A-Li's 三生三世 Book One PDF

A-Li's 三生三世
Book One
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A-Li's 三生三世
Chapter 1
The Search
He had barely gone for two days.

So where was she?
Everyone whom A-Li interviewed in the imperial mortal city of Luoyang
said the same thing. She had been bound and gagged and thrown in a palanquin,
carried off by unmarked men. It was news in Pe Kang Li, her Jìyuàn1, that its
madam could only helplessly watch as the men carried her off into the night and
had been inconsolable for many weeks after. To the madam, no amount of
money could compensate for the income and prestige lost that her abduction
caused for the entire Jìyuàn.
The sinking feeling in A-Li’s stomach hadn’t dissipated since he walked up
to the Luoyang House courtyard and found out that she was long gone.
Helplessly, he cloud jumped back to Jiuchongtian and grabbed the first person
he saw, his Granduncle Lian Song Shénjūn2, who was idly passing by with that
1 (妓院) A brothel
2 (神君) Divine Lord, as used to address Lian Song in Pillow Book 1
A-Li's 三生三世
ever-present fan in his hand, probably on the hunt for Star Lord Si Ming to trade
the latest salacious gossip with.
“I need to see Si Ming, Shūshu3.”
Lian Song adoringly smiled at his grandnephew, as usual oddly pleased at
the informal address the future Crown Prince of the Four Seas and Eight Deserts
used on him. He may be just as old as A-Li’s mother, the Heavenly Empress
Bai Qian, but inside he still felt as sprightly as any young stag. Thus, unless
completely necessary, such as in formal events, no grandnephew nor grandniece
of his would have the honor of calling him Granduncle if he could help it.
He lightly tapped A-Li’s right arm with the side of his fan. “Eager to see
what the future has in store for you and your mortal, are we not, Zhízi4?”
Ali shook his head, still in disbelief. “I don’t understand but she’s gone. I
was only gone for two days. They said she was abducted.” A-Li paced
restlessly, his long hair swinging haphazardly behind him with the worry-
induced force in his movements. “Is she dead or is she alive?”
Suddenly, a huge explosion was heard from the direction of Zhu Xian
Terrace. Gasps and screams were heard as the foundations and rafters
supporting the Thirty-Six Levels of Heaven shook with an intensity that would
have leveled down cities in the mortal realm.
Lian Song clung to A-Li for added stability, but his face showed no fear. Just
annoyance.
Normally, A-Li would have teased his Granduncle. Ever since he abdicated
the throne to Ye Hua, A-Li’s Zēngzǔ Fù5 had pursued his childhood curiosity of
Zhu Xian Terrace with much passion, and got his favorite immortal in on it too.
For sure, Lian Song won’t be getting his wife, Cheng Yu Yuanjūn6, back for a
couple hundred years again. She and the former Tiānjūn7 will once more spend
a lot of time charting the stars, tides and even events that have happened in both
mortal and immortal realms in recent years, to correlate with this latest
explosion. The two already had several millennia of data on the paranormal
activities of the Terrace but were still looking for the singular thread that tied all
the ominous events together.
Good old-fashioned ribbing would have been fun.
But not today.
Today, he needed to see Si Ming.
3 (叔叔) An informal address for father’s younger brother. By tradition, A-Li should formally
address Lian Song as shū zǔfù(叔祖父, paternal younger great uncle) but Lian Song was your
standard cool uncle and preferred not to reveal his real age especially around the people he and his
grandnephew got to meet outside of the Celestial Realm.
4 (侄子) Honorific for brother’s son or grandnephew. By tradition, Lian Song should call A-Li as
his grandnephew (侄孙), but he didn’t like to betray his age.

5 (曾祖父) Paternal Great Grandfather
6 (元君) A title used on Cheng Yu in Pillow Book 2.
7 (天君) Celestial Lord
A-Li's 三生三世
“A-Li, did you realize—“ Lian Song squeezed A-Li’s arm, his eyes now
etched with worry. “You were gone for two mortal years.”
Pain gutted A-Li from the inside now that his granduncle exposed his
festering wound.
Two days.
Two immortal days are equivalent to two mortal years. Still adamant not to
wallow in guilt but instead do something about it, he stood straighter to mask
the pain and turned to walk towards the Star Lords’ Enclave, his granduncle hot
on his heels.
The Enclave was one built for size. It was as old as the thirty-six Heavens
were and had been built by the Primordial God8 Youchao under the
specifications of Primordial God Heavenly Mother Nüwa. The structure panned
from the floor to the Sky Ceiling of the 11th Heaven. It was second only to the
Celestial Library in scope and size.
With his lightly tanned skin and his trademark sapphire blue tunic, Si Ming
stood out from the other Star Lords milling about restlessly. He was currently
facing his section of the enclave, rearranging his vast collection of various-sized
jiǎndú9. These scrolls were made of bamboo slips and held the personally-
crafted stories, or Destiny Ledgers, for each mortal. He had had them since he
first became Star Lord 200’000 years ago.
Si Ming spotted A-Li and Lian Song coming his way, and a wide smile
broke through his kind and gentle face. After cupping his hands before his chest
for the cursory bow, he motioned for his two guests to come join him.
“The quake toppled my scrolls from their shelves, so I’m occupied at the
moment. Otherwise how may I serve you, Your Highnesses?”
A-Li had no time to help the Star Lord with his housekeeping but he did
need a favor so he started picking up the rolled bamboo slips, calmly following
the grateful Si Ming’s directions on where to put what while his shameless
granduncle just stood against a post, fanning himself.
“Si Ming, where are the servants in this place? They should be ashamed.
Look, their future Crown Prince is doing their duties for them.” Lian Song
called out, his nose up in the air. “Although, A-Li, if you insist, you can magick
the scrolls to go back to their original places, you know.”
A-Li’s face brightened. Stooping down to pick up then putting the scrolls up
in their designated shelves was a repetitive task that didn’t agree with him, so
used was he to being waited on hand and foot since he was born.
“The scrolls are sensitive!” gasped Si Ming.”Also, some of them are still
active. We don’t want to unnecessarily change in the fates of mortals by
imbuing the scrolls with even a hint of unnecessary magick.”
Ah, well.
8 Author-crafted title to refer to the Original Gods or Founding Gods, the Gods who came to power
after Pangu (Creator of the Heavens and Earth) died.

9 (简牍 ) Wooden slip book, usually made of bamboo
A-Li's 三生三世
A-Li resignedly resumed his backbreaking work.

Finally, after the incense clock changed its fragrance three times, they were
finished.
“Si Ming,” Lian Song interrupted, putting his face so close to Si Ming’s as
the Star Lord gazed rapturously at his put-to-rights collection. “We need a favor
from you.”
“Favor? What favor?”
Lian Song tilted his head at his grandnephew and A-Li gingerly crossed
over, cupping his hands in front of him to perform a polite bow, before
presenting his supplication.
“Si Ming Xingjun10, we would like to see the Destiny Ledger of a mortal
friend of ours.”
One eyebrow raised on the kindly Star Lord’s face.
“She’s been missing for two immortal days now.” Lian Song said
impatiently, fanning himself faster. “We need to know where she is. Urgently.”
“How can you lose her if she is your friend?” Si Ming mumbled, moving
closer to the shelves. He pulled a piece of parchment and an inked quill from
thin-air and gave it to A-Li. “What’s her name and which city is she from? If
you know her birthdate, that will help as well. Our mortals have been too
productive in recent years. I can hardly keep up with their sheer numbers.”
A-Li took the quill and wrote down Xue Jiaolong’s name. The process was
enervating as putting the strokes on parchment reminded A-Li of the time she
taught him how to write her real name.
***
薛… So are you from Qílǔ ? He asked as he peered over her shoulder,

enchanted by her soft fragrance. I know a lot of Xue’s from Qílǔ.
She turned her head, the gold pendants and bells of her coronet tinkled
daintily and purposely. Indeed, she attracted attention every time she moved.
Their faces were so close that their noses almost touched. A-Li moved his face a
little bit closer but she returned her attention to the paper on the floor.
Xi’an in Shǎnxī before we fled to Luoyang. Her voice felt like the softest silk
that ever whispered against A-Li’s skin. You must not tell anyone. The warden
of Xi’an’s debtor’s prison is still-hunting down my father.
Her hand moved with the naked elegance of fire as she transcribed her first
name’s two characters.
嬌龍… So many strokes in one’s name. He complained as he saw the
finished characters but otherwise impressed at how beautiful her handwriting
10 (星君) Star Lord, as used to address Si Ming in Pillow Book 1
A-Li's 三生三世
was. I’m not sure if your father meant to give you a hard time or he was just
showing off.
I told you, my father was a scholar before mother died and after, he became
a drunkard. He taught one of the Imperial Princes even. How come yours was
so uncreative?
My mother had… issues. He replied, controlling the urge to laugh. And when
she had the opportunity to rename me, she wanted to call me Black Son.
She turned again, and this time their noses bumped. However, this time, she
didn’t pull away.
I think that’s a creative name, she whispered, her eyes half-lidded, her
fragrant breath warm against his lips. It suits you, you honey-tongued rascal.
Now, you’re saying that just to spite me. A-Li’s face tightened, drawing his
brows closer. Knowing she didn’t deserve the reaction, he tried to soften it by
raising his right hand to cup her cheek. It pleased him that she leaned into his
touch. When I first found out, I fled from home and hid at my Lǎoye11’s house
for days.
She put down the brush and pivoted her upper body so they sat with their
torsos facing each other. Her head pulled back, eyes skimming his face.
Do you know what I remember about you from the first night we met? Your
eyes. Black, dark as the night sky. Piercing. Intimidating. I can’t explain exactly
but something about them scared me. Then you called out my name. Her fingers
traced his lower lip and A-Li’s breathing slowed. And then you smiled. I didn’t
know stars could shine in a person’s eyes.
Even then? He growled, pleasantly surprised at her confession. But you made
me chase after you for two years. If the earth didn’t shake—
Even then. I knew it was going to be love. That’s why I kept my distance.
***
“Xuē Jiāolóng who lives in Luoyang,” Si Ming’s pinned hair almost bumped
on A-Li’s nose, snapping him back to the present. “She isn’t a Jìnǚ12 who works
at the Pe Kang Li by any chance?”
Lian Song’s fan snapped closed. “You know her?”
“Of course I know her!” Like a man on a mission, Si Ming pulled the
movable stairs over a shelf to A-Li’s right. “When she was born, the stars were
perfectly aligned and she was given a beautiful name, too. I thought with these
two auspicious signs, she deserved to have the kind of fate that poems are made
of. Hence, I wrote her a fate befitting that of a queen…” Si Ming snickered,
“literally.”
11 (老爺) Maternal Grandfather
12 (妓女) Prostitute; Courtesan
A-Li's 三生三世
Whatever Si Ming was saying didn’t make sense to A-Li but his body still
tensed and he watched with bated breath as Si Ming climbed the stairs three
shelves up and pulled a Destiny Ledger more than half his size.
“It’s one of my personal bests. As you can see from the size of this jiǎndú, I
put a lot of effort into this creation. A young girl was born to a gifted scholar
and his beautiful wife. A few years later, when she was twelve, her mother died
and her father drank himself to utter ruin, forcing her to enter a Jiaofang13.
Many years later, she becomes the star attraction of the famed brothel, Pe Kang
Li. A Talented Courtesan, she eventually enters the Palace to become a
Concubine and gains the Emperor’s favor so much she rises up to the rank of an
Empress — after the previous Empress falls out of favor and is escorted out of
the Palace. She gives birth to a Son who later is ordained Crown Prince. It
sounds almost too easy, doesn’t it?” Si Ming chuckled as he carefully climbed
down. “I, however, wrote so much drama in. Life in the Palace can be more
vicious and entertaining than that on the outside.”
She entered the Palace? A-Li’s fists clenched at his sides. He knew the
Emperor took a special liking to her for years but the old fart never appealed to
her. Could it be the Emperor’s men who abducted her that night?
A-Li and Lian Song followed a visibly pleased Si Ming to the nearest table
so he could unfurl the Destiny Ledger. Actually, A-Li thought he could make do
with not seeing what’s written on it now that he knew where she went. But his
granduncle must have sensed his desperation, and so Lian Song exhibited one of
his rare displays of wisdom by holding on to A-Li’s arm.
Of course, rushing off in a hurry will attract special attention. It is a truth
well-known that Si Ming is the largest gossipmonger in all Four Seas and Eight
Deserts. The Mobile Bagua Manual14 is a title he carries with much pride and
some Celestials actually fear him for it.
A-Li caught his anxiety and shielded it behind a nonchalant look that would
have made his Heavenly Emperor Father proud. He approached to Si Ming’s
right, ready to read.
With great flourish, Si Ming cast a golden light to cut the threads sealing the
Jiǎndú closed then waved his hand to unfurl his huge Destiny Ledger for Xue
Jiaolong.
A-Li blinked, moving closer, hardly believing his eyes.
It was empty.
Bare as any creature was on the day they were born.
13 A high-end finishing school for prostitutes where girls train in music, dancing, literature,
calligraphy, chess, literary drinking games, etc.

14 (八卦) A slang for gossip-mongers.
Chapter 2
Jiǔjiébiān
As A-Li stood outside the foreboding entrance to the Mortal Realm’s Imperial
City of Xī'ān in Shǎnxī, ready to storm the gates inside, he couldn’t help but
wonder how it all came down to this. If Si Ming wrote her in as one of the
Emperor’s concubines, yet, all the text that he had written on her Destiny
Ledger disappeared, was it still possible that she was inside or had another
beady-eyed prospective benefactor funded her abduction?
And once he found her, would two immortal days be too late to beg for
another chance? To think he hadn’t even done much— just slept and drank—
how could so much have changed in such a short time?
But another more foreboding thought came to mind.
Maybe, just maybe, they shouldn’t even have begun.
***
Seven immortal days ago.
A-Li's 三生三世
Of all the Demon Clans, the Purple Clan was A-Li’s favorite. Not just
because he got along well with its Clan Leader, Yi Mei Niang, and that the tribe
was known for its extremely alluring women. No, what stood out as A-Li’s
favorite feature of the clan was that they owned the best tavern the whole of
Four Seas and Eight Deserts has ever had: Jiǔjiébiān15.
Patrons of Jiǔjiébiān came from different races of the Immortal Realms.
Within its walls, there was no judging whether you were Demon or Ghost or
Celestial. At Jiǔjiébiān, immortals didn’t come to engage in small talk. They
came to feel untethered from the daily monotony of their long lives, and the
place certainly delivered.
A-Li and his small entourage arrived a bit early so at Gun-Gun’s insistence,
they stayed for tea at a nearby teahouse to wait for the sun to set. A demon-
servant approached A-Li as soon as he sat down, holding a tiny scrap of paper
that A-Li read before crumpling.
“Tell her I’ll see her later,” he told the servant who bowed and hurriedly left.
Currency changed hands between his three companions while A-Li burned
the paper using fire from the small lamp on their table. Cheng Yu had her ledger
out, recording the newest bet that just came down.
With hundreds of thousands of years ahead of them, immortals tried to
employ various kinds of methods to while away their time. A-Li’s Mother, for
example, collected an extensive amount of theatrical screenplays that she had
read and reread over the years.
A-Li’s friends— nay, family in every sense of the word— spent time placing
bets on his dalliances. It was something that used to embarrass A-Li but over
the progress of thousands of years he’d learned to be indifferent to. Today,
obviously, was no exemption.
“I’ll give it to her, she’s fast. It’s as if she knew we were coming over,”
Cheng Yu noted as she scribbled some more on her ledger. Just as suddenly, she
gasped, eyes narrowing on Lian Song who was putting his new, small pile of
gold inside his money sack. “You didn’t cheat and tell Yi Ji in advance that we
were coming, did you?”
Lian Song was still busy looking offended when Gun Gun came to his
defense. “No need to fret, Jiějie16. I was with Lian Song Gēge17 the whole day.
I’m pretty sure Yi Ji bribed someone at the South Gate to alert her should we
arrive. I should have had more forethought and bet closer to the hour.”
“That’s your fox blood getting the best of you,” Lian Song crowed. “Care to
adjust your bet for tonight’s main event?”
15 (九節鞭) Named after the nine-section whip, a popular weapon of choice of the Purple Demon
Clan
16 (姐姐) Older Sister, Cheng Yu’s preferred type of address from Gun Gun.
17 (哥哥) Older brother, Lian Song’s preferred type of address from Gun Gun. It should be noted
that LS chose this nickname purposely, given that his best friend is Gun Gun’s father, Dong Hua.
A-Li's 三生三世
Gun Gun shook his head, making A-Li smile with approval. His nephew was
2’300 years younger than him, which refrained Gun Gun from living life
vicariously through A-Li the way Lian Song often did. Being close in age, they
grew up as best friends and competitors. When A-Li started traveling the
immortal and mortal realms with Lian Song, Gun Gun of course tagged along.
That never meant Gun Gun agreed to everything Lian Song did. In fact, Gun
Gun never really started to enjoy participating in bets until recently.
27’000 years in Lian Song’s company would corrupt anyone.
Cheng Yu declined the fresh cup of tea Gun Gun offered her but went for the
ginger-topped tofu after pouring a little bit of soy sauce over it.
“My ledger’s about to be full after a month’s worth of wagers,” Cheng Yu
declared. “Husband, when we get back to Jiuchongtian you need to get me a
new one.”
“As you wish, my love.”
A-Li poked his finger through the roasted nuts in his small saucer. Ah, these
two. He’d been around them for so long and with all that he’d witnessed, he still
had to figure out what made their relationship work. True, the two were devoted
to one another, and Lian Song even got rid of his harem after they had
remarried. But, every now and then, the couple took on a female lover.
Together.
He still had to look marital commitment in the eye but A-Li had a feeling
that if and when he did get married, he will be like his parents. He would refuse
to share.
***
Night fell and Jiǔjiébiān finally opened its doors to patrons. A festival
atmosphere enveloped the area. The queue was long but, as regulars, the bulky
doormen didn’t give A-Li and his group a hard time at all.
Upon entrance, a potent feeling of elation immediately overcame their senses
even without the help of expensive sensory tablets that could be exclusively
purchased from dealers in this place. The dance floor was all skin and sweat
from tangled bodies silhouetted between bursts of magick-imbued light. A-Li
and his small entourage wove through immortals dancing with their eyes closed
in ecstasy, in various stages of dress or undress, while some went for more
sexually-spirited activities. Their drinks came shortly after they settled at their
table. The old dragon, Lian Song, sported a huge grin on his face that said it all:
it looked like it was going to be a good night.
Some time later still at Jiǔjiébiān, where a party could last for several days,
A-Li took one last draught of his rolled cannabis leaf and stood up from bed to
get dressed. After tying the belt of his all-white robe in place, A-Li reached over
A-Li's 三生三世
the bed and fondly patted his lover’s exposed left buttock cheek before stepping
out of the private room.
“A-Li?”
Yi Ji, cousin to the Demon Queen and future bride of the Red Demon King’s
Third Son, had been one of his lovers for the past couple thousand years. She
was free and easygoing, and A-Li appreciated how uncomplicated it was
between them. Sex. Pleasure. Fun. Now that she was getting married, she knew
that this was goodbye. A-Li had no patience for dealing with jealous husbands
nor lovers who turned extra clingy when it came to their last tryst.
Especially women who suddenly confessed to love.
A-Li stopped but didn't look back.
“Goodbye, Ji Ji.”
With that last greeting, A-Li set off downstairs toward where he last left his
companions.
“A-Li!” Cheng Yu shouted, waving, before another demoness, who had
danced up to her, distracted her. The two women gyrated to the beat of sensual
demonic music— a far throw from the kind of music A-Li was used to in the
thirty-six Heavens. It didn't take long for Lian Song to join his wife and her new
playmate. Kissing, nibbling, and rubbing ensued.
And people wondered why he was a pleasure-seeker. With these two for
companions and family members, his road before him had been set a long time
ago.
A-Li sat down in front of Gun Gun, who had one hand conveniently lost
inside the skirt folds of the pretty demoness in his lap. He grabbed his nephew’s
drink from the table.
Gun Gun looked up from the breasts that demanded his attention long
enough to ask, “How was Ji Ji?”
“We’ve said our goodbyes,” A-Li replied curtly and motioned for Gun Gun
to not mind him.
“Don’t touch me!”
A-Li’s head snapped back to look at Cheng Yu who glared at an extremely
tall and bulky demon warlord.
“Come on, little cross-dressing Celestial Miss. Come with me,” Bulky
Demon teased, making another grab for Cheng Yu’s waist.
“Take your hands off my wife.“ Lian Song’s voice was flat, thus veiling his
power when he grabbed Bulky Demon’s arm and flung the demon backwards.
The warlord slammed against the nearest counter.
Outraged, at least twenty demons roared.
“Not again!” Gun Gun moaned, throwing the demoness off his lap so he
could stand up. “Gēge, what did I tell you about making sure nothing happens to
this face?”
Lian Song’s response was to squint and shake his head at Gun Gun before
positioning himself in front of his wife.
A-Li's 三生三世
A-Li laughed as he stood up. After all, what good is a drinking session at the
Demon Realm without a heady fight?
However, it was imperative when involved in tavern brawls in the Demon
Realm that no Celestial Magic was used and no Demons were killed, else they
invite war to Juichongtian’s doorsteps. A-Li unsheathed his sword Chun Jun18
and immediately jumped in front of three attacking demons. Still, he took extra
care—shoving a table at one, counter-blocking the attack of the second while
side swerving before kicking the third.
It was a good thing A-Li’s martial arts proficiency was not lacking. He had
more than enough time growing up to train with his teachers because his parents
were often too busy with each other to see him during the day, except for
breakfast and putting him to bed. He did lack many-to-one combat practice in
recent years though as even no-holds-barred sparring sessions with Gun Gun,
Lian Song, and sometimes his half-demon cousins were hardly enough.
This is where the demon brawls came in handy.
Their race loved to fight.
A-Li loved to accommodate them.
There’s just one little thing to consider: Cheng Yu hated fighting. Worse, she
started getting distressed whenever faced with scenes of violence.
“Shūshu,” A-Li called out to Lian Song while immobilizing another demon
by flinging him under his arms so he can block another incoming demon’s
sword. He ran his blade against the demon’s blade until he hit the cross-guard,
and caused the sword-wielding demon to stagger at the normal force that hit his
wrist. A-Li took the opportunity to kick him hard against the stomach, flinging
him to the nearest wall. “Get Cheng Yu out of here!”
Lian Song, who was busy fighting another demon with his fan, nodded.
After all, he had taught the young ones the drill: if they were to avoid
bloodshed, the best thing to do is to flee at first opportunity. Between retreat or
war at a demon tavern brawl, retreat was always the best option.
From the corner of A-Li’s eye, he saw a rogue demon holding a sickle, about
to fling the attached weighted chain in Cheng Yu’s direction. A-Li threw the
demon pinned under his arm to Gun Gun and jumped to shield the distracted
Cheng Yu, grunting as the iron weight crashed against his back.
Still holding Cheng Yu in his arms, he went and jumped toward the nearest
cloud.
18 (純鈞劍) A-Li’s sword that was made for him by his grandfather Bai Zhi Dijun and an
enlightened mortal blacksmith to celebrate A-Li’s High Immortal ascension. It was often described as
a unique joint creation of man and Heaven.
Chapter 3
Family Issues
Six immortal days ago…
It was an unfortunate coincidence but for one who placed so much care in his
good looks, Gun Gun’s face always ended up getting battered during fights—
almost as if fists and weapons had lodestones and his face was South19. It came
as no surprise then that he requested the group to make a stop at Zhe Yan’s
Peach Grove before heading back to Jiuchongtian.
19 The compass (initially made of lodestones) was invented in China during the Han Dynasty
between the 2nd century BC and 1st century AD, where it was called the “south-governor”. The
Chinese compasses pointed towards the stronger magnetic pole [which happens to be located in the
Southern hemisphere].
Fun Fact: Western Mainstream later on calls the Earth’s magnetic north pole the “Magnetic South
Pole” and the Earth’s magnetic south pole the “Magnetic North Pole”.
A-Li's 三生三世
“I can’t find any of the stronger stuff.” Cheng Yu announced as she brought
out six aventurine wine pots from Zhe Yan’s wine cellar. “I wonder if the Old
Phoenix already took them all out.”
“Gun Gun, don’t move too much if you want Shūshu to properly heal that
cut on your nose.” A-Li shouted to his nephew as he held out his hand to
receive a bottle from Cheng Yu. In between sips, he told her, “Why he’s even
concerned about cuts and bruises, I’ll never understand. Scars bring out more
character.”
“Who knew Dong Hua Dijun would raise such a vain kid?” whispered
Cheng Yu after shooting an exasperated glance at Gun Gun. “Ah, but like his
father, he’s beautiful. Not that you are any worse, of course” she corrected,
taking out her ledger again. “You got your father’s mysterious eyes, and your
Mother and Fourth Uncle’s foxy good looks. This month alone you had
eighteen women your Uncle’s age come on to you. We placed bets on how
many of them used to express interest in your Fourth Uncle but Bi Fang20 had
been hard to find so we couldn’t confirm yet. I’ve a theory that these women
were hoping you inherited your father’s predisposition for much older
women…”
A-Li allowed Cheng Yu to chatter on, while he took another sip of his
peach wine, his gaze on the trees that flanked the other side of the Jade Pool.
Hadn’t it been about 10’000 years ago that Zhe Yan aimed to show his deeper
commitment to A-Li’s Fourth Uncle by staying more often at Bai Zhen’s
Mansion in West Qing Qiu? Still, miles and miles of blooming peach trees
perpetually littered the ground with their light pink and light purple blooms,
even though their owner was hardly around anymore.
“I’ve had it with demon fights.” Lian Song declared, finally finished with his
task of fixing Gun Gun’s face. “Let’s go to my favorite Jìyuàn in Luoyang.”
This was new information to A-Li’s ears. “If it is your favorite, how come
you haven’t taken me there yet?”
“Ah,” Lian Song took a bottle from his wife. “That’s because I was saving
the best for last. Right, wife?”
Cheng Yu’s face brightened. “Wang Ling?”
“Wang Ling.” To A-Li, he explained, “The most intelligent and beautiful
courtesan the mortal world has ever seen.”
A-Li chuckled at husband and wife’s enraptured faces.
“Whatever.” A-Li decided, standing up again. “We can go after we stop by
Jiuchongtian.”
“Aren’t you going to treat that injury on your back first?”
A-Li stood up, shaking his head at Cheng Yu. “This is exactly why Mother
will be coming for me. Gun Gun, if you stare any longer at the Jade Pool, you
will keel over. Let’s go.”
20 Fourth Uncle Bai Zhen’s steed
A-Li's 三生三世
***
“Ow.. Ow.. Ow…”

