My Little Shifu

Green and Blue makes Purple

The Celestial Heavens

Haode had chosen to entertain Zhe Yan and Bai Zhen in his own Palace in order to keep their conversation private, especially seeing if the young lady in question really was just a mere forest fairy.  Not that he saw anything wrong with the worlds War God finally taking an interest in women, this he had no problems with at at all.  To have found a playmate, was of no concern, not even if Mo Yuan decided he wanted to start a harem and make her his first consort.  

However, as the Celestials War God and highly revered son of Heaven, he could not take a mere fairy for his wife, this was not accepttable nor appropriate, so he was just as nervous about this meeting as Bai Zhen and Zhe Yan were.  They too were High Gods and though Bai Zhen was admired for the wonderful restoration work he was doing in the far north by creating a safe haven for many of their worlds rare birds and beasts, Zhe Yan was the worlds number one medicine king,, was in the elite ranks for his great age and service to all the realms, and just as revered as Mo Yuan, so he could not afford to offend the man.

Now watching as the two slowly entered his Palace as if they were taking a leisurely stroll through the forest, he immediately noticed the apprehension in their eyes even though both were doing their best to hide it.  Their eyes were raised to the ornate ceiling that depicted the beginning of time.  It was a turbulent piece that took the viewer through all eight stages of the their worlds beginnings which a master carver from Qing Qiu had been commissioned to create, so he did not hurry the men along, it was probably the first time either of them had seen it.

Only the moment he thought to send a maid to fetch the refreshments and tea, then Di Jun suddenly arrived.  He had not invited the man to the meeting, so he was surprised to see him, though he shouldn't have been.  Di Jun knew everything that everyone was doing, even secret meetings, though his arrival did have his guests finally moving to greet him.

"Haode.  You certainly know how to unease a man." Zhe Yan quipped with a twinkle in his eye which was in complete contradition to his remark.

Feeling an instant wave of guilt at having summoned him from such a long distance while also realizing how apprehensive the man must be seeing as his missive gave nothing away, the chuckling was soon bubbling as all four men sat down regardless of the look that Di Jun caught from Haode, one that said he was not happy for him to be there but was not in a position to say so.

"Forgive me for taking the liberty with our friendship." Haode remarked politely before taking the pot of tea to pour their drinks himself.  No one else in the world save Mo Yuan would have earned such a privilege so Zhe Yan did not take being served personally by the Skylord lightly, though he was tense, because it meant the issue at hand was perhaps bigger than he feared.

"I agree that the Peach Tree Grove has no issue with the Celestial Heavens, so I find it a rather disconcerting to find myself being summoned." Zhe Yan replied curtly now that the pleasantries were over and forcing Haode to get to the point.

"Unfortunately an incident has occurred which links back to the Grove, one that is serious enough in nature to see me summoning you from the far north." Haode replied and though his tone was genial enough, the seriousness of whatever situation had occurred was definitely felt by both men which had Bai Zhen cutting in over Zhe Yan, especially seeing as this was his sister who might be involved.

"I see.  Then would you kindly begin from the beginning." he said softly but like Haode, the authoritiveness, unsettled the man enough to actually take the boy seriously.

In his mind, Bai Zhen was just a child.  He might rule over the far north, but having had no dealings with the boy in the past, he understood immediately, that he perhaps had an idea of what might be happening, or at the least knew the girl and had pieced the rest together himself, even without the details, after all, Queen Wang Jius humiliation spread far and wide.