The matter was settled. It was time to return to Heaven and report on their mission.
Bihua Lingjun tucked the glass bottle into his sleeve and said to Fuli, “Your Imperial Majesty, why not return to Heaven with this humble immortal? The Jade Emperor, the Queen Mother, and all the immortals of Heaven will be overjoyed to hear of your return.”
Fuli’s expression remained cool. He was about to reply, but Danzhu spoke to Bihua first. “Qingxi, let Fuli decide that for himself. Fuli, you’ve spent so many years in the mortal world that you must be used to it. This place may be small, but it is pleasantly secluded. Stay here and recuperate at your leisure. I’ll come visit whenever I have time.”
Fuli raised an eyebrow and sneered. “What? Are you mocking me for being afraid to return to Heaven looking like this?”
Danzhu said, “After all these years, how are you still so petty and suspicious? I simply thought you were accustomed to living among mortals and couldn’t be bothered to go back.”
Looking at the pool, Fuli said, “Danzhu, even if you mean to mock me, you’ve managed to hit upon the truth. I don’t particularly want to return to Heaven. These are no longer the old days. The seas have become mulberry fields countless times over, and even the mortal world has changed this much. Heaven must have changed a great deal too. What could I possibly do there now? Even you must spend your days idling about. I might as well guard this quiet corner of the mortal world, watching people come and go.”
A faint mist hovered about Fuli’s blue-green robes, and he looked very lonely.
Danzhu patted his shoulder. “I knew that was what you’d think, which is why I said the decision was yours. Since that’s what you want, remain here for now. But let me make one thing clear. You cannot deny that you were involved in the emperor’s becoming a demon. If the matter goes before Heaven, even you and I cannot flout its laws. The Jade Emperor must judge it impartially. If they summon you back for questioning, don’t go sneaking off before they arrive.”
Fuli brushed a crease from his robes and gave a cold snort. “I’ve never been one to sneak away.”
Danzhu smiled. “Excellent.” He turned slightly toward Bihua Lingjun and said gently, “Qingxi, let us return to Heaven at once.”
Bihua Lingjun nodded in agreement, but Fuli called for them to wait. He still remembered his intention to entrust the little qilin to Bihua. Bihua appeared to have forgotten about it, but at Fuli’s reminder he became enthusiastic once again, while Danzhu watched with narrowed eyes.
The little qilin had been sleeping beneath Fuli’s belly all along. It slept soundly even when Fuli became a dragon and did not wake until the commotion grew too great. The glittering dragon and the glittering Immortal Emperor in blue-green robes dazzled it. It lay on a rock staring foolishly at them for a while, never realizing that these two glittering beings were what the great lizard had turned into. When Fuli began speaking with Danzhu and Bihua, the little qilin finally came to its senses. Discovering that the great lizard was gone, it panicked and began searching everywhere.
It ran around the rock like a headless fly, looking in all directions. Fuli, Bihua, and Danzhu were too busy talking to notice. Then it stepped on some moss, its hoof slipped, and it tumbled into the pool.
By the time Immortal Emperor Fuli remembered it, the little qilin was thrashing about, half-submerged. Fuli fished it out with immortal arts, held it in his arms, and wiped its drenched body with his sleeve. It wriggled desperately in his embrace, grunting and mumbling.
Bihua Lingjun reached out and took it, but it continued to struggle. Danzhu strolled over and said, “Bihua, it’s kicking rather hard. Let me help you hold it.” He reached for the qilin, and the little creature lifted its head and, with a determined chomp, bit Danzhu’s finger again.
Danzhu took the opportunity to lift it with his other hand. The little qilin devoted all its efforts to chewing on his finger, leaving it no attention to spare for anything else. It settled more or less quietly against his chest.
Danzhu leaned closer to Bihua and said with a delighted smile, “See, Qingxi? That takes care of it.”
The little qilin slobbered all over Danzhu’s hand. Bihua Lingjun wiped the corner of its mouth and gently stroked its head. Fuli stood nearby watching idly, then suddenly asked from a little distance, “Young immortal, you’re very fond of young spirit beasts?”
Bihua Lingjun replied, “Yes. It is a little hobby of mine.”
