"There's a gold pigment in the red colour, how appropriate for being Dijun's

Blood." - Fengjiu (page 232, pillowbook 1)

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Heavenly Realm, Kunlun - Mid Morning

Day 3 since Fengjius death

Mo Yuan —-------------------------------

Dong Hua had just finished saying that they would need to move to Bihai Cangling for the next stages. That was the place where the greatest amount of Yang energy was concentrated, and it would help keep his body and soul grounded in reality. The next step would have him unable to wake for a week as he assimilated deeper knowledge of the Threads.

"You are your parents' offspring. Of all the beings in existence, you are the only one I know with certainty that can currently learn such things." Dong Hua said.

Mo Yuan came to another realisation, when he had ascended to High Immortal rank at 25,000 years of age, Dong Hua had seen able to confirm he had the potential to see, interact with and understand the Pillars of Heaven, the Threads of Reality, and have knowledge of this Void Legacy without going insane.

This was why Dong Hua had immediately started mentoring him, Dong Hua had been testing his innate understanding of the fundamental Laws of the universe. This tutoring had eventually led him to create the Donghuang Bell, though because of his lack of full understanding, he had not been able to fully control it, or stop others from activating it.

Mo Yuan finally understood why his mother had been so incandescently furious with Dong Hua half a million years ago.

"Currently able? Could my little brother also learn this?" Mo Yuan asked.

Ye Hua was his younger twin, it would make sense.

"No, when Ye Hua ascended to High Immortal at 20,000, he did not have the potential. Even if he had, there would have been no need for me to take him as a pupil and teach him these matters, so I thought." Dong Hua replied, then answered the next question Mo Yuan was about to ask without him having to ask it, "As Ye Hua does not have the potential, his children will not."

It was a blessing for Ye Hua that his children would be spared the weighty burdens of power and knowledge that Dong Hua was now imparting to him. As the only other children of a primordial being, Dong Hua's children might have the same unfortunate potential as Mo Yuan did to understand and use this knowledge.

"Your children then?"

"It is extremely likely my son has the potential, yes."

"What of your daughter?" Mo Yuan was testing the limit of Dong Hua's sealed emotions under the guise of wanting to understand and gain knowledge.

"Irrelevant." Dong Hua's reply was curt, dismissive, as if it wasn't worth any thought beyond that one word.

Mo Yuan risked querying his impromptu teacher further, "Why so?"

"When embarking on a 10,000 year campaign, you wouldn't select a biyi bird to be your second-in-command; it is the same principle."

Biyi birds were one of the shortest lived tribes, their maximum lifespan was only one thousand years, "You are saying your daughter won't live long?" Mo Yuan asked.

"It is unlikely."

"Zhe Yan-"

"Has not accounted for my crimson-gold blood. If that child lives long enough to reach adulthood and undergo heavenly tribulation, without intervention, they will die." Dong Hua spoke with utter certainty and dispassion.

To balance the scales, heavenly tribulations to ascend to High Immortal rank was something all the members of the long lived clans had to go through, sometimes with deathly results. The youngest brother of his fourteenth disciple had failed their heavenly tribulation only a hundred years ago, it wasn't a rare outcome.

Dong Hua mused, as if briefly curious of the limitations his daughter would face, then a second later having clearly thought through many likely outcomes and possibilities Dong Hua continued to speak, "Even if another undergoes the tribulation for her, as you did for Bai Qian, it's extremely likely they will die moments later when the crimson-gold blood awakens."

"What of your son, Bai Gungun?"

"He could have ascended at half the age he is now, and there would have been no danger of my blood overwhelming them."

The Nine-Tailed Fox Clan was notable for the formidable inborn power and potential of its members, not geniuses; Gungun was both. Mo Yuan had just learned that their current power and abilities were purely a result of his nine-tailed fox heritage, diligence and skill.

