Mandarin Title Translation: 小九 Xiǎo Jiǔ （两 HSK 1)

The Celestial Clan were ever aware of station and place. The entourage representing the former co-lord of heaven and earth led the long procession, but Lord Dong Hua Dijun himself was not present. Instead, he had sent the Star Lord along with his retinue.

Si Ming's voice cut through the quiet. He used a projection spell to make his announcement: "I am Si Ming who serves Lord Dong Hua and I have come on orders of His Majesty to bring condolences to the Fox Clan and to bring a gift to the new queen of the Fox Clan from Shao Yang Emperor of Dong Hua Purple Mansion." Bai Qian felt a flash of both anger and relief at not having to see the face of the god who had broken her niece's heart to such an extent she had felt nothing of sacrificing her life. Surely even that icy rock could deign to say good-bye in person.

Fox Emperor Bai Zhi greeted the Star Lord formally in a typical Qing Qiu manner. Si Ming had nearly jumped out of his skin when the much higher-ranked Bai Zhi gave him a fierce hug thanking him for taking care of his granddaughter. Bai Yi and his wife looked on with composure, while the Fox Empress gently rescued Si Ming from the unwanted touching of the wily fox. Bai Qian used her fan to tap her nose three times as she covered a small smirk. She imagined how embarrassed her Second Brother would be at the moment and thought immediately of telling her niece. The thought made her stop smiling as she listened to her brain tell her heart that Xiao Jiu was gone now.

Si Ming could not help but stare at Bai Qian's mother Feng Jiu's grandmother, who wore her hair in a wispy bun with nothing to adorn her brown locks but what appeared to be finely-sanded sticks. He was thinking of how very beautiful the immortal was in front of him. Qing Qiu's Fox Clan had indisputably produced the top three most beautiful women in all the realms. Unlike Celestial beauties like Le Xu and Zhi Yue the Foxes possessed a beauty from the inside that emanated from their compassionate hearts.

Growing up, Celestials and mortals alike were raised to believe terrible things about Fox females. They were known for being seductive, draining the souls of poor men, and duping multiple husbands into marriage. These stories could not be farther from the truth as Fox women cultivated a compassionate healing magic that was known to few and they were fiercely monogamous. In fact, the loss of a mate could kill a fox, which was why the only required dowry for females in a fox marriage were artifacts of some kind that contained the cultivation and preserved seed of the future spouse. The women would bring a lotus or some other sacred divine plant with them in which to incubate the child of a fallen warrior.

In prehistoric days, this was very important as it guaranteed the survival of the female in particular and the birth of an heir since remarriage almost never took place among Foxes who had found their mate. It was not required for Ye Hua and Bai Qian as they already had produced an heir in A-Li. Marriages between non-mated pairs were permissible as was living together; however, once a fox imprinted on a mate it was extremely painful to break apart the relationship even if the mate were a mortal or belonged to another clan. Ye Hua was not fully marked, but he carried some of Bai Qian's scent signature already. He was not privy to this fact since his dragon senses were somewhat lesser when compared to the much tinier foxes; however, a dragon's eyesight was unparalleled as Ye Hua often said when talking privately about his Qian Qian.

It was traditional for the percentage of cultivation gifted by family and close friends to include the number 9. Few people were aware of these fascinating rituals of the Fox Clan. Si Ming had only learned about it when researching the funeral rites of Qing Qiu. He had not heard anything about a traditional fox hug though and he had read through many scrolls on Qing Qiu customs. He had been surprised to find so many books on the Fox Clan in the library had been taken out. Someone had emptied an entire shelf of scrolls on fox anatomy and fox magic, so he made do with the remaining literature available.

Indeed, the Fox Clan were generally extremely reserved in formal ceremonies involving outsiders, but their Emperor Bai Zhi was quite eccentric. He enjoyed getting a rise out of the stuffy Celestials and from the excited gleam in his eye, it was clear he had a plan to create as many experiences for his granddaughter as he could when he transferred the highlights of the day* in a memory stone with the fox princess who loved pranks as much as he did. His wife had forbidden him from using any part of his mana since he was still in recovery, so he could not gift her with his cultivation.

