Yang Xia was not using a cover for this mission. His identity as a member of the Yang Family was the only thing who gave him the smallest chances of success. He was wearing a purple robe this time, the colors of a Yang at war and his enhanced boots black leather boots. But no flowers on his hair. He thought about putting on some of the Everlasting Sun flowers, they would match the situation. but he didn’t want to come off as arrogant by looking like he was hearing a crown. More arrogant than he would already look, that is.
Walking through the north-west side of Pearl City drove home how the Pleasure District was the newest part of the city. It had been destroyed 40 years ago in the Courtesan Riots so the Yang Patriarch at the time, Yang Ah did not cut any corners when rebuilding it. The streets were wide and paved with round blue stones that emitted a refreshing feeling. They were named Deep Sea Gifts and were mined in mining cities by the Forbidden Sea. Legend has it that if you break one of them a fountain of water would erupt.
All around him tall elegant buildings pierced the sky with their curved roofs. You could find any vice your heart desired here. Gambling, prostitution, alcohol, drugs, mild altering spells, fight clubs, parties. No matter what you were looking for. The Pleasure District would gladly take your money in exchange for it.
The Guards were always patrolling around here. Taking care of drunkyards from the taverns, breaking up fights over women, catching pickpockets. In general, making sure that no one was getting in the way of the flow of money.
Warm rays of the afternoon Sun still bathed the extravagant robes of the people strolling through the streets. So the vices were still at a minimum, most brothels were not even open yet. People recognized Yang Xia’s hair but no one dared to approach him. The purple robes and the dark expression he was wearing made it clear he was not here to have fun, and there was no need to provoke a Yang when he was in that state for no reason.
He approached a tall white wall in the center-east of the district. This was the perimeter wall of the Strange Garden, one of the establishments ran by Fairies that offered idyllic pleasures and mind altering experiences. You had to pay a price just to enter it by the front gate, and inside there were all types of Fairies offering services. Yang Xia took some distance and then bolted and climbed the wall like a monkey.
He landed in a strange place. The first thing he noticed was the myst. It covered everything and made it very difficult to see anything 20 meters away from yourself. He could hear the faint sounds of rustling leaves and small steps around him, and even what sounded like words traveling through the weak north wind.
The ground was covered by dark green grass and delicate looking flowers, but with patches of gray stone here and there that had strange symbols painted over it. He bent over to take one of the strange pink flowers but as soon as his hand touched its petals a gash opened on it.
“AH!” He retreated his right hand immediately and stuffed a curative on it. “FUCK!” The wound was superficial but extremely painful. He wrapped it up with a cloth so it would not bleed it anymore.
His senses tried to pierce the fog but they couldn’t go much farther than his vision. He started walking towards the center of the Garden, probably where he would find his target. All sense of direction was lost after he left the wall behind. If Yang Xia stopped walking in a straight line he feared he would be forever lost here. The sounds around him didn’t help either. They increased and decreased in intensity seemingly at random. Sometimes he couldn’t hear anything but the echoes of them made by his imagination. At others they were so clear he could almost understand the incantations and the steps sounded like they were just outside his senses. The temptation to chase after them was great.
He also lost the sense of time. He couldn’t tell if had just lost sight of the wall or if was walking for hours. The heat started to increase. Fuck. He adjusted the robe around his neck, beads of sweat were falling from his face. His mouth was so dry it felt like his lips would break apart. Why didn’t he bring a flask of water with him?
Suddenly a stone table appeared in the edges of his senses, and on top of it a tall glass waited for him, filled with crystalline water. Yang Xia almost tripped on himself running towards it. He grabbed it like someone who was poisoned reaching out for a cure. His trembling hands wrapped around the glass and he lifted it to his lips.
But then his danger senses screamed and he stopped, the glass almost touching his mouth. What the fuck is he doing. He threw the glass away towards the fog but never heard it hitting the ground. He invaded a Fairy Garden without a care in the world, tried to pick up a flower like a dumbass and now is drinking things from it without asking. Was he trying to kill himself? Fuck.