Bai Gungun was not even a High Immortal, yet he'd already put everyone but High Deities and a few select High Immortals to shame with his power and control of magic. The fact Bai Gungun had not even awakened the inherited potential of his fathers power and blood was a startling revelation, his potential was limitless.

"The matter of my crimson-gold blood has no relevance to the current situation; there will be no more questions about irrelevant people or subjects."

What weight did societal norms, duty and obligation hold to one who had never cared for face or reputation? Without love, what reason was there for Dong Hua to raise his children, unless by doing so it would benefit the world? These were the cold calculations Mo Yuan assumed were happening in Dong Huas mind.

If the seal did not break within a year, and Dong Hua remained this way for many tens of thousands of years, Mo Yuan realised it truly would have been kinder to the children if their father had died swiftly.

Dong Hua would raise Gungun as his replacement, a soldier against the creature that gnawed at the edges of reality, seeking entry. Xueyu would be discarded, likely left to Bai Qian to raise, or if Bai Yi recovered, perhaps he would raise his granddaughter. Of the two, Gungun's fate was the cruellest; to be trained as little more than a useful, rare tool.

Mo Yuan glanced at the seal on Dong Huas wrist and wondered if he'd truly failed to fully sever his emotions relating to love, it seemed quite absolute to him. Though he did notice Dong Huas eyes had strayed to look at it often, even though the seal was hidden beneath his sleeves.

"You were speaking of those who have the potential to learn these things?" Mo Yuan refocused the topic back to where it had been before he'd annoyed Dong Hua with his questioning.

"You gained the ability to see through all illusions and see the true state of matter just before you ascended to High Immortal rank. This was related to the fact you inherited the ability to know, understand and use the Threads of Creation. That child has awoken a similar ability, likely for the same reason, though I cannot confirm the potential until they ascend to High Immortal."

Mo Yuan had heard of this strange new ability of Gunguns from his seventeenth disciple Bai Qian. The child was able to feel the true emotional state and feelings of others, a deeply unfortunate gift at this time.

If the potential of such things could not be known until a person was High Immortal, then that meant Gungun would need to undergo the heavenly tribulation and ascend. Perhaps once the crimson-gold blood awakened, it could be studied, and a way found for Dong Hua's daughter to survive past adulthood?

Mo Yuan couldn't speak of the Threads or the Void legacy to others, but there were things he could share, the crimson-gold blood and its implications for the children, he should share with Zhe Yan at the earliest opportunity.

As for the horrific method Dong Hua had mentioned earlier, the one-in-a-million chance of being able to resurrect Bai Fengjiu, that possibility was one Mo Yuan was willing to return to dust before burdening others with the knowledge. It really had been cruel of Dong Hua to tell him, but he had asked, multiple times.

"If he has the ability, then he will be my heir in all things. After you learn how to kill me properly I will teach you both as much as possible before this seal breaks, if it breaks." Dong Hua informed him.

That was reasonable.

"If he does not have the ability, then he is irrelevant." Dong Hua replied.

Dong Hua's words were brutal, but also understandable. They were discussing the continued existence of the universe and reality itself. What were a single child's feelings in comparison? It wasn't as if Mo Yuan was ignorant to the extent of Dong Hua's ruthlessness and utter dispassion for living beings when the survival of the world was hanging in the balance.

"Then will you have him undergo the heavenly trial early?" Mo Yuan asked.

"Zhong Lin should be at Xiwu Palace now, delivering my order to that effect." Dong Hua confirmed in an utterly unconcerned and matter-of-fact manner.

Alarm flooded through him at Dong Huas words, Bai Qian's reaction to that was not going to be diplomatic in the slightest.

"There is still an hour before we can continue?" Mo Yuan asked.

Dong Hua blinked lazily before replying, "Correct." he affirmed.

"Then if it suits you, I will take my leave?" Mo Yuan suggested.

Dong Hua 'mhm'd in assent, Mo Yuan rose and bowed to Dong Hua.

