Chapter 6: Birds of a Feather

◎ Feng Beihe isn’t dead?! ◎

The Venerable was indeed an invalid whose days were numbered.

The Snow Deer Clan excelled at medicine, its secret arts of raising the dead beyond counting — yet when the Snow Deer Clan Master had once come to treat the Venerable, his verdict was only “the illness is beyond remedy; medicine is of no avail.”

The Snow Deer Clan Master might as well have said outright, “No saving him. Wait for death.”

Strangely, the Venerable seemed pleased with the diagnosis — delighted, even, gifting the whole of Kunlun Mountain to the Snow Deer Clan.

The Snow Deer Clan had long served the Venerable as healers and refiners of life-extending Spirit Cores; the physicians allowed to reside on the Nine Heavens rotated every ten years, each with hands that could work miracles.

The Venerable found it troublesome to remember names, so every generation of physician on the Nine Heavens was simply called “the Snow Deer Physician.”

Fu Yuqiu knew none of this. He frowned his little face, sneaking peeks out from a corner of the Golden Cage.

The Venerable wore a loose cloud-patterned crane cloak over his shoulders, pale hands playing the konghou tune of Fish in the Water.

Listening to Fish in the Water — the song of the widower — Fu Yuqiu strained to remember, and vaguely recalled that when he and Feng Beihe traveled the Mortal Realm, he had heard a storyteller spin a fabricated romance of the Venerable.

The storyteller had performed with feeling:

“In his youth, the Venerable was imprisoned within a Barrier by the Vermilion Bird Immortal Venerable, denied all freedom. The Yuanchu Young Clan Master saved him at the cost of his own life — freeing the Venerable from the Nine Heavens, but his own soul was scattered.

“Twenty years later, the Venerable fought his way up to the Nine Heavens. Seated upon that supreme throne, he has schemed ever since to revive the Yuanchu Young Clan Master.

“See how the Vermilion Crane, Peacock, and Azure Luan clans fight like gamecocks — yet the Yuanchu clan rises on his coattails. Even the Young Clan Master’s good-for-nothing brother holds some post or other as Presiding Venerable.”

The listeners below clucked in wonder.

“They all say the Venerable is heartless — who would have thought.”

“A devoted lover, after all.”

Fu Yuqiu had asked Feng Beihe curiously, “Can the dead be revived?”

“No.” Feng Beihe had toyed with his cup and said flatly, “The Venerable holds dominion over the Three Realms, his spiritual power vast as the heavens — even he can do nothing about life and death.”

“Fair enough.”

Fu Yuqiu had sprawled on the table, legs swinging — tired of drinking water, he had lazily dipped a jade-white fingertip into the teacup, a clean little grass-root shooting out to slurp up half the cup in a “swoosh.”

Feng Beihe’s face was indifferent, but a smile lurked at the bottom of his eyes. “More?”

Fu Yuqiu nodded. Never one for taboos, he asked directly, “Are you afraid of death?”

Feng Beihe poured him more water. “Who isn’t?”

Fu Yuqiu’s eyes had curved into crescents.

At the time he had thought: Since you fear death too, then when I grow a new leaf, I’ll give you one.

Though the Crimson Spirit Secluded Grass’s leaves couldn’t raise the dead, they could preserve a life on the brink of death.

But that leaf was never given, in the end.

Because that dog surnamed Feng had coveted — of all things — his Spirit Core.

“Chirp!”

The thought of Feng Beihe made Fu Yuqiu so furious his eyes flashed red; he jabbed his bird head down in a rage — the blow was a bit too strong, his beak nearly punching a hole through the water dish.

Instantly regretting the chirp, he shot a nervous look at the Venerable, terrified the man had caught him faking muteness.

But the Venerable was lost in the konghou; the melody swallowed Fu Yuqiu’s “chirp.”

Close call. Close call.

Fu Yuqiu patted his chest with a wing.

But listening to that masterful, sorrowful Fish in the Water, Fu Yuqiu began to wonder whether the Venerable really had lost a Dao Companion.

Just then, the konghou fell silent.

The cloud sent to fetch the physician finally drifted back.

Fu Yuqiu focused — and saw the cloud was carrying a Snow Deer belly-up, unceremoniously dropping it from midair.

The Snow Deer was presumably used to it; landing steadily on four hooves, it elegantly bent its forelegs in salute.

“Snow Deer Physician, pays respects to the Venerable One.”

