(2) A Long-Awaited Reunion

"Is Anu dreaming again?" The Queen rushed to her side at once, searching her face with anxious eyes.

"It isn't a dream — I'm perfectly clear-headed. Ziyuan is here. The pendant he gave me is burning hot — whenever he comes near, it grows warm." Even as she spoke, she kept searching desperately in every direction, but though she ran the length of the whole courtyard, she could find no trace of him.

　　None of them believed what she said, but seeing her so full of life for once, they searched with her all the same, again and again, until they had nearly turned the whole courtyard upside down — and still found no one.

　　Just as they were about to try to comfort her, Anu suddenly took off running toward the gate.

　　She was certain, absolutely certain, that Ziyuan had come — this was his own pendant, and it would never mislead her. It would never grow warm without reason.

　　He was not within the courtyard — then she would search beyond it.

　　Heaven, it seemed, did not disappoint one who searched so earnestly — the moment she ran out through the gate, she saw, far off, a figure collapsed in the snow. He was wrapped in heavy black robes, so unlike the flowing, pale, elegant robes Ziyuan had always worn — but Anu knew, without a shadow of doubt, that it was him.

"Ziyuan..." Anu flew to his side, and at the sight of him lying there, so wretched, so utterly spent, her tears burst forth at once.

"Someone, come quickly... it's Ziyuan... Ziyuan has collapsed..."

　　The others rushed out after her in a panic — so Anu had not, after all, been seeing things out of pure longing; it truly was the Crown Prince Ziyuan himself, come at last. Xiaoyi hurried forward to examine him and check his pulse, and understanding dawned on him at once; he cast a spell to move Ziyuan instantly to one of the guest rooms.

　　As he settled Ziyuan in, Xiaoyi asked Anu to help set a brazier burning high within the room. Then he drew a detoxifying pill from the boundless space within his sleeve and fed it to Ziyuan, and conjured thick quilts to wrap him snugly within.

　　As it happened, the little cottage had never owned so much as a single brazier — their whole family had always been untouched by heat or cold, and had never needed such a thing. Watching Xiaoyi conjure the quilts, Anu did the same, summoning a brazier of her own, and drew wood swiftly from the deep forest to fill it; with another gesture and a whispered fire-charm, the flames caught and rose.

　　Though Anu did exactly as Xiaoyi asked, her eyes were still clouded with confusion — why had Ziyuan collapsed just outside their cottage? And why had he come to look like this?

　　Xiaoyi steadied himself before speaking — the Crown Prince's return from death was shock enough to leave anyone reeling, and indeed every face in the room showed the same disbelief. He gave a brief account of what Ziyuan might have endured over these past two hundred years, though he limited himself to explaining how the Prince had exhausted his cultivation and been reduced, body and spirit, to his current spent condition. As for how Ziyuan had managed to return from the dead after his soul had scattered entirely, Xiaoyi suspected his own master's hand behind it, but dared not say so with any certainty. Given the Prince's present state, there was no way he could have made it into the Mist Forest at all without Elder Mu's aid, or without the Poison-Warding Pill. And yet — if the pill had come from Elder Mu, how could the old man possibly have miscalculated its dosage so badly as to let the Prince collapse from poison before ever reaching the cottage? Xiaoyi found himself entirely at a loss, unable to make sense of it — his master's mind was, as ever, a difficult thing to fathom. Since he understood none of it himself, he saw no reason to say any more.

　　Once Xiaoyi had given his brief account, the rest of the family drifted away, leaving only Anu at the bedside to watch over him. Stroking his pale face, she found her tears falling again, unstoppable. For her sake, Ziyuan had brought himself to this state — and it was all her own fault. Why couldn't she have simply set aside her willfulness, instead of insisting on defying the Celestial Sovereign to his face? It was because she had not trusted Ziyuan enough that she had failed to understand the painstaking, expedient strategy he had woven with such care. And even if she had killed the Celestial Sovereign that day, what then? The whole Asura Clan would have paid the price for it. But in that moment she had let humiliation and fury cloud her mind entirely, and had committed a fault beyond forgiving — and it was that, in the end, which had driven her to hide from this reality in her own regret for two hundred years.

　　Thoughts churned through her mind, memories of the past rising one after another, until, worn out with weeping, Anu sank to the floor and fell asleep slumped against the edge of the bed. Perhaps she had not slept a truly peaceful sleep in the whole two hundred years, for she slept so deeply now that she did not even stir the next morning when Ziyuan awoke.

　　Ziyuan slowly opened his eyes and glanced around the unfamiliar room. He remembered now — he had been overcome by the miasma's poison just as he neared the cottage, and after that, all had gone dark. He turned his body slowly, and caught sight of a familiar sleeping face slumped beside him.

