19 Fight for Control

Jin Tai Heng looked around the room. His head was fuzzy, like he had been out drinking all night with a few of his fellow spirits. A cool breeze blew in, causing the sheer curtains to flutter.

His gaze sharpened as he set his sights upon the familiar room. Set in the Northern courtyard, the window sat facing towards the south, allowing maximum exposure to the sun. Simple and elegant, white and rich shades of reddish mahogany wood.

Freshly blooming peonies sat outside the window, just as he had remembered them. Jin Tai Heng chuckled. Jin Ying Hua never liked those peonies, threatening to replace them with a cherry blossom tree…

Turns out she never did.

Nostalgia and sorrow filled his heart.

How did he come back here?

After the war, he retreated to the lower heavens, traveling under an alias, slowly cultivating. He deliberately contacted the Gu Wen, his former mentor, to seal his memories of the war. Jin Tai Heng did not want to remember, and the Gu Wen advised it as well. Those memories of his could easily disrupt his cultivation, and cause him to develop a heart demon.

Hence, they needed to be sealed.

Well, that was what the Gu Wen told him.

The Gu Wen had given him a note, written before the Gu Wen sealed his memories. Within, Jin Tai Heng swore never to return, and never to interact with those from 6th Heaven and above. He swore to live a life away from the courts, from the chaos; a life of simplicity.

The Jin Tai Heng that had his memories sealed was driven by a feeling of wanting to be free. He did not know why. All he knew was that he cradled a deep desire to run away from 6th Heaven and never return, his heart aching with a certain heaviness and guilt.

He ran.

So why was he back in 6th Heaven, a place he swore never to return to?

A light knock sounded out throughout the startling silent room.

Xue Ya walked in, her diamond face cold and hard.

"Milord," she greeted respectfully, bowing slightly.

"Xue Ya…? Why am I back in 6th Heaven?" Jin Tai Heng asked.

Xue Ya had a look of confusion on her face, the facets of her stone face glimmering lightly as her body shifted.

"Milord? You have been back in 6th Heaven for a few days."

"What?"

Jin Tai Heng was astonished. The last thing he remembered was cultivating peacefully in 3rd Heaven, where there were endless forests and roaring waterfalls. It felt like he had gone into a long sleep.

Xue Ya narrowed her eyes. The Milord who returned to her a few days earlier had a totally different aura from this one. Of course, at the time, she placed this onto the fact that Milord had lost a huge part of his memories. There was something off about the Milord who previously returned, but she soon dismissed this after seeing his behaviour at the gathering. Only her Milord would have the courage and recklessness to stand against the world for a friend.

No one but the Gu Wen and Jin Tai Heng himself knew the extent of how many memories were sealed away.

At the time, she held a seed of hope: had their Milord returned back to normal?

Now, she didn't know what to think.

Xue Ya narrowed her eyes. "Milord, you went to the Gathering of the Moon yesterday, along with Jin Tong."

Jin Tai Heng's face darkened.

He had no relation to Jin Tong. The most he had heard from the other spirits before he left 6th Heaven was that he betrayed the Jade Emperor. For a spirit who was the right-hand man of the Emperor, what motive could he have to do it?

Jin Tong's punishment was for his tongue to be cut out with the Spiritual Dagger, unable to grow back with cultivation. He was to drink the An Jing potion, which caused eating, drinking, and even breathing to be difficult.

Finally, he was to be cast out of 9th Heaven, and forbidden to enter any Heaven above the 6th Heaven.

His voice turned cold. "Get out. I need to think."

Just what was going on? Had the Emperor finally found him, and dragged him back to the seat where he carried heavy responsibilities which he neither wanted nor cared for? Titles, fame, money and power.

All things Jin Ying Hua worked for, yet here he was. She was dead, he was alive.

Xue Ya bowed her head and left. Right before she closed the door, she spoke.

"Milord, you have a meeting with the God of War in the afternoon."

With that, the door closed with a soft thud.

Jin Tai Heng froze. A meeting with the God of War? He looked around the room, searching for any clues. As expected, even when he was gone for so long, his servants kept everything in clean in hopes of his return.

As his eyes went over the writing desk, he spotted a pieces of paper scattered haphazardly across the surface. He walked closer.

The ink was half dry. A large blot stained the paper where the brush had been left, almost as if the person writing was in a hurry.

Jin Tai Heng's brows furrowed.

He couldn't read any of the words written, all in swirly letters completely unknown from any of the languages he had seen in the Heavens. His finger slowly traced over the bubble-like curve of a character, the ink clinging onto his fingertips.

Jin Tai Heng clutched at his head, white-hot pain slicing its way through his head. Shutting his eyes closed, the powerful energy inside his body became frantic, like a raging storm. He leaned on the table, fighting against something he didn't know, something he never thought would–

Taehyung opened his eyes.

He glanced at the table, at the pieces of paper filled with Korean. Last night, he had suddenly gotten a flash of inspiration to write, frantically scribbling down his lyrics.

Cherry blossoms in the distance,

Loneliness in my heart,

But I know that this isn't the end,

Because we will find each other.

Just wait for me.

Taehyung placed a hand over his heart(now, could this body even be considered his?), feeling the thumping rhythm underneath his fingers. These lyrics were the reason that he could fight back, fight for control against Jin Tai Heng.

Logically, this didn't make sense. Wasn't Jin Tai Heng still him?

Or could this be the work of Jin Ying Hua?

Taehyung shuddered from thinking of the dream he had. Her silvery hair, her plead for him to stay once she realised he wasn't Jin Tai Heng…wasn't this a little too weird?

A sick realisation came over him. Jin Tai Heng had most likely killed his own sister, Jin Ying Hua. That feeling of despair, that vivid imagine of her ghoulish body lunging towards him; blood leaking from her wounds.

Nevertheless, Taehyung had to keep going. He could not afford to lose control again.