The Devil Lotus

"Isn't it them? Twins of the sun,"

"Bah. They don't look like twins at all."

"Who of them wearing blue? he's, my type."

"Don't even think about it, how do you not know who he is?"

"I'm still new. So, who is he?"

"That's the wind lord, he really—God, he looked at me. I'm going to die."

"Don't speak nonsense. You're immortal. You can't die."

Above the clouds, bathed in the fiery breath of the setting sun, rested the dreamy glass bridge. It is not made of stone or steel but of glass taken from moonlight and stars. It shines in a thousand rainbow colors, and its sharp edges catch sunlight and transform it into golden threads that dance across the sky.

The bridge is straight and wide. The clouds below were foaming and churning. In the distance, at one end of the bridge, sits a massive fort carved from moon rock, perched on a pearl-kissed hill. Its tall towers were spears attached to the stars that pierced the evening sky. On the other side is a circular outdoor pavilion. Its ground was carved with various floral patterns.

Several gods and goddesses were staying on the bridge and engaged in warm conversation with each other. Their every step echoed off the glass. Out of all of them, two young men who stayed near the Tabernacle stood out. Their long locks of hair were stirred by the wind. The long robes were also swaying from side to side following the wind.

"Didi, they are talking about you." The mild-looking one dressed in red whispered to the other. His eyes are like the setting sun. His smile was as gentle as the moonlight. He was a tall and slender, virtuous and handsome deity.

"Useless chatterers. There's no use listening to them." Said the young man dressed in blue and white like the afternoon sky. His eyes were a silvery hazel, like the mild rays of the autumn moon. He was holding a fly whisk in his right hand. Unlike his brother, he had a beauty like that of the burning sun, terrifying and exquisite.

"Didi, don't be so arrogant. Talk to them with a smile." His brother said with a smirk. He also knew that his arrogant brother wouldn't do it no matter how much he said. Turning his head slightly, the wind lord gave the other deities a deadly fiery gaze, nullifying their chatter.

"Oh, they're afraid of my smile too. See," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

His brother, Fire God He Yu, said nothing more. Instead, he entertained with a small smile. "Why are you smiling? Tell me, Gege." Crossing his arms across his chest along with his fly whisk, Zi Feng asked in a nonchalant tone.

"Zi Feng, how will you find a girl in the future if you go on like this." Zi Feng remained silent.

"What's this? You're not answering me. Can't be! Do you already have someone?"

Zi Feng's face was as red as the sun. He hesitated to look at He Yu's smiling face. "Oh, who is that? Tell your Gege, will you?" He Yu said to his brother in a teasing tone. "No one, humph."

"Aiyaaa." He Yu couldn't control his laughter. He was smiling to the point that it was difficult for him to speak or to point his squint at Zi Feng. "She rejected you, didn't he?" he asked, trying his best to control his laughter.

"Never. Deny? Who? Me? Wind lord? You're thinking too much." Enraptured, Zi Feng brushed off his cloak and flew to the pavilion. He Yu was still smiling at the edge of the bridge. "So, someone actually rejected him ha-ha."

***************************************************************

"Yu Shidi?"

"Yu shidi get up."

"Yu Lingyu?"

With a gloomy light, Yu Lingyu slowly opened his eyes. His right hand was surrounded by a familiar touch, soft and warm. "Da Shixiong," he whispered softly. Wei Yunhe's blurred face remained in front of him. The room was filled with the smell of burning incense.

Sunlight fell over brightly painted rolling curtains and painted the soft and well-centered stones of the earth. The polished iron frames around the large semi-circular holes leading through the wooden walls of the room were almost all carved with a dragon. Its scales caught the light like a thousand emeralds.

A low table made of old polished wood was arranged on both sides with cushions embroidered with gold thread. On the wall next to the couch flanked by bonsai trees is a large painting of miniature landscapes and water streams. Silk drapes were draped over the couches, and the air, rich with the scent of sandalwood, held the echoes of lofty meditation etched in the very atmosphere.

But as beautiful as the sight was, it was not familiar to Yu Lingyu. His Da Shixiong's room was not so luxurious or fancy. It was almost always very simple and neat. Sitting on the couch, Yu Lingyu wiped his eyes with his hands as if to clear the vision. "So you finally decide to wake up?" A voice came from the entrance of the cabin.