“Oh, my poor Riceball. Oh!” Heavenly Empress Bai Qian incessantly paced
in front of A-Li, wringing her hands, as her son got treatment in his bedroom at
Ziqing Palace. “This is your fault, Lian Song. I told you to stop bringing my son
to Demon Realm taverns!”
“Does it really hurt that much?” Cheng Yu whispered as she sat beside A-Li,
her face crumpled with worry, while the Medicine King treated him.
A-Li glanced at his mother who was still sharply exchanging words with his
Granduncle. He slyly shook his head at Cheng You before he groaned another
fake “Ow…”
Bai Qian was right beside A-Li in an instant. She tried to soothe A-Li by
running her soft hands along her son’s bare left arm.
“Why are you blaming your bad parenting on me? If you didn’t allow Ye
Hua to monopolize your time, things might have turned out better for A-Li
here.”
“Qing Qiu parents believe in free-range parenting.” Bai Qian bit back
defensively, although a slight blush crept up to her cheeks. “Look at Riceball.
His world is wider than his own Father has been. He’s even more emotionally-
mature than Ye Hua was at his age.”
“You just contradicted yourself because that’s all thanks to me. So why
blame me every time A-Li has scrapes and cuts?” Lian Song pointed out, lazily
fanning himself.
“Because when I was his age, I didn’t get hit by demon weapons. Zhe Yan
and Fourth Brother took good care of me!”
The fan shut closed. A-Li bit his lower lip, trying hard not to laugh. Things
had just turned into a full-blown war… yet again.
Bai Qian initially agreed when Lian Song asked to supervise his
grandnephew’s education after A-Li turned 13’000 years old, as she naively
thought Lian Song could have the same effect that Zhe Yan had on her.
However, her expectations ended up far behind from reality. Their relationship
went on a downward spiral quickly enough.
“Are you saying I haven’t done my best to protect A-Li? Is the pot calling
the kettle black now?”
“Maybe we should go to the mortal realm now?” Cheng Yu whispered again
as the room sizzled with tense energy from the two High Gods.
“If I was that bad, how come A-Li ascended to High Immortal at 30’000
years?” Bai Qian asked. She wasn’t even aware that her nails now dug into A-
Li’s skin. She was like a fierce mother fox. Everything about her bristled like
A-Li's 三生三世
she was ready to pounce. “Clearly, the ‘unorthodox education’ you Celestials
always gripe about worked on him!”
A-Li and Cheng Yu exchanged worried looks because they both knew what
was coming next.
“He ascended at 30’000 because with all due respect, Heavenly Empress…”
Lian Song stepped closer, hitting the side of his fan on his other palm. “…we
both know taking half of his traits from you dragged down his chances at
ascending any earlier. Don’t you see? Ye Hua ascended at 20’000 and you
cheated, er, ascended at 40’000. Evidently, A-Li is yours and Ye Hua’s happy
middle. Hopefully, my other grandnieces and grandnephews take after their
father because if not—” Lian Song ended his tirade with an uncharacteristically
inelegant shudder.
Bai Qian shrank back, obviously hurt. A-Li hand-signaled to his Granduncle
to stop it and was about to tell his Mother that they were leaving when his
Heavenly Emperor Father came in with his youngest brother and sister.
The Heavens rejoiced at the birth of the clan’s second long feng bao21 in
known history, and the twins carried the honor with pride. Yizheng and
Chenwei were only 500 years old but they were precocious in a way that A-Li
had never been. Lian Song always thanked the stars that only the twins’ looks
took after their mother.
“Dàgē!” The twins squealed in unison upon sighting A-Li. A-Li barely got
his fresh robe on when the two launched on each of his leg, and dragged him to
sit down again so they could immediately start a contest on who could kiss him
the most.
Last month, Yizheng won.
Meanwhile, Medicine King surreptitiously left after bowing to Ye Hua.
“Third Uncle, Qian Qian, it's not good for the children to overhear you airing
your differences so loudly.” Ye Hua calmly noted, patting the top of A-Li’s
head like he’d always done. “Why can't you take after A-Li and always be the
first to apologize? A little bit of humility never hurts.”
Cheng Yu beamed. She had always taught A-Li the virtue of humility. In
light of Bai Qian’s attack on A-Li’s tutelage, a little bit of praise helped set her
feelings to rights.
“Are you joining us for lunch, A-Li?” Ye Hua asked when he wasn't able to
get any reaction from neither his uncle nor his wife.
“Unfortunately not, Father. We already have plans to go down to the mortal
realm.”
“But you just got here!” Chenwei complained, the back of her feet hitting A-
Li’s calf muscle.
Yizheng was calmer than his sister but his face was scrunched up pitifully. “I
don't want you to go.”
21 Dragon-Phoenix twins— a set of a baby boy and a baby girl which is seen as a great blessing to
the family.
A-Li's 三生三世
A-Li dropped a kiss on each twin’s cheeks. “I won't be gone for long. Dàgē
is just going to see Shūshu and Cheng Yu’s friend. I will be back before you
know it.”
“But I don't want you to go!” Yizheng wailed so loud, A-Li thought his ear
popped.
“Shhh, A-Yi, you don't have to say it that loudly.”
“But I only know how to say it out loud!” Yizheng shouted again. Then his
mouth snapped shut really fast and his face went back to looking pitiful.
“How long will he be my brother?” Chenwei asked, rolling her eyes at
Yizheng.
“Forever, Xiao Gui22.”
Chenwei sighed so heavily, the adults in the room laughed.
“Chenwei, I thought you were going to be good to your brother today?” Ye
Hua asked evenly although his eyes were sparkling.
“I’m taking a break.” Chenwei hit A-Li’s calf again with the back of her
foot, drawing his attention. “Why can’t you take me with you?”
“You’re not yet tall enough.” A-Li replied. “You two need to eat your
vegetables.”
“I can’t.” Yizheng said unapologetically. “They’re not food.”
Chenwei cupped A-Li’s face to draw his attention once again. “I eat more
vegetables than A-Yi does. So, why don’t we leave him behind and you take me
with you?”
“Why don’t you try growing taller than me first?” Yizheng interjected, and a
foot flew to kick Chenwei’s shin.
A-Li looked to his parents for help as the twins started kicking and poking at
each other.
Ye Hua tried to break the children up, picking up Chenwei in his left arm
then Yizheng in his right. “I’ll have Nai Nai give the children a bath.”
A-Li stood up, same as Cheng Yu, and they both bowed to his Father as Ye
Hua walked away.
As soon as the doors closed behind Ye Hua, Bai Qian approached A-Li for
an embrace which A-Li received happily.
“I will miss you again, Riceball. Why are you always in a hurry to leave?”
A-Li patted his mother’s back before detaching. Bai Qian helped put his
robes to rights.
“Mother,” He held his Mother by the shoulders and leaned close so only she
could hear. “No matter what Shūshu says, I am glad you’re my mother. You
love me best.”
Bai Qian eyes swelled with tears so easily it embarrassed A-Li. She had a
strong personality but years of crossing words with Lian Song about her
22 Little Devil (nickname)
A-Li's 三生三世
ineptitude as a mother had made her vulnerable to Lian Song’s mere presence.
A-Li had learned to give her as many soft words as he could afford to give.
Patting his Mother’s shoulders one last time, A-Li turned to leave. Cheng Yu
and Lian Song were already a few steps ahead.
“Wait,” Bai Qian called out from behind them. “Where are you going?”
A-Li sighed. Bai Qian had inadvertently created another opening.
Lian Song gleefully turned to answer, “To a Jìyuàn, where else?”
A-Li no longer turned. There was no need to as he could already imagine the
eye-daggers his Mother had sent Lian Song’s way.
Their trio was just about to step out of the Ziqing Palace gates when they
unexpectedly ran into Ye Hua, this time without the twins.
“A-Li, a word.”
Lian Song and Cheng Yu shared guilty looks and motioned for him to go.
A-Li wordlessly fell into step with his Father as they walked toward the
palace gazebo. Prior to his Father’s ascension as Heavenly Emperor, the gazebo
was where A-Li had spent much time learning philosophy at his Father’s feet
before setting off to see the world with Lian Song. Today, Ye Hua probably
chose the place for its relevance, too.
“I want you to know that I received the reports on what happened at the
Purple Demon Clan’s—“
“Father, let me explain. We were minding our own business when a demon
put his hands on Cheng Yu—“
Ye Hua raised his hand, which instantly caused A-Li’s lips to draw in a
straight line.
“I don’t need to know what you were doing there and what the
circumstances were surrounding the fight you got into. But I want to remind you
that there are things at stake here.” Ye Hua’s eyes bored through A-Li, soft yet
unyielding. “Remember, there are Celestials who oppose our rule, and it is our
duty to prove that we are worthy to lead.”
A slash of guilt sliced through A-Li, and his head dropped in shame.
“I’m sorry, Father.“
“I know you are.” Ye Hua placed his hands on A-Li’s shoulders. “Be careful,
and take care of your granduncle at the Mortal Realm. I know he can be a
handful at times.”
Ye Hua said the last statement with a small smile, effectively decreasing the
load in A-Li’s heart.
As A-Li walked to the Western Gates to meet with his companions, he
passed through several High Immortals who were trying, but failing, to
surreptitiously stare at the Heavenly Emperor as he quietly watched his eldest
son walk away.
The usual mixture of judgement and pity for the Heavenly Emperor, from
the High Immortals he had just passed, didn’t fail to meet A-Li’s notice. To this
day, nobody could fathom Ye Hua’s insistence to make A-Li the Crown Prince,
A-Li's 三生三世
despite threats of rebellion from fellow Celestials. Even A-Li couldn’t

comprehend it himself. He had several siblings, all pure fairy-born, to choose
from and yet, Ye Hua still adamantly insisted on putting A-Li next in line to the
throne.
It was not as if A-Li had asked for it. And if people were not happy about it,
then what could he do?
A-Li sighed as he joined Lian Song, Cheng Yu and Gun Gun at the Western
Gate.
“Ready?” Lian Song asked, jumping on a cloud with an arm wrapped around
his wife.
A-Li nodded. At least until some of the outrage from their latest brawl died
down, it was fortunate that they were to spend some time looking for
distractions in the Mortal Realm.
Chapter 4
At First Sight
Five Immortal Days Ago
A-Li's 三生三世
Located at the confluence of the Luo River and Yi River, with plains flanked
by mountains and hills, Luoyang made for good inspiration to create paintings,
music, architecture and poetry. The marriage of trade routes and breathtaking
scenery had made royals, artists, merchants, and common folk converge to form
a formidable city over decades of development. It was thus no surprise that
Luoyang was considered to be the geographical center of the world.
No wonder Lian Song and Cheng Yu liked it here.
A-Li stepped into the mid-sized courtyard of the residence Lian Song and
Cheng Yu occupied during their stays in the city. Out here, the couple acted as
ambassadors from another kingdom, and were accorded the equivalent respect
by its citizens. Immortal servants from the lower realms tended to the residence
and alertly bowed and kowtowed as their group passed by. Some would say it
was a bit too much but as an actual prince, Lian Song liked to be comfortable—
thus, having a slice of the thirty-six heavens at each of his residences was very
important.
“So this is where the two of you have been going whenever you’re not with
me lately.” A-Li remarked drily as he accepted the cold tea a servant poured for
him.
“You know I like the mortal realms as much as you love the demon realms,
Zhízi.” Lian Song explained as he took his seat at the head of the hastily-created
banquet on the veranda overlooking the courtyard. The shadow from the potted-
tile roof above them provided shade from the late spring sun. “Also, it’s very
rare Cheng Yu is not occupied carrying on intellectual pursuits over that Terrace
with my Father. I’m just making do with what I got. By the way, I haven’t heard
from our little demoness in weeks now. Where’s your cousin?”
A-Li thought about how his cousin must be faring right about now. “Her
parents went on a holiday again and assigned her to watch over Kunlun.”
“Really?” Lian Song looked up, mentally counting the days. Then he
snickered. “She must be dying by now. What did she do this time for her to be
punished so severely? I know she’d rather cut her own foot than to stay one day
longer than she has to on that Mountain.”
“I called her copper mirror before we went to Jiǔjiébiān.” Gun Gun shared,
nodding at the servant who instantly brought over a freshly-brewed pot of tea
for him. “From the way she started screaming at me when I told her where
we’re going, I believe she’s not doing well. I think High God Mo Yuan sky-
bonded her to Kunlun so she couldn’t escape even if she turned herself to dust.”
Gun Gun raised his teacup to his nose and blanched in distaste. “Gēge, no
disrespect but you can do better than this Fenghuang Dan Cong23.”
23 Oolong tea from Phoenix Town in Chao-zu, Guandong province. The leaves are plucked
beginning at the end of April. The tea brew has a strong fruity scent and sweet taste.
A-Li's 三生三世
Lian Song tilted his head to one side and sweetly replied, “If you can survive
eating your father’s sweet and sour fish, you can very well survive drinking my
allegedly substandard tea. Why must you be so picky?”
With his usual silvery white hair transformed to black so as to blend in well
with mortals, Gun Gun looked less imposing, but the black strands against his
very fair skin also made him look more handsome. The women of Luoyang will
find it hard to control their impulses around my nephew, A-Li thought. He
expected nothing less than fainting and swooning to ensue when they stroll
around the city tomorrow.
A-Li grinned at his nephew. “Better keep your tea judgments to yourself,
Gun Gun.” Just then, Cheng Yu arrived, still dressed like a man. “Cheng Yu,
where have you been?”
“Pe Kang Li. I dropped off some gifts and asked the Madam to allow Wang
Ling to grace our courtyard with her presence at the end of the hour of the
rooster24 tonight.”
A-Li looked up to the sky. That would be quite some time after sunset, give
or take. How special could one be for Cheng Yu to go deliver presents herself?
“I’ve never seen a more beautiful nor more talented courtesan in all my years
of roaming the mortal realms.” Lian Song pointed to both A-Li and Gun Gun,
his eyes full of glee. “The two of you are in for a treat.”
A-Li doubted that but he chose not to bring it up. Instead, he asked, “Have
you two already bedded her?”
Husband and wife looked at each other then to A-Li and laughed.
“We’ve known her since she started at Pe Kang Li when she was sixteen25 so
that’s… nine mortal years ago? Ever since then I don’t think she’s ever taken
more than five men to her bed.” Lian Song held up his wine glass for a refill,
which an attendant alertly stepped up to do. “Or the men could just be bragging.
The exclusivity adds to her allure and subsequently, her price.”
“So, no?”
“I don’t take intelligent partners to bed, remember?” Cheng Yu answered,
pouring herself more cold tea. “It’s the only reason why that Old Dragon over
there has me back in his scaly grasp.”
Lian Song dramatically put his hand over his heart but the twinkle in his eyes
told them he took no offense.
“By the way, husband, she only has time for one dance. Apparently, the
Crown Prince and some Generals are in town so the rest of her evening is
already occupied.”
24Between 5pm-7pm
25 Chinese Age. Her actual age was around fourteen, all because her birthday happened a few
weeks before the New Year
A-Li's 三生三世
“That’s a shame.” Lian Song remarked, shaking his head. “I had in mind to
put her and A-Li head-to-head at Yì26 tonight but now it seems our pre-existing
bet on who wins between the two will have to be postponed yet again for
another day.”
“Intelligence is easily wasted on mortal women.” Gun Gun said ruefully. “If
she’s good enough to match against Li-Gē27, then more’s the pity.”
A-Li nodded in agreement. No other race in the Six Realms had stripped
power from their women so. His own sisters were very lucky in that regard.
The topic interestingly brought about a discussion on how fairy-born
immortal women generally weren’t that smart. Lian Song pointed out the Bai
women as an example. Gun Gun immediately launched to his mother’s defense
stating whatever Qing Qiu Fox Queen Bai Feng Jiu and the Heavenly Empress
Bai Qian might have lacked in book-smarts, they made up for with courage and
wisdom attributed to age later on in life.
“I wonder to what level of debauchery you have to stoop down to before
your parents give up on you.” Cheng Yu interrupted, as she tried to change the
topic before a greater debate was launched. It had long been accepted that there
was no love lost between Lian Song and Bai Qian, all because of how
differently they loved the same child, and they needed to get the Old Dragon to
change his topic.
“Are we giving up now?” A-Li chuckled.
His friends had been helping him commit scandalous acts as they knew how
much A-Li wanted to escape being the Crown Prince if he had the chance.
“It’s been 20’000 years since we started you on your road to perdition.”
Cheng Yu remarked drily. “We are quickly running out of shocking things to
do.”
“I have a feeling we are bound to be disappointed.” A-Li sighed, thinking
about the latest admonishment he received from his Father. Every time he got
into trouble, he wished for his parents to finally give up and declare that he was
unfit as a future Crown Prince. Alas, that day was yet to come. “My Father is a
very patient man.”
They went on drinking until the sun had fallen, and well beyond that. Mortal
wine wasn't as strong as Zhe Yan or Mo Yuan’s wines but A-Li was in a
celebratory mood, as it was rare that the four of them were together with no
swords or bodies flying to overhead.
He didn't notice when ten Jìnǚ joined them, and Musicians set up in the
courtyard.
Suddenly, a huge wall of fire lanterns lit in unison, causing Gun Gun to jump
from his seat.
“Master, let me pour you more wine.”
26 (弈) Ancient name for Go, Weiqi

