Kunlun Mountain Part 4 - The Return

Chapter 24 - Final Debts

On a cloud and heading directly to the home Lanhua had gifted them, Bai Qian angrily allowed her thoughts to roam as she firstly stormed at Honghui for using her for a debt she felt she did not owe, before angrily berating herself for allowing it.  Feeling foolish and embarrassed by her lack of common sense, she continued to storm at him until she arrived having worked herself into quite a state.  

Storming into the house where she was to meet Gaogui before they headed to the Desert Lands she threw off her clothing and stormed straight to the hot pool.  She did not have any injuries so the warmth of the water was more than comfortable which she needed to clear that man and thoughts of her past with him from her mind forever.

Though if there was one thing Mo Yuan had taught her that she had retained over the years, was shoving emotions down until they festered was not conductive to her health or her energy, so allowing every thought of Honghui to pass through and the emotions attached to each one to wither and die she eventually brought herself to a state of calm.

The brutal way she had been forced to accept the fate she had been given was painful.  This new gift of hers was also a painful one, one that she knew would only present itself when her own futile efforts to ignore her fate, left her with no choice but to see the brutal truth regardless of the pain it caused.

Never had she been so angry with herself.  Thinking back to her time among his staff and then his harem, the realization that fate had well and truly thrown her into the deep end at a time when she had felt her heart turning away from the man she loved, only broke her heart even more, but the saddest part of all, was she wondered how she would ever be able to face Mo Yuan knowing she had been the one to betray their love, not him.

She no longer blamed him for what Qing Cang did, it wasn't his fault and nor would she ever look at him as anything other than the revered God with the highest of morals and ethics that he was known for.  Mo Yuan may have had a past, but he had left her with his love for in his heart, and he had returned to her with his love intact. She knew he did, because it was her own face she saw him looking at when she had visited that day to tell him to release his soul.  She had keenly felt the strength of his love for her as it had been the day he had left.

"Mother...." Gaoguis voice suddenly cut into her thoughts.  "Let it go, now is not the time." he said softly bringing her back to herself.  Looking about the bathing chamber, she realized she had been in the pool for over an hour, her skin had begun to wrinkle and going by the lack of light shining through the open door, night was already upon her.  Then  realizing her mind had been completely open and Gaogui had entered in his search for her, she chided herself yet again. 

This was a gift her son possessed that she would have to remember to block out.  The Orchid people had taught her how to fully close herself down.  When she was younger, she was quite capable of throwing up an inner wall, but Gaogui and Ye Huas mind power was so powerful, her inner wall had crumbled the first time they used their magic on her.  It had been a part of her training, though Lanhua had told her as gently as he could, that she would not be given the same mind power as the boys, because of her tendency to allow her emotions to run wild.  It was a dangerous gift to have when one is too sensitive or emotional.  

The boys however had their emotions tightly guarded.  Ye Hua because of his upbringing, and Gaogui because he had been taught to control them, though not to the severe extent Ye Hua had.  But both boys were chosen for their empathy.  They were compassionate and kind, gentle and merciful, the kind of qualities that saw them both thrive in the Orchid Lands.  But they also had a very strong sense of justice, were fearless in the face of adversity and prepared to place themselves in the front line should their world ever need them.  Which was where they were now in their lives.