Chapter 9: Fairy Hong Chen
Standing beside Head Guard Huang was a man who looked like he had crawled out from a pile of coals. It wasn’t just any man, but one of the Zhao Brothers, Zhao Xingwu, the henchman of Huang Cheng, the son of Head Guard Huang.
After experiencing first-hand the dangers of the Boundless Secular World, he thought Zhao Xingwu wouldn’t be able to come out of it alive. But never would he have imagined that Zhao Xingwu would actually manage to survive and return from the ordeal.
Without any explanation needed, just by looking at the big blade that Head Guard Huang personally brought with him, Miao Yi knew that Zhao Xingwu had already told him everything.
Normally, no one would even dare cause such a ruckus here, but Head Guard Huang was one of the heads of security who had just been transferred from a nearby city wall to serve and protect. Since Miao Yi had just killed his son, it was entirely possible that he had found the perfect reason to deal with him.
“Quickly, climb up the willow tree!” Miao Yi frantically pushed his siblings to run towards the tree.
After the three siblings climbed up, hiding behind the leaves and branches, Fatty Zhang felt like something was amiss. He watched as Head Guard Huang led a bunch of people in search of them, then asked in a lowered voice, “Big Brother, did something happen?”
Immediately, Miao Yi quickly explained in simple terms that he had murdered Huang Cheng and Zhao Xingkui. Shocked, Little Lu covered her mouth, staring blankly at her big brother with her big, beautiful round eyes.
Fatty Zhang also found himself slightly shocked as well. He would never have imagined that his big brother could kill someone. But very quickly, anger took over and he said, “Since he dared to do the vicious deed, I will kill the entire Huang Clan myself, sooner or later!”
Just then, cries of alarm could be heard coming from people inside and outside of the city. Everyone lifted their head and looked towards the sky.
A magnificent phantom of a golden phoenix soared right above the Ancient City.
After circling around a few times, the golden phoenix suddenly disintegrated into multiple rays of golden light. Emerging from the light was a woman wearing red clothing that fluttered in the wind. The golden rays of light transformed into dangling golden hairpins on the woman’s head, and the three golden bracelets on her wrists.
Two pieces of red silk, each about a hundred meters long, flowed into the sky, coiling around the woman’s arms. The silk supported the red-clothed woman as she slowly descended onto the city wall.
Her red skirt fluttered up, revealing a length of bare, jade-white ankles. A pair of curved red shoes with pointed toes, landed softly on the dent of the city wall. Her posture was elegant, like a real fairy walking over ripples of water.
The hundred-meter long, red silk on her arms still floated in the sky, as if trying to pull the flowy-dressed woman back to the Heavens, to shield her away from the blasphemy of the secular world below.
This red-clothed celestial maiden stood exactly above the willow tree. The three siblings only had to lift up their heads to see her from a very close distance, each of them struck dumb by her presence.
This living, alluring woman, a seemingly ageless beauty, had appeared right before the three siblings. Her skin was as smooth as cream, her eyes clear and sparkling. With her small nose and red lips, her overall looks were picturesque.
A red silk sash fitted right on her waist, complimenting her graceful posture and making her chest appear fuller, and her waist slender and dainty. Between her eyebrows, a small red lotus with six petals bloomed, as vivid as life.
Above all, her cold aura within her reserved attitude was a sight to behold. People could only gaze from afar, afraid to approach her.
From where they hid, Miao Yi and his younger siblings could smell the fragrant scent of a valley of orchids. This must be the fragrance of the red-clothed celestial maiden.
Miao Yi and Fatty Zhang could not believe their eyes. Before, Miao Yi thought Tofu shop Old Li’s daughter was pretty enough, but when compared with this celestial maiden, it wasn’t just their looks, the aura of one was of Heaven while the other was of Earth; the two couldn’t be compared to begin with.
A cultivator wearing silver armor rushed over to the city wall, cupped his hands in a gesture of salutation, and said, “I am Yang Qing, Mountain Chieftain of Mount Shaotai from the Fifth Earthly Branch domain. I did not know Fairy Hong Chen would be personally coming here. Please excuse me for not coming to meet you on time!”
As he said this, the cultivators inside the city were shocked. She was actually Fairy Hong Chen? A lot of people had heard things about her, but had never seen her in person.
Maybe some people would not know who Fairy Hong Chen was. But it was presumed that the cultivators would know of the Six Sages of Heaven and Earth, since they were the six strongest within the cultivation world. The cultivators could only look up to the Six Sages, feeling overpowered by their strength.
