My Little Ghost

Volume 1.4.3 — The Transcendence

“I have an earth spirit like yours so we would get along well. I’m a little taller than you but I would never use that to my advantage. I’ll let you win duels with me to make you look good if you want... Hmm. What else? I can’t think of anything else while I’m staring at you. Your beautiful face is distracting me.”

“Why do you even keep on thinking about these things?”

“Because I’m giving you a list of reasons why you should marry me.”

A sweet sound of laughter bubbled up in the other man’s throat. “I told you, I won’t.”

He laughed a little, too, already understanding what hadn’t been said yet. They both knew what he was saying was impossible, but they kept talking about it tirelessly, anyway. “Why not? You’re a Crown Prince from the Eastern Empire, and I’m a Crown Prince in mine. What have we to lose? Anyone can say we’re a perfect match.”

Meng Zhang removed the mask on his face and gave Huang Di a beautiful smile, his eyes twinkling in beautiful colors. “The Central Empire’s Crown Prince must not have visited the empires outside the Central Empire yet.” He picked up a dried leaf and gave life back to it, growing a short stem and a bluish-green flower. “Marriage in between two men is prohibited in all empires.”

“Except in mine,” Huang Di answered quickly. “We’d get married here and you’ll become the Crown Prince of the Central Empire, too.”

“It’s not possible. We can’t have children and the people from my empire will not acknowledge our marriage.”

“Then we just have to live here. And also...” Huang Di crawled a bit to move closer to Meng Zhang. “I’m going to let you in on a secret.”

Meng Zhang gave him a funny look. This was the first time that their talk about this subject reached this point. “What secret?”

“If I told you, you’d have to marry me.”

“Then don’t bother telling me about it anymore. I’m already happy with what we are and what we have. For as long as I am here in the Central Empire, then we can be like this.”

“But what of it when you leave? Are you just going to forget me, my beautiful dragon?”

Meng Zhang laughed at him and gave him the flower. “No, Xiao Di. I would never forget you.”

After absently taking the flower, Huang Di frowned and looked at it. “You have already given me so many of these.”

“Really? I didn’t notice.”

Huang Di pulled out all the contents of his storage bracelet, almost making a small garden on the riverbank out of the flowers that Meng Zhang gave him. “Look. I always bring them all.”

Meng Zhang gaped at him in disbelief. “If anyone sees them, they would know that these flowers didn’t come from the Central Empire. These flowers only grow in the Eastern Empire and you have them. What would they think of you? Are you not afraid of the Hei Meigui Curse?”

“We’re not colluding to create a new generation of inheritors that would hunt down the Hei Meigui like they did in history. We wouldn’t get cursed with that.”

“But you have to be careful, Your Highness. You are, after all, a special mage.”

Huang Di picked up one of the flowers and used his earth spirit to turn them into dead stones, leaving only a few flowers that resembled the color of Meng Zhang’s spiritual energy on the ground. “Now they wouldn’t see the true form unless I remove the spell. I only have a few of these flowers now.”

“You really are one tricky mage,” Meng Zhang said with smiling eyes. “But, I’d still suggest you throw all of them away or give them back to me if you don’t want them thrown. We can’t take any risks, Xiao Di.”

“No, no, wait. I have an idea.” Huang Di gathered all the remaining flower and used his earth spirit to grow a single vine. “Give me more vines. I’m bad at this.”

“You’re a special mage, Your Highness,” Meng Zhang reminded him with a small chuckle. “You can borrow my power and create some yourself.”

“I can create one with my earth spirit, too, but not as good as yours. Just make me some.”

Meng Zhang took a look at the green vine in Huang Di’s hands. “It’s lovely. You don’t need my help.”

“Stingy,” Huang Di grumbled to himself but made more anyway. When he finished, he used his earth spirit to carefully attach the remaining flowers on the twisted vines and turned to face Meng Zhang. “Close your eyes,” he said.

Meng Zhang looked at the beautiful arrangement and felt excited of the fragrant scent. He did as he was told and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was met with Huang Di’s beautiful smiling face. “It looks beautiful on you, my Crown Prince.”

Meng Zhang touched the top of his head, feeling a makeshift crown around his hair bun. “What is it?”

Huang Di gave him a proud look. “It’s my way of giving you a gift. I am, after all, a descendant of the qilin royal beast and considered as the most talented mage in my generation. They just don’t know that yet because I didn’t want them to know.” Huang Di reached up a hand and gently touched the crown. “This is to make sure you wouldn’t become a victim of other mages in this empire. You know how they habitually leave traps and formations by the order of our qilin ancestor.”

