"Whether it's you becoming me, or I becoming you… the outcome will never change.
You are the only Devil God now."
The Devil God looked down on the red and black wedding invitation on his hand. A finely crafted thing, with the emblem of the Demon Realm embossed at the front and back of it. Inside was a beautiful calligraphy of words signifying his intent to marry the Lady of Spirituality, Li Susu.
He knew Li Susu was already awake and walking around restlessly inside the vast room he had put her in, looking for a way to escape. But in the rooms of the Demon Palace, there were no windows that you can look out of, because there was never any beauty to see in the Demon Realm. She could only have bleak walls to enclose her inside the hell she tried so hard to avoid.
As the Devil God, he didn't need to do something as mundane as walking to her room, having enough powers already to simply will himself to go anywhere and even anytime he wished. But he found himself feeling… sentimental about the things that mortals do, such as creating wedding invitations and walking.
Sentiment. Gods like him have no need for such a mortal emotion as sentiment. Even immortals cultivate by cutting off their own emotions in order to ascend. These volatile emotions were only ever for mortals to feel, to make their lives more meaningful, short as they were.
And yet…
He walked through the gloomy corridors of the Devil Palace, step by step, inch by inch. A demon guard approached him. "Should I light up the corridors, Lord?" He merely shook his head and continued walking. The dimly lit corridors suited him very well, and he was a god, so light or dark, he could see his way clearly either way. But the whole experience somehow felt familiar… like he had done this already a lifetime ago.
The corridors were barely lit. But the darkness in front of him was nothing compared to the pain embedded deep in his heart.
He paused before the doors of Li Susu's room, fighting against the tightness in his chest, which was now devoid of the pain of the Soul-slaying nails. He freed himself from the pain of the nails, but what is this? It was as if the nails were still embedded in his heart, pulsing with pain every time his heart beat. The God-slaying Crossbow rose and offered to ease the pain, but he stayed its hand and willed it to let him feel the pain. Only for now, anyway, he assured the divine weapon, and it relented.
He composed himself, and entered Li Susu's room.
The Lady of Spirituality was looking up at the sky that was projected on the room's ceiling. The All-in-Distress Way cast its ominous light down on the room, but it only made the Lady of Spirituality shine brighter and purer, with her dark hair cascading down her back, and her white, flowing robes a perfect contrast to the darkness of her surroundings.
And intersecting with another memory, one that he thought was already obliterated the moment the Ancient Devil God merged with him.
"Tantai Jin! Look, there are apples up that tree!" Ye Xiwu smiled happily as she pointed up at a tree in the palace gardens.
Nian Baiyu hissed in annoyance. "Miss Ye!" he said sharply. "You don't address His Majesty that way!"
But Tantai Jin only laughed. He turned to Nian Baiyu. "She can call me anything she wants. Let her off."
Nian Baiyu pouted. "Your Majesty is always lenient with Miss Ye," he said.
Tantai Jin nodded. "Of course," he simply said, and waved Nian Baiyu away. He walked towards Ye Xiwu, who had already hitched up her robes and attempting to climb the tree. "So ladylike," he remarked mockingly, looking at Ye Xiwu's exposed ankles and knees. "What if someone else sees?"
Ye Xiwu tilted her chin up. "They're only going to think that the mighty and all-powerful Emperor Jin was bullying his maid again," she replied as she tried to hold on to the nearest branch and failed. She fell heavily on the ground.
"Ye Xiwu!" Tantai Jin cried out, and knelt beside her. She was holding her knee against her body. "Let me see," he said gently, and pried her fingers away from her knee.
"It's just a scratch," Ye Xiwu said, wincing as Tantai Jin inspected the wound, and whether she had any broken bones. He glared at her, and she looked down, contrite. He called on a crow to relay a message to Nian Baiyu to bring medicine. The crow returned in a few moments with a small jar of ointment in its beak.
"All this trouble just for those apples," Tantai Jin muttered, taking in a little of the ointment on his fingers and spreading it gently over the wound. "They might not even taste nice."
"How do you know?" Ye Xiwu said. "Have you had any?"
Tantai Jin met Ye Xiwu's gaze. "No," he replied sheepishly.
Seeing that Tantai Jin was already done with applying the ointment on her knee, Ye Xiwu immediately stood up. "Then let's have a taste, shall we?" she said, again trying to climb up. Tantai Jin waved his hand, and a shower of apples fell down. A few hit Ye Xiwu's head.
