"Let me dress your wound."

"Don't run around for the next few days. Go rest." He waved his hand at her and told her to leave.

She glared at him. The red phoenix mark on her forehead seemed to be brighter.

He still ignored her and regulated his own breathing and stopped his bleeding. Her eyes that never left him turned a little bitter losing their previous hint of anger.

"Who would've known the most respected god would also injure himself so badly. " Feng jiu said as she rolled her eyes at him, while Dong hua lips slightly turned up at her jab.

She didn't dare ask about Tang Yin and him. It's not like she couldn't or she wasn't sure if he would tell her everything. It was just that she didn't want to be hurt. And right at this moment, she knew already that they weren't meant to be and if they could be something it wouldn't be more than friends. But she couldn't turn away from him. Like always, she'd rather stay with him in any way possible.

She wondered if she would just follow him on 24 seven with the same energy she had when she first came to Tai Chen Palace if she hadn't heard Si Ming talk to Cheng Yu about her fate with Dong Hua. It felt unfair every time she thought about it. Shouldn't fate be created by actions? How can it all be prewritten? Does it mean that our emotions are vain against our fate or that our emotions aren't ours?

Di Jun removed his gown and sat on the bed. Feng Jiu slowly took a box of ointment out of her bag.

"Is it the cotton rose ointment?" he asked. She lifted her eyes to look at him.

"Yes. I don't have any other right now." He gave her a small chuckle.

"I also have one. My fox made it for me."

"You still have it?" She asked.

' I almost forgot he doesn't know that I was the fox.'

He looked into her eyes and then lowered his eyes hinting her to apply it. She gulped and helped Di Jun slowly remove his robe. Her heart raced faster with seconds passing by. Her cheeks grew warmer. His muscular body was covered with new scars and there were a few remains of the old ones. He might have been really injured in the past for him to have scars given his huge cultivation.

"It's okay to be injured. Gaining cultivation is all about falling down brutally and picking yourself up again and again."

Is that how he lived? I read he used to fight in a lot of wars before it was so peaceful. He had nothing at all, no cultivation, and no parents. And yet here is he.

The more she looked at him the more she couldn't look away.

"Di Jun I'm afraid this won't be enough. This ointment is for small cuts. How about you take a medicinal bath instead?"

"You know a lot about medicine."

"I am an incorrigible troublemaker and always get my friends hurt so I know a few things." She said.

"You're not incorrigible. You're young. Everyone wants you to grow up in a day. But I think you'll grow mature with time and you'll surely be a kind and brave empress." He said.

She gave out a small breath. It was true. Although everyone liked her liveliness, she knew they thought she was immature. Her father wanted her to marry a good man so that she would make a little less trouble and would be settled. In fact, her family loved her too much but still hearing Dong Hua she felt kinda relieved kinda happy, and kinda sad.

"I'm already kind and brave." She said with a soft smile.

"You'll be a wise empress."

"Of course."

There was a shine in Dong Hua's eyes when he looked at Feng Jiu and his piercing gaze had a touch of tenderness. He could see through her and sometimes she seemed like a complete mystery.

He wanted to know her. In his life, he had admired only a few immortals that too because of their wittiness or their cultivation. Although he never cared about the family background. But this time he was pulled towards a little fox fairy with a force more than that of gravity. Because with his powers he could defy gravity, with his power he could defend himself from any force but that invisible and astonishing force which pulled him towards her.

// An irrefutable yearning,

an undestroyable string,

ties us together,

and yet you say there's no fate,

how ironic. //

Di Jun stepped into the hot tub bath Feng Jiu had prepared. She barged in and saw Dong Hua was already inside the tub and immediately turned around. He seemed amused and not in the least shy.

"I have to add the herbs." She said.

"Who is stopping you?" He said.

She blinked her eyes nervously and gave out a breath. She turned around to see the mighty god who was sitting in the tub with his hands around the edges and staring at her.

She lowered her eyes and quickly headed towards him. She hurriedly added all the herbs into it that Si Ming had given. He still had some of the medicine that she had previously used on Feng Jiu when she was injured by Ji heng's snow tiger. He had to owe a favor to someone to get that medicine. But now all that seemed so far away.

Dong Hua was staring at her shamelessly all this time. When she had finished adding the herbs she turned around wanting to get out as soon as possible. She ran outside his room but had to stop because her feet ached because of her injury.

She sucked her lower lip in and covered her face with her hands as shyness overtook her.

Just as she was about to leave his quarters, Feng Jiu felt unwell again and sat down quickly on the steps waiting for her dizziness to go away.

Dong Hua who sensed something stood up as his clothes automatically wrapped against him. Almost immediately he appeared in front of Bai Feng Jiu and picked her up.

"Di Jun," she whispered. Dong Hua frowned as he placed her on his bed again. He sat next to her and gazed at her quietly.

Feng Jiu shivered and tried to grab on to something while being semi-conscious. At last, she ended up grabbing Dong Hua's hair.

He looked down at her and checked her body. It was unusually cold.

"Tang Yin," he whispered as he lightly clenched his jaw.

"It will be alright soon." he comforted as he cast magic on her. But all Feng Jiu heard before falling into a deep slumber was 'Tang Yin'

---

Tang Yin was meditating in her cave. It was the same one Feng Jiu had entered. No one knew why the cave had shifted to Qinque. It was the queen's serpent cave which was a ward specially made by the previous queen and passed along to her with the stone. She had been asleep for a long time in an unknown snake pit and when she woke up the first thing she did was look for the cave. The second was collecting souls of immortals and the third was the soul locking jade.

Her lower part was in her original form, her white golden tail was laid out on the ground. She shivered in pain and closed her eyes tightly. The wounds Dong Hua had given her would take some time to heal. She stopped unable to do any more meditation in the state she was in.

"I just need my queen's sacred serpent stone. Once I get my stone I'll kill that girl. Dong Hua, you killed me back then and you killed me so many times more. And I'll make sure that you either live for me or you don't live at all." She murmured to herself and coughed. Blood splashed out of her mouth. She took out the soul-locking jade and tried to use it but it had already helped her to regain half her cultivation. Even if she collected souls now it'd be of no use. She threw it away with frustration.

She clenched her teeth. A murderous look in her eyes, a desire for revenge overtook her.

---

The next morning in the Nine Heavens.

Si Ming was walking around and saw a group of gods gossiping. He thought maybe something interesting was going on and he headed towards them and asked what everyone was talking about.

"They are saying that they saw Dong Hua Di Jun carry a fairy into his room." A god in a light blue robe said.

"What? That can't be true."

"No no, it's true. The source is authentic."

"Who told you?" He asked.

The god bent his neck to whisper to Stars Lord Si Ming.
"Prince Lian Song."

"What? And who's the fairy?"

"We don't know but most of them think it's Zhi He because someone said it was a young princess."

"Oh." He said. He shook his head in disbelief.

"And do you know Dong Hua Di Jun, didn't come out in the morning? It was only until noon that he let servants in."

Si Ming seemed to go into a daze. The other god seemed to have anticipated the reaction and his face said, 'I am also shocked'

---

Feng Jiu woke up comfortably in her room. It was weird that she felt no pain at all. Only refreshing energy flowed through her body.

But she had no idea that she had slept the night beside Di jun who constantly healed her and warmed her up.

_______________________