Heartless Betrays Devoted; I Wish Earthly Splendor

After ninety thousand love letters from my disciple Blaze, I finally agreed to meet him.

When the appointed day came, I had just sealed away an ancient fierce beast and needed to close myself off to heal.

So I went to him in my true beast form instead.

I never imagined that the very next day I would hear he had turned his back on the sect,

sworn himself instead to my junior Serena, and won the Immortal Sword Tournament.

Now he was the prodigy everyone praised.

When someone asked why he had changed his allegiance, his face went cold.

Before, I was blinded by greed and didn't realize the one teaching me was a mangy fox from the Demon Realm.

She forced me to wait on her for a thousand years, only because she coveted my looks and wanted to make me her immortal consort.

Just thinking that I was taught and pined after by a beast like that makes me sick.

I was shaking with rage.

I hated him for having no eyes to see. I hated that he was taking the cultivation arts I had taught him and using them to win glory for someone else.

Worst of all, he had dared to call me a mangy fox.

My true form is the ancient auspicious beast Phoebe.

Inside the Mirror of Heavenly Secrets, Blaze went on tearing me down,

and as I listened my blood churned, until the meridians torn from sealing the fierce beast began to loosen again.

Better not to see and not to hear at all, I decided, and shut it out.

But something still sat lodged in my chest, and I could not make those words match my Blaze.

Blaze was not only my sole disciple.

He was also the first being to ever stir the root of feeling in me, in all the ages since I was born at the dawn of heaven and earth.

He was a little monkey-spirit I had saved on a whim. Coming down the mountain one day, I found him about to be devoured by a higher demon-beast, and thinking how hard it must have been for him to have only just taken human form, I felt a flicker of pity and saved him then and there.

Who could have known that from that day on he knelt at the foot of the mountain, day after day, begging bitterly to be taken as my disciple, to learn cultivation.

At first I refused him. I had lived countless ages and grown used to my own freedom, and as an ancient auspicious beast, my every move touched the fortune and misfortune of the world. Taking a disciple would surely change his fate and bind me to his karma.

That day I had shown no true face and given no name. I thought his interest was only a passing fancy, and that if I ignored him, he would leave on his own in a few days.

After all, no one entrusts their whole life to a stranger they know nothing about.

But I never expected such perseverance. For ninety-nine years straight, through wind and rain, through the blaze of high noon, he stood quietly at the foot of the mountain every single day, with no sign at all of giving up.

By the hundredth year, I finally resolved to drive him off by force.

He was only a little monkey-spirit of thin spiritual energy, with a lifespan of a few hundred years at most. It truly was not worth his while to keep wasting his time on me.

But when I came down the mountain, the sight before me stopped me cold.

For five thousand years my Mount Yuheng had grown wild and untended, yet somehow it was now covered end to end with blooming spirit-orchids, and even the demon-beasts that used to prowl and provoke me were nowhere to be seen.

I looked up. Blaze stood among the flowers, just cutting down a bird-spirit that had tried to steal a spirit-herb. He was dressed in white, his moves clean, his bearing bright and clear, like a green pine under the moon. But the moment he saw me he lost his footing entirely, and all that ease turned clumsy.

I'm not doing this to force you to take me as your disciple.

I only didn't want these creatures to disturb your peace, Immortal Sovereign.

His eyes shone as he said it, and the tips of his ears went red, and it was, I admit, a rather pleasant sight for a lonely old creature of ten thousand years.

Beauty misleads, and the days of cultivation had been too dull, so at last I nodded and kept him as my disciple.

Blaze truly did have a gift. A word of guidance from me and his cultivation soared a thousand miles a day.

He was devoted too. I always kept my face veiled in white before him, yet he held to his place and never once asked more.

From the day he came up the mountain, he learned to make mortal foods for me, saw to my daily needs, brought all manner of strange little things to make me smile, and every day wrote out his thoughts in a letter and set it before me.

Only, little by little, those letters turned from gratitude to telling me the stories of mortal men and women who loved and stayed by each other, and then to acting them out in his own gentle way.

Ninety thousand letters, and not one of them spoke of love, yet every line was about staying by my side.

Even I, who had long grown numb to love and hate and parting, felt him thaw my heart with his day after day.

When he begged me once more to meet him with my true face, in the end I was persuaded, and I agreed.

I only never thought it would fall on the very day a fierce beast broke loose.

So that Blaze would not have to wait too long, I used the most brutal method to pin the beast down. It drained my spiritual power dry and cost me my right arm, and for three whole months I could not hold human form.

But I remembered the promise I had made him.

