Immortal Mortals

The Pearl

Having settled Ai back to sleep after a stream of tears and apologies, Jie and Chang Li headed for the little hill in the forest to talk without the possibility of Ai overhearing their conversation.

Settling themselves down, Jie looked up briefly. Winter was once more upon them, but the skies were crystal clear and brilliantly lit up with stars and a crescent moon that shimmered in the crisp air. Then looking at Chang Li he sighed deeply. It was one of exhaustion and emotional turmoil, but not allowing the young man to see much into it or to even allow him to offer pity, which he could clearly see written all over his face, Jie dove straight into the point of their clandestine meeting.

"Where is the child now?" he asked, already knowing the answer but needing confirmation.

"Zhe Yan has her." he said with a faint smile.

"Her?" he asked with widening eyes as a small shiver ran down his spine and a slow growing smile began to shimmer across his face.

"Yes. Her. A daughter Mo Yuan." he laughed softly at the older mans inability to grasp the sudden news that he was to be a father of a little girl.

"And the procedure? What form did he use for her?" he asked softly.

"He had to use a Qing Qiu Luminous Pearl. As you know, Xiao Wu could not carry her to full term, not in the form she's in now, it was becoming too dangerous and because of the amount of energy she was using to hide it, and being in this world, where her own energy was already low, she was becoming weaker. Her energy systems were severely unbalanced because of it, which as you know, would have had a flow on effect to the child." he explained.

"The procedure itself was a simple one, and now that her fetus and spirit are being incubated by the Pearl which Zhe Yan prepared well in advance, she will continue to grow as she should. There are no complications that he could foresee, though when Xiao Wu returns in two years, she will have to undergo a reverse procedure, so the child can be birthed naturally." he said as Mo Yuan listened intently, but the thought of her having to go through another procedure having already seen the effect the one she had already undergone had done to her, he was not happy.

"And yet, she is still insisting on a battle knowing a procedure and a birth will precede it almost immediately?" He asked stunned.

"We cannot prevent the battle Mo Yuan, it is something she is adamant that will go ahead, though we are insisting she move the date, but she is stubbornly sticking firmly to it." He said softly, unable to meet his eyes which he could feel boring into him.

"Then I refuse to accept it." he said, and he meant it. "Inform her, there will be no battle, I absolutely refuse." he stated firmly.

"I'm afraid you will have no choice Mo Yuan. Xiao Wu knew you would say that and what your reaction would be, so she has asked me to inform you, should you refuse, she will take the battle directly to Kunlun Mountain and your Disciples." he said softly knowing that her terms would set off his anger, but he said no more as he waited for the fury to hit.

But Mo Yuan already knew her temper having seen it when she took down the Golden Lion and then again for the past nine months. He knew too that in the end, he could not refuse the challenge, he was first and foremost The God of War, to decline would not only reflect negatively on himself, but the whole of Kunlun Mountain including the hundreds of thousands of years of righteous and noble history that it was founded on.

Then of course there were his Disciples who also knew the ramifications of declining. For himself he did not care, but they would bear the full brunt of his humiliation, he could not put them through that, and nor could he go easy on her, but he did ask for two conditions.