter the circumstances of their birth, people would ultimately need a partner after all, wouldn’t they?

Moreover that woman matched so well with him.

A slightly bitter smile rose unbidden and he mocked himself, slowly walking away from the palace and returning to his own place of cultivation.

Give up, he told himself.

Behind him a violent gale whipped up, creating ripples in the clear green pond.

In this life I have never known what love is, until I met you. Now that I know love, I also experience bittersweet longing. If I hadn’t met you, I wouldn’t have known this pain……

He returned to Wang Ji[1] mountain, yet he wasn’t able to quieten his heart to cultivate no matter what. Many times he only had to shut his eyes and that gentle and refined figure would materialize before him, almost causing him to experience a spiritual deviation.[2] He had instructed himself to not think of him, he couldn’t think of him, but alas the heart did not listen.

When his good friend Qing Ye came to visit him, he was surprised beyond words. “Yan Chi, why did you lose so much weight?”

“There’s something wrong with your vision. How can immortals lose weight?” He gently patted his face and smiled perfunctorily.

“Your face is bleak, your treasure hall is dull, and your cultivation has indeed regressed a lot.”

He let out a bitter smile and did not speak. Eyes clouded with confusion, he looked up straight into the depths of the clouds, deep in thought.

Qing Ye wrinkled his brows. He couldn’t bear to see his good friend being so dispirited.

“I don’t care what it is you’re after, but you’ve said it before that you wanted to become a High Immortal. If you continue on like this, when will you be able to attain it?”

That’s right, how arrogant and prideful he was when he began cultivating with Qing Ye and made a vow to become a High Immortal. But now, it felt like a lifetime ago.[3]

His heart gave a jolt of surprise and he shut his eyes.

He was right, if he continued on like this then he would never even get the chance to see him once more. Only through cultivating could he……

Thinking about this, he couldn’t help but let out a long sigh then forced himself to settle down and continue with his cultivation. Watching him, Qing Ye smiled in relief and thought that he had listened to his advice.

No one knew that his purpose for cultivating was no longer the same as it was before. Perhaps after meeting that person, he wasn’t the same person anymore.

How could someone with a broken heart still be the same as he was before?

If every immortal was destined to go through a heavenly tribulation, then perhaps, this was his tribulation.[4]

This tribulation had two words.

Bi Hua.

***

Very quickly, another one thousand five hundred years have passed.

In just a short period of time, many storms have occurred. Whether it is the Seventh Princess secretly marrying a mortal, or the dragon king who fell in love with a human man and caused a stir in the Heavenly Court and Dragon Palace, all these did not leave a lasting impression upon him.

He remained calm and unruffled, and continued to cultivate as though his body was encased in ice.

Qing Ye said that the immortal aura he exuded was getting stronger. Yet he remained unaware of that figure he kept within his heart. For a thousand years, he had repressed his yearning and diligently cultivated just to see him again.

What is true love? It’s vowing to be together in life and in death. So it was with Mandarin ducks, and so it was with man.[5] How many fools have there been for this one word, love? Even gods and immortals are no exception.

Finally, it was time for Purple Cloud Palace to hold its official proceedings, which happened once every three hundred years. Because his cultivation had vastly improved, he was also amongst the list of invited gods. He suppressed the elation within his heart and composed himself while saying, I must arrive on time.

Amidst the blossoms of yesteryear, we bade our goodbyes;
Since then the passage of a year, once more it’s blooming flowers.[6]

The Heavenly Court remained the same as before, a celestial realm filled with blossoming flowers and auspicious clouds. The passing of one thousand five hundred years did not bring about much changes to it.

But yet, there seemed to be something different about it.

He no longer heard the other deities and immortals discussing about him, nor did he once hear his name. He didn’t even see his figure amongst the seats reserved for esteemed immortals in the Purple Cloud Palace.

A trace of unease gradually appeared.

When the proceedings finally came to an end, he tugged on the sleeve of an immortal next to him to ask about it. That person was first stunned, then his expression became unreadable and finally, he shook his head and left.

He asked many different people, but they all had the same reaction.

His unease grew, did something happen that he was unaware of? Disturbed, he went to find Qing Ye.

“You don’t know?” Qing Ye was extremely surprised, this was an incident that had shocked the entire Heavenly Court at that time.

He revealed a bitter smile, in order to see him again he had poured all his efforts into cultivating and resolved to not inquire about any news regarding him, so how would he know of it?

Qing Ye let out a deep sigh in pity as he finally understood the reason.

Two hundred years ago, the Heavenly Emperor betrothed the Thirteenth Princess to the son of the Northern Emperor. Who would have known that the Thirteenth Princess was already enamoured with the High Immortal, Bi Hua, and begged him in a private meeting to let the Heavenly Emperor call off the marriage. However, her fiancé coincidentally discovered this and in the ensuing fight, he was severely injured by Bi Hua who forgot to restrain his abilities in a moment of accident, and now required a few thousand years to recover.

