Chapter 4

After the battle at the Bai He River ended, the God of water Feng Luan, taking advantage of the turmoil around the wounded and killed, quietly poured a few drops of moon peony tincture into Aoi's mouth, plunging the boy into a sound sleep. Hiding Aoi's energy with his own, the God of water summoned several large warty snakes, instructing them to secretly carry the child to Bin Shan Peak[1].

Watching the Heavenly Lord rage after losing a fragment of the mirror, Feng Luan smiled with satisfaction: he immediately felt a dark energy in Aoi's body, the occurrence of which could not be justified even by the presence of demonic blood in the baby.

The God of water was too lazy to covet the black mirror. Moreover, Feng Luan was completely satisfied with his current situation, therefore, not too interested in the search for the artifact, the God of water decided to have fun from the bottom of his heart, having annoyed Ming Yuan Yi, who, a couple of thousand years ago, inflicted a personal insult on him by flattering Feng Luan's wife, the Goddess of Light Ye Qing.

If it wasn't for the baby Feng So in the womb of Ye Qing, the Heavenly Lord wouldn't have failed to enroll in the abductors of other people's wives, so Feng Luan hated the Supreme God with all his heart, from time to time setting up Yuan Yi petty dirty tricks.

After climbing into the cave on Bing Shan Peak, Feng Luan found frozen Aoi, who by this time had already woken up and was crying hysterically. Taking the tiny body in his arms, shuddering with sobs, Feng Luan, who was originally going to leave Aoi to the mercy of fate, felt pity.

"This child isn't to blame for anything," – he thought, looking at Aoi's scarlet and gold eyes, which in the semi-darkness seemed like two precious stones, frozen in ice. "I will take him with me and raise him as my son, there is absolutely no need to sacrifice another life," – with these thoughts, Feng Luan took off his outer robe, carefully wrapped Aoi in it, and headed with him to the palace standing at the bend of the Qing He River[2].

Little Aoi, warmly welcomed by Feng Luan and Ye Qing, grew up to be a bright and carefree child. Born in the same year as the youngest son of the God of water, Feng Huang, Aoi spent almost all the time with him.

Sometimes it seemed to the Goddess of Light that she had given birth not one son, but two, because Aoi followed Feng Huang everywhere, adopting his habits: if Feng Huang was hungry, a timid rumbling came from Aoi's stomach; when Feng Huang brought home a demonic snake, Aoi got exactly the same by the end of the day; Feng Huang began to learn martial arts from his father, and Aoi asked the the God of water to teach him the same.

For the first time, Aoi had to part with his brother when he turned fifteen: the fragment of mirror in his body required a lot of energy all the time, so Feng Luan took his son to Guang Zhi Hu Lake[3], freezing Aoi in its waters for three years.

When Aoi woke up, he was already eighteen. The energy accumulated by his body for three years was enough for the next fifteen years, after which Feng Luan put Aoi back to sleep, freezing him in Guang Zhi Hu.

Waking up for the second time, Aoi told his father that during unconsciousness he couldn't move, but he clearly heard someone, who calling his name.

– It was a multi-voiced hum that still stands in my ears, – he added. – The voices of old people and children, women and men merged into one. Save us, Aoi, – they begged. We deserve to rest in peace.

[1] Bin Shan – is an ice mountain.

[2] Qing He – is a golden river.

[3] Guang Zhi Hu – lake of light.