94. Fates Will 1
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Five days had passed, and Luoyin sat at a table, a hot cup of rich black tea before him.
After leaving Yue City, Yinying had still been able to hear his cub's cries from miles and miles away, so he opted to remain in Luoyin's Spirit realm, which left only Yin Xing, and Immortals Bao and Kai sitting around the table with Luoyin,
each occasionally sipping from their respective cups of tea, more out of habit than need.
The four were in an expensive looking tea house called 'Jade Cloud' within Jade City, a large canal city along the western edges of Baishan, and certainly far from Yueyan Mountain!
This city was also one of the few cities which had survived more than three black dragon attacks, meaning it was closely monitored by Sky Realm...
And so Luoyin briefly shut off the constant seal on his aura and unleashed his aura in bold waves, which would surely trigger the fate mirrors, or any other immortals watching...
They had done this in four other places so far, each time, leaving almost at once, before anyone arrived.
It would be enough to make Tianlong realize Luoyin wasn't in Yue City anymore, and it was only a matter of time before the enemies realized as well.
So both sides would hopefully leave the Yueyan region alone!
Luoyin's irises shifted around the tea house, empty except for the four of them.
His aura was invisible to mortal eyes, but it did leave an immensely oppressive pressure in the air, so every mortal within or around the teahouse would find it unbearable.
However, the tea house owner didn't mind, and even merrily skipped away, leaving the tea house to them...
Immortal Kai had given him a chest filled with gold!
"I think this will do." Luoyin glumly stated, killing his aura. "A few more and we can return to Lotus Lake in peace."
"Xiaobai, I must say, for a mortal, your aura is something else!" Immortal Kai fanned himself. "What is your cultivation level now?"
"I don't know." Luoyin's reply was soulless, but true. "'One mustn't overlook the basics', but I grew too fast to keep up with the mortal cultivation levels..."
He had merely strived to be stronger than he was each passing day, and with a combination of his medical knowledge, the resources he had gotten his hands on, and the Starlight furnace, he had grown by leaps and bounds.
At first, he simply wasn't bothered, but even after studying the mortal cultivation levels, he would have moved on to a higher stage, before he could even grasp what a particular stage meant...
He had lost interest at some point!
Yin Xing was aghast. "Elder brother, How can you not know your own cultivation leve-?!" He began, but Immortal Kai shook his head.
~"Do you think this fellow will listen to anything you say?"~ Old man Bao asked through telepathy, and Yin Xing fell silent.
Luoyin's thoughts were indeed in turmoil as they danced around his last night in Yue City... the feeling of Weiyan in his arms, her warmth, her scent, and the softness of her lips...
Or the same thoughts insisted on envisioning what might happen if he stayed at Yueyan- or brought Xu Weiyan with him- and then something bad happened.
And he lost Xu Weiyan...
He sighed.
His wedding to Weiyan was really just a matter of days ago, yet she had affected him to this extent.
Had he not been determined to love only Yan Liwei in his lifetime?
How then had Xu Weiyan eclipsed his heart and mind?
'Weiwei, please forgive me...' He thought, finally acknowledging that he was completely in love with Xu Weiyan, and he didn't think he could survive losing her!
"We should leave." Luoyin said, and he made to rise, but Old man Bao's voice stopped him.
"Xiaobai, will you really not go back? Did you learn nothing from your past?"
There was brief silence, and then Luoyin turned hopeful eyes to Old man Bao.
"Old man Bao, can you tell me a solution? If I had the littlest bit of hope, I would still cling to her..."
"How will you find that little 'hope' from thousands of miles away?" Old man Bao asked, and there was a brief silence.
But Luoyin's brows dipped in a furrow. "It's really too dangerous! Tianlong knew I was in Yue City! As Sky Emperor, he might try to spare as many mortal lives as he can, but they likely won't spare anyone who shields me...
"And then there are the hidden enemies." He lifted his tea and downed it like wine, toying with the empty teacup afterwards.
"The only reason the enemies didn't strike again, is because they knew you and Immortal Kai were present. But if one day we're overwhelmed by the Sky armies, they might seize the opportunity to sneak attack both sides.
