Six Hundred Years

Arc 1 - Xitang Water Town

Plum blossoms bloomed in abundance in the woodland, their delicate petals dropping to the earth. The forest was blanketed in a shade of light pink, with no green visible from above, thanks to a swath of peach blossom trees.

A short in height wooden table sat underneath one of the many trees in this woodland, with a delicate looking female in red robes carrying a white wine gourd bottle in one hand and on the other side sat a male in flame yellow robes with distinct features but a gentle gazed, fixed on the blossom petals.

"You said you needed to tell me something important, what is it?" the male asked in a rather soft voice, imitating his very expressions. His finely sculpted yet tender countenance held two faint dimples on either side of his cheeks, becoming more apparent with every syllable he voiced. His deep brown eyes wandered around before landing on the other person, waiting for a response.

The female immortal in whose mind running were countless thoughts, caught off-guard, subconsciously reacted with a "huh?", causing the young man to subtly chuckle at her reaction. She placed the bottle down, recollected her wandering mind and responded,

"Yes, yes. I nearly forgot why I called you here, this place can be quite distracting" pinching the bridge of her nose, she sighed and shook her head at herself before continuing, "I was minding my own business and Si Ming showed up all of a sudden, asking me to take care of something in the mortal realm" Wei Feng's eyebrow quirked up as he heard the last part of the sentence,

"Mortal realm?"

Mei Ling nodded her head, "Yes. Apparently, an unrested spirit from the Hell of Mountain of Knives somehow managed to escape back to the realm of the living. The hell guards are having trouble finding this spirit and needed the help of an immortal and it turns out that no one else has time to go" she rolled her eyes, "so naturally I'm the last resort" she shrugged her shoulders as she finished recalling what happened. Wei Feng simply looked at the empty jade cup he held, slightly tilting it in various directions and nodded, "and you would like me to tag along?" he questioned as he gained a silent 'yes' from the immortal, "if Ling-Jie wishes for me to come then sure," he agreed to her request, but still a little curious, he asked again, "just a query but, what use will I be of anyways?"

"Well, I haven't dealt with that many spirits before, and this one just seems all too much to handle by myself, considering how even the Hell guards couldn't find him. So consider this as me taking you with me as a backup and as for the other reason", she lifts up her bottle of wine once again, "Since the Moon festival is nearing, from what I know, the place we have to visit just happens to have a restaurant well-known for its seasonal Osmanthus wine" to which Wei Feng lets out a sigh threaded with a small laugh, finally understanding her intention.

"We'll descend at the earliest"

He gently got up, paid his respects to Mei Ling and walked away, his light robes fluttering with the wind like a calm fire.

Shortly after reaching the Kunlun Mountains, he made his way to greet the Queen Mother of the West, Xiwangmu. As he arrived outside her not-very-large palace, he was greeted by the Qingniao, in their human form of course, before being let inside.

"Xiao Feng, come have a seat" a gentle voice called out from within the chamber Wei Feng was standing outside of. Hearing his name, a soft smile bloomed on his face, entering inside the room in which sat a woman who was neither too youthful nor too elderly. He paid his respects and sat opposite this never-ageing deity, who he thought sometimes appeared younger than even the Heavenly Emperor himself.

"I'm quite glad to know that you haven't forgotten about my existence" she smiled as the Qingniao poured freshly brewed tea in their individual cups. Having had wine with Mei Ling just before coming here, he kindly refuses the tea and exchanges a small conversation with Queen Mother.

"The mortal realm…" she trailed off before speaking again, "you're still looking for them" she states as if it were a clear fact. Not waiting for a response from him, she continued, "Figures. I cannot stop you from doing something…" she hesitates but regains herself, "…that's long since meant to happen but," she placed her cup on the table, letting out a quiet sigh and stood up with the help of the Qingniao, "I hope you will be able to face whatever reality that's revealed to you" Wei Feng followed her and stood up too,

"I understand Queen Mother's concern for me. However, in these six hundred years, I've already accepted that everything I know is not the whole truth. Therefore, for me to stop after I've come this far is quite impossible"

"If that is your wish, then so be it."

Wei Feng gathered his sleeves in front of him and bowed to Queen Mother before taking his leave.

Just as he was about to head to his nest, the Phoenix Valley, he remembered his conversation with Mei Ling earlier. Having recalled this, Wei Feng at once took a U-turn on his feet and headed towards the Heavenly Gate. There he quickly greeted the guards, who seemed to have seen him so much lately that they let him through right away without any inquiries. After looking around for what seemed like an eternity and exchanging greetings with the passing immortals for a fleeting moment out of respect, he finally found the deity he was looking for, Si Ming, who was sorting out various scrolls inside the Library of Fate. He let out a sigh of relief, a little happy that he managed to find him.

Si Ming, however, didn't seem all that excited as he noticed the presence of this young male, trying to avoid him and leave the library. Though, before he could do so, Wei Feng blocked his way, putting on a pitiful expression. Seeing how he had no chance of escape, much to his annoyance, he gave up and let out a sigh,

"Dear immortal, I cannot tell you anything that is confidential, especially if it concerns the Nine Heav-" before he could finish his sentence, Wei Feng motioned him to pause, sat him down and fixed his own robes and spoke,

"Don't worry, I'm not here to ask anything confidential, not that you'd actually tell me" mumbling the last part of that sentence, to which Si Ming raised an eyebrow. "Okay back to the point. You asked Ling-Jie to take care of that unrested spirit who escaped from hell?" he looked at the elder man, who responded with an "mn."

"Hmm…I've never heard of such a thing happening before though. Have the Hell guards become careless of a sudden, so much that the unrested spirit of a human is able to escape just like that?"

Si Ming shook his head before replying,

"It indeed has not happened before. From what I know, the unrested spirit escaped before it could start its punishment."

With a serious tone, Wei Feng questions again, "and when did this person die?"

"On the 10th day of the 8th Lunar month"