Something was off about Fu Hua.
Ever since they left the Kipchak Steppe, Otto had a strange feeling.
He felt that Fu Hua was being a little odd.
Perhaps she was conflicted about why her "Brother Otto" would stand in front of another woman to protect her.
Still, for Fu Hua to leave the steppe so quickly came as a great surprise to Otto.
Could it be that she had let it go?
Achieved some great enlightenment?
That couldn't be right. She was still letting him hold her small hand.
Otto was perplexed. A woman's heart was already hard to fathom, let alone that of a fifty-thousand-year-old woman.
Whatever.
He had plenty of time to understand Fu Hua.
He pushed the matter of Otto and Kallen to the back of his mind; they were ultimately just falsehoods within the illusion.
Next up, it should be the "Seven Disciples Slay the Master" storyline, right?
A year after Fu Hua defeated the Schicksal Expeditionary Force, her seven disciples killed her.
Otto was quite curious. Fu Hua had seemed perfectly normal during the expedition, even lecturing Kallen with grand principles. How did she end up getting stabbed by her own disciples just a year later?
Walking up the stone steps of Taixu Mountain, Otto held Fu Hua's hand as they walked side-by-side. He was accustomed to being with her like this.
But thinking about what was to come, Otto couldn't help but gently rub her small hand.
So soft.
Otto estimated that after the seven disciples killed her, Fu Hua would remember everything by the time Cheng Lixue died, at the latest.
This illusion would then cease to exist.
Otto pondered what he should do after leaving the illusion.
What kind of impact would these fifty-thousand-plus years inside the illusion have on Fu Hua?
Slightly lost in thought, he didn't notice that the expression of the Celestial Emissary, Chiyuan, beside him was a little off.
She seemed… somewhat ill at ease.
And a little embarrassed.
---o---
On Taixu Mountain, Otto let go of Fu Hua's small hand and stretched his back.
Seeing her master return, Lin Chaoyu hurried forward to greet her. But Fu Hua merely nodded at her before raising a hand to pat her on the head.
"I wish to bathe."
Fu Hua said slowly.
However, her gaze was not fixed on Lin Chaoyu.
Otto didn't notice.
"Yes, Master."
Lin Chaoyu said respectfully. Her master had returned from a long journey; it was only right that she cleanse herself properly.
Even so, hearing that the Celestial was going to bathe didn't cause much of a stir in Otto's heart.
It wasn't the first time, anyway.
They were like an old married couple. What was there to be shy about?
A bathtub was quickly moved into Fu Hua's room and filled with hot water, sending plumes of steam into the air. A folding screen was placed to separate the tub from the rest of the room.
The bamboo door slid shut, seemingly isolating the room from the outside world.
Within the tranquil room, only the sound of uneven breathing could be heard.
Otto stood with his arms crossed to one side of the screen, while the beautiful Celestial Emissary, Chiyuan, sat on the bamboo bed, her head bowed. Her grayish-blue bangs obscured her right eye, and her cherry-pink lips were pressed lightly together.
Otto noticed the unsteady rise and fall of her chest. It seemed the Celestial's inner state was not nearly as calm as her appearance suggested.
It looked like she was still bothered by the matter of Otto and Kallen.
So, her walking away from them without a second glance was just her pretending to be profound?
Otto let out a soft chuckle.
He wasn't worried that Fu Hua would hear him.
Even after the Herrscher of Corruption had begun cooperating with him, Otto still hadn't asked Rin to remove his perceptual filter. He had decided to observe everything as a bystander.
He had always been watching.
Time passed. Fu Hua finally stood up, and the flowing, ink-wash-patterned Daoist robe slowly slipped off, the cyan gauze pooling at her feet.
Even Otto's eyes widened slightly, his once-calm heartbeat and breathing quickening.
Though he had seen it thousands of times, he would never tire of the sight.
My wife, Fu Hua, is just so beautiful!
Her bare feet padded across the floor. Fu Hua arrived beside the tub, then lifted a foot and stepped inside.
Otto watched with great interest.
The hot water quickly enveloped the Celestial Emissary, her fair cheeks blushing from the steam. Otto then snapped his fingers lightly.
His clothes vanished.
Otto entered the tub as well.
The hot water submerged them both.
Otto reached out, skillfully pulling Fu Hua into his embrace. In her eyes, all of this was just something she was imagining, anyway.
This wasn't the first time.
However, Otto could feel that Fu Hua's body was a little stiff.
She really has accumulated a lot of stress.
A bowstring pulled too taut will eventually snap.
Otto extended his hands, gently taking hold of hers.
Ten fingers, grasping ten fingers.
He closed his eyes, ready to enjoy this pleasant moment.
"You..."
But his darling Fu Hua chose this exact moment to speak.
"Has it... always been like this?"
Otto paid her no mind, his eyes still closed.
This was probably just the Celestial once again using him as a sounding board to vent her stress.
"From the very beginning... have you always been by my side?"
"No matter the night, no matter the morning, no matter where."
Fu Hua continued to speak.
But Otto still did not respond.
Soaking in the hot water with his wife in his arms, Otto felt a warm drowsiness creep over him.
He'd take a nap later.
But gradually, he began to feel that something was wrong.
His fingers... couldn't move.
It was as if... they had been caught.
Otto had grasped Fu Hua, but wasn't it also Fu Hua who had grasped Otto?
He had nowhere to run.
His emerald eyes opened, and what met them was a pair of azure-blue eyes.
