The Librarian and the Fox Princess: a Donghua Dijun and Bai Fengjiu story, V.I

Chapter 164 - The Maiden Voyage

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When her form melted into his luminescence, she felt a white mist surround them and her body was gently engulfed into sublime softness.

"Open your eyes, Xiao Bai." His deep voice hovered somewhere above her.

Her lashes slowly fluttered open. It took a few moments for her mind to process the near fathomless stimuli that gently claimed her senses. A soft wind slipped past her face and spiraled down her neck to lightly swish the ends of her long raven hair.

It would have been a dreamscape except for the fact that she had pinched her thigh. She winced at the intrusive sharp pain that obviously didn't belong anywhere in this reality. She rubbed the consequences of her foolish assessment protocol away.

This was no dream. They were on a cloud and up ahead she could see a rainbow.

Dong Hua was lounging on his throne carved from brilliant rutilated quartz. The golden inclusions in the crystal sparkled but the rest of this throne, against the backdrop of nothing except air, appeared translucent. At the foot of his throne, she was sitting comfortably on her golden cushion.

She felt his fingertips delicately brush over the crown of her head.

"Dijun, we're on a cloud!" she happily exclaimed.

"I thought you would like this mode of traveling more." His tone would have been indifferent and detached except for the slight lilt in his voice. The faint uncertainty in his tone was like that of a young lover who was still shyly seeking confirmation that the beauty before him was indeed real and not a figment of his imagination.

"Oh, I love it! I know we were on a cloud while we watched the Phoenix Flowers but that was at night. This is a whole new experience during the day." She looked around in awe at the vast expanse of soft turquoise and aqua shades.

"This is a different kind of sea." She looked down at the cloud that they were on. "And this is like an island in the sky."

With being this high up, she couldn't understand why her hair wasn't blowing around uncontrollably. Somehow her mate had balanced the atmosphere while the weightless cloud steadily floated ahead.

"Not too fast and not too slow," she whispered to herself with a smile.

He watched her with fixed attention as she took everything in.

"Dijun, did you used to travel like this? I mean you were Heavenly Emperor. I guess you took your throne everywhere with you. Doesn't your throne weigh as much as ten elephants? Isn't it too heavy for the cloud?" she teased while still gazing out before her.

"Little fox, it's called sorcery so of course the cloud can take the weight. My throne is made of crystal and is an effective conductor of energy. Over the years we became intimately connected. It became quite literally my seat of power."

She nodded. "Well, you're both rocks."

She looked back at him and smiled. "I prefer my cushion. It's nice, soft, and warm."

He bathed her in a moment of gentle engulfment with his eyes. "It's just like you, Xiao Bai," he whispered before he took in everything before him, including her as she took in everything around them. Nothing in all the time of his long existence allowed him to settle into an experience like she could.

"But to answer your question, no I didn't often travel like this. I was always too busy as Heavenly Emperor. I aura-traveled for efficiency. Besides, I'm used to seeing all of this. It was nothing special for me."