27 A suffix used for older male relative or friend.
A-Li's 三生三世
A-Li vaguely heard the courtesan attending to him, his attention diverted
toward the tall veiled woman in a frost white overcoat who walked to the
middle of the courtyard.
So, that was Wang Ling?
“The veil is for when Big Sister travels, Master,” explained the painted
courtesan to his left. “The Madam is very careful not to show her face in public
unless necessary.”
Two attendants came over to remove her hat, veil and overcoat, and A-Li
had his first glimpse of her face.
Granted, her face was painted, but her powders and rouge could not hide the
small oval shape of her face, that slightly knowing smile on her lips as she
looked at Cheng Yu and those big, mischievous eyes that slanted upwards.
A-Li was intrigued.
The music cued, and A-Li found himself mesmerized over the next couple of
breaths.
Wang Ling wore over a loose, voluminous white and blue ruqun28. The
layers shimmered and sparkled like moonbeams over water as she danced with
terrifying grace, letting her water sleeves furl and unfurl as she moved before
her lit background. She had bells tied to her feet and on the golden coronet she
wore, making every move tinkle as light as stars twinkle uninterrupted in the
mortal skies during cloudless nights.
She danced like the flames inside the lanterns on the wall behind her,
dazzling and yet threatening to consume. Just as her gaze met his, the collar of
her ru29 and a rogue tendril of hair finally gave in to the veiled savagery of her
movements. Both fell loose; the hair landed and moved like a snake on top of
her porcelain skin and thus highlighted the creamy top of her left chest and
shoulder.
It was then that A-Li knew, just knew, he had to have her. His breath hitched
in his throat. The hairs on his arms rose. He couldn’t even trust himself to raise
his glass to his lips or someone might notice the slight tremor of his fingers.
Something about her called to that visceral part of him that disregarded
reason.
The tinder had been lit.
Now, A-Li’s insides were on fire.
He looked at Gun Gun, 2’300 years younger but not affected like he was of
her.
Who is she? What is she doing to me?
Blessedly, the music ended. The courtyard turned so quiet that one could
hear a pin drop. She walked, no, floated towards them. The only indication that
she moved at all underneath all that layer of silk was the soft tinkle that came
from the bells tied to her feet.
28 (襦裙) Traditional clothing which consist of a cross-collar blouse (ru) and a skirt (qun)
29 (襦) Open cross-collar shirt
A-Li's 三生三世
Wang Ling was a tall, slender woman and yet, the way she carried herself
reminded A-Li of the dangerous majesty of a tiger — no action borne out of
place, each muscle and sinew moving to a purposeful beat. Her eyes looked
straight ahead to Lian Song and yet, A-Li knew, she saw everything.
He wondered if she could hear his slightly labored breathing.
“Lian Song Jiéxià30,” she greeted. She cupped her hands before her and
bowed. A-Li’s eyes did not miss how the small movement emphasized the
enticing curve of her breasts. “Welcome back to Luoyang.”
Lian Song nodded. “Wang Ling, thank you for the warm welcome.”
“It was my pleasure, Jiéxià.”
“Let me introduce to you my nephews, A-Li and Gun Gun.”
She gave Gun Gun a slight smile. A-Li’s heart thundered in his chest when
her assessing eyes once again looked over him.
“My Lords.” she bowed to Gun Gun, then A-Li. “I hope you find your stay
in Luoyang pleasant.” To Cheng Yu, she warmly greeted, “My Lady, thank you
for the new books you sent over this morning. I will endeavor to finish them
very soon.”
Cheng Yu returned the smile. “I’m sure you will. I look forward to your
lively reviews of them over afternoon tea.”
Her eyes lit up and finally, she smiled a smile that showed her teeth,
transforming her painted face to look several years younger.
The greetings done, Wang Ling bowed and remained bowed as she slowly
retreated.
“Where is she going?” A-Li whispered to his granduncle.
“Back to the Jìyuàn. Her performance is over so she's leaving.”
“Wang Xiaojie31!”
Wang Ling stopped walking and lifted her face to A-Li. Only then did A-Li
realize he had actually called out to her!
“A-Li,” Lian Song hissed. “What do you think you're doing?”
What was he doing? He was moving. He was acting on his impulses. For the
first time in his long life, he’d seen something he liked and he had to have it.
For a month. Several months. At least until the novelty faded.
Even if she was a fēngyuè-nǚ32.
“May I call on you tomorrow?”
He was confident. Maybe too confident that she would say yes.
30 (节下) Literally means, “beneath your banner”. Luoyang citizens’ form of address for Lian Song
in deference to his “ambassador from a foreign land” role.
31 (小姐) Means Miss, but is a form of address for prostitutes.
32 Means “wind-moon woman”, another (but more poetic) term for prostitute.
A-Li's 三生三世
Hence, his jaw practically dropped on the table when she smiled so sweetly,
like the sun breaking through the sky on a dark and cloudy day, and respectfully
said, “No, Li Géxià33. You may not.”
Then with a last respectful bow, she turned and left.
33 (阁下) Literally means "beneath your pavilion". Used when addressing important people, or to
show respect to the person. Equivalent to Excellency.
Chapter 5
The Day The Earth Moved 1
Twenty-Five Mortal Months Later…
A-Li absentmindedly watched bats fly over the courtyard and to the
mountains beyond, and wondered why he felt exhausted even though he had
just got out of bed. The lethargy in his movements was unacceptable. He shook
his head and started jumping up and down to get his blood pumping faster.
It was the middle of the unholy hour of the ox34 but he needed to have an
early head start as today was Wang Ling’s day off from the Jìyuàn.
After being turned away again last week, the Jìyuàn’s kind cook had finally
taken pity on A-Li and shared a valuable piece of information: at least once a
month, Wang Ling was given a day off from the Jìyuàn. On those days, she
snuck out very early in the morning to travel somewhere, unknown to everyone.
All insiders knew was that she always left on foot. Disguised.
“Pathetic, pathetic!” Lian Song had bemoaned a couple of mortal months
ago. “You are a shame to the dragon clan and as my pupil, Zhízi. Eighteen
34 Between 1am-3am
A-Li's 三生三世
months of courtship and she still won’t let you inside the courtyard? Why am I
even staying for this?”
“Because you want to see me win, Shūshu.” He had said through gritted
teeth, his mood terrible as he had just found out she had danced for the
Emperor’s men yet again. Nobody else should be able to see her beauty while
he was continuously shunned. If only Cheng Yu hadn’t warned him endlessly
about the magickal bite back, he would have found a way to gouge those men’s
eyes out. “Because we bet on three immortal days.”
Three immortal days.
Wang Ling’s reputation rested on the fact that she was unyielding, and Lian
Song said it couldn’t be done in three immortal days. For his part, A-Li very
rarely bet against his companions, and never bet against himself. In retrospect,
A-Li realized his granduncle most probably have baited him that night Wang
Ling first rebuffed him. Worse, he had completely fallen for it.
Three immortal days.
It sounded easy, except in retrospect, it’s wasn’t.
Because three immortal days equalled three mortal years.
And to chase down a mortal as difficult and captivating as Wang Ling? That
took time.
Perseverance.
Resilience.
Presence.
A-Li had never worked this hard for anything in his immortal life. Only his
competitive spirit and drive to see things through inhibited him from giving up.
For two years, he had gifted and cajoled his way all over the Jìyuàn—from
Dong Nǚshì35, the Jìyuàn’s owner, to the lowliest scullery maid. He had sent
countless gifts to Wang Ling as well, and by trial and error, he now knew what
she liked.
She was completely unlike any woman whose affections he had ever paid
special attention to. When he initially started out, Wang Ling returned his gifts
of jewels, pearls, silks, shoes and combs with strict passed-on instructions not to
send any like those again. A-Li was at a loss as to the reason why. His gifts
were not tacky, and he had made certain they were more lavish in quality and
quantity than any she’d ever gotten. He knew this for a fact because he had paid
servants to keep tabs. What stung was that he also knew she graciously received
similar gifts from her other suitors. So was it just because she didn’t like him
outright that she didn’t care for his presents?
However, after several weeks of sulking, he had recalled that first night they
met when Wang Ling thanked Cheng Yu for the books she received. A-Li took
the chance and gifted her with books, Xian paper, calligraphy brushes, an ink
stone, and ink sticks. To his surprise and pleasure, those did not come back.
35 (女士) Madam
A-Li's 三生三世
Her poems she often turned into songs, which she played with the pipa for
her male guests at night. These poems were so coveted by poets and scholars
alike that the city’s biggest bookshop owner earned a huge profit by publishing
her newest poems weekly during market day to a waiting, sellout crowd. One
morning, A-Li was so bored he sent Wang Ling an honest review on the latest
installation. He also sent her some literary masterpieces of his own too — silly
poems and prose that were mostly amateur rambles. Those did not come back
either.
Although she kept rejecting A-Li’s requests for a private audience, Wang
Ling still came to Lian Song’s house to play the pipa and the zither. If
requested, she sang with a haunting, clear voice that almost always brought Lian
Song to tears. This often drove the Old Dragon to recall stories about his
younger years that Wang Ling had no idea happened so many millennia ago.
She and Gun Gun got along well on the topic of teas, and Gun Gun regularly
praised her impeccable palate during blind tea-tasting games. But most
frequently, Wang Ling came over to privately discuss literature and current
events with Cheng Yu, sustaining the old woman’s need for mental stimulation.
Meanwhile, all A-Li could do whenever she was at close proximity at the
Luoyang House was to stop and stare at her. It was a behavior that Gun Gun
hadn’t stopped teasing him about. For most of his lifetime, A-Li avoided
looking at women in public for longer than one breath to prevent them from
having ideas. Wang Ling was different from any of them though. Everything
about her entranced and distracted him so, to the point there were days he felt
consciously threatened and was tempted to run away.
As much as he wanted to talk to her until night changed to day and day
changed back to night, Wang Ling never looked nor talked to him more often
and longer than what was necessary. She was always impeccably polite and
always thanked him for his gifts but nothing further than that, she always moved
on swiftly after and did what she had come to do.
About five months ago, on a whim after reading a poem she had made the
previous night about real beauty that had been shared to scholars all over the
city, A-Li sent over a wild orchid plant that he had personally retrieved from a
branch of a Chénxiāng36 tree from the forest of Mount Junji. His Father had
called it the Jūnzǐ Zhùfú37, an ancient orchid breed blessed by the Primordial
God Shennong himself for its aesthetic and medicinal properties. It didn’t have
any flowers yet, and its leaves were the standard, boring, and succulent green.
However, A-Li knew that come midsummer, it would give out fragrant blooms
of gradient white and pink beauties that rivaled any peach blossom he had ever
seen. Further, even in the mortal realm, the blooms were guaranteed to last until
mid-winter. Her personal maidservant, Ge Peng, a bright-faced eighteen-year-
old girl A-Li had interacted the most with from the Jìyuàn, shared that Wang
36 (沉香) Agarwood, source of one of the most expensive wood resins in the world.
37 (君子祝福) The Blessing of Junji
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Ling looked thrilled upon receiving the plant, and personally attended to it
daily.
Two weeks ago, Wang Ling had sent him a shuǐmò huà 38that she had drawn
herself on Xian paper. The painting was of the plant showing the flowering stalk
now heavy with buds. It came with an accompanying short poem about her
happiness at seeing the buds appear and how she dreamt of finally seeing the
flowers come midsummer.
It was the first drawing and written note she had ever sent him in twenty-five
months. A-Li spent several hours staring at her marvelously beautiful drawing
and handwriting, for it was often said that calligraphy revealed a person’s
cultivation, temperament, tastes and character. On Wang Ling’s, her calligraphy
betrayed a rich experience of life from the way her characters boldly covered
the paper. When she unconventionally broke some strokes inside a character,
but still came out beautifully whole in the end, it revealed certain stubbornness
against authority that tried but failed to diminish her charm. Her curves flowed
without fear, befitting a person who embraced and lived life fully despite never
knowing what lay ahead. There were no hesitation strokes; an indication of her
impatience, fearlessness and inherent talent.
The drawing and the poem were the closest A-Li had ever gotten to her but
in the two weeks since, he had not even seen her. With the city welcoming the
arrival of military officers in droves lately, Wang Ling’s schedule was so full
that not even Lian Song nor Cheng Yu’s outstanding relationship with Dong
Nǚshì could write them in.
Hence, this opportunity was too good to pass. They never really talked
whenever they were together but A-Li wanted to see her again, and this was his
chance to do it.
A-Li stretched then cast an invisibility spell over himself before he cloud
jumped to wait at the courtyard fronting Wang Ling’s door.
He didn’t have to wait long. A few moments after the start of the hour of the
tiger39, her door opened and a servant girl stepped out with a bag of cloth and a
parasol. There was hardly any light around the courtyard so A-Li had to work
with the light from waning moonbeams filtering through the posts to see who
this person was.
Upon closer inspection, he knew. It was her. He’d recognize that profile
anywhere, he’d seen it too many times in his dreams. For the first time, he saw
her face scrubbed clean of its usual powder and rouges, her hair tied behind her
in a simple commoner’s waist-long braid.
Wang Ling moved through the shadows like a tigress. Her footfalls were
silent, her every stride resolute. She exited through the servants’ gate and
walked down the empty street, an easy prey for any drunkard or nefarious
38 (水墨画) ink and wash painting, an Eastern type of brush painting that uses calligraphy ink in
various concentrations.
39 Between 3am-5am
A-Li's 三生三世
person who could be walking about. If she was scared, it didn’t show in her
movements. Even in the dim light of breaking dawn, she looked fierce and
focused.
Those eyes. They were his favorite feature of hers, tilted upwards on the
outer edges, betraying an inborn sense of mischief despite her default stern
appearance. He liked it even better when the edges turned softer, like they
always did whenever she interacted with Cheng Yu.
A-Li satisfied himself with following her for another hour. He noted that
they had already exited the city and were on their way up Biayun Mountain
where farmers, woodcutters and poorer folk lived.
The sun was already up in the sky during the first half of the hour of the
rabbit40 when she suddenly stopped and said out loud, “Alright, I’ve had
enough.”
A-Li looked around, wondering whom she was talking to. There were no
other mortals around, just yards and yards of trees and a bubbling brook.
“Li Géxià! Show yourself!”
She saw him? A-Li looked down on his form to check if his magick was still
active, and it was. So how?
She was still calling his name, running to look behind tree after tree. She
looked equal parts annoyed and crazed so A-Li thought he might as well put her
out of her misery.
A-Li released his spell. With all the morning cheer he could muster, he
smiled and greeted her.
“Good morning, Wang Ling.”
Wang Ling turned to face him. Her eyes burned with feral intensity. Her lips
curled in distaste.
A-Li’s heart unexpectedly thudded faster inside his chest. Without the veil of
invisibility that gave his eyesight a dreamy quality, he was finally able to see
her in crisp clarity.
Beautiful. So damn beautiful.
“You!” She mercilessly stalked towards him until her index finger landed on
the middle of his chest. “You’ve been following me around for a while now.
Why?”
A-Li was flabbergasted. Was his magick so weak that a mere mortal was
able to see through it?
“Don’t deny it! You’ve been following me and have been staring at me for
two years. Your gaze is so imprinted on me that I can find you in a crowd even
with my eyes blindfolded.”
A-Li’s jaw dropped. As a courtesan, obsessed customers who stalked her
every move came with the job. His eyes on her were probably not the only ones
her intuition picked up. But more importantly, he was partly-amazed that she
40 Between 5am-7am
A-Li's 三生三世
spoke more words to him today than she ever had in the past two years
combined.
“Ha! You men are so predictable. You obsess, you follow me around, but in
the end, when caught, you’re just like a scared dog with its tail between its
legs.”
A-Li was offended at the thought that he was that bad, he had to be grouped
with all those other men.
“I—I didn’t mean to be a bother to you, Wang Ling. I saw you walking out
of the city and only wanted to make sure you’re safe.”
She was about to deliver another retort when birds and critters suddenly flew
all over and past them in a state of flurry and panic, as if chased by something
sinister. Some rodents ran over their feet, making her yelp. Wang Ling threw
her arms around his neck, and her body against his, for his protection.
A-Li’s breath got stuck in his throat as Wang Ling enveloped him with her
powdery floral scent. It didn’t leave his notice how soft her breasts felt pressed
against his chest, how warm she was…
However, his lustful thoughts were interrupted when he heard a faint
rumbling rise up deep from the bowels of the earth. He felt its vibrations grow
louder and louder until finally, with a deafening crack, the earth heaved and
shook with a ruthlessness that rivaled what the thirty-six heavens experienced
every now and then from Zhu Xian Terrace.
A-Li took her hand and together they ran to a nearby clearing where he
threw the two of them flat on the ground, his body covering hers. He then
summoned a shield to protect them.
Trees swayed before some started splitting in half while others simply got
uprooted. Rocks stumbled as they rolled down the incline. A terrible groaning
sound accompanied the unholy shaking, as if the earth was giving birth to
something.
“A-Li…” Wang Ling sobbed, using his familiar name for the first time. Even
though her granduncle and Cheng Yu referred to him by his childhood
nickname and even introduced him to Wang Ling as such, she had only ever
called him as Li Géxià.
Wang Ling’s tear-filled eyes fixed on his, as if he, instead of closing them,
was her only tether from all this madness. Her arms rigidly wrapped around his
torso. Her fingers spread out so wide, as if the action could provide him
protection should anything fall upon his back.
“It’s going to be over soon,” He shouted over the unholy wail of the earth
splitting up. “Alright?”
A-Li never liked it whenever the thirty-six heavens shook but today, he
discovered he didn’t like it more when the earth shook. A shaking of this
scale— and the fear reflected in Wang Ling’s eyes— made A-Li wonder about
how mortals were far more vulnerable, and the damages to their lives and
properties more permanent.
A-Li's 三生三世
The rumbling went on for a little while longer before it stopped, fading into a
whisper until everything was quiet once again.
But too quiet. There were no birds singing. No insects chirping. It was as if
the world was waiting with bated breath on what would happen next.
A-Li removed the invisible barrier and helped the still visibly shaken Wang
Ling to stand up.
However, no sooner was she up that she gasped, “The town!” and ran.
A-Li had no choice but to run after Wang Ling, so sure was he that the
mountain was still unsafe. This time she didn’t rebuff his help as they climbed
and squeezed over the resultant landslips and rockslides. They held on to each
other through the many aftershocks, only for her to resume running afterwards.
She didn’t pay any attention to her soiled clothes, her now muddy face, her dirty
hands and wet hemp shoes. A-Li couldn’t help but wonder what could bring her
to such levels of desperation.
He didn’t have to wonder any longer because after cutting through a felled
pine forest, they stumbled into the rough edges of what used to be a flourishing
mountain village.
Chapter 6
The Day The Earth Moved 2
Born with perfect lives, Celestials rarely suffered need or want of anything.
This, however placed Heaven in a quandary; how could a clan rule over the
A-Li's 三生三世
lower clans such as the Mortal Clan if they knew nothing about the seven
emotions and six desires41?
Mortal calamity was thus invented and designed to cultivate empathy for
fairy-born Celestials. Still, a two-immortal-month stint could not be compared
to a life that spanned hundreds of millennia and one could not blame the gods if
they eventually forgot what their mortal trials had been about.
Growing up, A-Li had wished he had this problem. Though an immortal, it
couldn’t be overlooked that he had been born out of a mortal’s womb. As the
mortal Su Su, she had been stripped of her powers, her privilege and her birth
right as Queen of Qing Qiu— now, Holy Empress Bai Qian’s life was marked
by sympathy for the weak and downtrodden. This key trait she had passed on to
her son and thus, the problem remained— A-Li was extra sympathetic by
nature, especially for an immortal.
Some Celestials thought he was too soft, that he had a heart that was easily
moved. A trait not desirable by most and especially wrong for one whom
everyone expected to become a future High God, and their future Crown Prince.
It was often pointed out how it was a shame that he was a far departure from
how his ruthless great-grandfather had been — which was history conveniently
rewritten to mask how most Celestials had hated the former Tiānjūn.
His sympathy betrayed his mortal roots all too well. Many resented him for
his lineage and added it to the growing list of why his family no longer deserved
to lead. Though nobody dared to call him out about it, he had heard the
whispers.
Half-Mortal.
The snickers.
Tainted.
The passive-aggressive remarks.
Impure Blood.
Cheng Yu, a former mortal, took 300 year-old A-Li under her wings and
taught him how to fake nonchalance.
“This,” She once said, holding her hand against her chest, “will always tell
you what’s real. But it doesn’t have to show here.” She finished, gliding her
hand over her face. “Sympathy is not a weakness as long as it’s discriminating.
It’s only a weakness when you can’t control it.”
His Granduncle’s response to the bullying had been more unexpected. When
A-Li was 13’000 years old, Lian Song took advantage of the newly-acceded
Heavenly Emperor and Heavenly Empress’ busy calendar, and together with
Cheng Yu, started introducing A-Li to the kind of exploits an old-timer like him
liked.
41A foundational tenet of Buddhism and Confucianism. (7 Emotions: joy, anger, grief, worry, fear,
sentiments, affection) (6 desires: lust, vanity, dignity, pleasant sounds, good life/death, sensual
pleasures)
A-Li's 三生三世
“I’ll show you how your sensitive nature is actually one of the good things
about you. Believe me, Zhízi,” He said then, his elbow perched on top of A-Li’s
head, “as the youngest in my family, we can be worse than our clan expects us
to be. We just need to make sure we don’t get caught while doing it. Or if we
are, we will never admit to it.”
It had been effective. Being labeled a hedonist effectually took away the
power from A-Li’s old label as a sympathetic immortal. The irony was— it
turned out that rich, spoiled, self-indulgent, and a ladies’ man were far more
acceptable characteristics of a Royal than being helpful, considerate and kind to
others.
Thus, A-Li had adopted a secular approach to his private life but the
sympathetic foundation on which his mortal roots rested remained mostly
unscathed. It was a weakness so easily exposed— that when it came to real
suffering, he couldn’t bear to just stand by and watch like gods often did.
It got tested again today.
***
The small town, Jiāngyuán, was literally in dust and smoke when they
arrived. Houses and establishments had been felled, some razed by fires, and
everywhere they looked, people walked in a daze. Cries for help could be heard
all over the town from women and children.
A-Li was immediately moved. He had seen worse disasters in history before
but it still took all his restraint not to use his powers to set the whole town back
in order again.
His heart splintered as he saw a desperate father carrying his heavily injured
child, calling for the town’s medicine man to help. Ah, but could anyone else
see? There were about ten, twenty, death gods with black robes made of flowing
smoke, moving around listlessly as they harvested souls.
The death gods’ white faces turned in shock as they finally noticed him
standing there. They floated towards him and bowed. After looking at one
another, one of them stepped forward to greet him.
“Diànxià42, to what do we owe the honor of your visit?”
“I’m just passing through.” He replied although his eyes were already
scanning the rubble. For her. A-Li waved dismissively. “But carry on.”
Leaving the death gods to their gruesome task, A-Li walked toward the
direction where he last saw Wang Ling pass. It took longer to find her though as
he inevitably made stops: he helped locals prop up posts, threw water and dirt to
42 (殿下) Literally means "beneath your palace". Used when addressing members of the imperial
family, such as princes and princesses
A-Li's 三生三世
fires, lifted collapsed roofs, and dug through the rubble of what was once
people’s home or livelihood.
A-Li was on his knees digging through the ruins of a house, half-buried
under a landslide, using only the faint cries of a baby underneath as his guide
when he heard Wang Ling ask from behind, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“There’s a baby underneath all this.” He answered, instantly noticing that
there was an injured, older man holding on to her arm.
A death god hung around, waiting, like a desert vulture would around
something dying. A-Li returned his attention to the exhausting task at hand.
How easy it would be to use his powers to lift all these up but at least for a spell
of time, he no longer could.
He had sealed his powers when he started helping out a while ago. Like his
granduncle taught him, the fate-versus-human free will conundrum allowed
immortals to help out as long as their powers were sealed. A rescue or help
could be offered and exempted from magick bite back if done with mortal-level
abilities. Furthermore, sealing off his powers during events like this also served
as a precaution from magick-powered reactions driven by his sympathetic
tendencies.
“Wang Ling, I need your help.”
Wang Ling didn’t need to be told twice. She made her companion take a seat
on top of the trunk of a felled tree and carefully approached him over the rubble
until she was able to kneel down next to him. A-Li noticed her moss green skirt
was already stained with blood— not hers, hopefully. The skin on her fingers
were scraped and bloodied, the nails already broken and uneven. She looked
like she didn’t mind getting further roughed up and dirtied though so A-Li
didn’t air out his concern.
They dug past the thatched roof ceiling, throwing wood and packed mud
debris to the side as they went. It was an arduous and dangerous task but after
some time, they gained headway.
“I hear the baby!” Wang Ling cried out. “The sound is so faint. How did
you know there’s someone underneath?”
“I surmise I have a good set of ears. Come, let’s work faster.”
With care, they dug and lifted until finally, they saw the straw cradle near
what was a dead fire pit. As with houses belonging to poor folk, the floor of the
house was made of packed mud dug a few feet below ground level because this
gave its occupants added insulation from the cold during winter.
Unfortunately, this also made for a riskier rescue.
Wang Ling grabbed his right forearm with both hands. “Li Géxià, the floor is
about twenty chi43 high from us. You need to lower me inside.”
43 Similar, but not exactly equivalent to, Western measurement for feet (China 1/3 m, Taiwan &
Japan 10/33 m)
A-Li's 三生三世
A-Li recognized the look in Wang Ling’s face. It was one his Heavenly
Empress Mother often used with his Heavenly Emperor Father whenever she
meant to have her way, whether his Father approved or not.
In this regard, A-Li’s Mother taught him well.
This woman needed no hero, because she was one.
“Alright.” He nodded, going against the call of masculine pride. “Wait here.”
A-Li carefully crossed toward the rope he spotted earlier at a nearby well. It
was thick and long enough to be used to hoist a full container of water, or to
pull a water buffalo along. He securely tied the rope to the nearest tree, wrapped
the middle around his waist and brought the remainder to Wang Ling.
As if she sensed his approaching proximity, Wang Ling removed her head
from the hole they made, her hair now in such total disarray that birds would be
happy to nest in it. She stretched out her hands impatiently for him to hurry.
A-Li was momentarily stunned at the picture she made.
Wang Ling stood up and made a grab for the rope, breaking his momentary
reverie. A-Li shook his head and wordlessly asked her to raise her arms up so he
could tie the other end of the rope around her waist.
“I don’t need to tell you to be careful and not take unnecessary risks.”
It was his way of telling her to be careful, just like how his Father would talk
to his Mother.
Wang Ling nodded, and with A-Li backing up from the hole to control the
rest of the rope that was wrapped around his own waist and hands, she slowly
lowered herself down the hole.
The rope went slack. A-Li stood waiting and for the first time learned how
long and torturous the interval between an inhale and an exhale was. To make
matters worse, another tremor passed, lower in intensity than the one that took
place while they were still digging, but it still shook the ruined house and
affected A-Li in a way the whole morning failed to do… all because of her.
“Wang Ling!” He shouted, carefully crossing through the wood, packed mud
and thatch, and hoping it wouldn’t cave in underneath. Now he really wished he
hadn’t sealed off his powers so he could fly. From the periphery of his vision,
he also saw her companion worriedly stand up, wanting to get close but looking
helpless to do anything anyway. “Wang Ling! Wang Ling, tell me you’re
alright!”
A-Li peered through the hole and immediately noticed wood and packed
mud bricks that weren’t there before she went in a while ago.
His heart dropped to his stomach.
He called for her several times more, hope dimming after each try. The one
death god turned to two. A-Li hoped the new arrival was only attracted by his
desperation rather than the scary reality that Wang Ling was below, dying.
Because if so, A-Li was willing to find out how much power he had and if it
was enough to steal a soul back from the dead.
A-Li's 三生三世
Tell me, is she alright? He wanted to ask the two death gods who hovered
close by, but of course they would never tell, would they? These gods were too
greedy, too focused, over nothing getting in the way of their harvest.
Desperate, A-Li raised his hand and was about perform the precautionary
spell to release his seal when he felt the rope move.
A slight tug.
Then another, this time with greater force so that it almost pulled him down
the hole.
Then he heard a cough.
Her cough.
“Li Géxià?”
A-Li stuck his head inside the hole, scanning the semi-darkness for her.
“I’m here. I’m here, Wang Ling. Where are you?”
“I’m several chi away from where you lowered me. There is some debris
blocking my way. But the baby is fine, Li Géxià.”
Relief washed over him like cleansing summer rain.
She’s alive. That’s all that matters.
When A-Li looked up to the direction of the death gods, they were gone, in
pursuit of a more plentiful harvest. How disappointed they must be that no
harvest occurred from this spot today.
“My baby!” A distraught woman screamed from below the incline, and
screamed even louder as she approached. “My baby! Oh, my baby!”
Wang Ling’s companion met the woman, and tried to calm her down.
“Alright, you can pull me up now!”
A-Li stood up and backed up slowly to solid ground, this time capturing
more rope to help hoist Wang Ling up. It took all of A-Li’s mortal-level
strength but it was worth it in the end when her head appeared, followed by her
shoulders and then the rest of her climbed up along.
The mother met Wang Ling with so much gratitude and tears as she took her
daughter back in her arms. A-Li walked back to where the rope they used was
tied and sank against the tree’s roots, suddenly exhausted from the day’s
activity.
This day… was strange. Too many emotions roiled and toiled throughout his
body. Strange emotions, emotions he couldn’t make sense of… for now.
A shadow fell over him. A-Li looked up, surprised to see Wang Ling in such
close proximity.
For the first time in two years, she came to him.
“Thank you for letting me save the baby. Thank you for helping me.”
Blood trickled down her forehead. Worried, he asked, “Are you hurt?”
“It’s just a little cut. I can see straight and I don’t feel dizzy at all. How about
you? Are you alright?”
A-Li looked at his hands and forearms and only then noticed that they were
actually hurting. “Oh, this? It’s just rope burns.”
A-Li's 三生三世
“Oh— was I too heavy?”

“Not at all.” He answered with a soft, reassuring smile when in fact, his
whole body ached to the bones. His skin normally itched or his tongue tasted
sour as a result of turning off any spell. Instead, today he felt as if a whole
house toppled over him.
A-Li tried to stand up but found he was too exhausted to even lift his bottom
off the ground. With a cough against his sleeve, he gave up and leaned on the
trunk. Fresh blood marked the fabric he had coughed on, and the discovery
caused A-Li to lift his fingers to the sides of his mouth.
His fingerpads came back red and his tongue belatedly recognized the
metallic taste of blood.
Even stranger. He might have gotten hit somewhere when he helped out
other locals earlier, and failed to realize it.
Wang Ling sat down next to him. A-Li turned his head to look at her but she
also had her head turned away from him.
He had no idea what she was thinking of. And he was exhausted all over.
A-Li leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes.
“Jia’er.”
Wait, did she just talk? A-Li’s eyes flew open and he turned to look at Wang
Ling again.
She had her head down and her fingers were busy pulling the grass that was
unlucky enough to be on the ground right where the lining of her skirt ended.
A-Li was drained of strength and so he felt he must have imagined hearing
her voice. He was about to settle back against the tree when she spoke again,
this time her voice louder and clearer.
“I think after what we’ve been through together today, you can call me
Jia’er. That’s my nickname. Or if you want something more formal, you can
call me Jiao Long.”
Her head turned as she met his eyes with a small smile. It didn’t escape A-
Li’s notice that her cheeks were unnaturally flushed.
“Jia’er.” A-Li tested her name and liked the way it rolled off his tongue.
“Jiao Long.”
“Xue Jiaolong.” She stretched out her hand to point to the older man who
was helping the mother and baby settle down. “And over there’s my father, Xue
Yuan.”
Chapter 7
Wed or Dead
The late spring weather finally gave way to the early heat of what promised to
be one of the warmest summers in Luoyang history. City-dwellers fanned
themselves into a frenzy while drinking cold barley tea, and skipped the sun by
staying indoors for longer spells of time.
Up in the Biayun Mountain town of Jiāngyuán, the relatively cooler
mountain breeze and the sound of cicadas chirping noisily lent afternoons a lazy
feel. Its inhabitants kept busy, however. The earth-shake had only affected their
town and they had lives and homes to rebuild from scratch.
A-Li's 三生三世
This innate resilience of mortals to move forward amazed A-Li. Like the
purpose-filled life of ants, mortals strove to get things done at the soonest
possible time because they had so little time in their hands.
In comparison, immortals were more complacent. His Fourth Uncle had
unceasingly complained about how bad A-Li’s generation had become: easy
going, lazy, possessing weak magic and even weaker Taoist practice. A-Li had
never paid attention before as he’d always thought Fourth Uncle’s burning
rhetoric was all but an underhanded reprimand for how he’d been living his life.
However, as he observed these mortals now, and how most of them valued their
limited time, A-Li couldn’t help but wonder how much better immortals would
be if they did the same.
A-Li shook his head, pushing his Fourth Uncle’s admonitions and Realm
business far into the deepest recesses of his mind. Ever since his companions
left him to go to the Jade Palace for the Festival of the Peaches, A-Li often went
up to visit Jiāngyuán’s Home of Hope. The Xues maintained the said shelter for
orphaned children and old people that they had collected over the years from the
outskirts of Luoyang. Right now it housed eighteen children, nine adults
between the mortal ages of sixty to eighty, and required the assistance of at least
three workers to help with the cooking, laundry and managing of household
chores.
Finding out about Xue Jiaolong’s charity made getting into her good graces
much easier for A-Li. After all, there was a lot of work to be done: the house
had to be renovated, the sick and injured tended to, and Xue Yuan to keep
company during times he’d reminisce about his dearly departed wife.
“I am ashamed to face my wife, Xue Mei, in the next life,” Xue Yuan once
shared while they drank hot wine during an early summer storm. The old man,
now reduced to a shadow of his former self as a scholar and teacher, was given
to bouts of melancholy at night or whenever it rained. “My irresponsibility
pushed our daughter to a different life. But what am I to do? We Xues love once
but it’s for a lifetime. Losing Mei made me lose my life’s meaning. If Jia’er
weren't here, I would’ve taken my life a long time ago.”
It took great control not to let dismay show on A-li’s face. Once again, love
was used as an excuse. The notion was not only irresponsible but selfish. No
love should be worth endangering or burdening the lives of those who were left
behind. But as much as A-Li wanted the old man to indeed be ashamed of his
selfish choices, the fact that Xue Jiaolong still held her father in the highest
regard and how she instead looked at her circumstance as an opportunity to help
other people, kept his tongue in check.
“The children adore you. And the elders think you’re a well-mannered son.”
Xue Jiaolong happily shared as she washed the dishes at the Jiāngyuán house
during a rare day off from the Jìyuàn.“It seems you’ve effectively charmed
everyone here.”
A-Li's 三生三世
A-Li wanted to know whom exactly she meant by every one. Did it include
her? Was she impressed with how he had been showing his support for her?
How he had been taking care of those who were dear to her?
Was she already starting to like him?
It had been 28 mortal moons since he set out on this mission. Granted it was
just two or so immortal days but A-Li had never spent this much time in pursuit
of any woman.
Then again, Time wasn’t the issue here as he had plenty of it.
Effort was.
He had to give it to himself for his persistence. After all, didn’t it all boil
down to the thrill of the chase? Nonetheless, if somebody had warned him
mortal affairs would be this strenuous and long winded, he wouldn’t even have
begun.
But, as he observed Xue Jiaolong humming to herself while they sat outside
and watched the children play in the yard, it struck him that he’d never met a
more fascinating mortal such as this one.
“Here,” she said, offering him a fat slice of one of the early-season
persimmons they had bought when they went to the market together earlier that
morning. “It’s sweet enough. You’ll like it.”
“So you bought the persimmons for me?” He goaded her as he accepted the
slice. Xue Jiaolong had been plying him with fruits and sweets ever since she
found out he had a sweet tooth.
Xue Jiaolong shot him a warning look. Then she grabbed the reed bag
containing the persimmons, and called out to the children to come get their
snacks.
A-Li smiled to himself as he bit on the sweet fruit. With eight mortal moons
left on the bet, thanks to the earth-shake, his fortune was finally changing.
***
There were only three individuals in the Four Seas and Eight Deserts whom
A-Li found difficult, but not impossible, to beat at Yì: Mo Yuan Dàyé44, as
expected of the God of War, his Father Ye Hua, the best prodigy the Immortal
world had ever had, and his Dong Hua Gēge.
However, A-Li was forced to prematurely announce his defeat after eyeing
his third consecutive losing round against Xue Jiaolong. It was also pre-empted
by the fact that money was already changing hands between his freshly-returned
companions even while their third game was still underway.
44 (大爺) Uncle, Father’s Older Brother
A-Li's 三生三世
“She should play against Mo Yuan. I wonder how long he’d hold up against
her,” he casually told Lian Song who had just won the latest bet on how long it
would take for the incense to change fragrances before A-Li lost his third game.
His un-filial granduncle had bet at before half of the 2nd fragrance.
“Who’s Mo Yuan?” Xue Jiaolong asked as she helped Cheng Yu return the
stones inside their respective wooden bowls.
“My Dàyé, Jia’er.”
“I agree it’ll be a sight to see you play against Mo Yuan,” Gun Gun added as
he handed over a hot cup of tea to Xue Jiaolong. “Even when you took the
defensive position, your backhand was still so brutal that Li-Gē couldn’t
maintain his offense. And the way you invaded on one side and reduced his
territory on the other, then orchestrated those suicidal moves one after the
other— even after three rounds, Li-Gē stood no chance. You’re too cunning.
And cold-hearted. Both good qualities any general should have.”
“I’ve played against generals before but I’ve yet to lose at Yì.” Xue Jiaolong
smiled, daintily lifting the teacup to her bare lips. She had arrived at Lian Song
and Cheng Yu’s house in her common folk attire, shocking the couple who had
never seen her bare face before. “I’ve always been looking for a worthy
opponent. When do you think can I meet this Mo Yuan?”
The immortals exchanged glances before Cheng Yu burst out laughing.
“Mo Yuan’s… well, he lives high up in the mountains. And he has a very
temperamental wife. I suspect she’ll burn you to a crisp if she sees you even
looking at her husband.”
“Burn me to a… crisp? How? That sounds really violent.”
“Don’t worry, Jia’er,” A-Li chuckled, shaking his head. “Unless you’re a
member of the family, women are banned from entering their estate. Because
the last time Dàyé broke the rule, well—“
“It was a disaster.” Cheng Yu finished. “Jiaolong, I know you like fire
among the five elements but trust me, there’s a reason why everyone in our
kingdom gives Mo Yuan’s wife a wide berth.”
Once the board had been cleared and turned over to the servants for storage,
Cheng Yu invited Xue Jiaolong to the library to pore over her latest books. A-
Li’s grin reflected that of Xue Jiaolong’s at the offer. Of course she was excited.
She always looked forward to invitations to see Cheng Yu’s library.
“Shūshu, why were you shaking your head just now?” A-Li asked as soon as
the women were out of sight.
Lian Song continued to slowly fan himself for a couple more breaths before
he shut his fan closed and pointed it to A-Li.
“A-Li, it’s not yet too late. Let’s pack up and leave Luoyang. This is just two
days in your many thousands of years. A month or two in the immortal realm
can make you forget this place.”
Leave? Just when things couldn’t get any better between him and Xue
Jiaolong?
A-Li's 三生三世
“You will break that poor girl’s heart, is what Gēge’s trying to say,” Gun
Gun expounded as he poured himself another cup. “You’ve never had a mortal
before. Trust me, they’re… squishy.”
Something unpleasant snaked down A-Li’s stomach. “The three of you
already have a ledger’s worth of bets about Xue Jiaolong. Why are you
changing your tune now?”
Lian Song set his fan down, his shoulders heavy. He poured himself a glass
of wine and downed it in one gulp.
“If my years of dealing with their kind count for something, courtesans like
her often live a very lonely life afterwards. They offer their beauty and intellect,
and get paid for it by the shallowest of all currencies: money. Sadly, that’s often
all that they’re going to get.” Lian Song sighed. “I thought she wasn’t any
different. But today, I saw her for the first time without any of her usual garnish.
I saw a person, A-Li, and by your accounts, a kind-hearted one.”
During his younger years, Heavenly Emperor Ye Hua had looked up to Lian
Song as an ally and his voice of reason. Even at his most outrageous, A-Li’s
flamboyant granduncle was often the wisest in the room.
In the years to come, A-Li would look back to this moment with much
regret.
He should have listened. But today, his personal ego and pride blocked him
from acknowledging Lian Song’s wisdom.
Today, he made the only decision that made sense to him.
“You can go if you want to, Shūshu. I’m this close to the finish so I’m
staying.”
“And what is the finish that we are talking about here, A-Li? You grew up
sometimes reading your mother’s theatrical plays. Will it be Wed or Dead?”
A-Li probingly gazed at his granduncle, then at Gun Gun. He wondered
when things had changed to make them care about the women in his life.
Because it had never mattered if it was a princess, a noble or a common
immortal— all the women he’d been with were inconsequential details in
Cheng Yu’s ledgers that nobody looked back to after the bet was over. Maybe,
it was just because of what Gun Gun said: Xue Jiaolong was A-Li’s first mortal.
The novelty caused Lian Song to have cold feet.
It wouldn’t help to give way to their unfounded fears, too.
“What did they feed you during the peach banquet to make you turn all so
serious? Wed or Dead? Is this part of your latest bet? Shūshu, you’re getting too
far ahead of yourself. It’s just harmless fun is what we’re doing.” He chuckled,
drank the last of his wine, and stood up. “Excuse me, I need to walk Jia’er
home.”
***
A-Li's 三生三世
The night wasn’t as dark for there was three-quarters of the moon hanging
about to light their path as A-Li and Xue Jiaolong walked by the peony shrubs
that lined the river bank.
It didn’t escape his notice how instead of taking the well-trodden dirt path,
Xue Jiaolong chose to walk on the sides where soft grass grew — and either
carved a new path for others to follow or marked a lonely one which only she
undertook.
“Have you ever wished you lived a different life?” He found himself asking
her.
Xue Jiaolong turned but continued walking, albeit backwards. Some of her
hair had escaped the braid holding it in place, and the river breeze picked up the
tendrils so that they carelessly floated before and around her. If she felt it, she
didn’t mind.
She never did.
In fact, the longer he knew her after the earth-shake, the more A-Li realized
there were actually two sides to her. Wang Ling, the courtesan, who exhibited
control, and Xue Jiaolong, the woman, who reveled in her freedom.
The former held men in thrall with her air of mystery. The latter stared back
whenever she knew he was looking, and held his gaze until they both broke
down laughing.
“My father told me we have gods who wrote our destinies. Can you imagine
the absurdity and the lack of fairness in that? Following that thought, it seems I
had no control on who I turned out to be. I was meant to be this…” she
shrugged, both palms facing upwards, “…just like you’re meant to be… all
that.”
A-Li frowned. She hadn’t exactly answered his question.
“I may be deluding myself but I prefer to believe I am walking my own path,
that I am writing my own destiny. That my becoming a courtesan instead of an
affluent old man’s wife was because of my own choices. Some said it was
reckless of me to not get married but what was I to do? Matrimony is a cage.
The moment I marry, who’s going to take care of my father? But I didn’t want
to feel helpless either. So when the opportunity to enter a Jiaofang45 arose, I
closed my eyes and grabbed it with both hands.”
Her left hand ran over the tops of the peony shrubs, which disturbed the
leaves and caused summer fireflies to fly towards and around her. Their
yellowish light cast its incandescent glow on Xue Jiaolong’s face which she
laughed at while she tried to shoo the insects away.
“Even as a courtesan, I was advised to take a patron because as a woman, it
was a given that I needed protection. But wasn’t it wonderful that my insistence
to turn down all those nobles who wanted to keep me over the years was so that
45 A high-end finishing school for prostitutes where girls train in music, dancing, literature,
calligraphy, chess, literary drinking games, etc.
A-Li's 三生三世
I could beat you thrice at Yì and walk with you by the riverbank tonight? So
why would I wish to live a different life?”
A-Li was stunned, his mind suddenly scrambling to pick apart the words she
had just spoken.
Suddenly, the sky exploded and came alive in bursts of pyrotechnic lights
behind her. A-Li watched her eyes grow round before she whipped around.
“Well, isn’t that just amazing?” He heard her gasp when he finally stood
beside her. Her orbs reflected the lights that set the sky on fire. “I’ve been here
for years but I’ve never seen any of the summer fireworks displays before.”
A-Li thought he’d never seen anyone like her before either.
A cool breeze blew in from the river, the wind rustling through the edges of
A-Li’s white robes, bringing with it her faint floral smell. It wrapped around
him in invisible threads that tugged at him to turn, to take that step to be closer
and closer still until he stood in front of her, silhouetted against the explosion
that painted the sky in hues of red, yellow, green and blue.
His right hand lifted to cup the side of her face, something he had longed to
do for quite some time, and she surprised him by leaning into it.
“Jia’er,” he said softly over the din, his gaze following where the fireworks
behind him glossed red and yellow over her luminous skin.
“A-Li,” she sighed. And just as the loudest of explosions sounded off behind
him, the fingers of her right hand pressed at his nape to pull his face down.
One moment he was breathing fine and the next he was on fire.
The hunter became the hunted. Xue Jiaolong proved she could also be a
predator should she desire so.
She teased at him to open and when he did, she took from him without
apology.
Hungry.
Relentless.
A-Li realized he was shaking when he wrapped his arms around her, his
hands at her nape and the small of her back, as he pulled her closer to make
their kiss deeper. In that space in time where his immortal breath fused with her
mortal one, it dawned on A-Li that he now knew how a falling star felt— once
proudly burning bright in its place in the sky until it was forced to fall on its
knees by the undeniable pull of the ground.
His insides burned with the terrifying need to take her there and then, and he
would have, if only he didn’t suddenly remember his granduncle’s words.
Wed or Dead?
His mood dimmed.
The Old Dragon should have kept his thoughts to himself.
With one last peck, and— because he couldn’t help himself from tasting her
sweetness yet again— another, A-Li lifted his head. Xue Jiaolong looked equal
parts confused and frustrated, but to the unspoken question in her eyes, he only
A-Li's 三生三世
gave a small smile. Then he took her hand to lead her back up to the main road
and dropped her off at the Jìyuàn servants’ gate.
“Good night,” he told her as he let go of her hand.
She didn’t look too happy. But then, neither did he.
With a huff, she turned and went inside.
A-Li followed her with his gaze until he could no longer see her. Only then
did he start walking back to the house, Lian Song’s words ringing over and over
again in his mind.
Wed or Dead?
Wed.
Or Dead.
Chapter 8
Ranting Rampage
A-Li knew he deserved it that Xue Jiaolong turned him down when he called for
her the day after their kiss… and the following days after that. He was aware
that he had handled that night pretty badly — but to his credit, neither had he
expected his granduncle’s words to mess with his mind so abominably he still
felt unsettled about it even to this day.
Wed or Dead?
What was Lian Song even talking about? Of course the answer was neither.
This was not some theatrical play nor was Xue Jiaolong a simpering miss whose
affections he had to return with a marriage proposal.
She knew the game, and had probably played it tens or hundreds of times
before. She probably found it a welcome diversion to get paid for her time
whilst having some semblance of romance on the side.
A-Li's 三生三世
He had been more than rational too.

