Chapter 108:
Destined by the Heavens
PEONIES HAD BEEN a favorite among the citizens of Luoyang since Empress Wu Zhao’s reign. Gardeners often hiked Mount Baima in search of exquisite specimens to transplant into their peony gardens. The first time Xiangyu met Wen Bin was in these mountains; he’d gone there in the spring in search of such rare varietals, and…
“Did he fall off a cliff?” Li Jinglong asked.
“No,” Xiangyu replied. “He was drunk off the wine he brought with him, snoring on the ground.”
One glance from afar at the young and handsome gardener lying inebriated and unkempt amid the sea of flowers was enough for Xiangyu to fall in love. She observed him for a long time as he came and went, watching as he searched high and low for the most beautiful flower in the mountains, which he’d then replant in Luoyang.
“So you appeared in human form and got to know him,” Li Jinglong hazarded.
“I didn’t,” Xiangyu said. “I was curious about him, so I appeared before him as a flower and let him take me back to the city.”
Hongjun blinked.
Wen Bin potted Xiangyu’s true form in his room and watered the peony every day. An amused Xiangyu would assume her human form at night and tidy his house for him. Wen Bin remained oblivious to his nightly guest, and so human and flower lived together this way for the better half of a year.
“And then you were seized by the gu apes?” Li Jinglong asked.
“No,” Xiangyu answered.
“You guessed wrong three times in a row!” Hongjun quipped. “That never happens!”
Li Jinglong put a hand to his brow and waved in surrender.
When spring came again, Xiangyu bloomed gloriously for him. Wen Bin, too, had gradually fallen in love with her—with a peony. He’d sit alone under the moon, looking at his peony as he talked to himself and let his mind wander.
At this point, Xiangyu’s expression took on a tinge of sorrow. “But yao have powers and humans do not; they must eventually go their separate ways. If we became lovers, the poison in me would gradually weaken him, and he’d die a tragic death. This is heaven’s design—humans and yao can never be together. The night after I bloomed, I thought I might as well let it be my goodbye. I headed back to Mount Baima.”
But when Xiangyu returned to the mountains, she discovered they were now occupied by a troupe of monkey yao, led by the gu ape Wan Jue.
Wan Jue bore the strong energy of a heavenly demon. Using his powers of lust, he accelerated the cultivation of all the peonies in the valley until they gained human forms—a feat that would normally require a century of cultivation spent absorbing the essences of the sun and moon.
In a bid to save her sisters, Xiangyu confronted Wan Jue. But she was no match for the gu ape, who defeated her and brought her to Luoyang with the rest. Wan Jue sent a band of monkey yao to guard the garden on Mount Longmen and hired gardeners to care for the peonies—including Wen Bin, who was surprised and overjoyed to be reunited with the white peony he’d once lost.
Over the next few years, Xiangyu waited patiently for a chance that never came. Wan Jue, who had been powerful to begin with, became even more so with the aid of the heavenly demon. To grow his base of operations, he had the peonies take the form of prostitutes in the House of Peerless Beauty, a brothel he opened in the Galaxy.
One night, consumed by her yearning to see Wen Bin, Xiangyu snuck into the city to meet him in her human form. Upon speaking to her, Wen Bin at last realized that she and the peony he treasured were one and the same. Just as he was about to pour out his heart to her, Wan Jue took notice of her absence and summoned her back to the brothel.
Wen Bin tracked her to the Galaxy, where Xiangyu—bound by Wan Jue’s powers—was forced to inject him with yao poison. When Wen Bin left, Xiangyu managed to follow him, but she couldn’t treat him no matter what she tried. Wen Bin was plagued by the poison until Hongjun stumbled across him and brought him back to the Department of Exorcism.
“I had a feeling we were being watched,” Li Jinglong remarked. “I thought someone among the enemy’s ranks might be helping us. That’s why Wan Jue was surprised by our appearance at the garden.”
Xiangyu nodded. “You were correct.”
“This time,” Hongjun said.
“Maybe he was just lucky?” Li Bai added.
Xiangyu laughed, but Li Jinglong—temporarily embarrassed—remained silent. She explained, “Wan Jue sent some monkey yao to spy on you, but I dealt with them.”
“Now that you’ve repaid them for their good deed, what do you intend to do?” the divine kun asked solemnly.
Xiangyu bit her lip. “I want… I want to be with him, even if we can’t… I still want to be with him.”
As Hongjun looked at her in confusion, Li Jinglong said, “You’re willing to go without it, but perhaps he isn’t.”
“I know.” Xiangyu blushed prettily. “Men always understand other men best.”
Li Jinglong glanced at Hongjun, who had no idea what was going on. It was Li Bai who came to his rescue: “One of them is yao, and the other is human. They can’t be intimate unless you teach them how to deal with the poison.”
“Oh!” Hongjun exclaimed in realization.
Xiangyu was flushing crimson now. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “You have my gratitude, sir.”
“Then I’ll give you a prescription for the antidote—”
“Wait,” Yuan Kun interjected. “All beings in the mortal world have a destiny, flower yao. Would you feel no regret, even if you were to die the next day, for the sake of a brief taste of ecstasy?”
It isn’t that serious, is it? Hongjun thought, looking from Yuan Kun to Xiangyu.
Xiangyu seemed to have already thought it through. “Even if I could only be with him for one day, I’d be happy.”
“Cause and effect intertwine in an endless cycle,” Yuan Kun pronounced. “Your love is written in your fate, since it could not have been had you not met Mahamayuri and Acalanatha. But this is both a fated encounter and an inescapable trial. It is your choice to make, but you must be certain you won’t regret it.”
“What will happen if she regrets her choice?” Hongjun asked.
Yuan Kun didn’t answer. Li Jinglong shook his head slowly. When it came to fate and destiny in the mortal world, some words ought not be spoken.
“I’ve made up my mind,” Xiangyu said.
“Give her the prescription,” Yuan Kun instructed Hongjun.
Hongjun wrote her a copy, and she knelt to him in the main hall. Yet when he stepped forward to help her up, Yuan Kun said, “You should kowtow to her too. Go on.”
Hongjun was confused, but he did as Yuan Kun said nonetheless. Yuan Kun was close friends with Qing Xiong, which made him practically Hongjun’s uncle—not to mention the fact that he was a yao king in his own right. Hongjun knelt opposite Xiangyu, and they kowtowed to each other thrice.
Li Jinglong felt a vague sense of unease—this looked far too much like a wedding ceremony—but Xiangyu didn’t question Yuan Kun. She merely smiled and said, “If our fates are destined to intertwine, so be it. Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Yuan Kun nodded.
“Where will you go?” Li Jinglong asked.