Mengjun woke up with a jolt. He gasped for breath as he looked around his surroundings. Tall pine trees stood towering around the campsite. At the center lay the remnants of the fire last night. No longer burning and radiating warmth, it was now just a pile of blackened charcoal and gray ashes. 

Mengjun rested his face into his palms, gently massaging the area around his eyes. He knew he had to do something about the situation happening in the Wastelands. If he were to completely escape the Wastelands, then it would mean destruction for the human world. Not only will the creatures from the Wastelands invade, but the Heavens will also defend. By then, the human world will only become the battlefield.

“That bloody reptile…” He muttered to himself.

A pat on his back dragged him out of his thoughts. Mengjun looked up from his palms.

“Up already?” Yuelong said, the corners of his mouth turned up.

Right at that moment, the golden rays of the morning sun pierced through the darkness of the woods. Yuelong’s face was instantly illuminated in the golden light. His skin seemingly melted into the light and sparkled with charm.

Mengjun suddenly heard the thumping of his own heart. It was loud and clear. A single message that he avoided all this time had rang through his core of existence. There was no denying it.

“What’s wrong, Mengjun?” Yuelong kneeled down next to him. “Are you alright?”

“Hmm? Oh it’s nothing,” Mengjun looked away with his ears red.

“Good, then let's pack up and leave.”

It was only after Mengjun had finally calmed himself down when he realized what Yuelong had said.

“Wait, what? Leaving? Why? I thought we have to guard here so the portal does not get invaded?”

“I’ve sent a letter to Qianyang Sect requesting help to guard this area. It should be fine.” Yuelong replied confidently. “They should get here in a day or so if they choose to fly. Which most likely they will since I said it was a matter of urgency.”

“Wait a minute,” Mengjun stood up from the ground. “Isn’t that the sect you’re from? Don’t you want to see them?”

“Not really…” Yuelong answered. 

Mengjun could clearly see that he was a bit uncomfortable about matters between him and his sect. “What happened to you, Yuelong? You obeyed the orders of the Qianyang old men before, what happened now?” He thought to himself. 

He looked around the campsite. Murong Teng and Sifei had changed out of their white robes but still kept a white ribbon around their forehead as a sign of grieving. The group had nearly nothing to carry except for two bags of food and flasks of water.

The group began walking off to the west, opposite of the rising sun. The golden light rained down upon their backs, relieving them of the aches that they had sleeping on the rough surface of the ground.

Xiao-Kai stretched his arms to the sky and yawned.

“Hey, how are you doing bud?” Mengjun asked.

“I’m alright,” the boy smiled.

“Did you sleep alright? You must have had a hard time falling asleep on such rocky surfaces.”

“No, it didn't affect me. I’ve slept everywhere before.” The boy answered casually.

Mengjun replied with disbelief, “What?”

“Yep. Do you have any food? I’m kind of hungry.” Right when the word ‘hungry’ came out, a loud rumbling followed. Xiao-Kai looked down at his stomach and looked back up with a nervous smile.

Mengjun laughed and patted the teen’s back. He reached into one of the bags that he had slung over his shoulder and grabbed an apple.

“Here you go,” Mengjun handed over the apple to Xiao-Kai. “They had great harvests this year.”

Xiao-Kai bit into the rosy apple. Past the crispy flesh of the apple was the strong, aromatic smell and the overflowing juices. Just the sound of Xiao-Kai’s munching was enough to make Mengjun drool.

“So, where are we heading, Yiheng?” Mengjun asked.

Yuelong answered, “We’re going to the grottos in the west. It’s where the Huangxue Sect resides.”

“What are we doing there?”

Murong Zi suddenly butted in, “What is an opera performer doing amidst a group of cultivators on a dangerous mission?”

Mengjun chuckled nervously. “Well, I mean my martial arts are good enough to defend myself so you guys don’t need to worry about me. As for why I’m following you guys…”

Yuelong said, “It’s alright, Murong gu-niang. I’m sure it was a predestined relationship that has led him to us. Perhaps he was destined to aid us in this mission.”

