(3) Enchantment Once More

"You... what are you doing? What... is this thing?" Since the Misty Forest teemed with spirits and sprites, all of them Anu's little companions, and given that the demon-binding rope was originally a Deva treasure she had never seen before—and even if she had recognized it, she would never have used it, since such a thing was far too unkind toward her forest's little spirits—she immediately began to protest. In that moment she forgot her earlier embarrassment entirely, glaring displeased at Ziyuan instead.

Questioned so bluntly by Anu, Ziyuan found himself rather taken aback. Wasn't this obviously helping her? Why did the little girl still look so displeased? "This is a demon-binding rope. He can't move a muscle now—whether you wish to kill him or flay him, the choice is entirely yours, young lady." Ziyuan turned to face Anu and explained gently.

"Taking advantage of him like this to kill him or flay him—how could he ever accept that as a fair defeat?"

"You're being quite unreasonable, young lady. The Eldest Prince has clearly done you a kindness, and yet you can't even tell good intentions from bad?" Seeing that Anu not only failed to appreciate the gesture but even turned to blame Ziyuan for it, Changxiu spoke up in his defense, feeling wronged on his behalf.

"You're the ones being unreasonable! I was never afraid of him in the first place—who asked either of you to help?" Anu had her heart set entirely on teaching the nine-headed serpent demon a proper lesson. It was rare enough to encounter a genuine opponent—not some little forest spirit, and not her fourth elder brother—someone she could finally let loose against without holding back. And now that chance had been snatched away from her for no good reason at all, leaving her thoroughly displeased.

Seeing the disagreement break out between the two sides, the nine-headed serpent demon sensed a rare opportunity. Having already resigned himself to certain death moments ago, he suddenly saw the little fairy princess's stubborn temper flare up like a lifeline thrown his way, and he seized the chance to try to win her favor, hoping to use her hand to undo the demon-binding rope.

"Little girl, you can't handle me yourself, so you go and fetch your sweetheart to help out instead? Even in death, I won't accept this! If you've got the nerve, fight me one on one, just the two of us. You're so ravishing and full of charm—even dying beneath your peony blossoms, I'd still count myself a romantic ghost."

"You... you... you..." Hearing the nine-headed serpent demon spout such vulgar, provocative nonsense, how could Anu possibly stand for it? In her entire life, who had ever dared speak to her with such disrespect? Her face flushed instantly red, and for a moment she found herself utterly speechless—so she turned and vented her anger on Ziyuan instead.

"You there, whatever-Eldest-Prince-you-are, didn't you hear what that creature just said, insulting me like that? Hurry up and take back that wretched rope of yours—I absolutely must beat him to death myself! If you don't take it back, that makes you the same as him!"

This whole tangle of unreasonable venting left Ziyuan completely dumbfounded. No woman in the Heavenly Court had ever dared speak to him this way. Though he wasn't a particularly stern or cold person by nature, celestial maidens always carried themselves with proper reserve and decorum—nothing at all like this willful, shrewish little girl, the likes of whom he'd never encountered in his entire life. Anu's words tangled right and wrong together so thoroughly that it was nearly impossible to argue with her on any point, and he could hardly bring himself to quarrel with a mere little girl over it, leaving him momentarily at a complete loss for what to do with her.

"Understood." Ziyuan felt he had no choice but to give in, reaching out to retrieve the demon-binding rope.

"Eldest Prince, how could you simply take back the rope just because she said so?" Seeing this, Changxiu looked utterly astonished and tried to stop him.

"It's fine. This girl is proud and headstrong, driven entirely by her own hot-blooded passion to subdue demons and slay monsters—if we don't give her the chance, I doubt this will end well. Besides, with me here, there's no need to worry about anything going seriously wrong." Ziyuan gestured for Changxiu to simply stand aside and watch the fight, saying nothing more was necessary.

Freed once again, the nine-headed serpent demon, his scheme having succeeded, began plotting how to find an opening to slip away during his confrontation with the little fairy princess. But he may have celebrated too soon. Though Anu remained naive about the ways of the world, her true skill was nothing to be underestimated. She had no intention whatsoever of giving the nine-headed serpent demon any chance to escape. She raised her sword and used its tip to strum the three seven-treasure silver bracelets on her left wrist. Though the three bracelets produced only a light, chiming tinkle, that sound alone could shake the very forest and halt the drifting clouds in the sky. In that moment, Anu's gaze grew fluid and captivating, her eyes half-lidded with allure, seeming to overflow with a thousand different shades of enchantment—wherever her glance fell, it seemed even the mountains and trees themselves might lose their senses entirely, let alone any sentient being capable of feeling. Anu turned the sword in her hand, drawing the bracelets' clear chime up into the air.