"Ow!" she cried out, massaging the sore spot where the apples hit her head.
Tantai Jin chuckled, and covered his mouth when he saw Ye Xiwu scowl at him. She picked an apple from the ground, and rubbed it against her robes. "There, try one," she said, with a big smile on her face. He raised an eyebrow on the apple, and then at Ye Xiwu, smiling happily. He cautiously took a bite, and chewed thoughtfully. Ye Xiwu looked at him with bated breath.
"How is it?" she asked concernedly, seeing Tantai Jin's face unchanged with every movement of his jaw. Her apprehensive look told him she was thinking about those first disastrous attempts at cooking, and he almost laughed. Instead, he simply bent down and kissed her lips, the juice of the apple coating their lips.
"You tell me," Tantai Jin whispered as he broke their kiss.
"Demon God," Li Susu's flat voice broke into his thoughts.
"Lady of Spirituality," the Devil God replied, equally emotionlessly.
They stared down at each other, the Devil God in the black robes and the Lady Immortal in pure white. Two opposite souls, two deities standing on different sides of the world. One bent on destruction, the other intent on saving it.
But for a short while, before fate intervened, they had been of the same mind, on the same side, with the same heart.
"Why are you here?" Li Susu asked in a harsh tone that he knew she was only using for him. He smiled derisively, both at her question and her tone.
"I am in my own palace, Goddess Yuling," he said, waving his arms around. "You, on the other hand, are here as a guest in my palace, here at my pleasure."
Li Susu's eyes hardened. "And what exactly is your pleasure, Devil God?"
In a blink, the Devil God disappeared and reappeared beside Li Susu, who backed away a few steps. "Give me your hand," he said, a hand outstretched towards her. Very skeptically, she did as he said. He conjured up the wedding invitation and placed it on her hand.
"This is…" Li Susu stared at the wedding invitation.
"Five hundred years ago, we were married twice," the Devil God said. "In the Bo're Life dream, Mingye had also married Sangjiu. This time will be different. Three days from now, you, Lady of Spirituality, will be marrying the Devil God himself."
Li Susu's face contorted in anger. "To marry a most treacherous and traitorous devil will be the shame of my eternal life!" she said vehemently. "I would rather die now!" She raised her hand, and intended to throw the invitation away, but the Devil God roughly took her wrist.
"Did you think I'd give you a choice, Goddess Yuling?" the Devil God said ominously. Li Susu struggled against his grip, but it was beyond her strength. "Have you given me a choice when you burst into the past and attempted to change my fate?" She stared at him with startled eyes. "No, Lady Yuling, you will not have any such freedom now." He threw her forcefully on the ground. "Not unless you want me to bring down the All-In-Distress Way down on the world right now."
Li Susu remained kneeling on the ground, her face turned away from him. He was glad she did, as it hid his momentary pain away from her eyes. "Tantai Jin…" he heard her whisper sadly. "Why are you doing this?" She finally looked at him with tearful eyes.
His lips curled in a sneer. "I am the Devil God," he said coldly. "I am the shadow of this world, the bearer of this world's sins. The All-in-Distress Way will bring the whole world into the chaos where nobody can distinguish between happiness and pain, sorrow and joy…love and hate…anymore."
He knelt down and raised her chin to meet his eyes. "You've stood against me long enough," he continued. "But as long as your primordial spirit lives, the entanglement between us will never end." He released her and stood up. "Save your strength."
He walked away from her. "I await your response, Lady Yuling. If, within this day, you have not put your name on that wedding invitation, I shall consider that your approval in bringing down destruction onto this world you love." Without waiting for her response, he vanished, forgoing altogether the sentiment that he had earlier carried in his heart.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Left alone in the room, Li Susu opened the wedding invitation.
Groom: Cang Jiumin
Seeing the characters so clearly written on the paper, Li Susu broke down and cried. She placed the wedding invitation close to her heart as tears continued to fall down her face. When her heartbroken sobs eased, she opened the invitation again, and with a finger, she wrote down the words.
Bride: Li Susu
0728: Happy birthday Luo Yun Xi! May you have the best that life has to give you, for all the hard work, passion, and effort you have given. =) Thank you very much for Tantai Jin, Ming Ye, Cang Jiumin, and of course, the gorgeous Ancient Devil God (Chu Mo) XD