Tears of Fate - Eternal Love of Dreams Fan Fiction

Chapter Thirty Seven

"Jiu'er, Dijun is missing. "  Bai Qian said without preamble as soon as she and the rest of the family including Zhe Yan entered the Fox Cavern and saw Xiao Bai.  "He was last seen in the middle of the battleground in the Fushou Valley.  After he killed Ya Ti, he immediately disappeared. We have deployed as much people as we can to search for him.  However, with the war, the number of available people that we have, have been severely depleted.  Jiu'er, he was badly hurt."  Xiao Bai sat down feeling her knees go weak.

"How did he get hurt?  He disappeared?  How?  Was he captured? I don't understand."   Donghua had been gone for the past two months since they confirmed the rumor that Ya Ti Dijun of the Eastern Realm has been raising armies of the dead in order to overthrow Ye Hua as the Emperor of the Sky Kingdom.  Because he was the only one with the enough power to suppress the rebellion that called forth malevolent spirits from the ground, he had no choice but to go and help Ye Hua in the battle.  He had been sending her missives whenever he could so she wouldn't worry about him.  She knew he had gone into seclusion for a few weeks to fortify his cultivation.  So this news had completely blindsided Xiao Bai.

Ya Ti Dijun had been a most formidable adversary for the Sky Kingdom for he worked against them from within.  He was able to form alliances with some of the more powerful monarchs in the realms who had been displeased with the rule of Hao De and even with Ye Hua  taking over felt that the position needed a more powerful leader such as Ya Ti Dijun.  The only thing they knew that was standing in their way was Donghua Dijun who was not only the nephew in law of Ye Hua but had also frequently demonstrated his contempt for the Monarchs of the Eastern Realms.  Using the greed and ignorance of Hao De Tianjun, Ya Ti had allowed him to access what he claimed were the more fertile grounds of the Eastern Realms for his cultivation in exchange for access to some of the more holy scrolls that were in the archives of Tai Chen Palace.  Hao De seeing no harm in it and without consulting anyone allowed Ya Ti to "borrow" some of the more sacred text.  Ya Ti used the information that can be found on these scrolls to raise the dead to create an army to aid him in his desired for conquest.  As such, at that initial point in the battle when Donghua Dijun had not interfered yet, the Immortals of the Sky Kingdom and their armies were getting a beating from the powerful undeads who were relentless in their attacks.  They did not get tired and their powers never faltered as they kept rising up again and again.  Ya Ti Dijun felt confident that soon the entire army of the Sky Kingdom will fall to him before Donghua Dijun can do anything.  However, Ya Ti Dijun, who had not been alive when Donghua Dijun had conquered the Universe and unified the Immortal Realms, did not know the prowess of Donghua on the battlefield.  In addition, he did not know the extent to which the cultivation of Donghua Dijun has increased in the next million of years.  Before he entered the battlefield, Donghua Dijun was able to find out first which particular scrolls Ya Ti had "borrowed" and had already figured out what to do with these undeads.  He needed to fortify his mind first to be able to deal with such malevolent energy so he went into seclusion for a few weeks while the battle raged on.  However, as soon as he was out of seclusion, he knew he was ready.  When he finally arrived,  it only took him the better part of the day to take control of all the undead with his mind and he decimated them all in one full swoop.    In shock, Ya Ti tried to call for a retreat, but he immediately found himself surrounded by a thousand manifestation of the Cang'he.  He knew he was about to be beheaded by the Cang'he so he used the only other thing he had at his disposal to take down Donghua Dijun. If he was going to die, he will take Dijun with him.  As a final salvo, while Donghua Dijun was occupied with him, he raised the signal for his archers who were hidden to fire their venom laced arrows at Donghua Dijun.  This venom was from the most poisonous and deadliest creature in the Universe the Appalachian Snake Dragon. He had painstakingly gathered this venom not caring how many of his people died trying to get it, so that he can use it specifically for Donghua Dijun when he would inevitably show up, so great was his hatred for him.  

"He was hit by arrows laced with the most poisonous venom.  We were able to get one of the arrows and I was able to check it.  Jiu'er, it's bad.  If only one or two had hit him, he would have been fine.  But we underestimated the evilness and hatred of Ya Ti against Dijun for he created almost a thousand of them and he reserved them all for him."  Zhe Yan said.  "According to those closest to him, he was hit by so many of them that he was bleeding all over his body.  But he was still able to kill Ya Ti before he teleported out.  We don't know where he went but I suspect that he went where he usually goes to when he needs to cultivate. I'm sorry Jiu'er but nobody knows where that is.  However, we are still trying to check every where else in case my hunch is wrong." the old Phoenix said.  He could see the tears on the eyes of Xiao Bai and knew how much she was suffering so he said the only thing that came to his mind that may bring her comfort.  "Don't worry too much Jiu'er, he's been through this before, he's stronger than all the Immortals combined and I know that he will do anything to get back to you." 

***

Aside from spending some time with the children in the morning and in the afternoon, most of the time, Xiao Bai can be found in Donghua's study comforted by his things around her.  She had been sleeping there at night also from the time they found out that Donghua was missing as she couldn't bear to sleep in their bed.  Although she had been somewhat comforted by High God Zhe Yan's words that Donghua was more powerful than probably all the immortals combined, she knew that he was not completely invulnerable.  He can still get badly hurt and without the aural block inside of him, he might not be able to cultivate fast enough to save himself.  High God Zhe Yan had told her about the aural block when she had overheard him and her father talking about it and she had insisted on knowing the entire story.  Although she knew why Donghua had put it inside of her and would never question his decision, she wished it was still inside of him right now protecting him.   However, according to High God Zhe Yan who had been told by Donghua in passing when he was checking on the twins, the aural block had somehow been passed by Xiao Bai to the children while she was pregnant. It had split into two and merged themselves with the primordial spirit of the two children thereby giving them the protection that was originally meant for him to his children.  Xiao Bai sighed hating this feeling of helplessness.  Sometimes, she wished that all the major problems in the Universe did not have to fall upon Donghua to deal with.  But such was his responsibility as the most powerful being in the Universe  Everyone depended on him so much that she knew how much burden have been placed on him from the time he was young. He was the one who had to take the most risk with his life. Now, she did not even know how he was doing.  

She closed her eyes as the now familiar waves of anxiety assailed her.  She had been trying to deny it for days now, but she knew that something was horribly wrong with Donghua.  Her ring which usually glowed brightly has now become dimmer by the day so she knew that Donghua was in grave danger. But she did not even need the ring to tell her that. She knew that if he was not hurt or in danger, there was nothing in in the Universe or in the Heavens that would have prevented him from finding his way back to her by now.  She didn't know what she and the children would do without him.  She had to find a way to help him.  But how?  She didn't even know where he was.  As she moved her head to stretch it a little, her gaze fell upon the Orb of Time on his desk.  They had left it there since it had been given to her by the Magistrate.  Xiao Bai took it in her hands feeling a surge of power from it wondering  if she can use it.  But stopping time will not help her find him now.  In addition, Donghua had told her that the Orb stopping time was temporary and will only last until the light dimmed.  So that won't help her.  As she continued to clutch the Orb in her hands comforted by the warmth of the power emanating from it, she took a deep breath and said what she had been saying for the past month, "I wish I can go where Donghua is."  As soon as she said those words, a portal opened right in front of her.