The heavens are as biased as the earth.
That was what Li Jing learned the day she was left behind, when the love of her life ascended right in front of her, leaving her surrounded by a pile of corpses and a pool of her own blood. Her body shook, barely able to stand after the long battle.
She stumbled backwards, a scream tearing through her lungs. The dead all paused to listen to her heartbreak; the crumbling, shattering pieces of her will.
Bai Chen started off as an enemy at best. He joined the White Snake sect long before Li Jing had, having been recruited after his father died at the hands of a vicious spirit. He was handed everything Li Jing had ever wanted: training, a position in the sect, a place to belong. Li Jing spent her childhood idolizing the White Snake cultivators, wishing to become one. And yet, every time she went to apply, she was turned away. The officials offered flimsy excuses, saying there were too many applicants that year or that her power was underdeveloped, but she knew the truth. She had never seen a woman pass the threshold of the Pavilion where the cultivators trained.
However, Li Jing was nothing if not stubborn. She taught herself, despite the risks, and her spiritual power began to grow at an alarming rate. As stories of her began to spread, the White Snake sect grew nervous. The next time she came to their door, they reluctantly allowed her to join, scared of what she might do if she became their enemy.
That was where she met Bai Chen. An exemplary student, one of the most accomplished cultivators despite his young age, and with an ego to match. It took no more than an exchanging of names and a sideways look for Li Jing to decide that he was her rival, and that she was going to defeat him no matter what it took.
She spent long days and nights training. The first time she was in the same class as Bai Chen, she challenged him to a duel. Never one to back down from a challenge, Bai Chen accepted.
Although the other cultivators whispered among themselves and laughed at the prospect of Li Jing fighting Bai Chen, they were soon silenced when the battle extended long past what they had expected. Neither Bai Chen nor Li Jing were willing to give up, and finally the match ended with both of them collapsing, unable to move for even a single moment more. In the long silence that followed, Li Jing expected to hear an insult or ugly remark. Instead, Bai Chen began to laugh.
It was so infectious that Li Jing found herself laughing along, the sound echoing across the Pavilion and turning more than a few heads. That was the day their relationship changed; the day they earned each other’s respect.
They were inseparable from then on. In the hallways, in the training fields, in the dining halls, they were always together, discussing some new strategy or job. Eventually, they began to hunt together, going out and seeking out spirits and demons to slay to raise their prestige outside of the sect. Rumors of an unstoppable team began to reach every corner of the sect, but the two in question seemed oblivious to their fame, having become so absorbed in each other that the rest of the world seemed like a dream. It was no surprise, then, that the two had fallen in love.
They took on more and more jobs, earning themselves friends in all corners of the sect -- and more enemies in the spirit realm. Their life became traveling, followed by a small group of cultivators who were devoted to learning from them, and both Li Jing and Bai Chen felt that their life was as perfect as it could ever be.
As often happens, their happiness was short-lived. Whispers began to surface of a demon king who had arisen in the west, tearing through the land of multiple sects. Wherever he went, entire villages were leveled, the people slaughtered in the streets. The cultivation sects in charge of the areas were powerless to do anything to stop the spread of evil. The duty of slaying him fell upon the shoulders of the two greatest cultivators the sect had known, Li Jing and Bai Chen.
They pursued the demon king for weeks on end as he cut through the heart of the White Snake sect. Whenever they caught up, they engaged in minor skirmishes with his forces of demons while the demon king managed to escape. Each time, more of the people Li Jing had come to call friends were torn apart in front of her. Tracking him became an obsession, a need; Bai Chen and Li Jing pushed on, even when they were the last two remaining, their robes stained with the blood of their once loyal followers.
After many moons of fruitless searching, finally they found the demon king’s lair. The two fought ferociously, cutting down hordes of the demon’s minions. Even when exhaustion should have overtaken them, after they had cut down hundreds of demons in battle, still they persisted, back to back against impossible odds. The demon king realized that his demons would not be enough to defeat these two. He emerged from the shadows, a heaping mound of glory and might. He stepped forward, smoke pouring from his nostrils, his strength mounted.
As soon as he stepped into the light, the fletching of a silver arrow blossomed from his forehead.
The world stood still for a moment as his huge body wobbled and crashed to the ground with a thud. And then it lit up bright white, a clap of thunder reverberating.
When Li Jing’s sight came back, she was alone. Bai Chen had disappeared, the remaining demons incinerated by that light. She knew what had happened. Bai Chen had ascended to the heavens and become a god for slaying the demon king.
The plan had been theirs together. During the fight, Li Jing had taken on the brunt of the demons, keeping Bai Chen out of sight for the demon king and giving him time to enchant one of his arrows with all the energy he had. All he had to do was wait for the demon king to show himself, take aim, and fire, and his arrow had struck true.
It had all worked perfectly. They had worked together, side by side until the end. So why had she been left alone?
Perhaps it was her disbelief that gave her the strength to carry herself back to the White Snake sect. She told them what had happened, and upon hearing the news that Bai Chen had become a god, they rejoiced. Immediately forgotten was the legend of the pair of cultivators, instead replaced by the legend of the great martial god Bai Chen. They wasted no time building shrines to him, targeting the towns that had been destroyed by the demon king and remaking them entirely devoted to Bai Chen. Li Jing was cast aside completely.
To ascend is the greatest wish of a cultivator. It is the ultimate goal, the greatest reward. But Li Jing was bitter, angry that she was left behind. Had she not deserved to become a god?