While A-Li did crave to win her over, he had not dreamt to eventually forbid
her from dancing, singing and playing for other men. Further, he had decided
that even if they progressed from friends to lovers, it would be unfair for her if
he kept her and took her out of her job. He had convinced himself that he had
been pragmatic all along. After all, he had never been restrictive with any of his
former lovers, hadn't he? Affairs could be nonexclusive, and he preferred it that
way. There was no need to get worked up about something that involved
transient companionship and sex.
A-Li just hated the way his chest tightened every time he thought of other
men ogling her with their lustful stares. But, it’s a fair reaction, he justified. As
the youngest in the Celestial Tribe for a couple of thousand years until Gun Gun
arrived, he never liked to share what belonged to him.
Except, she didn’t belong to him.
Disgruntled at where his thoughts were taking him, A-Li slammed his fist on
the stone table, stunning the five Jìnǚ’s Cheng Yu had hired to come to their
small pavilion by the river to entertain them with afternoon tea and poetry.
Lian Song glared at A-Li and told the woman reading her poem to the
accompaniment of a zither to continue.
Small hands enclosed A-Li’s fist. The Jìnǚ who attended to him only smiled
when he flashed her an irritated look.
“Géxià, are you perhaps looking for news about Big Sister?”
A-Li took back his hand but his scowl lightened a bit. This little one was
bold for directly approaching him. She looked new, too, so she was likely one
of those juniors who fell under Xue Jiaolong’s mentorship.
“Big Sister is to dance for Wu Fangyu Huīxià46’s birthday tonight.”
A-Li’s jaw involuntarily clenched as he thought of one of his most avid
nemeses for Xue Jiaolong’s affections. The well-decorated young general
always sought to be her audience whenever he happened to be in Luoyang. Just
thinking of that man’s hands on her—
“She hasn’t showed up the whole day and nobody can find her. Our Madam
is very angry.”
A-Li was up on his feet even before he caught himself doing it.
“Zhízi, where do you think you’re going?”
He paid no attention to his granduncle and stormed toward the main house.
Once out of sight of any mortal guest, he jumped onto the next cloud that passed
by.
***
46 (麾下) Literally means "beneath your flag". Used when addressing generals and military officers
A-Li's 三生三世
“Take your hands off me and let me die!”

When A-Li jumped off behind Jiāngyuán’s Home of Hope, he never
expected to walk into a scene where almost-naked Xue Yuan was attempting to
jump into the well and his harried daughter tried to prevent him from doing so.
“Xue Lǎoshī47!” He called out as he broke into a sprint to help Xue Jiaolong
control her father. “Xue Lǎoshī, what do you think you’re doing?”
Xue Yuan’s eyes grew wide upon sighting A-Li. The old man made a hostile
grab for his arms. “A-Li! A-Li, you need to let me die! My daughter is to dance
for a general tonight, so close to the anniversary of her mother’s death. I have
been a lacking father. I deserve to die!”
“He’s drunk.”
A-Li already smelled the strong scent of alcohol from Xue Yuan’s breath
even without Xue Jiaolong’s flat explanation. What concerned him more was
the defeated tone in her voice. As the old man shook him and cried, A-Li’s eyes
remained fixed on Xue Jiaolong who looked a couple of breaths away from
breaking down. He supposed the number of eyes that watched them didn’t help
diminish the pressure on her either.
A-Li had no choice but to render the old man unconscious using magick by
pretending he used pressure points to do so.
He called on Xue Jiaolong. “Take off my outer coat and put it on your father.
Then let’s prepare a warm bath for him so he can get the alcohol out.”
They didn’t talk much as they brought Xue Yuan inside the house. They laid
him down so Xue Jiaolong could prepare the stove while A-Li brought water
from the well for boiling to pour in the bath.
Once the water was ready, A-Li asked Xue Jiaolong to wait outside while he
gave the unconscious Xue Yuan a bath. A-Li only realized the absurdity of what
he was doing as he sponged off the noxious smell of alcohol and dirt from the
old man. Ah, if only the thirty-six skies could see him now. He had too many
attendants to wait on his needs as he bathed and dressed even at Luoyang
House, but here he was, half-wet and struggling to get an unconscious man
dried and dressed.
A-Li called for Xue Jiaolong to return once he had the old man ready for
bed. She smelled a little of alcohol when she came in but A-Li didn't mind, as
he knew she had had a distressing day.
The hour of the dog48 was well underway when they finished with their task.
Xue Jiaolong stepped out of her father’s bedroom and without looking back at
A-Li, headed outside. On the way, she grabbed a discarded bottle of wine—
probably hers— and resumed drinking as she walked the perimeter of the house.
47 (老师) Teacher or a form of address for a highly-educated person

48 Between 7pm-9pm
A-Li's 三生三世
“Jia’er!” He called out, running after her but her steps retained its steadfast,
quick clip. She was headed for the woods and at this late hour, A-Li was sure it
was no longer safe.
She turned before he could hold her arm. “Don’t touch me.”
A-Li’s eyes had already adjusted to the dark so when she turned, he saw that
she was actually crying.
It made A-Li feel uneasy. Xue Jiaolong was tall, the top of her head reaching
halfway up to his forehead, but tonight she looked small. Defeated. Quite unlike
her normal, self-assured self.
The need to enfold her in his embrace was suddenly overwhelming.
And wrong.
A-Li had never been a hugger.
“He does this every year, you know. He gets so drunk, he bawls and cries,
then he turns his attention to how my life has turned out, he blames himself, he
blames me, he wants to die. Rinse. Repeat. He was so drunk today, we weren’t
even able to go to the temple and pray to my mother.” She hit her palm against a
tree trunk and took another gulp of wine, stumbling back a step as she backed
up. “Nobody from that House even helped me control and cover my father. I
bleed for these people and this is what I get every year. I live a thankless life.”
So she noticed it, too. There were many able-bodied people in that crowd but
they all left one woman to control a full-grown man. It irked at him earlier and
now that he knew that the same apathy happened every year maddened him
even more.
Ungrateful parasites.
Still, A-Li kept his mouth shut because she was letting her rage flow. He had
been taught well by Lian Song that nobody should get in the way of a woman
who was on a ranting rampage.
“And you, you’re not any different from them. How could you drop me off
just like that?”
The demand was unexpected but not unwelcome. Finally, their confrontation
that took days in the making had arrived.
“I’m sorry.” He said, truly owning up to his actions. “I had a lot on my mind
that night.”
She flashed a cold smile his way. “What do you have to be sorry about?
Didn’t you pay for my time? Dong Nǚshì was even so happy that she gave me a
bonus.” She said this as her right hand swept up to her head to remove the comb
that pinned her hair in place. “It’s gold with precious jades. Very generous,
don't you think so? Imagine what I’ll get for sleeping with you?”
A-Li couldn't bear to hear the vitriol and self-loathing in her voice any
longer. He growled as he closed the remaining distance between them and
snatched the comb from her hand.
A-Li's 三生三世
“Jia’er, I wasn’t the one who sent the payment. Shūshu did, because he
didn’t want you to get into trouble with the Madam because we kept you so
late.”
Xue Jiaolong’s mouth closed but her eyes probed his face. Her hand
dropped to her side. She took a cautious step back. And another. Then she
turned on her heel and walked back towards the house.
A-Li followed close behind, ruminating about the new information her rant
had revealed about her.
I live a thankless life.
She’s a wildflower, this one. A water lily— understated as compared to the
lotus— but a fighter just the same, able to grow out of shallow, muddy waters to
produce blooms and a fragrance that more than compensates for its unappealing
surroundings.
It had been a recurring thought for A-Li that he had never met anyone like
her — he had a feeling he never would again.
Xue Jiaolong walked until she got to the door where she stopped and
whipped around to face him again.
She sighed and bowed. “Thank you for helping me with my father today. I
hope to not bother you again.”
“What if I want you to bother me again?” A-Li grumbled in a rush. He was
usually cautious of what came out of his mouth, but this kind of knee-jerk
reaction kept happening whenever she was around. It was effective though
because she didn't move, although her brows drew closer. A-Li pressed on.
“What if I want to be the one you can call on for help if you feel
overwhelmed?”
Xue Jiaolong cocked her head to one side. “Big words coming from
somebody who left me a couple of nights back.”
“Like I said, I had a lot on my mind.”
“And do you… still?”
“I do. But that’s usually the case when I’m around you.”
She grimaced. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
A-Li blinked. “I don't suppose so. No.”
She stood by the doorway, her upturned almond-shaped eyes held his in her
gaze, her lips pursed. A-Li felt exposed, which didn't make sense, and he
wondered what she was thinking
“Is it too much to ask from this point onwards that you don't lie to me?
When I ask, tell me ‘yes’, ‘no’, even ‘I can’t say’ or ‘I don't know’. Just don't
lie.”
It was an easy ask to fulfill for A-Li was never good at lying.
“Is it that important to you?” he asked back.
Xue Jiaolong nodded.
“Alright.”
The look of relief on her face was palpable.
A-Li's 三生三世
“It seems the hardest thing for me to do is to stay mad at you.”

Those words robbed him of his breath. Warmth like he had never
experienced before spread from his chest outwards.
Outside, rain began to fall.
“I guess I’m staying overnight so you get to sleep on the floor.”
A-Li frowned. “I’m not sleeping on the floor.”
“Well, I’m not sleeping on the floor either and there’s only one bed in my
room.” Xue Jiaolong declared as she pushed her bedroom door open, the same
one A-Li had also occupied a couple of weeks ago when he was helping out
with the town’s relief and rebuilding efforts. “And it might hurt your male ego
to sleep beside a Jìnǚ and… you know what I mean. Because I’m not letting you
bed me tonight.”
“I’m not sleeping on the floor.” A-Li stressed again as he lightly-kicked the
door closed behind him. “Put a pillow between us. That should keep me safe
from your advances.”
She gasped and whirled around. “Excuse me?”
Chuckling, A-Li headed for the bed and took the inner corner, dragging the
blanket with him.
She gave him a look of pure annoyance that could have set the blanket on
fire.
“I haven’t had dinner yet. I’m hungry,” she announced and went out of the
room in a huff.
A-Li cradled his head through linked hands on top of the pillow, still
chuckling at the memory of how flustered Xue Jiaolong had looked just before
she left.
He involuntarily yawned, and felt the exhaustion of the day’s events attempt
to pull his eyelids down. He shook his head to shoo the drowsiness away.
When A-Li’s eyes opened again, the candle had been snuffed out and the
room was now dark except for the faint slivers of moonlight that streamed
through the room’s singular windowpane. It landed and danced on top of Xue
Jiaolong’s luminous right cheek, which provided a stark contrast against the
shadows made by her sooty eyelashes. Moonbeams also lit the way to parts of
her neck and the delicate-V of her skin as revealed by her collar.
The room suddenly felt several degrees warmer especially once A-Li
realized only a thin bolster pillow the length of an arm separated them in the
intimate confines of this darkened room. Having her in such close proximity
charged the air so that the hairs on his arms and nape rose. He felt lightheaded.
This close, he could even smell her delightful light, clean, floral scent.
A-Li was overcome with the desperate need to to touch her just to ascertain
that she was real.
Warm.
There.
A-Li's 三生三世
But, no. He was not the type of pervert who would take advantage of a
sleeping, defenseless woman, no matter if she were Beauty and Desire
personified.
A-Li turned to lie flat on his back. Taking slow, deep breaths to lessen the
raging desire that coursed through his body, he tried to count the bamboo beams
that helped support the ceiling. One… Two… The third beam is a bit bent…
Four… Five…
His head slid on its own accord to look at her again.
A-Li felt his chest contract as he watched her sleep. Watched her breathe.
Found that he was stupefied at how overpoweringly light her ephemeral
presence felt to someone like him— a being burdened with thousands of years
to live. Marveled at how much more magnificent she looked unguarded. And,
appreciated the fact that even though she placed a pillow between them, she still
slept facing him.
Her words and actions earlier all signaled at the desire to push him away.
To maintain some distance.
But asleep right now, she curled up like a baby next to him, her gentle
breathing even and true.
Trusting.
Then he had a scary thought.
He realized he could look at her like this for the rest of his immortal life.
Chapter 9
Pray To Me
Xue Jiaolong was gone from his side when A-Li woke the following morning.
He found her in the kitchen helping out the people assigned to make today’s
breakfast. After greeting her a “Good Morning” accompanied with a playful
wink that once again visibly flustered her, A-Li collected his meal portion and
poured himself a cup of warm tea. He then sat down and observed as he ate how
truly happy she looked as she interacted with the inhabitants of her House.
Gone was the miserable woman who cried about her ungrateful wards. Last
night’s episode had exposed her frailties, but in its purest form, her altruistic
nature was also the source of her real strength. The woman in front of him today
who served food to the elderly with a heartfelt smile buzzed with the energy
only obtained from having a worthwhile purpose in life.
It amazed A-Li how her life had been written to contain a heart big enough
to forgive and overcome the shortsightedness of her kind, strong enough to
make the hard choices, and graceful enough to grow beautiful even though
planted in a barren place.
It was enough to make A-Li feel ashamed of how he had lived the last
27’000 years of his life, seeking pleasure and purpose, yet finding none. In
A-Li's 三生三世
comparison, she had only been around for 27 years— 27 immortal days, a short
time for him with his record of having slept for half of that after two and a half
immortal weeks of drunken revelry— but she had lived through it with more
purpose than his whole 40’000 years had ever done.
Indeed Si Ming did a great job when he wrote Xue Jiaolong’s Destiny
Ledger, A-Li thought. He should invite the Star Lord for a drink once he was
back in Jiuchongtian.
Moving his gaze from Xue Jiaolong to the older people in the mess hall, A-
Li was once again reminded of their audacity and this grated at him. They
reminded him of the Celestials his family worked hard to serve and protect and
yet they still bickered about his Father’s tiny failings, as if the Heavenly
Emperor owed them anything.
In this regard, Celestials and these mortals were very much alike. Self-
serving. Shameless. Ungrateful. For instance, all the grown-ups in the mess hall
had been fed but A-Li was yet to hear a word of thanks from any of them.
Instead, what he heard were complaints— like, how the millet was of poorer
quality than what they were used to, how come the women were getting equal
share of the meat and vegetables as men, and grumblings asking when they
were having fish again.
A hand held his shoulder. A-Li looked up and saw Xue Yuan smiling down
on him. He tried to stand up to greet the old man but the hand remained firm on
his shoulder, holding him down.
“A-Li, thank you for yesterday.”
He shook his head. “Think nothing of it, Xue Lǎoshī. How are you feeling
this morning?”
“Better.” The old man placed his teacup down beside A-Li’s tray, his eyes
on his daughter. “I don't deserve to be the father of that young woman over
there. All I’ve done is give her trouble.”
For a man who had always lamented about how unworthy he was of his
daughter, Xue Yuan had never really stopped finding ways to give his daughter
more embarrassment. Telling the truth might offend Xue Jiaolong though.
Hence, A-Li opted to offer an advice rather than a reprimand.
“You have to stop drinking, Xue Lǎoshī. You made her worry for you
yesterday.”
The old man’s chin dipped down, his chest caved in. “I can't face my wife
just yet. Will you go with her when she pays her respects to her mother later
today?”
A-Li gritted his teeth as he felt something bitter rise from his stomach. The
way the old man treated his daughter had been so downright absurd that finally,
A-Li couldn’t hold back.
The dragon in his spirit broke free and demanded to be heard. Right or
wrong, as a prince, A-Li could be blunt and was privileged to speak his mind.
Why should he be any different when it came to dealing with these mortals?
A-Li's 三生三世
“With all due respect, Xue Lǎoshī, you need to come to terms with your
daughter’s profession because unless you have a better solution, you have no
say on what she does. Instead of bemoaning your daughter’s fate, why don’t
you find work yourself?”
“A-Li!” A-Li turned his head and saw Xue Jiaolong with an unreadable
expression on her face. “If you’re done eating, it’s time to go.”
Oh, he was done— done with all the duplicity of the people in this House
who had been fortunate enough to find a kind benefactress to leech off from. A-
Li wouldn’t even put it past them to talk behind Xue Jiaolong’s back or else
why did Xue Yuan always feel guilty?
He stood up and looked around at the older people in the mess hall. “You lot
should be protecting your mistress, instead of gossiping about her or putting her
down in front of her father.” And with all the seniority his 40’000 immortal
years could muster — not that they needed to know — he finished with, “I am
so disappointed with all of you, especially those of you who stood by and did
nothing.”
A-Li held everyone’s discomfited gazes under his glower for a couple more
breaths before he turned.
Xue Jiaolong was gone.
He rushed out of the kitchen and the front door, and spotted her as she fled
toward the dirt path that lead travelers to the east exit of the town.
“Jia’er!” He called but she didn’t turn. Now what was she mad about?, he
wondered, noting her fisted hands and the savagery in her gait. “Jia’er!”
She pivoted and stalked toward him so fast that A-Li had to stop his jog.
“I didn’t need you to defend me to those people. And my Father! Who gave
you the right?”
A-Li was at a loss for words. He had never encountered a woman who didn’t
like it when he stood up for her, especially since he was in the right.
But just as suddenly, the storm she brought with her lost its wind. Her
shoulders deflated and she leaned an open palm against his chest for support.
The palm closed, and rumpled the cross-collar of his garment in her fist, which
she pounded against his chest.
“I don’t need you to save me so promise you won’t do that again. You can
go ahead and apologize now.”
The total change of pace confused A-Li. “Weren’t we about to start a fight?”
“We will, if you don’t apologize while I’m still feeling benevolent.” She
murmured, lifting her head up so they could look at each other. Her eyes meant
business, like she was counting down in her mind.
“I don’t regret speaking like that to the elders. They deserved it.”
Her eyebrows furrowed, and for a second A-Li thought she considered how
to best finish him off.
“I’ll do it again in a heartbeat if that’s what gets them to accord you the
respect you deserve.”
A-Li's 三生三世
Her hand re-fisted, gathering more fabric in its grip, thus pulling him closer.
A-Li’s hand raised to cup her nape through her unbound hair. She didn’t
resist the touch but she still hissed, “Apologize now,” through clenched teeth.
He put on his best puppy eyes, the kind that women of all immortal races
couldn’t resist. “I’m sorry if I put you in a tight spot, Jia’er.” He gathered her
hand under his and pressed it over his heart. “Truly.”
She looked from her hand to his face several times. “I don’t need a hero.”
She stressed, and finally let his clothing go. “You always need to remember
that.”
“Alright.” A-Li nodded but he also gave her a caveat of his own. “But you
also need to remember that I don’t like to be told what I can and cannot do.”
Xue Jiaolong met his direct stare with equal ferocity. It was apparent his
warning didn’t please her but she was the first one to give up with a careless
shrug after a couple of breaths.
“Alright. I respect that you are strong-willed, too. At least it’s sincere and
not just misplaced male bravado.” She slid her head out of his hand and
resumed walking. “Since neither of us will bend due to our innate natures, we
should make another promise. When called out for being wrong, we will
apologize as necessary.” She paused to turn her head so A-Li could see that she
had raised her eyebrows at him. What was she talking about? Apologizing,
right. A-Li nodded his acceptance. A satisfied smirk drew on her face and she
clucked her tongue. “Do you want to come with me to the temple or do you
need to head home?”
For the first time since he had winked at her this morning, A-Li smiled. He
lengthened his strides until he kept the same pace as hers. It astonished him how
this woman always walked fast ahead of him, and did not even turn to check if
he followed.
This behavior was a far throw from the rest of her gender who followed the
cultural custom of walking a few paces behind men.
Just then, another scary thought entered A-Li’s mind.
She was exactly his type.
***
A-Li impatiently waited under the shade of a gingko tree for Xue Jiaolong to
return. She was up the hill where the temple priests and nuns lived, and she
talked to a priest who gave her the joss sticks she now held in her hand.
He had felt it the moment they entered the temple gates — a divine energy
that was both oddly welcome and unwelcome. The temple had wards to keep
certain beings out, that was for sure, but it didn’t bother A-Li because he had
the latent ability to dispel magick with a wave of his left hand.
A-Li's 三生三世
He had been pretty young when he discovered the skill and found most
spells didn’t work against him except for those casted by High Gods. Over the
years, his skill had made for fascinating entertainment as he used it mostly for
mischief.
Right now, he wanted to listen in on their conversation as it looked intense.
The priest looked like he was threatening Xue Jiaolong, who had shrank back.
When his “mortal” ears failed to work for eavesdropping, A-Li waved his left
hand. Almost immediately, the expected sour taste crept up his tongue but what
A-Li hadn’t anticipated was the several dàn49 of intense pressure that had him
turn his back on the hill so he could catch his breath as he leaned against the
trunk of the nearest tree.
This place was hiding something, and for the next few breaths, A-Li
challenged himself to find out what. However, as he resisted against the
pressure, which caused the heels of his boots to dig deeply into the soft earth, it
pressed upon his head so hard he felt like it was going to explode. A-Li
eventually retreated and released his assault.
Relief like cold, soothing spring water washed over him afterwards as
protective magick began healing what had been internally damaged by his
offensive against this place. His immortal eyes struggled to see where the wards
were and what they looked like, but he came up empty-handed. Strange. He
hadn’t been aware such a holy place existed so close to Jiāngyuán and he made
a mental note to get somebody from the Celestial Research Authority to visit the
place.
He set himself back to rights, wiping the blood off his mouth against the
underside of his black sleeve and straightened up. Xue Jiaolong and the priest
were still talking, and for some reason, he was proud she now had a more
aggressive stance as she spoke. Then, she turned on her feet and began her
descent downhill.
So for now, he waited.
Impatiently.
From what he understood from Xue Jiaolong, this temple was not the
original Xue family temple. However, since they had moved to Luoyang, Xue
Jiaolong and Xue Yuan had paid the priests to move Xue Mei’s wooden spirit
tablet to this place so their family matriarch was always in close proximity.
The temple made for a pretty sight though. Gingko trees flanked the road
leading to the worship hall. Come autumn, the trees would show off their
yellow foliage, and the temple grounds would look like they were covered
with gold.
However, the beautiful colors of autumn would pale in comparison to the
woman in rose-dyed hemp clothing who bounded down the steps toward him.
49 (担) One unit = 100 catties or 50 kilograms
A-Li's 三生三世
“I love this temple.” She remarked, stopping a few steps above him. “It has
all of my favorite flowers and trees. See that bower above? The priest I was
talking to made it a couple of years ago so the wisteria trees around it can show
off during late spring. And look at these hydrangeas blooming by the the side of
the stairs— aren't they beautiful?”
A-Li was too distracted with the fullness of life that was shown on Xue
Jiaolong’s face to pay the slightest attention to wherever she was pointing at.
Her cheeks were flushed red and her now-braided hair had tendrils floating in
wisps framing her face. She looked young, much younger than her twenty-seven
years.
“I suppose.”
She scowled but her eyes held a naughty sparkle as she wagged a finger at
him. “You should pay more attention to things around you. Just because you've
been around long enough doesn't mean you should take these things for granted.
Look, the sky’s so clear and blue today. Did you even look up since you woke
up this morning? You should. That way you'll know whether to dress up for rain
or not.”
Having lived tens of thousands of her lifetime had merged present and past
so interchangeably that one sunrise for A-Li had become as good as the next
sunset or the millions of sunsets that have taken place before it. But to pay
notice to his surroundings had become a bigger problem whenever she was
around. How could he when in his eyes she shone brighter than a thousand
suns?
“Do you pray?” she asked as soon as she reached his side. Her lips held a
smile but her upturned eyes had a glint in them, as if she held a secret only she
knew.
“To whom?”
“The Gods.”
A-Li shook his head, trying hard not to laugh, as he found the question
completely inapplicable.
“So you don't believe in Gods?”
“I do.”
“But you don't pray to them?”
“There is no need to.”
“Huh.”
A-Li followed her through the cleansing rituals, then watched from a few
feet behind her as she lit her three joss sticks, using fire from the urn at the
entrance of the temple, before bringing them inside. Holding the incense in her
fisted hands, left over right, she bowed thrice before placing each stick upright
more or less a cun50 apart from each other in the golden incense burner using
her left hand.
50 (寸) The width of a person's thumb to the knuckle
A-Li's 三生三世
She went back to kneeling before her mother’s wooden spirit tablet and
kowtowed several times, her lips moving silently in supplication.
A-Li felt moved. He had never been to the insides of a temple nor had he
seen a mortal worshipper pray so fervently before. As the son of two high gods,
and as someone related to several more high gods, he knew how important
mortals’ prayers were in ensuring their relevance— for what good were gods
without worshippers?
However, he never paid much attention to how humbling the act must be for
mortals— again, one of those things he only took for granted because it had
been there even before he was born.
Soon, Xue Jiaolong was done, respectfully exiting the temple with her hands
cupped in front of her and walking backwards with her head slightly bowed.
“What did you just do?” He asked as soon as she turned her back on the
worship hall.
Her nose wrinkled. Even in such a holy place, A-Li suddenly had unholy
thoughts driven by how playfully attractive she looked doing that.
“I was communicating with my Mother, and asked her to guide me to always
do the right thing. I also apologized for not taking better care of Father. I
promised her on her deathbed that I would, and it has become harder and harder
to keep.”
It was an interesting ritual, this talking to dead relatives, A-li pondered.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
He fell into step beside her as they climbed down the stairs leading back to
the temple gates.
“Why do you have to do that?”
“Pray?” Xue Jiaolong looked taken aback and was deep in thought for a
moment before she simply replied, “It helps me.”
Now, A-Li was truly curious. His eyebrows also involuntarily raised as he
asked, again. “Helps you? How?”
“I don't feel as alone. Talking to Mother feels like somebody else is
listening.”
“But is she?”
“I believe so. So, yes.”
A-Li pondered for a moment. Since he had an insider’s view of the heavens,
he knew for a fact that things didn’t work that way.
“What if she doesn't hear you?”
“It doesn't matter. What matters is what happens to me here.” She pressed
her right hand over her chest. “It calms me. It makes me feel like she never left.
You’ve never really prayed to your ancestors before?”
A-Li had to chuckle at that thought. “No.”
A-Li's 三生三世
She was quiet until they crossed the temple gates and rejoined the forest path
leading to Luoyang. Once again, she walked over the grass and twigs instead of
the dirt road.
“A-Li?”
“Yes, Jia’er?”
“If I die before you do, will you pray to me?”
It was an absurd request to A-Li’s ears. The muscles on his back also
inwardly tightened, making his head swiftly draw back so he could stare at her.
“I’m not requiring you to.” She said gently, her cheeks flushed with the color
of her embarrassment. “I just think Death shall feel a little less lonely when
somebody talks to you. ”
“Will you hear me if I do?” He asked, just to accommodate her.
She bit her lower lip for a moment as they walked, mulling over her
response. “I don’t know,” she finally said, shrugging. “But you know me. I'll
find a way. I always do.”
Lian Song’s words played A-Li’s his mind yet again. A vision of her
sleeping face in the dark flashed before his eyes but this time her cheeks were
flat white, her lips tinged grayish-blue.
A-Li’s pulse raced so fast as he tried to fight the vision’s source.
Xue Jiaolong, dead.
Where did that image even come from?
A soft warm hand grasped his left wrist while another cupped the right side
of his face. “A-Li, look at me,” A-Li heard her whisper, her fingers drumming a
gentle rhythm against his cheekbone. “Are you alright?”
He still felt dizzy. His sight danced with baffling black spots, but he forced
himself to focus on Xue Jiaolong’s face. It was engraved with worry. Had he
put that there?
Then A-Li realized, she was here.
In front of him.
Present.
Worried.
She cared.
Once again, she came to him.
A-Li cupped her face in his hands. Driven by the sudden fear and
desperation that clutched at his chest, he leaned in to capture her lips as if they
were his honeyed salvation. She offered no resistance, allowing him to drink his
fill at first before her own hunger overtook her and A-Li was the one left almost
gasping for air.
For the first time in his immortal life, A-Li felt totally out-of-depth.
Impossible. He had kissed hundreds—no, thousands— of women. He had them
in every physically possible way. There had been too many so that after some
time, body parts became just that… body parts. He had become desensitized.
Thus, during the past couple of thousand years, A-Li had simply gone through
A-Li's 三生三世
the motions of coupling and tried to find spiritual fulfillment from the act
instead. A hedonist who practiced his Taoism in the bedroom? Thankfully, his
reputation had preceded him so that talking about it did more harm than good
for his tattletale lovers.
But this kiss… This woman… When his Primordial ancestors had created
mortals, they must have used someone like Xue Jiaolong to model the
quintessential mortal woman from.
Because she embodied every key trait.
Terrifying.
Beautiful.
Flawed.
Perfect.
As if she were a spread to rival any feast hosted in the Thirty-Six Heavens,
A-Li’s mouth hungrily moved to kiss her cheeks, her jaw line, then way up to
nip and nibble at her tiny left ear. She made small sounds from the back of her
throat, spurring him on as he licked the sweat that had trickled and dried down
the graceful line of her throat.
He drowned in her skin’s natural fragrance. It had taken a while since her
scent had previously always been disguised with powders and oils but now A-Li
finally knew what she truly smelled like— like freshly-bloomed water lilies,
similar to the ones which grew unattended alongside lotuses in the Ninth Sky’s
Jade Pool from Xiwu Palace all the way to Zhu Xian Terrace.
His hands finally got to fulfill what they had wanted to do all night last night.
They went over her face, her neck, pulled at her hair, skimmed all over the
delicate stretch of her spine and her back, memorizing its lines and curves, until
with a growl of discontent he moved his hands up front to cup and palm the
softness of her generous breasts. He groaned when he confirmed they were as
he had imagined them to be for the past two years, perfectly-fit to be cupped by
his hands, her nipples hard as small pearls under his fingers.
Xue Jiaolong was just as shameless. In between throaty sighs and whispers
of his name, her hands roamed over his forearms, his biceps, then her palms and
fingernails scored all over up and down his back. A-Li wasn’t even conscious
that she had been pushing him all along until his spine met the rough resistance
of a tree trunk making his eyes fly open to look at her face. With a mischievous
flash in her eyes, she cupped and placed delicious pressure on his buttocks,
effectively pulling his lower body towards her so his hardness pressed against
her softness. In the worst act of torture possible, she rubbed against him as she
moved to reclaim his lips.
Twenty-nine mortal months all culminated to this. He hadn’t even sunk into
her wet heat yet and A-Li already felt like dust flying and flames dying.
I’ll have her. Now. As they kissed, A-Li’s eyes tried to look for where he
could finally claim her. On the ground? Against that tree trunk? What about that
tree stump? He could sit and she could ride…
A-Li's 三生三世
“It’s raining.”
A-Li’s muddled thoughts didn’t register her words as effectively as the loss
of her mouth on his did.
“What?”
She was looking up to the sky and so A-Li followed suit.
His face met with the harsh onslaught of a torrid downpour, as if somebody
poured a giant pail of water over their part of the earth.
There was only one being who could distract a Rain Goddess enough to
cause something like this happen.
“Gun Gun…” A-Li said through gritted teeth as he and Xue Jiaolong ran
hand-in-hand to look for shelter. His body’s throbbing ache died as blood
flowed elsewhere from exertion. In truth, he wanted to cry. Or, kill a white-
haired interloper and an Old Dragon who happened to be the Water God of the
Four Seas.
The second option was more preferable and would give him a higher degree
of satisfaction for completion.
“Bai Gun Gun?” Xue Jiaolong asked. “What does he have to do with this?”
Everything. Probably at his granduncle’s orders too.
A-Li offered Xue Jiaolong a soft smile. “I just remembered my pesky
relatives. They must be sitting warm around a fire right about now.”
“A fire will be nice.” She sighed dreamily as she ran apace with him. “It’s
strange how suddenly cold the temperature has dropped.”
A-Li nodded although he bit his tongue.
Because as only he knew, it was not strange enough.
Chapter 10
In My Way
He had been too careless today.