It would take him thousands of years to rebuild the cultivation lost from bringing the Sacred Fungal Grass back to save his daughter Bai Qian. He had survived the attack of the powerful beast guardians in charge of protecting the mushrooms. The Heavenly Father had incredible power that rivaled even Dong Hua Dijun in his top form and he had given considerable mana to the beasts to ensure that the Fungal Grass did not get taken by someone will ill-intent. That meant the beasts had to be strong enough to keep even those of good intent away, which was why Ye Hua had buried the cave holding the grass into the Dong Hai sea. He had been punished with a mortal trial for that act.

Ye Hua had used all of the remaining Fungal Grass to make an elixir for his twin brother Mo Yuan. The Divine Fungal Grass would help with cross-essence repair and required half of the cultivation of a powerful immortal. There were very few options left to the Fox Clan to bring back Feng Jiu, and few could help a child who had yet to withstand even the three heavenly lightning strikes required to ascend to a mid-level god. Luckily, Bai Qian still had the Soul Jade from Li Jing.

Si Ming was not privy to the official gift Dong Hua had sent the Fox princess. He handed a scroll to the Fox Empress who seemed far less likely to touch him inappropriately. The scroll contained the ceremonial seals of both Taichen and Bihai Cangling Palace. It was magically sealed by the former co-lord and would open at noon the next day. This was unorthodox on his part, but who would dare question Dong Hua Dijun. She thanked him with a formal bow and gave the scroll to their loyal tree spirit Migu who was glaring daggers at the Keeper of Mortal Fate.

Zhe Yan barely blinked, but he had been able to recognize the veiled breath of Dong Hua Dijun from the beginning of the procession. He did his best to keep the family away from Yan Hua cave, especially his hot-headed Zhen Zhen, knowing the private former emperor wanted to pay his last respects. Bai Zhi was no fool either. He did not know the story very well, but it was clear that there was more to his granddaughter's story of paying off a life debt with Dijun. His Fox kin were extremely beautiful and kind. It was only right that Bai Zhi's former commander Dong Hua Dijun would at least waver at the attention of his nearly perfect granddaughter. Ah Jiu Jiu. I am going to miss you kit. Let's give these heavenly bodies a show they will never forget!

Bai Yi was comforted by the fact that none of their honored guests would stay beyond their formal gifting or else he feared his father would embarrass the whole of Qing Qiu with his "traditional fox greetings." He winced as he watched his dad slap Mo Yuan's chief disciple Die Feng on the buttocks. He definitely had the best reaction so far since the staid Mo Yuan was inured to the strange behavior of the powerful former general and acted as if no untoward advances had been made on Kunlun's chief disciple. Die Feng's eyes nearly bulged out of their head while retaining a vaguely irritated pursed lipped expression. They all agreed later that Third Prince Lian Song's sour expression when Feng Jiu' s friend Cheng Yu had enthusiastically returned the old man's hug was a close second. Sometimes there were benefits to having such a wild family. His embarrassment somewhat took his mind off the fear of never seeing his little girl again. It still did not feel real, but like all of the Fox Clan, he trusted that Feng Jiu would return to them. The 200,000 year old god just was not so sure it would be in his lifetime. He feared she was going to be gone from them for quite a long time.

The rest of the day followed a pattern. A group of immortals would be received by the Fox Emperor, turn to present a gift to the fox queen, and their entire procession would disappear into thin air. Only Ye Hua, A-Li, and Feng Jui's closest friends remained as they would stay for the three days of mourning.

Yan Hua Cave

His Jiu'er was breath-taking in red. Dong Hua lightly stroked the flaming phoenix flower on Feng Jiu's forehead. He had been studying the Fox princess, now queen, from across the room for half an hour and allowed himself to inch closer slowly after periodic centering bouts of meditation to balance his demonic energy. It turned out that his fear of getting closer to the fox queen was unfounded. Once he was enveloped in her unique scent, he felt somehow better. The Ghost Clan's Soul Jade was preserving her body and her calming fragrance had gone unchanged.

