Bai zhi remained seated as mo yuan and zhe yan finally left the room. He looked at donghua with a somber expression on his face. After a long silence, he finally asked, "permission to speak freely?"

"you obviously have something on your mind, bai zhi. So would you stop if I didn't give you permission?" Donghua questioned with a raised eyebrow. With the apparent hesitation on his face, donghua put him a little at ease. "if what you are about to say concerns xaio bai, then you don't need my permission. But if it concerns anything else, then mind your words, when you speak."

Bai zhi felt a little relieved on hearing that but the prospect of what he was about to say, still scared him a lot.

"so...you love my granddaughter."

"are you stating that or asking me?"

"don't misunderstand me. I have already seen and been witness to everything that you have done for her since yesterday. I have seen the sincerity behind your affections and I am not questioning that."

"then, get to the point."

"its' not your affection, I'm questioning brother. It's the maturity of the little lassie I am worried about."

"elaborate."

"I have heard before that she has a little obsession for you, puppy love if you will. I just worry that under the influence of that puppy love, she will happily marry you now but with time as she grows up and the puppy love fades, she might come to regret her decision. Again, I am not saying that you won't keep her happy but she is still a kit and you are donghua dijun, the former ruler of heaven and earth, master of the universe. The burden you bear is extremely heavy. Even a love fate does not guarantee that both parties will definitely fall in love. My only fear is that if one day her infatuation with you fades, then she might get trapped in a loveless marriage. I fear for the happiness of my precious xaio jiu, brother."

"so, your whole point of concern is that she is just infatuated with me, correct?"

Bai zhi nodded in response to donghua's question.

"and if she were actually, honestly in love with me, you would have no objections, I believe."

This time, though what donghua said was not a question, still bai zhi nodded his confirmation. This made donghua smile.

"tell me, bai zhi, I have heard that nine-tailed foxes love for life. Is that correct?"

"yes, it is true. Once a nine-tailed fox chooses a mate, it'll never love another."

"hmm... interesting." Donghua mused as he waved his hand towards the table. Bai zhi watched as the blade they had used to cut their hands open, to revive xaio jiu appeared on the table. He was surprised at seeing it again.

"you recognize the blade, don't you?" Donghua asked. Bai zhi nodded his head, feeling perplexed at the energy that radiated from the blade.

"you can feel the energy that radiates from it but you can't place what the energy is, right? You can try holding it if you want to."

With donghua's permission, he tentatively picked up the blade. Turning it over and over in his hand, he could feel the energy of a nine-tailed fox but he was unable to deduce where it came from. He placed the blade back on the table. He faced donghua and said, "the blade has the energy of a nine-tailed fox but none of my kin knows the art of forging blades or practices it. What is this blade, I do not understand"?

"it is the answer that you seek, bai zhi." As donghua said this, he waved his hand over the blade. Under bai zhi's eyes, the blade transformed into a beautiful red foxtail. Stunned, he sat there, taking in the red foxtail in front of him. The red color of it made sure that it could have belonged to only one immortal in the whole universe, the only nine-tailed red fox in all the realms, bai feng jiu. He didn't know if he was angry, sad, surprised, or any other emotion that was going through him right now. So, he did the only thing that came to his mind, he looked up at donghua, his eyes begging for answers.

"I told you before, xaio bai is very stubborn when she puts her mind and heart to something. But she is also fierce when it comes to those she loves. This tail, that you see, she cut this off when she got to know that I have removed my name from the three lives rock. She could have gotten drunk and grieved the loss of love and overtime maybe she would have forgotten that but that is what an ordinary person does. My xaio bai is special. After she understood what I had done, she marched up to me, pointed a finger in my face and threatened me that if I won't do something about the rock, then she would do it herself."

"xaio bai was furious at the rock. In a fiery burst of force, she took her sword and cut off her tail before I could even process what she had done. She told me that each tail of a nine-tailed fox can be turned into an extremely powerful artifact. With that, she turned her tail into this blade and took off for the rock. When I got there, I saw her desperately trying to engrave my name on the rock but it was for naught. When she finally couldn't take the pain of losing a tail and fell in my arms, I asked her why would she cut off her tail as the pain could have killed her. But you want to know what she answered?"

Bai zhi had tears in the corner of his eyes as he nodded dumbfounded.

"she said that nine-tailed foxes love for life and if she couldn't have me then she'd rather die. Getting her to live again is probably the second hardest thing I have done after pushing her away."

