Deng Lu slowly pushed himself up to sit, leaning against a pillar. “You fool!” he cried with all his strength.

Yuelong looked at the injured Daoist. His bun was now a loose nest of hair; his Daoist robes were soaked in blood.

Yuelong took a moment to doubt. After all that he’s done, is it right to save him? 

He was interrupted by something touching his arm. He looked to his right and saw Xiao-Kai.

“Ge-ge, there’s something glowing at your chest.”

Yuelong looked down at his chest in surprise. Glowing? What is this? 

“Gong-zi! Are you alright?” Xiao-Ling came rushing to Yuelong’s side, dodging the blue flames on the floor. The entire Chen family rushed to his side.

Yuelong held up a hand in assurance. “I’m alright. But there is something I must do first.”

I had been so drained of energy before Xiao-Kai and I were thrown into the temple, and I shouldn’t have had enough of it to perform the Swords of Tianyang and conjure the Sanmei Pure Fire to defeat the snake spirit… Could it be? Could this all be thanks to the item that I took from the statue?

With this thought in mind, he moved closer to the Daoist and looked at him. Deng Lu was staring oddly at the golden statue. Yixiao Zhenjun knelt down beside the man and took his pulse.

Thump… Thump…… Thump……… Thump…………

Yuelong sighed. His pulse is getting weaker. Yuelong reached into the hidden pocket of his robes and took out the blue feather. Even under the dim lighting of the temple, Yuelong could still see the feather perfectly. Like the tea of Xumi Mountain, the feather gave him a feeling of relief and peacefulness.

Yuelong looked at the Chen family, who were standing as a group behind him. They stared back with wide eyes and gaping mouths. Huh?

“Ge-ge,” Xiao-Kai said quietly, “the feather…”

Yuelong looked at the feather in his palm. Or was in his palm. The feather had gently begun to levitate in the air, and was now drifting towards the golden statue. Yuelong focused his eyes on the feather floating slowly and steadily. The feather reached the golden statue’s forehead, and with a little tap, it then drifted downwards into the statue’s palms.

The forehead of the golden statue began to glow. In a great flash of light, the gold coating began flaking off. Everyone in the room watched the blindingly bright statue with squinting, shielded eyes. In the next moment, a girl stepped down from the statue’s pedestal. She landed nimbly on the floor and took a look at the people in the room. The girl barely came up to Yuelong’s chest, and yet she had an aura that dominated the room.

Deng Lu reached out his arm. “My daughter…” he whispered.

The girl looked at the Daoist with no expression on her face. Without taking her eyes off of Deng Lu, she made a wave of her hands around the room. And instantly, all the candles in the room were lit up. Yuelong looked at the girl in astonishment.

She lit the candles without a source of fire!? Only immortals or deities can do that!

All spells needed sources to tap from in order to work. Normally, a cultivator would have to use their own energy reserves as the source. So, a fire spell would normally manifest somewhere on the person’s body before it could be sent out. But this mysterious girl lit all the candles in the room without producing any flames from her hands.

The girl walked towards Deng Lu and knelt down beside him. Yuelong didn’t feel any malicious intent coming from the girl, so he didn’t stop her. With hands glowing violet, the girl pressed on his injury. As though time was being reversed, the blood started to be drawn out from Deng Lu’s robes, collecting under the girl’s glowing hands. Colour returned to his bloodless cheeks, and the dark circles under his eyes disappeared.

The glow soon slowly vanished. She stood up and looked down at the Daoist, whose eyes were closed and whose head was tilted to one side.

“Daoist Deng Lu, you have made yourself an accomplice of the snake spirit who had terrorized this land,” the girl spoke. Her voice was bright like a bamboo flute, but it was powerful enough to shake the core of Yuelong’s mind. “Your punishment is inevitable. You have been warned, Deng Lu.”

The girl suddenly turned her attention to Yuelong and Xiao-Kai. “Qianyang disciple, you have done me a great favour. For that, I give you one of my feathers, in hopes that one day it will be of use to you.”

Then, the girl slumped down towards the floor, unconscious. A wisp of violet particles seeped out from the girl’s ear. The particles swirled and gathered in the air, forming into a humanoid shape. And gradually, the deity’s true form was revealed.

The Chen family all watched with admiration and gaping mouths. Yuelong looked up with no expression, even though his heart still felt the excitement and awe of seeing a real deity up close. This wasn’t his first time seeing a goddess, but it was his first time seeing a goddess exercise her divine powers. Even for a cultivator of the Dao, it was something to be amazed at. And unlike the others, Xiao-Kai had already seen the true form of the goddess the moment the gold of the statue revealed what lay underneath. After all, we was a mortal who could see the intangible. Still, this was his first time witnessing a goddess up close.

The deity’s true form hovered above the girl, as if watching over her. The goddess was extremely beautiful. Decorated with blue gems and turquoise ribbons, she wore a gown of dark blue and violet. Her face showed delicate features, and two small hair loops sat atop her head. Oddly enough, she wasn’t completely human-looking: her hair and her eyes were the colour of amethyst, and two long feathers—similar to peacock feathers, although wider and richer in their dark blue colour—peeked out from her clothes.

The goddess descended to the ground, her feet landing gently on the stone floor. She reached a hand up to her head and plucked out a strand of hair, holding it out to Yuelong. “Come closer, Qianyang disciple. You’ve earned this.”