Dong Hua had never forgotten a face he had encountered in his very long existence. His memory was incredible for sounds as well. He could recognize any voice he had heard even one time in a crowd of a hundred and could instantly translate any language if he had an hour to study it. That is to say he enjoyed looking for patterns. Most immortals and mortals, with few exceptions, followed a certain path of saying what they did not mean and doing what they said they would not do. Despite their reputation to the contrary, he had met very few Foxes who could lie and found them to be the most loyal of his soldiers. They were also the most likely to sacrifice themselves for others with a loyalty for those they considered like family ingrained from birth. He never understood why. This type of transparency was a weakness to Dong Hua. Revealing, feeling, and giving everything away got you killed in his experience. At the very least it led to faulty decision-making.

When he first met the fox princess, he had greatly enjoyed teasing her and letting her play out her foolish fantasies of repaying him to get some needed information confirmed. He had not bothered using any tactics to get Feng Jiu to lead him to the truth about Si Yin. She had told him everything from the secret of her aunt's affiliation with Kunlun Mountain to Mo Yuan's body being in Qing Qiu within the first few years of her stay in his palace. He merely needed her to state what he already knew to be true, but for some inexplicable reason he let her stay as a maid in the palace many more years after that. He had surprised even himself with that decision. Despite proving herself irrelevant once he got the information he needed, and presenting herself to be too much of a liability for his carefully cured cultivation which she had managed to nearly wipe away in less than a decade, he had somehow preferred to keep her close. He started to think with horror that he had fallen into the rumored intimate traps of the nine-tailed fox clan.

After much research on the subject of Fox "sexual magic", which mostly consisted of fear mongering storybooks - interestingly written mostly by Foxes themselves - he started to realize that perhaps he was particularly sensitive to the pheromonal energy of foxes. After reading much more on fox anatomy and mating rituals, he created a defensive shield to block off any excitable energies the fox sent his way.

When Feng Jiu awakened his long-dormant carnal desires during the Lost Soul Fruit incident, Dong Hua started to become concerned that she was indeed his trial. He was certain she was guileless, but her cultivation was just not high enough. Who would dare to punish Qing Qiu's future queen with a one-sided love with him. There was no balance in this as he could not be involved in a relationship. When Feng Jiu was strong enough, she would head to the mortal world to experience tribulation as all Foxes did.

When she got hurt and bullied time and after time, he had told himself that the young miss needed his protection. When Lingbao's wild beast had almost killed her and he sent everyone away to give her his own mana, he justified his actions politically. If the little Qing Qiu Diji got hurt on his watch, he knew it would jeopardize the Fox-Celestial alliance. It was true that the heart-headed foxes like Bai Zhi Dijun might have destroyed the Nine Heavens or refused the marriage between Bai Qian and Ye Hua, but he wanted her to stay for reasons other than his life's task of maintaining inter-realm peace.

When she stayed by his side in her animal form as a nine-tailed fox, he had embraced every chance he got to pick up and stroke the enchanting little fox who would mumble in her mind about her affections for Dong Hua Dijun. He told himself that his attachment to his new pet were simply a result of missing the company of his horses and other spiritual mounts that had long passed on to Nothingness. When he brought Feng Jiu drinking with him and let her believe he was asleep that day she leaned over to kiss him endearingly on the nose, he thought to himself that foxes were very affectionate and it would not hurt to let her touch him a little as long as he did not wake up.

He was also grateful for his research and the fox magic shield he had placed on his body. The young immortal had tried to imprint on him him in her drunken stupor the day she ate Cheng Yu's spiked fruit. If she marked him as her mate, she would most likely die from unrequited love he had learned from his careful study. It was at that point he started to wonder if Bai Feng Jiu had been the name next to his on the Three Lives Stone, but he had dismissed the idea immediately as she had not even existed at that time. His curiosity was piqued though. Knowing about love would certainly be advantageous. There were so many puzzling things people did for this emotion he had long risen above.

That day in the Demon-Locking Tower Dong Hua felt something he had never felt before. It was the fear of losing someone. He who had learned to accept suffering and change in life and not hold on too closely to anything was becoming oddly possessive of the Fox. He did not want to lose her and went out of his way to make sure she was protected. Unfortunately his protection of the princess had marked her as an interesting subject to torment by those who underestimated his power.

He sought to find a way to simply go around the challenge, telling Si Ming that he wanted to pay her back for accompanying him for so many years. His plan was to eradicate any burgeoning feelings he had and make sure the girl left as heart-broken as all the other women in his past, but she would benefit by staying by his side as she wanted for a terminable moment in time. He calculated that he could easily pass his trial if it were a simulated exercise over which he had firm control like the war games he used to devise for his soldiers.