Normally he would not do so, and between them an inclined nod of the head was acceptable, but Dong Hua was currently Mo Yuan's teacher. Even if Dong Hua was only teaching him to ensure Mo Yuan could kill him, the respect was still owed.

As Mo Yuan rose from his bow Dong Hua reminded him, "Bihai Cangling's barriers are raised."

Dong Hua teleported away without waiting for any potential reply.

Dong Hua was not talking about the round token that had belonged to Mo Yuan's father, and was now his, but the hexagonal token that each of the 72 generals possessed, inscribed with their emblem and also attuned to each general. Without it, passing through the raised shields and barriers around Bihai Cangling was impossible, an age of endless bloodshed had raged and died, but those defences had never fallen.

Mo Yuan instantly teleported to Jiuchongtian.

There was no way Bai Qian would accept Dong Hua ordering Gungun to ascend without a fight. Even though Dong Hua was the retired supreme ruler of the six realms, master of the universe, Dijun, Dizun, Revered Deity, Lord Shaoyang, right now he knew Bai Qian would not care about any of them.

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If one of the seventy two generals who served Dong Hua in ancient lore reappeared today no one would stand a chance, they were truly formidable. – Pillow Book 2, Chapter 1

Heavenly Realm, Jiuchongtian - Taichen Palace - Mid Morning

Day 3 since Fengjius death

Bai Qian—-------------------------------

When Bai Qian had married Ye Hua and accepted all the responsibilities that becoming the Crown Princess of the Heavenly Tribe entailed. The laws, the endless rules concerning propriety and etiquette, the convoluted ceremonies and dreary banquets, she'd managed to adhere to most of it quite valiantly.

She no longer drank as heavily as she once did, and wasn't as reckless as she'd been in her younger days, she had matured and mellowed in many ways. She still remembered clearly the last piece of advice her mother had spoken on the day of her wedding to Ye Hua, 'From now on, you must curb your temper', from then until now, she still had not managed to improve her bad temper.

Which was the reason why about five seconds after reading the letter-, no, the order that Dong Hua had sent, she'd teleported to the gates of Taichen Palace, intent on making Dong Hua explain himself.

She had heard that Taichen Palace was impossible to enter lately, so she was surprised to arrive near the main gate to find not even a single guard standing watch. Anger bolstering her steps, she took several long strides toward the main gate, only to be stopped by a barrier she had not sensed.

Extended her hand and shot out a beam of magic power to break it, but paused after a few seconds. This barrier wasn't a solid shield, there was nothing for her magic to pierce or shatter, It was acting more like a flexible net than anything she'd encountered before. Her effort wasn't a complete waste, she'd noticed the odd net barrier was wind based.

She swiftly summoned the Yuqing fan and used it to send a wind based wave of magic at the barrier.

This time the magic was not dissipated across the barrier, but instead was absorbed by it.

"This air reeks of Kunlun." a feminine voice commented from behind Taichen Palace's left wall, two seconds later the voices owner walked between the main gate.

The woman's face was too angular and thin to be considered beautiful. Bai Qian noticed that the woman's fingers were very long, they were not holding a weapon, but a long box was held in both hands.

The black shadow line travelling down the woman's neck from behind her right ear gave away the fact that the woman before her was a demon, and from the aura she could sense, a powerful one. They were wearing blue robes patterned with spider webs in silver thread. Which was bizarre, of all the creatures in the world, who would want to be associated with spiders?

Bai Qian wasn't as surprised to see a demon outside of Taichen Palace as she would have been a few days ago. Zhe Yan had told her that those that served Dong Hua in the ancient times were not just immortals and deities, but ghosts, demons and other races, and there were many that still held allegiance to the retired sovereign of the six realms and master of the universe.

The demoness used magic to store the box away before stepping out of Taichen Palace as if the barrier wasn't there at all.

"Is attacking a superior's palace how one requests an audience nowadays? You young ones have created some strange customs." the demoness spoke with a mildly amused tone.

For this person to call her young meant they were likely of the same generation as her parents. She'd thought that generation only had a handful of people left, where had this demoness crawled from?

