“Ah! Tang Bao, I discovered a serious problem!” Hua Qian Gu suddenly looked at the petal in her hand. She was so agitated that she nearly cried.
“Ah, what is it?” Tang Bao climbed into a peach blossom and began drinking the nectar. It fragrance and sweetness was intoxicating.
“I can touch flowers now! I can touch flowers!! It didn’t wilt! It didn’t wilt at all!” Hua Qian Gu suddenly realised. Her two legs trembled as she grabbed on to the flower petal that was now bigger than her. She agitatedly rubbed her her face on the soft peach blossom petal which was as smooth and beautiful as silk. Hua Qian Gu gave an excitedly rolled on the petal and wrapped herself in it. It was so fragrant and so comfortable.
“You couldn’t touch flowers in the past?”
"Of course. Why else am I called Hua Qian Gu (Hua= Flower, Qian Gu= Thousand Bones) ，Since I was born, I am a jinx to flowers. There has never been a flower that was unscathed in my my hands. Why can I touch flowers now? Why?"
“I think this had probably something to do with the Heaven’s Droplet or due to the Gou Jade (Tear Shaped Jade), especially the jade. Even though it looks ordinary, its powers are actually many times greater than the Heaven’s Droplet. It has completely masked the scent from your body that attracts demons, ghosts and spirits.”
"Ah？No wonder since I parted with Lang Ge Ge, there hasn’t been any ghost harassing me.!” Hua Qian Gu happily climbed from one flower to another.
The number of immortals in the forest slowly increased. Tang Bao was practically salivating as she looked at the tables that were brimming with jade brew, immortal fruit and other delicacies.
“Say, if I jump down from here onto the peach on the table, will I be discovered?”
“Not only will you be discovered, you may even be eaten by the immortals.” Hua Qian Gu laughed. “How many immortals are coming? Why are there so many seats being set up?”
“There are many immortals in this world. However, there are not many who can attend the feast. Those who are powerful are almost all gathered here. Besides the leaders of the various immortal sects, some famous immortals who don’t belong to any sect are also invited by the Queen Mother who governs Kun Lun now. There should be a total of around 400-500 immortals attending.”
In a moment, the music began to sound and the immortals began to stream into their seats.
There were immortals of every kind: Unearthly ones, breathtaking beauties, priestly ones, imposing ones, fearsome ones. Hua Qian Gu was momentarily dazed by how many different immortals there were. Other than the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother who was seated at the highest seats, she did not know any of the other immortals.
Tang Bao introduced them to her one by one.
“Those seated there are the Three Immortals of Peng Lai and the Gods of Fortune, Prosperity and Longevity. The one in red with a goatee who is lavisciously looking at the female immortals is the God of Wealth. The one sitting beside him drowning himself in drinks is the God of Fortune. The one with the white beard and hair, with a small boy seated beside him is the God of longevity.
“The ones seated over there are the respective leaders of the Mt Lao sect, Mt Tian sect and Mt Wang Wu sect. Its such a pity that Priest Qing Xu of Mt Mao is no longer around……”
“Which one is the leader of the Mt Lao?” Hua Qian Gu stretched out her neck and looked for him as she suddenly remembered that she had to convey the message to Lin Sui Yi’s shifu on his behalf.
“There, under that tree, the one with white hair who is sitting quietly with his eyes tightly closed . Do you see him?”
“Oh, I see him!”
“En, those over there are easy to recognise. Those over there are the various Budhas. Those on the left in plain clothes with bald heads are the 18 Luo Han. Those a little further back, are Mei Yin, Fan Yin, Tian Gu, Song De, Guang Mu and so on. They are the 18 Jia Lan (Basically guardians of the Buddhist Temple according to wikipedia). Look closely at Miao Tan, she is the most beautiful of the 18. She can even match up to Chang E (Moon Goddess who is supposed to be one of the most beautiful goddesses). The one who looks the most weird is Lei Yin.”
” Over there towards the eastern side are the 20 Zhu Tian (20 guardian gods in buddhist legend) – Ri Tian, Yue Tian, Da Fan Tian, Di Shi Tian, Yan Mo Luo Wang and so on. Their powers are all first class but their tempers are pretty bad too. Most people don’t dare to offend them.”
“The ones who are facing each other off in chess are the 6 lords of the Southern Dipper Stars and 7 lords of the Northern Dipper Stars. Whenever the 13 of them come together, they will play chess tirelessly with no regard of whether its day or night. Their chess pieces are all the stars in the sky and it can make the best weapons in this world.