“Really? This would... dispel the traps?”

“And illusions. And other minor spells. Are you happy?”

Meng Zhang immediately nodded. “Very.”

“I have placed my first natural layer of  protection in that so it should keep you safe from harmful cultivation as it did me when I was a kid.” Huang Di reached out his hand and combed through Meng Zhang’s hair with his fingers.

“My hairpin is ruining it. Should I remove the hairpin?”

Huang Di didn’t answer. Instead, he shifted in his seat wordlessly to remove the hairpin himself and fixed the crown on Meng Zhang’s head once more. After a bit of time, he finally spoke again. “Oh. You’re only missing just one more accessory.”

Meng Zhang looked on curiously as Huang Di searched the riverbank for a specific plant. When he found it, he gasps and crawled over to pluck a small green leaf and crawled back next to Meng Zhang. He used the chains and jade ornaments connected to Meng Zhang’s hairpin combined with a few short vines to create a tassel for Meng Zhang’s waist sash.

“Here,” he said, pinning the newly-crafted accessory on Meng Zhang’s belt.

“What is this?”

“It’s a four-leaf clover. This is the symbol of luck here in the Central Empire.” Huang di smiled once more, looking back at Meng Zhang’s face. “You look like the goddess of the moon—Chang’e. No, even more beautiful.”

Meng Zhang stared at him with excited eyes. “Have you seen the goddess of the moon? She has an incomparable beauty.”

Huang Di nodded his head, tucking a stray hair behind Meng Zhang’s ear. “Yes, I’ve seen her. But I also am seeing you all the time and I can still say that you’re the most beautiful creature I have ever laid my eyes on.” He touched Meng Zhang’s cheek so tenderly before he went on. “The goddess of moon floats around the qilin river every first night of autumn and meets with the spirit of the qilin beast. Did you know the story of how the first royal beasts gained their immortality and how the goddess Chang’e came to be?”

Meng Zhang moved closer and lay on his back, head falling on Huang Di’s lap. “Tell me.”

Huang Di stared at his face. Lately, he found that he every time he stared at Meng Zhang, he almost, always got lost in thought. This time, he kept his mind alive, played with Meng Zhang’s hair, and started speaking, “Once upon a time, a mortal woman wished to have a home that overlooked the beautiful realm of earth. She was tasked by the Heaven Almighty Chief to catch ten phoenixes as a sacrifice and in return, she would be rewarded with the home she asked for. With her small hands, she gathered the phoenixes but they flew out of her hands and became ten stars, rising in different directions. They grew so big that they became suns, almost burning the earth realm.

“So the Heaven Almighty Chief gave the mortal woman another task. She had to find an archer who can shoot the suns. The woman traveled in all directions—from East,” Huang Di paused and tapped Meng Zhang’s left cheek with his index finger, “West,” he paused again, this time tapping on Meng Zhang’s right cheek, “North,” another pause, tapping Meng Zhang’s forehead who’s now giggling with his eyes forming crescent moons, “and South,” he said with a final pause, lightly rubbing his thumb on Meng Zhang’s lower lip.

“And then?” Meng Zhang asks with a quiet voice.

“She searched in all directions until she met another bird, a fierce one, who lived in the vast lands of the South. It was vermilion in color, and almost the same size as the phoenixes before they became suns. The vermilion bird was a great archer who possessed a fire spirit, making her the greatest candidate to shoot the suns.

“The mortal woman rode the vermilion bird back to the center of all the lands, where the vermilion bird would shoot all the suns. The vermilion bird did not disappoint the Heaven Almighty Chief and was able to shoot down the first and second suns with her skills in archery. But as the vermilion bird fired her third arrow, the sun gave her a command that made her stop.

“The mortal woman asked, “Why did you not shoot the other suns?” And the vermilion bird answered, “Because the sun told me that she is the phoenix, and the phoenix is the ruler of all beasts. I cannot shoot down my ruler.”

“The mortal woman begged the Heaven Almighty Chief to spare her for not completing the sacrifices, but the Heaven Almighty Chief only gave her another task. She had to find all the beasts that can shoot down the suns.