Fu Yuqiu’s ear twitched — the Snow Deer’s voice seemed oddly familiar, though for the moment he couldn’t recall where he had heard it.

Then the Venerable raised a hand and beckoned; Fu Yuqiu, still absently drinking, teleported once more, landing in a blink upon the Venerable’s well-shaped knuckles.

Fu Yuqiu: “…”

Fu Yuqiu nearly chirped — barely swallowing it.

The Venerable adored the White Sparrow’s fluffy, rounded feel, stroking it ceaselessly as if unable to put it down.

Having finished his salute, the Snow Deer Physician said carefully, “Venerable One, the Golden Radiance Grass has been replanted. If your body feels unwell, I have gathered Kunlun Blood Fire Lotus for your medicine.”

“No hurry for that.” The Venerable’s brow creased slightly. “This bird of mine has stopped singing. Examine him — see if he’s been frightened?”

The Snow Deer Physician: “…”

The Snow Deer Physician’s face went wooden.

He had treated the Venerable’s illness for three years, and this was the first time he had seen “worry” on that face — over a bird that wouldn’t sing?

When the man didn’t even care about his own life and death.

That cloud had come tearing over to fetch him in such a panic that the Snow Deer Physician had nearly believed the Venerable was about to pass away.

The Venerable: “What is it?”

The Snow Deer Physician said respectfully, “Nothing. It is my honor to attend the Little Highness.”

The Venerable gave him a look that was neither smile nor frown.

The Snow Deer Physician startled — only after speaking did he realize, and hurriedly pressed his forehead to the floor, cold sweat pouring.

Before his arrival, Feng Beihe had already received word: the Fire Spirit Bird sent to retrieve the Linked Azure Water was boneless ash.

The two had not yet settled on a plan when the cloud from the Nine Heavens arrived.

In haste, Feng Beihe had told him to seize this chance and retrieve the Linked Azure Water from the White Sparrow.

The “Snow Deer Physician” rarely meddled in the three clans’ contests; never having seen the bird with his head bowed, he should have had no way of knowing the “bird” the Venerable mentioned was the Azure Luan Clan’s Little Highness.

The Snow Deer Physician’s head was full of Linked Azure Water, and in his carelessness he had let it slip.

The Venerable’s crushing aura had nearly set his heart hammering out of his chest, cold sweat streaming.

“V-Venerable One…”

Just as he was drowning in despair — thinking, surely the Venerable won’t have the Snow Deer’s feathers plucked and set off as fireworks — the Venerable laughed and waved a hand.

A white cloud bore the White Sparrow’s round body over to float before the Snow Deer.

From this low vantage, the Venerable’s layered hems trailed on the ground.

The man turned back to the konghou and said mildly, “Proceed.”

The Snow Deer Physician’s breath whooshed out — he nearly buckled, hooves unsteady.

“Yes.”

Fu Yuqiu knew nothing of the unspoken exchange. Comfortably swaddled in cloud, claws buried deep in the mist, he felt perfectly secure.

However skilled the physician, no one could cure a “mute” who was faking it.

The Snow Deer was elegant and beautiful, its eyes exquisitely so.

Certain this Snow Deer could not “cure” him, Fu Yuqiu studied him boldly.

“Ah, those eyes, those antlers, that figure — gorgeous,” Fu Yuqiu marveled inwardly. If I’d been reborn as a Snow Deer, that wouldn’t be bad. Those antlers do look like branches — I wonder if spiritual power could make leaves grow on them.

The more he looked at the deer, the more satisfied he was — and the more he despised his own fat shell by comparison.

The Venerable began playing the konghou again.

Fu Yuqiu had quite liked the konghou’s sound — but once this Living Yama played it, he resolved never to love the instrument again.

Noise. Dreadful!

More irritating than a sparrow’s chirping.

Under the Venerable’s eyes the Snow Deer Physician dared nothing extraneous, respectfully fastening a thread of spiritual power to the White Sparrow’s slender claw.

Yun Shou crept over and crouched beside the Snow Deer, gazing at Fu Yuqiu with big eager eyes.

As he took the pulse, the Snow Deer Physician’s mind raced.

“The Linked Azure Water is hard to hide, and the Azure Luan Clan’s Little Highness is famously empty of power — he doesn’t even have a Mustard Seed.

“Where would he hide the bead?

“How exactly did that Fire Spirit Bird die? Did the Venerable intervene?”

Amid these thoughts, the spiritual power inside the White Sparrow’s body suddenly touched something strange.