　　Yes — it was truly her, the girl who had filled his every thought, waking and dreaming alike; the girl who had once trailed him, unaccountably, all the way to his army camp, and who had come running toward him through the falling snow, radiant with joy. At the time he had kept his face composed, unmoved — but within, his heart had already been leaping with a wild, uncontainable happiness.

　　It had been the girl's clear, unmistakable answer to his own feelings — and he had never once stopped thinking of it since.

　　Ziyuan drew a hand out from beneath the heavy quilts and gently touched Anu's face.

"It's been too long, Anu," he murmured softly.

"Two hundred years. I know things have gone badly for you — they've gone badly for me too. So I came. At least together, even if things are bad, perhaps they can still turn good."

　　In this moment his thoughts drifted back to the Poison-Warding Pill Elder Mu had given him, and to the old man's endless nagging in his ear: don't always stand so much on your pride in front of Anu, don't be so unwilling to let her see you at your most wretched — better to play the underdog now and then, let her feel for you a little, so that stubborn girl won't go picking fights with you over nothing later on.

　　Understanding dawned on Ziyuan all at once — he had been outmaneuvered by Elder Mu after all. The moment he collapsed before the cottage and Xiaoyi took his pulse, there would have been no concealing his true condition from anyone. Looking now at the brazier burning bright within the room, and the heavy quilts piled over him, he had no doubt Anu already knew everything.

　　Well, so be it — if anything, he found himself strangely at ease with it.

　　Half-conscious, Anu felt Ziyuan stir awake, and she seized the hand resting against her cheek and sprang upright at once.

"Ziyuan... Ziyuan..." Beyond calling his name, Anu could find no other words, her whole body overwhelmed; tears welled up and spilled over, falling one after another without end.

　　Seeing her face streaming with tears, Ziyuan forced himself upright, propping himself half-sitting against the bed.

"Don't cry, Anu. I'm here."

　　He had meant only to comfort her, but before he could say more, Anu flung herself into his arms and wept harder still.

"Ziyuan, I'm sorry... I'm sorry... it was my fault... I was... too willful... and that's why... why you... became... like this. These two hundred years... I didn't dare... stay clear-headed... I was afraid... afraid to remember... you scattering into nothing... right before my eyes..."

"It was never your fault. It was my own choice, freely made — and I've never once regretted it."

　　Anu could not stop weeping, her sobs catching in her throat again and again, unable to subside. Ziyuan held her close, and found tears of his own beginning to fall.

　　He had been resolute and unshaken since childhood, and had long since forgotten what it felt like to weep — and yet now, unbidden, a raw ache rose within him, and grief broke free all at once.

　　Softly, he began to tell Anu everything that had happened — of how Elder Mu had stepped in of his own accord, of the Soul-Gathering Pill, of Mingshan Hollow, of how the Dragon-Rider Sword had nourished his scattered soul, of how his immortal form had slowly been remade, of Xu Cheng, and of the Poison-Warding Pill...

　　He went on, murmuring the whole long account, half-expecting Anu to grow impatient — but instead he found her resting quietly in his arms, listening with earnest attention to every small detail of these two hundred years, and for a moment he felt, unexpectedly, the quiet, ordinary peace of a husband and wife simply living out their days together.

"Will you help clear the poison miasma for Xu Cheng, just long enough to let his army pass through the Mist Forest?" Ziyuan asked gently, tilting her face up toward his.

"It would bring peace to the mortal world that much sooner."

　　In truth Anu did not fully understand any of it — these two hundred years had passed for her in a haze, and what did she know of the mortal world's affairs? But if Ziyuan said it, then Ziyuan surely had good reason. She had learned her lesson at last: whatever she did not understand, she would trust to Ziyuan's judgment, and it would never lead her wrong.

"All right." Anu smiled, and her violet eyes shone with light once more.

　　She helped Ziyuan down from the bed, fetched his ink-black cloak, and set his robes in order; then Ziyuan took her hand, and together they walked out to the veranda.

"Wait for me a moment, Ziyuan." Anu let go of his hand and rose up into the sky above the Mist Forest, her hands forming a seal as she murmured an incantation; at the end, she cried out a single word — "Disperse!" — and at once the thick fog and poisonous miasma dissolved away.

　　The other four, hearing the commotion, came running out as well, bewilderment in their eyes.

"Ziyuan wanted me to clear away the miasma for a while, to let an army pass through — he means to help a future emperor of men win the throne. The man's heart holds true benevolence, and so Ziyuan is willing to lend him a hand, to help restore order to the mortal world sooner, and put an end to all this endless warfare." Anu explained, landing lightly on the ground.