"Seven-colored drifting clouds, heed my command—let light converge from every direction." So she chanted.

This Seven-Colored Flowing Light Sword was nothing more than an ordinary blade in anyone else's hands, but in Anu's grip, it became a divine weapon of extraordinary power. Combined with her art of enchantment, it was more than capable of summoning seven-colored drifting clouds from every direction. In an instant, clouds of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet swiftly gathered together, billowing and unfurling, light and airy as gossamer silk. Streams of colored light flowed and swirled in strange, mesmerizing patterns, shifting unpredictably, utterly bewitching to behold.

Watching this unfold, Ziyuan felt a growing sense of doubt stirring within him. He now studied Anu carefully—she wore a simple robe of blue silk, her two long braids bound with crimson ribbons, and nothing more besides—no jewelry, no ornamental hairpins, no combs or dangling hair pins of any kind; her two violet-pupiled eyes reflected the churning, surging seven-colored rainbow light, clear and bright yet carrying within them an indescribable, bewitching allure; upon her forehead lingered a faint touch of violet mist, shaped like a single elegant violet flower. Ziyuan found himself feeling somewhat dazed and disoriented at the sight, and hastily drew a deep breath to steady his mind.

"An art of enchantment?" The thought flashed through his mind at once, and he immediately called out to Changxiu to steady his own heart and mind, lest he too fall under its spell. "Could it be... her?" Before this thought could even fully settle, he saw Anu let out a soft, teasing hum, a flicker of cunning allure crossing her eyes, as she chanted, "So you wish to die beneath the peony blossoms—very well, I shall grant your wish." With that, she leapt and vanished into the swirling seven-colored clouds.

As it happened, the nine-headed serpent demon, surrounded by shifting, interlacing seven-colored light and mist swirling among the mountain peaks and clouds, had no time to react before a burst of spring scenery suddenly bloomed before his eyes—a hundred flowers blossoming at once, orioles singing, swallows calling, birds crying out in joyful disarray. That riotous, competing splendor of purple and crimson blossoms instantly transformed into countless ravishing, jade-carved beauties of every conceivable charm—some slender as swallows, others full-figured and voluptuous, each with her own distinct allure—all circling and teasing the nine-headed serpent demon. By this point, the demon had already sunk entirely into the illusion without any awareness of it at all, drowning in an endless feast for the eyes, chasing after voices and colors, embracing beauties left and right, utterly delighted. As the old saying goes of the "millet dream"—savoring an entire lifetime of splendor and pleasure, only for it all to prove fleeting and illusory in the end—just as he reveled in beauties draped over each arm, thinking there was nowhere without romance, nowhere without tenderness, the mist and clouds before him suddenly parted, and a streak of blue descended from the sky. Through the hazy mist, Anu could be seen approaching, her slender waist swaying gracefully, lotus blossoms seeming to bloom beneath each footstep as she walked upon them. She casually lifted the gauze veil covering her face, and the sight that emerged was breathtaking—like a violet peony in full bloom, before which every other flower would surely pale and wither in shame. The nine-headed serpent demon, already having lost all sense of himself, drooled and rushed toward Anu.

"Filthy creature! Go be your romantic ghost elsewhere!" Anu flashed a wickedly seductive smile at the nine-headed serpent demon, then channeled her power through her sword, driving the blade straight through his chest.

As the Seven-Colored Flowing Light Sword pierced clean through his chest, the nine-headed serpent demon collapsed to the ground at once, lifeless. Just then, Anu caught sight of a small human boy, roughly three or four years old, sitting in the grass off to one side, mouth wide open, staring at her in a daze. Anu was startled—where had this child come from? Panic seized her heart, but there was no time to think it through; she immediately leapt down from midair and swept the boy up into her arms. She heard him murmuring dazedly, "Pretty big sister..."

Anu gently swept her hand before the boy's eyes, dispelling the enchantment that had ensnared him, when suddenly a tremendous crash sounded from behind her—sand and stone flying, earth crumbling, cliffs splitting apart—as twin swords buried themselves three feet into the ground. The thunderous boom startled Xing'er so badly she clapped her hands over her ears.

