Chapter 2

Among the cliff, daisies painted across the small field behind the Chinese bamboo house. Plenty of colors to paint and plenty of fragrance to last for eternity. The sound of water falling and following each other off the cliff into the depth of the hidden village vibrates. One may think nothing lies deep down, where darkness is a disguise. Meditating on the cliff, BáiXûe sat down with both of her hands rested on her knees. Maintaining concentration, she kept her eyes closed.

The quietness creates a great meditation environment, where noises shut out, accompanied by the sound of nature. Ruffling could be heard in the bushes, disturbing BáiXûe's good moment to practice more of her powers. A bit irritated, BáiXûe decides to punish this person with a little fun.

A small frog leaps out quietly but didn't go unnoticed by BáiXûe. Knowing right away who it was, BáiXûe pretends to be unaware of her surroundings. The frog leaps forward once more. Each jump the frog makes sends BáiXûe a signal that it was closer. It was as if everything is in slow motion for BáiXûe. The small and silent sound of the frog's leg in contact with the ground echoes in her mind.

Before the frog reached her, she uses a freezing spell on the frog using only one finger and kept her focus on her meditation.

"ayaaaaaah!!" The frog yells.

BáiXûe opens her eyes and smirks. The frog was now a girl in a crouching position of a frog.

"Jin Bao! Your tricks are too easy!" said BáiXûe as she flicks Jin Bao's forehead, causing her to yelp in pain.

"Release me from the spell right now!" Jin Bao demanded. BáiXûe chuckles and stood up from her meditating position. She brushes the dirt off of her hanfu and smirks at Jin Bao.

"Stay in this position until you can break out of it yourself or wait for me until dawn!" BáiXûe walks away, smirking as she fixes her hanfu.

Jin Bao attempts to break the spell but to no avail, she can only wait until dawn before she can be released.

"I'll get you back for sure!" She yells.

"Okay!" BáiXûe yells back. The sudden noise of wings flapping interrupts Jin Bao.

"Are you really leaving me here?!" Jin Bao yells.

BáiXûe hovers above Jin Bao with her huge white wings sending chilly breeze at Jin Bao.

"I'll be back!" BáiXûe flies off into the depth of the cliff.

"Come back here and release me!" Jin Bao makes one more attempt to break the spell but fails again.

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An elderly woman sat at the wooden table, holding a paintbrush and on the table seems to be a painted scenery of the healing tribe's vast mountains and plateaus of herbs and flowers.

"Mother! I finished practicing my powers for 12 hours now. Can I go to Tianyan mountain?!" BáiXûe barges in and smiles widely at the sight of the Elderly woman. She sits across the elderly woman energetically.

The elderly woman looks intimidated for a moment and sighs deeply. She places the paintbrush on the brush holder and looks at BáiXûe.

"BáiXûe. That mountain is forbidden. You cannot go because that is a sacred place. You would be violating heavens laws" Elderly Mother explains.

BáiXûe pouts and leans against her palm in

Boredom

"But there's barely anything to do! Xie Feng is always gone for his royal duties! He promised to come to visit me and he didn't even come. Even if he does come, I will not play with him!" BáiXûe pouts.

Elderly mother lifts her lips a little, creating a small smile as an idea pops in her head.

"How about I teach you how to paint. You are always running around." Elderly mother suggests.

BáiXûe hesitantly thought for a bit.

"Okay! I'll be able to paint Tianyan mountain!" BáiXûe smiles.

Elderly mother thought about it being that BáiXûe was just being childish and smiles. She hands her a brush and motioned for the maids to get some paper for BáiXûe.

BáiXûe rolls up her sleeves in excitement as Elderly mother places the paper in front of her.

"Now. Remember to support your arm with your left hand." Elderly mother rolls up her sleeves and grabs the brush. Supporting her right hand, her left-hand holds on to her forearm.

"Every stroke should be elegant and slow. Don't rush" Elderly mother starts making strokes on the paper.

BáiXûe glances at Elderly mother's painting and begins making strokes as well. Elderly mother glances at BáiXûe's work and her eyes widened.

"What are you painting?!"

BáiXûe glances at Elderly mother for a second and back at her painting in confusion.

"This is the flower I saw in my dream at Tianyan mountain!" BáiXûe quickly covers her mouth when she mentions the name of the mountain.

Elderly mother quickly grabbed the painting and set it aside.

"Do you know that you can be killed for just painting that flower?!" Elderly Mother asks.

"It's just a flower! And it's so pretty!" BáiXûe pouted.

Elderly mother looks at BáiXûe, worried painted all over her face as she replays the scene in her head,

Flashback:

"The Protea flower is only beautiful to those whose destiny is already decided. They will not live too long. It cannot be changed" Master Juyan sat crisscrossed, eyes closed and in front of him seems to be Elderly mother, but younger. She sat crisscrossed and eyes closed. Her purple hanfu and beauty stood out the most. The way her silky black hair is decorated with a simple flower compliments her beauty. She opens her eyes and thought about masters words before closing them again.

Flashback ends:

Trapped inside her thoughts, she didn't see BáiXûe hide the painting into her sleeves.