He circulated Qi through his body and soon all his physical ailments disappeared. Why did he fall for such a simple trick? He recovered his bearings and looked around, everything returned to normal. Breathe in, breathe out, just like you always do. He slapped his face hard for good luck and started walking towards the Center of the Garden again.
After he broke away from the Snare, the myst tinned a bit and Yang Xia started to see more and more about the Garden. Stone structures covered by grass, weird trees with leaves of all sorts of colors, little fairies flying around with people chasing them, entrances to what look like mazes. Alcoves with all types of food one can imagine. But soon he saw the enormous form of what he was looking for.
In the center of the Strange Garden there was the Oldest Tree. A gigantic slender dark brown thing that emanated a golden hue from its bark. Its giant roots stretch all around it, breaking the ground from below. On its branches dark green leaves bathed its surroundings with an ethereal yellow and purple light. Several people congregated below it, in tables, alcoves and other buildings built in the stretches of unbroken ground. Fairies attended to the guests, bringing strange fruits from the branches and water collected from the moisture in the leaves.
And in a white table very close to the trunk Yang Xia saw Xun Cai, the girl he was looking for. She was an extremely beautiful lady, with jade-like skin, long black hair and a gentle face with small but red lips and eyes. The robe around her was a simple white but it had a strange aura around it, probably made by a Fairy. She was sitting in a simple chair while sipping from a small cup and eating small pieces of the tree’s fruits.
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Yang Xia approached her directly but without a rush. She didn’t even notice him until he stopped a couple meters away from the table. She looked at him with those strange red eyes and nodded, probably thinking he was just admiring her.
“Young Lady Xun, your mother is very worried about you.” Yang Xia's voice was a little hoarse after all that happened with him in this Garden.
“Oh.” Xun Cai lowered the cup on the table and cleaned her mouth with a handkerchief “So she sent you to take me away?”
“Yes, I came to rescue you from the huffian who kidnapped you.” Yang Xia bowed. “So, if you may please accompany me back to your house, I will not let anyone molest you.”
“That’s what she told you?” Her expression hardened. “I was not kidnapped, I ran away with Dai Hong after my mother tried to break us apart.” She looked at him with a plea in her eyes. “Please Brother Yang, let us be. Dai Hong has already found a way out of the City and when we are out of this cursed city we will finally be able to marry without anyone standing in our way.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is.” Yang Xia lifted his hand to his chin. “Regardless, your mother is offering a huge pay and I think it would be better for you to clear it with her before going off marrying the first cat who falls on your bed don’t you think?” He smiled and Xun Cai lowered her eyes.
“So that’s how you want to do it.” A manly voice came from behind him and he turned to see a youth appearing from outside the myst. He was tall, younger than Yang Xia but almost at his height, broad shoulders, long black hair and sharp features, just like heroes in the paintings. His skin had a healthy tan and everything from his body shouted danger. Yang Xia would not want to get on the wrong side of this boy after he had a couple more years to cultivate. Luckly, his life would end today.
“The man of the day I presume, Dai Hong if I’m not mistaken.” Yang Xia bowed again.
“Yes, and I don’t care who you are, stop bothering my fiancé and scram before I lose my cool.” Dai Hong made a wave to dismiss Yang Xia and walked behind Xun Cai. He placed a protective hand on her shoulder and she placed her hand on top of it. They locked eyes and a tender expression could be seen in both of their faces.
“Oh, how moving.” Yang Xia smiled again. “But don’t you think it’s wrong to talk like this to your elders? It’s not like you have the strength to follow up your words anyways.”
“You…” Dai Hong started but got interrupted by a presence descending upon the scene.
“Yang Xia, Yang Xia. I’ve already given you face by not minding you forgetting to pay for a ticket before entering my Garden.” The voice was like a melody in Yang Xia’s ears, enticing him to look at the group of people approaching them. “But now you have gone so far as bothering my paying guests? I can’t just turn my eyes away, no matter your background. I will have to apologize to your father later but I don’t think he would be too sad that I taught you some manners.”