And Fairy Hong Chen was the youngest disciple of the Immortal Sage, Mu Fanjun, so one could imagine her actual status.
Little Lu noticed how her two brothers almost drooled when they saw the beautiful celestial maiden. She pursed her lips, looking unhappy. Even from a young age, she knew the taste of jealousy. She stretched her arms towards her brothers and pinched the sides of their waists.
The brothers snapped back to reality from the agony of their pain. Fatty Zhang rubbed on the spot where he was pinched and gave a warning glare at Little Lu. He turned his head back and continued admiring the beautiful woman.
Miao Yi looked around him and noticed that everyone had been enticed by the red-clothed celestial maiden. This was the right moment to escape back into the Ancient City. Once inside the city, Head Guard Huang wouldn’t dare cause a ruckus.
He quickly signaled his brother and sister, and the three of them slid down the now revived willow tree, sticking close to the base of the city wall, and bracing themselves for a quick escape.
But before reaching the bottom of the tree, Miao Yi raised his head and gazed deeply at Fairy Hong Chen once more, imprinting her outstandingly beautiful smile deep into his mind. He imagined how great it would be if he could marry her and take her as his wife one day. As he turned away, he knew that such thoughts were ridiculous. He didn’t even have the qualifications to marry Old Li’s daughter from the tofu shop, much less try to marry a celestial maiden. He really was crying for the moon...
Fairy Hong Chen had already noticed the three siblings hiding in the willow tree below her. But she only gave them a brief glance, she didn’t even notice the silver-armored cultivator’s salutation. Her puzzled eyes swept all corners of her surroundings, as her lips murmured repeatedly, “Hong Chen inquires at the secular world, a dying tree once again meets spring…”
This prophecy had left her confused for quite a while. A few days ago, the most secretive and elusive Oracle of the cultivation world came unexpectedly to the Realm Beyond Heaven, a paradise for the Immortal clan belonging to the Immortal Sage, Mu Fanjun. He came and requested something from Mu Fanjun, who gladly agreed, seemingly eager to bestow the request...
The Oracle was the master of divination. Rumors say that he is able to divine heavenly secrets, but he maintains an air of mystery, keeping a low-profile to prevent people from finding him. The Oracle doesn’t normally seek others on his own, so naturally, Mu Fanjun used this rare chance to ask for a divination.
Maybe it was because Mu Fanjun had granted his requested favor, and therefore the Oracle did not refuse. He grinded jade into powder, and on his plate he divined a prophecy: ‘Hong Chen inquires at the secular world, a dying tree once again meets spring’.
Nobody could understand what that prophecy meant. Mu Fanjun consulted the Oracle straightaway, requesting an explanation.
The Oracle shook his head and said, secrets of the Heavens must never be revealed.
Mu Fanjun asked again, was it ominous or auspicious?
But the Oracle titled his head and looked at Fairy Hong Chen, who was there as well. He smiled and said nothing, and soon after that, he left.
The way he looked at Fairy Hong Chen had naturally caught everyone’s notice. Everyone focused their attention on her, as though they had found a breakthrough In the prophecy.
Wasn’t there a ‘Hong Chen’ in Fairy Hong Chen’s name? And the ‘Boundless Secular World’, which had recently garnered a lot of attention, had already lifted its seal. At that point, everyone seemed to knew what the next course of action would be.
So, Mu Fanjun sent out Fairy Hong Chen, in the hopes that she could find out the meaning of the words, ‘a dying tree once again meets spring’.
However, Fairy Hong Chen had gone to different spots around the Boundless Secular World, and yet she still couldn’t find out what ‘a dying tree once again meets spring’ meant. This was already the sixth spot she had descended upon.
Just as she thought that searching this place would come to no fruition and was preparing to fly away, her eyes suddenly gleamed, and she directed her stare at a particular area inside the Ancient City.
Inside the city, she saw a richly ornamented residence’s roof that had a young green leaf sprouting out from it. The timber-turned-beam could actually grow out a new branch, the tender bit of green swaying around in the gentle breeze, fresh and moving.
‘A dying tree once again meets spring…” It seemed to Fairy Hong Chen that she had found a clue. She drifted away from the city wall, dragging along two hundred meters of red silk that fluttered in the sky, and headed towards that building inside the city.
Meanwhile, the old willow tree beneath the shadow of the city wall was left alone, drooping and dancing...