Fuli asked, “Do you like old and young alike, or only the very young?”
Bihua Lingjun hesitated. “Well…”
Fuli smiled. “So you prefer the young. Entrusting this qilin cub to you is just the thing.” He cast a glance at Danzhu, whether intentionally or not.
After Bihua Lingjun had taken his leave of Fuli and was about to return to Heaven, Fuli said to Danzhu, “Danzhu, now that you’re back in Heaven, you ought to mend your ways. At your age, don’t let the younger immortals make a laughingstock of you.”
Standing upon a cloud, Danzhu said with apparent feeling, “You needn’t remind me. Since being reborn from an egg, I find everything in the world utterly changed. I may look as I did before, yet I’m no longer quite the same. This is a new life. From the moment I emerged from the egg, I regarded it as another beginning. By that reckoning, I hatched only a few months ago and am still a young phoenix chick.”
Fuli silently glanced at Bihua Lingjun and said nothing more.
Bihua Lingjun also stood silently, giving his robes a little shake.
The clouds drifted past, and the Southern Heavenly Gate was already in sight.
Remarkably, Danzhu had not spoken throughout the journey. The little qilin in his arms was still enthusiastically chewing on his finger.
As they approached the Southern Heavenly Gate, Danzhu gazed into the open expanse of clouds, and a faint smile touched his lips.
Bihua Lingjun noticed and asked, “Has Your Imperial Majesty remembered something from long ago?”
“Yes,” Danzhu replied. “Seeing Fuli and then looking upon the heavens again, I can’t help remembering the past. Heaven was not like this back then. This Southern Heavenly Gate didn’t even exist. Fuli and I once wagered that we could fly from the easternmost reaches to the westernmost, crossing the whole celestial realm. At the stone tree in the far west, we wagered over wine and drank ourselves senseless for seven days and nights. When we woke, we were still drunk enough to seize a city in the demon realm and exterminate more than a hundred thousand demons. Their bones were cast down to the mortal world. I wonder if they’ve become a mountain range by now.”
With the hand the qilin was not chewing, Danzhu pointed into the distance. “Look. It must have been over there that Fuli and I cast down the remains of the demon chieftains. Fuli was drenched in demon blood that day. His armor was redder than my feathers.” Danzhu smiled. “Well, Heaven and Earth are peaceful now. Those days are long gone.”
Yet the clouds over the place where the demons had been fought still seemed a little redder than those elsewhere. Gazing at the faint crimson on the horizon, Danzhu seemed to see traces of the fierce battles and youthful ardor of long ago. He had once leaned against a pillar of the Southern Heavenly Gate, casually torn a corner from his robe to wipe the blood from his sword, and tossed the blood-soaked white cloth away. It had drifted down toward the mortal world and turned, light as a feather, into a red cloud. Danzhu could not help raising an eyebrow and smiling again.
The wind quickened slightly and clouds rolled about at will. Danzhu’s robes were the color of rosy dawn.
These were old memories, and many, many years had truly passed. In the mortal world the seas had changed into mulberry fields countless times; Heaven itself was no longer as it had been.
A trace of wistfulness and helplessness mingled with Danzhu’s smile. “Qingxi, when I called myself a phoenix chick, I was lying through my teeth. With a past like that behind me, however much I pretend otherwise, I really am an old thing.”
Bihua Lingjun smiled too. “Mm. This time, Your Majesty is speaking the absolute truth.”
However shamelessly Danzhu pretended to be a tiger cub, however brazenly he took liberties wherever he could, he was still Danzhu, Immortal Emperor Danzhu, the sovereign who had battled demons countless years ago, the phoenix who had once become an egg in exchange for peace throughout Heaven and Earth.
At last the little qilin’s teeth grew tired from chewing Danzhu’s finger, and it began gnawing his arm instead. Danzhu took a white handkerchief from his sleeve, casually wiped the saliva from his hand, and tossed it aside. “Remembering the past has held us up for a moment. Come, Qingxi, we should hurry.”
Bihua Lingjun agreed, and the two rode their clouds toward the Southern Heavenly Gate. As he turned, Bihua glanced back at the place where Danzhu had stood. The white handkerchief had already become a floating cloud and was drifting away.