Legend of Fu Yao

The sight took Cloud Soul’s breath away.

The sky slowly darkened. In the horizon, the crimson red sunset gradually disappeared into the depths of the mountain in the west. The idyllic rose-colored setting was replaced by a splendid shade of turquoise, and as their surroundings dimmed, their shadows vanished as well.

Night time was impending, and the bright moon was about to rise.

Cloud Soul finally sighed. “I swore… to protect the heir of the Zhan family, and never pardon their enemies.”

White velvet mist circulated around her extended hand. Instead of defending himself, Zhan Beiye secretly pressed his palm on Meng Fuyao’s back, waiting to push her out as long as Cloud Soul attacked.

Not far behind, Little Seven was waiting to receive them. He would definitely be able to catch Meng Fuyao.

Without any warning, the mist neared Zhan Beiye’s chest!

Zhan Beiye gave a low holler, and the last bit of his inner energy penetrated out of his body, though it was not directed at Cloud Soul’s murderous move. Instead, he gave a strong push towards his back.

“Little Seven, catch!”

The lad rushed forward, yet he did not catch Meng Fuyao whose body made a clean arc in the air. Without looking back, he barked, “You guys catch!”

He zoomed past Meng Fuyao and without saying a word, thrust his pike towards Cloud Soul.

Zhan Beiye was exasperated. “Bastard, scram!” he barked.

Little Seven retorted arrogantly, “I will scram after saving you!”

He went head-on, violently stabbing his pike at Cloud Soul from left and right, with no sense of control in his movements. He was an underground gangster, a homeless lad who had been fighting on the streets since he lost his parents at the age of three until Zhan Beiye took him in and personally taught him martial arts. But he was not as uncultured as how he appeared — he was sharp to realize that Cloud Soul was a woman and had a natural disadvantage in stamina. She would have the lower hand if she exhausted all her inner energy after a day of intense fighting. Facing someone like her, it was better to just fight than try to trick her.

Little Seven wielded his pike, using all of his strength in every attack he made. He seemed to be able to hear the slight tears in his ligaments and muscles for overusing his body, and he could feel his body slightly shivering like he was about to melt into a pool of mud. Yet for his every strike, he would still use the same amount of strength.

The fine stones on the cliff were swirled away by the violent wind. Cloud Soul’s face darkened with anger, and she icily asked, “A clown like you dare to provoke me?” With a wave of her sleeves, Little Seven was forcefully thrown out.

However, while he was still in mid-air, he used his pike as an anchor on the ground to swivel himself back, aiming towards Cloud Soul and using exactly the same attack!

Cloud Soul raised her eyebrow so high that it almost looked vertical. ‘What’s wrong with everyone I met today? Why didn’t they know how to shun, or fend for themselves, or run away? Why did they only know how to foolishly use their body and flesh to persevere through my attacks?’ she thought.

Extending her arms in frustration, she sent Little Seven flying in the air time after time. She disdained Little Seven as a being too inferior for her to kill; if everyone got to know that one of the top ten martial artists like her bullied a servant, her reputation would be tarnished.

Little Seven slowly contributed to the blood stains splattered on the ground, but he continued to laugh as he blocked Zhan Beiye’s body. Every time he felt faint due to exhaustion, he would grab a handful of sand and forcefully smear it all over his face.

The rough sand resulted in searing pain, but even under great grief, he wiped off the blood on his face and dashed ahead again. That long pike had no flag attached to it at all, but the air of determination and belief around it shot into the sky. Let his blood be the ink, and the sky be its flag!

Zhan Beiye was speechless and had no more strength left to verbally stop Little Seven. He quietly looked away and stared at the moon on the horizon.

The moonlight was rising!

Tonight, was the night of the full moon!

Finally, after Little Seven risked his life to fight for time, the golden and round moon rose from the tip of the cliff, engulfed in a sea of velvety clouds.

Cloud Soul suddenly looked up. When she saw the full moon, her expression changed. After listening intently to her surroundings for a few seconds, she silently rose above the ground.

As she floated in the air, her weapon dimmed and glowed in her hands. Finally, without any hesitation, she flung it with great power towards Little Seven’s skull.

Plop!

It was not the sound of a skull being cracked open. The weapon had been captured into a net, and it hit against a soft item.

It was a dazzling net, with every line as bright as silver, looking shiny and clear; a gentle pluck of it would produce dreamy rays of silvery light. At times, the net was like the string of a legendary instrument that one would play while basking in the beautiful spring; other times, it felt like the silk scarves that smoothly flowed through the hands of beautiful women. When it did not move, it was like a pool of calm water as refined as jade — when it flew, it became the purest and brightest stroke of moonlight.

The lingering moonlight once cherished deceased beauties, sighed over diminishing prosperities, reflected the liveliness of dynasties and witnessed emotional farewells. Over the countless years, be it in the past or present, the moonlight was forever silvery-bright.

The moonlight was in the arms of the person who stood in the moon.

As the cool moonlight shone from above, the person was so plain that he looked like one of the beams of light. His long and narrow fingers were as white as the moon, and they held onto the dazzling net. The elegant and charming eyes looked towards Cloud Soul.

He slowly spoke, “Why are you hiding from me?”