These feelings coursed through her while she trained. She could feel her spiritual power diminishing, becoming poisoned by her jealousy and loneliness. Unable to stand the thought of losing what little respect she had fought to gain, she left the White Snake sect. They let her go without a second thought; as long as she wasn’t against them, they didn’t care.
She moved to the outskirts of the area owned by the sect, far enough away that she would be undisturbed, and found herself a little cottage in a trade village there. It was remote enough that her name carried little weight. That was where she settled down, planting herself a vegetable garden and weaving cloth, hoping to purge the pungent distress from her soul.
Even through all the emotions she felt, one rang truer than the others. She missed Bai Chen. Not for an instant did she blame him for what had happened, and very shortly after settling into her new home, she built herself a shrine. With her own meager skill she painted a portrait of the man she loved and hung it on the wall above a short altar. Once it was perfect, she knelt down to pray, wishing him well.
Her prayer had barely been completed when the cottage door flung open. Li Jing leapt to her feet, instinctively reaching for a sword that no longer hung at her side, before she recognized the man that stood before her. It was Bai Chen, although he glowed with an inhuman radiance that she had never seen before.
Heavenly officials were rarely allowed to return to the mortal plane without good reason. Li Jing knew this, and yet she was so overcome with joy that she couldn’t bring herself to berate him for breaking the rules. She embraced him at once. Bai Chen was slow to return the gesture, as if worried that Li Jing may fade away as if in a dream, but once he did, he held her tight, telling her of all that had transpired.
Upon his ascension to the heavens, the first thing Bai Chen did was look for Li Jing. He ignored the congratulations of the crowd of gods forming around him, instead asking where Li Jing had been sent. He had been met with confused looks, telling him that he had ascended alone. He tried to be satisfied with what he had been given, but it wasn’t long until he attempted to throw himself from the heavens.
The other gods had held him back, pleading with him to think rationally. Bai Chen fought back, clawing and scrabbling his way to the cloudy edge of the heavens. The strength of the other gods was too overwhelming, though, and he was soon pulled back.
They told him of the greatness of his deeds and the devotion of his followers. They told him that it was his destiny to become a god, and that to fight it would be the greatest act of foolishness he could commit. And yet Bai Chen could think of nothing but the woman he had left behind. He pleaded and begged them to either let her ascend or to let him return to her. They adamantly refused his requests, and so he was forced to sit by and watch as the person he loved most suffered alone.
A palace for Bai Chen had appeared in the heavens upon his ascension, and as he began to be worshiped, his power and fame grew. He remained utterly unsatisfied, returning every single day to watch over Li Jing while ignoring the prayers of his followers. Then, finally, he heard her voice.
As she had kneeled down to pray, she found herself wishing that her lover would return to her. Her plea crossed the heavens and found its way to his ears. Although it was forbidden for him to return, he could not help himself. With no crowd around to stop him, he jumped down from the heavens, finding his way to her before she had even finished her prayer.
That secret meeting was only the first of many. They kept it hidden from all of the heavens, even when Li Jing realized they were going to have a child. The two of them made a promise then. They would keep their child away from cultivation, away from the White Snake sect, to prevent them from feeling the pain they had felt. They could not hide their pasts, but they could do everything they could to dissuade their child from going down the same path they did.
Never would they watch their allies be torn away, never would they be separated by the boundary of heaven and earth.
When their daughter was finally born, that promise only grew stronger. The girl, like a beautiful orchid blooming in the moonlight, was named Li Xiulan.
As soon as Li Xiulan was old enough to crawl, her father descended from the heavens once more to give her a test. Her parents placed down in front of her a pot of ink with a quill, a handful of coins, and a small toy. Whichever she chose was said to determine what she would pursue in the future. They hoped that their daughter would choose the ink and become a scholar, or at least the money so she could become successful.
Li Xiulan pondered the objects for a moment, unsure of where to go. She looked up at her parents and then began to crawl forward. Her parent’s hopes soared as she approached the pot of ink. And then she pushed it aside and continued crawling.
As a martial god, her father kept a sword nearby at all times. Right then, it laid on the ground by his side. The two watched with amazement as Li Xiulan grabbed the hilt of the sword, fascinated by the carvings on it. Their faces paled.
They snatched her up from the floor and placed her far, far away from the sword, exchanging a worried glance.
“It’s just a coincidence. How could this test possibly be accurate?” Li Jing insisted. Bai Chen nodded along.
“She went to the ink first. The sword was not even an option,” he said. “Surely our daughter will become a great scholar.”
These words were empty and fruitless. They both knew that the path of cultivation had been their one true love since they were old enough to comprehend it. Why should their daughter be any different?
When Bai Chen returned to the heavens that night, a heavy anxiety weighed on Li Jing. The next morning she went out to purchase a collection of books. They would be Li Xiulan’s as soon as she was old enough to read. Her daughter was going to be a scholar, no matter what it took.
Bai Chen’s visits became less and less frequent. They could never be together for too long, as Bai Chen became a well-respected and revered martial god through the years and his duties only grew. Although at first he had ignored the prayers of his followers, the responsibilities quickly began to increase with his fame and the dedication of the White Snake sect. He could no longer pretend that he was sulking over Li Jing. Long days turned into long nights of answering prayers and doing work in the heavens, and soon it became impossible for him to visit his family in the mortal plane.
Although Li Jing prayed to the shrine every night, Bai Chen didn’t appear. She had long understood the bitterness of being separated by the heavens, however, and it no longer fazed her. She had known that being in a relationship with a god was a dangerous thing. It was as unstable and uncertain as a plank bridge in a hurricane. Her heart ached every day that passed where Bai Chen did not appear, but she buried those feelings deep inside and dedicated herself to raising their daughter as best she could.
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