"Elderly mother!" BáiXûe waves her hand in front of Elderly mother's face to gain her attention.

Elderly Mother snaps back into reality and in a moment of panic, she held onto BáiXûe's hand.

"What's wrong?" BáiXûe asks.

"We need to go visit Master" Elderly mother stands up and calls for the maid.

"Someone!"

A maid from outside enters. Stopping before elderly mother, she bows.

"Yes, elderly mother?"

"Clean this up. I will be taking BáiXûe to mount Tianyan" Elderly mother orders.

"Yes!" The maid replies.

Elderly mother walks towards the exit but BáiXûe is not following her. Elderly mother sense this and turns around. BáiXûe looks up at Elderly Mother in confusion.

"What are you doing? Follow me"

BáiXûe scurried to elderly mother.

"I'm coming"

Spreading her beautiful purple wings, Elderly mother holds onto BáiXûe's hands. BáiXûe spreads her white wings and they both flew above the cliff. Flying above the realm of heavenly crystals, a mountain stood the tallest thousands of miles away. BáiXûe and Elderly mother flew thousands of feet above the shiny crystals that cover most of the heavenly crystal realm. BáiXûe and Elderly mother head towards the tall mountain call Tianyan. It stood tall among the hills of heavenly crystals. A waterfall of pure heaven crystal water flows down from the hill to a big white lake, shinier than the gold and precious jewels of heaven. BáiXûe scans the landscape in excitement and eagerly flaps her wings.

"Wow! This place looks better in person!" said BáiXûe who couldn't hide her huge smile. Arriving at the small palace on mount Tianyan, Elderly mother and BáiXûe withdraw their wings.

The palace was made out of heavenly white crystals. A huge garden, decorated with various rare flowers that you can't find in the healing realm. BáiXûe and Elderly mother landed on the grass at the entrance, built strongly with heavenly crystals and decorated on the gate were heaven's reknown beasts of the four pillars, located north, east, south, and west.

Elderly mother opens the large gate and enters the palace. BáiXûe follows her into the palace and was met with an old man, meditating in the garden, wearing a simple white hanfu. A hummingbird hairpin was pinned into his hair that was put into a bun. He had a little bit of a white mustache and beard.

Elderly mother took BáiXûe's hand and told her to kneel before the old man. Obeying her, BáiXûe kneels down with Elderly mother.

"Greetings Master!"

The old man opens his eyes and glances at BáiXûe and then at Elderly mother.

"Im guessing you have questions for me," The old man said.

Elderly mother bows again.

"Master. I didn't discipline my daughter enough and she saw the protea flower! That time when she accidentally found this place, did she meet you? I remember clearly. You said that those who are attracted to it are bound to fate. Can you tell me what it is?!" Elderly mother asks.

Master looks at BáiXûe and shook his head a little.

BáiXûe confusingly looks back at him and then at Elderly mother.

"What is protea flower? Don't tell me its the flower I saw in my dream?" said BáiXûe.

"Fate cannot be changed, but her fate is not sealed yet. Nine thousand years ago when she met me here. I saw her fate and sealed her memory of our encounter for her safety. She was too young for that destiny. Now that she is old enough, I can't do anything to stop it. As to answer your question. Her fate is complicated. In the hands of love, heaven will be in turmoil into a new dawn." Master replies.

Elderly mother turns to look at BáiXûe with worry. BáiXûe thought about it and looks up at master.

"Th-then the only memory I have of Taiyan mountain is the protea flower."

Master nods.

"You came here on accident when you were only 10,000 years old. That time you kept bothering Lin Xinyue." Master replies.

"Lin Xinyue? It does sound so familiar" BáiXûe said, thinking about the name to see if the memory will come back.

"Master, is there really nothing we can do about

her destiny?" Elderly mother asks.

Master shook his head lightly in pity.

Elderly mother looks defeated for a moment and then grips BáiXûe's hanfu. She lifts her sleeves and hovers both of her index and middle finger above BaiXue's forearm. A mark begins to appear on her forearm. A purple mark of a Pegasus.

"Purple pegasus. Companion of the black tortoise. I am giving you half of my powers to protect yourself from future incident" Elderly mother said, making BáiXûe panic.

"Mother! You don't have to do this! I can cultivate

and become stronger!" BáiXûe exclaimed.

Elderly mother shook her head lightly.

"This will be of use to you someday. This is all I can do for you, my girl. Mother can only do this much" Elderly mother took BaiXue's hands and held them tightly.

"Mother...." BaiXue softly said. She stands up and paused for a bit. She quickly kneels down and bows many times.

"I am sorry that I didn't listen to mother. Please forgive me! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Elderly mother grabs her wrist and shook her head.

"It's fine. I'm doing this for you. You have to stay alive no matter what. For me" Mother replies.

BáiXûe's eyes water before hugging her mother tightly.

Meanwhile, The heavens light reflecting the red surface of the petal glows and lights up the especially white surface of the heavenly white crystal realm. In the middle of thousands of white crystals, a red protea flower grows out from the nonexistent soil. The flower still hasn't bloomed yet, but it's existence was a sign of something.