Fu Hua was lying in his arms, her head tilted back, looking up at the man behind her.
Yes, looking.
Otto stared back at Fu Hua in silence.
A long time passed. The water in the tub grew cool before the man finally spoke, his voice tinged with resignation.
"When did you find out?"
"After the battle, not long ago."
The Celestial Emissary in his arms replied softly.
At that moment, she had become able to see him.
She had watched him hold her hand.
And she had understood. The "Brother Otto" she had been searching for all this time had actually been by her side all along, never once leaving in over fifty thousand years.
Otto tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling.
No wonder. No wonder he felt something was strange about Fu Hua after they left that place.
So, it was because Fu Hua could see him.
However, Otto didn't think she had recovered her original memories.
After all, she was still lying obediently in his arms.
But Otto didn't panic. He had mentally prepared for this long ago. He looked down at the fifty-thousand-year-old girl in his embrace.
"It's been over fifty thousand years, you know."
Otto was confident Fu Hua knew what he was talking about.
Fu Hua bit her lip gently.
The cheeks of this typically solemn Celestial Emissary were slightly flushed. The moment Otto spoke, she understood his meaning.
The cool, transcendent purity of a snow lotus on a high mountain was no more.
To outsiders, she was the Celestial Emissary, Chiyuan.
But to Otto, she was Hua. She was Fu Hua.
Fu Hua was silent for a moment before she spoke again.
"Bro... ther Otto."
Fu Hua uttered the form of address she hadn't used in over fifty thousand years.
"Mm, Little Hua."
Otto replied.
"Don't call me Little Hua. Just Hua is fine."
Fu Hua corrected him.
After they spoke, they looked at each other and smiled.
It was as if everything had returned to how it was fifty thousand years ago.
Except, their relationship could never go back to what it was fifty thousand years ago.
Otto lowered his head, burying his nose in the back of Fu Hua's hair, inhaling the fragrance of the Celestial's tresses.
"I'd rather you call me husband."
Otto said with a smile.
This was a promise that had spanned over fifty thousand years.
Fu Hua didn't speak.
For some reason, Otto could sense a trace of sorrow from the Celestial Emissary.
"What's wrong? You don't want to?"
Otto asked.
Fu Hua neither nodded nor shook her head.
She simply said:
"Brother Otto, are you real?"
Otto was puzzled as to why she would ask such a question. He simply held her tighter, just as he had held her on countless nights.
"As real as can be."
"But..." Fu Hua's words were laced with reluctance and struggle, "this place is an illusion."
Oh?
Otto's eyebrows shot up.
"After I became able to see you, I discovered that everything around me is the false illusion."
"This place is just an illusion."
"An illusion... that I can break."
Fu Hua continued.
The moment she could see Otto, she realized that this world was merely an illusion, one targeted specifically at her.
Fu Hua could shatter this illusion.
But in the end, she didn't. Instead, she returned to Taixu Mountain.
Because she didn't know if Otto was fake.
She couldn't see through him.
After she broke the illusion, would her Brother Otto truly be gone?
"That's true. It's about time for you to leave," Otto said. It seemed he wouldn't get the chance to enjoy the show of the "Seven Disciples Slay the Master."
Once Fu Hua shattered the illusion, nothing would be able to suppress her memories.
At that time, how could Fu Hua possibly be willing to soak in a bathtub with him like a married couple?
"Are you worried you won't be able to see me after you leave the illusion?"
Fu Hua was silent, then slowly nodded.
"Is that so?"
Otto chuckled.
Then, he lowered his head towards Fu Hua's exquisite face.
They could clearly feel each other's breath.
But Otto didn't stop.
And Fu Hua didn't pull away.
Otto lowered his head and captured her lips.
Fu Hua's eyelashes, as thin as a cicada's wings, trembled.
This was Fu Hua's first kiss.
But it was not Otto's.
"An intense act like kissing is recorded in the brain's hippocampus. It's difficult to forget."
"If you're worried you won't remember me, then remember this moment well."
Otto said, then lowered his head once more.
"But just once is too shallow of an impression."
Their hands were clasped tightly together.
Otto captured Fu Hua's lips again.
Once we leave this place, I probably won't hear her call me 'Brother Otto' ever again.
Although, every time I hear a fifty-thousand-year-old Celestial call me that, I feel like it's shortening my lifespan a little.
Only when Fu Hua was a little breathless did Otto finally lift his head.
He looked at the face so close to his.
Fu Hua was as beautiful as ever.
Otto opened his mouth and said:
"I am not a fleeting dream of yellow millet."
"And this is not a fleeting dream."
A dream of yellow millet lasts but a moment.
"I am King Huai of Chu."
"Hua, can you be my Goddess of Mount Wu?"
In the preface to the Gao Tang Rhapsody, King Huai of Chu was traveling in Gao Tang when he took a nap. In his dream, he met a goddess who called herself the Goddess of Mount Wu, and the King was blessed with her favor.
Fu Hua lay back in Otto's arms.
Unable to move.
Her mind was buzzing, and she couldn't hear a single sound.
But, she still nodded.
In any case, Brother Otto had never harmed her, nor had he ever deceived her.
"Alright."
A rapacious smile spread across Otto's face.
Otto would be Fu Hua's King Huai of Chu.
And Fu Hua would be Otto's Goddess of Mount Wu.
Time had built their bond, and its intertwined threads now stained the pure white snow.
All that remained... was a newly bloomed red plum.
---o---