The Snow Deer Physician froze; his composure shattered, staring at the sparrow as if at a ghost.

That was…

The Linked Azure Water?!

This idiot had swallowed the very thing that could kill the Venerable?!

Seeing his expression, Yun Shou asked quickly, “Is it some incurable disease?”

Terminal illness, good, very good — then we could eat him openly and with a clear conscience.

The Snow Deer Physician looked at the White Sparrow, at a loss for words.

The Linked Azure Water had been refined by Feng Beihe’s own design. However gifted the Azure Luan at water, once it entered the body, no one could withstand that savage power.

Even the Azure Luan Junior Venerable wouldn’t dare swallow the Linked Azure Water directly — and this White Sparrow had gulped it down?

The Snow Deer Physician honestly doubted how the thing had survived at all.

“N…no.” The Snow Deer Physician said evasively, “The Little Highness was s-simply frightened. Some medicine and rest will mend him.”

Yun Shou was instantly disappointed.

The Snow Deer Physician nodded. “I’ll first grind some Spirit Rice for the Little Highness.”

In the outer chamber of the Venerable’s sleeping hall was a small pharmacy for spirit herbs and medicines. The Snow Deer Physician shot off at a canter.

The pharmacy was only half a corridor from the inner chamber; the cloud bore Fu Yuqiu drifting leisurely over.

The Snow Deer Physician’s heart lurched.

The pharmacy stood empty; the Venerable wouldn’t notice. If he dug the Linked Azure Water out of the sparrow’s Inner Mansion right here…

No wait.

By Feng Beihe’s account, even if the Venerable did notice, he might not interfere.

The Snow Deer Physician’s standing meant nothing at all to the Venerable.

The thought spread like wildfire across a dry plain — one spark and it blazed out of control.

Fu Yuqiu had no idea the beautiful deer before him was planning to slit him open. Eyes narrowed in admiration of the branch-like antlers, he thought, If only I could grow antlers like those.

Just then, the Snow Deer’s graceful antlers slowly vanished, and the short figure’s silhouette stretched and lengthened.

Fu Yuqiu: “…”

Fu Yuqiu’s face filled with horror.

N-no way?!

The next instant, his fear came true: before his very eyes, the Snow Deer transformed, bit by bit, into a human figure clad in snow-white robes.

Fu Yuqiu: “…”

Fu Yuqiu wanted to scream: Ahhh! Ill omen!

Why did a perfectly good deer have to turn into an ugly human?!

Not even the branches… not even the antlers remained.

Fu Yuqiu nearly blinded his bird eyes.

The Snow Deer Physician’s back was to him as he took Spirit Rice from his medicine chest, grinding it bit by bit in a mortar.

“Ah, those eyes, that forehead, that figure…” Fu Yuqiu’s face was expressionless as he thought coldly, So ugly. Ugly enough to kill.

Furious enough to burst his feathers, Fu Yuqiu simply shut his eyes — out of sight, out of mind.

The Snow Deer Physician ground the Spirit Rice fine, ladled it into a jade bowl, and motioned for the cloud to set Fu Yuqiu down.

The cloud obediently wrapped Fu Yuqiu and placed him on the table.

The Snow Deer Physician said, “Once the medicine is fed, I’ll carry him back to the sleeping hall.”

The cloud thought nothing of it and drifted away again.

The Snow Deer Physician watched the cloud vanish with cold eyes, his gaze sliding slowly to the White Sparrow eyeing the Spirit Rice with distaste.

Fu Yuqiu didn’t want to be a bird at all, let alone eat Spirit Rice. He symbolically pecked twice, then spat it back out with “ptoo, ptoo.”

Just as he turned his head, he suddenly sensed a spiritual power forcibly probing into his Spirit Vein.

Fu Yuqiu froze.

When the Snow Deer Physician had examined him earlier, he had only sent a hair-fine thread of power gently into his meridians — nothing like now, a flood-torrent raging violently through his Spirit Vein.

Fu Yuqiu frowned, vaguely feeling that this power was somehow familiar.

Before he could think further, the power, cold as ice and snow, plunged straight into the White Sparrow’s Inner Mansion and locked hard onto the deep-blue Spirit Core.

— As if dragging it out of the body bit by bit.

Stealing the Spirit Core?!

Fu Yuqiu’s eyes snapped open — and crashed into an unfamiliar face.

A secluded grass could recognize every spirit grass in the Three Realms by root, stem, and leaf — but in his eyes, all human faces looked alike, indistinguishable.