For hundreds of millennia, the world continued to exist oblivious of The
Observer’s presence because he never interfered.
But today, he did.
He exerted influence.
All because of her.
She visited the temple five times a year; at every change of the season and
on her mother’s death anniversary. The Observer looked forward to each visit,
and made sure all the trees and seasonal flowers she liked showed off their best
greens and blooms. Her visits were one of the scarce times he could be with her
and be able to look at her for as long as he liked. Breathing the same air as her
— sharing tea and talk — refreshed The Observer’s lonesome existence.
Because she always wanted to stay longer, he knew she felt their connection,
too.
But today, she brought an unexpected visitor with her.
An outlier.
A-Li's 三生三世
So he had told her who her companion really was: a Prince of the Immortal
Realms.
She was an intelligent woman whose craving for stability unnaturally
spurred her bursts of impulsive behavior. How she found the High Immortal,
The Observer would never know, but today he had appealed to her common
sense. She already lived a good life in Luoyang and her father was safe from
those who were after his head. So, what was she doing associating herself with
an immortal?
He had posed the question expecting her to flee from her companion as a
result. He thought revealing the immortal’s identity was a well-calculated risk.
After all, mortals were taught early on to be wary of immortals. Immortals’
boredom often drove them to do things that were up to no good for mere
mortals. There were countless tales of flooding, famine, pestilence, and yes,
even heartbreak, to fill ledgers and ledgers of legends. The Observer was
confident that she would know better.
Or he should have.
Because things took a turn for worse.
As somebody who had lived longer than anyone could aspire to walk either
the mortal or immortal realms, The Observer had taken extreme care in order to
hide himself from the new gods who now roamed and ruled this world.
However, today, his hand had been revealed and he knew the event sent a
beacon up to Jiuchongtian.
All because of that boy.
Fuxi’s grandson.
Heavenly Emperor Ye Hua’s eldest son.
The Future Crown Prince of the Four Seas and Eight Deserts, Li.
No immortal had ever come this close in proximity to him without his
permission. He had been equal-parts shocked and furious when the upstart
effortlessly sliced through the talismans and seals he had painstakingly put in
place to hide this location from Heaven and Mortals, except to the Xues. As his
seals were decimated by the boy’s mere will, he saw with the same eyes that
had seen the dawn of this world’s creation, the sheer amount of power and
potential that lay dormant and hidden within Li’s spirit. It was preposterous how
his power had almost been trumped so easily.
Before his illusion had completely broken revealing him to Li, he had pulled
deep from Hùndùn51 to conceal his location, all while still talking to her. The
double duty was such a huge strain and had taxed him so immensely that he had
hastily let her go so he could continue with the repair. He worked fast; but in his
current encumbered state, he knew he could not escape discovery for much
51 (混沌) Primordial Chaos. Entropy. The sum of all orders. The world of plenitude where
everything is shifting and extant. Magick thus draws power from Chaos because it rearranges the
natural order in a physical realm. (Adapted and crafted by Author for this FF. Mistakes on script
translation or original definition are mine.)
A-Li's 三生三世
longer. Pulling past the Liánzi52 to Hùndùn always had consequences and he
knew somebody from Jiuchongtian would have noticed the brief imbalance in
this world’s yin and yang flow by now.
By the time he had fully-restored the seals to hide the temple from the
former Tiānjūn’s roving eyes and caught up with the pair, the two were already
locked in a deeply passionate lover’s embrace.
The Observer had never seen her look at him the way she looked at Li.
And it broke his immortal heart.
52 (帘子) The curtain/veil/mass that stands between the Physical Realms (or, the state of order
formed from the infinite set of possibilities that lie within Chaos/Entropy) and Chaos. The physical
realms are immutable, so “piercing/tugging at the curtain/veil” —such as when employing magick —
is prone to backbite unless the yin is balanced by an equally capable yang.(Adapted and crafted by
Author for this FF. Mistakes on script translation or original definition are mine.)
Chapter 11
Nine Dragons
The deluge had turned into a full-blown storm.

After dropping Xue Jiaolong off at the Jìyuàn and ensuring the Madam
treated her well despite her no-show at yesterday’s performance for Wu Huīxià,
A-Li returned to the Luoyang House and found Lian Song and Cheng Yu as
they warmed themselves by a fire.
“Oh, why are you wet?” Cheng Yu asked innocently. “You should use
magick to dry yourself off.”
Cheng Yu’s question took the wind out of his sails as A-Li realized that in
his anger, he had completely forgotten that he could actually do something
about his sopping wet clothes.
But first things first. “Where’s Gun Gun?”
Lian Song peered up and through the open window. “It looks like he’s busy,
judging from the amount of rain we’ve been having.”
A-Li took a deep breath and tried to rein in his temper, as well as the sharp
words he wanted to throw at his meddling relatives. They didn’t even have the
grace to pretend to be sorry for their actions. In fact, Lian Song looked like he
just ate something sweet and was about to die from the sugar rush.
A-Li's 三生三世
When he was sure he could finally control his voice and tone, A-Li asked,
“What were you doing at Biayun Mountain, Shūshu?”
Lian Song’s right brow raised as he crossed his arms. With a disgusted snort,
he scoffed, “Aside from almost running into my grandnephew while he was
mauling a mortal by the side of a mountain path, you mean?”
A-Li caught the sarcasm but still felt the need to clarify himself. “I wasn’t…
We weren’t… I…I wasn’t mauling…”
Cheng Yu put her hands on the tops of her husband’s shoulders to soothe
him. To A-Li, she explained, “We were there to investigate a divine pressure
that had been traced somewhere on the side of that mountain. Tiānjūn sent me a
messenger this morning because for some reason, he couldn’t cloud jump to the
site. He asked me to go on foot instead.”
“Imagine our surprise when…” Lian Song trailed off, ending with a
malicious snicker.
Cheng Yu’s hands flapped in front of her. “Don’t mind him. I think he’s just
upset that he already struck off his bet. Then he ordered Gun Gun to make it
rain. Even I think it was too much.”
Lian Song call off a bet? Even the suggestion to do so was atrocious!
A-Li smirked. “Don’t tell me you are getting old, Shūshu.”
“I only started the bet with you because I was so sure you wouldn’t get
Wang… Xue Jiaolong.”
“But now you realize you’re wrong,” he stressed then gave in to the booming
laughter that exploded from his chest.
Lian Song fanned himself and harrumphed.
“What were the two of you doing there anyway?” Cheng Yu asked, moving
the topic forward.
A-Li magicked his wet clothes dry. “Jia’er went to pay a visit to her
mother’s spirit tablet.”
“I didn’t know there was a temple in Biayun Mountain.”
“There is. I was just there. It looked like it had been there for quite some
time.” Thinking about his great-grandfather’s problem, he added, “You should
go visit. There was something odd about the place. I couldn’t eavesdrop.”
“Why would you need to eavesdrop, in the first place?” Lian Song inquired.
A-Li thought back to that morning and realized he didn’t know why either.
He always afforded beings their privacy, and if the years were any indication,
Xue Jiaolong most of all. Yet, today…
It had to be the priest she was talking to. A-Li remembered the man to be
ordinary-looking and yet now he couldn’t even picture what the Taoist priest
had looked like. Was it the priest’s eyes? He had been far from where they
stood but the priest had looked at him with the sharp gaze of a predatory bird.
He had felt the priest’s gaze point like tiny pinpricks on his skin.
“I don’t know,” he finally said, shrugging off the paranoia. Also, there was
no need to further alarm the couple by informing them that he had tried to dispel
A-Li's 三生三世
the seals in the place. Lian Song always got worried whenever his abilities
surfaced, and so far, his dispel ability was something he had been able to keep
from his granduncle over the years because it was the easiest to conceal. As
such, he had no plans telling his granduncle about it now. “Something felt off. I
was thinking of asking the Celestial Research Authority to investigate but like
Cheng Yu said, it looks like Zēngzǔ Fù⁠ is already on the case.”
“I get a couple of weeks off with my wife and the old fart thinks of new
ways to disturb us,” Lian Song looked up from where he was seated to his wife
and said with despair, “You married the wrong Celestial, my love.”
It was not the first time Lian Song expressed his jealousy over Cheng Yu’s
devotion to the former Tiānjūn, and like the other times, she only responded
with a shudder and a grimace.
Lian Song’s hand slammed on the table. “That’s it. I’m taking you away
from Luoyang for a couple of hours. Let’s go to Sang Ji’s Palace. It’s been a
long while since we paid a visit.” He stood up and motioned for his wife to
come closer. “Hurry before my father catches on to us.”
“But I still have to go—“ Cheng Yu started but caught the dark look Lian
Song flashed her way. “Alright, but just for a couple of hours.”
A-Li watched the two disappear hand-in-hand in a cloud of white smoke.
Only then did he remember he was supposed to lecture them for interrupting
him and Xue Jiaolong earlier.
A-Li sighed and sat down. So, that was it then. Chances were Gun Gun
wouldn’t be back until much later too— a couple of immortal hours should be a
mortal month or so at least.
Which meant A-Li was alone. Again.
This time thinking of ways on how to pick up where he and Xue Jiaolong
had left off.
***
Three books, two pots of tea and one cold swim in the river under the
torrential rain later, A-Li decided he had been away from Xue Jiaolong long
enough. It had stopped raining but the clouds were still out, making it hard to
identify from the moon whether it was the hour of the dog53 or the hour of the
pig54. He wondered if she was working. Who was she dancing or singing for?
Was she turning Yì into a game of seduction with a government official or
royal?
As a courtesan, her time went to the highest payer. A-Li summoned his
money satchel. Whatever they paid for her time, he could pay it better.
53 Between 7pm-9pm
54 Between 9pm-11pm
A-Li's 三生三世
But as he dug through the satchel, his fingers encountered the odd shape of
her comb. A-Li had taken it from her last night and she apparently hadn’t
looked for it at all today.
He took out the bejeweled accessory, letting the light play tricks against five
different colors of jade wrapped in cloisonné enameling set as the decoration on
the golden comb. A-Li knew women enough to know they didn’t just forget
about combs of this quality, which meant she didn’t want it.
She didn’t want it because she didn’t want to feel like he was paying for her
time.
If their almost-fight this morning was any indication, Xue Jiaolong wanted
him to treat her like an equal, not as some woman who needed to be rescued.
Because he was different from the rest.
When did I get to be so wise? A-Li bit his lower lip to prevent a grin from
forming as he tossed her comb between his hands. His chest puffed up and
warmth radiated all over his body again, making him feel good all over.
In fact, he had been feeling good throughout lately.
It had taken a cataclysmic event for Xue Jiaolong to thaw but pragmatic A-
Li always took a win whenever it became available without quibbling on
details. His patience had never been so tested but he had also discovered a
certain type of happiness whenever he got a response from her.
It was thrilling.
Addictive.
It was one of the reasons why the twenty-nine mortal months felt so short
even though thinking about the day-by-day felt so long.
Also, her kisses were headier than any wine that had ever come out of Zhe
Yan’s cellar.
How could one smile, one word, one kiss from her cause warmth to spread
from his chest outwards?
He had to see her again.
Now.
A-Li cloud jumped close to the Jìyuàn servant entrance and was later
escorted by a maid to the Madam who was directing several girls as they ran to
and fro.
“Dong Nǚshì, good evening,” he greeted as he approached. “Is Wang Ling
free and can I see her?”
The Madam hastily rushed to his side.
Over the past two years, A-Li had established a good relationship with
Madam Dong who had warmed up to him early on when she was assured A-Li
had no plans to keep her star Jìnǚ. She was also very fond of Lian Song and
Cheng Yu, and tried her best to accommodate the couple’s orders to the front of
the line even with their penchant for spontaneous requests.
“Li Géxià, I’m afraid Wang Ling is not available tonight.”
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The smile on A-Li’s face froze as his mind ran through a-thousand-and-one
scenarios.
“She was supposed to dance and dine with the Emperor but along the way,
she fell ill. She’s indisposed, so to speak.”
The Emperor? The Emperor was known to be a lustful man, who had a
thousand women in his harem because whom he liked, he kept.
Madam Dong ran on the almost conservative side for her Wang Ling. She
personally encouraged Wang Ling to keep suitors at bay and leave them
hanging around enough only to make a profit. It was thus strange to hear that
the madam allowed her star dancer to perform in front of the Emperor because a
performance could easily mean a foot in the harem door— for who in their right
mind could resist Wang Ling?
A-Li had questions but he needed to prioritize which ones to ask. His most
urgent one was, “Where is she?”
“In her quarters. She’s burning with fever.” The Madam pushed him to the
direction of Wang Ling’s house in the courtyard. “Go. I have to go speak to the
Emperor’s envoy.”
The servant girls gave A-Li space when he entered Xue Jiaolong’s house
inside the Jìyuàn complex. It was a fairly-sized room. The low table on the
elevated platform to his left was filled with jiǎndu, as well as piles of other
scrolls on the floor around it. Spread on the low table on the elevated platform
to his right was a sheet of Xuan paper about five-chi long and 3-chi wide, while
all around the table were rolled papers, various pots of ink, and brushes. Finally,
at the corner middle, was Xue Jiaolong’s bed.
A-Li was struck with the simplicity of her quarters. The entire room was of
brown wood and white sheets, devoid of any fripperies. If she took on lovers in
the past, A-Li could tell she didn’t do so in this place.
As the medicine man attended to Xue Jiaolong with poultices and potions,
A-Li moved to look at the contents of the table to the right. His eyes widened at
the beautiful shuǐmò huà 55spread right before his eyes.
“Ge Peng,” he signaled for Xue Jiaolong’s personal maidservant to come
closer. While her loyalty to Xue Jiaolong was paramount, Ge Peng also looked
up fondly to A-Li and often shared whatever information she could afford to, as
long as it didn’t get her into trouble with her mistress “Where are the rest of the
panels of this set?”
“Li Géxià, how did you know this was part of a set?” Ge Peng asked even as
she alertly moved to collect paper rolls on the elevated platform’s floor left of
the table.
“Because I’ve seen this before.”
“That’s strange.” Ge Peng mumbled. “Wang Ling said she saw this in a
dream. She finished the last panel just a couple of days ago, too. She calls this
55 (水墨画) Ink and wash painting, an Eastern type of brush painting that uses calligraphy ink in
various concentrations.
A-Li's 三生三世
set, Islands in the Sky. How amazing is it if this place were actually real, don't
you think so?”
A-Li helped Ge Peng unfurl each roll on the floor, six in total including the
recently finished one, pinning the corners together with makeshift paperweights.
When the task was finished, A-Li stood on the elevated platform to see the
painting in entirety.
It was Kunlun Mountain, but as one would see it from a cloud if approaching
from north of the Sanctuary. The placement of the trees were not the same as
they looked like now, but the mountain’s peaks and crevasses— the way parts
of the mountain range disappeared behind fog at break of dawn during early
summers— they eerily looked the same. The Sanctuary, which hadn’t changed
since the Primordial Gods first built it, was captured in entirety— from the
shape of the roof, the count of the posts supporting the visible front of the
worshipper’s hall, even to the waterfalls that flowed into pools in front of the
temple.
But most stunning of all was the detail on the sky above Kunlun. For amidst
the fog, A-Li counted intricately-rendered bodies and heads of one, two, three…
seven, eight, nine dragons frolicking without a care. When he moved to stand by
the third panel to the left, it looked like one of the dragons was flying towards
him, happiness painted on its draconian face.
Cultivation allowed Celestial Dragons to take on a human form at an early
age, and in some cases, like A-Li, even be born in human form. To his
knowledge, there hadn’t been any uncultivated dragon, or dragons, for that
matter, in hundreds of millennia.
If any, the fact that she dreamt of dragons just confirmed that it was all
indeed just a dream. Granted the view she painted of Kunlun was that of
something only immortals could see, it did seem that the Duke of Zhou56 had
given Xue Jiaolong a rather vivid dream.
“Li Géxià?”
Ge Peng’s voice broke through A-Li’s trance.
“The Medicine Man is finished with Wang Ling. Would you like to look at
her now?”
A-Li looked at the supine form on the bed and nodded. With a last
instruction to return the panels to the way they were, he crossed over to where
Xue Jiaolong lay sleeping. He sat by her side, picked up the towel from the
water basin, squeezed it and used the cloth to wipe the beads of sweat that have
formed on her forehead.
“Li Géxià?”
“Yes, Ge Peng?”
“Do you know if Wang Ling is planning to leave Luoyang anytime soon?”
He turned his head to the maidservant. “Why would you ask that?”
56 The God of Dreams
A-Li's 三生三世
Ge Peng looked at her sleeping mistress with apprehension before stepping

closer.
“I overheard her and the Madam arguing about dancing for the Emperor
tonight.”
“I know. Dong Nǚshì made her go.”
Ge Peng furiously shook her head. “On the contrary, the Madam didn’t want
her to go. Wang Ling insisted on going. She went for the money, Li Géxià.”
A-Li frowned, and his eyes flew back to Xue Jiaolong’s pale face.
She risked her freedom for money?
“Li Géxià, I heard she’s going to buy herself out.”
Chapter 12
An Invisible String
A-Li felt he had been in the mortal realm for so long that he had forgotten so
many things. Like, coming home wet and bedraggled earlier that morning when
he could have conveniently dried himself up before coming in. Or, attending to
a sick Xue Jiaolong and forgetting for a couple of mortal hours that he had the
ability to cure her at will.
A-Li had nursed her for four fragrance changes on the incense clock when he
finally remembered the latter. He was alone as Ge Peng had gone back to her
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quarters. He had told the girl to go get some rest two fragrance changes ago, and
the tired maidservant had been happy to oblige.
The compound was quiet. All the drunken guests in the main hall had gone.
He summoned an incantation he had learned from Zhe Yan when he was 900
years old, and directed the beam of silver light from his fingers to her body. It
was minor magick— child’s play, really— which was why he learned it at a
young age and it was meant to lower her temperature to make her feel better.
Since she was a mortal, the effects were instantaneous. Her flush lowered
and her fever broke within the next few breaths.
You drove yourself hard today. He hoped to tell her but instead played the
one-sided conversation in his head as he ran a knuckle along her delicate
jawline. “I wish I knew what you were thinking. I thought after this afternoon,
you and I already have an understanding. So why would you risk to dance
before the Emperor? Why would you buy yourself out? Why are you planning to
run away from Luoyang? Don’t you want to be with me anymore?”
It shouldn’t matter if she ran away from Luoyang or from him. But it did. He
should be the one leaving her, and not the other way around. And as
comprehension of that simple truth sank in, A-Li stood up feeling confused and
dumbfounded.
There were many things that could be and couldn’t be.
Xue Jiaolong was definitely one of those details that couldn’t be.
One Royal of his line to fall for a mortal was one too many. He couldn’t
repeat his Father’s mistake.
A-Li suddenly found it hard to breathe.
Without looking back, he disappeared in a cloud of white smoke and
returned to Luoyang House.
***
A-Li needed sufficient distraction and nothing worked better than reading
through reports that were forwarded by his Father every couple of mortal weeks
to keep him abreast of Realms business. The next delivery of jiǎndú’s weren't
due until two mortal weeks from now but A-Li still had a lot to read through
and now had extra motivation to finish. A-Li was about to open his next jiǎndú
when the House’s head steward approached him and bowed.
“Diànxià, Wang Xiaojie is in the courtyard, looking for you.”
A-Li’s heart raced at the mere mention of her name, followed by a crunch of
worry. She had just gotten out of her sickbed and was already walking about?
He was about to get up on his feet when he caught himself.
No.
A-Li's 三生三世
A little distance between them should do him some good. For the past
twenty-nine mortal months, he had let Xue Jiaolong’s presence control his life,
dictate his moods, and plan his days. His life had revolved around her so much
that there were days he was no longer sure of who he was outside of her opinion
of him. It had to be the reason why he had been tied up in knots over her lately.
“Tell her I’ve left the city.”
The servant looked surprised at his order.
“And tell the other servants I should not be disturbed for the rest of the day.”
He unfurled another jiǎndú, this one a collection of reports of a deadly snake
wreaking havoc near Nanyang, to further impress how important his current
work was.
The steward bowed and left the room.
A-Li pushed the jiǎndú off the table as soon as the servant disappeared. He
shouldn’t even be staying in the mortal realm anymore. There was nothing left
to prove. There was no more bet to be won. Even his companions found it so
easy to leave him alone when before they usually clung to him like barnacles.
Yet, he was still here, tied by an invisible string, and unable to leave.
But to what end?
A-Li snatched another jiǎndú from the floor and resumed reading.
Realm business was needlessly boring, especially since his Father’s reign
had been marked by a prolonged time of peace. There was a certain notoriety
attached to the Celestial Twins who both came back from the dead. With one
who married a Fox Queen and the other the Demon Ancestor, on the surface,
the clans’ differences had either been subdued or aired out diplomatically. There
were voices of dissent A-Li’s father inherited from the former Tiānjūn’s reign
but they were harmless and scattered, as far as anyone could tell.
Still, it bothered A-Li because these dissidents made it their business to
worry about his business.
The report he held talked about rumors surrounding his absence from the
Peach Festival. It accompanied a paper scroll which was part of a set that had
been passed around the Realms about the Three Princes who spent too much
time in the mortal realm playing with prostitutes instead of helping the Royal
Family solidify alliances and quash dissents.
A-Li frowned at that information. There was no way other immortals could
have followed them around in Luoyang. Millennia of practice made the ability
to ensure they were not followed almost second-nature to A-Li, Lian Song and
Gun Gun. This only meant one thing: somebody from the help staff had been
talking.
A-Li pulled the bell cord, which summoned the head steward in front of him
within the next few breaths. The immortal was part of the original senior staff at
Lian Song’s Wuji Palace and thus could be trusted. The others, however…
“Diànxià—“ The immortal greeted with a wide smile. “It’s fortunate you’ve
summoned me. I—“
A-Li's 三生三世
A-Li raised his hand. “Lui Shimin, I want you to replace all the servants in
the Luoyang House. Effective immediately.”
The steward’s eyes widened but he bowed to accept the decree.
“Diànxià, since it pleases you, I’ll send for a new batch of servants from
Wuji Palace immediately. However, as this is a sudden order, Luoyang House
will be empty in the meantime because I have to supervise the selection.”
“I don’t mind. Just return before Lian Song Shenjun does.”
It was a tall order but Lui Shimin knew better than to complain. The steward
bowed again before heading out to do as told.
A-Li spent several more incense fragrance changes going through the last of
the scrolls before he stretched in his seat and looked out the window. The moon
was now only a faint outline in the sky but the darkness revealed a more
beautiful source of light. Yínhé57, shining over the river’s inky blackness, was a
colorful landscape of yellow, purple and red cosmic clouds framed by a
generous smattering of twinkling, silvery stars.
A-Li thought back to the time when Cheng Yu had first taken him out to the
edges of Jiuchongtian’s 33rd Heaven to see the Yínhé. From their spot, it did
look like a river made of slowly flowing silver, which invited for a swim. She
had pointed out each of the major stars and told him their stories while they
cracked and peeled walnuts.
It was a happy memory because it was the first and last time A-Li had called
the scandalized Cheng Yu as Mother. To be fair to his 500-year-old self, he had
been going through a lot at the time. His parents’ wedding took 223 years of
planning and they hardly had time for him so aside from his cousin Bai Feng
Jiu, he stayed out with Cheng Yu the most. Even in the years since then, Cheng
Yu had acted as his mother in ways Heavenly Empress Bai Qian failed to do,
making her a part of A-Li’s family even if she hadn’t ended up remarrying Lian
Song.
Fireworks went off in the distance in starbursts of red, green, yellow and
blue. A festival? A-Li looked at the skies, mentally-charting the stars until he
inferred that the mortals must be celebrating the Qixi Festival.
The Qixi Festival was said to be the most romantic day of the lunar year,
when mortals commemorated the annual meeting over a bridge of magpies of
Niulang the cowherd and Zhinü the weaver girl— two star-crossed lovers who
were banished to be on the opposite sides of the Yínhé for all eternity.
While there was no truth that the Jade Emperor and Jade Empress ever had a
granddaughter named Zhinü who fell in love with a mortal named Niulang, the
legend still served as a precautionary tale for Celestials on the dangers of
forbidden love. In the story, not even the auspicious blessing of having a long
feng bao spared the fictional lovers from the wrath of Heaven for subverting
Celestial traditions.
57 (銀河) Milky Way, one of the most famous and visible constellations in the night sky.
A-Li's 三生三世
A-Li should know. He was the product of such a union. If A-Li hadn’t been
born into the Royal Family, there was no question that a decidedly grim fate
might have befallen upon him instead. Although, the definition of grim
remained to be seen as being pushed forward as future Crown Prince didn't
exactly guarantee a peaceful future, A-Li thought broodingly. He had no desire
to lead the most ungrateful, laziest and spoiled generation of Celestials that had
ever existed. If he ever did it, he would do it for his family, and not for the
groups who always questioned his legitimacy to accede to the position or worse,
even questioned his right to belong.
Legends aside, A-Li remembered Qixi was also Xue Jiaolong’s most-hated
festival because it was the same day her mother died.
How is she? Is she sad?
It was frustrating that it didn’t even take a day and his thoughts had re-
diverted to her once again.
A-Li quickly got up to his feet and rushed outside. He almost ran into a
potted plant that was placed in the middle of the floor right outside his door.
It was the Jūnzǐ Zhùfú, the orchid he had given Xue Jiaolong several months
ago. The dried chénxiāng branch that the orchid’s roots were attached to had
been propped to stand inside a clay pot by using broken pieces of charcoal. This
gave the flowering stalk enough height to show off its nine fragrant blooms.
Tucked underneath the pot was a folded page of paper. A-Li pulled it out and
read the same poem she had sent him several weeks ago, but this time, it bore
additional lines.
But come to me in the summer