Afraid too that my wounds would frighten him, I forced up my last shred of strength to shift back into my true form, meaning to explain everything once we met and to come to him with my real face after I left seclusion.

I never thought I would wait through a night of bright moon and thin stars, and he never came.

The next day, he betrayed the sect and turned to swear himself to my junior Serena.

And using the skills he had learned from me, he seized first place at the Immortal Sword Tournament.

The moment he made his name, he became the genius everyone praised.

And with him rose the old sect that had once been my junior's, riding the crest of Blaze's fame.

His betrayal had left me grieving for days.

On the seventh day, I woke to a roar and a blaze of fire on the mountain.

Still sealed in seclusion and unable to show myself, I could only bear the tearing pain in my spiritual veins and send out a thread of spirit-consciousness to see what was happening.

The lingzhi grass that had covered the mountain was pulled up to the last blade, the spirit-fungus and immortal herbs that had grown there for ages pried out root and all, and every trace of spiritual energy in the mountain range drained dry.

The countless small spirits who had cultivated here fled in a panic just to save their lives, and overnight my Mount Yuheng became a barren waste.

The one leading it all, the cause of every bit of it, was Blaze.

Shaking with fury, I cried out sharply: "Wretched disciple, stop this!"

But the moment he saw it was me, the cold severity in Blaze's face gave way to open disgust, undisguised.

"Before this, I was blind."

"I've changed masters now. You, beast, have no right to call me disciple anymore."

"When I remember how a mangy fox like you used to call me disciple, it makes me sick. I'd have been better off eaten by that fierce beast than suffer that humiliation."

His words spared nothing, and they lanced my chest with a sour, swelling ache until even my soul trembled with it.

I lowered my eyes, forced back the surge of blood rising in me, and answered with what patience I had.

"That day, I was gravely wounded sealing the fierce beast. I took my true form only because I didn't want you to worry."

Doubt flickered through Blaze's eyes.

A woman's soft laugh drifted over. She came riding on the clouds, planted herself close beside Blaze, and slid her arm through his, standing shoulder to shoulder with him.

Their sleeves were embroidered with twining silk-tree blossoms, the very dress of a pair who cultivated as lovers.

"What a joke. If you truly had the power to seal a fierce beast, why is your soul so unstable, why can you not even show your own face, why did you never once tell your own disciple your name?"

"In the old days, when immortals sealed a fierce beast, every one of them poured in the full weight of their spiritual instruments, dozens of immortals sealing it together."

"These past days every immortal of any standing has been at the Immortal Sword Tournament, and not one of them has heard of anyone going off to help seal a fierce beast. If you truly had such power, you'd have founded your own sect long ago, its incense never dying, so why hide in this ruined mountain with a single disciple to your name? Plainly you can't bear the light. You don't dare let your true self be seen."

I saw the woman's face clearly, and my heart sank.

"Serena. After all these years, you still haven't changed."

She lifted her chin in triumph, her eyes full of resentment held down for a long, long time.

"Neither have you, senior sister. Still the same. Still can't stand the light."

I was silent a long while, then let out a long sigh.

"It's been thousands of years, junior sister. Why can't you let it go?"

"Let it go? I worked so hard, and Master doted only on you. Back then you wouldn't take over the sect, so he'd rather close it and disband every disciple than pass it to me."

She raised the sword from the story and gloated: "See this? With the immortal sword Master handed down, I've come to all I am today. Only I was ever worthy of his regard."

I opened my mouth, but I didn't know where to begin.

A thousand years ago I was simply bored, so I found some sect at random, disguised myself as an ordinary disciple, took a master, and cultivated.

The old man who became my master had diligence to spare but not the talent to match, and under his teaching many disciples with fine spiritual roots and real gifts could never bring out their true strength.

I could see, too, that the blessed grotto-paradise the sect had chosen for cultivation had run dry, its spiritual veins withered, no longer fit to cultivate in.

I couldn't bear it, so I spoke up to guide them. To my surprise, though the old man's own ability was ordinary, his eye was uncannily sharp, and he knew at a glance that my true form was an ancient auspicious beast.

He knelt on the spot and begged me to take over the mountain sect, to keep teaching these disciples in his place.

But the laws of heaven and earth press down upon us, and the balance may not be broken. I could point the way, but I could not overstep and meddle in their affairs, and so I refused him.

Still, out of kindness for his good heart, I packed a bundle of immortal artifacts from my grotto, whatever came to hand, and gave them to him.

For him to pass to the disciples with talent.

Three days later, the sect closed its doors for good.

Some of those disciples founded their own sects, some went about the Three Realms subduing demons and slaying monsters and won no small renown, and some took up the sword and roamed the world, carving out a place of their own.