Murong Zi stayed silent.

“Well, I’m going to make my own opera and I need inspiration for it. A trip with renowned cultivators should do the job.” Mengjun smiled nervously even though Murong Zi wasn’t looking at him.

After an hour of awkward silence, the group found themselves standing before a dried spring. The crackly, yellow ground was drained completely of water yet, tall blooming trees stood around it, as if it was always filled with water.

“Here it is,” Murong said. She walked a couple steps into the dried spring. “Follow me.”

Mengjun walked up next to Yuelong and asked, “Where’s she going?”

Yuelong replied with a proud smile, “This is one of the secrets of the cultivation world. There are many places on this Earth that are rifts to higher planes of existence. Some of them, like this one Murong gu-niang is leading us to, is one that is connected to the deserts in the west. It will save us a lot of time from traveling.”

“Oh, I see…” Mengjun pondered. “But wait, if there are these rift thingies, then why didn’t you use one to travel here? Did we have to walk all the way?”

“These rifts open up at different times during the year and some move along with the alignment of the stars. It is a very complex art that I wasn’t taught.” Yuelong explained. “But luckily, Murong gu-niang knows when and where the rifts will be opened.”

When the group arrived at the center of the dried spring, Murong Zi looked around the area  and at the sky. Then, she walked around in circles trying to pinpoint the exact location. 

“It should be here,” She pointed beneath herself with her finger. 

As if reading her mind, Sifei unsheathed his sword and plunged it straight down where Murong Zi had pointed.

“...”

At first, nothing happened. Then out of the blue, large cracks spread from the sword on the dried bed of the spring. Water slowly trickled out from the cracks and covered the entire dried spring in just a few moments.

“Water, again?” Mengjun complained.

Yuelong held out his hand to Mengjun. “If you’re scared, hold on.”

Mengjun stared blankly at Yuelong’s hand. Reluctantly, he took it.

“I’m not scared or anything…just so you know.”

Yuelong held out his other hand to Xiao-Kai. “Hold on tight.”

Unlike Mengjun, Xiao-Kai obediently took Yuelong’s hand and his face was that of an excited child ready to fly to the skies on a swing.

At first, the water slowly seeped out from the cracks, the surface barely moving. Then it all changed rapidly. The surface of the water immediately turned violent, pulling everyone towards the center of the spring. Even though the water was barely up to their ankles, it pulled with the force of a thousand men. 

“Holy shit what is this!?” Mengjun exclaimed, putting one leg forward to maintain his balance.

From the other side of Yuelong, Mengjun could hear a cry of excitement from Xiao-Kai. Mengjun’s hand tightened around Yuelong’s.

“Go with the flow!” Murong Zi shouted before disappearing into the water with Sifei.

“What the hell? This water is barely up to my ankle and they just went whoop!?”

Mengjun felt Yuelong’s hand tighten around his. He looked at the man beside him. His face saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll be there for you.”

Then the three felt a strong force that pushed them off balance and into the center of the spring. Without any time to react, the three disappeared into the water. 

Soon after everyone had disappeared, the water magically sank below the ground, once again turning the spring into its original, dry state.

The last thing Mengjun saw was the blue sky and the tops of towering pine trees. Then everything was swallowed up in darkness. Inside the rift, he could feel his own body breaking apart and reconnecting together like a pile of wet sand. But surprisingly, he didn’t feel pain. Then, just like the moment of burst from a firework, the darkness was cast away by a blinding light. The next thing Mengjun knew, he was whole again and standing on something soft.

“Sand?” He looked down at the ground beneath him.

Mengjun looked in front of him. It was a vast ocean of endless sand. Dunes upon dunes was all that was in his view. They had arrived in the desert out of thin air.

“It’ll be a two day’s walk before we reach the grottos. It’s best if we rest here for the day.” Murong Zi suggested, looking at the two holding hands.

Yuelong looked at Mengjun. And Mengjun looked back with a puzzled look, completely unaware that he was still tightly gripping onto Yuelong’s hand.

“Umm…Mengjun, your hand. Yep, thank you.”