　　As soon as Ziyuan saw the others emerge, he clasped his hands in greeting to each of them; and at the sight of the Queen, seeing at once the resemblance to Anu, he bowed low with even greater deference. "Your son-in-law Ziyuan greets the Queen."

"There, there... no need for such a formal bow — it's enough that you've come back... and why call me the Queen? You ought to call me Mother, the same as Anu does..." The Queen was laughing and weeping at once; Hemuda took her hand to comfort her, but she only patted his hand gently and said, "These are tears of joy."

　　With the poisonous miasma cleared, Anu took Ziyuan's hand and, calling on her power of swift passage, carried them both to where Xu Cheng's army lay encamped beyond the forest.

"Don't forget your veil." Just as Anu was about to step toward the camp, Ziyuan suddenly caught her hand.

"All right." Anu drew out a veil and handed it to him, and Ziyuan took it, fastening it gently over her face with careful hands.

　　Hand in hand, they made their way toward Xu Cheng's command tent. Since Xu Cheng had brought Ziyuan into the camp before, the men there recognized him at once, and after offering their greetings, hurried off to inform their commander.

　　Hearing the news, Xu Cheng's heart leapt with excitement, and he strode out of his tent at once to receive them.

　　Stepping outside, Xu Cheng caught sight at once of Ziyuan standing with a young woman's hand in his, waiting outside the tent, and understanding dawned on him — so this was the old friend the master had spoken of: the woman who held his heart.

"Your word is as good as gold, sir — you've come exactly as promised. Your old friend must have agreed, then, to lend Xu this favor." Xu Cheng bowed deeply to Ziyuan, hands clasped.

　　Ziyuan returned the bow, then turned to Anu. "Give them a guide, to lead the army safely through the Mist Forest."

　　Xu Cheng watched as Ziyuan, smiling, spoke to the veiled young woman in a voice gentler than anything he had ever heard from him — utterly unlike the cool, aloof Master Nine-Four he had known at Mingshan Hollow, as though he had become an entirely different man.

　　At his words, a lantern appeared in Anu's hand as if from nowhere, and she cast it up into the sky.

"Have your army follow the lantern," Anu said. "It will guide you swiftly and safely through the Mist Forest."

　　Xu Cheng stared, eyes wide with astonishment — this defied all reason. What he had just witnessed was surely beyond anything a mortal could do. Could it be that he had truly encountered beings of the divine?

　　Xu Cheng bowed low once more — the problem that had troubled him for so long was solved at last, and it seemed the day the realm found peace again could not be far off.

"I shall never forget this great kindness, sir. Might I ask — would you consider staying to help me govern the realm, once it is won?" Seeing how brilliantly Ziyuan had planned it all, Xu Cheng hoped to recruit such talent to his side.

"If thanks are owed, they belong to my wife — and in truth, this was simply a duty the two of us felt bound to fulfill. All I ask of you, Lord Xu, is that you become, in time, a wise and benevolent ruler who cherishes his people as his own children, who wages less war, and gives the common folk a good life to live. That would be thanks enough, both for me and for my consort."

"'Me'? 'My consort'?" Xu Cheng was thoroughly lost. What did any of this mean?

"I am the Crown Prince of the Celestial Court. Through a turn of fate, I fell into misfortune and took shelter, hidden away, in Mingshan Hollow, parted from my beloved consort for two hundred years across two separate worlds. Now that we are reunited at last, I mean to withdraw from the world together with her, and take no further part in the affairs of men. It was only because fate bound you to me that you were able to find your way into Mingshan Hollow at all — from this day forward, the path there will be erased. Even should you turn back to search for it, you will never find Mingshan Hollow again."

　　At this, Xu Cheng dropped to his knees at once, flustered.

"I, Xu Cheng, was blind — I failed to recognize the immortal before my very eyes, and showed you no proper respect. I beg the immortal's forgiveness."

　　Seeing their commander kneel, the soldiers throughout the camp knelt down as one as well.

"Before you go, might the immortal resolve one last doubt for me?" Xu Cheng asked, halting.

"Speak."

"May I ask — what does 'Nine-Four' mean? That line you spoke, the very first time we met — what did it signify?"

　　Ziyuan smiled faintly at the question.

"It means to lie hidden, gathering one's strength, waiting for the right moment. So it was for me — and so it has been for you as well. You have weathered the clouds through to the moon's clear light at last. Hold fast to your first resolve — to give the people of this realm a life of peace and stability — and I shall count myself well content."

　　With that, he glanced at Anu. "Shall we go?"

　　Anu's eyes curved into a smile, and taking Ziyuan's hand, the two of them vanished from sight in an instant.