He couldn’t remember where he had seen this face. But the cinnabar mole between the Snow Deer Physician’s brows was like a blade, cleaving open the agonizing memory he refused to revisit.

— The memory of the Sand Mustard echoed clearly through his mind.

“If the Spirit Core is forcibly extracted now, I fear it may be damaged — all for nothing.”

“The grass’s soul… may be harmed.”

In the Sand Mustard the physician had spoken only a few short sentences — but Fu Yuqiu would remember that voice until he died.

Only now did he realize why the Snow Deer’s voice had sounded familiar.

This Snow Deer Physician was that physician — the one in league with Feng Beihe!

He didn’t die?!

Fu Yuqiu shook with rage, and the power rampaging through his body made his vision black out as if lightning-struck.

That power was cold as frost and snow — and threaded within it was a familiar scent.

His Spirit Core…

The Crimson Spirit Secluded Grass’s scent was unique, carrying the sweet warmth of the Heavenly Dao’s power. Even in a bird’s shell, Fu Yuqiu could never forget the scent of his own Spirit Core.

Fu Yuqiu nearly fainted.

That Sand Mustard was a Mustard Seed pocket world — how could he not have died?

And worse…

They had both been in the Sand Mustard. If the physician lived, could that dog of a man Feng Beihe be alive too?

The moment the thought surfaced — whether from the Spirit Core about to be torn from his body, or from rage — Fu Yuqiu felt his heart surge, blood rushing upward.

The Spirit Core, uncontrolled, erupted with a savage torrent of water that furiously flung the Snow Deer Physician back.

With a muffled “bang,” the Water Dragon surged into being.

The Snow Deer Physician’s arm went numb; he staggered back half a step, staring at him in horror.

“The Linked Azure Water…” he murmured, stunned. “You can control the Linked Azure Water?”

Fu Yuqiu didn’t hear a word — because the Water Dragon appeared only for an instant.

After that one surge, the Spirit Core promptly went back to playing dead.

Fu Yuqiu tumbled off the table and scrambled for the door, half crawling, half flying.

I can’t die…

he thought.

Before, whenever anything displeased him, Fu Yuqiu had wanted nothing more than to self-detonate his Spirit Core — a one-for-one, one-for-two trade, guaranteed profit.

But the Snow Deer Physician’s existence now told him: the chief culprit behind his miserable death might still be alive.

Fu Yuqiu, who repaid every slight, could stomach none of this. His blood boiled at once.

— Even if he died, he had to make sure Feng Beihe’s soul was scattered completely!

The will to live sprouted like rampant weeds, driving Fu Yuqiu to scramble desperately for the door.

Behind him came heavy, hurried footsteps — the Snow Deer Physician, surely, in pursuit.

How could a sparrow’s little legs outrun a man’s stride? The footsteps drew closer; Fu Yuqiu stumbled, his whole body rolling out like a snowball.

“Chirp…”

The world spun; he couldn’t help letting out a faint, thin cry.

Before the “snowball” had rolled far, his body slammed into a shoe, stopping him dead.

Fu Yuqiu’s vision was full of flying little golden birds; he was too dizzy to tell up from down.

Blurrily, his gaze climbed upward — and saw only a splendid hem embroidered with golden patterns.

Dazed, he couldn’t recall who this person was. Clutching at a lifesaving straw, he scrambled claw and wing, grabbing the hem over the shoe’s surface and climbing desperately upward.

Everywhere the White Sparrow passed, the golden-threaded embroidery was plucked into loose golden strands by those sharp little claws.

The Snow Deer Physician, catching up, went white at the sight — and reacted fast: “The Little Highness must fear the medicine is bitter. He ran off before drinking a drop.”

With the will to live rekindled, Fu Yuqiu had just realized how terrifying death truly was.

He shook all over; barely reaching the man’s knee, his strength gave out and he began slipping down.

Weightlessness seized him — terror flooded Fu Yuqiu’s heart. Just as he thought he would fall, a warm hand caught his round body.

Fu Yuqiu opened his eyes blankly.

When his vision cleared, it landed on the Venerable’s face, full of smiles.

The Venerable held him pressed against the layered sleeves of his own arm, half-cupping the round little body — as if building him a makeshift nest.

He stroked the trembling White Sparrow, murmuring tenderly as if soothing a beloved.

“There, there. No more fear.”

Fu Yuqiu: “…”