It looked like the daughter of the Heavens had descended upon the world. Elizabeth was the name of the Sky Master who owned this Garden and she looked like the dream of every man. White skin so perfect you could feel its softness without touching it, piercing big green eyes, a small mouth but with full lips and a perfect nose. Her hair was the color of gold and shone like the real thing, perfectly complimenting her looks. And her body was at the same time divine and vulgar, with a thin white dress that barely covered it.
She was being carried on a podium by salvage looking satyrs while small childlike fairies flew around her and threw flowers in front of their path. The flowers were the same Yang Xia tried to pick up and they cut the satyrs roofs and shins. But if they felt pain as their blue blood trickled from their wounds they didn’t show.
“Master Elizabeth.” Yang Xia kneeled in the direction of the Fairy. “This small Yang Xia wouldn’t dare disrespect you, especially in your own home.”
“It’s that so.” She smiled, and for a moment Yang Xia lost himself in that perfect mouth, with perfect teeth and a red vivid tongue that practically invited him for a kiss. “Then you will not try to abduct my guests against their will?”
“I’m afraid I still will have to do that, with Master Elizabeth’s blessing, of course.” He lowered his head.
“Hmph, and why would I do that?” She pouted. “Don’t you know that the young man you are harassing has been blessed by the Fairy Council? The Yang Clan may be what they are, but I’m a Fairy and I will follow the orders of the Council.”
“Did the Council order you to protect him?” Yang Xia looked at the Fairy, he tried to circulate Qi to control his body again but it was no use against her.
“Not in those words.” She muttered.
“Then in what words?” Yang Xia knew how important words were for the Fairy.
“What a bore. You better be going somewhere with this or I will trap you in a labyrinth for a month.” She rested her head on her right arm. “Anyway, they ordered me, and all Fairies for that matter, to help him in his journey. And getting killed while in the Foundation Realm for a young master in the Nascent Realm is not part of that journey.
“And what Journey is this?”
“The Journey of the Blue Eyes, the Chosen One who would fight alongside us when the Dark Sons of the Forest Rise Again.” Her voice was getting heated. Yang Xia had to finish this quickly if he wanted to have any chance of completing the mission.
“Then you shouldn’t stop me, what I’m doing will help his journey.”
“Nonsense.” She dismissed him and waved for a flying Fairy that brought a small peach to her lips.
“It’s true, this small Yang Xia would never dare to lie to Master Elizabeth.” Yang Xia lowered his head again.
“Then how will this help his journey?” She was curious now, Fairies loved new developments.
“At the moment your Chosen One is in the first stages of his Journey. Very typically he chose his mate and kidnapped her away from the evil claws of the world. Just like our Chosen One.” Yang Xia looked straight at the Fairy eyes this time.
“Your Chosen One?” She raised her brow. “What Chosen One?”
“The Yellow Emperor, of course.” This was the critical point. “Legend says that before he even invented cultivation he saved the Emerald Empress from the hands of a demon tribe. At the time the demons didn’t know how to generate power from the blood of the living things also, so the fight that took place between the Yellow Emperor and the leader of the demon tribe was a fight between mortals.”
“And you think little Dai Hong needs a similar experience in his journey?”
“Of course, among all enlightened races, who ever got stronger than the Yellow Emperor? Don’t you think it’s wise to follow his steps? Dai Hong is already following it naturally, he just needs the last part.”
“I see, and in this story you would be the demon?” Yang Xia bowed again. “There is only one small problem, neither of you are mortals.”
“We could become mortals if you suppressed your cultivation.” Yang Xia answered. “It would be easy for someone as strong as Master Elizabeth to lock away our contact with the Qi, Jing and Shen we accumulated. Then we would be fighting just like the Yellow Emperor and the demon fought in the story.”
Master Elizabeth smiled. The Fairy loved a good story.