Bless me with your smile
Let me watch you unfurl
Over my faded glory
Framed against the clear blue sky
Let me breathe you in, A-Li
Can time go slowly by?
Before you leave me in the winter
So let’s make it worth our while
A-Li expelled the breath he was holding with a huff.

He may be bad at poetry but this was clearly an invitation from her.
Finally.
He won.
A-Li couldn’t believe his eyes. He had won. But looking around the house,
with only firelight to occupy its empty spaces, where was the bet to win? Where
were his companions to cheer him on?
A-Li knelt down on one knee and cupped one of the fragile blooms.
A-Li's 三生三世
Twenty-nine mortal months. It took him twenty-nine mortal months to court

a mortal, a courtesan. It was laughable now that he thought about it. He
could’ve been betrothed to a highborn immortal in a shorter time.
It was time to go.
And yet that invisible thread tugged, Not yet.
It was time to go.
Not yet.
No.
It was time to go.
But instead of jumping heavenward, A-Li jumped across town.
Chapter 13
The Day I Went Away
A-Li waited at the servants’ gate for Ge Peng to arrive after he had asked the
guard to surreptitiously summon her around. The girl presented herself a short
moment later and was very apologetic for coming late.
“Wang Ling had just returned from the Emperor’s Summer Palace. She
hasn’t called for a bath yet so I believe she’s still awake.”
Something clutched at A-Li’s heart at the knowledge that Xue Jiaolong had
still gone ahead to dance for the Emperor.
It didn’t make sense. Why had she done it even after she wrote him that
poem?
A bitter taste crept up to A-Li’s mouth. After all, this was the same educated
woman of genteel birth who, when pushed into a corner by circumstances,
A-Li's 三生三世
chose to jump and end up as a courtesan. Her choice might have been
controversial, but she had the fortitude to live with it, no matter the stigma.
Soon, they stood in front of her door, and Ge Peng knocked. A-Li held up his
hand and motioned for Ge Peng to refrain from announcing his name.
“Come in,” came Xue Jiaolong’s voice from inside.
A-Li dismissed Ge Peng who bowed before scurrying away. He pushed the
door open and closed it behind him before he walked past the sandalwood
divider.
Xue Jiaolong sat in front of her writing desk to A-Li’s right, a medium-sized
calligraphy brush vertically held by three fingers of her right hand as it speedily
swished ink onto the paper. She looked so immersed in her work that he
doubted she even knew nor cared who came inside. This gave A-Li the
opportunity to soak in her presence uninterruptedly and leisurely.
She changed brushes and alternated with ink and water so fast it felt like her
hands were doing magick. The bells of the coronet on her head hardly tinkled,
which showed just how much control she had over her body as she partly-
moved her torso and freely-maneuvered her right arm and wrist. The brush
moved in the same graceful way its Master danced in front of her audience of
men, each movement done on impulse, from start to finish, down to each pause
and thrust. There was rarely any hesitation as she began each sequence. Her
own eyesight seemed to be optional in light of her confidence on where to speed
up and slow down.
Tonight, she wore a lavish imperial red hanfu58 that could only have come
from the Emperor himself. A-Li was torn between desire as he admired how the
color brought out the creamy luminescence of her skin and outrage at the
Emperor’s suggestive color choice. Red was a color reserved for brides and Xue
Jiaolong should have known better than anyone that she was playing a very
dangerous game.
However, all that anger dissolved the moment she looked up from what she
was doing and saw him standing there. The appearance of a happy smile broke
through her lips followed by a shaky laughter. Her eyes shone as they looked at
him. Her left hand lifted and beckoned for him to come.
Only a select few could motion for the future Crown Prince of the Four Seas
and Eight Deserts to come— mostly those with higher titles than A-Li— but
tonight he discovered the other end of that invisible string, and it seemed she
held it in the crook of her fingers. His feet moved on their own accord, an
increasingly frustrating habit they had developed in the twenty-nine mortal
months that he had known her, and A-Li crossed the space between them in five
strides.
“I thought you left the city.”
58 Traditional dress composed of several articles of clothing from Shang to Ming dynasties. It is
easily recognizable because the dress’ collar forms a y-shape at the front.
A-Li's 三生三世
A-Li looked down on his fingers where her left hand wrapped around his.
She tugged. A-Li understood her silent message and crawled up next to her on
the elevated platform.
I heard you went to the Emperor’s Palace, he wanted to ask but the words
that came out of his mouth were, “What are you doing, Jia’er?”
She let go of his hand and turned her eyes back on her paper. “This? I dreamt
about her last night.”
It was a dragon alright, and a ferocious-looking one. This one looked like
one of the dragons in the Islands in the Sky panel he had seen the other night.
“The dragon… is female?”
She nodded, holding the paper up in front of A-Li’s nose.
“Her name’s Jiaolong. I’ve dreamt about her since I was nine.”
A-Li cocked his head to the side. His thoughts scrambled to understand. He
had never heard of a dragon deity with the same name but there was the
Celestial Library where he could check to confirm.
However, the task turned out like a fuzzy afterthought for A-Li because it
didn’t help that her fragrance— lily combined with the scent of jasmine and
orange blossoms— wafted toward him and utterly distracted him whenever she
moved.
Right, the name. He swallowed then cleared his throat. “Jiaolong?”
“She’s a venerated minor water-god where I came from. My mother dreamt
of her a lot when she was pregnant with me, which was how I got my name. It
was also why I drew her tonight— for Mother.” She put the paper down to dry
on the floor beside her hip and retrieved a fresh one which she spread out on the
table and anchored with paperweights. “I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s your
family name?”
“I…” A-Li felt his stomach tighten but he gave Xue Jiaolong a fixed stare. “I
don’t need one.”
Even as he said it, A-Li prepared himself for the next series of questions
about his origins.
Instead, her gaze slid down and she turned to the container, which held water
and several brushes.
“I suspected as much. You must be of a very high rank where you came
from. Are you a royal? On several occasions, I’ve overheard some of the
servants at the Luoyang House talk about you and Bai Gun Gun, and they
referred to the two of you as diànxià. I’ve also heard a story from Lian Song
that he has two palaces? Granted, he was inebriated that time but still—”
Xue Jiaolong selected a small brush, pulled a triple-folded paper from her
side, and used it to gently press off the excess water from the animal hairs. A-li
noted her right fingers were stained by ink, and felt oddly attracted to how the
fat smudges looked like against her graceful, fair tapers.
“Yes,” he replied softly, and upheld his promise to never lie to her. “But
don’t tell anyone.”
A-Li's 三生三世
Her head turned to look at him. Her expression was far different from all the
women he’d been with when they learned of his identity. There was neither the
opportunistic flash of teeth nor the gleam of greed in her eyes. Instead, the slight
quiver in her lips that she tried to hide by biting down followed by a very quiet
sigh concerned A-Li more.
She was… sad? Disappointed?
She returned her eyes on the blank piece of paper before her, left hand
running to and fro as it ironed nonexistent creases under the heat of her palm.
They sat together in silence for a couple of breaths, while A-Li waited for her to
move.
It was certainly the first time that A-li felt his princely status was a
disadvantage to women.
Again, only to this woman.
Finally, Xue Jiaolong snapped back from her thoughts and turned to him
with a brighter smile.
“Do you want to see the characters to my name?”
It was an odd segue but at least she talked again. He nodded and so she put
her brush down and began the first stroke.
***
A-Li had always wanted to see Xue Jiaolong write ever since she had sent
him that first poem after he gave her the Jūnzǐ Zhùfú.
When she painted her dragon earlier, it showed she had the form of a master
calligrapher but, as she wrote the characters to her name, it showed the depth of
her artistry.
As the son of Ye Hua, he should know. A-Li had watched his Father for a
long, long time.
Xue Jiaolong wielded her small brush with needlepoint precision and the
naked elegance of fire. She gracefully squeezed in the many strokes required for
characters the size a quarter of A-Li’s thumb.
As they were on the topic of names, A-Li’s odd name was of course brought
up.
“My mother had… issues.” He controlled the urge to laugh. “And when she
had the opportunity to rename me, she wanted to call me Black Son.”
Xue Jiaolong turned, so close now, that this time their noses bumped.
"I think that’s a creative name”, she whispered, her eyes half-lidded, her
fragrant breath warm against his lips. “It suits you, you honey-tongued rascal.”
“Now, you’re saying that just to spite me.” A-Li’s face tightened, drawing
his brows closer. Knowing she didn’t deserve the reaction, he tried to soften it
by raising his right hand to cup her cheek. It pleased him that she leaned into his
A-Li's 三生三世
touch. “When I first found out, I fled from home and hid at my Lǎoye’s59 house
for days.”
She put down the brush and pivoted her upper body so they sat with their
torsos facing each other. Her head pulled back, eyes skimming his face.
“Do you know what I remember about you from the first night we met? Your
eyes. Black, dark as the night sky. Piercing. Intimidating. I can’t explain exactly
but something about them scared me. Then you called out my name.” Her
fingers traced his lower lip and A-Li’s breathing slowed. “And then you smiled.
I didn’t know stars could shine in a person’s eyes.”
“Even then?” He growled, pleasantly surprised at her confession. “But you
made me chase after you for two years. If the earth didn’t shake—“
“Even then. I knew it was going to be love. That’s why I kept my distance.”
***
Love.
She mentioned the word love.
Not, like.
Love.
What is love?
It was the one word in the universe that was epistemically inaccessible to A-
Li, all because it never made sense.
Was it love that caused his Father to deceive his mortal wife about his real
identity because he wanted to protect her from Celestial interference? Or was it
hubris because he didn’t see her enough as his equal, enough for him to trust her
with his real name?
Was it love that drove his Father to bring A-Li as a child every year to
Mount Junji so he could spend time with the remaining memories of his mother
in what was once his parents’ tiny hut? Or was it guilt that caused his Father to
fixate on a person’s memory so much even if she was never coming back?
Was it because of love that his Father had tried to kill himself so he could
burn his soul — the only remaining memory of his mortal mother after Bai Feng
Jui had extinguished the soul-gathering lamp? Or was it single-minded
selfishness of such magnitude that he forgot the son he was about to leave
behind?
What about his mother, who grieved his Father’s death so much that for
three years she hadn’t thought to visit her own son?
And what about Xue Yuan who grieved the loss of his wife to this day and
kicked his child to a different life in the process?
59 (老爺) Maternal Grandfather
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Love?
Love was too big a word for A-Li, especially in his view from here to
eternity.
Love was recklessness and stupidity.
Love was weakness.
Love was selfish.
Love was pain.
So A-Li decided long ago not to have any of it.
Just like that, the verbal foreplay they were doing sizzled out for A-Li. He
looked away from her seductive eyes to the golden coronet pinned on her head,
and rolled his shoulders as he tried to slow down his breathing.
The antitheses were staggering.
Her stage name possessed the family name that meant King yet her father
was a criminal. On her head was a small crown worn not by a noble but by a
prostitute. A prostitute who sold her body and mind to men, but one who also
just brought up the word love.
This was not a naive miss caught in the throes of infatuation and confession
— caught tingling as common sense fled her body and her mind turned to mush
in one-sided obsession.
No, this was Xue Jiaolong, one of the smartest and most levelheaded person
he’d ever met.
She was somebody who could afford to fold to attraction because she knew
the game. She was old enough to know how men liked the chase more than the
prize. A-Li had expected her to be attracted to him, but he had not expected that
he could awaken her love.
Had the confession come from another woman, A-Li would have dismissed
it offhand. But this was Xue Jiaolong, and he needed to protect her from him
because what she offered, he couldn't offer back. He was the bad guy in this
story, and she needed to see him as such.
“Jia’er, I thought you knew better than to fall in love with me.”
A-Li regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth. He saw the
shock that sliced through her beautiful features, knew that he put that there, and
it made him want to take them all back.
But just as suddenly, it was gone. The transformation startled A-Li because
in that split-second that it happened, the depth of emotions that brimmed in her
eyes was suddenly replaced by something else.
As if it only took a breath to get over him for breaking her heart.
Or did her heart break?
“Did you think I did? How absurd! I sell my body and time to anyone who
can pay enough so what do I know about love?” Xue Jiaolong laughed but this
sound was different from her usual obnoxious laughter, the one he had been
exposed to during the past three months they’d walked side-by-side. This one
was new and sounded melodious like tinkling crystal, cultured and refined.
A-Li's 三生三世
Xue Jiaolong burned the paper where she had written her name and dropped
the flaming sheet inside the pan of extinguished charcoal that served as an
under-table warmer during colder months. She then stood up and went down the
platform. She worked her hands through her hair and dropped pins, flowers,
combs, and delicate ornaments in her wake until lastly, the coronet was out and
it, too, landed on the floor with a metallic clink.
A-Li stood up and got off the platform, too. He silently followed Xue
Jiaolong with his eyes as she walked about with her back turned to him until all
her hair unfurled in careless waves behind her back. It was a view that enticed
as taking off one’s clothes— one that only a lover was supposed to see— and
A-Li’s mouth watered.
She turned to face him with a smoldering look, and her head tipped all of her
hair to her right. Her fingers busily ran through the knots, the careless action
sensuous in ways that made A-Li feel like his clothes were on fire.
Still, in that space where lust had already gained a foothold, A-Li sensed that
something was wrong.
It was only affirmed when she discarded her outer robe as she straightened
up. The thick red silk fell with a silent whoosh on the floor, and her left hand
stilled on the ends tying her qun60 to her ru61.
“Shall I do it, or will you?” She murmured, her voice a smoky whisper that
made the room feel a few degrees dimmer and warmer.
“Do what?”
“Undress me.”
A-Li’s tensed as he cursed under his breath. His body was suddenly suffused
in heat, but it was not the good kind.
His eyes narrowed at Xue Jiaolong. He analyzed her expression, her
demeanor.
“This is what you came here past midnight for, haven’t you?”
No, this was not Xue Jiaolong. There were no vulnerabilities to the woman
who stood in front of him. There was only that calm, practical gaze. That
detached beauty.
Those were the same eyes that looked at him during his first twenty-five
mortal months in Luoyang.
Xue Jiaolong was gone. In her place stood Wang Ling.
“You’re mad at me.” He said through the pain in the back of his throat. A-Li
had built so many good memories with Xue Jiaolong over the course of the past
three months that he had already forgotten how it had been for him to interact
with her before that.
Had she always been like this?
60 (裙) Skirt of traditional hanfu

61 (襦) Open cross-collar shirt usually tucked under a qun.
A-Li's 三生三世
“Mad? To be mad at you is to be mad at my fate, and I’ve refused to feel that
way a long time ago. In some aspects, I’m better than you. You were born into
your role. I chose mine.”
“Do not touch that belt.” He warned through gritted teeth when he saw her
make a move to pull the ends herself.
Her eyes flashed, her nostrils flared, and her chin went high up. “What was
all that effort you’ve done for then, if not to bed me? Or are you like those
young scholars, who thought my strong will was just a game for you to break?”
“It’s not that—“
“Am I too lowborn for you to expend your lust on?”
“Are you even listening to yourself?”
“Maybe my attire is not to your liking.” She stalked toward a long chest
against the wall. “Maybe you want to pretend you’re going to bed with someone
virginal. I can do that.”
A-Li was beside her on the next breath, snatching her right hand before she
was able to fling open her chest. Her eyes burned but there were no tears. Only
flames.
“Jia’er,” he used a gentle tone, the kind he hoped would help calm her down.
“Don’t do this to yourself. Please.”
She used her other hand to remove his hand from her wrist and took a step
back. Then another. And another, still. Her left hand clutched at her right wrist
as if his touch there had burned her.
But it was the change in her face that alarmed A-Li. The flames in her eyes
had died and all that was left again was a blank, emotionless mask.
“We’re two stars found at the opposite ends of the sky. Now that we’ve met,
there’s no need to linger.” She spoke slowly, then released her wrist so she
could point to the door. “Please, leave.”
A-Li wished she would show emotions, any emotion, so he’d at least know
how to fix things, to fix her. He was grasping at straws. Would telling her he
liked her change things and calm her down a bit? But what did he have to offer?
A mortal like her, and a prostitute at that, was not even fit to be a maid in his
palace. Meanwhile, a prince like him could only afford a few immortal days at
most in the mortal realm. It was never going to work, not if she wanted to keep
him by her side.
She maintained her deadpan expression even as she slipped a dagger from
her sleeve and — as A-Li watched in horror — cleanly-sliced through four-chi62
of her hair without flinching.
A woman’s hair was her life, and more so for a woman of Xue Jiaolong’s
profession. Yet, hers now hung in an uneven cut that was shorter on her left side
than her right. The cut made her look younger and weak, but her expression
remained impenetrable.
62 Similar, but not exactly equivalent to, Western measurement for feet (between 12.3~13.4
inches)
A-Li's 三生三世
“I no longer owe you anything.” She held up her chopped locks before she
released it to fall and scatter on the floor. “Live up to your name. Goodbye, Li
Diànxià.”
She had cut off her beauty to prove a point; so desperate was she to be rid of
him and the memories of the twenty-nine months that they’ve known one
another.
So A-Li did as told.
He left. And he didn’t look back.
No, not for Luoyang House. There were too many memories of Xue Jiaolong
there.
He headed for the Sky.
Chapter 14
Ai
A-Li left the Ninth Sky a local and returned a stranger.

To think he was only gone for three days.
After paying his respects to his parents and staying overnight with the twins,
A-Li walked the golden pavement that lead to his Ziqing Palace and noticed
something that had previously escaped his attention in his long, immortal life.
There was a huge perennially-blooming wisteria tree right after you walked
inside the gate, and A-Li was surprised to notice that the blooms were actually
white.
Strange, but in all his 40’000 years he had always thought the blooms were
the color of pale lavender. He stopped to look up at the flowers for a moment,
A-Li's 三生三世
and admired how the green stalks and leaves stood out against the sea of white
pea-like petal pods that swayed gently in the breeze. The wind carried its smoky
and sweet scent; a mixture strangely like hyacinths, burnt cork and honey.
“I thought I saw you walk in.”
A-Li turned his head as Gun Gun strolled in, his silvery white hair tied and
pinned in a tidy top-knot. His nephew always kept his hair up whenever in the
Thirty-Six Heavens so as to distinguish from his Father, Dong Hua Dijun, who
either kept his hair loose or in a half-knot.
“How’s Jia’er?”
A-Li expected to feel something at the first mention of her name but
somehow, entering the Ninth Sky last night made him remember the woman but
not the feelings she had evoked from him during the past two or so immortal
days. It was the about the same degree of indifference he felt whenever he
parted from his previous lovers.
This is good, he thought. I’m handling this better than I expected I’d be able
to.
To Gun Gun, he answered, “We’ve said our goodbyes. Have Shūshu and
Cheng Yu returned?”
Gun Gun’s lips pressed flat and he did a low Hmmm.
“Look at you.” A-Li put an arm around his nephew’s shoulder, and lightly
punched Gun Gun’s ribcage. “I thought you were trying to avoid frowning as
much as possible? You don’t want to get lines on your forehead, do you?”
“Gēge and Jiějie will be back this evening.” Gun Gun pushed against A-Li’s
side. “Li-Gē, are you sure you’re alright?”
“What are you worrying about?” If anything, his nephew should recognize
that the laughter that just escaped his chest was real. “She was just one of many.
Come, I think by now the demons are ready to welcome us back to Jiǔjiébiān.
We’re overdue for a visit.”
***
In a strange twist of fate, the group they got into an altercation with a couple
of days ago at Jiǔjiébiān eventually ended up in the same row of tables as A-Li
and Gun Gun. Everyone was in a better mood. It helped that A-Li was feeling
generous, too, and bought the table several barrels of drinks for goodwill.
They were on their eighth barrel of huǒqìxī63 when Lian Song arrived. After
introductions and apologies for their last altercation were made, drawing grunts
63 (火气息) This is the Purple Demon Clan’s biggest export product to all the immortal realms.
This alcohol’s base was made of malted barley, dried in kilns fired with a little peat, and distilled
twenty times using a single-heated chamber & a vessel to collect the purified alcohol. The liquid was
then stored and aged in barrels made of holy oak only found in the forests of Mount Penglai.
A-Li's 三生三世
of approval from the small crowd, the Old Dragon committed to buy the next
barrel as he settled between A-Li and Gun Gun.
Gun Gun introduced their new female companions: three young Blue Clan
demonesses who were on vacation to visit their Purple Clan relatives. A-Li left
his granduncle and nephew to their conversation while he returned his attention
to one of the demonesses, Mao Qing, who recalled her last visit to the South
Sea. A-Li absentmindedly nodded at whatever she was saying. He thought that
this woman talked too much but that warm hand that rested on his leg…
“You replaced my servants.” Lian Song stated with light annoyance.
“You have somebody talking to court reporters. I did what was necessary,
Shūshu.”
Lian Song’s arms folded across his chest as he eyed his drink through
narrowed eyes. Turning to A-Li again, he snapped, “You should have called to
inform me. We had our copper mirror with us. Cheng Yu wasn’t happy to find
an empty house.”
“Ah, then your steward didn’t act fast enough. Now, if you’ll excuse me—“
A-Li’s eyes followed Mao Qing as she saucily climbed up to the private rooms
upstairs. His luck was about to take a rosier turn. “I’ll be right back.”
Lian Song suddenly grabbed his arm just as A-Li was about to walk away.
“She returned the Jūnzǐ Zhùfú. What happened?”
He had meddlesome companions but A-Li knew they always meant well.
Still, he didn't owe them any explanation nor should he explain how his dream-
like sojourn in the mortal realm had finally ended. A-Li wordlessly smiled and
left the table, leaving Lian Song with a confused expression on his face.
***
A-Li saw Mao Qing enter the room to the far right and so he followed as he
whistled an inspired tune that put him in a better mood. He was by the door
when he realized whom he had learned it from— an original composition about
spring in Luoyang by Xue Jiaolong— and that made him stop.
“Li Diànxia,” Mao Qing’s coy voice called out from inside the room,
snapping him out of his thoughts. A-Li shook his head and pushed open the
door, revealing the young woman already naked and waiting for him on top of
the silk bed covers.
As blood flowed south at the enticing sight, A-Li crossed the bed within six
strides. Mao Qing reached out for him and their lips crashed without prelude,
hot and wanting. With Mao Qing’s help, A-Li easily divested his clothes and
pushed the woman down on the bed in no time at all.
His lips and hands freely explored creamy skin but even in the heat of lust,
several thoughts suddenly bothered him.
A-Li's 三生三世
Why is this woman so thin?

Where are her curves?
Why are her breasts so small?
How come there’s hardly an arch on the small of her back?
“Li Diànxia, what seems to be the matter?” Two small eyes blinked back at
him and not even the hand boldly stroking him down below triumphed over the
nitpickings his head had been making.
He looked at her small face. Each feature fit the standards of beauty expected
of demonesses, the kind female Celestials envied. Mao Qing was more than
appealing to spend the night with.
And yet…
Big, upturned eyes look more seductive.
This one smells like roses. I don’t like the smell of roses.
Why is her hair so dry?
The last one undid him as the memory of four-chi of lustrous hair falling on
the floor flooded his thoughts.
“Oh,” Mao Qing gasped, letting him go. “Oh, it…died.”
A-Li fell on his back on the bed, caught between the need to rage at his
mind’s ill-timing and cry at the unspent desire that coursed through his body
and had no way of coming out now.
Mao Qing sat up. “Don’t worry, just relax. I can fix this.”
“No.” A-Li stopped Mao Qing by the arm. He threw a blanket over her
nakedness while he stood up to fetch his discarded clothing from the floor. “I’m
sorry about this.”
“No offense taken. I do like a good challenge but today might just not be my
day. She must be special.”
A-Li’s hands stilled on the ties of his ku64 as he turned his head to look at
Mao Qing. She had her head perched on her hand, elbow resting on a pillow,
blanket draped over her chest and torso but still showed more than half of her
spindly legs.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“I’m talking about the woman who rules that.” Mao Qing pointed to his
groin area. “What is it— did she leave you behind?”
A-Li resumed putting on his clothes, with fiercer intensity this time as he
tied his light gray pao65 together.
“Next time, don't be too transparent about nursing a broken heart. When you
bought ten barrels of huǒqìxī, it reeked of your desperation. I just had to come
see how I could help.”
A-Li opened his mouth but no words formed. It seemed picking up sad men
for casual sex was Mao Qing’s sport, and he couldn't judge her because there
were a couple of thousand years in his past when he did the same as a pastime.
64 (褲): Trousers or pants
65 (袍): Any closed full-body garment, worn only by men
A-Li's 三生三世
“Tell me, at least. What did she smell like?”