Bai zhi was still digesting this piece of news. His heart hurt for his precious xaio jiu. Even the imagination of losing a tail left him shuddering and she had done it so easily.

"she cut off her tail for you?"

"she cut off her tail for her love for me, bai zhi. Do you still doubt her love for me?"

"no, how could I? The lassie cut off her tail without any regard for the gut-wrenching pain she knew she would experience. She was prepared to lose it all for a chance with one she loved. How could I ever doubt a love like that? You have my blessings, not that you need it. Go marry her and make her happy."

"your blessings matter very much to xaio bai and whatever matters to her is my main concern, bai zhi. And for the other matter you stated, I wonder if you have informed her mother and grandmother about it?"

"I sent the message to both of them, this morning. They'll be here anytime now."

"good. Do one thing. Gather the whole bai family and zhe yan in the great hall before dinner."

With that, they left the room. Donghua went in search of feng jiu. He found her sitting under a tree, surrounded by a lot of food boxes. He walked towards her and settled under the tree beside her. He placed his hand on her back and caressed her.

"xaio bai, what are you doing? I thought you were going to practice your sword skills."

Feng jiu moved slightly back towards the comfort of his hand and gazed up at him and said with a pout, "I already did. You took too long in your meetings. I was waiting for you and ended up making candies for everyone."

"why, xaio bai?" He asked smoothing her hair behind her ears.

"mo yuan, lian song, si ming, cheng yu, Zhong lin, everyone would be leaving in a little while. I wanted to give them something for the trip back home. This way they'll have something to eat if they feel hungry on the way."

"you know that they'll just teleport from here to their respective places, right? It'll take hardly a couple of minutes."

"I know, but, in the meanwhile, if they felt hungry, they could stop and have candy on the way. Look at the little sugar foxes, I made. They look tasty, don't they?" She forced a small box with five sugar foxes in his faces. He took hold of her hand and pulled the box back a little to look at the red sugar foxes. Then he turned his face towards her and with a frown on his face, he said in a small voice, "They look so tasty. But my little fox, did you forget to make candy for me?"

Feng jiu looked at the frown on his face and with her free hand, she caressed his face.

"of course not, dijun. I made special candies for you. Yours are even sweeter and tastier than these."

Then she twisted a little and picked up a bigger box from behind her. Bringing it up to eye level, she said, "See, they look better, don't they? Try one and tell me how it tastes." She said with an excitement and eagerness to know what he thought about the candies she made her. But as she waited for him to pick up a candy from the box, he didn't move. She looked up with a questioning look, when he caught her eyes, cocked his head towards the box, and opened his mouth. She understood that he was waiting for her to feed him. In her head, she thought, poor dijun, no one must have ever fed him candy before; from now on, I'll feed him everything he asks for.

With that thought, she picked up a candy with her free hand and put it to donghua's lips, as his mouth opened, she put it in his mouth. But before, she could retrieve her fingers, his lips closed down on them. She felt his tongue lap at her fingers and lightly suck on the tips. A moan fell from her lips at the feel of his mouth. Embarrassed, she quickly pulled out her fingers and looked at him accusingly.

"dijun!" She exclaimed as she blushed red all over.

With an innocent look on his face, he answered while enjoying the candy in his mouth, "what? I was just tasting all the sweetness."

Feng jiu gasped at his words. "dijun, you...you...you are naughty." She said in a flush and quickly hid her face in his chest.

He laughed as he unhurriedly put down the box in her hand. Shifting slightly towards her, he held her in his arms and rested against the tree at his back. He felt her fingers take hold of his white strands and start playing with them.

"you were right, xaio bai. This candy is really tasty. You make the best candy xaio bai."

"I'll make you candy whenever you want. I'm a really good cook if I do say so myself. I'll make you whatever you want, okay? Just tell me what you want and I'll feed it to you."

She was playing with his hair as she said this and felt a change in the air when she completed. She moved her face out of his chest, a little to see what has caused the change. To her surprise, the tree they had been sitting under had been transformed from sal to a peach blossom tree and its petals were falling down upon them softly. She moved her gaze around them and saw that he had moved the boxes farther away and the whole ground had been covered with peach blossom petals. From her point of view, they were sitting in the middle of a sea of peach blossoms. She hugged him tighter and felt him press a kiss on top of her head. With her lips still on her head, she heard him say, "feed me, xaio bai."