In light of her father, mother, Zhe Yan and Mo Yuan having all warned her in various degrees to tread very carefully with anything related to Dong Hua as he was now, Bai Qian resolved to try and deal with this new obstacle as diplomatically as she could.

"I am Bai Qian, Crown Princess of the Heavenly Tribe." Bai Qian introduced herself and waited for the demon to do the same.

"Why should the courtesy of knowing my name be offered to the discourteous?" The demoness replied, utterly unbothered.

It had been over 30,000 years since someone had dared to be clever with her, now she was curious about exactly who this demoness standing before her was.

Bai Qian realised she was getting no closer to finding Dong Hua and getting an explanation from him by trading words with this demoness, so she ignored the woman's slight and focused on her goal.

"Where is D- Dijun." Bai Qian asked, at the last moment she used his title, having the feeling that the demoness would take great offence to anyone simply using Dong Huas name. Perhaps playing nice with the demoness would give her the result she wanted, once they told her where Dong Hua was, then she wouldn't care about offending this woman.

"How intriguing," The demoness tilted her head to the side curiously, "When did you gain the right to know the lord's whereabouts?" Their voice was pleasant, but there was an undercurrent of something deadly, cold and sharp lurking beneath.

Answering her questions with questions of her own, just who was this irritating woman? If Dong Hua had ordered this person to guard Taichen Palace, then clearly he'd done so with the intent for Bai Qian to lose her temper, fine, she would oblige.

"There is a matter I want an explanation for." Bai Qian said.

The veil of pleasantry the demon wore instantly vanished, revealing a face full of cold contempt and scorn.

"I knew neither your father or mother to be arrogant, discourteous, presumptuous or irreverent. Yet here you stand to demand that Lord Shaoyang account for his deeds, to you?" The demoness spoke, disdain dripping from every word.

Bai Qian was going to ask in exactly what fashion this demoness knew her parents, but then the woman kept speaking before she could.

"'Pretty face, ugly temperament' was an accurate description of you after all. What shame your parents must feel to know they raised such a disgrace." The unnamed woman noted. "Now go home before I teach you some manners."

Bai Qian was so surprised and insulted, she had to spend two seconds to recover her wits. No one had ever insulted her in such an open, vicious and condescending way before, not once in her entire life, never mind so many different insults all at once. She unfurled the Yuqing fan. Inwardly she was thankful that fate had provided her someone she could vent her fury on. Even if this demoness was someone of importance, they had not introduced themselves, so the blame would be theirs for not doing so, not Bai Qians for not knowing.

Even if there were no witnesses, this demon was guilty of the crime of slandering the Crown Princess of Heavenly Tribe, her simply using her Yuqing can to blast this demoness into the wall behind her as punishment could be considered a great mercy. She would have felt justified doing so even before she married Ye Hua.

"Child.", the demoness spoke, the tone could only be described as utterly condescending, "You were born seven ages of the world too late to dance with me."

Grateful for the opportunity to vent her anger, Bai Qian channelled her power into the Yuqing fan, ready to deliver a powerful blade of wind at the demoness.

This demoness seemed extremely amused, as if Bai Qian was a toddler that had just tried to do something cute or endearing.

"Wind magic, against me?", the demoness shook her head in disbelief, "The ignorance of you afterborn children is truly astounding."

It was only then she realised she was unable to move even a millimetre of her body, and her attempts to use her powers travelled no further than the surface of her skin; she couldn't use magic to break out of whatever this old woman had done.

Demons of the current era all overwhelmingly had fire based power, very occasionally earth. Never wind or water unless one of the parents were a heavenly immortal, as was the case for the red demon princess Ji Heng, wife of the current green demon lord Yan Chiwu.

What was a demon doing wielding wind with such power and finesse?

Bai Qian was about to retort but she found her view of the demoness was blocked by a familiar person.

Mo Yuan, Heavenly Tribes God of War and her erstwhile master had appeared.