A change in environment was needed. Things were getting too messy in the palace. When the little fox was sleeping near him, he had started to barely resist the desire to change her into her human form. This lust and odd craving for intimate acts with the fox princess could also be assuaged in the mortal trial. He told himself that both of them would benefit from the trial and everything was well within his command as usual. He had thought Feng Jiu would easily follow Si Ming's orders; instead, she seemed incapable of being jealous of his other consorts, put her life in jeopardy by taking an arrow meant for his mortal self, and Si Ming had been unable to say no to the little Fox when when she asked for more time with her mortal husband. In agreeing to this extra time to be doted upon by his weaker mortal self, she had unintentionally set their trajectory for tragedy, or so he had thought.

He would have liked to have punished Si Ming, but it was clearly his own fault. His mortal self was smitten with the fox from the onset. On further reflection, Emperor Song had somehow felt the connection with Feng Jiu as Consort Chen that Dong Hua had carefully hidden away in the deepest recesses of his primordial spirit. It was nearly impossible to look away from that birthmark. This love feeling had been a miscalculation that lost him 90% of his mana.

He truly wanted to resent her. He had tried very hard to pretend he was indifferent, even when he felt his heart painfully squeezing inside his chest from his return to the Nine Heavens whenever he thought about his Jiu'er. The Heart Tribulation was nothing compared to the pain he felt watching Jiu'er cut off her tail and again when she sacrificed herself for the DongHuang Bell. Now, the pain was gone. Everything was gone.

He leaned over to kiss her forehead one last time and gently held her freezing hand. He slipped a ring onto her finger. The symbolic loss of 9% cultivation was too much for Dong Hua. That is why he was crying. He was quite weak now. He had just enough energy to return to Bihai Cangling.

Thank you DongFeng Muses: The importance of keeping memories is a recurrent theme in English language fan-fic. Notable examples are the ongoing read The Greatest Debt by @ItsMimerz featuring a memory pearl and there was one where Feng Jiu was responsible for capturing highlights of memories of Bai Qian's wedding which I thought was really cool (please help me find the author) and this gave rise to my idea of Bai Zhi gifting Feng Jiu with his memories. Memory loss is a prominent theme in Chinese fan-fiction with Feng Jiu often taking Zhe Yan's Wang Qingshui amnesia drink. I do not believe I will follow that route, but it does yield interesting stories not always with a HEA so I cry. Sealing emotions is also a theme of both English and Chinese language fan-fic, my favorite one of these is the on hiatus story Changed Fate by @_star_shine_2004 which features a fusion of Chinese and Norse mythology.

Chapter Summary: Gifting Ceremony & Celestials Honor Feng Jiu Even though Feng Jiu is not technically gone, she has left us all in this story for an undetermined length of time. Ye Hua was gone only three years, but he was given a funeral procession, so I thought it would be the same for the Qing Qiu Fox Clan. Everyone deals with grief in their own way as the first day of Qing Qiu funeral rites begin with the traditional Gifting Ceremony. The Celestials and other clans would like to take part in this, especially when they hear that Bai Qian's gift in addition to the Soul Jade to preserve her body to the princess is the title of queen upon her awakening. The actual funeral will be private, so each visitor disappears after greeting the family near the Fox Den. The recurrent (and totally made up) theme of the importance of the number 9 in Fox rituals, especially in regards to artifacts containing cultivation for the loss of a young immortal who is essentially temporarily deceased is explored. Feng Jiu was dressed in her red enthronement gown from the series from the Fox Empress who also gifts her with hair sticks containing cultivation. The Fox Emperor cannot give his cultivation since he needs his mana to protect his lands, so the old trickster has a unique idea of giving memories of pranking Celestials into believing strange things about foxes. Bai Yi suffers through it (I've tried to make him the most likable version of dad in this fic). Dong Hua has secretly visited Feng Jiu during the very long greeting and gifting combined with condolences. He ruminates on their history and says good-bye. He gives her two gifts that we notice: a scroll for the family with a mysterious gift that will open the next day and an item for Feng Jiu to take with her.