Not only had the sudden radiance astounded the four of them, but they were also immobilised for a few seconds, before being able to move again.
Dongyue glanced at Xiyu, whose hand was still in his, and she coldly took her hand away from his big paw without saying a single word.
Xiao Tian still appeared confused, and Ya’Xing continued about his work on the mystical vessel.
Xiyu silently watched the sky. The clear sky earlier was now rumbling with thundering sounds, and streaks of glistening light continued to flash across the sky. She knew the phenomenon was not a common one, and her premonition told her something was about to happen.
The gates of Muxue must have remained open after Dongyue’s arrival, and given her puerility, she was unable to close them. She could only attempt her best to defend Muxue from any harm that would befall it. But without guidance from an elder, how could she prevail in her tasks?
Granduncle, she prayed, please guide me.
……………………………………………………………..
Xiyu remembered that Xu Hanshan had not come to live in Muxue by chance. He was an orphan, and it was thanks to Xiyu’s granduncle and elder, Muxue Fangyi who had chanced upon the abandoned child when he was travelling between the gates of Muxue and the world outside it. Out of kindness for the two-year-old child, he brought him to Muxue and handed him to a childless couple, Xu Tianyang and his barren wife.
Being a sword sage at the time, Fangyi was one of the very few Muxue descendants that was adept in his sword-fighting techniques. His powerful kick was the bane to many, and few could withstand his strong strokes.
When Xiyu was eight, Fangyi who was her guardian and Hanshan’s saviour, mysteriously disappeared without leaving any clues of why he had left. It did not make sense to her how her only kin would leave her in the lurch. As she was juvenile then, Xiyu did not fathom why Fangyi had vanished. She took it positively, only to be met with Hanshan’s betrayal many years later.
Now at eighteen, she realised that it was no coincidence that Fangyi had vanished ten years ago. The year Fangyi disappeared happened to be the exact time the invisible magical gates of Muxue had opened. She could not pinpoint accurately the dates the gates would open, but there was a possibility that they would open every ten years, and remain open for a bit. She did not know how to ward the open gates from entry by intruders.
It all added up, she thought. When Hanshan was found, she was not even born, so it was ten years before Fangyi disappeared. But considering Fangyi’s superior cultivation, she could not believe he would have met with some trouble.
……………………………………………………………..
After a few hours of sailing silently without any wind to direct the boat, and no paddles, the flashing stopped. Xiyu had climbed up the deck of the vessel to observe the water around them as she was thinking.
She heard a masculine voice call out to her.
“Miss Muxue, a penny for your thoughts.”
As expected, the intrusive youngster was about again.
“Young Master Zhan, what is it? I know that the boat hasn’t moved much, but it is not a boat like that vessel that you have taken into the island. My boat is magical, and in need, it can change into a weapon or even defend us.”
She hadn’t given him the full story. Though they were now travelling in the lake, the magical boat would have to wait for the right moment for it to enter the mystical dimension that she so desired to enter. Very soon, she told herself. Be patient. What’s yours is yours.
But she was more concerned about her inferior powers and how she needed to perform a dark ritual to enhance them in order to defend the island. It was not a simple ritual; dark bonding was rather hard to comprehend. She first needed to find the right person who would meet her requirements, and he had to be willing for the ritual to work. She had to pray to the dark moon deity for her to grant her power, and she knew the cost of the power: the call of need, sensuality. That was something she was not looking forward to.
Because such a ritual would be uncomfortable and perplexing. She couldn’t go up to someone and tell them she wanted to bond with them. This person had to be someone who shared a connection with her, in other words, someone she was intimate with. Yet, in her life, she had not met such a person. She sighed deeply, and Dongyue increased his grip on her cold hand.
“Miss Muxue, that’s not what I came to talk about,” the man expressed with his fingers.
“What do you want to talk about, then? Anything in particular?” she demanded with an irritated tone.
“Miss Muxue, I…” he stammered, attempting to keep himself as composed as possible, but his body language was giving him away. His paw was now wet and clammy, and she realised it.
“Young Master Zhan, just cut to the chase. I don’t have much time to listen to your rambling,” she said stoically. She hid her emotions well and appeared cold and cruel to him.
“It’s about us,” he said in a soft and emotional tone. “Miss Muxue, from the first time I set my eyes on you, even with the veil, I have been taken by your loveliness.”
Behind the veil, Xiyu was unsure what to think of his words. Everyone in her life had placed some distance between themselves and her, all because she was a magic-practitioner and an enchantress. All, except her deceased parents and this man who would never give up.
“I’ve seen you in my dreams,” he suddenly blurted out. The men just carried on about their business without paying any attention to Dongyue and his confession.
“What dreams are you talking about?” she muttered. “Don’t we all dream?”
“I dreamed of you before I came here. On the night before I departed my hometown, I had an absurd dream. As you said, I thought it was a dream, but I was wrong. Miss Muxue, I have never met you all my life, but I dreamt of meeting you. In my dreams, your visage was never clear, but your body language and the way you carry yourself is unmistakable. It is you I dreamed of, Miss Muxue.”
She trembled, and he went to his bundle of possessions and quickly drew out a scroll, handing it to her.
“I thought it was a dream” was written in a calligraphic manner at the bottom of the scroll. She unscrolled the parchment paper in full to reveal a woman whose face was obscure due to the angle she was facing, but everything about the woman in the portrait revealed it was her.
“All my life, I’ve been told I’m cursed, and my mother listened to the nuns from the abbey not to allow me near women and to prevent me from having any indecent thoughts,” he said. “I thought, love would never happen to me. But it was you who changed all this. Because of you, I start to believe in love again.”
“I’ve told you that I don’t need a husband.” Albeit the warm rush of emotions in her heart, she repeated what she had told him before.
All of a sudden, the boat began to shake wildly, causing her to be pitched into his warm embrace. He secured his arms around her and held her closely.
“I don’t need you to tell me anything, Miss Muxue. I know I’m just a powerless man and unworthy of your attention, but I will do everything to prove myself that one day, I can be good enough to be your man.”
Like magic, the turbulence created ripples in the water around the boat. The resulting rift took the boat down with it. Xiyu closed her eyes and made her wish.