Scattered to every corner, those disciples all bore remarkable fruit.

In Serena's mouth it had all turned into my crime.

Even the spirit-sword in her hand, the sect's treasured spirit-sword, was mine.

I'd usually used it as a poker, particularly handy for stirring the coals.

Only I couldn't say any of this.

Seeing me drift off, Serena at once wove an immortal incantation and struck at me: "Blaze, teach this treacherous wretch a lesson, for your master."

Blaze's eyes flickered, and in that instant the flash of them pierced straight through my soul.

Where my true body sat in seclusion in the cave, my chest tore with pain, and I coughed up a mouthful of blood.

This technique was the one I had taught him to save his own life.

Now he was using it to kill me.

Watching my soul grow thinner and more unsteady, Blaze paused, and his voice softened.

Let this settle the debt for all your years of teaching and for saving my life. The next time we meet, I'll take your head with my own hands, and your life with it.

He drew back his hand, bowed again and again toward Serena, then turned and left without looking back.

Seeing him gone, Serena gave me a taunting smile.

That day the foolish boy saw your true form and fainted from fright. I woke him, and he was still set on going to see you. So I told him you were a mangy fox from the Demon Realm, a monster that lures cultivators of the righteous path to their ruin. He believed it at once, and swore he'd kill you for the righteous path.

Such a fine disciple. Senior sister spent all those spirit-herbs building him that strong, sturdy body, and in the end it was all done for my benefit. And I'm afraid you never got to enjoy it. I've helped myself to him first.

I won't hide it from you, senior sister. I've enjoyed him very much.

She burst out laughing and rode off on a cloud.

Before she left, she set loose a sheet of tri-realm true fire.

My home was destroyed, and the spiritual energy here was not enough to heal my wounds.

I could only return to my body and drag my injuries down into the mortal world in flight.

At least, after a few days of rest, I could hold a human form again. I only lacked the strength to split myself and use immortal arts to hide my face.

Still, this body's spiritual power looked so faint to outsiders that even a minor spirit outmatched it, so it drew no notice.

So I found the first sect with abundant spiritual energy and sought to become a disciple. After half a month of waiting, when I ran into Blaze, it finally struck me that enemies really do meet on a narrow road. The place I'd fled to was Serena's own sect.

Yet this sect was not as she had claimed, founded together by a few senior brothers who had also received immortal artifacts, joining to raise an order of their own.

I hadn't expected them to actually find such a blessed grotto-paradise for it.

Remembering that Blaze had never once seen my true face, most of my unease faded. I raised a hand with an easy manner, called out to him as senior brother, and meant to slip away.

I hadn't expected him to catch me by the arm.

Blaze's gaze burned, fixed hard on my face.

The heart I'd been so sure would go unrecognized rose back up into my throat.

I touched my face without thinking, afraid I'd let some flaw show.

You're the new one?

I nodded.

I tried to pull my sleeve back, but he wouldn't let go, his gaze thick on me, impossible to shake off.

Has junior sister ever taken a master before?

Is there anyone in your family who also cultivates?

Seeing that I said nothing and only stared at him, all wariness, Blaze seemed to realize how forward he'd been. His face went red, and he took back his hand.

Don't misunderstand, junior sister. It's only that you look so much like the Peerless Immortal Sovereign.

And somewhat like Serena's master too.

This was not the first time I'd heard that name from Blaze's mouth.

He'd brought it up long ago, back when he trailed after me begging to be my disciple. That day I had descended from the sky, plucked a willow branch on a whim to drive off a beast, and the drifting immortal air of it looked exactly like the Peerless Immortal Sovereign of legend.

That Sovereign moved through the world with ease, glad to help others.

Her cultivation ran deeper than anyone could see, and above all her beauty was matchless, first among the first.

Many sects had received her kindness, and enshrined her portrait in their grand halls, offering incense to it day and night.

Back then he had taken me for the Peerless Immortal Sovereign, and when he later learned I wasn't, he'd been a little disappointed.

But he'd comforted me gently: Master may not be the one I imagined, but Blaze's heart was long ago filled with Master alone, and it has nothing to do with anyone else, only because Master saved me.

Remembering the past, I felt again how life plays its tricks on people.

I still haven't asked junior sister's name.

Something turned sour in me, and I answered without thinking: Faye.

Blaze frowned. Faye? A name as lovely as its owner, junior sister.

From now on, if there's anything junior sister doesn't understand, you can come to me.

Blaze, who are you talking to?

I finished bathing and waited for you in my room a long while, and you never came.

Serena stepped forward, cutting into our conversation, and rested her head on his shoulder.

Blaze's body went rigid. He hesitated only a moment, then curved his arm around her and drew her in.

