Chapter 15: Under the Faint Purplish Red Moon (Part 2 of 3) 
 

  There were many rules in the Heavenly Realms. One of which was that every forty nine days, all the G.o.ds must gather at the Nine Mist Clouds Palace and discuss the important matters of the six realms. There is also another additional rule - the sky beasts and immortal birds cannot be taken into the main hall of the Nine Mist Clouds Palace and have to stay outside at the cloud steps. 

  I looked at the creatures that were flying in the sky, all these immortal beasts appeared fierce and cruel, and not at all easy to get along with. After some deliberation, I placed the Nightmare Beast next to Er Lang G.o.d"s sky dog. At least I knew that the sky dog only liked to eat the moon and had no interest in deer meat.

  Although it was the meeting of the G.o.ds, I did not know why a few days before the meeting, the Heavenly Emperor sent sixteen male and sixteen female immortal attendants to Daddy"s Luo Xiang Manor. They had brought a shiny golden invitation to invite me, a small sprite, to attend this gathering. When this grand procession arrived, Daddy was practising his calligraphy in his study, he only lightly lifted up his head to look at this invitation. Although he did not look at it, he appeared to have already realised its contents. 

  After I settled the Nightmare Beast, I followed the immortal child to the main hall and sat besides Daddy. Opposite me was Night, who was sitting in the seat just before the Heavenly Emperor. Night gave me a warm smile. I looked around the surroundings and realised that the fiery bird Phoenix was not around today. My back couldn"t help relaxing and my mouth released a comfortable puff of air.

  The Heavenly Emperor and Heavenly Empress sat grandly on the highest positions in the hall. Today,  unusually, the Heavenly Empress did not give me any look of disdain. Daddy elegantly sat beside me, and did not greet the Heavenly Emperor and Heavenly Empress. There were G.o.ds who would come up to greet Daddy and Daddy only lightly nodded in reply. After a while, the hall was filled with G.o.ds who had came from all parts of the four seas and six realms. The Heavenly Emperor sternly lifted his hand and the G.o.ds who were whispering to each other immediately stopped. The Heavenly Emperor solemnly declared, "All the G.o.ds here know that I have an agreement with the Water G.o.d that my oldest son will marry his oldest daughter. Now that the Water G.o.d"s precious daughter has returned, naturally this wedding will take place like the water flowing towards the river. Today I invited everyone to this gathering to discuss with the Water G.o.d a prosperous date for Night to marry Jin Mi Immortal. May all the G.o.ds here act as witness."

  Although I had always known I would marry Night in the end, when I heard the Heavenly Emperor so solemnly announced this, it gave me a strange unreal feeling in my heart. I lifted up my head and saw that Night"s distinguished gaze brushed by me and then looked far away. The faint green vein lines in his neck turned a light pink, as if all the stars in the night sky had fallen into his dark pupils and caused it to glitter.

  "The eighth day of the next month is a prosperous date," A clean voice broke my thoughts. My gaze followed towards the voice and I saw that it was the great G.o.d of the sea Ne Zha, and the red immortal child of the South China Sea"s Guanyin also nodded in agreement. I was a little surprised. Although both of them were G.o.ds, they still looked like young dolls that had not grown up*. It was a little unbelievable. The other G.o.ds all nodded in agreement, "Indeed, the eighth day of the next month is a prosperous date."

  The Heavenly Emperor turned his head and respectfully asked Daddy," What does the Water G.o.d think of setting the date as the eighth day of the next month?"

  Daddy looked at me, lightly nodded his head and said, "Fine". It was decided with one syllable.  

  The Moon G.o.d who sat on my left side immediately hurriedly said, "How can this be, how can this be? Then what will happen to my Phoenix child?" He turned to me, "Little Mi Er, how can you dump my Phoenix child?"

  Just as I was about to ask what has Phoenix got to do with the eighth day of the next month, there was a huge thumping sound as the hall doors were pushed open. It sounded like the great thunder and all the G.o.ds jumped up in shock. I saw one person coming from the light, he held a long sword, his form was straight and proud. He was shrouded in the shadows and the only light came from the flash of his sword blade, which only served to increased his intimating aura. 