Yuelong stepped forward and knelt with one knee. He held out both of his hands. The moment the strand of hair touched his skin, he felt the hair become something soft and light. The goddess’s name realized itself in his head.

“Qianyang disciple Fan Yuelong expresses his gratitude to Lady Jiutian Xuannu!” Yuelong kowtowed.

“You may rise.”

Upon hearing the name Jiutian Xuannu, the entire Chen family came to their senses and kowtowed in the goddess’s presence.

“Please forgive our rude manner!” Master Chen said.

The goddess smiled gently at the mortals. Her eyes suddenly flared a bright purple and the entire Chen family fell to their sides.

“I have my reasons for putting them to sleep,” explained Jiutian Xuannu. She looked at Xiao-Kai and then back at Yuelong. “He is under your care, I presume?”

“Yes, Lady Xuannu.”

The goddess sighed. “I think I owe the people of the village an explanation of what happened to me. But if I do that, it will only bring chaos and disorder to their human hearts. So, I will only tell you, Fan Yuelong, for you deserve to know.”

Yuelong bowed.

“It all started a few years ago. I had left to report to the Heavens for the area under my care. When I arrived back at Shengyu Temple, he was already waiting for me…”

Five years ago…

“How dare you vile spirit bring your presence to my temple!” boomed the goddess.

Powerful energy radiated off of her levitating body. Balls of condensed lightning gathered at her palms.

The snake spirit, in his half-human form, pulled a child out from behind him. Under his black nails was the fragile neck of a girl.

“One strike and she dies!” The spirit cackled. “And you should get to know who you’re facing first, birdy.”

“How dare you!”

The fingers closed tighter over the girl’s neck.

“You know I can do it.”

The goddess gritted her teeth. This vile creature… For the sake of the girl’s life, she suppressed her anger and withdrew her powers.

“Good birdy,” the spirit mocked. He looked at the girl in his right hand and tilted his head, an evil grin forming over his mouth. “Good girl. You’re useless now.”

A double-ended spear materialized in his left hand. He began to lift the girl up in the air, while she kicked and frantically tried to pry open his hands. He raised his spear.

Compared to the vastness of the human world, her one life was only a drop in the ocean. But to the goddess, who cared for the lives of her people, the girl was like a child of hers. 

Without second thoughts, the goddess lunged forward. In a flash, she shifted into particles of light and melted into the skin of the child.

The spear struck.

A violet light shone, preventing the spear from striking the child protected beneath. Encased in the light, the girl looked at the spearhead that stopped only two inches away from her forehead.

“Gotcha!”

The spear suddenly dissolved in the air. In its place, a sinister black circle formed in the snake spirit’s palms. Red writing lined the black circle, and the air around them became heavy and hard to breathe.

A Demon Seal!?

She brought her hands together in front of her chest, attempting to summon one of her feathers for protection. But she was too late.

Struck with the Demon Seal, Jiutian Xuannu could do nothing but use the rest of her energy to protect the child from the effects of the seal.

“… And that was how I was encased inside my own temple.” the goddess finished. “I’m sure you can put together the rest of the story.”

Yuelong bowed. “The snake spirit must have threatened Deng Lu with the life of his daughter. And with Deng Lu as a human host, the spirit’s powers would have increased in strength. But what was his goal?”

“That is what I fear the most, young man. To attack a deity is no easy feat, let alone have the courage to do it. I will report this to the Heavenly Court. And the spirit’s origins are still unknown.”

“But he is, at least, defeated, right? Lady Xuannu’s feather enhanced my Sanmei Pure Fire and destroyed his true body.”

“I hope he truly was. But considering the spirit’s slyness, he might have other plans, still. It's better to stay alert. I will leave for the Heavens at once. Take care, Qianyang disciple, for we will meet again.”

The goddess stepped towards Yuelong. She held out her delicate finger and touched his forehead. Yuelong could feel the tension in his third eye slowly disappearing. It was like experiencing a cool breeze in a hot summer.

“Your third eye will be completely healed after two days. Use it well.”

She looked at Xiao-Kai and smiled. “What great potential this boy has! I trust that you will take care of him and further his abilities.”

With a twist of her body, the goddess vanished in a flash of light, the two staring in a daze after her.

A rustling noise from behind made them turn in surprise. Deng Lu had woken up. The Daoist first looked at Yuelong, then at Xiao-Kai. Before Yuelong even had the chance to tell Deng Lu what Jiutian Xuannu had said about him, the Daoist had already started crawling towards the unconscious girl.

“Daughter! My daughter!” Deng Lu cried. He gently picked up the girl and held her close. Large beads of tears rolled down his face.

“Pa-pa?”

Yuelong watched as Deng Lu looked at his daughter with watering eyes. With a surprising gentleness, the man held the child’s cheeks, as his own face quivered. He cried, embracing the little girl, who hugged him back, burying her face in his shoulder.

Something tugged at Yuelong’s heart. He was sure that Deng Lu was an unredeemable man, a man selfish enough that he’d sacrifice the lives of so many just to save the one that he knew and loved. But as Yuelong turned to leave, he looked back, and doubted.

A moment later, the two finally breathed in the fresh air outside the temple. Yuelong and Xiao-Kai looked at each other.

“Are you hungry, Xiao-Kai? I know I am.”