The Heavenly Emperor flew into a rage. Even though it was an accident, but his most beloved daughter actually did a thing like that with the most powerful immortal in the Heavenly Court. This caused him to lose a lot of face and left him unable to provide the Northern Emperor with a reasonable explanation. Hence, it was decided that the Thirteenth Princess would be confined to house arrest, and Bi Hua was sentenced to undergo mortal reincarnation[7] to experience the vicissitudes of life, for ten lifetimes. During this time he wasn’t allowed to return to the Heavenly Court, and he would be fated to not have a good ending in every lifetime.

His heart gave a jolt of pain and he was left in disbelief.

That Thirteenth Princess must be the woman who was walking together with him. That kind of peerless beauty was worthy of his love. But he refused to believe that he would do something that would hurt others, even if he had only met him once.

A person like him who was so kind and benevolent toward a leaf, how could it be possible that he would ruthlessly injure someone like that?

There must be something hidden within this story.

If he could leave his closed-door cultivation two hundred years earlier…… If he could leave his closed-door cultivation two hundred years earlier…… He laughed bitterly, even if he left closed-door cultivation two hundred year earlier, what did it matter? Bi Hua doing this, taking on this punishment to go down to the mortal realm, it must be that he did it willingly.

And him? From the start till the end, he was just an irrelevant outsider.

Realizing this fact, a needle-like pain lanced through his heart and he clenched his hands, loosened them, then clenched them again until he felt something warm trickling down his palms. Red droplets oozed out from between his fingers and splashed onto the ground, blooming into red plums.

Suddenly, he lifted his eyes toward the heavens and began to laugh.

He laughed aloud, ignoring Qing Ye’s shocked look. He laughed until he bended his waist, laughing uncontrollably, as tears trickled down his face.

For a brief gaze, he fell in love and let it turn into ashes. Until now, he hadn’t even spoken a single word to him, he didn’t manage to express his intentions toward him, but he was already gone. Then what was the point of him cultivating for the past thousand years? Without his heaven, what else could he love?

Fate had played a cruel trick on him, how then could he bear it?

No, he’s not resigned.

He’s not resigned that his love would thus be buried, and even more not resigned that he has to bear such injustice. Not having a good ending for ten lifetimes, how painful must it be!

That man must have done this to conceal something. That benevolent man that makes one’s heart ache for him.

He must see him again.

Even if he has already reincarnated.

  

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Translator’s Notes:
[1] 忘机 (Wang Ji) signifies aloofness/ detachment from the world. When cultivating to become an immortal, this is the quality that is emphasized above all for it means that one is free from worldly desires.
[2] Also known as ‘Qi deviation’. However, Qi is often associated with martial arts (think Wuxia novels) whereas immortals typically experience spiritual deviation (Xianxia setting).
[3] 前生的事 (Qian Shen De Shi) is literally translated to ‘events from a previous life’.
[4] A heavenly tribulation in a Xianxia novel is different from one in a Wuxia novel. In Wuxia novel, it happens when a person is about to enter the next stage of martial arts cultivation. In a Xianxia novel like this, it refers to a major trial that one has to go through in order to become a god/goddess/high immortal. These trials can come in any form though typically in Xianxia novels it’s depicted as a love trial. If you’ve watched Eternal Love (drama), it’s something similar to what the heroine experienced. Generally, this novel has a very similar feel to Eternal Love.
[5] 雁 (Yan) or Mandarin Ducks are the ultimate symbol of love in Chinese culture: it is told that Mandarin ducks stay faithful to their mate throughout their lifetime.
[6] 去年花里逢君别，今日花开已一年。(Qu Nian Hua Li Feng Jun Bie, Jin Ri Hua Kai Yi Yi Nian). This is a line from a poem which is used to convey a person’s feelings of longing.
[7] When gods/immortals/deities are punished for a crime, they are usually sent to the mortal realm for a brief period of time, where they will be born as humans. In the mortal realm, they’ll experience the pain and suffering of humans.

  

dreamxx: Yay I’m finally done with the rest of chapter one~ Sooo we have our dear little Yan Chi falling in love at first sight. I know, it’s unrealistic who even does that? But this is a short story so it’ll have to be forgiven.

You might be wondering why I like this story. Well firstly, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Xianxia genre above all else (I’m a complete sucker for it) and another reason is because I like the author’s writing style. Don’t get me wrong, if this was a full-length novel it wouldn’t have worked but since it’s a short one, I really enjoy reading and translating the flowery prose and poems.

On a side note, it’s gonna get a little angsty in the later parts (as with all typical Xianxia stories hahaha) I’m just warning you first ^^

  

Thank you for your support! ( ˘ ³˘)♥

  

Chapter 1.1