  Just as my eyes were about to get used to the piercing light, I saw the face of the approaching person, it was Phoenix. 

  The small hall attendants cowardly reported to the Heavenly Emperor, "Your Highness, the Fire G.o.d... the Fire G.o.d..."

  The Heavenly Emperor gave out a sigh and waved his hands. The hall attendants quickly left as if shedding a huge burden. 

  "Reporting to Father Emperor, Phoenix has subdued the rebellion in the Northwest and specially came here to report on the completion of the mission!" Phoenix raised his sword and lifted up both his hands into a respectful gesture. A red drop of liquid slid down the sharp edge of his sword towards the floor. I was surprised, and realised that what was on the cold blade was fresh blood. 

   The Heavenly Emperor hid a cough and praisingly said, "Phoenix"s ability is truly increasing. I commanded you this morning and you are able to return in the afternoon. You must be tired, you can return to your palace to rest."

  Instead of retreating, Phoenix attacked. He forcefully stepped into the middle of the hall. He was in a robe of white, the sacred white with no dirt nor dust, provided a shocking contrast with the fresh blood on his blade. "I thank Father Emperor, but Phoenix does not feel tired. I wonder what is being discussed at today"s gathering? Phoenix has specially come to listen."

  The Heavenly Empress furrowed her brow and looked at me as if she was looking in hatred at a demon. The Heavenly Emperor did not know how to answer and started to cough.

  I saw a red flash move and realised that it was the red-robed Moon G.o.d who could not wait to speak, "Today is the day the Heavenly Emperor and the Water G.o.d are discussing the wedding date for the Night G.o.d and Jin Mi Immortal."

  "Ah? What date has been fixed?" Phoenix"s eyes brushed by me, it held such coldness that I could not help lowering my head. 

  It seemed that no one in the hall could handle Phoenix"s strong aura. There was silence. "The eighth day of the next month," Only Night appeared unfazed by Phoenix"s suffocating pressure, he lightly smiled and warmly replied.

  "The eighth day," Phoenix lightly repeated, the smile on his lips could cause one"s hair to stand, as if it was a fascinating topic he kept repeating it, "The eighth day..."

  All the G.o.ds in the hall had very good chemistry as they all held their breath, but Phoenix only lifted up his brow and turned to leave, "If so, Phoenix will wait and see!"

  Night smiled and nodded his thanks, "Many thanks to the Fire G.o.d."

   The Heavenly Emperor and Heavenly Empress appeared to finally relaxed. After a while, the congratulatory sounds rose in the hall. I followed Night and smiled at the people who came forward and accepted their congratulatory greetings.

  At night, the twenty four flower leaders visited the Luo Xiang Manor. Daddy went out to greet them. From afar, I saw the precise and meticulous chignon** on the Head Flower Leader and felt a faint pain in my brain. I took the opportunity to escape from the back door while no one was noticing me. 

  I had planned to go to the Moon G.o.d"s House of Matrimonial Bliss to talk, when I saw two immortal attendants playing at the stone steps outside the Pan Gu*** Temple. I went towards them and when they saw me they gave a large gasp of surprise. 

   They hit their chest and said, "You scared me! Jin Mi, you are truly not kind. We were just frightened by his Second Highness and now you have come to scare us too!"

     I blinked my eyes, I did not know how I could have possibly scared them. "How did the Fire G.o.d scare you?"

   "How would I know? But when his Second Highness returned from the Nine Mist Clouds Palace, his face was extremely unfriendly. In the deep of the night, he threw out all the attendants in the Qi Wu Palace." He gave me a deep look, "But, this definitely has to do with you. His Second Highness is kind, when has he ever thrown such a temper? Whenever he throws a temper, it is started by you."