“Three more beasts came—an azure dragon, a white tiger, and a black tortoise. They could only shoot down two suns each and every time, they would fail on shooting their third suns. This left the mortal woman with two more, and they could no longer find other beasts that had skills in archery. But then, when all hope was almost lost, a golden qilin who lived by the river came to them, and proposed that he would take down the last two suns. In return, he needed the special abilities of all the other beasts because he didn’t have martial skills, unlike them.

“Inspired by his courage, the four other beasts lent him their special abilities. The golden qilin used the vermilion bird’s ability to fly and flew closer to the suns; used azure dragon’s scales to prevent the heat of the suns from scorching him; the white tiger’s stealth and agility so he could hide from the suns’ views and quickly shoot the arrows; and the tortoise’s strength to pull the bow.

“The Heaven Almighty Chief was pleased and blessed the beasts with an elixir of immortality each. The mortal woman was also given a home at the moon where she could watch the earth realm in peaceful silence. She was given a name—Chang’e, the goddess of the moon who sacrificed the suns. And the five beasts were called ‘The White Roses for the Death of the Last Sun’.

“They were all celebrating the golden qilin’s skills and the four other beasts’ abilities. With all their talents combined, the golden qilin was able to shoot down the two remaining suns, but the last dying sun told him, “I could grant you the knowledge to become a ruler of the demon beasts, but you have to let one of the phoenixes live.”

“Surprised of the fact that the suns were phoenixes, the golden qilin’s heart was broken because he didn’t think these suns were just beasts like themselves. Instead of taking the immortality for himself, he gave the elixir to the last dying sun and made it immortal. This remaining sun warmed the earth for the living creatures, but it was also a reminder that ten phoenixes had to be shot with an arrow for the beasts to get an elixir of immortality, and nine of those phoenixes had to die for a mortal woman to get a home.

“This made the Heaven Almighty Chief displeased, but the phoenix promised to look over the golden qilin.

“When the Heaven Almighty Chief cursed the golden qilin with a short life, the phoenix blessed him with the right to reincarnate and all his descendants to become masters of magic.

“When Heaven Almighty Chief cursed the golden qilin with the ability to choose who would be blessed with immortality but not the ability to retain one for himself, the phoenix blessed him with the knowledge of ruling which he exhausted to rule the lands of beasts, including the immortal ones.

“When the Heaven Almighty Chief made a rule to make sure that the golden qilin won’t have any more descendants, the phoenix made him a mage who could create life without the womb of a woman.

“And when it came time that the Heaven Almighty Chief tasked the mortal ones to shoot for the remaining phoenixes just to hurt the sun in exchange of immortality, the golden qilin, with the knowledge of a ruler, called the four immortal beasts to fight off the thousands of mortal men who planned to chase and kill the small clan of the remaining phoenixes. Because of this, the heavens called the golden qilin a ruler of beasts, and the phoenix as the golden qilin’s ruler.

“Those who gathered to kill the phoenixes named themselves ‘The Black Roses for a Sunless Earth’. And after all the endless curses and blessings, the Heaven Almighty Chief finally conceded and left the beasts and other living creatures live a life of of their own. But as a reward for never giving up, the Heaven Almighty Chief gave the golden qilin a choice. He could have the blessing of the phoenix and the curse of the Heaven Almighty Chief, or he could have the blessing of the Heaven Almighty Chief and the curse of Hei Meigui.

“The golden qilin’s descendants always chose the blessing of the phoenix, but with it also came the curse of the Heaven Almighty Chief.”

By the time that Huang Di finished telling the story, Meng Zhang’s eyes were already closed with a peaceful smile on his face. Huang Di smiled, too, but a tear fell out of his eye that dropped on Meng Zhang’s cheek.

“I am cursed, my beloved prince. If you don’t marry me, your memories of me would disappear after I choose to bless you with immortality.”

Huang Di leaned over and kissed the forehead of the sleeping man.

“But if I accept the curse of the Hei Meigui, I can remove you from my memories and start again. I can be a rogue martial cultivator without a qilin royal beast blood, cultivate to immortality as a disciple from a different empire, and once we meet again, you would make me fall in love and we’ll be together without the curse of death to threaten us.”

Meng Zhang moved in his sleep to wrap his arms around Huang Di’s waist.

Huang Di caressed the sleeping man’s hair with one hand and wiped the tears away from his face with the other. “If I choose this curse instead, you would need another mage of a different bloodline to complete the ceremonial rites. If I choose this curse instead, would the nobles think I was being selfish? If I choose this... would you forgive me one day?”