Her eyes held a predatory shine as she waited for her prize.
Lilies, his mind replied. Not that this woman deserved to know.
“I’m not brokenhearted, Mao Qing.” he corrected. “Again, sorry for taking
your time.”
With those words, and after he threw on his deep blue shan66 over his pao,
A-Li opened the door and left.
***
Instead of heading back to the gathering downstairs, A-Li cloud jumped and
traveled to Zhe Yan’s Peach Grove. It was empty, as usual, but just like his
many visits, the air was filled with the scent of peach petals and overripe peach
fruits that had fallen on the ground.
A-Li looked up to the night sky, and allowed himself to think of Xue
Jiaolong for the first time since he got back. She loved the sky. She loved the
moon. Was it possible that she was looking at it too?
It must have been more than a year in mortal months since he left Luoyang.
A-Li hoped she looked back at their parting to her advantage, and that by now
she might’ve met a kind, mortal man who could love and marry her.
“Look up to the sky, Jia’er.” He whispered to the moon, remembering how
peaceful she looked while sleeping as moonbeams played on her skin. “It’s a
full moon tonight.”
A-Li was not left alone for long though. Lian Song and Gun Gun suddenly
walked into the grove in a cloud of white smoke.
A-Li heaved a heavy sigh— so much for getting some time alone since
coming back to the immortal realm. “Wine?” he asked and stalked off toward
the cellar without waiting for a response.
The two were already seated at the stone table by the Jade Pool when A-Li
returned. Gun Gun took the bottles from A-Li and opened one for each of them,
a fitting service as the youngest in their group. A-Li sat in front of Lian Song
and while they drank for several hours, none of them talked.
The sun was already up when A-Li next came to. He squinted against the
glare as he looked up to the sky canopied by peach blossoms. He found Gun
Gun asleep on the branch of a nearby tree, his unbound hair a silver cascade that
floated a few feet above the ground.
“Are you awake now, Zhízi?”
66 (衫): Open cross-collar shirt or jacket that is worn over the yi
A-Li's 三生三世
A-Li turned toward the sound of Lian Song’s voice and found the Old
Dragon picking peaches from the low-lying branches of the orchard’s oldest
tree, which stood sturdy and gnarled behind where A-Li sat.
“Have you been waiting for me to rise from my slumber all this time?”
Lian Song approached A-Li with his harvest and placed the fruits on the
stone table. A-Li diligently ensured they wouldn't roll off the sides by using his
arms as barricades.
“I needed you sober.” Lian Song sat down on the same seat he had occupied
last night. Stretching out his hand, he conjured a potted plant and placed it on
the table right beside the small pile of peaches A-Li had just assembled.
“Why did you bring that with you?” A-Li asked as he stared at the orchid he
had given Xue Jiaolong.
“I also brought this.” Lian Song made a piece of Xian paper materialize from
thin air and waved it at A-Li. “I never took you for somebody who just leaves
love confessions lying around.”
A-Li grabbed the paper from Lian Song and tucked it inside his sleeve. “It’s
not a love confession. It’s a call to start an affair.”
“I forget how your youth can sometimes be detrimental.” Lian Song unfurled
his fan, and his eyes rested on the poem inscribed by Cheng Yu years ago.
“Also, how terrible you are with poems and wordplay. It was true Xue
Jiaolong’s poem used the orchid as an allegory for inviting you into her life,
however short the time.”
When he found what he wanted, Lian Song placed the fan down and tapped
his finger on a character written in seal script.
“But I am old enough to be sure she also referred to this character in the
middle of the poem.”
Ai.
“See?” Lian Song’s finger landed right above the pictograph of an encased
heart. “This means to breathe in. And this,” his finger slid over the seal
character for human feet right below it. “This means to go slowly.”
A-Li’s heart thudded dully in his chest, and the sleeve where he tucked the
poem in instantly felt heavy. He tried to shake the feeling off. What the poem
meant was still inconsequential. Xue Jiaolong confessed to love but she was
also quick to pull it back. Whether the retraction was made to clarify the
misunderstanding or it was out of pride didn’t matter to A-Li. What mattered
was that they made a clean cut.
Her hair.
She cut off her hair to cut him out of her life.
He put his hand up to stop his granduncle from saying more. “Shūshu, it
doesn’t matter. We both decided this was for the best.”
“We, I wonder?” Lian Song leaned back. “Don’t be stupid like I was. Judge
the woman based on her many, impressive merits. You have loved her for quite
a while; you just chose to be ignorant about it.”
A-Li's 三生三世
The unsolicited assessment didn't sit well with A-Li. “If I did love her, why
was it easy for me to leave her? And I was fine yesterday—”
Lian Song’s fan landed with a gentle tap on A-Li’s forehead. “It is never on
the day you leave that you are overcome with regrets. And don’t fool yourself
that you are fine because you will not realize you are not until way, way after.
I’m telling you now before it becomes too late.”
Lian Song was reading too much into nothing. Yes. That had to be the reason
why A-Li felt a solid lump form in his throat, and heat pool behind his eyelids.
“I like her, it is true. But I—“
“That is your Lie. You’ve chosen early on to never believe in love. This is
the thing you don’t realize though, Zhízi: You actually believe in love. It is the
only reason why you reject it outright.”
Lian Song tilted his head to one side, and gave A-Li an old look that almost
always meant, Let that sink in, child.
A-Li’s gaze slid from his granduncle’s serious face onto the Jade Pool to his
left. Could it be there was some truth to his granduncle’s words?
Did I fall in love with her? How come I didn’t know?
Hummingbirds flew overhead and the rapid flutter of their tiny wings
brought back the first time A-Li’s heart had stopped at the sight of her. It was
that moment after the earth shook, when she had pulled her head from the hole
they made on that collapsed roof, when she had been all muddied and caked in
blood, when her hair was in disarray that would have put birds’ nests to shame.
It was Xue Jiaolong at her most unglamorous, her bravest, and at her best.
“What you didn't realize was that it snuck up on you when you weren't
looking, disguised by our game and your pride. It has surely been entertaining
to watch you fall in love.”
It was at that moment that the blinders fell off from A-Li’s eyes. He abruptly
stood up and looked around.
A courtesan.
He was in love with a courtesan.
Suddenly, what she did or who she was didn't matter to A-Li.
He was in love with Xue Jiaolong.
He needed to see her again.
“You realize you will need to grovel before she takes you back.” Lian Song
had a distant look in his eyes. “Ah, those were the days I had never felt more
alive. Desperation does that every time.”
A-Li nodded. He had never committed to anything halfway and if groveling
was what was needed to get himself back into her life, then he would make sure
to employ the best groveling strategy ever seen by the Four Seas and Eight
Deserts.
But first he had to find Xue Jiaolong, wherever she might be right now.
Chapter 15
The Message
“What do you mean she no longer lives in Luoyang?”

A-Li, never one given to emotional outbursts, had shouted so fearsomely the
house’s head steward, Lui Shimin, sank with his forehead to the floor in terror.
A-Li turned his back to him, pressed his fingers to his temples, and allowed
himself a few deep breaths to clear his head against the despair that tried to claw
its way out from inside his chest.
“The word on the streets after I arrived with a new set of servants from Wuji
Palace was that she left Luoyang months ago, Diànxià. I thought you already
knew.”
“I…didn’t,” Where did she go? Had Xue Jiaolong fled Luoyang like Ge
Peng warned him she might do? A-Li perked up. Ge Peng— the girl should
know something. A-Li turned to face Lui Shimin again and commanded, “Send
for Ge Peng of Pe Kang Li. Now.”
Knowing Ge Peng’s arrival might take a while, A-Li cloud jumped to the
Home of Hope in Jiāngyuán. Although given the upsetting turn of events he
already expected the scene, A-Li’s heart still sank when he saw with his own
A-Li's 三生三世
eyes that the house was now empty. A coating of frost formed on the roof and
rafters, and some parts were already rotting off due to neglect.
“Li Géxià!”
A-Li turned to see the mother of the baby he and Xue Jiaolong had rescued
during the earth-shake walk toward him with a basket of root crops on her back.
Fang Shi, he finally recalled. He had only been gone barely two immortal days
and yet his memory for names already bore the haziness of two mortal years.
“Fang Shi,” he greeted with a bow, the cold causing his words to form with
puffs. “How’s Ling Ling lately?”
The woman had named her daughter after the little one’s savior so it was one
less name A-Li had to worry remembering.
“She’s doing really well, thank you. It’s winter but thankfully she’s not
getting sick. She’s with my husband now. What brings you back to Jiāngyuán?”
“I was in Luoyang and thought to stop by. What happened here?”
The smile on Fang Shi’s face dimmed as she looked past A-Li to the the
house behind him.
“It was terrible. Terrible. It was two autumns ago when guards came in the
middle of the night and arrested Xue Yuan. They said he was a wanted convict
in Shǎnxī.”
A-Li’s nails dug hard inside inside his palms. Forcing himself to relax, he
blew a breath and asked, “What about Wang Ling?”
“Oh, you didn’t know?” Her eyebrows squished together. “She— It was
around the tail-end of two summers ago when we heard the news.”
A-Li’s ears perked as he counted backwards and realized that was around the
time when they had parted ways.
“What news, Fang Shi?”
“She was abducted from the Jìyuàn and was never seen again.”
***
“Ge Xiaojie is waiting for you at the pavilion, Diànxià,” the steward
respectfully announced the moment A-Li re-appeared inside the house.
A-Li paused for a moment to stare at the scenery outside his former study’s
window. Barren trees. An icy cold river. Gray skies. Wasn’t it just two days ago
that he was looking at the Yínhé from this very window, suffering the heat and
mosquitoes of summer? Wasn’t it just two days ago that Xue Jiaolong was still
within arm’s reach?
How could she be gone? How come nobody dared to look for her?
“Diànxià, it’s freezing outside. Please use this stole and coat to keep you
warm.”

A-Li's 三生三世
A-Li didn’t resist Lui Shimin’s thoughtfulness and left for the pavilion as
soon as the fur and coat were carefully placed on top of his shoulders.
In truth, A-Li had no need for winter garments. How could he when frost
wrapped around his heart and the longer each breath passed, the more dead he
felt inside? The cold radiated from his core and it seemed his heart tried to
compensate by racing so fast that a rushing sound pounded in A-Li’s ears.
Where are you, Jia’er?
Almost two mortal years had indeed passed because the woman who met
him at the pavilion was no longer the fresh-faced Ge Peng from the past. She
now wore silks, wigs and rouge, and had obviously taken on the mantle of being
a courtesan like her former mistress was.
Ge Peng cupped her hands in front of her and bowed as soon as he entered
the pavilion. “Li Géxià, welcome back to Luoyang.”
Ge Peng’s greeting stabbed at A-Li’s heart. Those were some of the very
first words that he had heard from Xue Jiaolong as she greeted Lian Song on
their first night in Luoyang.
The night he decided he wanted her. For a month. Several months. At least
until the novelty faded.
The hard reality was, the novelty hadn’t faded. He loved her. He realized too
late. And now, she was… gone.
“What happened to Wang L-Ling?” His voice didn’t come out the way he
had planned it to. It cracked, just like the frosted ground he had just walked on.
A-Li took a painful swallow through his dry throat and tried again. “Where did
she go? Do you know?”
He signaled for Ge Peng to take a seat and he sat opposite her with a low
stone table between them. Lui Shimin and several servants hovered around
them, unfurling wild-goose feather-made curtains and windshield curtains to
keep the cold air out. Copper censers had been lit, and it suffused the enclosed
space with the scent of sandalwood and honey. Bronze kettles filled with
boiling water were tucked under the quilts that servants placed over their laps,
providing direct additional heat for their hands and feet.
“It was about a few days after I last saw you when about thirty men stormed
into Pe Kang Li right after it closed for the night. They threw sacks of money at
Dong Nǚshì, and bodily pulled Wang Ling out of her house and into a waiting
palanquin.”
It was as Fang Shi shared earlier. Xue Jiaolong had indeed been forcefully
abducted.
“Who were they?” A-Li demanded through gritted teeth.
Ge Peng pursed her lips and drew a sharp breath. Through teary eyes, she
shook her head.
“A general? A royal? The Emperor?”
Ge Peng shook her head again. “They looked like mercenaries, Li Géxià.
They came during a night of darkness, when there was no moon nor clouds in

A-Li's 三生三世
the sky. Somebody held me down after I tried to to help her.” Her eyes closed,
and tears fell down the sides of her powdered face. “I couldn’t save her that
night. Sometimes I can still hear her frightened screams play in my head during
moonless nights.”
The world tilted in A-Li’s view as he absorbed this deluge of new
information. He closed his eyes to regain equilibrium but now all he could see
was this mental image of her being dragged into a palanquin. Xue Jiaolong was
not one for hysterics — even in the face of a cataclysmic event such as the
earth-shake — so to know she had been screaming out of fear during that time
crushed him.
The pavilion suddenly felt warm. Too warm. A-Li pulled at his collar, and
threw the stole off his shoulders. He signaled for a servant to lift one of the
curtains to let crisp, cold air in.
“She was already free of the Jìyuàn at that time and was just finishing the
training she was giving to her juniors before she left.” More tears streaked
through the powder on Ge Peng’s face, squeezing at A-Li’s heart. “During her
last days with me, she was mostly sad but then she would receive these letters
that drove her into fits of anxiety. She wasn’t sleeping well.”
“Letters?”
“I never knew whom they were from. She burned them as soon as she read
them. She forbade me to speak of them to anyone because it might mean my
death.”
Considering Xue Jiaolong’s reaction, the letters must have contained threats
to her safety. She hadn’t slept well. What A-Li would give so he could turn
back time to that last night they were together, to look over her shoulder and tell
her everything was going to be fine.
Ge Peng pulled the long cedar wood box that was placed on the floor to her
right. “Most of her items were left with me but I remember you took particular
interest with the Islands in the Sky panels.” She lifted the box and presented it to
A-Li over the table. “Please, Li Géxià. I think she will want you to have this.”
A-Li calmly received the box although having this piece of Xue Jiaolong
made it difficult for him to form a response aside from a soft thank you. He
refused a servant’s attentive yet silent request to take the box off his hands.
Instead, A-Li placed the box over his lap.
Feeling its weight was equal parts comforting and debilitating.
“She also meant for you to have this.” Ge Peng also pulled out a small
bamboo stick from her sleeve. “She made me come here a few days after I
walked you to her house. But since she was so distraught, I no longer told her
your house was empty— just that you weren’t here. I let her assume I left the
message with a servant,” Ge Peng furtively wiped tears from her face with the
side of her sleeve. “By the time I realized she was waiting for you to come, it
was too late to confess about my deception. But I checked every day, Li Géxià.

A-Li's 三生三世
There was nobody in this house even days after her abduction. I eventually gave
up. ”
A-Li received the small bamboo stick and tipped it over to reveal a sealed
rolled paper inside. The rice paper had been yellowed on the edges by moisture
and time but it still held up pretty well.
“Thank you, Ge Peng.” He choked back, wanting to unfurl Xue Jiaolong’s
last message for him but at the same time knowing he needed the privacy to do
so.
“If you find her, will you let me know, Li Géxià?”
A-Li nodded wordlessly, feeling the walls closing in. Ge Peng stood up and
after doing the cursory bows, left.
Finally alone, save for the servants, A-Li asked for all the curtains to be
lifted back. Even the fresh influx of fresh river breeze turned out lacking,
however. Air. A-Li needed more air so he stood up and walked out of the
pavilion, his leather-booted feet scrunching against the dry, frosted ground.
He walked toward the bathing dock by the river and sat down on the first
step. His hand still clutched the rolled paper, curiosity wanting to see the
message but guilt stopping him from doing so.
He would never fathom the terror she went through that night, and the terror
she could be in right now.
To A-Li’s knowledge, lovers who abduct the objects of their affection were
often up to no good.
“Jia’er, what have I done?” He whispered to her, and to no one.
There was no other way around it. Finally, he unrolled the paper, hoping to
find some clue.
He didn’t expect that the mere sight of her familiar handwriting would cause
hot tears to form in his eyes. It was as beautiful as he remembered it to be, as if
she was writing to him out of love, and not distress.
Li Géxià, I write to you today out of desperation as I have no one else to turn
to. I would like to appeal for your assistance on the basis of our former
friendship and your old promise that I can call on you for help. I unfortunately
find myself in a spot of trouble where my life and freedom are currently at risk.
Would you save me if I asked you to? Your servant, Wang Ling
The paper crumpled in A-Li’s hand as he held it over his heart. With the
pressure of his fingers, he tried to stifle the sob that tried hard to escape his
chest. The resultant stabbing pain caused his posture to crumple as he suffered
through the onslaught of guilt over could-have-beens.
A-Li looked up to the overcast sky.
“What have I done? What have I done?”

Chapter 16
Necropolis
With an awful groan, the last of the exits and inner passageways were sealed
from above, throwing the tomb into semi-darkness leaving the people inside at
the mercy of only the meager flickering candlelight. Panicked cries from the
workers and artisans who were sealed inside the tomb reverberated across the
eight floors of packed mud walls. The wailing sound traveled across rows and
rows of terracotta soldiers, chariots, horses, officials, acrobats, strongmen and
musicians that these men had spent years and years crafting without knowing
these statues will be the silent witnesses to their deaths. The burning candles
and rivers of mercury did not bode well for them either as the fumes terribly
diminished the air quality inside the mammoth necropolis located underneath
Mount Li.
The Observer walked unseen and unimpeded across the distress and
mayhem, recording with his eyes and ears.
He moved toward the private chambers which had been sealed not too long
ago. As compared to the location of the terracotta kingdom, these chambers
were eerily quiet. As he passed through its walls, however, The Observer
recorded rooms filled with scenes of gruesome and pointless death.

A-Li's 三生三世
The outer ones were of rénshēng, prisoners-of-war or slaves mutilated last

night and thrown indiscriminately in pits as human offerings to the gods. In the
inner chambers were rooms filled with rénxùn, favorite servants and relatives of
the Emperor who were sacrificed but respectfully buried with jewels and other
luxuries to accompany him in the next life.
Deeper still were painted chambers filled with about 600 childless
concubines who were killed earlier that morning when they were forced to drink
poison, so as to preserve their beauty for all time. They lay in individual beds in
their full regalia — dressed in the finest silks, coronets and jewels — with faces
painted with powders and rouge which they put on right before they died. At
first glance, the dead women looked deep in slumber. Incense wafted up from
the tables in between their beds and covered the encroaching and cloying stench
of death with smells of agarwood and jasmine.
The Observer shook his head as he pondered on this just concluded part of
human history. His long years had allowed him to see the peaks and lows of
human hubris, and human sacrifice was its worst example of all.
Lives snuffed just like that, and all in vain.
Didn’t they know it did nothing for the gods?
Because this Emperor, this Son of Heaven, was never coming back. He
would get his full accounting in Diyu67 because he hurt those who didn’t have
the means to fight back, and because he took lives that weren't his to claim in
the first place.
With a shake of his head, The Observer went further deeper inside more
dead concubines’ chambers, and walked through walls until he came to the last
one.
The Emperor’s sealed tomb. It was an immense structure covered in
paintings, murals, statues and gold filigree. In the middle of a sea made of
mercury was a luxuriously-decorated island with a sealed hole, much like a
well, where the Emperor’s coffin had been lowered a little while ago.
Then they had thrown in his favorite concubine.
Buried alive.
It was not enough that the old degenerate had tried to break her, beat her, and
forcefully took her to his bed as often as he could during the past several mortal
months. No. At his deathbed, the Emperor left specific instructions so that he
could continue to break her spirit, even in death.
The Observer jumped through the seal cover — the smooth and heavy rock
an ineffective barrier against his invisible form. Complete darkness met him on
the other side. The Observer summoned magick that enabled him to see with his
eternal eyes.
67 (地獄) Realm of the dead or Hell

A-Li's 三生三世
It wasn't hard to find her inside the cavern. He followed her gasping breaths,
a death staccato that increased in pace, as his guide. He floated parallel over her,
and noted she fell several chi away from where the coffin was lowered.
It was a long trip down and there was no doubt that she had broken her back
during the fall. The Observer’s heart fractured as he detailed the unnatural angle
of her right leg and her lower torso. His hand moved to reach for her but he
caught himself, and instead settled to watch quietly.
Had he known it would be like this, he wouldn’t have picked up the mantle a
long time ago. It made him vulnerable to so much pain. There was no joy to be
had at the agony of watching her die, but as The Observer, he had to. He wished
he could make her passage easier and spare her the pain that flowed through her
like waves, but he had to hold himself back. It was a grim task and no matter
how strong he was, tears still wet his eyes as he waited for her last breath to
come.
Suddenly, her eyes shifted in the dark. It bored into his, meeting his gaze
eye-to-eye.
The Observer hated this ability of hers. So attuned was she to eyes that
stared at her that those who knew always assumed it was a magickal skill — but
it was not. Instead, it was purely woman’s instinct honed by her many years as a
courtesan. She never liked to be watched, but even at her worst, she was still the
most beautiful woman alive. If he, as an immortal, could not avert his gaze from
her — how much worse fared ordinary mortals? It had made observing her life
trickier, which was why there were days that he left her alone.
Oh, how he regretted those days.
The Observer jerked upwards when her right hand shot up in front of her,
almost touching his left cheek. Her mortal eyes searched the inky-black veil but
he did notice her heavy breathing had turned softer— although he could tell the
action was a choice and not without great effort from her. She moved her
fingers in front of her as her expression flitted between fondness and pain.
A tear ran down the right side of her face to join the blood that pooled
underneath her head.
Then, she took a deep breath before her blood-stained teeth showed through
a soft smile. “A-Li…” she whispered in the dark, her voice filled of longing and
sadness. “Live well.”
The Observer’s jaw clenched but it was already in bad taste to react.
Because with those last words, and the name of another man on her lips, his
Beloved — the love of his eternal life — died.

Chapter 17
Sky-Curse
A-Li strolled unseen and uninterrupted along the halls and pathways of the
Imperial Compound, and tried to find directions to the Concubines’ Palaces by
following the royal household servants and eunuchs.
As he walked inside the section of the Compound reserved for the Royal
Concubines and past the gates and the path marked by late-blooming
hydrangeas, the first thing that struck A-Li were the ages of the women he had
seen so far.
Everyone looked so young that Xue Jiaolong would easily look the oldest in
comparison. They also looked new. The women tittered like those who still saw
the world with optimism and fawned over the new fabrics, jewels and hair
adornments that had been sent to them.
They were also fewer than he expected. The Emperor was known to have
kept a harem of more than a thousand women. So far, A-Li had only counted
about fifty. Had there been a massive purge that had taken place in recent
months? The thought increased his panic and he moved faster as he walked
around.

A-Li's 三生三世
A-Li’s question was unexpectedly answered when a massive procession

passed by. Musicians, color bearers, page boys, soldiers and finally a long, silk-
roofed longjianyu68 hoisted by eight bearers in the front and eight more at the
back carried the Huángdì69 dressed in his heavy, golden court finery.
A-Li knew this Emperor because he had met him before. Lian Song had once
invited the ambitious young man over to the Luoyang House for dinner.
He also happened to be the second son of the Yi Shang Huángdì — the
Emperor whom A-Li knew from two mortal years ago.
Rage like he never felt before caused A-Li to wave his hand with the
intention of stopping the procession.
Instead, time stopped over the whole Imperial City of Xī'ān in Shǎnxī.
A-Li felt it when his power released and crashed all over Xī'ān. The pressure
of one and a half million mortal lives connected to him by invisible threads, like
puppets controlled by his fingers, and it felt dreamlike and heady. Anything that
moved stopped. Smoke floating from stove and kiln exhausts paused midstream.
Even the birds that flew overhead suspended mid-flight and hung over the sky
like windless silk kites.
A-Li would have marveled at this newly uncovered ability if not for the
priority at hand. He flew over the sedan chair, ripped the silk roof apart,
grabbed the inanimate young Huángdì by the collar, and lifted him tens of lǐ70
up in the air. Only when he was satisfied with the height did he reanimate the
young man.
“Where are Yi Shang’s concubines?” He demanded impatiently.
Er Shin’s eyes widened in recognition, then he looked down to where only
thin air stood between the ground and his feet. High above the spell’s epicenter,
the wind was free to move but its loss of surface area down below created a
vortex that mercilessly whipped at them and made the young ruler’s heavy court
robes act like a wind trap that threatened to drag him away from A-Li’s hold.
“Please spare me!” Er Shin pleaded and wrapped his arms around A-Li’s
forearms. He might be a Huángdì in this life, but even Er Shin knew he was no
match for an actual god.
“Where are Yi Shang’s concubines?”
The panicked look in Er Shin’s eyes hadn't dissipated but at last, the young
man had the good sense to respond.
“It depends. If they had children, they were moved to dowager houses. If
not, they—” Er Shin trailed off and A-Li loosened his hold, causing the young
man to shout, “they're dead! All the childless concubines were buried with my
father. It was the will of Xiāndì71.”
68 Dragon chairs or imperial sedan chair

69 (皇帝) Emperor
70 (里) Chinese Mile. This now has a standardized length of a half-kilometer (500 meters or 1,640
feet). This is then divided into 1,500 chi or "Chinese feet"

71 (先帝) The Late Emperor

A-Li's 三生三世
Blood left A-Li’s fingers and Er Shin would have fallen without a care if the
young man hadn't held on to A-Li’s arm with a death grip.
A-Li took no pleasure at knowing Xue Jiaolong had a child with the old
lecher but he would rather see her again as a mother than somebody whose life
was carelessly snuffed out as a rénxùn72.
“Wang Ling.” He choked. Even the mention of her name burned his insides
with the fires of guilt and remorse. “Was she… w-was she part of the harem?
Where is she now?”
A-Li found his answer at the way Er Shin’s eyes turned as round as saucers.
A-Li began to feel dizzy and nauseous, so he floated down as slowly as he could
while his distracted mind picked up bits and pieces of Er Shin’s frantic
explanation.
Abducted… forced to enter the Palace… her Father was gutted alive in front
of her… still openly-defied Xiāndì… Xiāndì tried his best to break her… was in
chains and under guard because she kept trying to kill herself…
And finally, all childless concubines were killed by poison before they were
buried with Xiāndì except for her. She was buried alive beside Xiāndì.
Back on solid ground, A-Li let go of Er Shin’s collar but used magick to
restrain the man.
It didn't feel real. Nothing felt real. Why her? Why did somebody who
couldn’t even hurt an ant go through such a horrible life and had a gruesome
death she most certainly didn’t deserve?
“Where?” A-Li demanded. He needed to know. “Where was she buried?”
Er Shin frowned. “It has been seven full moons since my Father died and if
his plans worked to fruition, a hill now stands over his tomb. I couldn't tell you
the location because I gave up the right to know. Everyone who knew has died
or was killed. It was the only way to keep his tomb safe for all eternity.”
“Eternity?” A-Li barked, his laughter edged. The strong summer sun beat
down on his face but A-Li didn’t feel hot. Instead, it was as if he carried over
the frost from the mortal winter since he found out Xue Jiaolong was gone.
“You mortals have no idea what eternity means. Your Father lies dead floating
in the blood of men. Were the sacrifices necessary? Let me tell you now they
were not.”
It was both frightening and exhilarating, this type of anger that flowed within
A-Li’s body. It felt destructive and sought reprieve. It fed on his anguish which
he yet couldn’t express. A-Li looked up and the sky immediately responded.
The rumblings of thunder got louder and louder as black clouds quickly
gathered over the city. A sweet, sharp and pungently fresh aroma floated in the
air. The ether sizzled with raw power, and kicked A-Li’s senses into an
excessive high.
72 Relatives of the Emperor that were sacrificed and respectfully buried

A-Li's 三生三世
With a flick of A-Li’s finger, the young Emperor crumpled to the ground,
unconscious.
A-Li stood over Er Shin, gripped with the need to relieve some of the
pressure that pushed against the corners of his skull. A sky-curse? Impossible.
Only the old High Gods had the cultivation to deliver one.
But to this descendant of the monster who robbed him of his heart, it gave A-
Li the self-satisfaction to try.
“I deny your family the dynasty it seeks.” Was that him who had just
spoken? A-Li was startled as his ears picked up the riveting sound of his voice,
this time layered with an echo like it would when speaking from the bottom of a
well. It made A-Li anxious, and he paused to consider if he had made things
worse.
Still, this power was greedy. It pushed rational behavior to the back of his
mind, and so he pressed on if only to relieve the weight on his heart. Heat
suffused his face and each word that came out of his mouth gave him a half-
euphoric, half-painful tingling in his stomach.
“Your rule will be short-lived to three years full of strife and wars. This
dynasty will die within days of its third generation. I suggest you enjoy this
wretched kingdom while it lasts.”
The sky accepted A-Li’s will and erupted into a spectacular showdown of
lightning that sealed the curse, which indiscriminately hit structures and
inanimate living things alike.
A-Li erased Er Shin’s memory of their encounter and with a swivel of his
foot, he turned.
Lian Song stood a couple of steps away from A-Li, unnaturally still, his gaze
unflinching.
“Release the city, Zhízi.” Lian Song said in a voice devoid of emotion. “Or
would you rather see it burn down from lightning?”
His granduncle’s presence snatched A-Li back to reality and snapped him
out of his anger-fueled half-trance. For the first time, his eyes roamed around
the mayhem that was his own doing. Living things that stood within his
periphery were still frozen in time. They looked so eerily still, much like
statues, that A-Li’s heart raced to the point of near-exploding.
“I-I don't know how.” A-Li panicked, shaking his hands to release the
creeping numbness. Suddenly the power that ran through his body felt macabre.
Too much. Way too much. “Shūshu, help.”
Lian Song quickly approached A-Li and held him by the shoulder. “Breathe.
Redistribute your qi.”
A-Li tried but he was so overcome with the new power he felt like slowly
drowning. He started trembling.
A few inches shorter than his grandnephew, Lian Song pulled A-Li’s head
down so their foreheads touched, just like he had always done in many

A-Li's 三生三世
occasions in the past whenever A-Li felt overwhelmed. It was an old move, but
somehow, it always worked on A-Li.
“Breathe, A-Li, but hurry.” His granduncle whispered. “Remember how you
controlled the crimson hellfire. It’s as easy as that.”
A-Li had been but 20’000 years old when upon the urging of a Red demon
boy he was playing archery with at Wuji Island, he tried a spell to summon
crimson hellfire. It was not supposed to work anyway. Following the concept of
yin and yang: Celestials had Celestial Fire, born of lightning, which burned
controlled and clean, and The Ghost and Demon Clans had Crimson Hellfire,
which could be indiscriminate and destructive.
There was no way fire associated to the Demon and Ghost clan could come
from a Celestial.
Or so he had thought.
A-Li found himself at the giving end of a power so wild, Lian Song had had
to give him instructions on how to control it while avoiding blasts of hellfire
that randomly shot from his hands. At that time, the need to ensure he didn’t hit
his granduncle was his anchor to get all that power under control again.
This time, however, what was his anchor? With Xue Jiaolong gone, the
world could burn for all he cared.
“Diyu73.” Lian Song said softly, tapping A-Li’s nape with his palm. “We’ll
find her in Diyu. Yánwáng74 is a good friend of mine. He’ll let us in. That way
you can properly say goodbye. Come, child, breathe!”
Diyu. Why hadn't he thought of that before? He could see her in Diyu. And
what goodbye? He would keep her company in Diyu until her next reincarnation
cycle. Then he would follow her back to the mortal realm when she
reincarnated.
The thought of being able to speak to her, to hold her again, anchored A-Li a
bit.
“That’s it, Zhízi.” Lian Song cooed as he finally released his grandnephew.
“Well done.”
When A-Li looked up, the clouds were gone and the sun was out again. With
his qi slowly back under control, he raised his left hand and willed his hold over
the city to release. He felt the lightness overtake his senses when it did.
Mortal lives moved on.
As he and Lian Song retreated invisible to mortal eyes, mortals resumed
going about their business.
The smile in Lian Song’s face was short-lived, however. “You must not tell
anyone about this, Zhízi. I will stand in front of your father and claim
accountability for what happened here.”
It was the same as when he had bailed A-Li out of the first crimson hellfire
incident. At that time, Lian Song had used forbidden magic when he tampered
73 (地獄) The Realm of the Dead
74 (阎王) The god of death and the ruler of Diyu, who oversaw the "Ten Kings of Hell".