"They nearly killed so many that day, simply to get at me, and if they are now bold enough to declare war on Sky Realm, then wouldn't they be even more ruthless?
"They still have the black dragon hidden on their side... They might level the entire mountain to kill me!" He slammed the cup down, then turned to Old man Bao.
"Even Lotus Lake won't be safe for long, depending on how the war goes, and I hate that I brought this danger to your doors."
But Old man Bao simply shook his head. "Xiaobai, have you forgotten it was you who built and fortified Lotus Lake? It's as much your home as it is mine... What is this nonsense of bringing danger to my doors?
"And besides, it was I who reported floral deity and the cloaked woman's actions to Xiaotian (Tianlong), which might have made him interested in Yue City."
They were all rather surprised, but he simply raised an eyebrow. "Despite tribulations and trials, one must never blur right and wrong. It would have been selfish to do nothing, as their actions might directly alter the fates of all three realms.
"I'm only telling you now, so you'll know it might have been me who brought you all danger, and it could also mean Tianlong didn't even know you were in Yue City, and he's only interested because of the attack."
"Umh." Immortal Kai nodded. "Xiaobai, you're still trying too hard to control too much.
You take on the weight of everyone around you, attempting to protect them at all cost, but sometimes it's their fate, and some of the moves we make to avoid the will of fate only bring more sorrow, while still guiding us right back to fate's intent....
"So one must learn to occasionally sit still and enjoy life's pleasures for as long as they will last... Will you really not go back?"
Luoyin wavered.
Who wouldn't?
He now wanted nothing more than a quiet mortal existence with Xu Weiyan...
He no longer minded the limitations of being mortal, or not being as powerful as he once was.
He would willingly give up the blazing trail of glory to navigate the simple trials of life with Xu Weiyan, both of them growing old with white hairs in a mere matter of decades...
But something else had been bothering him, and he looked up at the two elder Immortals.
"Masters, can you tell me...? Why do the floral deity and this cloaked woman want me dead specifically?"
He had thought about it.
If it were envy, then their goals were achieved from thirty thousand years ago, because he had fallen from grace and lost everything.
If he was in their way somehow, then they had also achieved their goals from thirty thousand years ago, because he had been imprisoned on Caoyang all this while.
Why go through the trouble of stealing the dagger and necklace from Sky Realm, and then sending Xu Weiyan to kill him in such a grand elaborate plan?
And why follow him, even as a mortal, and nearly slay an entire city simply to kill him?!
Surprisingly, Immortal Kai sighed.
"Xiaobai, I should tell you now... In the four months you were dead, I visited my old friend, Immortal Ye."
Luoyin and Yin Xing registered their surprise, but Old man Bao was calm.
Immortal Ye had been the previous Fate Immortal, and like Old man Bao and Kai Zhen, he had been missing for a long time.
"The only reason I could pull you from death was because of him." Immortal Kai continued, and Luoyin was paying rapt attention.
"On his death bed, Immortal Ye said your death on Caoyang was a part of your fate, because a long time ago, he had seen you in the Fate Mirrors as a mortal, and not merely a doppelganger like the original Luoyin, but as yourself, Yin Bailong,
and it had something to do with a great tribulation the three realms might face...
"So he nudged fate one last time, giving you a chance with his last breath. After that, all I had to do was find the perfect vessel for your splintered soul, and that led me to Duan Xiu and her dead son...
"But there were rules. You had to pass through your mortal tribulations on your own, and I could only step in if Immortals were involved, which was why I never assisted you in any way till the enemies revealed themselves."
He sighed. "So I cannot advise you to stay, or leave. Nor can we promise you Xu Weiyan's safety, or anyone in Yue City for that matter... But perhaps that is your fate, and a part of your tribulation.
"It might also be their fates as well, because there's something you haven't noticed, and it's one of the biggest reasons I knew 'Zhang Luoyin' was the perfect host.
"You see, certain individuals around him in Yue City are tied to your Immortal past...!"
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