Serena's gaze swept over my face, and once she saw it clearly, her eyes sharpened.

She reached out and seized my right hand, probing my cultivation.

My right arm looked whole enough, but the root and bone hadn't fully mended, and wherever her spiritual energy searched felt like it was being seared by fire.

Thankfully she let go quickly, and the wariness in her drained into contempt.

"I thought you were someone worth all that fuss. Nothing but an empty shell. Who knows, maybe she copied that face from the Peerless Immortal Sovereign on purpose."

"Here's an idea. Five days from now is the day the whole sect goes to pay respects and offer incense before the Peerless Immortal Sovereign. Come along too."

She was scheming something, the malice in her eyes nearly spilling over.

Blaze pressed his lips tight, displeased with her tone.

He gave me a slightly apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, junior sister. My master's temper has always been bad."

"If you don't want to go, you can refuse."

I had no wish to get tangled up with them, but I was curious who this person was that Blaze had kept on his tongue for centuries.

Besides, in five days my injuries would be fully healed.

By then I would also settle accounts with the two of them for burning my spirit mountain, so I nodded and agreed.

Five days later.

The grand hall enshrining the golden statue was packed with cultivating disciples.

As far as the eye could see, they were all prostrate in worship, hearts full of devotion.

Even the elders and masters of the sect, who rarely showed themselves, had gathered in the grand hall.

From the moment I appeared, countless eyes fell on me, and the murmuring grew louder and louder.

And I looked at the towering statue before me, and found it laughable.

Because this Peerless Immortal Sovereign they spoke of looked exactly like me.

Blaze and Serena stood on the raised platform, their gazes circling the hall before settling firmly on me.

His stare was thick, something like delight, something like fire, and something searching. That searching look was exactly the same as the day I'd saved him, when he'd wept at the foot of the mountain and begged me to take him as my disciple.

Suddenly Serena's whole face turned gentle, and she beckoned to me.

"Faye?"

"You're the newest and youngest disciple, so why don't you offer the last stick of incense to the Peerless Immortal Sovereign."

Everyone turned to look at me. I walked up calmly, and as I took the incense from Serena, I clearly saw the corner of her mouth curve into a smug little smile.

Sure enough, the moment I set the incense into the censer.

A crack split out from the censer, tracing back to my fingertip.

The crack grew wider and wider, driving straight at the golden statue in the grand hall, in the space of a single breath.

With a sharp crack, the cloud-piercing golden statue crumbled to powder and came drifting down in a slow shower.

Everyone was stunned, no one reacting for a moment.

Then Serena seized me. Playing the righteous avenger, she flung her own sword to Blaze and shoved me forward, dragging me out before the crowd to make me their target.

"It was you!"

"You used some kind of demon sorcery, disguised yourself in the Peerless Immortal Sovereign's face, and offended her. You angered the Sovereign so badly that she shattered her own golden statue rather than be connected to a shameless creature like you."

"Today your immortal soul will pay for the offense to the Sovereign! Blaze, cut up her face first."

Blaze shuddered all over, his face torn, but under Serena's gaze and everyone else's, he still walked step by step to stand before me.

I stood still.

I let him bring the blade down against my face.

Cold light flashed. A stinging pain ran across my cheek, and a few drops of blood rolled down. Blaze's hand trembled, and the instant our eyes met, he looked away in a fluster.

Seeing that my face bore only a thin, small scratch, Serena grew even angrier.

She raised her voice higher, berating him.

"Blaze! Why haven't you torn the skin off her face? What are you waiting for!"

"Or is it that you no longer want to become an immortal?"

Blaze's grip tightened again on the blade, and he said softly to me, "I'm sorry."

But this time he clearly meant not to hold back.

A sharp crack.

The immortal sword in his hand, the one Serena treated as the sect's treasured spirit-instrument, snapped clean in two.

And not a single hair on me had fallen.

My whole body was wreathed in seven-colored spiritual energy.

I looked at him and finally spoke, but only disappointment was left.

"Blaze, when I taught you your powers back then, it was not so you could bully the weak."

That strike just now, if I had truly been some new little disciple with shallow spiritual roots, forget my face being marred, even my bones would have been cut through.

I would have been dead already.

Blaze's eyes filled with terror.

His entire arm was snapped clean by the rebounding immortal force.

He paid no mind to his own pain, his eyes trembling and trembling, only staring at me stupidly.

His lips quivered without stop. "You, Master... how is it you?"

"How do you... look exactly like the Peerless Immortal Sovereign?"

I curved my lips, touched my face, and felt a little embarrassed.

"Because I am the Peerless Immortal Sovereign you all speak of."