A-Li's 三生三世
with another immortal’s memory— a demon and more so, a child— to protect
A-Li. Citing that the demon boy saw something in Wuji Palace that he was not
supposed to see, Lian Song barely got out of a full-blown inquisition by the skin
of his teeth.
“Shūshu, I'm no longer a child. I can take accountability for this incident.”
Lian Song’s arms crossed over his chest as he emphatically said, “No. Until
we figure out why your powers are random this way, not a word is to be
breathed to anyone outside our group. You just froze an entire city, child! What
were you even thinking?” He motioned for A-Li to stand on the side as they let
Er Shin and his dumbfounded entourage pass.
“I—” A-Li rubbed the back of his neck. “I wasn't thinking.”
“Good, they’re back to black now.” Lian Song snatched A-Li’s chin in his
right hand, his eyes scanning his grandnephew’s. “Do you know your eyes burn
so bright it turns golden every time this happens? Feel my hands. Feel it, I’m
still shaking. Don't try something like that again. We never know who’s
watching.”
Not that A-Li intentionally planned to. “I’m sorry, Shūshu.”
“Stop. Be sorry when you see us both sentenced to the Lightning Platform or
Zhu Xian Terrace. Sometimes I wonder if these strange happenings are due to
your fox blood.”
A-Li pretended to laugh and switched to another topic before Lian Song got
carried away by his acrimony against Bai Qian once more. “Do you really think
Yánwáng can help us find Jia’er in Diyu?”
The Old Dragon shot A-Li a look that said he caught on to what his
grandnephew was trying to do. Still, Lian Song accommodated him with an
explanation.
“All mortals who die either ascend to heaven or pass through Diyu. She
existed in Si Ming’s ledgers; therefore she was real and was a person, Zhízi.
However the fact that her destiny ledger ended up empty unsettled me so before
coming to find you, I already checked the recordings of new immortals at Qing
Yun Palace. Both her names weren’t there. If she is indeed dead as Er Shin
claimed she was, we're only left with one other possibility: Diyu.”
Mortal souls in Diyu retained their memories while they went through their
punishments so they could repent deliberately. This brought to the forefront A-
Li’s dilemma: Would she forgive him if and when they saw one another again?
But in the end, it no longer mattered if she would or she wouldn’t. A-Li has
already made up his mind to grovel in a way that would put his Shūshu, Dong
Hua Gēge, and his Father’s infamous groveling to shame.
He’d laugh at the thought but there was little to laugh about. He had a
woman to find.
And even though there was an awful degree of discomfort as he tried to
imagine how she would react upon seeing him in Diyu, today was one of those

A-Li's 三生三世
days A-Li was grateful to his parents for birthing him as a Prince and as an
Immortal.

Chapter 18
A Prayer To My God
Lian Song wasted no time at all.

Upon arrival at Diyu, Lian Song authoritatively ordered Yánwáng to find
Xue Jiaolong. Although the order shocked Yánwáng; on the basis of their
friendship, he immediately acted upon the request and set his Ten Kings of Hell
to work.
That was twenty-six immortal days ago.
Meanwhile, A-Li tried to patiently wait inside Yánwáng’s Tiānzǐ Palace.
However, his mood was constantly dark and aggravated by how minimal the
amount of sunlight the Zhèngyì Táng75 was able to receive from the surface. It
didn’t help that the little light that was able to seep through was instantly
absorbed by the hall’s dull blue walls. Worse, the incessant sound of mortal
souls screaming in agony from the pits below echoed back and forth across
every nook and cranny of the Palace, and provided A-Li’s ears with no escape.
75 (正義堂) Justice Hall. This is where the King of the Underworld hands out each mortal soul’s
punishment.

A-Li's 三生三世
To think Gun Gun had spent his first couple of hundred years in this place.
This might be the reason why it took much, save for the possible destruction of
Gun Gun’s good looks, to faze A-Li’s usually unflappable nephew. A-Li had
barely been here a full moon’s cycle but he was just about to go insane.
Lian Song and A-Li were about to have afternoon tea that day when
Yànwàng and his Ten Kings quietly appeared inside the Hall in clouds of dark
smoke.
“My deepest apologies for the long delay, Diànxià, Wángyé76.” Yánwáng,
Overlord of the Underworld, apologized as he dipped his upper body into a deep
bow. All the other Hell-Kings who stood behind him ceremoniously did the
same. “But rest assured, we have been thorough with the report we are about to
give you.”
Lian Song waved his hand for Yánwáng to proceed.
Yánwáng straightened. “We have checked and rechecked all of our records
and we can confirm that there were neither Wang Ling of Luoyang nor Xue
Jiaolong of Xi’an in Shǎnxī whose ling hun77 had come forward. We do have a
Xue Yuan of Xi’an in Shǎnxī in the 4th hell and the mortal realm’s Yi Shang
Xiāndì who will be languishing in Avīci78 for all eternity.”
The results of Yánwáng’s findings lifted A-Li’s heart. It had taken great
fortitude to remain functional during the past several days while he had waited
and hoped for good results. So they were not able to find her. Could that be—
“She’s alive?” he asked breathlessly, gripping the edge of the stone table.
The kings behind Yánwáng gave uncomfortable glances to one another.
“No. I’m sorry, Diànxià.” Yánwáng’s eyes on him were steady but
apologetic. “She’s dead.”
A-Li sank bank in his seat. He felt a comforting tap against his curled-up
hand. It was Lian Song, and his gaze silently asked A-Li to keep calm.
Yánwáng’s lips pressed together in a slight grimace. “We have talked to the
Death Gods who went to harvest the souls who died in Yi Shang’s necropolis.
There was indeed a slightly mangled female body found decaying inside Yi
Shang’s crypt. The Death God who found her was able to identify her as Xue
Jiaolong through the disintegrated remains of her po79. However, the Death
76 (王爷) An informal way of addressing a prince or a vassal king, on account of Lian Song and Xie
Guchou Yánwáng’s friendship.
77 (靈魂) This is part of the soul that will go through rebirth. Those that accumulate good karma
will be reborn to either heaven or in the human world. {Side note: Taoism believes in Three Soul
Fragments/Hun: Ling Hun, Jue Hun, and Sheng Hun}
78 (阿鼻地獄) This is the lowest level of hell reserved for sinners who have committed heinous
crimes, brought misery to the people or betrayed their ruler. Whereas the other hells function more
like a “purgatory” where mortals could be reborn into a lowly-life form after eons of suffering, those
sent to Avīci were thought to languish there eternally.
79 (魄) the substantive, corporeal soul. Po is considered as the “shell” or “container” for the three
soul fragments. At death, Po will descend into the earth with flesh and bones, and eventually dissolve.

A-Li's 三生三世
Gods were not able to find even a trace of her jue hun80. They filed a formal
report but it got buried under administrative backlog and that’s why this case
didn’t get to me until you came searching for it.”
“A Missing Soul?” Lian Song asked, giving A-Li a meaningful glance.
“It has become a minor administrative issue which caused the delay in our
report. But, rest assured, we will get to the bottom of this.”
“Xie Guchou,” Lian Song called out Yánwáng’s given name, in a move A-Li
knew was used to assert authority, as the Old Dragon tapped a silent beat with
his closed fan against his thigh. “Could it be a body that was used for a mortal
trial?”
A-Li’s breath hitched in his chest at his uncle’s theory. If the body was used
for a mortal trial then that meant Xue Jiaolong was a Celestial roaming the Four
Seas and Eight Deserts.
However, Yánwáng’s face flushed at the suggestion. “Mortal trials are
heavily-bureaucratic events organized between the Star Lords and I81. There are
very few gods who can create a soul that has neither previous nor subsequent
existence, and even so, they are still subject to our laws. Case in point, when
Dong Hua Dijun asked Elder Yunzhuang of Taichen Palace to stealthily create a
soul from his own shadow to be sent to the mortal world for a mortal trial, the
said soul was still subject to Si Ming’s Destiny Ledgers. Further, Dong Hua
Dijun’s mortal soul still appeared in my Soul Registry. There’s always a check-
and-balance to these things else the world will fall into chaos, Wángyé.”
The flat of Lian Song’s hand landed on top of the stone table, which made
the kings nervously jump backwards.
“What good are laws if you are right now telling me you are missing a soul
and she’s not in your registry? That woman was real. I knew her since she was
sixteen mortal years.”
Yánwáng opened his mouth to try a retort but, under the Old Dragon’s
glower, shut it back again.
“Unless you can explain to me how your Death Gods can lose a soul, and
how your soul registry didn’t have a name that Si Ming wrote about, I will say
there is trouble in hell, Xie Guchou. The Universe demands balance, does it
not? A-Li, stand up. Let’s go.”
Lian Song stood up and made the move to go but Yánwáng emboldened
himself to stand in the former Third Prince of the Six Realm’s way.
“Wángyé, you should ask your best friend about this.”
The Old Dragon’s brows rose. “Dong Hua?”
Yánwáng turned to A-Li and with a small jerk of his head that constituted to
a bow, added, “Or your grandfather Bai Zhi Dijun or Zhe Yan, Diànxià. They
80 (覺魂) One of the Three Huns. It is part of the soul that lingers on Earth, wanders around the
cemetery and can be worshiped on its ancestral tablet with incense and food offerings.
81 Mortals are subject to three deities: The Lord of the Southern Star (birth), The Lord of the
Northern Star (death) and Yánwáng (postmortem judgement and reincarnation)

A-Li's 三生三世
are the oldest in the immortal realms. They might have experienced a similar
case before.”
“I don’t think we need to bring the Old Ones into this investigation just yet,
Xie Guchou.” Lian Song snapped. “Can you imagine the uproar this one soul
will cause for your kingdom? It’s better if we investigate this quietly and on the
side. I also suggest you put Xie Bi’an and Fan Wujiu82 to work and locate her
Yuánshén83. It’s somewhere out there. It has to be.”
Yánwáng appeared to consider Lian Song’s advice especially since it was
good advice, too. His position as King of the Underworld could be in jeopardy
if it ever came out that the Underworld was missing a soul.
“Let me know when you do find her.” Lian Song finished and walked away
without looking back. “I have questions to ask her myself.”
Yánwáng and his kings bowed to Lian Song’s receding back. A-Li
courteously bowed back to the men of the underworld before going after his
granduncle, who by now was just a wisp of cream-colored robes in the dark.
***
Lian Song stayed quiet until they got back to Ziqing Palace after a whole
day’s travel. A-Li was grateful for the silence because it finally gave him time
to cope with the brutality of his loss.
If anything, their stay in the Underworld confirmed one inescapable truth:
Xue Jiaolong was gone. Not just her body but, also, her soul. Somebody,
somewhere, thought to play a cruel joke when it snatched a part of him, and
then refused to return even a piece of it.
Now back in the stunning brightness of the Ninth Sky, A-Li worked out it
wasn’t the lack of sunlight in the Underworld that contributed to his dark mood.
With grief as a new emotion he had to cope with, it took the familiar scenery of
the Ninth Sky for him to realize that he had been swallowed in an inescapable
void that robbed the world of color. All around him was just this dense fog that
only showed the world in shades of gray. Even the wisteria tree blooms by his
palace gates lost the delicate colors he had so admired about an immortal month
ago. He was like a boat cast adrift in a sea of desolation— no paddles, no
moorings, no anchors.
“Shūshu,” A-Li turned to his granduncle, grateful his voice turned out well.
“I think I should set a memorial for her.”
82 Jointly known as Heibai Wuchang, literally "Black and White Impermanence”. They are two
deities in Chinese folk religion in charge of escorting the spirits of the dead to the Underworld.
83 (元神) Primordial Spirit

A-Li's 三生三世
“That is fine, Zhízi,” Lian Song’s eyes were unfathomable but his voice was
kind. “She was a good person. I’ll bring Gun Gun and Cheng Yu to come by
later. We should remember her. ”
“Her servant gave me a painting she made—” A-Li cleared his throat,
catching his voice from breaking just in the nick of time. “You should see this,
Shūshu. It’s spectacular.”
“Even better since we both know you inherited your lack of artistry from
your mother,” Lian Song sat down on A-Li’s study platform. “We cannot have
you capture Xue Jiaolong’s beautiful face and spirit using circles-and-lines that
will make Chenwei laugh, can we?”
Lian Song’s words at least drew A-Li’s first smile in days. It was funny
because it’s true. Aside from poetry, A-Li could not draw to save his life.
A-Li called for the servants, who were permanently stationed to wait on him
outside his study, and asked them to bring inside six wooden panels for putting
up paintings. Once the panels had arrived, A-Li conjured the cedar wood box
Ge Peng had given him and supervised putting up the paper canvases onto the
panels.
Strange enough, the activity calmed A-Li’s inner turmoil because for the first
time in days, he actually remembered her.
How she looked like.
Her voice.
Her mischievous eyes.
Her smile.
Her compassion.
The happiness on the nine dragons’ faces on the panels reminded him of how
Xue Jiaolong’s eyes sparkled whenever something amused or touched her heart.
Just because you've been around long enough doesn't mean you should take
these things for granted. Look, the sky’s so clear and blue today. Did you even
look up since you woke up this morning? You should.
The carefree way the dragons played above the sedate orderliness of Kunlun
reminded him of how she always chose not to walk on a predetermined path, be
it on the forest floor or her life.
Isn’t it wonderful that my insistence to turn down all those nobles who
wanted to keep me over the years was so that I can beat you thrice at Yì and
walk with you by the riverbank tonight? Why would I wish to live a different
life?
Looking at the dragon’s face on the third panel brought back memories of
how she slept next to him, softly breathing, trusting. She couldn't even keep her
temper around him for long.
It seems the hardest thing for me to do is to stay mad at you.
Could she? If she were here, could she have forgiven him for being the man
who didn’t know what he wanted until it was too late — the man who shunned
her love? Would she forgive him for not coming in time to save her?

A-Li's 三生三世
I don’t need a hero.

A-Li touched a panel.
Her brush strokes felt alive— deliberate with no hesitations— much like
how she had approached her life. Always forward, never backward.
Mad? To be mad at you is to be mad at at my fate, and I’ve refused to feel
that way a long time ago. In some aspects, I’m better than you. You were born
into your role. I chose mine.
A-Li had mulled over their last meeting for nights and nights, while
dissecting every word that was spoken, every action she had made. Her strength
showed at how quickly she had picked herself up when he had rebuffed her
love, and had hidden her momentary vulnerability so fast behind the facade of
Wang Ling that A-Li had lost track on how to properly respond.
She had even cut her hair.
Then, the guilt would creep in.
Because what would have happened if earlier on he had already known he
loved her?
After the guilt came remorse. That night was the same night she had danced
for the Emperor. What happened at the Imperial summerhouse in Luoyang? She
carried a dagger on her person. Was she proposed to? Threatened? Cajoled?
Was she already carrying the burden of a threat with her when they parted
ways? Were the words “Save me” already halfway to her lips when he walked
out that door?
A-Li touched a hand to his face and was surprised to see his fingers come
back wet. His eyes flew over the panels to Lian Song whose gaze remained
steady and fixed on A-Li, offering only strength, not judgment. A-Li gave him a
tight-lipped smile as he wiped away the tears. Moving to the other side, he
motioned for the servants to turn the panels in unison so Lian Song could see.
Lian Song’s eyes widened as he shot out of his seat, his mouth fell open,
and the hand that held his closed fan trembled as he pointed to the painting.
“H-How?”
A-Li looked at the painting, and tried to ignore the pinpricks that stabbed at
his chest.
“She dreamt about it.”
“T-That’s Kunlun.”
“I know.”
“No mortal has ever laid eyes on Kunlun from that direction before.”
“She said she dreamt of dragons since she was nine.”
Lian Song approached the panels to further examine the painting. A-Li
remained on the side, and felt somehow proud for Xue Jiaolong the longer he
watched the wonder grow on his granduncle’s face. Lian Song was a huge
connoisseur of the music and arts, and that look on the Old Dragon’s face A-Li
had only seen before when Lian Song studied the works of the greatest artists of
each millennia.

A-Li's 三生三世
“She signed it,” Lian Song shuffled back a step, his eyes wide.
A-Li moved toward the direction his granduncle was pointing to. At first he
thought it was just part of a dragon’s scale but upon closer inspection, he saw
her stage name elegantly written in minuscule print, so much so that it looked
part of the edge of the scale.
He looked back at his granduncle, his eyes a mirror of what was on the Old
Dragon’s face.
“She was a poet and a mystery to the very end, Zhízi.”
Wang Ling — the name she chose for herself when she entered her trade.
王靈, Wáng Líng… the name that appeared on publications carrying her
poems and songs. It could have had many meanings, and in retrospect, A-Li
knew he should have asked her what this name meant to her.
But now, did it matter? Because here she was, a tiny piece of herself written
in tiny script which marked her place in history for all time.
亡靈, wánglíng… departed spirit.
“Just who was this woman?” Lian Song asked with a shake of his head.
It was a question that the Heavens refused to answer. However, as stunned as
A-Li was with this new discovery, it didn’t matter who she was because all that
mattered now was that Xue Jiaolong was gone.
A-Li couldn’t even mourn about his pain because he had yet to mourn about
hers. But how? Was there a kind of grief that was worse than this: to have
nothing to go back to? He was this powerful God, yet he had never felt more
powerless even as he stared down on the King of the Underworld and mobilized
the Underworld’s army to spend days to search each of the 12,800 hells — but
they had failed to find even a wisp of her shadow.
Because she didn’t even have a jue hun, A-Li couldn’t get a spirit tablet
ready for her like she did for her mother. It was as if she never really existed,
and as he carried that knowledge, it bore the weight of hundreds of daggers that
pierced through his heart.
“We will find her, Zhízi,” Lian Song soothingly rubbed his grandnephew’s
shoulders as he promised this, and many other things, before he left.
However, it was long after Lian Song had gone to check on his wife that A-
Li realized he had something even better.
This painting of hers captured her personality and spirit in a way a spirit
tablet failed to do.
It triggered a part of his memory of her that at that time he thought was
trivial.
If I die before you do, will you pray to me? I just think Death shall feel a
little less lonely when somebody talks to you.
“Will you hear me if I do?”
“I don’t know, but you know me. I'll find a way. I always do.”
Could it be? Was it possible?

A-Li's 三生三世
A-Li called for joss sticks and an incense burner. He paced in front of her
painting as he waited for the servants to rush back with the goods he had
ordered, and he debated whether it made sense to actually do what she had
suggested long ago.
Of all the things A-Li had done since she had gone, to go through the same
motions of her praying to her mother would probably be the most extreme of
all. Him, a god— a future High God— down on his knees to pray to someone
who did not even have a soul that he could pray to.
Would she hear him?
Would it work?
But as A-Li was quickly learning, desperation was indeed a powerful force.
Despair didn’t separate a god from a mortal.
Pride did.
And A-Li had no more pride left to give.
So he knelt.
He bowed.
He kowtowed.
A-Li had only ever kowtowed to his parents and grandparents before, and
only because he had to.
Today, he kowtowed because he wanted to. He kowtowed because he
needed to.
“Jia’er,” he whispered breathily against the wooden floor, as the tears from
his eyes pooled on the spot on the floor where his forehead rested on his first
kowtow.
“Jia’er,” he whispered again, on his second kowtow, and was stunned to
discover how this ultimate act of submission in front of her painting, and the
mere mention of her name, acted like a balm to his tired soul.
There were too many things A-Li wanted to say to her that it was almost
impossible to determine where to start.
Death shall feel a little less lonely when somebody talks to you.
Talking. They did a lot of that after the earth-shake when she was still alive.
He could do that.
And so on his next kowtow, A-Li confronted her with the question that had
been pressing on his mind ever since he first saw this painting.
“Jia’er, I’d always thought you painted your dragon Jiaolong as an ugly
beast. Looking at her now, she still is. How could you be named after such an
ugly creature?”

Chapter 19
The Threat Revealed
“A-Li was able to come to this… temple?”

“Yes, that’s what Cheng Yu told me, Dong Hua.”
Dong Hua looked around at the intricately-slotted pieces of logs that made
up the foundations of where an alleged temple had once stood. A similar
structure was set up on top of a hill, and a little to the west was where the gates
were. All bare. In some parts, the wood was rotted and mossed by time.
“What do you think happened here?” Si Ming asked, physically vibrating
with curiosity.
“An illusion spell. The fact that the caster had to build foundations means the
spell was meant to stand for quite some time.”
“But… forgive me for asking this— A-Li is a high immortal of impeccable
pedigree. He should have been able to see through this.”
Dong Hua understood Si Ming’s confusion. “He did, which was why he
reported to Cheng Yu that something felt off, right?”
“But his cultivation wasn’t enough?”
“I don’t think you would have fared any better, Si Ming,” he corrected with a
wry smile as he walked closer to the foundations. “This was very strong
magick.”

A-Li's 三生三世
Dong Hua unsheathed his Cang’he sword from its scabbard and cleanly-
sliced through a log post that in the illusion would have supported part of the
temple’s covered walkway. The entire structure creaked as it tried to rebalance
itself. Dong Hua waited for a few breaths as he admired the building’s
foundation’s brilliant engineering. He had no doubt it could withstand any
earth-shake.
When he was sure the building was secure, Dong Hua approached the log he
had just sliced and pulled away the top half. Si Ming barely had time to jump
out of the way when Dong Hua threw it over his head.
“What are we looking at, Dong Hua?” Si Ming asked as soon as he
scampered back.
Dong Hua paid no heed to his companion and looked at the log’s bottom
half. To Si Ming’s High Immortal eyes, it probably showed nothing. But not to
Dong Hua. His eyes saw remnants of pulsing magic that still actively throbbed
at the log’s core, both golden and silvery, and very much alive.
“What did you walk into, A-Li?” He murmured as he lifted the log off from
where it was buried on the ground. Without waiting for Si Ming, he cloud
jumped back to the Thirteenth Sky’s Taichen Palace where he headed for the
oldest structure in the area.
***
When Si Ming finally caught up with the Former Heavenly Emperor, he found
Dong Hua back at his own desk in Taichen Palace, staring at two pieces of logs.
Si Ming, proud to carry a reputation for noticing everything, was pretty sure one
of the logs came from the structure that supported a roof over the ritual
cleansing area at the back of Taichen Palace.
“Dong Hua, what did we find?” He asked calmly even though his curiosity
was killing him.
Dong Hua continued to stare at the two wood cores. Outwardly, he looked
relaxed, right elbow rested on a stand while the side of his face rested on his
knuckles. But Si Ming had been around Dong Hua for hundreds of millennia
and he already knew the signs hidden beneath the former Emperor’s impassive
brows and blank eyes. His left hand’s fingers, for one, twitched every now and
then on top of the table. There was also that very slight tensing that showed on
his jaw every few breaths. And the fact that he didn’t look amused at all as he
looked at the wood cores—
“Nothing.”
Si Ming’s brows raised. “Nothing? If we found nothing, Dong Hua, why do
you look worried? What’s wrong?”
Dong Hua remained silent as the incense clock behind him burned halfway.

A-Li's 三生三世
When he spoke again, it was only one word but it carried with it an ominous
tone of dread Si Ming had never heard before from the usually imperturbable
Former Heavenly Emperor.
“Everything.”

A-Li's 三生三世 Book One PDF

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A-Li's 三生三世

He had barely gone for two days.

his grandnephew (侄孙), but he didn’t like to betray his age.

after Pangu (Creator of the Heavens and Earth) died.

A-Li resignedly resumed his backbreaking work.

薛… So are you from Qílǔ ? He asked as he peered over her shoulder,

10 (星君) Star Lord, as used to address Si Ming in Pillow Book 1

calligraphy, chess, literary drinking games, etc.

Seven immortal days ago.

Six immortal days ago…

20 Fourth Uncle Bai Zhen’s steed

“Ow.. Ow.. Ow…”

22 Little Devil (nickname)

despite threats of rebellion from fellow Celestials. Even A-Li couldn’t

Five Immortal Days Ago

26 (弈) Ancient name for Go, Weiqi

The Day The Earth Moved 1

Twenty-Five Mortal Months Later…

The Day The Earth Moved 2

“Oh— was I too heavy?”

44 (大爺) Uncle, Father’s Older Brother

calligraphy, chess, literary drinking games, etc.

He had been more than rational too.

“Take your hands off me and let me die!”

47 (老师) Teacher or a form of address for a highly-educated person

“It seems the hardest thing for me to do is to stay mad at you.”

49 (担) One unit = 100 catties or 50 kilograms

50 (寸) The width of a person's thumb to the knuckle

He had been too careless today.

The deluge had turned into a full-blown storm.

56 The God of Dreams

Ge Peng looked at her sleeping mistress with apprehension before stepping

But come to me in the summer

A-Li expelled the breath he was holding with a huff.

Twenty-nine mortal months. It took him twenty-nine mortal months to court

The Day I Went Away

59 (老爺) Maternal Grandfather

60 (裙) Skirt of traditional hanfu

A-Li left the Ninth Sky a local and returned a stranger.

Why is this woman so thin?

“Tell me, at least. What did she smell like?”

66 (衫): Open cross-collar shirt or jacket that is worn over the yi

“What do you mean she no longer lives in Luoyang?”

ligayacroft/ 3310X2 / 100

ligayacroft/ 3310X2 / 101

ligayacroft/ 3310X2 / 102

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The outer ones were of rénshēng, prisoners-of-war or slaves mutilated last

67 (地獄) Realm of the dead or Hell

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A-Li’s question was unexpectedly answered when a massive procession

68 Dragon chairs or imperial sedan chair

feet). This is then divided into 1,500 chi or "Chinese feet"

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72 Relatives of the Emperor that were sacrificed and respectfully buried

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