The contact on his right hand was lost and instead obstructed his vision, Wei Yunhe turned away from him and stood facing the entrance. Even from his body movements, Yu Lingyu could tell that he did not like the person who entered the gate.

"Oh Wei Shidi, don't look like that." Wu Xuan said, shrugging his shoulders. He was dressed in fresh clothes and was in a happy mood. Yu Lingyu grabbed Wei Yunhe's hand. Wei Yunhe gave up on Wu Xuan and looked at Yu Lingyu mournfully, like a mother looking over her injured child. "Yu Shidi, how are you feeling?" he asked, taking a seat on the corner of the couch. Stepping forward, Wu Xuan forcefully took Yu Lingyu's right hand and checked his pulse.

"He's fine." He said, leaning against an iron frame and folding his arms across his chest.

"What happened?" Yu Lingyu asked, still unable to understand anything. "Where are we?"

"Haha. Here you are at Juyao Peak. My cabin." Wu Xuan said while rolling his eyes.

"Yu Shidi, don't you remember anything?" Wei Yunhe asked worriedly. At the same time, Yu Lingyu was startled by the touch of fur under his blanket and quickly threw the blanket aside. A swift black shadow shot over his shoulder, pulling Yu Lingyu back onto the couch. Wu Xuan frowned. "Where did that smelly animal come from again?"

Hu Mao?

It is not a dream. So- "Luo Shidi! Da Shixiong where are they? San Shidi and Luo Shidi-" asked Yu Lingyu, shouting like someone waking from a dream.

"They're fine." Wei Yunhe said in a relieved tone. Yu Lingyu let out a sigh of relief. Wei Yunhe's face was full of questions, but he didn't ask anything else.

"I've already informed the adults about the Skull Maniac. Don't worry about it. But how can you be so scared, almost losing consciousness?" Wu Xuan said in an insulting tone, helping to remind Yu Lingyu.

"Losing consciousness?"

"Haha. You've been the sleeping princess here for over three days now, Yu Shidi. You fainted as soon as he left. Don't you remember?" Wu Xuan said, squinting his eyes. He was lying. And yet Yu Lingyu was being forced to accept the statement.

"Wu Xiong kept you here to check on you. After all, we don't know what kind of demon it is. Oh also, your mask, I kept it in case you need it." Wei Yunhe said as he took the phoenix feather-shaped mask under the pillow and placed it in Yu Lingyu's hand. All this time, Yu Lingyu felt like something was missing. So, This is it, his mask. Taking it from Wei Yunhe's hand, Yu Lingyu gently stroked it. After all, he had been wearing it for almost eight years.

"I'll go get you a cup of soup." Wei Yunhe gave a gentle smile to Yu Lingyu and stepped out of the chamber, giving Wu Xuan a deadly glare.

"What is this? Is that your mother? Ah, then that San Shidi of yours, must be your father. They act like your mother and father." Wu Xuan scoffed. The corners of his mouth turned up contemptuously.

"And your parents don't like me. What? It's like I'm a demon who came to kidnap their precious daughter."

Yu Lingyu frowned. He felt like giving this haughty-looking man a good whack or two.

"What happened?" Yu Lingyu asked, stepping off the couch and trying to get up. He was dressed only in his inner robe and his hair was falling freely over his shoulders.

"Hmm?"

"Did I do something wrong?" Yu Lingyu submissively asked while scratching the back of his head.

"Oh no. You didn't do anything." Wu Xuan's tone was as sharp as icicles. That contemptuous voice explained one thing to Yu Lingyu. He had done something to anger Wu Xuan.

"You took off half of my hair and destroyed half of the forest, but you didn't do anything else." Wu Xuan snorted, showing some of his burnt hair. 'Don't blame me. It is not my fault that I am the son of the sun god.' Yu Lingyu shouted from inside his head. It used to be very common for a fiery storm to blow around him when he got angry. Quickly putting on his mask, Yu Lingyu made sure that something like that wouldn't suddenly happen again.

"Hmm, come with me to meet Elder Shi. He told me to come with you when you wake up."

