Ten Miles Of Peach Blossoms

Chapter 12

Midmorning the next day, I crawled out of bed, feeling extremely rested. I went over to say farewell to Yuan Zhen's mother.

She was sad to see me go, but aware of my status as a supreme being, she knew she could not make me stay. She simply sighed a couple of times before bidding me farewell.

This diversion meant that it was nearly noon by the time I got back to Qingqiu.

Not much had changed there in the two months I had been in the mortal world. The mountain was still a mountain, the lake still a lake.

Mao the Sun Prince was still treating the area with extreme kindness, and the sun was not too strong, not too weak, but just right.

Mystic Gorge was standing at the entrance to the foxhole.

"I'm back. It must have been relaxing having all this time without me ordering you about," I larked.

Mystic Gorge gave a muffled laugh and surprised me by saying, "But didn't you get back yesterday, Your Highness? You're about to undertake a serious new mission. Why are you talking as if you've only just arrived back from the mortal world?"

I felt momentarily too stunned to speak. "I have only just arrived back from the mortal world," I said eventually.

It was Mystic Gorge's turn to turn pale. "In that case, who was it that came here y-y-yesterd . . . ?" he stuttered.

My heart gave a lurch, and I started to tremble.

If someone had been posing as me so convincingly that even Mystic Gorge, with all his spiritually cultivated energy, was unable to tell us apart, it could only have been one person . . .

I closed my eyes. Xuan Nu. Very well. I had not gone looking for trouble with her over the last seventy thousand years, so what had she been doing in Qingqiu?

I took a deep breath and said, "It must have been Xuan Nu you saw here yesterday." Mystic Gorge stared straight ahead, biting his lips so hard they turned white.

"What was she doing when you saw her?" I asked when I saw how strangely he was acting.

With a quiver in his voice, Mystic Gorge said, "W-w-w-when she came to see me yesterday, sh-sh-she told me she'd found a new way of preserving Mo Yuan's immortal body and asked me to bring him to her. I-I-I thought it was you, Your Highness, so I w-w-went to Yanhua Cave and carried out Mo Yuan's immortal body. His Little Highness Ali had just woken up from his afternoon nap and was really happy to see you. No, I mean, he was happy to see the woman he thought was you. And sh-sh-she . . . took off with him too."

My heart gave a huge lurch. I grabbed Mystic Gorge by the collar. "Are you saying she's abducted Master and Ali?"

Mystic Gorge stared at me, his face pale. "I was the one who gave her Mo Yuan's immortal body, Your Highness. Punish me however you see fit. I deserve to die."

The sky boomed with thunder, a bolt of lightning struck down through the billowing clouds, and the Kunlun fan I had not used in over five hundred years appeared in the lake before me. I saw my crimson eyes reflected in the seven-foot fountain of water that spurted up from it.

"Oh, fan of mine, you are going to taste some blood today," I said with a laugh.

"Your Highness!" Mystic Gorge called hoarsely from behind me. I turned around.

"All I'm going to do is fight a battle and bring back Master and Dumpling, don't be worried," I reassured him. "Boil me a pan of water and leave it out. I will be sore and tired by the time I get back and in need of a wash."

I took out my length of white silk and tied it tightly around my eyes, cast a spell, leaped on a thick black cloud, and headed straight for the Purple Light Palace.