Deranged with grief, donghua went headfirst towards the falling ashes, with his hand out front. Though the moment he neared the ashes, something happened. He was pushed back by a stronger force. When he tried to reach in harder, a golden orb had emerged around the falling ashes. The pale golden orb seemed to be formed from some mystical energy which kept dong hua from reaching inside.

Since he wasn't able to reach inside, dong hua gently took hold of the orb. Unable to understand the origin of the orb, dong hua channeled his aura around it. Reading the spiritual signature of the orb, he was left even more confused. The orb had a signature a that was eerily similar to his own but at the same time it was entirely different.

As he was working it out in his mind, he saw the phoenix form of zhe yan flying around him and pointing towards the ground. Nodding his head, he descended towards the shore. Back on land, he was soon surrounded by bai zhi, bai yi, bai zhen, si ming and Zhong lin. He waited a moment for zhe yan to take their immortal forms before he created a shield around the two of them and effectively blocking out everyone else.

Looking at the golden orb in his hands, dong hua stumbled to his knees as he whispered out in a morose voice, "what happened to her, zhe yan? How could this happen to her?"

Getting down beside him, zhe yan put his hand on dong hua's shoulder and squeezed. "xaio jiu swallowed demons, dong hua. And not just one, there must have been around three to four."

He watched as dong hua was crumbling down emotionally but what worried him was that the moment his grief gave way to his anger, the whole world would be at the sake of destruction. Even at that moment, zhe yan could feel the wrath inside him build stronger and stronger by the second. This wasn't hard to deduce by any chance as the weather tended to mirror his mood at this moment. The rising sun was lost behind the gloomy dark clouds of thunder, the wind had picked up a biting edge to it, the usually gentle river was going mad and lashing out at the shores, slight trembles could be felt in the ground beneath their feet and the whole atmosphere had a menacing feel to it. Zhe yan could feel the disaster that would be unleashed if dong hua went rogue. 

With great worry and hesitation, zhe yan placed his hand near the orb. He had originally tried to place it on top of the orb but the force field around it was so strong that he couldn't push through. So, he had decided to place his hand as near it as he could go. After examining the orb, he spoke with a hopeful voice, "all is not lost, dong hua. Can't you detect the trace of power of this orb?"

Hearing this, dong hua looked up at him with a pensive expression, "the signature is similar to mine but not entirely. Explain yourself, zhe yan."

"you said it yourself, dong hua that xaio jiu is a primordial spirit, same as you. This means that just like you she cannot die. The most that can happen is her spirit will fade away into nothingness but if that were to happen there should be nothing left behind of her. Moreover, as phoenixes we are usually reborn from our ashes. A phoenix dies only when it is in its mortal form."

"from what you are saying, it should not be possible for xaio bai to die in her phoenix form and since, her ashes are still here that means she is still alive." saying that, dong hua's inner turmoil calmed down and the logical side of his kicked in. While zhe yan continued with his explanations, he started to piece together what had happened and the solutions for the current situation.

"exactly, dong hua. Feng jiu is the source of all living, how could she die from mixing with a piece of her own self. Even a rotting leaf can't ruin the tree it comes from. Here, we are talking about the primordial spirit of life. And look at this orb once again, dong hua. Doesn't it feel like it is missing something? The power of this orb is strong but the surface itself is very flimsy. When I tried to touch it, the force field around it pushed me back from quite a distance but you are able to hold it with no opposition." Zhe yan expounded.

As dong hua pondered over his words, a thought came to his mind, 'what if this orb was an extension of his own fairy magic? the idea wasn't too far fetched as his blood had mixed with xaio bai's a few days earlier. so, if that statement held any truth then it might be possible for him to build on that base.'  Wondering if it might be able to bring his xaio bai back to him, he thought it over once again before he decided to give it a go.

Extending his aura and cultivation to envelope the orb inside it. Dong hua channeled the power of his primordial spirit through the orb with only one thing in his mind, bring xaio bai back.

He watched as, after a few moments, the orb started to glow brighter and brighter. It was absorbing all the power dong hua was channeling through it and slowly, it began to grow in size. First, it grew as a whole then it started elongating and taking the shape of a human body. When the orb took shape of a body, the feeling of hope inside dong hua held no bounds and began to bloom. He channeled more and more of his primordial power through it. After what seemed like hours, the glow finally faded and from behind the golden light appeared the body of feng jiu.

The moment he saw her, dong hua immediately checked all of her vitals and heaved out a breath of relief. Assured that feng jiu was now very much alive and well, dong hua raised his hands and opened the shield around them. He was soon surrounded by their family and friends.

Everyone was shocked at seeing the body of feng jiu lying safely in dong hua's arms. They had no idea as to what had happened to return her back from the ashes but seeing her safe in donghua's arms was all the reassurance they needed.

The only question came from bai zhi and that too was, "Is she alright?"

Nodding his head once, dong hua looked at her as he softly said, "she is."

"no." Exclaimed zhe yan. Though it was more of an exclamation of joy than of grief, but in such a sensitive environment, no one gave much thought to the emotion behind his no.

When dong hua looked at zhe yan with a withering glare, he gently raised both of his hands in surrender before saying, "just let me say this once, this is not your area of expertise."

Zhe yan took hold of one of his arm and gently placed his hand above her stomach while he said, "I meant, no, she is not good, she is thriving."

It took dong hua a few moments to understand what zhe yan was indicating towards and when he did, his mouth dropped open.

Watching the master of the universe sitting with his jaw hanging open was befuddling for everyone. No one thought the calm and rational dong hua dijun was even capable of such an action. Intrigued at what exactly was going on, a couple of people were about to ask but they were interrupted by the old god himself.

"Are you sure, zhe yan?"

The god of medicine moved his hand towards the place where donghua's hand was resting, above feng jiu's stomach. Indicating his intention, zhe yan gently asked, "May I?"

Dong hua nodded his head as he retrieved his hand a little. Zhe yan softly placed his hand on top of the lower part of feng jiu's stomach before answering, "yes, your majesty. I'm sure. It seems like you are going to be a father of one......wait, no."

Dong hua was fully planning out all the ways he could get rid of zhe yan when he said no again. Hearing no's repeatedly was pushing him to his bottom line. Glaring at zhe yan with a murderous expression, dong hua barely waited for him to sort himself out before he proceeded with killing the old bird.

Still examining feng jiu, zhe yan spoke out loud, "there's no use glaring at me. It's your own child... or should I say children that are creating a fuss here."

Finished with his examination, zhe yan looked up to find a dumbstruck dong hua. Chuckling at his expression, zhe yan thumped donghua thrice on his shoulder as he said, "congratulations, your majesty. You are going to be the father of three. And might I add, I think your future children are going to be just like you, never going to do anything ordinary. The first set of triplets in the history of the immortals, courtesy of dong hua dijun." With that, zhe yan dissolved in a fit of laughter.