"But da shixiong-"

"It's not like he can make a soup in minutes, can he?"

Yu Lingyu also put on the uniform of the Jun Peak, which had been laid aside and stepped out. The weasel walked along the ground and whenever Wu Xuan saw him, he turned a sharp gaze at the animal. Juyao Peak was even more peaceful and beautiful than Lingyu had heard. Almost the entire hill was covered with green. Its ancient, towering Stone-made buildings cling to the hillside like lichens, their tall jade-roofed conical roofs rising so high as to be level with the mountaintops.

The entrance to the sect was shaped by a staircase carved from the base of the mountain. It was not very tall and the base was flanked by a pair of huge lion statues. To enter, there was a massive circular archway at the end of the staircase. It had a majestic appearance as if to confirm the monopoly of Juyao Peak. Unlike Jun Peak, there was no commotion other than the clash of swords and other small sounds.

However, someone's angry voice was disturbing the silence. Why is it so familiar?

"Oh, your father is here again," said Wu Xuan, rolling his eyes contemptuously.

At the base of the steps near the entrance, San Jie stared at the disciples of Juyao Peak like a wolf about to pounce. The three disciples guarding the entrance were preventing San Jie from entering the peak.

"What? Why can't I get in? Did you think we were just staying still while you were locking up our Shixiong?" he shouted. Yu Lingyu's face was turning red. "Oh please San Shidi," he whispered. Luo Cheng and Duan Xia were also beside him, but the two of them looked on peacefully without interfering in the matter.

"What are you whispering?" San Jie shouted as he grabbed a Juyao disciple by the collar. If Luo Cheng hadn't pulled him back, a fight would have started. "Oh, Da Shixiong," one of the people who saw Wu Xuan shouted happily. Wu Xuan shook his head slightly and answered it.

San Jie followed the gaze of Juyao's disciple, and his face turned black when he saw Wu Xuan, but when he saw Yu Lingyu, he suddenly smiled. "Yu Shixiong!"

Yu Lingyu waved at San Jie, hiding his face in embarrassment. "I'll talk to them." Lingyu said as he tried to walk towards the steps but someone stopped him. "You can't." A beautiful young girl with short hair crossed his path. She was also dressed in Juyao Peak's robes, but they seemed to be made more prominently. Where did she come from?

"why?"

"our shizun wants to meet you. Are you going to make him wait?" she said stubbornly.

Yu Lingyu remembered the Sun God's secretary in his previous life. "Oh Zi Feng please, are you going to avoid the Great God? How can his status be lower than your work?" She always complained. 

A smile appeared on Lingyu's face.

"Yuan Shimei, let him have it. It won't take long." Wu Xuan said in a stern voice.

"But Da Shixiong-" His Yuan Shimei fell silent at Wu Xuan's furious glare.

"You must be Miss Yuan Yu Yi. Please excuse the disturbance." With that, Yu Lingyu directly ran down the stairs.

There were a few scratches on San Jie's face, but they did not harm his figure. But he wore a red headband around his forehead, which gave him a more aggressive look. Luo Cheng and Duan Xia were the same as before. "Yu Shixiong are you alright?" Luo Cheng asked, gently taking Lingyu's right hand. His stormy gray eyes were filled with worry. "I'm fine, I'm fine." Yu Lingyu said.

"Let me see." Pushing Luo Cheng aside, San Jie prepared to check Yu Lingyu's pulse, but when he saw the black weasel at his feet, he jumped behind Luo Cheng with a scream of terror. "Get rid of him! Get rid of that bastard," he shouted. A smile appeared on the corner of Xuan's mouth as he looked at this father and son reunion drama from above. "I think I like that weasel now." He muttered to himself.

"Aw, he's so cute." Duan Xia said, taking Hu Mao into her arms. "Put it away!" San Jie thundered again. "Ah San Xiong, he is an innocent animal. Why are you so afraid?" Luo Cheng asked. Yu Lingyu grabbed San Jie's shoulder to stop him before he picked up a nearby rock and threw it at the weasel.

"That weasel helped a lot to save you." 'Weasel himself locked you up, though.' Yu Lingyu tried very hard not to say the part.