“Oh!” Mengjun quickly let go of Yuelong’s hand. “Sorry, I was just… I was just admiring the splendid view! Hehe.” 

Yuelong smiled. “It’s quite alright. Perfectly understandable.”

Later that night, after the sun had set and the stars revealed their presence, and when the majority of the group were resting to preserve their energy, Yuelong laid wide awake, staring into the sky.

From the moment that he laid down, he had stared into the sky, searching for that one bright star. But in the vast world above, which star belonged to him? As the fire crackled away into the night, Yuelong found it harder to fall asleep. Perhaps it was because he was desperate to seek the feeling of assurance from discovering the star, or simply because he missed his shi-di.

“Are you searching for the brightest star?” a voice whispered next to him.

Yuelong looked to his side only to see Mengjun staring back at him with his head propped up by an elbow.

“No, I was just…”

For some unknown reason, Yuelong didn’t feel like he could hold it any longer. The feelings that he had been bottling up inside were simply too much for him to handle it on his own. At that moment, he desperately wanted to spill everything to Mengjun.

“It’s…nothing,” Yuelong finally replied.

Mengjun chuckled softly. “You know that was only a legend, right? The story about the stars?”

“Oh… well I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Yuelong responded, recalling the Tianhang River in the Cross Above.

“Oh? So you know for sure that this legend is real?”

“Well, you see,” Yuelong leaned to face Mengjun and propped up his head. “There are three realms. One for the Underworld, one for us humans, and one for the Heavens.”

“Then where’s the Wastelands?” Mengjun asked.

“I’m getting there. Those are the three realms. But in each realm, there are different overlapping planes of existence. The Wastelands is considered a part of the Human realm but in a different dimension.”

“Uh huh… And what does that have to do with this star legend?”

“Between the three realms, there are planes of existence connecting them. From the Human realm to the Underworld, there is a Cross Below. And connecting the Human realm to the Heavens is the Cross Above. And the Cross Above,” Yuelong pointed upwards with his free hand. “Are the stars that you see. The stars are a part of the Tianhang River that divides the Heavens and our realm.”

Mengjun looked up at the sky with admiration. “A river of stars?”

“Yep. Not only that, but if you look into the river, it will show you the wish that you always wanted. Including the face of your soulmate and their whereabouts.”

“Ahh… I see. So who’s your soulmate?”

Taken back by Mengjun’s sudden question, Yuelong was at a loss for words. 

“Sorry, it was dumb of me to ask that question…”

“Nan Lanyue. His name is Nan Lanyue.”

“...”

“That was his birth name, but my father gave him a second name, Jingfeng, in hopes that one day, he would rise like the phoenix. Oh, and he was my shi-di.”

“He was your shi-di…”

“Oh no, he’s not dead if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m sure he’s still alive somewhere.”

“What was he like?”

Yuelong sighed. “Well, for one, he can be the most annoying, immature kid ever. It’s like he never grew up!”

Mengjun coughed.

“But apart from that, he is really kind hearted on the inside. No matter what other people see him as, demon lord or traitor, he will always be my compassionate shi-di.”

The two sank into silence. Yuelong felt an extreme joy inside of him that he’d never felt in such a long time. It was like receiving blazing coal during winter. Finally, someone that he could open his heart to help him relieve some of the pain that he bottled up.

“What about me, then?”

“Hm?”

“What do you think of me, as a friend?” Mengjun asked.

“Hah! You?”

“Shhhh! They’re still sleeping!”

Yuelong covered his mouth with a hand and peeked over his shoulder. The others were still asleep.

“You’re…”

“Hmm?” Mengjun nudged closer to Yuelong.

“You’re an idiot.”

“???”

Yuelong covered his mouth and his body shook from laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Mengjun demanded. “Me? An idiot?”

“No, no, no, I was merely joking with you,” Yuelong answered. “Speaking of jokes, do you know any?”

“Don’t change the conversation!”

As the two chatted away into the night, the sounds of their conversation had found their way into the ears of another. Breathing deeply to calm their emotions, rage and disgust boiled away in their heart.