“On the other side, the four who are raising their voices and seem to be quarrelling are the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas.”
“Ah? There is actually a girl among them? How pretty!” Hua Qian Gu looked at that astounding face and even though she had seen many beauties today, she was still amazed by how the red haired dragon king could laugh so heartily yet not lose the elegance and attractiveness of a lady.
“Yep. She is the newly appointed Dragon King of the Northern Seas. She is also one of the best drinkers, one of the most capable and one of the most beautiful immortals.”
“The one in front is Yuan Shi Tian Zun, Ling Bao Tian Zun and Dao De Tian Zun.”
“How about the one holding the white Fu Chen?” (Horsetail Whisk: It looks like a stick with with a giant horsetail at the end. You always see nuns and eunuchs carrying it around in period dramas.)
“That is Dao De Tian Zun which is also Tai Shang Lao Jun. He is a cunning and opportunistic fellow. You can only trust half of what he says.”
“The ones over there are the Southern Guan Yin (Goddess of Mercy), and the Eastern Cong En Emperor. The other three didn’t come. They probably are busy fighting off the rampaging demons.”
“Ah? Guan Yin?”
Hua Qin Gu looked at the Goddess of Mercy who was sitting in the lotus made of purple gold. She almost wanted to kneel down and kowtow a few times to the goddess.
There was an air of peace around Guan Yin and the kindness in her eyes and the serenity around her. Her faces flitted from one image to another and one could not discern which was her true face. However, all these instead reminded Hua Qian Gu of her poor mother that she had never met. Suddenly she felt a sharp ache in her heart.
” Stop looking. The Buddha has a thousand hands and faces representing the different forms of all living things. If you look too long, you will start seeing illusions.”
“You should have heard of many of those there. Many of those were given titles by the Jade Emperor after they became immortals. Er Lang Shen, Tai Bai Jin Xing, Chi Jiao Da Xian ( Chi Jiao means Barefooted, Da Xian = Great Immortal) , Wen Qu Xing and Wu Qu Xing, Thousand Li Eyes, Shun Feng Ear, Wind God, Rain God, Thunder God and Lightning Goddess. The ones presenting a dance on stage now are the Seven Goddesses. While the one serving wine to the various immortals is the Goddess Chang’E. The icy beauty who is sitting in a corner quietly without a smile is Jiu Tian Xuan Nv ( Roughly translated as Goddess of the Nine Skies )
Hua Qian Gu raised her eyes. At her age, she did not really know how to appraise beauty or understand what this word meant. She only knew that the Jiu Tian music was pleasant to the ears but she did not know how to explain why or how it was different from the music in the mortal realms. She looked at the rainbow clouds that floated in mid air against the blue backdrop of the sky and how the seven goddesses who were dressed like rainbows sang and dance in the air. Their bare ankles were as beautiful as jade. Each ankle was adorned with an intricate silver bangle. The countless silver bells that hung on the bangles tinkled in the wind as the goddess danced, their colourful ribbons twirling in the air.
As for the Goddess Chang E and Jiu Tian Xuan Nv, one was so a captivating beauty that would cause cities to rise and fall for her. The other was an untouchable beauty as cold as ice. They were so beautiful that Hua Qian Gu was starting to suspect whether she was really a female like them.
“The one who is emitting flames all over his body and nobody dares go near is Lie Huo Xing Jun ( roughly translated as Lord of the Fire Star). He has a fiery temper. Nobody in the immortal realm dares to offend him. Most immortals can’t be bothered with him either.” One closer inspection, Hua Qian Gu realised that he was actually a handsome youth of 16 to 17.
“The sunny and handsome guy over there is the Green Dragon, Lord Meng Zhang. The small beauty beside him is Lady Zhu Que. ( A legendary red bird covered in flames. if you play pokemon, it kinda looks like moltres) It is rumoured that they are on good terms with the demons and monsters and seem to have some intention of rebelling. They have many troops under them, hence the Jade Emperor is very troubled by this matter.”
“Wah! Tang Bao, you really are something!”
“Heh heh, as Yi Qiao Ge’s little demon sprite, the purpose of my existence is to collect and provide information to my master. I have the enormous database of Yi Qiao Ge behind me!”
When Hua Qian Gu thought of how most of what Tang Bao knew came from what a bunch of hanging tongues had told her, she involuntarily shuddered.
“So, Yi Qiao Ge knows not only about the affairs of the palace, it even knows the happenings of the immortal realms so clearly?”
