It has always been you

Her sacrifice

Upon reaching his meditation cave, Zhe Yan raised a barrier on the entrance of the cave. Turning to face him on his dais, Zhe Yan asked "Mo Yuan, how do you feel about Xiao Wu being engaged to your twin brother?" In a split second, he could see a flicker of jealousy, anger and sadness in Mo Yuan's eyes before it returned to its usual unfazed demeanour. It was brief, but it was there.

"Does she love him?" Mo Yuan asked, holding his breath and looking up at Zhe yan, eyes pleading.

"I can only tell you what I think. I truly believe she does not, at least not yet. Although they have been engaged for 300 years, it was only 6 months ago that they first met and began spending time together." Mo Yuan took a deep breath, relived.

"But I must inform you, despite the short time he's known her, Ye Hua is deeply in love with Xiao Wu. He's even moved into Qing Qiu, citing the Heavenly lords marriage trial as a reason to stay with her. After he found out of the lengths Xiao Wu went to preserve your body and to bring you back, he was furious and insanely jealous. But despite his jealousy, he wanted to do all he could to ensure your quick return, all so he could see Xiao Wu smile. I am certain that if he had known beforehand the lengths she would have gone, he would have insisted on doing it instead. I have never seen someone fall so deeply in love this quickly, but I'm certain he is serious about her."

His twin brother was deeply in love with his seventeen. Mo Yuan closed his eyes as he tried to understand and process all that Zhe Yan told him. But suddenly recalling what he said, his eyes flew open and flared as he asked him "What do you mean the lengths she went to preserving my body and bringing me back?"

Taking a deep sigh, Zhe Yan shared with him all that had happened in his absence. "After you died, Xiao Wu was inconsolable. She clung to your body and refused to let anyone near you, even injuring and killing soldiers that tried. She refused to give your body to anybody. Afterwards, she fled with your body and went into hiding. We couldn't find her for a while, and when we eventually did, she was near death. Despite being heavily injured from the war, she was feeding you blood from her heart every day. It was like she had lost the will to live. Eventually, her parents managed to save her and nurse her back to health.

But for almost every day of 70,000 years, she was feeding you her blood, Blood from the heart of a white nine-tailed fox to preserve your body. Every day she would talk to you, clean your body and massage it with oils. Her dedication to you was heart wrenching for us to watch as she shut herself from the world. The only time she was not by your side was when she went missing after she sealed Qing Cang. When I found her at my Peach Blossom garden, she was heavily injured with her eyes missing, but she had ascended to High Goddess. I believe that her missing was because of her ascension trial. After I healed her, she drank for 2 days straight before asking me for my strongest amnesia potion. It was heart breaking seeing her so broken. After she awoke, we lied to her that she was in a slumber after the battle and she ascended during. The first thing she asked us was if your body was okay, and she rushed to your side." 

Zhe Yan paused as he looked up at Mo Yuan. The emotions that flooded Mo Yuan in that moment was too much and he clutched at his heart as tears started pooling in his eyes. His little seventeen had endured too much for him. Was it wrong for him to have asked her to wait for him, he had never meant for her to sacrifice as she did.

"When I discovered the pieces of your soul, Bai Zhen and I went with her to battle the four heavenly beasts for the fungal grass so we could make the elixir to speed your return. You should have seen her, you would have been so proud to see what a mighty warrior she has become. When we returned, she insisted on being the one to make your elixir and poured half her cultivation into it, saying that it was something only she could do. It weakened her severely, but all she could think of when she awakened was you. Mo Yuan, I tell you all this not to burden you with any guilt, but I want whats best for her, I want to see her happy. You need to decide whats your position in her life and whats best for her. It is time for you to understand if you see her just as seventeen your disciple, or Bai Qian the woman."

"Old friend, if you see her as Bai Qian, whatever decisions you make, I will support you. But, if she is just seventeen to you, Ye Hua is a good man who will treat her well."

Putting a hand on his shoulders, Zhe Yan gave him a final look before exiting the cave and leaving him to his thoughts.