As it turned out, the Seven-Colored Flowing Light Sword, having pierced clean through the nine-headed serpent demon's chest, had then spun back around and lunged directly toward the small boy. Anu, holding the boy in her arms, had to both dispel the enchantment upon him and shield him from the blade at the same time—and just as the Seven-Colored Flowing Light Sword swung toward Anu's own back as well, in that razor's-edge instant, Ziyuan drew his dragon-attendant sword from its sheath and, with overwhelming, thunderous force, knocked the Seven-Colored Flowing Light Sword aside. Anu then promptly fainted.

The entire incident had unfolded so suddenly that everyone was caught completely off guard. The small boy had originally been leaving through the main gate along with the rest of the townspeople, but curiosity had gotten the better of him at the commotion in the courtyard. Young and utterly fearless in his ignorance, like a newborn calf unafraid of tigers, he had fallen behind the group and run back on his own; the adults, too busy fleeing in their own panic, had no thought to spare for anyone else. And so the small boy had simply hidden in the grass, watching the excitement unfold, while Anu and the nine-headed serpent demon clashed back and forth in the heat of battle—everyone's attention had been fixed entirely on the fight, with no one noticing the small child caught up in the middle of it all, not until Anu, having just finished off the nine-headed serpent demon, suddenly realized something had gone terribly wrong and rushed to save him without a second thought.

However, an art of enchantment was never meant to be dispelled so hastily and carelessly. With no time to think it through, Anu had acted purely on instinct in that moment. As a result, her own vital energy fell into severe disarray, surging and churning wildly throughout her body, wreaking havoc in every direction, until she could no longer bear it and lost consciousness entirely. Seeing this, Ziyuan immediately tossed his sword sheath to Changxiu, saying, "Stay behind and handle things here—I'll take the young lady back to the Heavenly Court first, to have the Medicine King examine her." With that, he rushed swiftly toward Anu.

Anu's sudden collapse sent a cold sweat breaking out all over Xing'er's body—how could this possibly be happening? She rushed over in a panic, anxiously calling out Anu's name, her mind already thrown into complete disarray, utterly at a loss for what to do; all she seemed capable of doing was kneeling beside Anu, weeping and calling out her name. Seeing Ziyuan rush over and scoop Anu up into his arms, Xing'er asked, bewildered and afraid, "You... where are you taking my young lady... where?"

"Don't worry, young lady. I am the eldest prince of the Deva clan. Your young lady is no ordinary mortal, and mortal physicians cannot treat her—I'm taking her to the Heavenly Court now, to have the Medicine King examine her."

Hearing the words "Heavenly Court," Xing'er grew even more terrified. Anu's identity was a closely guarded secret, and given the tense relations between the two clans, there was absolutely no way she could be taken to the Heavenly Court. If she went, Anu's true identity might well be exposed, and that could very well throw the entire world into chaos—and should the Asura King ever come to place blame, Xing'er herself would surely be the very first to bear the brunt of it.

"Absolutely not!" Xing'er kowtowed to Ziyuan repeatedly, like a mortar pounding rice. "The Eldest Prince surely recognizes that my young lady is of the Asura clan. The Asura and Deva clans have never gotten along, and I fear taking her there would bring her nothing but trouble. Please, Eldest Prince, reconsider."

"How else is she to be treated, if not at the Heavenly Court? Your young lady appears to be seriously injured." Though Ziyuan felt there was some reason in Xing'er's words, a life hung in the balance, and that had to take precedence above all else. Besides, it was merely a matter of treating an injury—though relations between the two clans might be strained, she was after all just a young girl; how much of a storm could that possibly stir up? Was this timid, cowardly willow-tree spirit before him not perhaps worrying far too much over nothing?

As Xing'er continued kowtowing, a sudden flash of inspiration struck her. "We have a physician at our home... you could come to our place instead." Though the Misty Forest concealed its own secrets deep within, if none of them spoke of it, who would ever know?

At that moment, Xing'er had no idea that Anu had once shot two arrows at Ziyuan, nor that Ziyuan had come to the Misty Forest precisely to investigate the truth behind that very incident. Weighing the lesser of two evils, she found herself with no choice but to take the risk.

"Where might your household be?" Ziyuan asked.

"Within the Misty Forest, about one mountain ridge away from here."

And so, with Xing'er leading the way, Ziyuan carried Anu safely into the Misty Forest. In his heart, he couldn't help but feel this was quite the unexpected windfall—wasn't this precisely the meaning behind the old saying, "I wore through iron shoes searching high and low, only to find it without the slightest effort"? Without Xing'er's guidance, there would have been absolutely no way to find one's way into the Misty Forest at all—its countless twisting turns, combined with the thick fog blanketing the sky above, made its hidden mysteries utterly impossible for anyone to unravel on their own.