She picked up another candy from his box that was still near her hand and fed it him but she made sure to quickly dislodge her fingers, so as to not get them trapped again. She felt his chest move to the sound of his chuckle and a smile appeared on her own face.

While they were both lost in each other, they failed to notice feng jiu's mother and grandmother had arrived at the fox den who were then joined by the rest of the family that came to receive them. As they all watched, feng jiu and dong hua play around with each other, they quietly laughed at their antics. The appearance of the dreamscape that donghua had conjured for feng jiu, soothed the romantic hearts of the bai family matriarchs. They had read about the love that the former ruler had declared for their xaio jiu but with his infamous rock nature, they had felt a little skeptical about this match. However, the scene in front of them had smoothed over all their doubts. They could feel their love from where they were standing miles away like it was a breathing, tangible thing. They could see the softness that the old rock held for their lovely xaio jiu and her happiness that overflowed the entire land.

In the evening, when their guests came to ask for leave, they were greeted by the vision of donghua and feng jiu amid a sea of peach blossoms, sitting under a huge peach blossom tree. As they approached the couple, they saw the little boxes that surrounded them.

Feng jiu watched as mo yuan, lian song, si ming, cheng yu, Zhong lin appeared in front of them. She sat up from donghua's embrace, greeting them.

"what are these boxes around you, feng jiu?" Cheng yu asked.

"oh, these are just some snacks I made for your trip back home." Feng jiu answered sweetly.

Lian song was confused, "snacks?"

"yes, I made a few candies for you all. You can have them on your journey back home." She explained not understanding the mocking tone of his voice.

Cheng yu felt the laugh bubbling up in lian song beside her and elbowed him hard in the ribs to keep him from hurting feng jiu's feelings. She quickly said, "we will be delighted to have some candies for our trip. Thank you, feng jiu." She could see the happiness radiating from feng jiu as she handed them all a box of candy. She turned to see lian song still coughing with a hand on his ribs. Feeling like she hurt him badly, she patted his back. But the bastard, looked up smiling at that. She retrieved her hand and started walking away.

"aww, were you worried about me?"

"no, I was trying to see if the hit will finally choke you to death."

"don't hide. You were definitely worried about me."

"you are delusional."

"you could have hit a little slow though."

"you could be a little less stupid though."

Feng jiu watched them squabble on their way out but she had also seen the tenderness in cheng yu's eyes. As they all left, she kept watching them, solemnly. Donghua noticed the look on her face and bringing her back into his arms, he asked, "what are you thinking about, little fox?"

She sighed out, "them"

"what about them, little fox?"

"the faith and devotion they showed for you yesterday, was remarkable if a little too remarkable. This world requires balance to run, no one side can be too heavy for long. From what I have seen and experienced, there is a karmic cycle in motion. What is received must be given, what is taken must be returned, like that. It keeps the world balanced. And I fear that the cycle their loyalty and allegiance had set in motion would require an equally big feat from your side. And with the burden of duty that you bear, it will most likely test between your sense of duty and your commitment towards them."

Donghua was amazed at the depth and acuteness of her thoughts, she hadn't just summed up the truth of the situation but she had also predicted an outcome that he felt was exceptionally accurate, one he felt, he couldn't have predicted by himself.

"that is an extremely likely possibility, xaio bai. I am amazed at your astuteness and sense of perception. The world asks for balance and the burden to fulfill that will always fall on us. This has happened before and it will happen again xaio bai. I can't escape my responsibilities, even if I am stuck between fulfilling two of them at the same time. All debt must be repaid, xiao bai." He rationalized.

"I understand your responsibilities, donghua and I will never ask you to shrug them off. When I fell in love with you, I fell in love with all parts of you, the good and the bad. I love all of you, donghua, even your sense of duty, your rationality, your dedication, everything. All I wish is for you to not carry all these alone. When you experienced these before you were alone but you are not alone anymore, my love. I ask for you to give me a chance to share these burdens with you. I might not be able to fulfill your duties but if you will give me a chance, I can fulfill your commitment towards them."

Donghua was overwhelmed by the love he saw in her eyes. She had read him so easily and accepted everything she saw with love and compassion. Every time he thought she would not be able to accept this aspect of him, she showed him a new depth to her love and drowned out all his doubts.

"thank you, xaio bai, for loving me so ardently. I don't know how you do it but every time I think you can't love me more, you show a whole new level to your love. Thank you for loving me, xaio bai. I am not good at expressing myself, little fox, but I'll try my best to give you everything you want. Just bear with me, little love, just bear it with me."