“Of course, there are historical records of the happenings in the six realms.”
“If thats the case, does Yi Qiao Jun know any way to stop the demon god from being born?”
“I am not very sure either. My powers are still very low and the things that I know are limited. What I can access is merely the first layer of information in the database of Yi Qiao Ge.”
“Yep. I really envy those immortals. I don’t even know how long it will be before I will be able to find a master and learn a bit from him. Oh yes, why haven’t we seen elder Bai Zi Hua yet? Is he not coming?”
“I don’t know either. May he was delayed. The immortal realm is currently very chaotic and full of internal discord. The Buddhist and Taoist are battling for power both in the open and secretly. The various sects are resorting to underhanded methods to make their own sects stronger. Even the heavenly soldiers and generals are fighting to the death just to gain small advantages. The Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother only have empty titles but no real power. The Lord Buddha and the Goddess of Mercy have ceased to care about secular matters. In the immortal realm now, only the High Immortal of Chang Liu Mountain, Bai Zi Hua has the highest powers and commands the greatest respect. All the immortals also see him as their leader. He will not be absent for the discussion of such a big matter like the birth of the demon god.
Hua Qian Gu couldn’t understand these messy politics or why after becoming immortals, they still had such hunger for power and why they would fight so hard for power. No wonder Dong Fang Yu Qing hated immortals so much.
“That is the High Immortal Dong Hua. He and Bai Zi Hua have always been on friendly terms. But the other two High Immortals have weird tempers. They are absent almost every feast.” Hua Qian Gu stared at the otherworldly man who was like the wind. The expression he wore was like a smile yet not a smile. He was stunningly elegant yet paradoxically seemed so weak he could barely bear the weight of the robes he was wearing.
“There are many other wandering immortals and immortals who are scattered throughout the realm. The woman with a head full of curly hair who looks like a snake spirit is Ni Shui Qian Fan ( Roughly translated as the thousand Sails that goes against the water), Qing Shui Ying. The one who is now conversing with her and wearing a veil is Huan Xi Yan. Her identity is a little more mysterious. The one with a huge potbelly is Wu Yue San Ren. Anybody who is unlikely enough to be mixed up with him will be nagged to death by him. The one beside him with a pained expression is Du Bu Qian Jun ( Du Bu means one step, Qian Jun means a thousand soldiers), Nan Ling Han. He was previously one of the 5 regent immortals. However because his brother Dou Lan Gan was exiled to the Wild Plains for protecting a demoness, Nan Ling Han left the Jiu Xiao Palace in a rage to become a wandering immortal.
“Tang Bao, have you heard of Huan Xi Tian You, Luo He Dong?”
“Of course I have heard of him. His powers are extremely high, but his temper is even more formidable. Even though he is invited every year to the Immortal’s feast. He hates all the formalities and hypocrisies in the immortal realm and never comes. Many people in the immortal realm hate him, especially the fourth goddess of the Seven Goddesses. I don’t know how he offended her, but she really hates him to the core. Everytime she sees him she is practically wants to slaughter him.
“The other immortals scattered among the other tables are the 12 Shi Chen ( Note that the chinese day is divided into their “shi chen” each shichen has its own name and is roughly equated to 2 hours), the 28 Constellations and the 36 Heavenly Generals- I won’t point them out to you individually. There are a lot more people present this year compared to previous years. There are many that I don’t recognise. If you really become Bai Zi Hua’s disciple, whether you have an invitation or not, you may even be able to openly attend the Immortal’s Feast with him. I can also openly come to eat good food at the feast. Ahaha!” Tang Bao was salivating as she thought about this.
Even though Hua Qian Gu had not seen much of the world, she was someone with very little desires and did not have very drastic emotions either.
Even though each of these immortals who were breathtakingly beautiful in the eyes of mortals, Hua Qian Gu quickly got used to looking at them. Few were as intriguing as Yi Qiao Jun, while few could match Xuan Yuan Lang in terms of looks. In terms of aura or poise, few could match Dong Fang Yu Qing, while few were as scary and fearsome as Luo He Dong.
Even during her father’s death, Hua Qian Gu managed to hold back her tears amidst her sorrow. Even faced with the good looks of Xuan Yuan Lang and Dong Fang Yu Qing, she was merely stunned momentarily. As terrified as she was, when faced with the fearsome Luo He Dong and the countless ghosts, she held back her fear.
She didn’t have many desires nor emotions. She had her own kind of persistence yet took everything in her stride and did not really know how to reject others.