  I was speechless. The attendants in the Qi Wu Palace worshipped their Second Highness to a stage of blind devotion. Even if Phoenix had stabbed me with a sword in front of them, they will feel that the fact that Phoenix did not cut me into pieces showed how "kind" he was.

  Besides, Phoenix was naturally mercurial with strange moods, what has his bad temper got to do with me?

  I decided not to be calculative with the attendants. A strange feeling rose in my heart as I thought, did Phoenix get injured from subduing the rebellion today or was his fiery temper due to the excessive "qi" from consuming too much divine lingzhi from a few days ago?

  After some deliberation, I turned around to head towards Qi Wu Palace. Indeed, the doors were wide open and there was no one in the palace. I walked one round and did not see Phoenix. Just as I was about to leave, my heart stirred.

  The wind came from the wind and blew pa.s.sed my shoulders, the water came from the water and gathered together. It was as if I could not hear the wind in the wind, I could not see the water in the water, but I could vaguely feel their presence. Although I had walked around the Liu Zi Pond for one round and could not find Phoenix"s proud shadow, but I had a instinct, that he was around. 

  I was attracted by the ripples in the Liu Zi pond. I bent down and scooped up some water to clean my face. Just as I closed my eyes, my wrist was pulled down with an unstoppable force into the water. 

  My heart was in shock. Before I could react, I was already deeply immersed in the pond. The water started to flow towards me and pushed me down. The incantations that I had usually chanted... all these chants disappeared from my head as I tried to open my mouth to breathe. 

  Before my lips could take in any air, something with a strong osmanthus scent pressed towards me. It was soft and moist, overwhelmingly fragrant, it caused one to become intoxicated and lose rationality. As I lost consciousness, someone stretched out a hand in the darkness and pressed down my nose tip, the force was not heavy, but it stopped my breathing.

  I used all my force to push away this strength, but the grip only became stronger. My wrists were held tight by one long hand, when my hands moved, I realised in my confusion that my hands were being held towards a chest, and pressing against my mouth were two thin lips.

  As I could not escape, instinctively, I opened my mouth to try and get air from the other person"s mouth. I fiercely sucked the air from those thin lips. It was not clear if the owner of the thin lips had problems breathing, but each time I sucked the air, it would more brutally open his mouth and madly consume my mouth. He even arrogantly stretched out his tongue and tasted my teeth in frantic chaos. Naturally, I could not show weakness, in order to live, I learned immediately and also stretched out my tongue to grab the few remaining air. 

  After a fierce struggle to the death, although I tried my best to get the remaining air, the thinner air slowly caused my body to soften and my consciousness to blur. Just as I thought I was about to suffocate to death in the pond, the person grabbed both my shoulders and lightly lifted me out of the water. 

  The sudden gush of fresh air caused the insides of my chest to smoothen. I continuously coughed and rather pathetically raised my hand to lift up the messy hair over my forehead, while taking as big breaths of air as I could. I secretly rejoiced that I did not drown to death, afterall if the Water G.o.d"s daughter had died by water, it would truly become a legendary joke.

  The person in front of me was entirely wet, but still remained distinguished. He looked at me with his eyes that seemed to hook one"s soul, I felt a gush of fire flushed to the top of my head. I could not tolerate it, I was truly regretful that I did not break his bones and skinned him to cook and eat. I could have saved myself so much trouble. In my four thousand plus years, I had never been so angry. 

  "You...you...you..." My fingers trembled as I pointed at Phoenix, but I could not find the perfect words to scold him.

  Finally, I pointed towards his lower regions, remembering that the Moon G.o.d said that it was the most important spot for men. I bit my teeth and lips angrily and said, "If you treat me so unkindly again, I will make it so you will never be able to use that part again!"

*Ne Zha and the red immortal child are great G.o.ds that are often shown in children form. 

** A type of hairstyle like a bun. 

*** You can find out more about Pan Gu from the prologue of Once Promised. 

Comments: I agree that Jin Mi has the right to be angry, but Jin Mi has forgotten a sacred rule, Don"t play with fire if you don"t want to get burned.