Cloud Soul’s expression continually changed. Ever since that man appeared, she had kept her back facing him, and she refused to turn back. She was fidgety as if she did not know where to place her hands. Twice she seemed to be desperately attempting to stick her grey hair in her collar, but both times she gave up, and could only look away without knowing what to do.

Yet that man seemed to be oblivious towards her tiny movements and unwelcoming posture, and he casually walked up. Light had become extremely bright ever since he came, so it was natural for one to feel that only a figure who hid in the moon would be so glaring. But these few steps he took would make one realize that he was, in fact, the moonlight. Inner energy radiated around him and hazy rays of light surrounded him. Wherever he walked, it was as though a magnificent radiance was added to the scenery.

He had long silver hair that shone when he moved, and a captivating and joyful appearance so eye-catching that it was hard to distinguish his gender. When he smiled, his lips were like a crescent moon that seemed far but charming. Though he exuded a cold presence, his expression was warm and especially when he looked towards Cloud Soul, it felt strangely like a moon on fire.

Throwing Little Seven away to a faraway place, he commented, “So smelly and dirty, don’t come and suffocate my dear Cloud.”

When Cloud Soul heard “my dear Cloud”, she immediately wanted to flee, but she was held back by the net. As the man slowly pulled back the net until she was standing right in front of him, he lamented, “My dear Cloud, you always mercilessly run away from me. If it wasn’t because of the full moon that strengthened my tracking abilities, I wouldn’t have found you even till now.”

Cloud Soul stiffened her back and was determined to not look back. She leaned forward, grudgingly trying to resist the net with all her strength, but she did not see the eerie smile on the man’s face.

By that time, she was already fully exhausted from a day’s battle, and she was of no match to the man who had come well-prepared. Exasperated, she barked, “Moon Soul, bother me again, and I will fight till death with you!”

“You have said this for 38 years, a total of 217 times,” said Moon Soul as he wickedly checked her out from top to bottom, his eyes seeming to caress what he saw. “Come, let’s fight till death then.”

He said this line in such a lingering and suggestive manner that one would almost have a nosebleed from hearing this. Even though Cloud Soul back-faced him, it was not hard to notice that her neck had turned red. She stammered, but no word was expressed.

Moon Soul remained silent too. As he gazed at Cloud Soul’s figure, his joyous and bold expression was slowly replaced by one of loneliness and sadness.

As Cloud Soul continued to give the cold shoulder, Meng Fuyao – who regained some of her inner energy – ran over to Zhan Beiye’s side. As she panted, she stared at Moon Soul in a daze. “This is the person you’ve been waiting for?” she asked.

Zhan Beiye heaved a sigh of relief. “He finally came,” he said.

“You know him?”

“No,” Zhan Beiye smiled in a slightly cheeky way. “I just know of a legend that Moon Soul has been chasing after Cloud Soul for many years. For some reason, Cloud Soul refuses to accept his pursuit and hides away from him every time. Then one day, when she wasn’t paying attention, Moon Soul planted a mark in her body. From then on, whenever there was a full moon, he would use his ‘Moon Attracts Tide’ to sense Cloud Soul’s location…”

“Stop!” Meng Fuyao raised her hand and interrupted, as suspicion grew in her mind. “You were so sure that he would come? What if he had other commitments? What if he was far away? What if he wasn’t even in Heaven Demon?”

Zhan Beiye innocently replied, “That’s why I said that it depended on our luck…”

“You told us to persevere till night time, just because he ‘might’ come?” Meng Fuyao asked, nearly collapsing on the floor. With a tiny bit of hope left, she added, “So if he’s here, he’ll definitely save us?”

“No idea,” Zhan Beiye answered honestly. “Moon Soul’s emotions are unpredictable. He does things according to his mood, and his mood is completely based on Cloud Soul’s actions. So… he might help us, or kill us even before Cloud Soul does.”

Meng Fuyao was speechless. His mood depended on Cloud Soul’s attitude? Weren’t they dead meat then? Judging from Cloud Soul’s actions, Moon Soul would likely get rejected for the 217th time. Wouldn’t they die sooner?

“I am going to die because of you,” Meng Fuyao howled. “You can’t fool people like that.”

“Fuyao,” Zhan Beiye held her hands and earnestly said, “If I didn’t say this, we would have had no motivation to hang on after half a day. We would have died by then.”

Meng Fuyao became silent. Moments later, she sucked in her breath, patted on his shoulders and smiled. “Yes, with hope comes the strength to continue.”

Zhan Beiye stared at her distorted face, a tinge of sadness flashing through his eyes.

There were some things that no one gave him hope at all, but he still did not want to give up. For example, this woman in front of him.

But Meng Fuyao was ignorant about his expression. She kept staring at the pair, and her eyeballs darted back and forth between the two. Suddenly, she nudged Zhan Beiye and whispered quite excitedly, “Hey, is Moon Soul male or female? Tsk tsk, what a pretty transgender.”

Her voice was kept very low, but Moon Soul heard her. Turning back, he drawled, “You can come over personally to examine me.”

Not a speck of blush appeared on Meng Fuyao’s face. Lying on the floor like a dead dog, she stared at his beauty and spoke, “Senior Moon Soul, I have a piece of advice. Do you want to hear?”