The full moon cast its cold light on the Emperor's Palace in Jing Kingdom. Looking up at the night sky, Tantai Jin suddenly found himself wondering if Ye Xiwu's nightmares were still bothering her. He quickly shook his head. He shouldn't be worrying about someone who left him. It had been months since that day when she left him in the woods. Now that he had taken power from his half-brother, Tantai Minglang, and established himself as the Emperor of Jing Kingdom, he had the means and resources to search for her. It should have been an easy task, but all of the scouts Nian Baiyu sent returned empty-handed.

Ye Xiwu, where are you?

He found her in an unexpected place, on an unexpected day.

When Ye Xiwu teasingly waved her hand at him as she landed out of nowhere, right in the middle of their operations in Mohe River, Tantai Jin couldn't help but smile with admiration at her audacity to appear right in front of him.

"So, you're still alive," Tantai Jin called out to Ye Xiwu.

Ye Xiwu smiled. "Of course. So are you!" she replied cheekily.

Tantai Jin's smile disappeared, however, when Xiao Lin arrived a few moments after her. He felt something prick his heart at the thought that she and he had come to the river together. Is the reason why I couldn't find her is because they were together?

To ease his troubled thoughts, he called on the guards to chase them, and the scholar Pang Yi Zhi, away. But they made a quick work of his guards and the sorcerers, and if not for the fox Pian Ran's singlehanded reactivation of the magical array holding the ancient flood dragon, they would have had the first move to taming the dragon.

But despite the restraining magic the sorcerers pinned on the dragon, it had other plans…

Tantai Jin felt a strange affinity with the flood dragon as it looked at him with its unevenly colored eyes. He had started to reach out his hand to it, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ye Xiwu floating towards the dragon and disappearing in a golden mist that entered the dragon's red-colored eye.

"Ye Xiwu!" Tantai Jin called out. The dragon roared as it absorbed Ye Xiwu's golden mist, and as it raised its head towards the light, he followed Ye Xiwu towards the dragon, himself dissipating into the same golden mist as she did, and entered the dragon's Bo're Life dream…

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I didn't protect you."

Sang Jiu smiled at him with tear-filled eyes. "It's all right. I forgive you… this time."

"Your Majesty?" Nian Baiyu's voice broke into Tantai Jin's thoughts. He blinked, and the image of Sang Jiu, the Clam Princess of Mohe dissolved like a faint mist on the Mohe River in front of him.

Tantai Jin sighed. It had been days since the flood dragon released them from the Bo're Life dream, reliving events from 10,000 years ago. He had experienced life as the upright and righteous God of War, Ming Ye, who, together with the twelve gods and goddesses, had protected the Four Continents and Three Realms from the threat of the Ancient Devil God.

Tantai Jin looked down at his hand and emitted a spark of his magic. His power, compared to the God of War's, felt significantly lesser than the power he felt when living as Ming Ye. In the dream, as Ming Ye, he had such a pure, almost limitless power that he fought toe to toe with the Ancient Devil God, his lieutenants, and his armies.

But now… With a sigh, Tantai Jin clenched his fist, and the magic dissipated. The discrepancy in power wasn't what made him listless and pensive, making him return more than once to the banks of the Mohe River.

"Have you ever, even just a little bit, even for a second, had any feelings for me?"

Tantai Jin took a deep breath.

"I want what is owed to me."

Sang Jiu's lips hovered over his as she pulled at the ties of his robes.

Tantai Jin breathed out heavily.

"After tonight, we'll call it even."

She was gone when he woke up, but her perfume lingered in the air and on his skin.

Tantai Jin took another deep breath.

The harsh glare of the reflected rays of the sun made him raise his hand to shield his eyes, which was slowly regaining its perception of shapes, of colors… of an unlooked for but wished for face.

Sang Jiu's bright face shone like the setting sun, her clear eyes looking straight into his, her red lips moving with confusion.

It seems that my fate is much kinder than I expected…

Tantai Jin released a long breath.

"Your Majesty, are you all right?" Ever the worrier, Nian Baiyu looked at him concernedly. Tantai Jin waved his concern away. The Bo're Life dream left him with strange feelings stirring in his chest. He put a hand over it. It wasn't particularly painful, but it was… strange.

"We ought to leave now, Your Majesty," Tantai Jin heard Nian Baiyu report. "The soldiers are waiting for us at Jia Pass."

It was inevitable. One should not be lingering on past events anyway. "I understand," Tantai Jin conceded. He cast one last look at the Mohe River. The dark blue waters glimmered in his eyes.

It wasn't Sang Jiu this time that seemed to appear before his eyes.

"Tantai Jin!"

Tantai Jin blinked. Her figure was coming closer and closer to him, becoming more substantial every second.

"Wait for me, Tantai Jin!"

Tantai Jin's mouth opened slightly. Ye Xiwu's bright face shone with the setting sun, her clear eyes meeting his unerringly, her red lips wide open in a smile.

"I'm staying with you," Ye Xiwu declared, her voice resembling tinkling bells.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tantai Jin raised his eyes from the memorial he was reading, and found Ye Xiwu slumped over the side table, fast asleep beside the scrolls she had managed to roll and put away, her head pillowed on her arms.

He put down the memorial he was reading and walked over to Ye Xiwu. Kneeling down, he carefully took her up in his arms and carried her over to his bed nearby. He smiled as she snuggled closer to him, burying her face in his chest. As he laid her down on the bed, she took hold of one of his sleeves. He shook his head. Like a child. He sat down beside her. She is adorable like a child.

He gently pried off her fingers from his sleeve and held them in his hands. They were delicate and soft. He looked over at her sleeping face.

Months before, the old Tantai Jin would have cursed at the face in front of him, finding it hateful to the core, not even bothering to glance its way. Now, he found himself tracing a finger on the soft cheeks tinted with a slight blush, the long dark eyelashes, the straight nose, and hovering over the red lips that slightly blew out her breath.

A slight tingle in his chest accompanied the smile in his face.

"Tantai Jin."

Tantai Jin froze. He watched Ye Xiwu carefully. She seemed to be still asleep, but he couldn't be sure—

Ye Xiwu squeezed Tantai Jin's fingers. "Tantai Jin," she whispered, her eyes still closed in slumber. "I'm staying with you."

The love thread in his heart burst into bloom.